Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) revealed on Sunday that some Republicans did not come to her defense while she was being ousted from leadership because of "threats on their lives."
"There was really nobody that came to your defense," ABC host Jonathan Karl noted during an interview with Cheney that aired on Sunday. "You were pretty much alone on this."
"It is very important to stand up for what's right," Cheney replied. "I know that there are many members who have expressed concern about their own security."
"And I think that's an important point," she continued. "We now live in a country where members' votes are are affected because they're worried about their security, they're worried about threats on their lives. So I think that's part of it."
On Friday night, CNN late-night anchor Don Lemon shocked viewers with the abrupt message that this would be the last edition of "CNN Tonight with Don Lemon," leading many to speculate that he was leaving CNN. However, it turned out CNN is just rebranding his show under the new name "Don Lemon Tonight."
Hey everyone. Not what you think. I’m not leaving CNN. Tune in for the handoff on Monday at 10pE and I’ll explain. https://t.co/oOwDferY2i
But several conservative commentators jumped the gun and took to social media to gloat about the supposed departure of Lemon, a Black and openly gay journalist who has gone after right-wing extremism.
Bye Don Lemon.
Your show wasn't good and you often acted in bad faith.
However...
...that's actually all I have. Goodbye.
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@(((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio)
1621048973.0
Don Lemon has been a ridiculous performance theater Democratic activist for years. His show has brought discredit o… https://t.co/iFd4BkPi0N
After weeks of rabble-rousing coverage calling for new rules surrounding mask-wearing, Fox News abruptly shifted its tone on the matter Thursday — just hours after the Centers for Disease Control affirmed the network's calls to announce it was safe for vaccinated individuals to shed their masks indoors.
Now, the new masking guidance appears to be a "distraction," according to a number of Fox News anchors and guests.
On shows across the board Thursday into Friday, hosts questioned the timing of the announcement. Jeanine Pirro went so far as to call the announcement "theater," and listed off a number of so-called crises that the White House was supposedly looking to distract the public from.
Will Cain, who hosts "Fox & Friends" on Friday mornings, even said viewers should question "whether or not science was the guide here."
But just minutes after CDC Director Rochelle Walensky held a press conference to announce the agency's new guidance, host Dana Perino — who had herself repeatedly demanded Biden remove his mask in public settings — pointed to the news as a possible conspiracy to help the president's approval rating: "I'm just saying they're either extremely lucky or extremely skilled, and I admire it either way."
Fox News was mocked on Wednesday over a headline referring to President Joe Biden as "Battered Biden."
"Battered Biden under siege as crises confound the White House," read the headline on a report by Fox News's Keith Koffler.
"Memo to President Biden: Life moves pretty fast, and now the world is on fire," the report said.
Koffler argued without evidence that the White House is "confounded" because of problems with a fuel pipeline on the east coast, a disappointing jobs report and violence in the Middle East.
"He was ready for a rest, but the world wasn't ready to give him one," Koffler stated. "To add insult to the various injuries, there was even criticism of how Biden looked — at least when he was wearing a mask."
Many commenters quickly pointed out that Biden is enjoying a 63% percent approval rate, while others called Fox News a "propaganda outlet."
Read some of the comments below.
“Battered Biden" isn't cowering underground like Bunker Boy Trump.
Fox “News" is so irredeemably awful. They have the most dangerously misinformed viewers on planet Earth. — Bleeding Heart Liberal Marine (@BleedingMarine) May 12, 2021
Republicans / GQP or whatever they are called now are PATHETIC starting the trend Battered Biden. Every time I see Donald Trump he looks battered telling lies & aging badly. 😏 — 💋ꉔꋬꋪꋬꂵꏂ꒒ ꇙꅐꏂꏂ꓄ꋊꏂꇙꇙ 💎 (@Caramel_Angel7) May 12, 2021
Give me "Battered Biden" than the treasonous Trump/Russian propaganda outlet. — NimbleJack 😷 (@NimbleJack8) May 12, 2021
Battered Biden my ass.
Faux Seditionist Mews is trending claiming POTUS is struggling, presumably with the crises created by #TraitorTrump.
Disgusting yet NOT surprising, — Ari Wears a Mask Wilker Ω (@AriWilker) May 12, 2021
Battered Biden is a Russian trolls/bots latest creation with the treasonous @FoxNews doing the usual & amplifying anything that undermines our country & elevates republican traitors. — Diana Heliotes (@DianaHeliotes) May 12, 2021
'Battered Biden' has a 63% approval rating, something Fox News's orange-visaged overlord could only wet-dream about in Mar-a-Loco: https://t.co/hAaevbxI00 — LaurenBaratzLogsted (@LaurenBaratzL) May 12, 2021
Battered Biden has a 63% approval rating, you twit.
