Stacey Abrams doesn't rule out another run for office, says true Christians should espouse progressive views
"I truly have not made any decisions and that is in part because there's an urgency to 2025 that we cannot ignore," Abrams told NPR, concerning whether she'll run again. "My focus right now is on how do we ensure that we have free and fair elections in 2026? There's a lot of hope being pinned on the '26 midterms."
Abrams was the minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017, and lost the 2018 Georgia governor's race to current Gov. Brian Kemp. She also lost to him again in a 2022 rematch.
She also told NPR that true Christians should be progressive, and that it was her responsibility to help immigrants and the dispossessed.
"I watched my parents live those values that education matters, that faith matters, and that helping people matters," Abrams said. "And for me, those are the values that guide me, my faith first and foremost," she added.
"I cannot call myself a Christian and not believe that it is my responsibility to help the stranger, to help immigrants, to help the dispossessed. I cannot say that my faith justifies the venom that has been turned against the LGBTQIA community, the way we have demonized the transgender community. I cannot be a woman of faith who has read the Bible and just conveniently pick the passages I like," Abrams continued.
Abrams also decried President Donald Trump's decision to deploy the military in Los Angeles, calling it "a violation of every precept of democratic rule under a civilian leader that we have in this country."
In June, Trump sent a battalion of 700 U.S. Marines as well as 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to help quell riots protesting ICE immigration enforcement actions that resulted in violence, including the burning of the American flag and the assault on law enforcement officers.
What Abrams found especially upsetting, though, was Trump's executive orders on DEI, including "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity," directing federal agencies to end all DEI practices and asking the private sector to "end illegal DEI discrimination and preferences."
"For me, the most important piece, though, was the number of directives, the executive orders that came out at the very beginning against DEI," Abrams said.
"And people dismissed it as, 'Oh, well, this is just stopping quotas,' or 'This was an HR thing,'" she added. "But no, he was intentionally setting up a system of belief that the protection of the vulnerable, that the corrective actions this nation has taken for 249 years, that those things were somehow inherently wrong."
"And it was designed to allow for the later attacks that we have seen on all of these different communities. Because if you can demonize at the beginning, it becomes a lot easier to dehumanize when it matters," Abrams said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
DC Council Gives Initial Approval to Commanders' New Stadium Package
On Friday, the Washington, D.C. City Council voted 9 to 3 in favor of revised legislation in support of a $3.8 billion, mixed-used stadium district, including a new stadium for the Washington Commanders, at the RFK Stadium site. A minimum of eight votes was needed to move the legislation forward. The tally came after two days of public comment and debate between councilmembers, Commanders' leadership and Washington mayor Muriel Bowser. The initial plan, which was introduced in April, would commit $1.1 billion in taxpayer funds towards the stadium's construction as well as the two parking garages that will have 8,000 spots combined. More from Conor McGregor Loses Appeal in Sexual Assault Lawsuit Athletics' Las Vegas Ballpark to Get Food, Funding From Aramark USA Fencing Sees New Academy as Revenue Driver in Post-House World A second vote on the funding will take place on September 17 after Trayon White is sworn in as councilman for Ward 8. That vote will require a minimum of nine votes. 'The era of a crumbling sea of asphalt on the banks of the Anacostia is finally coming to an end,' Mayor Bowser said in a statement released after the vote. In April, Bowser, Commanders owner Josh Harris and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced the team's plans to build a 65,000-seat domed stadium on the site of RFK Stadium. The new venue would be the center of a new 180-acre retail, housing and entertainment development in the southeast part of the district. The Commanders have publicly committed to $2.7 billion towards the project, but in the revised agreement, the city council was able to coax some financial concessions out of the team. The franchise agreed to hand the city $260 million in parking revenue from non-stadium event days, $112 million from parking taxes (at a 18% rate) and $54 million in sales tax receipts from merchandise. The team also agreed to give the city 10% of sales taxes from food and beverage on game days, which is estimated to run $248 million over the course of the proposed 30-year stadium lease. One other change from the original agreement seen as benefiting the city is a restructuring of debt financing by not capitalizing interest in fiscal years 2028 and 2029. The district will ideally save $55 million in the process. Finally, the proposed bill will redirect $600 million from the city's sports facility fee to a transportation redevelopment pool that will fund improvements to the Stadium-Armory Metro station at the RFK stadium site. The sports facility fee was originally designated as the 'ballpark fee,' which was created to fund the construction of Nationals Park, the home to MLB's Washington Nationals that opened in 2007. Congress is in control of the district's budget, and in the lead-up to the April announcement, several city councilmembers expressed concerns about funding a new stadium when the federal body mandated $410 million of cuts to the city's budget. Bowser dismissed the budget concerns at the time, saying, 'I call it a fake budget crisis, because we have the money. So if we have to cut services because they don't fix their snafu, that's a problem.' Prior to leaving office in January, President Donald Trump's predecessor Joe Biden approved a transfer of authority for the RFK Stadium site from the federal government to the district. While the likelihood that the bill would be rejected was small, Trump posed a potential roadblock on July 20 when he threatened to hold up the stadium deal if the team did not revert its name back its former moniker. It remains possible Trump will attempt to throw his weight against the team over this gripe. