Latest news with #MAGA-supporting
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate responds to U.K. rape charges: 'Never give in'
Self-described misogynist Andrew Tate sought to portray himself as a victim on Wednesday after British officials confirmed rape charges have been authorized against the MAGA-supporting influencer. 'The matrix is angry,' Tate wrote in a post on X. 'They do this to ANY man who fights against them. Never give up men. Never give in. Do not be scared. Strength and honor.' Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate — who were born in the United States and hold dual U.S. and U.K. citizenship — already face human trafficking charges in Romania as part of a separate criminal inquiry. British prosecutors announced Wednesday that the brothers faces a total of 21 charges, including rape and human trafficking, in the U.K. As The New York Times reported: British prosecutors said the brothers "would be extradited to the United Kingdom after the conclusion of separate criminal proceedings in Romania. Charges can be lodged against suspects only when they are physically in Britain." The brothers have denied the allegations against them in both Romania and the United Kingdom. Naturally, Andrew Tate, who's amassed a large following online by spewing rank bigotry — particularly toward women — sought the warm embrace of his hypermasculine horde through a conspiratorial social media post framing the U.K. charges as nothing more than an assault on true manhood. I have some better advice than "never give in" for the 38-year-old former professional kickboxer — and for men everywhere: Always get consent. And as an aside, that 'strength and honor' line Tate included in his social media response to the new rape charge appears to be faux-macho schlock pulled from a 'Gladiator' film. Various members of the Trump administration have publicly supported the Tate brothers, despite the allegations against them. And when the brothers visited the U.S. earlier this year, they were treated to a sort of hero's welcome from Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White, a close ally of Donald Trump. The greeting caused division in the conservative movement, with some right-wing influencers noting the terrible optics. Florida's Republican attorney general has even opened a criminal investigation into allegations of sexually predatory behavior, showing there's more than a little intraparty uneasiness among Republicans when it comes the these two. One wonders how the president's allies will interact with the brothers going forward. Granted, conservatives have broadly coalesced around Trump, who's been found liable for sexual abuse and who's boasted about groping women without their consent, so sexual misconduct allegations may not deter too many of their MAGA-aligned supporters. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘No MAGA left behind': Trump's pardons get even more political
As President Donald Trump's interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin was remarkably blunt about intermingling Trump's political goals with the ostensibly independent actions of the Justice Department. That might have cost him the permanent gig. So leave it to Martin, now Trump's pardon attorney, to say the quiet part out loud about Trump's pardons. 'No MAGA left behind,' Martin posted Monday on X. Martin's missive came after Trump pardoned a MAGA-supporting former Virginia sheriff, Scott Jenkins, who had been convicted of bribery. Martin's further posts suggested this pardon wasn't about rewarding a Trump ally, per se – a more problematic proposition – but rather about correcting what Trump allies argue was a weaponized Biden administration prosecution. However, if you look closely at how Trump's used his pardon power – which he has exercised dramatically this week, with a slew of new pardons and commutations on Wednesday alone – it's virtually impossible to miss the political overtones. Many of Trump's acts of clemency have rewarded an ally or someone tied to an ally, or they have served a clear and not terribly subtle political purpose. Politics have loomed over other controversial and high-profile pardons – from Andrew Jackson's, to Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon, to Bill Clinton pardoning Marc Rich, to Joe Biden pardoning his own son. (Biden in his closing days also preemptively pardoned other family members and Trump critics who hadn't been accused or convicted of crimes, because Trump and his allies had suggested they could be targeted.) But Trump took things up a level by pardoning a spate of key convicted allies in his first term, often without the kind of extensive process usually used in pardons. And his second term continues to push the envelope. The big one, of course, was the blanket pardoning of virtually all January 6, 2021, defendants – about 1,500 people in total. These were people who quite literally rose up on Trump's behalf and in some cases assaulted police. Trump pardoned nearly all of them even as polling later showed 83% of Americans opposed his pardons for those convicted of violent crimes. There has been more where that came from this week. On Monday, Trump pardoned the MAGA-supporting former sheriff. Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison (during the Trump administration) for offering local businessmen positions as auxiliary deputy sheriffs in return for campaign contributions. On Tuesday, Trump made a splash when he spared reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley lengthy prison sentences for bank fraud after their daughter campaigned extensively for Trump in 2024. Campaign assistance appears to be a common denominator for some Trump pardons. The New York Times reported on Tuesday, for example, that Trump's April pardon of convicted nursing home executive Paul Walczak came after Walczak's mother raised millions for Trump and other Republicans, sought to publicize the diary of Biden's daughter, and attended a $1-million-per-person fundraising dinner last month. Walczak even cited his mother's pro-Trump political activity in his pardon application. And on Wednesday, as Martin took to social media again to proclaim it 'pardon day,' Trump granted clemency to even more individuals, including pardoning former GOP Rep. Michael Grimm of New York. That means Trump has now pardoned no fewer than eight convicted former GOP members of Congress, between his first and second terms. Earlier in the day, Trump suggested that next in line for pardons could be two men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. ('It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job,' Trump said.) Beyond the pardons mentioned above, Trump has also pardoned or granted clemency to: Former Republican Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, who was convicted on two separate occasions in recent decades Mark Bashaw, an officer who formerly served at the Army Public Health Center and was found guilty of violating the Biden administration's military Covid safety rules by a court martial Trevor Milton, who with his wife gave Trump's reelection effort $1.8 million just a month before the 2024 election and had been represented by lawyers with ties to Trump Ross Ulbricht, whom Trump had pledged to pardon during the 2024 campaign as an appeal to potential libertarian supporters Two key witnesses in the Biden impeachment inquiry (Devon Archer and Jason Galanis) Brian Kelsey, a Republican former state senator from Tennessee Ex-Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has supported Trump and called himself a 'Trumpocrat' Former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore, a Republican who some have labeled 'Lady Trump' About two dozen people convicted of blocking access to abortion clinics In case the politics of that last one weren't clear enough, Trump announced the pardons just a day before he addressed the anti-abortion-rights 'March for Life' in January. Indeed, you have to strain pretty hard to find Trump pardons or grants of clemency that don't have some kind of political element. Trump in March pardoned three cryptocurrency figures who don't have an obvious political connection to him. But he's also made inroads – both political and personal – into the crypto world, and has pushed for deregulation. He pardoned two DC police officers convicted in a deadly pursuit, and he did so with at least some support from D.C.'s police chief and Democratic mayor. But he also suggested the police had been targeted 'because they went after an illegal' – suggesting the decision was linked to his harsh anti-illegal immigration efforts. Jean Pinkard might be Trump's most normal-sounding act of clemency, given she was sentenced to just one year in prison and has battled cancer. But even there, she was represented by a lawyer who prominently pushed Trump's baseless claims of a stolen 2020 election. Trump on Wednesday also made several pardons and commutations with no immediately apparent political nexus. For instance, he commuted the sentence of former Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover, just months after Biden pardoned Hoover's second-in-command. Regardless of intent, the pattern of Trump's pardons is pretty clear. They're heavily focused on people who support Trump or have ties to him, those who targeted people Trump also doesn't like, and instances where the pardons could send messages to key constituencies. And there's no sign it's going to slow down any time soon – especially where Martin is involved.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
John Mulaney slams Pope Leo XIV's brother: 'Enough!'
John Mulaney has slammed the media for its coverage of Pope Leo's brother: 'Enough!' The comedian ripped into Louis Prevost during his chat-show monologue, declaring the MAGA-supporting brother of Pope Leo overexposed. "I don't need to hear from the pope's brother anymore," John, 42, said in the latest episode of Everybody's Live!. "At first, it was like, 'Oh, the pope has a brother. How interesting,' and then interview number 19," he added. Since Pope Leo was elected on 8 May, several major news outlets, including The New York Times, NBC News, and CBS News, have featured interviews with his brother Louis. While the Pope has no specific political affiliation, Louis has been vocal about his pro-Trump position, which John openly disagreed with. "Enough with this f**king guy," John said. "This Chicago guy on his porch. Every interview looks like the reveal at the end of an episode of Catfish." He elaborated on exactly why he also found both the Pope and Louis "boring". "Hey, imagine there was a dude that's super boring and he prays all day and he has no life and he's never had sex," John joked. "Hey, want to meet his brother?" John added his friends should "stop texting me about the Pope" in general. Despite the fact that he, the Pope and Louis all hail from Chicago, John said he was uninterested in news of either brother. "I don't give a s**t that he's from Chicago," he declared. "This is not important news to me.".
