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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
CNN panel ends in chaos after liberal guest makes shock claim about Trump
A CNN panel descended into chaos when a liberal pundit cast doubt on whether President Donald Trump was shot during the July 2024 assassination attempt. Touré stunned his co-panelists with a comment that prompted gasps and immediate demands for an on-air correction during a segment about the president's health. 'He supposedly got shot in the ear,' the podcaster said, referencing the incident in Butler, Pennsylvania last year. 'We never heard from his doctors about that.' The remark triggered an explosive exchange as CNN NewsNight anchor Abby Phillip struggled to maintain order. Touré got an instant rebuke from conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings, who sounded off in disbelief. 'Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Did you say supposedly?' Jennings snapped, turning to Phillip looking for her to intervene. 'Abby, Abby…' Phillip, who had already been attempting to corral a loud round of crosstalk between guests, tried to bring the panel under control. 'If y'all stop screaming at the table, maybe I can actually respond,' she said firmly. But by then the on-air brawl was in full flow. 'Supposedly. That's where we're at now,' added conservative radio host Ben Ferguson, shaking his head. 'Touré, he was shot in the ear.' As voices clashed across the table, Jennings pushed back: 'He had blood on his face! Where did it come from?' he demanded. 'I went to the Republican National Commission — he had a bandage on his ear.' But Touré doubled down, challenging the panel and White House for not providing more transparency. 'But did we hear from the doctors?' he pressed. 'Wouldn't we always hear from his doctors when he gets shot?' Phillip interjected again, trying to steer the segment back to its original focus on Trump's visible hand injuries and his doctor's recent note. 'This is not really what we're talking about,' she said. 'He is fine. It's just a function, frankly, of being an older person.' Phillip eventually cut through the noise. 'He was shot in the ear,' she said, firmly. 'We saw the blood. We saw the bandage.' Touré's eyebrow-raising comments came just over a year since 20-year-old Michael Thomas Crooks fired eight shots from a rooftop at Trump during a campaign stop in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing a rally-goer, injuring two others, and grazing Trump's right ear in what law enforcement later admitted was a catastrophic breakdown in security. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), a former White House physician, said Trump's wound came 'less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head,' and that it resulted in 'significant bleeding and marked swelling.' Photos of the aftermath showed the then-former president's bloodied face and bandaged ear, images that instantly became symbolic of what his supporters call his political resilience — and what his critics feared would reshape the race. The Secret Service response, however, was widely condemned, and multiple federal investigations later confirmed there were glaring lapses in planning, communication, and threat assessment. Investigations found that the rooftop from which Crooks fired, just 135 meters from the rally stage, was known to pose a risk. But plans to obstruct the view with farm equipment were never executed, and no agents were posted to the vantage point. Worse still, local law enforcement and Secret Service personnel were operating from two separate command posts, with communication described as a 'chaotic mixture' of text messages, phone calls, radio chatter, and emails. Despite repeated requests for additional manpower in the days leading up to the rally, the Secret Service was stretched thin. A Senate report released this month declared: 'There were multiple, unacceptable failures in the planning and execution of the July 13 Butler rally.' Crooks was ultimately killed by a Secret Service countersniper moments after his rampage began. He left behind no manifesto and little trace of motive, and authorities believe he acted alone. The attack nevertheless prompted the swift resignation of Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle and spurred urgent reforms. That context made Touré's use of the word 'supposedly' all the more jarring — not just to his co-panelists, but to viewers still reeling from a shooting that nearly changed the course of US history.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Suddenly, Donald Trump is in trouble
The second Trump term was always going to get a little bumpy. You'd certainly need nerves of steel to be in the administration this week. Once the president seemed immune to the pressures of the 'Panicans'. He humiliated those wailing about an Iranian nuclear strike on Boston by ending the Iran-Israel war in 12 days with zero American casualties. When Elon Musk started up another bout of late night posting against the One Big Beautiful Bill, Trump told him to take a hike. This is a guy who built his reputation in business and politics on bouncing back from apparent disaster. He's made of sterner stuff than you or I. But there appear to be limits, even for him. An explosive Wall Street Journal article published last night, revealing a 'bawdy' letter purportedly from Trump to Jeffrey Epstein (the president denies the letter in question is from him), has sent shock waves through Maga-world. Tensions have been building since the department of justice and the FBI announced that they would not release any more files related to Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex trafficker. But the president's initial instinct – to rage against supporters who had fallen 'hook, line, and sinker' for