Your mancrush barely broke 45 while saying 15 covid patients would "go down to zero very quickly." So have a seat and calm down. Maybe try one of Dr. Donald's miracle man woman person tv camera bleach injections. — Bill Harnsberger (@BillinPortland) May 12, 2021
Oh you poor demented souls. “Battered Biden"??? With a 63% approval rating I think he's looking pretty good for somebody you called battered. What a sick bunch you all are, trying to create your own reality (show). — MaineNHBlue (@LMM1790) May 12, 2021
Ya'll are living in an alternate universe. Biden has 63% job performance rating as of a couple days ago. Hardly indicates a battered presidency. Why can't you guys just tell the truth? — Caroline Siverson (@kineticgardens) May 12, 2021
“Battered Biden" enjoys almost double the approval rating of Trampy Trump. https://t.co/l7bUPyZZ0o — Sophie Wants Trump to Pay (@Sophieresists) May 12, 2021
Oh stop it. Biden's handling of the vaccine rollout proves he's capable of handling crises. The massive reduction in kids in custody at the border shows that is a work in progress. The Mideast has been in crisis ever since Jesus. — Kenner At Home 🇺🇸⚽ (@RKennerB) May 12, 2021
Did Danielle Steele write this tweet? Lol
OH, THE DRAMA — Scott Dworkin (@funder) May 12, 2021
Someone just learned about alliteration. Oooooooooh! — McGraw (@kooolbeenz) May 12, 2021
That surging approval rating IS IT TOO HIGH — Kathe Koja (@KatheKoja) May 12, 2021
have you been sniffing glue — Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) May 12, 2021
I'm pretty sure Israel isn't the 51st state. Oh, and the Iron Dome defense system the IDF is using is thanks to Obama/Biden administration. — Lee Belote (@Akula_KorAh) May 12, 2021
I don't understand how Trump could've left the nation's infrastructure so vulnerable to hackers...
Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley (OR) and Jon Ossoff (GA) challenged Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Tuesday after he suggested that automatic voter registration leads to massive election fraud.
During a Senate Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday, Cruz offered an amendment that would make automatic voter registration more difficult.
"We have many states that have established automatic voter registration," Merkley told Cruz. "Do you have any studies you want to present for the record that document extensive mistakes being made, which people who are non-citizens are registered to vote?"
Merkley noted that the Brennan Center for Justice has studied automatic voter registration and found that you are "more likely to be struck by lightning" than find widespread fraud.
"If you have evidence to the contrary, I think it would be an appropriate time to present it to the committee," Merkley said.
Cruz responded by deflecting.
"Sen. Merkley is one of the authors of the bill as I understand it," Cruz said. "I suppose I could ask why he saw fit to repeatedly immunize state officials from registering illegal immigrants if it were not that the obvious and intended effect of this bill was to register millions of illegal immigrants?"
"Does the senator have documentation he wishes to submit to the committee?" Merkley pressed.
"Sen. Merkley is declining to answer," Cruz said, ignoring the question.
Ossoff then gave Cruz another chance to provide "evidence" of his claim.
"I'd like to offer you the opportunity in good faith, Sen. Cruz, to present any evidence for the record to this committee that in any of the states where this policy exists, if there's any widespread registration by people who should not be eligible to vote," Ossoff said.
"I'm very glad that Democratic senators are suggesting illegal immigrants won't be registered to vote," Cruz replied. "If that's the case, you should support this amendment. Because this amendment would be supporting what you claim are the purposes of the bill."
Cruz's amendment was eventually defeated by a 9-9 vote along party lines.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Tuesday called on President Joe Biden's administration to "stop the vaccines" during a rant against Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).
Real America's Voice host Steve Bannon asked Greene about an upcoming vote to remove Cheney from Republican leadership.
Greene argued that Republican House members should have "choices" when it comes to replacing Cheney even though former President Donald Trump has endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) for the position.
"You support getting rid of Cheney?" Bannon wondered.
"I voted to remove her the first time," Greene noted. "I would like Republican voters to be able to weigh in on who our conference chair is. I don't know why that doesn't happen. Shouldn't that happen?"
"I don't like a decision being made before that vote on who we should replace her with," she continued. "And I believe in options. I also believe in voting records. I'm very conservative, fiscally and socially. I don't think our conference chair should be someone that has the same voting record as Democrats. I think that we should have choices."
Bannon pressed Greene to name her choice for GOP conference chair.
