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Top Trump Official's POTUS Praise Goes Viral For Cringiest Reasons

Top Trump Official's POTUS Praise Goes Viral For Cringiest Reasons

Yahoo6 hours ago
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce drew widespread criticism and ridicule for her latest effusive tribute to Donald Trump during a press briefing.
While discussing Middle East policy on Tuesday, Bruce abruptly shifted into glowing praise of the president, even thanking God for him.
Bruce hailed Trump's supposed sacrifices and character: 'We can say this simply by having watched him most of his adult life in some capacity, but certainly with what he's given up and sacrificed to be the leader of this country.'
She later described Trump as 'very honest' and 'transparent,' adding that she knows 'to trust him' and 'not second guess him.' She also praised 'the power of his personality and leadership' and expressed her gratitude that 'he's the one making the decisions.'
Tammy Bruce: "The work of the President of the United States -- thank god for him -- is going to make sure that this is not a lost opportunity. We can say this simply by having watched him most of his adult life in some capacity, but certainly with what he's given up and… pic.twitter.com/sjnhbrW0Hf
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 2, 2025
Critics online mocked the moment as cultish, and more:
Man, this is some bizarre mashup of 1984, Jonestown and North Korea. https://t.co/aabiVP1Lvv
— Michael Freeman (@michaelpfreeman) July 2, 2025
These people have lost their freaking minds.
— Anthony Wilson 🥏🙄 (@anthonybwilson) July 2, 2025
This is not just sycophancy, it is a creepy level of submission to Trump's Kim Jong-un style of measuring loyalty. https://t.co/aC5NpWE3gm
— Michael Dominowski (@dominowski) July 2, 2025
Sickening sycophancy.
— 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢 (@ChidiNwatu) July 2, 2025
US North Korean TV Show host https://t.co/5Scqfdkc9f
— Commentator of Life (@Pundit2000) July 2, 2025
We are North Korea.
— Nicole (@SHassenn) July 2, 2025
She has truly embraced the kool-aid with open arms. https://t.co/PgWhrAHFsz
— Pat Cochran (@pcochran16) July 2, 2025
🤮🤮🤮🤮
— SkyeDemo (@demo_skye) July 3, 2025
Does she think she's talking to a Sunday school class and Trump is Jesus in this scenario?
— Lib Dunk (@libdunkmedia) July 2, 2025
The Cult. Feel like these folks know what is coming- and it is greatly in their favor.
— Jenelle V 🇺🇸 (@JenelleComedy) July 2, 2025
Lawrence O'Donnell's Unfiltered Reaction To Bonkers Trump Presser Moment Says It All
Critics Snap At White House's Latest Wild Image Of Trump
Michael Steele Issues Ominous Alert For ALL Republicans: 'Trust Me, Baby'
Trump Asks DeSantis The Weirdest Question About Marjorie Taylor Greene, In Front Of Her BF
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A battle is raging over ATVs on public lands
A battle is raging over ATVs on public lands