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jussie Smollett And City Of Chicago Reach Settlement In Infamous Hate Crime Hoax Lawsuit
Jussie Smollett and the city of Chicago have come to an agreement, settling the $130,000 lawsuit tied to his infamous 2019 hate crime hoax where the former Empire star was found guilty of filing a false police report involving two 'MAGA-supporting' assailants. While the specifics of the settlement remain under wraps, both parties have confirmed that 'additional time is needed' to finalize the documentation, according to NBC. This legal saga began in January 2019 after Smollett claimed to be the victim of a vicious, homophobic, racist attack by two MAGA-supporting assailants where he was 'assaulted, doused in bleach, and tied by the neck with a noose.' However, the story quickly unraveled, exposing what many quickly labeled a poorly executed hoax. Testimony from the Osundairo brothers, who were paid by Smollett to stage the attack, revealed that Smollett had written them a check to fake the entire ordeal. Though Cook County State Attorney Kimberly Foxx initially dropped charges against Smollett, the case was resurrected after public pressure. Smollett was convicted on five felony counts of disorderly conduct, but his conviction was overturned last year by the Illinois Supreme Court on a technicality involving his Fifth Amendment rights. Despite serving only five days of a five-month sentence, Smollett has maintained his innocence. In February 2019, the actor attended a concert where he spoke on the incident. 'I'm not fully healed yet, but I'm going to,' he said, reading from a piece of paper. 'Just because there has been a lot of stuff said about me that's absolutely not true.' Glancing at the venue's balcony, he continued: 'I'm sure my lawyer's sitting up there like 'No, Jussie, no.'' Making a bold statement to wrap up his remarks, he added, 'Above all, I fought… back. I'm the gay Tupac.' More from Jussie Smollett Conviction Overturned By Illinois Supreme Court Lee Daniels Would Cast Jussie Smollett In A Future Project Despite Hate Crime Scandal Jussie Smollett Conviction Upheld By Illinois Appeals Court
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - At the first whiff of power, these Republicans betrayed the rule of law
Every day the Trump regime tramples the rule of law makes Americans less free and less safe. Every day the president defies the Constitution and courts makes America less America. President Trump is increasingly acting like a king or dictator who rules by decree, and whose decree is all it takes to make someone disappear. That's now happening here, and with the full support of people like House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has long portrayed himself and the Republican Party as advocates for the rule of law. 'Ours is 'a government of laws and not of men,' and the rule of law is our foundation,' says Johnson's website. That's fine to say, but where is Johnson when Trump sends hundreds of people, mostly without criminal records, to a foreign concentration camp, with no trial and no opportunity to prove their innocence? Where is Johnson's professed reverence for the rule of law when Trump and other MAGA-supporting officials mockingly defy the courts and evade a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that the administration must facilitate the return of a man the courts have ruled, and Trump's team admitted, was wrongly included in one of the trafficking flights to a brutal gulag in El Salvador? For someone who says God raised him into leadership to be a 'Moses' for America, Johnson does not show any inclination to challenge our own heart-hardened pharaoh. Of course, Johnson isn't the only one who talks about freedom and the rule of law while undermining both. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has a long record of denouncing dictatorial behavior by the late Fidel Castro, but Rubio is now helping lead a brutally anti-freedom campaign in the U.S. With a stroke of Rubio's pen, foreign students legally studying in the U.S. have been declared unwelcome, abducted from the streets, thrown into detention and threatened with deportation — all for having expressed opinions Rubio disagrees with. That's not freedom, it's fascism. Meanwhile, constitutional lawyer and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who denounced the 2023 indictment of Trump as a sign of 'dictatorship,' tweeted in March, 'Alien gang members aren't entitled to due process — the Trump administration rightly deported them.' In fact, Cruz declared flat-out on national television that 'due process does not protect foreign nationals.' Years of Supreme Court rulings, including a 9-0 ruling this month, say that Cruz is wrong. The Trump regime didn't give any of the people it hustled onto planes a chance to challenge the regime's claims or prove their innocence. That's what due process is all about. Due process is not just some abstract legal principle. It is at the heart of individual freedom and the rule of law. As journalist Garrett Graff recently wrote, 'due process is civilization.' In fact, Trump and his allies loudly advocated for due process in his criminal cases, and he used every bit of it to delay being held accountable for breaking the law. As Graff noted, the same Trump is 'now the one seeking to rob the rest of us of that tradition and protection.' We should all be alarmed at Trump's expressed desire to send Americans into the concentration camps run by El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, Trump's buddy and self-proclaimed 'world's coolest dictator.' We should all be alarmed that Vice President JD Vance puts scare quotes around the phrase 'due process,' as if due process were a legal fiction and not a foundation of our constitutional rights. And we should all be alarmed that Trump's counterterrorism chief Sebastian Gorka is warning that people defending due process rights of people sent to nightmarish imprisonment in El Salvador should be prosecuted for 'aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists.' The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently criticized the Trump regime for 'asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order.' Trump's claim, in defiance of a unanimous Supreme Court, that he can't do anything to return a man he admits was wrongly shipped off to a gulag in El Salvador 'should be shocking' to Americans' 'intuitive sense of liberty,' the judges wrote. And yes, it should be shocking to every Republican elected official who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and who declares their support for the rule of law. Sadly, what is no longer shocking is to see Trump-fearing Republicans rally around even his most unconstitutional and undemocratic actions. It is what we have come to expect from them. It is why we must resist them with our voices and replace them with our votes. Svante Myrick is president of People For the American Way. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
