Speaking to Forbes at the Republican National Convention Monday, Trump's son said, "Well, it's been a pretty somber mood, right? I mean, my father got shot at. Somebody took off half of his ear."
Posting on social media Saturday night, the elder Trump said a bullet had "pierced" the upper part of his ear.
Even Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), who served as Trump's White House doctor, told The New York Times that "the bullet took a little bit off the top of his ear in an area that, just by nature, bleeds like crazy."
Revered entrepreneur and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban raised alarms Wednesday that a love affair between Silicon Valley and Donald Trump’s reelection campaign aspires toward creating a crippled economy in which cryptocurrencies reign supreme.
“It’s a bitcoin play,” Cuban posted on X Wednesday. “What will drive the price of BTC is lower tax rates and tariffs, which if history is any guide (and it’s not always ), will be inflationary.”
“Combine that with global uncertainty as to the geopolitical role of the USA, and the impact on the U.S. Dollar as a reserve currency, and you can’t align the stars any better for a BTC price acceleration,” Cuban wrote.
Cuban, who has long been a strong critic of Trump and a skeptic of cryptocurrency, expressed fears that a spike in crypto valuation, combined with the lowered valuation of the dollar globally will force bitcoin to become a “safe haven” for investors.
“Which means that BTC could be what countries and all of us look to buy as a means to protect our savings. Crazy ? It already happens in countries facing hyperinflation,” Cuban wrote. ”And if things really go further than we can imagine today … then BTC becomes exactly what the Maxis envision. A global currency.”
Bitcoin is currently valued at nearly $65,000 a share.
Silicon Valley investors dumped millions into Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and gave even more to Joe Biden in 2020 to beat Trump. Tech's initial opposition to Trump stemmed from his confrontational style, rhetoric and policies, which were seen as potentially harmful to the industry but, over time, Trump has managed to woo leaders such as Elon Musk and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel over to his camp with his “anti-woke” agenda and emphasis on deregulation.
Garnering more mainstream support from the tech industry could be a huge boon for the Trump campaign, which despite the recent assassination attempt on the former president, hasn’t seen a bump in polling numbers.
A very aggressive Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) cut off CNN's Dana Bash as she attempted to fact check her by pointing out that Republicans have continually derailed much-needed immigration reform during an interview at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
After letting the GOP lawmaker ramble on about the support Trump has been receiving at the convention, things went sideways when Salazar bashed the Biden administration on border policy and the CNN host corrected her.
"The Dems had, during [Barack] Obama and during Biden, the possibility to pass immigration reform law and give dignity to our people and they didn't" Salazar asserted.
"Well, I mean, I was there, I was in the hallways. This was blown up in large part because the Republican base didn't want it," Bash replied. "They were so close so many times."
Leaning in, Salazar interrupted, "During Obama, we were at this interview when he told us in 2008, that in the first 100 days of his presidency, he was going to sign an immigration reform law. And he invested that political capital in Obamacare. That was a lie! Now let's move forward: 2020, President Biden, he said, I'm going to give an immigration reform law to everyone who votes for me in our community within the first 100 days."
"And it was blown up by Donald Trump, who told —," Bash countered only to have Salazar speak over her and claim, "Not really," as Bash was talked over.
"The Dems had, under Nancy Pelosi, the Dems had Congress and they had Senate and they had, ah — everything passed," Salazar insisted. "BBB was considered and the infrastructure, the $1.9 trillion immigration. Unfortunately, immigration is not a top priority, even though they say it, it's also, I mean, it is impossible when it comes to these issues in Congress right now, which is Dems could have done."
"Again I was covering Congress then they tried and it fell apart for lots of reasons primarily because —," Bash attempted as Salazar interrupted again and blamed it on Nancy Pelosi.
J.D. Vance's hometown newspaper doubts he can deliver Ohio, the crucial swing state he represents in the Senate, to former President Donald Trump.
The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday published an editorial focusing on the junior senator's weaknesses when it comes to courting a crucial group of undecided voters.
"Vance espouses a blend of economic populism that appeals to white working-class males," columnist Jordan Barkin writes. "But women are not a focus."