Yahoo

time28 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

A battle is raging over ATVs on public lands

HANKSVILLE, Utah - Brett Stewart was in the lead, bouncing behind the wheel of a Can-Am Maverick X3 off-road vehicle that he likened to a 'Ferrari on dirt.' Then came Jean Robert Babilis, a 70-year-old with a handgun in the console, pushing a 114-horsepower Polaris side-by-side through the red rock canyonlands of southern Utah - spraying sand in defiance of the environmentalists who've fought a years-long battle to keep his kind away. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. The four off-road vehicles that set off in late May on the 100-mile Poison Spring Loop were exercising their right to recreate on America's public land, combatants in a noisy culture war about where off-road vehicles should be allowed to drive. The route was stunning: the hanging gardens and sandstone cliffs, the soaring buttes and endless mesas. But eight of these miles were particularly sweet: a stretch of hotly contested National Park Service land that Congress opened to off-road vehicles in May, overturning a rule finalized days before President Joe Biden left office that would have kept their convoy out. Sunshine was breaking through the clouds over a great American landscape. This was a victory lap. 'We're going to have a beautiful day, guys,' Babilis said. Then he hit the gas. The shift comes as environmentalists and others out West express alarm about the fate of public lands. Senate Republicans proposed selling more than a million acres of public land in Western states to build housing, before withdrawing the plan Saturday. The Trump administration wants to ramp up logging, mining and oil drilling and is considering shrinking several national monuments. Federal land management agency staffs that steward these landscapes have been slashed by layoffs and buyouts. The dispute over off-road vehicles is steeped in years of litigation, and technicalities about vehicle types and road classes and decibel thresholds. But it also boils down to conflicting visions about whether wild landscapes are more a playground to be enjoyed or a treasure to be preserved. 'At the end of the day, what ties us together is we all love this place,' said Jack Hanley, a field specialist with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, an environmental organization that has fought for years to rein in off-road vehicle use on fragile public lands. The center of this long-running fight has been the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area - 1.3 million acres around Lake Powell, the country's second-largest reservoir - and particularly an area known as Orange Cliffs, which overlooks Canyonlands National Park. It's an exceedingly remote place where many people come to camp out under the stars and soak in the quiet and solitude. Hanley and his colleague at SUWA, staff attorney Hanna Larsen, spent two days slowly picking their way in a Toyota 4Runner over rugged cliff top roads and steep rocky trails that thread through this landscape. Some of those primitive roads were built decades ago in service of mining or ranching interests - and now offer a route for modern vehicles. With President Donald Trump back in office, Larsen said environmentalists were in 'defense mode,' picking their battles and trying to minimize the damage. Opening up Orange Cliffs could lead to more off-road vehicle access in national parks here or elsewhere, she warned. 'That tension has been brewing for a very long time,' she said. 'And it's come to a head with this.' For decades, environmentalists have pushed the National Park Service to regulate the off-road vehicles that plied the desert trails around Lake Powell. That used to be dirt bikes and dune buggies and is now dominated by utility terrain vehicles (UTVs), also known as side-by-sides, the car-like vehicles that have big studded tires and suspensions that can cost $50,000 or more, move fast over all sorts of rough ground, and often travel in packs. The decision by the National Park Service at the end of Trump's first term to allow such off-road vehicles on a portion of the Orange Cliffs area caused an outcry among environmentalists and led to lawsuits by SUWA and others. A settlement led to a new rule in January that blocked such access - which Republicans overturned in May by using the Congressional Review Act. Trump signed the resolution on May 23. 'My legislation was a response to local voices who wanted to access land they have enjoyed and explored for generations,' Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah), who proposed the resolution, said in a statement. Even though other conventional vehicles - such as four-wheel-drive trucks or Jeeps - could always drive these Orange Cliffs roads, environmentalists argue that off-road vehicles pose a unique threat to visitors' experience and the environment. They are louder, they say, and more capable of traveling off trail through the sage brush and piñon pine landscapes if riders choose to do that. Some like to travel at night, antennas illuminated, an eerie vision in the desert. If you were camping in Canyonlands National Park and a group of those vehicles roared past Orange Cliffs, 'your whole night is screwed, that's just a fact,' said Walt Dabney, who was superintendent at Canyonlands for much of the 1990s. 'To have a small group of these users ruin it for everybody else, I don't think is justified,' he said. 'There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles of backcountry four-wheel-drive adventures to be had. You don't have to go everywhere.' Off-road advocates feel they are unfairly maligned by environmentalists. They say their vehicles don't cause any more damage than conventional ones, and it's just a few drivers who veer off designated paths. The Blue Ribbon Coalition, which advocates for off-road vehicle access, is involved in three lawsuits against the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management to open some 1,600 miles of trails closed during the Biden administration, executive director Ben Burr said. Burr, who organized the convoy on the Poison Spring Loop, used to be an aide to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and is a relative by marriage. His family name is all over the landscape out here - the Burr Desert, the Burr Trail - dating back to his Mormon ancestors who drove cattle in the area in the 1800s. He considers singling out off-road vehicles 'purity culture nonsense.' 