conspiracy theories – could not hold. He has now asked Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to 'produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval'. Clearly, the administration thinks it cannot treat the Epstein conspiracy theorists as just another group of soon-to-be-embarrassed Panicans. The base doesn't care if America drops a couple of bombs on the Ayatollah or calls Musk a weirdo. But Trump and senior figures in his administration helped spread the idea that there was more to the Epstein scandal than we were being told. The dynamics of the online media ecosystem now turning against the president are also worth examining, as they portend poorly to the future of the American Right. For all the progressive teasing about the Fox-News-on-crack aesthetics of Maga, Trump's movement has always been one that is supremely comfortable with the online sphere. His first campaign was defined by 'meme magic', arcane internet imageboards and Pepe the Frog. The same people ironically (and then sincerely) amplifying Trump didn't fit easily into the mental image of the left-behind white Americans that supposedly made up the Republican candidate's base: they were young, media-savvy, and deeply paranoid. Perhaps it was inevitable that the man who popularised Birtherism would attract the guys who shouted about Pizzagate – the lurid conspiracy theory that falsely claimed a paedophile ring was being run out of a Washington DC pizza restaurant. A new generation of influencers rose from the imageboards and chatrooms and came out into the open. They were edgier than Joe Rogan, but like him had interests outside of the purely political. You can see the evolution of their thinking clearly: Maga wasn't just the project of a single extraordinary man, but a brand, a broad church where you could shill supplements and drone into your podcast mic – as long as you stuck by your president. Then again, the 47th president wasn't paying you. That was your audience, and they craved intrigue even after the election campaign was over. A belief that these influencers brought the president to power in the first place (just don't ask them what they said about Ron DeSantis back in 2022) made them think they could make demands. Trump needed them, they thought, not the other way around. If you want a glimpse at what Maga without the president looks like, take a look at Laura Loomer. She's been at the centre of internet bloodsports for more than a decade now, and created a space for herself within Maga by acting as a regime pitbull. She's spent the last few days making veiled threats about the damage this Epstein crisis could cause Trump. Loomer is not representative of the base, but she is representative of an online influencer class that is one of the administration's main vectors for getting out news. If they turn Panican, ignoring them isn't an option: they need to be smacked down, and fast. The president and his allies played with fire in letting the conspiracy-obsessives grow their power for so long. The stakes are high: without Trump, the political project of Maga dies. In its place will be a dangerous fantasy woven by those who make a living frightening people into impotence.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Tory opponents of Angela Rayner's strikers charter will celebrate ‘Norman Tebbit Day' in honour of Margaret Thatcher's union-bashing ally
Opponents of Angela Rayner 's controversial new industrial laws will tomorrow celebrate 'Norman Tebbit Day' in honour of Margaret Thatcher 's late union-bashing ally. Tory peers will use a debate in the Lords to try to amend Ms Rayner's Employment Rights Bill, which critics say will make it harder to employ workers, leave businesses vulnerable to strikes and force firms to employ diversity officers to censor conversations they deem inappropriate. The Bill also contains a raft of other measures. They include the end of zero-hours contracts, strengthened redundancy rights, more flexible working and the power for ministers to take companies to employment tribunals on behalf of employees – even if they do not want to sue. The peers are planning to amend measures granting access rights for union officials, and new electronic balloting which would make it easier for union reps to persuade workers to back industrial action. Lord Tebbit, who died aged 94 on July 7, led Mrs Thatcher's drive to restrict the unions' ability to bring industrial action. He described Marxist totalitarians in unions as 'small in number, anti-democratic forces [which] have gained great power through the trades union movement'. The peers are also expected to raise fears that hostile states such as Russia, Iran and North Korea could cyber-hack the e-ballots. As The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this month, under the Bill employers must protect their staff from harassment by third parties. It means, for example, that a worker could take an employer to a tribunal if they feel jokes or banter they overhear was offensive on grounds such as race, sex or religion if their bosses didn't do 'all they could' to prevent it. That is likely to lead to firms taking on more diversity officers to monitor what people are saying to help them prove they had taken steps to protect their workers. The Bill fails to stipulate any ring fence allowing the expression of opinions on political, moral, religious or social matters. Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said: 'Angela Rayner's extreme union charter will take us right back to the 1970s, a period Norman Tebbit fought tooth and nail to drag Britain out of. 'These laws will see the unions run rife, strangle private enterprise and grind the country to a halt. 'Most worryingly are measures which risk industrial sabotage. This goes against everything Tebbit fought for, and must be stopped at once'.
