CNN anchor Chris Wallace said he couldn't help but notice that the crowd at the Republican National Convention was similar to Russian President Vladimir Putin's sycophants.
During Tuesday night's convention broadcast, CNN correspondent Phil Mattingly reported that the crowd followed Trump's lead on when to stand and sit.
"It's a little bit like a Catholic mass in terms of when people are standing and when they're sitting when the former president stands," he explained.
Wallace pushed back with a different interpretation.
"Another way you could compare it is to the Kremlin, and when the leader of the Kremlin stood, everybody stood," Wallace noted. "And when he sat down, everybody sat down."
The internet mocked Donald Trump ally Rudy Giuliani after the former New York City mayor — fresh off a major loss in his federal bankruptcy case — toppled over at the Republican National Convention Tuesday.
John Park a national show producer for Spectrum News in Washington, D.C., shared the video on X of Giuliani tumbling into empty chairs belonging to Ohio delegates. Just before he tipped over, Giuliani appeared to be trying to place an object on one of the seats.
Multiple aides rushed to help him back on his feet as photographers snapped. Guiliani appeared to walk off unharmed.
Giuliani's tumble comes days after his bankruptcy case was dismissed Friday, which cleared the way for two Georgia election workers to collect millions from him. They accused him of defamation and a federal jury awarded them $148 million in damages.
Following the dismissal, Ted Goodman, a spokesman for Giuliani, told Raw Story in a statement that he was "denied the ability to appeal" the judgment, which he called "grossly unfair."
"This whole bankruptcy case was burdened with many of the same voluminous and overly broad discovery requests and other actions—including regular leaks of information—intended to harm the mayor and destroy his businesses," said Goodman.
"Since day one, Giuliani has regarded this case and the bankruptcy process as a joke, hiding behind the façade of an elderly, doddering man who cannot even remember the address for his second multimillion dollar home and claims impending homelessness if he must sell that second multimillion dollar home," wrote the creditors in their filing. "In reality, Giuliani has treated this Court, the bankruptcy process and the Committee the same way he treated the D.C. District Court and the Freeman Plaintiffs in the Freeman Litigation, with utter disrespect and without accountability."
Users on X mocked Giuliani over his fall, with one quoting The Godfather Part 2 and joking it looked like "'the old man had too much wine.'"
"Looks like drunk Uncle Rudy is at it again - tripping over his own feet," wrote @NormaDesperate.
Michael Ragusa, head of Giuliani's security, told Raw Story in a statement that Giuliani was "not notified there was a step off the decline at the RNC venue yesterday."
"He took a misstep and fell over," said Ragusa. "He was uninjured and unfazed by this incident. It is shameful that the left-wing media took this opportunity to try and dehumanize America’s greatest Mayor who accomplished, and continues to accomplish so much for this great country.”
CNN panelists including commentator Van Jones collectively panned Vivek Ramaswamy's remarks Tuesday after the former GOP candidate for president tried to claim the media spent decades trying to convince Black Americans that Republicans "don't care" about them.
Speaking in Milwaukee on Tuesday night, an impassioned Ramaswamy told MAGA supporters he had a message for Black Americans from the Republican Party "that the media doesn't want you to hear."
"Our message to Black Americans is this: The media has tried to convince you for decades that Republicans don't care about your communities. But we do," he said. "We want for you what we want for every American. Safe neighborhoods. Clean streets. Good jobs. A better life for your children. And a justice system that treats everyone equally, regardless of your skin color and regardless of your political beliefs."
The speech earned wide applause at the event — but was met with derision afterwards from CNN panelists, including Van Jones, who called Ramaswamy a "demagogue."
"He's good at it though," quipped Jones, noting a separate part of the speech where Ramaswamy got the crowd to repeatedly chant, "Vote Trump!"
But Jones derided the speech, saying it felt "patronizing" toward Black people.
"I don't like patronizing stuff about Black folks," said the political analyst.
"They're trying hard to reach Black folks and I just don't think they understand, we didn't miss the fact that the Republican Party of Lincoln, a party that started as a radical, anti-slavery party, became a safe haven for some white nationalists that have not been aggressively shown the door yet," he said.
Black Americans are actively engaged in politics, he emphasized — "so people act like we're dumb, like we somehow missed that there are people in the Republican Party who've been unfriendly, you just lose the people in the audience at the door with that."
Jones added that other comments from Ramaswamy "sounds like he's reading stuff that comes out of the cracker-jack box, that he thinks somebody's going to like, but there's no prize at the bottom."