'It's like skiers versus snowboarders, e-bikes versus non-e-bikes, nonmotorized versus motorized - we've created all these distinctions and tribes we put ourselves into,' he said. 'But really all the agencies should be looking at is: How do I make the benefit of being here available to the most people?' - - - 'The bigger the playground' The off-road vehicles started the Poison Spring Loop on sage brush flatlands. It wasn't long before Stewart, a former bricklayer, saw something he didn't like. 'All my signs are gone,' he said. Stewart, who has a nonprofit called Utah O.H.V. [Off-Highway Vehicle] Advocates, had put up skull-and-crossbones stickers to mark the Poison Spring Loop and someone had removed them. He knew many people loathe his hobby. 'People just hate these - flat out hate 'em,' he said. There are now more than 200,000 registered off-road vehicle users in Utah, according to a spokesman for the Utah Department of Natural Resources. Babilis said he's spent decades driving four-wheelers and motorcycles on trails in southern Utah, a pastime, he's shared with his seven children and more than 20 grandkids. He's purchased several side-by-sides in recent years as they've swelled in popularity. Some of the places he used to drive have been closed to off-trail vehicles by the federal government, including in the Bears Ears National Monument that was created by President Barack Obama. 'They just shut off every trail that we've been riding on for decades,' Babilis said. To Stewart, exploring the outdoors in the type of vehicle that can cruise at 100 miles per hour is his preferred brand of therapy. He's too old to hike very far, he said, and off-roading allows him to experience vast landscapes away from crowds. 'I'm not worried about it being overridden because it's so spread out,' he said. 'The bigger the playground, the less people we'll see.' - - - Life-changing lands By the next afternoon, SUWA's Hanley and Larsen had reached Panorama Point, on top of Orange Cliffs. It had been a slow, bone-jolting drive over rocks and boulders on the most primitive road, but the view was worth it, stretching out endlessly over the Maze district of Canyonlands National Park and the place where the Green River merges with the Colorado River. Along the way, Hanley had stopped regularly to point out what caught his eye. A pronghorn antelope amid the juniper trees. The call of a black-throated gray warbler. He'd stopped to smell a cliffrose and sample the wasabi flavor of a pepperweed. 'You want to hear my favorite sound?" he asked, and rattled a narrowleaf yucca. Hanley, who grew up in the Bay Area, took a family trip through the Southwest when he was 21 that included Zion National Park. He was stunned by the setting but also by the meaning of public lands. Standing around without buying something in a city is loitering; out there, commerce was not required. 'I could just sleep on the ground, you know,' he said. 'It just felt right to me in this way that really made sense.' Instead of going to college, he started rock climbing and washing dishes with a Zion concessionaire. He went on to work as a backpacking and canyoneering guide and interpretative ranger with the Park Service. When the first Trump administration slashed the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, he decided to get more involved in protecting public lands and joined SUWA. Hanley has volunteered with BLM offices to help restore damaged landscapes by raking off-road tire tracks or putting up fences to keep vehicles off prohibited roads. In every field office where he's worked, he said, he's seen evidence of off-road vehicles that left the trail and tore up the landscape. 'I've had fences I've built cut. Signs that I put in shot or ripped out of the ground,' he said. 'I think there's something to the culture - those machines are designed to be driven off of roads.' On top of Panorama Point, Hanley tried to explain what the canyons in the distance meant to him. The first time he hiked into the Maze, he said, he followed mountain lion tracks for two days without seeing human footprints. Out there, he's come across haunting four-foot-tall pictographs that date back thousands of years. He's survived on spring water from a trough put in by ranchers a century ago and found a from an ancient ceramic jar on the ground nearby - the water source has been convening people for millennia. Hanley and Larsen set up camp that evening on the cliff top. As night fell, they marveled at the stillness and watched the innumerable stars that began to appear. 'The beauty of a special place like this is it's a reminder that you come from the earth,' Hanley said. - - - The 'do not touch' area The off-road convoy stopped at a couple spots to look at Native American drawings along the Poison Spring Loop, which is also a popular thru-hiking trail. Many of them had been defaced by more modern visitors. Stewart's favorite lore is about Butch Cassidy, the famed bank robber and outlaw who hid in these canyons with loot that Stewart is still looking for. At one stop, Stewart led the group behind a giant boulder. He revealed where someone had carved 'Butch Cassidy' into the rock. It's a place he treasures, and each time he approaches, he's terrified vandals might have marred the inscription. Is it real? 'Only Butch knows,' he said. The convoy drove across the silty waters of the Dirty Devil River and up precipitous switchbacks, past Gunsight Butte and through Sunset Pass. A weathered wooden sign marked the entrance to the Orange Cliffs unit of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Four plaques identified what was allowed (camping, hiking) and prohibited (campfires, pets). A fifth plaque - which once banned off-road vehicles - had been pulled off. 'Now we're in the 'do not touch' area,' Stewart said of the 8-mile portion of the loop on Park Service land. 'There is nothing much different. It's just dirt and red rock.' The convoy eventually reached an intersection along a stretch of grasslands where large signs warned away off-road vehicles. Those routes continued to other parts of Orange Cliffs and to Canyonlands National Park. 'No OHVs beyond this point,' Stewart read. Conventional vehicles could continue. But on that day, at least, this group could not. 'They don't have bullet holes in 'em,' Babilis said of the signs. 'Not yet,' Stewart replied. 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The McDonald's Boycott Every Investor Needs to Know About
The McDonald's Boycott Every Investor Needs to Know About

