Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) push for the Democratic Party presidential nomination continued on Tuesday with a win in the party's North Dakota caucus, CNN reported.
The victory came after his opponent, Hillary Clinton, won the party primary in New Jersey. Sanders has argued that he will continue campaigning heading into July's Democratic National Convention.
The following is a transcript of Hillary Clinton's speech in Brooklyn, New York after winning the New Jersey Democratic primary on June 7, 2016, courtesy of Vox:
It's wonderful to be back in Brooklyn here in this beautiful building. It may be hard to see tonight, but we're all standing under a glass ceiling right now.
But don't worry. We're not smashing this one. Thanks to you, we've reached a milestone. The first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee.
Tonight's victory is not about one person.
It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible. In our country, it started right here in New York, a place called Seneca Falls in 1848 where a small but determined group of women and men came together with the idea that women deserved equal rights and they set it forth in something called the declaration of sent and it was first time in human history that that kind of declaration occurred. So we all owe so much to those who came before and tonight belongs to all of you.
I want to thank all the volunteers, community leaders, the activists and organizers who supported our campaign in every state and territory. And thanks especially to our friends in New Jersey for such a resounding victory tonight. Thanks for talking to your neighbors, for making contributions. You're efforts have produced a strong majority of the popular vote. Victories in a majority of the contests and after tonight a majority of pledged delegates. I want to thank all the people across our country who have taken the time to talk with me. I learned a lot about you.
And I learned about those persistent problems and the unfinished promise of America that you're living with. So many of you feel like you're out there on your own, that no one has your back. Well, I do. I hear you. I see you. And as your president, I will always have your back.
I want to congratulate Senator Sanders for the extraordinary campaign he has run. He has spent his long career in public service fighting for Progressive causes and principles and he's excited millions of voters, especially young people. And let there be no mistake.
Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that we've had about how to raise incomes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility, have been very good for the democratic party and for America. This has been a hard fought, deeply felt campaign. But whether you supported me or senator Sanders or one of the Republicans, we all need to keep working toward a better, stronger America. Now I know it never feels good to put your heart into a cause or a candidate you believe in and to come up short. I know that feeling well.
But as we look ahead, let's remember all that United States is. We all want an economy with more opportunity and less inquality, where Wall Street can never remembering main street again. We want a government that listens to the people, not the powerbrokers which means getting unaccountable money out of politics. And we all want a society that is toll ranlt, inclusive and fair.
We all believe that America succeeds when more people share in our prosperity. Whether more people have a voice in our political system. Whether more people can contribute to their communities. We believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better division, empowerment is better than resentment and bridges are better than walls.
[Make America Great Again is code for] let's take America backwards. Back to a time when opportunity and dignity we reserved for some not all. Promising his supporters an economy he cannot re-create. We have a prosperity that lifts everyone who has been left out and left behind including those who may not vote for us but who deserve their chance to make a new beginning.
When Donald Trump says a distinguished judge born in Indiana can't do his job because of his Mexican heritage or he mocks a reporter with disabilities or calls womenmen pigs, it goes against everything we stand for. Because we want an America where everyone is treated with respect and where their work is valued. Donald Trump attacked the press for asking tough questions, denigrated muslims and immigrants. He wants to win by stoking fear and rubbing salt in wounds. And reminding us daily just how great he is.
We believe we should lift each other up, not tear each other down. We believe we need to give Americans a raise, not complain that hard-working people's wages are too high. We believe we need to help young people struggling with student debt, not pile more on our national debt with give aways to the super wealthy. We believe we fled to make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century not insist that climate change is a hoax.
To be great, we can't be small. We have to be as big as the values that define America. And we are a big hearted, fair minded country. We teach our children that is one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Not just for people who look a certain way or worship a certain way or love a certain way. For all, indivisible. This election is not, however, about about the same old fights between Republicans and Democrats. This election is different.
It really is about who we are as a nation. It's about millions of Americans coming together so take we are better than this. We won't let this happen in America. And if you agree, whether you're a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, I hope you will join us in just a few weeks, we will meet in Philadelphia which gave birth to our nation back in that hot summer of 1776. Those early patriots knew they would all rise or fall together. Well, to day that is more true than ever. Our campaign will take the message to every corner of our country. We're stronger when our economy works for everyone, not just those at the top.