Barkin expresses surprise that Trump ignored the political truism that presidential candidates should pander to the far wings then choose a running mate who will appease the base and intrigue the undecideds.
In choosing Vance, Trump bucked the trend.
"[Vance] appeals to the MAGA demographic that was going to vote for Trump anyway," writes Barkin.
Barkin argues Vance's hardline position on abortion — which he opposes in rape and incest cases — will turn swing voters away, citing a Public Research Institute poll that found a "clear majority of residents in the top swing state support abortions."
Barkin concedes Vance's Ohio roots may inspire voter turnout, but whether red or blue will claim its 17 electoral votes, he argues, remains to be seen.
This prediction is born out in another Columbus Dispatch editorial Barkin directs readers toward that features multiple locals' responses to Trump's chosen running mate.
"Many Americans are too familiar with the struggle to feed their family —including our U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance — but instead of supporting benefits that families like his relied on, he supports enormous budget cuts to them," wrote Jeanna Kenney.
However, the Columbus Dispatch editorial round-up shows Vance may deliver at least one Columbus swing voter to Trump, but not a reason to write home about.
"I am hoping that Trump picks Sen. J.D. Vance for his running mate," Joe R. Tilley wrote in May. "Then Ohio could get rid of the lying, bootlicking, butt kissing, weak-willed, integrity lacking, sickening obsequious sycophant."
MILWAUKEE — As delegates gathered for the second day of the Republican National Convention under the theme of “Make America Safe Once Again,” prominent speakers made the plight of American military veterans a recurring theme.
“They give illegal immigrants free hotel rooms while homeless veterans sleep on the streets,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said during his speech on Monday night. “Disgusting.”
But on Tuesday afternoon, in a park about a mile west of the Fiserv Forum, where Republicans have gathered for their convention, visiting officers from the Columbus Police Department fatally shot homeless veteran Samuel Sharpe Jr., 43.
Republicans made no public mention of Sharpe during the four hours of speeches Tuesday night — a night when Republicans, under the theme of “Make America Safe Again,” accused President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of prioritizing illegal immigrants at the expense of military veterans.
All the while, Republican speakers and delegates pledged their support for law enforcement officers, Republicans at the GOP convention lauded police officers and chanted “back the blue” while former President Donald Trump pumped his fist in support.
Memorialization of Sharpe, who lived in a tent that was part of a larger encampment sprawling across a nearby vacant lot, was left to some 300 demonstrators who gathered Tuesday evening in King Park for a candlelight vigil.
“A homeless veteran — isn’t that the narrative that the RNC paints that they care for its veterans?” Alan Shavoya, an activist with Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, said. “Yet they brought their circus to our city and killed a homeless veteran.”
Maria Hamilton, whose son, Dontre Hamilton, was killed by Milwaukee police 10 years ago in a different park, said the fight between Sharpe and another man that prompted police attention was a confrontation among two friends “in this community.” She accused police of mishandling the situation.
“The first thing they want to do is take lives, she said.
Hamilton and others gathered at King Park to remember Sharpe tried to make sense of what the Columbus Police were doing one mile from Fiserv Forum in a neighborhood separated from the convention by an interstate highway.
“They came here for these f***ing politicians,” Hamilton said. “They had no business in this park. Milwaukee Police Department, the city of Milwaukee should have had a space [near the convention perimeter] for them to meet, not in our community. We’re not involved with that.
“I know we still have another 72 hours of this invasion,” she added. “Please be safe…. We do not condone the invasion. Do what you came to do, and get the hell out of our town.”
Concerns about outside law enforcement realized
The Columbus Police Department is one of roughly 140 law enforcement agencies from across the country to augment convention security this week in Milwaukee.
Shavoya noted that a larger coalition of far-left groups organized a march with about 3,000 people that protested the Republican National Convention on Monday — without incident.
Shavoya said activists expressed concern to city officials in the runup to the convention that added law enforcement from across the country would cause problems for the Milwaukee community at large.
