Tired of ads? Want to support our progressive journalism? Click to learn more.LEARN MORE
Enjoy good journalism?
… then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.
Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.
We need your support in this difficult time. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click to donate by check.
Value Raw Story?
… then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.
Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.
  |  |
Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
Don Jr. picks up where his dad left off: Trump's son continues tradition of Twitter lies
January 23, 2021
With his father now permanently barred from Twitter, President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., has taken it upon himself to continue the family legacy of attacking Joe Biden with lie-laden accusations on Twitter.
This article first appeared in Salon.
<p>Don Trump Jr., who has both steadfastly defended and participated in his father's many improprieties, has positioned himself as one of the biggest right-wing provocateurs of the Trump era. A self-styled cultural critic and political analyst, Don Jr. has already "written" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Donald-Trump-Jr/e/B07VX5GZ9R/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>two books</u></a> on "leftist hate", "liberal privilege," and "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/books/donald-trump-jr-liberal-privilege.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Biden's half century of being a swamp monster</u></a>." </p><p>On Thursday, Twitter witnessed just one of Don Jr.'s latest provocations, when he shared a New York Times<em> </em>story about Portland, Oregon protestors getting tear-gassed by federal agents for destroying property and burning an American flag. "Joe Biden uses tear gas...," <a href="https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1352267781908082690" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>said</u></a> Don Jr, confused, "That's how this is supposed to work right?"</p><p>While many users kindly reminded Don Jr. of his decreasing relevance to American politics, he nevertheless continued on with his tirade, indicting the media as a key contributor to Biden's "illegitimate" win. </p><p>"Imagine how much easier it is to run as a Democrat when you have a multi billion dollar main stream media complex willing to lie and run cover for you at all times!" <a href="https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1352269140002803713" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Don Jr. tweeted</u></a>, "Our media is broken." Sowing distrust in the "liberal" media is, of course, his father's calling card, which Don Jr. has inevitably inherited. </p><p>To make his case on media bias, Don Jr. exhibited two headlines: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/07/trump-campaign-promotes-false-claim-that-biden-would-end-fracking/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>one</u></a> from The Washington Post which read, "Trump campaign promotes false claim that Biden would end fracking" and <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2021/01/20/biden-administration-yes-we-are-following-through-with-a-fracking-ban-n2583476" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>the other</u></a>, from right-wing news site Townhall: "Biden Administration: Yes, We Are Following Through With a Fracking Ban."</p><p>What Don Jr. failed to include, however, was any context for either. Because although the two headlines appear contradictory, both authors admit the same premise: that Biden vowed to ban fracking on federal land. </p><p>Don Jr. also bandied Senator Ted Cruz's absurd notion that "By [entering back into the Paris Climate Agreement], President Biden indicated that he's more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris than in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh." Senator Cruz's sudden concern for the people of Pittsburgh runs in direct contrast to his failed effort to overturn the election, which would disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters. In fact, most of Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is situated, <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/ted-cruz-suddenly-pretends-to-care-about-pittsburgh-1846099757" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>voted overwhelmingly</u></a> for Biden. </p><p>Don Jr. capped off his firestorm on Twitter with brevity. "Congratulations China," <a href="https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1352302404767784962" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>he tweeted</u></a>, eliding any context. One might imagine that such vague embitterment stems from his father's distaste for the country, despite the family having <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/10/donald-trump-chinese-bank-account" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>strong financial ties</u></a> to it. Don Jr.'s quip also confounds in the face of Biden's <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/535210-biden-admin-condemns-unproductive-and-cynical-chinese-sanctions-against" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>recent condemnation</u></a> of China's sanctions on former Trump staffers.</p><p>Some have speculated that Don Jr. might pursue a political career of his own after four years of situating himself in the right circles. Indeed, The Post argued that his book <em>Triggered </em>read like a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/03/donald-trump-jrs-triggered-reads-like-campaign-book/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>campaign book</u></a>. It's unclear what will come of Don Jr. now that he is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/14/politics/dc-attorney-general-donald-trump-jr-inaugural-funds-abuse/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>steeped in litigation</u></a>. Hopefully, lawyers and federal officials will drain him of the necessary and "<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/08/politics/donald-trump-exercise-health-physical/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>finite</u></a>" energy to ever make a bid for public office. </p> <br/> <h3>Jon Skolnik</h3> <p>Jon Skolnik is a News Fellow at Salon. His work has appeared in Current Affairs, The Baffler, Alternet, and The New York Daily News. </p>
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Two top Brazilian indigenous leaders have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate President Jair Bolsonaro for "crimes against humanity", accusing him of unprecedented environmental damage, killings and persecution.
Chief Raoni Metuktire, the leader of the Kayapo people, and Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui, leader of the Paiter Surui tribe, filed the claim at The Hague-based body on Friday.