With good paying jobs and good schools in every zip code and a real commitment to all families and all regions of our nation. We are stronger when we work with our allies and we're stronger when we respect each other, listen to each other and act with a sense of common purpose. We're stronger when every family and every community knows they're not on their own. Because we are in this together. It really does take a village to raise a child. And to build a stronger future for us all.
I learned this a long time ago from the biggest influence in my life, my mother. She was the rock until the day I was born until she left us. She overcame a childhood marked by abandonment and mistreatment and somehow managed not to become bitter or broken. My mother believed that life is about serving others. And she taught me never to back down from a bully which it turns out was pretty good advice.
This past Saturday would have been her 97th birthday. She was born on June 4th, 1919 and some of you may know the significance of that date. On the the very day my mother was born in Chicago, Congress was passing the 19th amendment to the constitution. That amendment finally gave women the right to vote. And I really wish my mother could be here tonight.
I wish she could see what a wonderful mother Chelsea has become and could meet our beautiful granddaughter Charlotte and, of course, I wish she could see her daughter become the Democratic party's nominee.
So yes. Yes, there are still ceilings to break for women and men for all of us. But don't let anyone tell you that great things can't happen in America. Barriers can come down. Justice and equality can win. Our history has moved in that direction. Thanks to generations of Americans who refuse to give up or back down.
Now you are writing a new chapter of that story. This campaign is about making sure there are no ceilings, no limits on any of us and this is our moment to come together. Join our campaign. Contribute what you can. Text join to 47246. Help us organize in all 50 states! Every phone call you make, every door you knock on will move us forward.
Now I'm going to take a moment later tonight and the days ahead to fully absorb the history we've made here. But what I think about is the choice that's we're about to make, the goals we will strive for, the principles we will live by. And we need to make sure that they can be proud of us. The end of the primaries is only the beginning of the work we're called to do. But if we stand together, we will rise together.
Because we are stronger together. Let's go out and make that case to America. Thank you! God bless you and bless America!
Clinton's speech " target="_blank">can be seen in its entirety below.
Democrat Hillary Clinton beat rival Bernie Sanders in New Jersey's presidential nominating contest on Tuesday, Fox News projected, bolstering her lead a day after she captured the number of delegates needed to become her party's U.S. presidential nominee.
Clinton, a former first lady, senator and U.S. secretary of state, would be the first woman to become the presidential candidate of a major U.S. political party.
New Jersey was one of six states holding contests on Tuesday, including the big prize of California, where Clinton is still at risk of an embarrassing loss to Sanders as she heads into a campaign against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election.
Other news outlets, including MSNBC and CNN, said it was still too early to call the winner in New Jersey shortly after the polls closed.
Clinton secured enough delegates to the party's convention to win the nomination before Tuesday's voting, U.S. media outlets reported on Monday night.
But Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said the campaign was pushing supporters and volunteers to "stay at this" for the contests in New Jersey, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico and California.
"We're on the verge of making history, and we're going to celebrate that tonight," Mook told CNN. "There's a lot of people we want to make sure turn out today. We do not want to send a message that anybody's vote doesn't count."
HISTORIC NOMINATION
Clinton, who now must try to unify the party and win over Sanders supporters, will highlight the historic nature of her nomination at an event in Brooklyn on Tuesday night. Her campaign has compiled a video tying her to women's rights movements in American history.
She wants to move beyond the primary battle and turn her attention to Trump. But Sanders, a democratic socialist U.S. senator from Vermont, has vowed to stay in until July's party convention that formally picks the nominee, defying growing pressure from party leaders to exit the race.
If Sanders wins the primary in California, America's most populous state, it would not be enough for him to catch Clinton in the overall delegate count but could fuel his continued presence in the race. Polls in California were due to close at 11 p.m. ET.
"We will look forward tonight to marking having reached the threshold of a majority of the pledged delegates,” Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told CNN, referring to delegates won in the state nominating contests. "And at that point, Bernie Sanders will be out of our race."
Sanders, 74, has commanded huge crowds, galvanizing younger voters with promises to address economic inequality. Clinton, 68, has edged him out, particularly among older voters, with a more pragmatic campaign focused on building on President Barack Obama's policies.