“When [the city] tried to put it on us that we would be the ones causing violence, we told them: ‘It’s going to be your law enforcement coming from out of state, or your own from Milwaukee that’s going to cause issues,’” Shavoya said. “So we warned them. They tried to flip it on us, and today shows that we were right, and that the city was wrong. That the city cannot control its own law enforcement, let alone law enforcement from outside the city.”
Police body-camera video released by the Columbus Police Department shows that the officers staged in King Park observed Sharpe wielding two knives during an altercation in the middle of West Vliet Street.
In the video, about nine officers can be seen debriefing on a previous incident involving protesters on opposite sides of the abortion issue.
An officer then announces: “He’s got a knife!”
“Stop! Drop the knife! Police!” the officers shout as they run toward Sharpe with guns drawn. The video shows that 15 seconds elapse from when officers observed the knife to when they began firing at least eight gunshots.
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey B. Norman defended the officers’ actions during a press conference on Tuesday, saying that Sharpe “charged” at the other man with knives.
“This was an incident where somebody’s life was in immediate danger,” he said. “Again, two knives were recovered from this particular situation. Someone’s life was in danger. These officers who are not from this area took upon themselves to act to save someone’s life today.”
Norman said the Greenfield Police Department in Milwaukee County will lead an investigation into the incident.
After the vigil on Tuesday night, protesters marched past the spot where Sharpe died. They left votive candles behind to honor his memory. Two employees with the U.S. Justice Department Community Relations Services, a federal agency that provides mediation services to communities to communities experiencing racial tension, tagged along with the march.
Marching behind a banner that read, “End the war on Black America,” the protesters chanted, “The police at the RNC — ain’t no good. The police in Milwaukee — ain’t no good.”
Maria Hamilton, whose lost her son to police violence, speaks at a vigil for Samuel Sharpe Jr. on Tuesday.
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A South Florida dive bar has been hit by backlash after displaying a joke about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on its large outdoor sign.
“How do you miss a head that’s that inflated?” was arranged in large letters on the marquee outside Harry’s Banana Farm in Lake Worth Beach Monday, Miami News Times reports.
The sign was taken down within 24 hours following public outcry, mostly from supporters of the former president and current GOP nominee to return to the White House.
Trump was injured and a spectator was killed Saturday at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when a 20-year-old shooter climbed a roof and fired off several shots before being killed by Secret Service members.
Harry’s Banana Farm manager Lou De Stout told WPTV News he has a penchant for crafting snarky signage outside the bar.
"I thought it was just another humorous sign but apparently it struck a nerve,” De Stout told WPTV.
Soon after the sign went up, Trump supporters gathered outside the restaurant Monday in protest and flocked to the business's online Yelp page, spamming it with negative reviews.
The following day, the bar had a new message on the marquee.
"Yeah for Trump. So happy for him. You crazy b-----ds happy?"
After the Saturday attack on Donald Trump, the U.S. Secret Service is releasing information about the ongoing threats against the ex-president.
Among the information uncovered by Bloomberg through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request is that there have been dozens of security breaches at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
In Jan. 2019, the USSS released a report documenting how it secured Mar-a-Lago using the Coast Guard and local police on waterways and at the entrances around the perimeter. Guests can be subjected to "physical screening" but it relies mostly on "magnetometers, wands and visual checks."
"The Secret Service doesn’t have any say in who gets welcomed to the so-called Winter White House," Bloomberg said. "Although there are additional screening protocols for guests afforded close access to him, Trump is known to frequently socialize with guests who pay for an annual membership, sometimes making surprise appearances at weddings or parties.
The FOIA request details "dozens" of cases of people allowed to enter the facility with no authorization while Trump was in residence. There are a few cases where individuals were waived through without being checked at all by USSS.
In one case, a college student came to Mar-a-Lago, walking through a tunnel near the pool. He was screened and allowed to enter.
"Sneaking into Trump club is like taking candy from a baby," the 18-year-old posted on Snapchat in late 2018 after the incident.
Ultimately, USSS asked him some questions, and he confessed “he wanted to explore and was curious." He also said he knew Trump would be there. The report said they "sent [him] on his way." He was then charged with entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, which is a misdemeanor, Bloomberg explained.
