What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[The Larch]

Not likely, just more "fine people" that serve as useful idiots.

Until some of the QAnon backing Representatives (I think there are two candidates in very safe Republican districts now) are elected

Is her one of them? This one seems to be a certified nut.

A self-described 'proud Islamophobe' banned from social media just won a GOP nomination

(CNN)If you've paid attention to the rise of the radical right on the internet over the last few years, you know the name Laura Loomer.

Loomer is one of the most high-profile figures of this movement -- and one of its most controversial. She has described Islam as a "cancer on humanity" and said that Muslim candidates should not be allowed to hold office in America. She has called herself a "proud Islamophobe."

That behavior has led to Loomer being banned from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram -- not to mention ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft. (She tweeted in 2018 that "someone needs to create a non Islamic form of Uber or Lyft because I never want to support another Islamic immigrant driver.")

And as of Wednesday morning, Loomer is the Republican nominee in Florida's 21st District, which happens to include President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

She won a six-way primary for the right to face Rep. Lois Frankel (D) in the general election, raising more than $1 million thanks to support from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, pardoned Trump ally Roger Stone and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz. Loomer campaigned as the Trumpiest candidate in the field, touting her belief in the President's "law and order" message. (Loomer is very unlikely to come to Congress; the 21st District is strongly Democrat.)

Trump rewarded that support with a tweet touting Loomer's win on Tuesday night.

"Great going Laura," he wrote. "You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet!" He also retweeted several accounts congratulating Loomer on her victory, including that of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the GOP nominee in Georgia's 14th district who has publicly supported the QAnon conspiracy theory and expressed a number of anti-Islamic views.

CNN's Andrew Kaczynski noted just how stunning a presidential endorsement for Loomer should be.

"Remarkable to see a president endorse a candidate who said Muslims shouldn't have be allowed to hold public office and called Islam 'a cancer on humanity,'" he tweeted. "In a normal administration this would be a huge story but it will barely get mentioned."

Totally agree. But the story is about more than just a) Loomer winning or b) Trump embracing her.

Loomer's primary victory comes hard on Greene's win in Georgia earlier this month -- as well as victories in Oregon and Colorado by far-right candidates, many of whom embrace QAnon or similar unfounded conspiracy theories. Loomer's win isn't an anomaly. It's part of the leading edge of the Republican Party's transformation -- or at least evolution -- into an organization that includes provocateurs and conspiracy theorists among its ranks.

None of that should be surprising, given that the leader of the party is himself both a provocateur and a conspiracy theorist. Remember that the origins of Trump's 2016 presidential candidacy were in his support for and promotion of a disproven conspiracy theory about Barack Obama not being born in the United States.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday that Trump hadn't done a "deep dive" into the views Loomer and Greene hold before congratulating them.

"The President routinely congratulates people who officially get the Republican nomination for Congress, so he does that as a matter of course," McEnany said. "He hasn't done a deep dive into the statements by these two particular women. I don't know if he's even seen that. But he supports the Muslim community, he supports the community of faith more broadly in this country."
Last week, Trump declined to answer whether he endorses QAnon. When McEnany was asked about that on Wednesday, she said she'd never heard it mentioned at the White House.

"I've never heard of that. There's a lot of media focus on that but certainly never heard of that from the President," she said.
Here's the thing -- Trump has not only given cover to the Loomers and Greenes of the world. He has, and continues to, actively encourage their candidacies and their views.

Which, yes, is an existential threat to the identity of the broader Republican Party forged over a century and a half. Because if the GOP is willing to not just have Laura Loomer in its ranks but to embrace her -- and her radical views -- then what, exactly, differentiates it from the conspiracy theorists and anti-Islamic voices of the internet fever swamps?

[The Larch]

In different news, and confirmating that grifting was at the heart of the Trump administration since the beginning...

Steve Bannon indicted by federal prosecutors, charged with defrauding 'We Build the Wall' donors

Former Trump political adviser Steve Bannon has been arrested in New York in connection to an online fundraising scheme.

The Department of Justice's Southern District of New York (SDNY) says that Bannon, along with three others, were arrested for leading the "We Build The Wall" online fundraising campaign that "defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors".

In a statement, acting US attorney Audrey Strauss said that the fund capitalized on donors' interest in building a border wall while instead funneling millions of dollars to fund the "lavish lifestyle" of "We Build The Wall" founder and public face Brian Kolfage.


Steve Bannon is listed as "advisory board chairman" of the online fundraising campaign that has led to his arrest today in New York.

A press release from the Department of Justice says that Bannon covertly received over $1 million in donor funding, "hundreds of thousands of dollars" of which was used to cover Bannon's "personal expenses". Bannon and the three other men arrested "devised a scheme to route those payments" through a nonprofit controlled by Bannon and a shell company under the control of Timothy Shea, who was also arrested today.

The We Build The Wall campaign started in 2018 as a GoFundMe by Kolfage, a military veteran, who has described some people crossing the southern border without documents as terrorists and drug traffickers and accused border wall critics as being cartel collaborators. The campaign created a video posted on Youtube of construction of metal barricades to attract anti-immigrant donors to the campaign.