Steven Acosta, a 47-year-old teacher living in Los Angeles, voted for Clinton on Tuesday, saying that was partly because he believed she stood a better chance of winning in November.
"I like what Bernie Sanders says and I agree with almost everything that he says," Acosta said. "The problem is that I think Republicans would really unify ... even more against him."
'RUSH TO JUDGMENT'
Sanders was determined to stay in the race, even after the Associated Press and NBC reported on Monday night that Clinton had clinched the number of delegates needed to win the nomination. A Sanders campaign spokesman castigated what he said was the media's "rush to judgment."
Under Democratic National Committee rules, most delegates to the July 25-28 convention in Philadelphia are awarded by popular votes in state-by-state elections, and Clinton has a clear lead in those pledged delegates.
But the delegate count also includes superdelegates, party leaders who can change their minds at any time. Clinton's superdelegate support outnumbers Sanders' by more than 10 to 1.
The Sanders' campaign has said it can still persuade superdelegates to switch to him, although in practice superdelegates who have announced their intentions are unlikely to change their minds.
Sanders would have to get more than 60 percent of the superdelegates backing Clinton to switch their votes. So far, his campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, acknowledged they had not converted a single delegate.
Trump, 69, became his party's presumptive nominee last month, outlasting 16 Republican challengers.
(Writing by John Whitesides and Ginger Gibson; Additional reporting by Amanda Becker and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Jonathan Allen and Chris Kahn in New York; Joseph Ax and Frank McGurty in New Jersey; Alex Dobuzinskis and Dan Whitcomb in California; Editing by Howard Goller)
Former KKK leader David Duke came to the defense of one of his political idols Tuesday, blaming Donald Trump's legal problems over his scandal-plagued Trump University on a new culprit.
"Jewish agent" Wolf Blitzer and the Jewish-owned media.
Pointing out "the Jewish establishment knows all about psychology," Duke went on to explain that they have the ability to "marshal up an army of Jews" to go after opponents like Trump by sending out experts to attack him.
Duke cast a wide net, including Chris Wallace from Fox News, CNN's Jake Tapper as well as Blitzer from CNN, who Duke claims he has already exposed as a "Jewish agent from AIPAC."
Duke went on to point out that CNN is run by "Jewish extremist" Jeff Zucker, helpfully noting that Zucker has said "he lives and breathes Israel."
'They're the ones who have been attacking Trump," Duke continued, "And most recently Fox News, the shabbat goy shiksa Megyn Kelly, because they love to have some gentile -- they don't always want all the Jews out front. She recently criticized Trump, the fact that he said this judge isn't fair. This Mexican judge. This Mexican-descended judge."
Duke went on to criticize Judge Gonzalo Curiel, noting his affiliation to several Hispanic lawyers groups before adding, "You couldn't even imagine someone being a member of the European-American National Bar Association. In fact there isn't one, it wouldn't be allowed. That would be called 'racist.'"
Listen to Duke's comments below, beginning at the 25 minute mark:
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) was caught on video mocking a former staffer about her weight as she faced an uphill re-election battle on Tuesday, WCNC-TV reported.
This story has been updated. Please see below.
"Typical Renee," said the target of Ellmers' insult, Maggie Sandrock. "She has become a mean girl on steroids in my view."
The footage shows Ellmers walking by Sandrock -- who went from working on Ellmers' previous campaigns to working for her GOP primary opponent, fellow Rep. George Holding -- and telling her, "You're eating a little bit too much pork barbecue. Whoo!"
Ellmers did not mention their prior working relationship when asked about it by WNCN, while refusing to apologize for her remark.
"Yeah, I know her," she said. "She's actually, I think she lives in Lillington, but she's part of the Republican Party."
While Ellmers said she considered Sandrock a friend, she said she was not sure if the feeling was mutual.
"I would consider her a friend, but certainly not a good one," said Sandrock. "Good friends don't tell you you're fat or you're getting fat. They may say, 'Everything going well Maggie? You look a little stressed out.' But they don't say, 'Too much pork barbecue, Maggie.'"
Bloomberg News reported that Ellmers was trailing both Holding and Greg Brannon in the primary, garnering only 21 percent of the vote.
Update, 8:53 p.m. EST: The Hill reported that Ellmers, who was endorsed by Donald Trump, was projected to lose the primary, with Holding garnering the win.