<p>Since Bolsonaro became president in January 2019, "the destruction of the Amazonian forest has accelerated without measure," said the complaint to the ICC, reported by France's Le Monde newspaper on Saturday.</p><p>It said deforestation had rocketed "by 34.5 percent in a year, the assassination of indigenous leaders is at an 11-year high and environmental agencies have collapsed or faced threats."</p><p>The two leaders said killings, the forced transfers of local peoples and persecution constituted "crimes against humanity."</p><p>Bolsonaro's government has proposed legislation that would relax restrictions within Amazon regions on commercial mining, oil and gas extraction, and large-scale agriculture.</p><p>Activists are pushing for ecocide to be added to the crimes prosecuted by the ICC, alongside genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.</p><p>The issue was raised by the Maldives and Vanuatu at the ICC general assembly in December 2019.</p><p>"This situation, the most dramatic in the last 10 years, is a direct result of the policies of Jair Bolsonaro", who wants to "lift all the barriers to plunder the wealth of the Amazon," the suit said, also singling out mining firms.</p><p>It said the "destruction of the Amazon forest... was a direct danger not only for Brazilians but for all humanity."</p><p>In July last year, health workers in Brazil had also urged the ICC to probe Bolsonaro for crimes against humanity over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.</p><p>A month earlier Chief Raoni had told AFP in an interview that Bolsonaro was trying to use the pandemic to eliminate indigenous people.</p><p>Brazil's immunisation programme has been widely criticised for being late and chaotic, not least given Bolsonaro's opposition.</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
CONTINUE READING
Show less
In March 2016, when few political consultants, pollsters, data-jockeys, psy-ops masterminds or media maestros thought that Donald Trump could or would ever win the White House, I assessed his rise differently in a long Salon essay that few can read now because Americans barely glance into what we always call "the rear-view mirror."
This article first appeared in Salon.
<p>History is more than a rear-view mirror. It enables people who give it more than a quick glance to know that someone like Trump surfs a tsunami of <em>ressentiment</em> — a public psychopathology in which gnawing insecurities, envy and hatred, nursed by many in private, converge in scary social eruptions that present themselves as noble crusades but that diminish their participants even in seeming to make them big.</p><p>"<em>Ressentiment</em>'s gloves really come off once there are enough angry 'little-big men' to step out en masse, with a Sarah Palin or a Glenn Beck," I warned nearly five years ago, adding:</p> <blockquote> Trump is leading them across the Rubicon, signaling that he'll mow down anyone and anything in his way. Legitimate grievances that fuel <em>ressentiment</em> sometimes drive its eruptions to a fleeting brilliance, as when Palin tapped currents of thwarted love and hope in her speeches in the 2008 campaign. But, like her public persona, such gestures soon curdle and collapse, tragicomically or catastrophically, into their own cowardice, ignorance and lies.<br/> </blockquote> <p>But how "soon" do they collapse? Trumpian <em>ressentiment</em> lasted for four years, which is more than just the blink of an eye in the short history of our republic. During those years I found myself elaborating my warning in many venues, including again here in Salon in 2018 (<a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/10/30/our-republic-is-in-crisis-and-its-killing-us-can-we-really-claim-we-didnt-see-it-coming/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">when I reported reactions to the 2016 essay</a>) and, more recently, <a href="https://democracyjournal.org/arguments/cleansing-ourselves-of-trumpism/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">in Democracy Journal</a><a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/01/07/some-of-us-saw-this-coming--but-we-were-assured-donald-trump-was-no-big-deal/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">.<br/></a></p><p>But now that those predictions have been book-ended suitably by Susan Glasser's <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/obituary-for-a-failed-presidency" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"Obituary for a Failed Presidency"</a> in the New Yorker, her summary of Trumpian <em>ressentiment</em> prompts me to a couple of quick observations.</p><p>First, Americans need to do more than glance into rear-view mirrors as they speed to nowhere. "The past is never dead. It's not even past," wrote William Faulkner, novelist and interpreter of the American South. meaning not that we should impose the past upon the present but that we should learn from it as we see it at work in our lives. Non-historians should acquire the pleasing habit of checking <a href="http://hnn.us/article/178696" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History News Network</a> summaries and links to op-eds and magazine essays by historians <a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/178623" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">and occasional interlopers.</a> </p><p>Trump couldn't have conned as many of us as he did if our schools had taught more of us about this country's dalliances with demagogues like Huey Long and Joe McCarthy. The invaluable program <a href="https://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"Facing History and Ourselves"</a> now guides thousands of students in doing what its name commends. We need more of it.</p><p>Second, we need to recognize that people who feel stressed and dispossessed often demand to be lied to about their history because they want easy answers and scapegoats. By stoking <em>ressentiment</em> and algorithmically-driven marketing that pressures deliberating citizens to become impulse-buying consumers, Trump ushered millions into a political twilight zone where democracy is suspended by strongmen.</p><p>A good liberal democracy strides on two feet: a "left" foot of public provision — public schools, health care and other resources, without which conservatives' cherished familial and communal values could never flourish — and a "right" foot of irreducibly personal conscience and responsibility, without which even the best-intentioned "liberal" social engineering would turn persons into cogs, clients or worse.</p><p>Finding and keeping a balanced stride is an acquired art and a discipline. History must inform it, but only wise parenting, teaching and, yes, political engagement — all of which require public as well as private resources — can teach young Americans the art and discipline of self-government instead of driving them to be "little-big men" all too likely to surrender to the next Trump who comes on to our now-badly-frayed civic culture. If something like Trumpism persists, as I believe it will, that won't simply be because his followers will remain more loyal to him than he will to them. It will be because our society's growing moral bankruptcy and injustices will stoke more <em>ressentiment</em>, whose bearers will look for — and find — a new and potentially more dangerous iteration of Trump.</p> <br/> <h3>Jim Sleeper</h3> <p>Jim Sleeper is the author of "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Racism-Fixating-Subverts-American/dp/0742522016/?tag=tkazmtk-20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Liberal Racism</a>" (1997) and "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Closest-Strangers-Liberalism-Politics-Race/dp/0393307999/?tag=tkazmtk-20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Closest of Strangers: Liberalism and the Politics of Race in New York</a>" (1990).</p>
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Trending
Latest
Videos
Copyright © 2021 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.