"I don't have a name," Greene admitted before blurting out a screed against vaccines.
"Businesses are failing," she said. "Our border is being invaded. We have, you know, we're sending all this money overseas for more people to invade us."
Greene added: "We need to care about the real issues that matter. We need to stop the masks, stop the vaccines and stop COVID-19 from controlling our lives."
A Fox News segment on Tuesday argued that "normal" women should be at home with their children instead of taking advantage of government childcare programs.
Following President Joe Biden's proposal to expand child care by $225 billion, Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy spoke to author J.D. Vance, who believes that the plan is a "class war against normal people."
"Most people when they have young kids, they want to spend more time at home with their children, not be forced into the workforce," Vance explained. "When you compare that to the words of Susan Rice who says this plan is meant to get as many parents -- especially mothers -- into the workforce, I stop and say, well, why do we want that?"
"If more parents want to spend more time at home with their kids, why don't we make that the goal of public policy rather than shifting a ton of people into a massive federally mandated daycare system?" he continued. "That federal daycare system is going to be really low quality. So it's going to be bad for the parents but it's also going to be bad for the kids, who are forced into it."
Vance went on to say that "normal" parents would rather not work.
"Give parents more choice, more options," he said. "If they want to use those resources to send their kids to daycare, that's fine. But if they want to use those resources to withdraw from the labor force for a couple of years while their kids are young, we should be encouraging that because it's good for the children."
"It's just a really weird thing that so many of a ruling class are focused on forcing parents into the workforce away from their kids," the author complained. "It's so weird to me how many of our elites -- especially those on the left -- define opportunity, define achievement purely in terms of labor market success."
Vance added: "People can work when their kids are older... but during those precious moments, we should not be encouraging people to throw their kids into daycare if they don't want to. If they want to spend more time at home with their children, I think it's basic common sense to say, you should have that right, you should have that choice."
"How does the White House know that people are just choosing not to apply for jobs because the extra unemployment benefits are so good?" Doocy asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Fox News personality Martha MacCallum loudly sighed on Monday when a guest reminded viewers of the lies about election fraud that the network pushed.
"I'm a big believer in celebrating diversity and actually looking at, and helping look at, people's lived experience," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said.
"But, if you're really talking about misinformation now, Martha, and I hope you are, I really would hope that Fox would really look at what happened in this election and how we can -- because every social studies teacher is wrestling with this -- discern fact from fiction. We have to do that as social studies teachers," she said.
"Well, we have a president, President Biden, who was elected in 2020. I think that all of that is quite clear, so I'm not sure why you are so concerned about that part, about that particular moment in history," MacCallum said.
Randi Weingarten uses her appearance on Fox to bring up misinformation from the network on the election https://t.co/q42pquq8xW
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pushed back on Monday after Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy suggested that people are refusing to go to work because "unemployment benefits are so good."
Doocy asked the question during Monday's White House press briefing.
"Unemployment only rose by about 266,000 jobs in April," Doocy said. "How does the White House know that people are just choosing not to apply for jobs because the extra unemployment benefits are so good?"
"We have looked at the data," Psaki explained. "We don't see much evidence that the extra unemployment insurance is a major driver in people not rejoining the work force. We actually see the data and our analysis shows that the lack of vaccinations, the lower rate, which is why I refer to the data and the week that it was taken -- it has an impact. Child care has an impact. Schools reopening has an impact."
"But there's also the need to pay a livable working wage," she added. "And that's one of the reasons the president will talk about that this afternoon."
Doocy disagreed: "Anybody who is making $32,000 a year is better off financially just taking the unemployment benefits. So is the White House creating an incentive just to stay home?"
"Well, again, the majority of economists internally and externally at the White House don't feel that unemployment insurance -- something that was done at a time to help unemployed people get through a very difficult economic downturn during a pandemic -- is a major driver in our unemployment data," Psaki insisted. "There are other factors, bigger factors that were contributing, have been contributing to the [jobs] numbers we saw on Friday. That's what we're working to address."
Horse trainer Bob Baffert on Monday argued that Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit had been a victim of "cancel culture" after the horse failed a postrace drug test.
Baffert made the remarks during a Fox News interview.
"It did not happen and that's the really seriously troubling part," the trainer explained. "They shouldn't have called it a positive. We're living in a new world now. These horses don't live in a bubble. They're in an open farm. People are touching them. After the Derby, everybody's touching him. I mean, there are so many ways these horses could get contaminated."
Fox News host Bill Hemmer pointed out that the drug would have to be injected into the horse's joints.