Watch WCNC's report, as aired on Tuesday, below.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump rebuked General Motors Co on Tuesday, widening his criticism of American companies that have invested in Mexico.
Trump has made criticism of Ford Motor Co a staple of his campaign speeches for more than a year, repeatedly suggesting that the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker would back down from plans to expand in Mexico or face a 35 percent tariff on vehicle exports.
Trump also has criticized Carrier, a manufacturer of air conditioning units, which is owned by United Technologies Corp and Mondelez International Inc, the owner of Nabisco, for shifting jobs to Mexico.
"I am fighting hard to bring jobs back to the United States. Many companies – like Ford, General Motors, Nabisco, Carrier – are moving production to Mexico. Drugs and illegal immigrants are also pouring across our border. This is bad for all Americans, regardless of their heritage," Trump said in a statement defending his comments about a Mexican-American judge overseeing civil lawsuits against Trump University. His view of an ethnically biased judiciary has drawn criticism, including from within his own party.
A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why Trump had decided to criticize GM.
GM spokesman Jim Cain declined comment on Trump's criticism.
In December 2014, GM said it was investing $5 billion in Mexico through 2018 - a move that would allow it to double its production capacity at its plants around the country. GM said in 2014 the investment would create 5,600 jobs in Mexico.
The Detroit News reported in May that GM plans next year to move some light-duty pickup production to the Flint Assembly Plant from Mexico, according to a memo from UAW Local 598 to membership.
Mexican auto production has been rising in recent years as numerous automakers expand operations.
Mexico produced 3.4 million vehicles in 2015, the seventh largest vehicle producer worldwide, and could surpass South Korea by 2020, producing more than 5 million vehicles, according to industry forecasts.
Ford has repeatedly rejected Trump's criticism and emphasized its significant U.S. investments and employment.
In April, Ford announced it would invest $1.6 billion to build more small cars in Mexico. In 2015, Ford said it would invest $2.5 billion in new engine and transmission plants in Mexico, creating 3,800 jobs.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Howard Goller)
As Republican lawmakers begin to reassess their support for Donald Trump, Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio echoed Trump's argument that his rhetoric regarding federal judge Gonzalo Curiel has been taken out of context.
"Sometimes his words are twisted," Arpaio said in an interview with Fox Business Channel on Tuesday. "I'm not gonna get involved in his case. But at least he has the guts to speak out and back up what he says. He may want to change here and there, but we need a guy that is brave, that doesn't fall into these politics or the media."
Trump has made it a point on the campaign trail to highlight his endorsement by Arpaio to signal his anti-immigration credentials on his way to secure the party's presumptive presidential nomination. More recently, however, he has come under criticism -- including from within the GOP -- for attacking Curiel as a "hater" and as a "Mexican."
But Arpaio -- who has been criticized nationally for his own anti-immigrant policies -- blamed the media for drawing attention to Trump's remarks.
"Why don't you drop it?" he complained to host Stuart Varney. "I'm not talking about you. But the media keeps harping. They've got to find something about him, something and they keep picking on this comment. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but leave it alone. Let's go on to other things."
Arpaio was ordered last week to pay detainees at least $1,000 apiece in a racial profiling case against his department. He also faces the possibility of being charged with contempt of court.
Watch footage from the interview, as posted online, below.
[h/t Politico]
Republican Donald Trump trails Democrat Hillary Clinton by 10 points in the 2016 presidential campaign, according to a poll released on Tuesday, showing little change from a week ago and suggesting his comments about a Mexican-American judge had yet to affect his standing in the race.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll came after several days in which Trump faced sharp criticism over his insistence that a federal judge who was born in Indiana to Mexican parents was biased in a case involving the celebrity billionaire.
But the fallout from Trump's comments appeared to have done little to help Clinton build her lead over the presumptive Republican nominee.
The online survey showed that 44.3 percent of likely voters said they would vote for Clinton, compared with 34.7 percent who would support Trump. A further 20.9 percent said they would not vote for either candidate. The results were little changed from last week's survey.
The poll was conducted from Friday to Tuesday, starting shortly after Trump's first comments about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing fraud lawsuits against Trump University, the New York businessman's defunct real estate school.