"It's all shallow and soulless to me, but that's just my view," Jones finished.
This is the second night in a row where Jones unleashed on the GOP convention for trying too hard — unsuccessfully — to court Black voters.
On Monday night, Jones called it "cringey" after watching four Black men — including North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and Reps. Wesley Hunt of Texas and John James of Michigan — talk up Trump during prime time slots on the first day of the convention. On that night, Robinson called Trump the "Braveheart of our time."
Jones said he believes the party has an agenda to attract more Black men, explaining the move.
"There's an opening to get Black men," he said with a laugh, "because of the double-whammy with Black men feeling the economic pain seriously and also feeling some social dislocation with when it comes to gender and feminism and what's going on."
"But this is not it, I'm going to tell you right now," he emphasized. "All four of them sounded like Black people who talk about Black people, but don't talk to Black people. That's how they sounded. My phone's blowing up because it felt so off — it felt so off — in terms of the tone."
Prior to bashing the news outlets covering the convention, Lake, who is running for Arizona governor, praised the crowd for its "MAGA energy" and said she wished other Republicans could be at the convention as well.
"This is electric," she said to applause.
As she welcomed the crowd, Lake said, "We love you all!"
Well, not everyone, it seems.
"Actually, actually, wait a minute — I don't mean that. I don't welcome everyone in this room. The guys up in the fake news," she said to cheers, "frankly ... you guys up there in the fake news have worn out your welcome. Right?"
After the crowd cheered, she said the media spent the last eight years "lying about President Donald J. Trump and his amazing, patriotic supporters."
"Actually," said Lake, "they lie about everything. They've lied about Joe Biden's health, the economy, the laptop, the border, I could go on and on and on. But the good news is, every day, more and more people are turning off the fake news."
Lake's remarks come after she recently lost an appeals court challenge in her state after she said thousands of mailed ballot signatures in the Phoenix area were improperly verified when she lost the 2022 governor election to Democrat Katie Hobbs.
Lake lost that election by more than 17,000 votes, but never conceded.
After her comment, media personality Frank Luntz said he was on the media platform as she attacked the media.
Fox News declined to broadcast Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake's (R) speech at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday.
Instead, host Laura Ingraham showed a video feed of the convention crowd while interviewing a guest. The Fox News host never acknowledged that Lake was speaking.
"Hello America, welcome everybody who's watching at home, and welcome everybody in this great arena tonight," Lake's speech began. "Actually, actually, wait a minute. I don't mean that."
"The guys up in the fake news, frankly, all right, frankly, you guys up there in the fake news have worn out your welcome, right?" she continued, prompting boos from the crowd.
Lake asserted that the news media "lie about everything."
Gaetz is largely responsible for ousting McCarthy as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
McCarthy has said that Gaetz pushed to remove him as revenge for refusing to kill an ethics investigation.
"I'll give you the truth why I'm not speaker," McCarthy explained earlier this year. "Because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old, an ethics complaint that started before I ever became speaker. And that's illegal and I'm not gonna get in the middle of it."
CNN's Jake Tapper sat for an interview Tuesday with Eric Trump, who proceeded to push a number of far-right conspiracy theories, including speculation about some shadowy political forces being behind the shooting at former President Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
And Tapper is under attack for listening without pushback.
He was hit by wave of outrage from commenters on social media, coming after Tapper had already faced a lot of criticism from liberals over his failure to fact-check Trump during the CNN debate in Atlanta last month.
"From the lack of pushback at the debate to the continued lack of pushback now, @jaketapper may as well be on the Trump payroll at this point," wrote the account @ArtieVandelay1.
The account @lil_dee06 accused Jake Tapper of taking a "vow of silence" on whether Eric Trump's claims had any merit. The account @BDeMayo, meanwhile, pointed out that the "they" Eric Trump was alluding to was actually just "some weird kid who liked MAGA crap."
"Jake Tapper has sold his soul for a dollar bill," wrote the account @Trishalla2012.
"Jake Tapper is such a coward," wrote the account @PamScot19077468.
"Yo @jaketapper what tf are you doing boss?" wrote the account @actingliketommy. "You're now rolling out the welcome mat for insane conspiracy lies without so much as a pushback? When did you go Trump-lover?"
"I’m devistated [sic] at this point," wrote the account user @RobertTCornwell. "@jaketapper was the last remaining journalist who I trusted to ask the hard questions. He’s been neutered by the new leadership at CNN. Jake step down and let Fred Pleitgen , a real journalist take over."