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, the president said, 'I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original… and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, 'Washington Commanders,' I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington.' (Trump simultaneously asked that MLB's Cleveland Guardians revert their name to the 'Indians.') Valued at $6.3 billion, including real estate and corporate sponsorships, the Commanders rank 10th in Sportico's NFL franchise valuations list. Yet, the team's operating profits of $110 million in 2023 rank 22nd while its $80 million ticket revenue only paces ahead of the Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals. The Commanders have played at what is now called Northwest Stadium—formerly FedEx Field—in the Maryland suburbs since 1996. With the team's least at Northwest Stadium set to expire after the 2027 NFL season, the team would need to extend the current deed before the new RFK stadium is set to open in 2030. Best of Tennis Prize Money Tracker: Which Player Has Earned the Most in 2025? Browns Officially Get Public Money for New Stadium in Ohio Budget WNBA Franchise Valuations Ranking List: From Golden State to Atlanta
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bessent says US has 'makings of a deal' with China
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that he believed that Washington has the makings of a deal with China and that he was "optimistic" about the path forward. "This week's negotiations in Stockholm have advanced our talks with China, and I believe that we have the makings of a deal that will benefit both of our great nations," Bessent said in a post on X that was subsequently deleted. "I am optimistic about the path forward," he added. A Treasury Department spokesperson said the post was being reposted because the images attached to it had not uploaded correctly. The spokesperson also noted that the language in the post was in line with what Bessent had said in various media interviews this week. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Bessent said the United States believes it has the makings of a trade deal with China, but it is "not 100% done." U.S. negotiators "pushed back quite a bit" over two days of trade talks with the Chinese in Stockholm this week, Bessent told CNBC. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with President Donald Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Investors react to Kugler's resignation, firing of BLS commissioner
(Reuters) -The Federal Reserve said on Friday that Governor Adriana Kugler was resigning from the central bank effective Aug. 8. Separately, U.S President Donald Trump ordered that the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika L. McEntarfer, be fired after data showed employment growth was weaker than expected last month. COMMENTS: PETER CARDILLO, CHIEF MARKET ECONOMIST, SPARTAN CAPITAL SECURITIES, NEW YORK "Obviously, (Adriana's resignation) is a negative, and that'll probably continue to pressure the dollar. That's not a good sign, when someone resigns, unless there is a personal reason, there is always a question mark as to why. So the unknown factor of that usually adds to uncertainties. "Of course, you had a major revision in the employment numbers so it's a fact that Trump fired the Commissioner of Labour Statistics, basically questioning the accuracy of these numbers because of that huge revision that we had. So, anytime something like this happens, it always raises uncertainties." CHRISTOPHER HODGE, CHIEF US ECONOMIST, NATIXIS ,NEW YORK: 'The interim BLS Chief looks to be an accomplished technocrat, which is a great sign. Going forward, should the fidelity of the data be compromised, this would place the markets and Fed in a very precarious position. I would expect the Fed to rely more and more on the anecdotes it collects from the Beige Book. Her (Adriana Kugler's ) term was set to expire in January, so no great change in policy. I have not seen an indication that she is resigning in protest, but the timing is very curious' JODY CALEMINE, DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY, AFL-CIO, WASHINGTON, D.C. 'Today was probably the last reliable jobs report we will ever see. This isn't good for anybody looking to see what's going on with the economy, not just for workers but for the business community in general.' 'This morning's jobs report was showing what was the first indicators of probably a coming recession…it's clear he fired her (McEntarfer) for issuing a jobs report he just didn't like.' On Kugler: 'The Fed board should be independent of the president, that's for sure. He (Trump) is wielding increasingly authoritarian control over different agencies, and clearly he wants to wield that control over the Fed. The markets have kept that impulse in check so far. He's increasingly out of control.' JUAN PEREZ, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF TRADING, MONEX USA, WASHINGTON: "The way (the market) is going to interpret (the departures) is in a very dollar-negative way." "No matter what the economic picture in the United States, the one thing that holds the U.S. dollar strong in the eyes of the world is the authority and the independence of the Federal Reserve. Whenever anything comes to potentially put that into compromise then that's when the U.S. dollar spirals down." PETER TUZ, PRESIDENT OF CHASE INVESTMENT COUNSEL IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA "There will be an opening for the Trump administration to fill. It's likely he will choose somebody whose views on interest rates match his own. Then Treasury Secretary Bessent wants to have a list of possible replacements for the Fed Chair by the end of the year so, Trump is getting a bigger chance to appoint people whose views match his own." Regarding Trump's order to fire Erika L. McEntarfe, he said: "I don't like to see a bureaucrat fired just because the data that gets presented doesn't support the administration's policies. We have a president who believes the economy is strong and that interest rates should be cut . I have read nothing that suggests she was not doing a good job or conscientious. It's upsetting. We're killing the messenger here instead of trying to see what the data really says and go from there. I see no evidence that the numbers were ever manipulated. It wouldn't be big news today if it happened a lot. Certainly, it's unusual." (Compiled by the Global Finance & Markets Breaking News team) Sign in to access your portfolio