Trump has suggested that Curiel's heritage is influencing the judge's opinion about the case because of Trump's campaign rhetoric about illegal immigration.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan called Trump's comments textbook racism on Tuesday, while Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Trump should stop attacking minority groups.
Bowing to pressure from fellow Republicans, Trump said on Tuesday he would no longer talk about the judge, adding that his previous remarks about Curiel had been misconstrued.
Other events, including news that Clinton had secured enough delegates and superdelegates to become the first female presidential candidate of a major U.S. political party, occurred toward the end of the poll.
The poll included 1,261 respondents and had a credibility interval of 3.2 percentage points. See the poll results in Reuters' Polling Explorer.
For most of the year, Clinton has maintained an edge over Trump in the Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely voters. That edge briefly disappeared in May after Trump’s remaining rivals for the Republican nomination dropped out and party leaders started to line up behind his campaign.
Trump’s level of support has since eroded as he sparred with his party's leadership and continued to be dogged with questions about Trump University.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll differs from others that are often days removed from when their data was collected. As a result, the Reuters/Ipsos poll often detects shifts in opinion well ahead of other surveys.
(Reporting by Chris Kahn in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Florida Democrats demanded investigations on Tuesday into a donation made by a Donald Trump foundation to the state's attorney general, citing an Associated Press report that the Republican attorney general solicited the money around the time her office was considering a lawsuit against Trump University.
At question is a 2013 donation of $25,000 from a Trump charity to a political committee supporting the attorney general, Pam Bondi, that has received media scrutiny this year.
“Florida’s top law enforcement official solicited a donation from someone she was supposed to be investigating for fraud," Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant said in a statement.
"She even went as far as to campaign for Trump, who has made a habit of bragging about buying politicians. Floridians deserve answers and Pam Bondi must be held accountable," Tant added.
Bondi, who has endorsed Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election, on Tuesday called the AP report misleading.
"My office has made public every document on this issue, which shows no one in my office ever opened an investigation on Trump University nor was there a basis for doing so," she said in a statement. "Any news story that suggests otherwise is completely false."
The Trump campaign did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The Associated Press reported on Monday that Bondi solicited the donation personally, around the time her office was debating whether to join a New York state investigation into Trump's defunct real estate training school.
Trump is fighting lawsuits that accuse his school venture of misleading thousands of people who paid up to $35,000 for seminars to learn about the billionaire's real estate investment strategies.
Bondi ended the lawsuit deliberations after the check arrived, the AP reported. At the time of the donation, she was seeking re-election.
The Tampa Bay Times quoted a Bondi spokesman saying on Monday that documents released in the case "consistently demonstrate that through due diligence, staff assessed matters brought to their attention and properly determined that New York litigation seeks relief for any and all aggrieved consumers, regardless of their state of residence."
(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Appearing in an interview with Glenn Beck, magician and gadfly Penn Jillette explained the broad appeal presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has with conspiracy-minded people, saying they are easily manipulated because they love simple answers to complex problems.
Jillette began by pointing out President Obama's calm demeanor, calling him "slick and so on point," which he has used to assure people that things are under control.
Noting that “The pendulum has just swung the other way,” Jillette explained that Trump appeals to people who seek a different type of assurance.
"The people that love their conspiracies -- it's exactly the same thinking," he stated. "Someone has got to be watching over this, and it's better if they're evil. You know there is an expression, I don't know who said it originally, but 'never ascribe to conspiracy what can be explained by stupidity.' We’re living in a chaotic world, and someone comes along with answers that, I think, even the supporters know kind of aren’t true. But at least he has answers."
After pointing out that any normal person might show initial hesitancy about how to fix complex problems, Jillette took a shot at Trump's empty promises.
"If you willing to fall for it, there is something so -- 'We've got build a wall!'" Jillette said as he mimicked Trump. "'That will solve all of our -- Build a wall!' And who is going to pay for it? 'The Mexicans!' Yeah, that will solve all of it. 'We're going to kill all of the Muslim's families.' Good, That solves that.'You know Obama has been too lenient, we're just gonna wipe out ISIS!'"