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) blasted Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) for being another far-right MAGA loyalist added to a presidential ticket while purporting to be moderate.
Speaking on MSNBC Tuesday, Goldman said that Donald Trump's new running mate is "the baby of MAGA and QAnon."
The conversation between host Nicolle Wallace and the Democratic lawmaker was about the statements Vance made after the shooting of Trump.
Not knowing any information about the individual, Vance proclaimed the attempted assassination a plot by President Joe Biden and Democrats.
The shooter has since been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old who was reportedly a Trump supporter.
Goldman said of Vance that he is "so far out there."
"I mean, it's so extreme, you know, it's like if Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Donald Trump got together and hatched something, and that's J.D. Vance," he continued. "It's insane — some of his views. His extremism on abortion — no exception for rape or incest. He has said he would not have certified the last election and will not guarantee that he will certify this election. He has overtly supported Vladimir Putin and Russia in his effort to take over the democratic country of Ukraine."
Donald Trump's 2016 campaign collected data that identified the family of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks as likely MAGA supporters and among those who were avid hunters and enjoyed "gun-related lifestyle indicators."
According to a report from the U.K.'s Channel 4, "The information was compiled as part of a secretive project aiming to identify millions of gun owners in America who could be targeted with pro-gun rights messages in the lead-up to the 2016 election campaign."
Crooks' parents were on the list, the report said.
Crooks was shot and killed on Saturday after opening fire on a Trump rally from atop a nearby building. He had an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle that his father legally purchased, authorities said, and many rounds of ammunition.
“Those other kids would always say, ‘Hey, look at the school shooter over there!’” said Julianna Grooms, who remembers him from when they were freshmen. “They would tease him about his poor hygiene, his body odor. He was an easy target.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed Tuesday that Democrats would murder Republicans "in the streets" if President Joe Biden was shot.
During a segment on War Room, guest host Natalie Winters interviewed Greene while regular host Steve Bannon was in prison.
Greene claimed Democrats did not want unity following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
"Then they have spent the past eight years vilifying us, demonizing us," Greene said.
"Hillary Clinton labeled us as deplorables," she ranted. "They called President Trump Hitler. They called all of us Nazis. They called all of us fascist, called us a threat to democracy. President Trump is going to destroy democracy. He's going to become a dictator."
"We're not unifying with that. There is no unity with that."
Winters asked Greene if Democrats would call for unity if Biden had been shot instead of Trump.
"You people would have been out in the streets burning down cities like you did the entire summer of 2020, looting stores, destroying businesses, attacking police officers, absolutely attacking federal courthouses," the lawmaker insisted. "You would be fighting us, murdering us in the streets if that had happened, but that didn't happen, did it, Natalie?"
Greene praised Republicans who "didn't go out rioting."
"We dropped to our knees, and we prayed for our president," she added. "We prayed for America, and we prayed to our God, who we know saved Donald Trump's life."
Hours before announcing he had chosen U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) as his vice presidential running mate, Donald Trump met in Milwaukee on Monday with conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is an independent candidate for President of the United States.
Tucker Carlson, the far-right wing former Fox News host, "helped broker the meeting," The New York Times reports. Politico adds the meeting took place "to discuss the possibility of the independent candidate endorsing the Republican nominee, according to multiple people familiar with the huddle." The Kennedy camp denied he has any intention of dropping out of the race, despite his inability to gain any substantial traction that would make him a serious contender for the White House. RFK Jr. is polling in the high single digits to about 10 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight, which is enough for him to be a spoiler, likely helping Trump more than President Joe Biden.
But in a stunning move, the Kennedy camp reportedly "leaked" video of RFK Jr. speaking on the telephone with Trump, according to the MeidasTouch Network. That video was was quickly removed, but not before NBC News' senior reporter Brandy Zadrozny was able to obtain a copy and post it on social media (video below.)
In that video, Donald Trump can be heard telling Kennedy, "I would love you to do stuff and I think it'd be so good for your and so big for you. And we're gonna win. We're way ahead of the guy."
It was not clear in what context Trump meant "do stuff," although he could have possibly meant endorse Trump, or hand Kennedy a post in his administration. There had been some speculation, including in the betting markets, Trump would make RFK Jr. his running mate.
Deadline reported Trump "sounded like he was wooing [Kennedy] for his support."