Yahoo

time28 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

The McDonald's Boycott Every Investor Needs to Know About

President Donald Trump rode various waves of sentiment to return him to the Oval Office. One of the key areas of contention that got him re-elected was his attack on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Soon after his return, Trump swiftly acted to undo many DEI programs in federal agencies. Many companies followed suit, rolling back or eliminating their respective programs. Discover More: Read Next: Consumer sentiment has been balanced, but those upset by actions taken by corporate America have made themselves heard by imposing economic blackouts on firms. McDonald's is the latest company drawing the ire of upset Americans and their stock prices are reflecting that. Here's what investors should know. McDonald's was one of the first companies to roll back its DEI initiatives. 'We are retiring setting aspirational representation goals and instead keeping our focus on continuing to embed inclusion practices that grow our business into our everyday process and operations,' said McDonald's in a letter to its restaurant owners and operators in early January. The company announced numerous other changes to its DEI programs in the letter. Those moves didn't go unnoticed by The People's Union, a grassroots group that supports DEI and corporate responsibility. The group called for a boycott of McDonald's from June 24 to 30. Besides pausing DEI initiatives, the boycott of McDonald's was due to its perceived price gouging, use of tax loopholes, exploitation of workers, corporate greed and political corruption, according to a recent Instagram post. It's arguable whether or not economic blackouts work. However, the boycott of McDonald's couldn't come at a worse time for the company. The fast food chain saw U.S. sales decrease by 3.6% in the first quarter of 2025, making it the worst quarter since the second quarter of 2020. McDonald's serves 26 million customers in the United States daily. That's enough volume to withstand some slumps but given that it has seen same-store sales fall for two consecutive quarters, following it up with another quarter of losses won't look good. McDonald's isn't the only corporation to face economic blackouts. Firms that have faced similar backlashes include Amazon, Target and Walmart. Some faced a one-day boycott on February 28, whereas others faced extended boycotts. Amazon, for one, actually saw an increase in sales on its one-day boycott, according to Newsweek. Similarly, Costco experienced an impressive 22% increase in web traffic on February 28, thanks to its commitment to keeping DEI initiatives. Walmart saw a slight decrease, but Target fared significantly worse. The company faced a 40-day boycott due to rolling back DEI initiatives, and the retailer conceded sales were impacted by the action, according to CNN. Net sales decreased by 2.8% in the first quarter of 2025 versus the same period in 2024. It's debatable whether boycotts work, but the repercussions can vary widely. It won't be clear how McDonald's boycott led by The People's Union will impact sales until it reports its next earnings. Given how the restaurant has fared in recent quarters, investors may need to brace for further lagging sales. More From GOBankingRates 10 Unreliable SUVs To Stay Away From Buying This article originally appeared on The McDonald's Boycott Every Investor Needs to Know About

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