Travis Gettys is a senior editor for Raw Story based in northern Kentucky. He previously worked as a web editor for WLWT-TV and a contributing writer for the Kentucky Enquirer, and he also wrote for the award-winning Sadly, No! blog. He has covered national, state and local politics, breaking news, criminal investigations and trials, sports and a variety of community issues, with a special emphasis on racial justice, right-wing extremism and gun safety.
Conservative radio host Alex Jones on June 18, 2015. [YouTube]
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and right-wing gadfly Roger Stone suggested national security adviser H.R. McMaster was a gay "leather daddy" during a bizarre InfoWars discussion.
The pair blamed McMaster and other national security officials for damaging leaks on President Donald Trump blurting out highly classified intelligence to senior Russian officials, and they suggested the White House was under attack by Obama and Clinton loyalists.
"I want to raise this question, though," Stone said. "Why is it that Gen. [James] Mattis, Gen. [H.R.] McMaster, John Brennan, formerly of the CIA, Michael Hayden, formerly of the CIA, and James Clapper. Why do these guys all have shaved heads?"
"Because that’s part of being a leather daddy," Jones said.
Stone suggested those military and intelligence officials had shaved their heads for sinister purposes.
"Is it some secret club or something that they’re in?" Stone said. "I mean, it defies the odds of coincidence, that every one of these guys have the same kind of look. There it is. Extraordinary. By the way [McMaster’s] smirk at the end of this kind of gives the whole thing away."
"He looks like he could suck a golf ball through a garden hose," Jones said.
Small-time investors who took the leap and bought stock in Trump Media & Technology Group appear to be coming to the realization that they should hang onto their day jobs as the value of shares in the company behind Truth Social spirals downward with one disappointed MAGA fan lamenting, "
When will it be the BOTTOM!!!"
According to a report from the Washington Post, that reinforced
a report from the Daily Beast, there are growing concerns among Donald Trump's more rabid followers that the money-losing Truth Social media platform is going to b less like Facebook or Apple and more like Pets.com.
As the stock tumbles from a March 26 high of $79.38 before briefly
dropping below $31 last Friday, investors are leaping on forums to express faith that their bet on the success of a Donald Trump venture will pay off while also expressing some doubts they may have made a horrible mistake.
As the Washington Post's Drew Harwell is reporting, "... for some Trump investors, the stock is a badge of honor — a way to show their devotion beyond buying Trump merchandise, visiting Trump golf courses or donating to Trump’s presidential campaign," however, "there are also flickers of uncertainty and disenchantment, with some
saying they faced thousands of dollars in losses or had 'risked [literally] everything.' One user who had posted 'Tired of WINNING yet?' earlier this year when the stock spiked posted that this week’s losses were 'painful to stomach.'"
Case in point, the report notes is user @manofpeace123, "who said they bought shares at $65 and that 71 percent of their portfolio was DJT stock, said on Wednesday that investing was a way of telling Trump, 'I believe in you and I stand with you through good times and bad.' But a day later, the user added: 'can’t help but feel sad. … feel like I’m trying to catch a falling knife.'"
Commenter @bill7718, who wondered where the bottom for the stock resides, complained, "Come on DJT, every time I buy more, the price drops more."
The Post's Harwell added, "Some users said they were '
baffled' by the stock’s ups and downs, and one asked for advice on how to tell her husband she didn’t want to sell. One user posted a meme image saying, 'If you’re worried about your Money, Remember This, DJT stock is about FREE SPEECH & Without FREE SPEECH Money won’t mean much.'"
Others have blamed the collapse of the stock on the "deep state," but another supporter of Donald Trump expressed skepticism.
“'I’m tired of blaming the deep state,' he
said. Later, he added, 'You would think that the biggest political movement of all time would want to support the man leading it and get much better numbers than' this. (The accounts did not respond to messages and offered no way to contact them.)" the Post is reporting.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Sunday pressed for a new law against immigrants voting in federal elections while Fox News reported on an existing law that already prohibits noncitizens from voting.
"You talked with President Trump on Friday about ensuring a transparent and safe election," Fox News host Maria Bartiromo
told Johnson on Sunday Morning Futures. "Do you have any evidence that the Democrats are pushing for illegals to vote in this election?"
"They've allowed it in some municipal elections," Johnson said. "What Congress has control over is federal elections. We have to do every single thing we can to secure that our elections are free and fair."
"One thing we need to do, and this is what we're about, the House Republicans are about to enter legislation into the record, that will ensure that no illegal can vote in a federal election," he continued. "You have to prove you're a citizen instead of, as the law currently states, just checking a box to say it."
As Johnson spoke, Fox News displayed the text of an existing law, 18 USC 611, which prohibits voting by aliens in presidential elections.
"Maria, we have so many illegals in the country," he opined. "They could tilt the election if this happened."
"If just one in a hundred illegals decided to vote in a federal election, it could swing congressional races, and it might even swing presidential elections," he added. "You could talk about hundreds of thousands of votes, potentially."
"So we have to do everything possible to make sure that this election is secure."
ABC host George Stephanopoulos grilled New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) for supporting Donald Trump after attacking him during the primaries.
During a Sunday interview on ABC's
This Week program, Stephanopoulos asked Sununu if he would support Trump even if he is convicted in a criminal trial. While supporting Nikki Haley earlier, Sununu had said Trump should drop out if convicted.
"This morning, history being made, tomorrow that criminal trial, will your support for Donald Trump continue even if he's convicted in Manhattan?" the ABC host asked.
"Yeah, look, this trial is not going to have major political ramifications that a lot of people I think think it may have," Sununu scoffed. "When it comes to these issues, people see it more as reality TV at this point."
"Well, yeah, you're going to politics, though I'm asking you about right and wrong," Stephanopoulos pointed out. "You're comfortable with the idea of supporting someone who's convicted of a federal crime as president?"
"Well, I don't — I don't think any American is comfortable with any of this," Sununu replied. "But I mean, when it comes to actually looking at each of these trials as they kind of take place, whether it's this year or next year, as they kind of line up the right now, this is about an election."
"Look, nobody should be shocked that the Republican governor supporting the Republican president," the governor added.
"You said, it is clear that President Trump's rhetoric and actions contributed to the insurrection," Stephanopoulos pressed.
Sununu said he stood by his statement about Jan. 6.
"His actions absolutely contributed to that," he admitted. "There's no question about that. I hate the election denialism of 2020. Nobody wants to be talking about that in 2024. I think all of that was absolutely terrible."
"But wait a second right there," the ABC host interrupted. "Your words were very, very clear on January 11th, 2021. You said that President Trump's rhetoric and actions contributed to the insurrection."
"That doesn't make any sense to me, Governor," Stephanopoulos observed. "I'm sorry. You're saying it's not about Trump. You're saying he would be the president. And you've said he's someone who's contributed to an insurrection."
"I understand it doesn't make sense to you, George, but look at the polls," Sununu responded. "What you're telling me is you don't understand why 51% of this country is supporting Donald Trump."