"Leaked video of a phone call between the two exposes just how aligned they are," The New Republic reported.
"When you when you feed a baby a vaccination that is like 38 different vaccines, and it looks like it's meant for a horse not a, you know 10-pound or 20-pound baby," Trump said. "It looks like you're giving you should be giving a horse this and did you ever see the size of it right? You know, it's this massive – And then you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change radically. I've seen it too many times. And then you hear that it doesn't have an impact, right? But you and I talked about that a long time ago. And anyway, I would be, I would love you to do stuff and I think it'd be so good for your and so big for you. And we're gonna win. We're way ahead of the guy."
Trump in the video also positively spoke about President Joe Biden calling him after Saturday's assassination attempt.
RFK Jr. on Tuesday posted an apology to Donald Trump on social media, writing: “When President Trump called me I was taping with an in-house videographer. I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am mortified that this was posted. I apologize to the president.”
"Whoops," Zadrony reported. "Seems like RFK Jr.'s son posted and has since deleted video of a call between RFK Jr. and Trump after the shooting. In the video Trump repeats his old (false) claims about childhood vaccines, suggesting the vaccine schedule causes injuries in babies."
She included a screenshot of Bobby Kennedy III's statement, which reads, "I am a firm believer that these sorts of conversations should be had in public. Here's Trump giving his real opinion to my dad about vaccinating kids — this was the day after the assassination attempt."
Whoops. Seems like RFK Jr.'s son posted and has since deleted video of a call between RFK Jr. and Trump after the shooting. In the video Trump repeats his old (false) claims about childhood vaccines, suggesting the vaccine schedule causes injuries in babies. https://t.co/K4RWXfoudSpic.twitter.com/KZcSBVtxWE
— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) July 16, 2024
A boast by a Republican party leader that every GOP lawmaker is thrilled to share the stage with Donald Trump hit a speedbump during an interview on CNN on Tuesday morning.
Speaking with "Inside Politics" host Manu Raju at the Republican National Convention, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) claimed Democratic lawmakers don't want anything to do with President Joe Biden as the election nears.
After pointing out that Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin did not appear with Biden at a recent rally in her state, Daines stated, "It's the Democrats who don't want to stand with their nominees, we are proud to stand with [former] President Trump, with [running mate] J.D. Vance — and look he's leading in every one of these battleground states now."
"But," Raju interrupted, "I want to ask you: Larry Hogan, the Maryland Republican senate candidate, he was on with Wolf Blitzer yesterday, he would not endorse J.D Vance on the top of the ticket, he wouldn't endorse Donald Trump. He's not here tonight. Isn't he doing what you're accusing Democrats are doing? Running away from the top of the ticket?"
READ: How Donald Trump turned America into a seething cauldron of political violence "Look, Larry Hogan is running in Maryland, not Mississippi," Daines attempted. "Larry Hogan is uniquely a maverick. That is why a Republican governor like Larry Hogan has been so popular in a very Democrat (sic) state like Maryland."
Appearing on CNN on Tuesday morning, Rep. Jared Moskowtiz (D-FL) swatted aside questions from host John Berman over whether he is being too tough on Donald Trump as the 2024 election nears.
Since the attempted assassination of the former president on Saturday, a central topic of conversation has been the heated rhetoric that many believe led to the attack, although there is no evidence that was the motive.
With that in mind, host Berman noted that Moskowitz had once jokingly proposed a bill that would have named a prison after the convicted felon Trump and asked if he regretted it.
"Is that the type of thing that you would do today if you're trying to lower the temperature, where does that fit?" Berman asked.
'Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with little sarcasm and humor and the political process," the Florida Democrat replied. "We were responding to the fact that they were trying to rename Dulles Airport after Donald Trump. That has nothing to do with any threats against the president of course, right?"
"Lowering the temperature is lowering the specific language, right?" he lectured. "And it is a both sides, all sides issue. I hate doing that but it is, right, politics right now, right? It's about defining your party in the most extreme way as a way to market and sell, because let's be honest, anger sells, right?"
"There's a whole grifting empire, there's a whole anger empire you see it on social media, you see it in podcasts; you know unity and kumbaya doesn't really get people to vote but anger does," he added. "But it's incumbent upon us in Congress who are part of that problem, right? Because, you know, we were part of this whole system and so, you know, I've talked to a number of members, many of which I don't agree with ideologically I believe whether that's [Reps] Matt Gaetz (R-FL) or Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) about trying to figure out how we can bring the temperature down."