By spring 2019, the group had raised $22 million out of its $1 billion goal.

Last year, the campaign was seen by the Guardian building a private border wall in south Texas despite a court injunction that ordered the work to be suspended.

[Sheilbh]

Not likely, just more "fine people" that serve as useful idiots.

Until some of the QAnon backing Representatives (I think there are two candidates in very safe Republican districts now) are elected

Is her one of them? This one seems to be a certified nut.

I actually don't think she is.

She's just nasty in a sort of semi-typical way in the current far-right alternative media. She started off doing media videos while at college about trying to set up a campaign group in support of ISIS and apparently not being stopped, then graduated into more classic Islamophobia, going to Parkland and accusing the kids of being actors (for InfoWars, I assume before their Sandy Hook lawsuit), being involved in a couple of Jacob Wohl and O'Keefe's grifts and getting banned from Twitter (which she protested by chaining herself to a rail outside Twitter's HQ while wearing a star of David badge). She's basically just in that stream of people who've managed to hustle a career out of shithousery on social media.

She was endorsed by Gaetz during the primary when there were other options.

As I say it's a shame that conservatives hate theory so much because I think she is sort of a sign that the Republican party is maybe becoming hyperreal party. If their social media presence ever gets curtailed, I wouldn't be surprised to see Wohl and O'Keefe joining her.

[Sheilbh]

In different news, and confirmating that grifting was at the heart of the Trump administration since the beginning...

Also:

Zoe Tillman
@ZoeTillman
NOW: Trump has again lost his effort to stop New York prosecutors and a grand jury from getting his tax returns. A judge dismissed Trump's lawsuit after he raised a new round of arguments following July's SCOTUS decision
In dismissing Trump's latest challenge to the NY grand jury subpoena for his tax returns, the judge found that Trump was trying to get his absolute immunity argument — which SCOTUS rejected — "through the back door"
The judge wrote that a sitting president was entitled to "high respect" in these types of legal fights, but concluded that meant a court had to be very careful in applying the relevant legal standards — not that the standards themselves changed https://buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/judge-rules-trump-tax-returns
Judge Marrero: "High respect for the President does not imply diminished respect for the ancient functions of the grand jury or the long-established standards governing challenges to its subpoenas."

I expect a spicy day on Twitter for the President

[merithyn]

Not likely, just more "fine people" that serve as useful idiots.

Until some of the QAnon backing Representatives (I think there are two candidates in very safe Republican districts now) are elected

Is her one of them? This one seems to be a certified nut.

I actually don't think she is.

She's just nasty in a sort of semi-typical way in the current far-right alternative media. She started off doing media videos while at college about trying to set up a campaign group in support of ISIS and apparently not being stopped, then graduated into more classic Islamophobia, going to Parkland and accusing the kids of being actors (for InfoWars, I assume before their Sandy Hook lawsuit), being involved in a couple of Jacob Wohl and O'Keefe's grifts and getting banned from Twitter (which she protested by chaining herself to a rail outside Twitter's HQ while wearing a star of David badge). She's basically just in that stream of people who've managed to hustle a career out of shithousery on social media.

She was endorsed by Gaetz during the primary when there were other options.

As I say it's a shame that conservatives hate theory so much because I think she is sort of a sign that the Republican party is maybe becoming hyperreal party. If their social media presence ever gets curtailed, I wouldn't be surprised to see Wohl and O'Keefe joining her.

She was. Since she won the nomination, she's disavowed her support of them.

[Syt]

[The Larch]

Post office police? 

[Sheilbh]

Post office police? 

I did not foresee the Post Office as Trump's main Act 3 (hopefully) antagonist.

[Tonitrus]

Post office police? 

Arguably the US's oldest federal law enforcement agency. 

[Razgovory]

The Post Office strikes back.

[viper37]

Charting new depths?

Trump tacitly endorses baseless QAnon conspiracy theory linked to violence
President says followers of movement, which claims Trump is fighting 'deep state' paedophiles, 'love our country'


Donald Trump has tacitly endorsed QAnon, a baseless rightwing conspiracy theory identified as a potential domestic terrorism threat by the FBI, claiming its followers "love our country" and "like me very much".

See, I stop reading there, as no more explanations were required.

[Eddie Teach]

Post office police? 

I did not foresee the Post Office as Trump's main Act 3 (hopefully) antagonist.

But Shakespeare uses five acts.

[DGuller]

Sometimes I think that the Russians come up with QAnon-type conspiracies just to debase the Americans even more than they're willing to debase themselves.  Either that, or they're just bored and are competing with each other in their St. Petersburg office on who can sell the most insane conspiracy into the mainstream.

[celedhring]

Post office police? 

I did not foresee the Post Office as Trump's main Act 3 (hopefully) antagonist.

But Shakespeare uses five acts.

And Hollywood screenwriting uses seven.

[The Larch]

When's the movie? The one on the right seems can be played by Batista or The Rock.