"This is all B.S.," Baffert replied. "Bob Baffert is not stupid. That's not a drug that I would use on a horse. We don't use that drug. That horse never had it in him and we have the documentation."
"We live in a different world now. This America is different," he added. "And it was like a cancel culture kind of a thing."
The hosts of
Fox & Friends expressed concern on Sunday that liberals are plotting to turn Mother's Day into "Birthing People's Day."
"If you're a lefty, it might be happy Birthing People's Day," Fox News co-host Pete Hegseth announced. "Seriously! This is Democrats -- the new phrase they want to use is, you're not a mother. Nope! Done! You're a birthing person."
Hegseth pointed to a House committee hearing where
the phrase "birthing people" was used on at least two occasions. However, the terms "mothers" and "moms" were also used.
Co-host Jedidiah Bila echoed the remarks of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who lashed out at "woke" liberals over the phrase.
"I could not agree more," Bila said. "Let me tell you something. I birthed a baby. I am a mom. I am proud of myself. I am always astonished at my body. I'm like, you know what? We're super heroes. We women are super heroes for being able to do that. I want proper credit."
Hegseth recalled that he had once tried to experience the pain of childbirth during a
Fox & Friends segment in 2019.
"Thank God for women," co-host Lawrence Jones said. "God designed them to give birth because, whew, I can do a lot of things. I don't think that's for me."
"Yep," Bila agreed. "We have a higher pain tolerance. And I did it without drugs."
"But I'm officially a birthing person," Hegseth noted. "Next time someone tells you that, tell them you're insane! They are moms and they give birth."
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) on Sunday likened the Republican Party to the Titanic over the refusal to believe that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
While speaking to CBS host John Dickerson on
Face the Nation, Kinzinger weighed in on an effort to remove Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) from leadership because she has insisted that the 2020 election was not stolen.
"Liz Cheney is saying exactly what [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy said the day of the insurrection," Kinzinger pointed out. "She's just consistently been saying it. And a few weeks later, Kevin McCarthy changed to attacking other people."
"And so I think what the reality is is as a party we have to have an internal look and a full accounting as to what lead to January 6th," he continued. "Right now, it's basically the Titanic. We're like in the middle of this slow sink, we have a band playing on the deck, telling everybody it's fine. And meanwhile, as I've said, Donald Trump's running around trying to find women's clothing to get on the first lifeboat."
Kinzinger argued that refusing to acknowledge the truth of the Jan. 6 insurrection is "not good" for the future of the Republican Party.
"We're four months after Jan. 6, an insurrection, something that was unthinkable in this country," he observed. "And the message from the people that want to get rid of Liz Cheney is to say it's just time to focus on the future and move on, like this was 10 years ago and we've been obsessed about it since. It's been four months and we have so many people including our leadership in the party that has not admitted that this is what it is, which was an insurrection led by the president of the United States, well deserving of a full accounting from Republicans."
According to Kinzinger, 70 percent of Republicans "believe the election was stolen because they've been told it was."
"They've been told in many cases by Republican leaders," he remarked. "At least Republican leaders have not countered it. On something so vast and crazy as the election was stolen."
"That's why you have this real battle right now in the party," Kinzinger added. "This idea of let's just put our differences aside and be unified. You cannot unify truth with lies. The lie is that the election was stolen. The truth is Joe Biden beat Donald Trump. And I'm sorry that 74 million people voted for Donald Trump. They weren't disenfranchised. They were simply outnumbered."
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Sunday announced his support of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to replace Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as GOP conference chair over her criticism of former President Donald Trump.
During an interview on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo asked McCarthy about the effort to oust Cheney after she repeatedly said that Trump lied by claiming the election was stolen.
"Is this just her ideology, that's she's unable to get over being never Trump?" Bartiromo wondered.
"Any member can take whatever position they believe in," McCarthy explained. "That's what the voters vote on the individual and they make that decision. What's we're talking about is a position in leadership. We are in one of our biggest battles ever for this nation and the direction, whether this next century will be ours."
According to McCarthy, Cheney has failed to advance the Republican message against President Joe Biden.
"Are we talking about what the Democrats are doing on the border?" he said. "Are we watching Joe Biden create inflation like we've never seen before, a takeover of government, the rising of taxes, the damage of what will be done that we cannot come back from."
"That's why we need a conference that's united, that's why we need a conference chair that is delivering that message day in and day out," McCarthy added.
Bartiromo concluded the interview by asking the Republican leader if he supports Stefanik's bid to replace Cheney.
Joe Biden(AFP)
Joe Biden(AFP)
Joe Biden
Joe Biden (Shutterstock)
Joe Biden
Joe Biden (AFP)