"And boy, we know from all those horrible books, like the ones Trump has written, about business and manipulating people — we know that you don’t want to show doubt,” Jillette said. “And if there has been one thing my whole life has been about artistically, it’s telling people: embrace the doubt. ‘I don’t know’ is the most powerful thing you can say.”
Watch the clip below from Glenn Beck TV:
Featured Image: Penn Jillette on The Glenn Beck Program, June 6, 2016
A ruling by New York's highest court in a fraud case against former American International Group Inc Chief Executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg could affect the state's case against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his defunct Trump University.
The New York Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman could seek to recoup millions of dollars in bonus payments to Greenberg using the legal remedy called disgorgement.
Unlike damages, which are used to compensate victims' losses, disgorgement requires a defendant to give back gains obtained from unlawful means. The ruling means that Schneiderman can go after $5 million he says Trump personally pocketed from the Trump University real-estate seminar venture.
"It doesn't help him," Jeffrey Goldman, Trump's lawyer in the New York case, said on Monday of the Greenberg ruling. But Goldman said Trump expected to win the case and could also try to limit the amount subject to disgorgement, such as by arguing that most of it was earned outside of New York.
According to the state's 2013 lawsuit against Trump, filed in state court in Manhattan, Trump University was an unlicensed, illegal operation that bilked students of up to $35,000 each between 2005 and 2011. Two proposed class actions in California make similar allegations.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has repeatedly raised the Trump University litigation on the campaign trail, calling the lawsuits baseless and politically motivated. He has also accused the federal judge overseeing the California lawsuits of being biased against him because of his ethnicity. The judge was born in Indiana to Mexican parents.
In the Greenberg case, the state accused the former CEO of orchestrating sham transactions at AIG and misleading shareholders about the company's financial health between 2000 and 2005. Schneiderman is asking that Greenberg disgorge some $25 million in bonuses during that period, plus interest.
Greenberg has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer, David Boies, who represented Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in the dispute over the 2000 election recount, had argued that disgorgement was not a remedy available to the New York attorney general under either the state's securities fraud law or another fraud statute. The Court of Appeals rejected Boies' arguments.
The ability to seek disgorgement may be useful to Schneiderman because the California cases involving Trump University may be resolved before the New York case. One is scheduled for trial on Nov. 28, just a few weeks after the Nov. 8 election.
A settlement or judgment in those cases could undermine Schneiderman's claim for $40 million in damages because he is suing on behalf of many of the same former Trump University students. But disgorgement claims would not be affected.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Anthony Lin and Peter Cooney)
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Tuesday his comments questioning the impartiality of a Mexican-American judge had been misconstrued as a broad attack on people of Mexican heritage.
Trump said, however, that it was fair to question the judge's impartiality in the civil suit against Trump University and whether he could receive a fair trial.
(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
An Iowa state legislator became the first GOP lawmaker to leave the party in an act of protest over Donald Trump's presumptive presidential nomination, the Guardian reported on Tuesday.
State Sen. David Johnson announced that he changed his party affiliation from Republican to "no party," citing the real estate magnate's "racist remarks and judicial jihad."
"I will not stand silent if the party of Lincoln and the end of slavery buckles under the racial bias of a bigot," Johnson told the Quad City Times.
Johnson, who has served in the state Senate since 2002, did not support Trump at any point during the party's presidential primary. Instead, he endorsed former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.
But he said the last straw for him regarding his party membership was Trump's ongoing attacks against federal District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel. The presumptive GOP nominee has called Curiel "a hater" and argued that the judge has an inherent conflict of interest because his parents emigrated to the US from Mexico.
The senator went so far as to liken Trump's campaign to fascism, saying that he won the GOP primaries "by reducing his campaign to reality TV and large crowds and divisive language and all the trappings of a good show for those who like that kind of approach and that’s what happened in the 1930s in Germany. I think that's all I need to say but certainly the fascists took control of Germany under the same types of strategies."
He said that if the party ousted Trump as its presidential nominee, he would rejoin it. But he expressed disbelief that party leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan would continue to back Trump even as they called his rhetoric racist.
"That's insanity," Johnson said. "I don't know how else you put it, I don't understand what people don't see happening here."
Copyright © 2026 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 |
Masthead
|
Privacy Policy
|
Manage Preferences
|
Debug Logs
For corrections contact
corrections@rawstory.com
, for support contact
support@rawstory.com
.