A similar incident happened six months later when a man who identified himself as the "commander in chief" said he wanted to "survey Mar-a-Lago because it was his birthright." He explained to the agents that "ruling families of the world" were scheduled to meet Trump for "an interdimensional peace conference."
The man expressed his displeasure with the job Trump was doing but that he was happy to leave the area and communicate with Trump via "Morse code" using "lighters." He refused to speak with local police and was involuntarily committed to a mental health facility. The report doesn't reveal anything that happened beyond that.
During an appearance on CNN with host Jim Acosta, a former colleague of Nikki Haley, who served with her in the South Carolina House of Representatives, claimed he was not surprised in the least that she would set aside her principles and endorse Donald Trump.
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, was given a key spot in the Republican National Convention on Tuesday where she endorsed the former president, whom she has previously labeled "unhinged" while claiming re-electing him would be equivalent to "suicide."
On Wednesday CNN contributor Bakari Sellars, a former South Carolina lawmaker, smirked when the topic came up and noted her history of being an opportunist with no fixed beliefs.
"I can tell you is that this surprises no one who knows Nikki Haley," he began. "She has the backbone of an octopus and so politically, when you have somebody who floats with the wind, this is not a surprise."
"I mean, I think this is one of the larger issues that Donald Trump actually had with Nikki Haley; the fact that she can do one thing in your face, then behind your back, do something totally different so that's kind of what we're seeing amongst the people around Donald Trump," he added.
"It's fascinating to see the Lindsey Grahams, the Marco Rubios, the Ted Cruzes, the Nikki Haleys who he [Trump] talks about like dogs," Sellars continued. "He talks about their wives. He called her 'birdbrain,' sent literal bird foods to her room. She says this and that, and then they kind of just crumble and it's missed and so the Republican Party that we're seeing on display is a Republican Party that is not like any Republican party before."
"I would venture to say, doesn't stand for much," he added, to which host Acosta added, "Yeah, he collects these critics turned converts like baseball cards."
On Monday, July 15 — the opening day of the 2024 Republican National Convention — the GOP, for the first time in U.S. history, gave its presidential nomination to someone who is facing three criminal indictments: Donald Trump.
Trump's legal team claimed that the indictment was invalid because U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith without him being confirmed by the U.S. Senate. And Cannon agreed with that reasoning, which attorney Ben Meiselas and other legal experts have been attacking as horribly flawed and at odds with judicial precedent.
On the "Meidas Touch" podcast, Meiselas slammed Cannon's ruling as "horrific" and predicted that the Trump appointee will be thrown off the case.
Meiselas argued, "Special counsels have been used over and over again in Republican and Democratic administrations. There was a special counsel used in the prosecution of Hunter Biden, for example. But Judge Cannon says she's just confining her order to Donald Trump, so special counsels are only unlawful in her mind when it comes to Donald Trump. And while, of course, that's not a good headline, or it's a horrific decision, it will finally allow Jack Smith to appeal to the 11th Circuit.
The attorney added, "He's no doubt going to ask for Judge Canon to be removed from the case."
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Smith, stressed that the federal courts have repeatedly ruled that a U.S. attorney general can appoint a special counsel without a U.S. Senate vote.
Carr told Newsweek, "The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the attorney general is statutorily authorized to appoint a special counsel. The Justice Department has authorized the special counsel to appeal the court's order."
Despite the over-inflated praise of Donald Trump for picking Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his 2024 running mate at the Republican Party Convention being held in Milwaukee, there are serious questions being raised over whether the freshman senator brings anything to the ticket that it didn't already have.
According to Salon political analyst, Heather "Digby" Parton — no fan of the convicted felon ex-president — he had so many better candidates to choose from and it looks like he blew it.
Parton began by admitting she thought Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) would have fit the bill better had she not confessed to shooting a puppy named Cricket, as she argues that Noem "has the Mar-a-Lago Barbie look, which Trump obviously loves, and putting a woman on the ticket might have helped with those suburban moms who don't like him very much."
She then added skipping over North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) could come back to haunt Trump.
"Of all the choices discussed over the past few weeks, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio was the guy who made the least sense," the Salon columnist wrote before adding that the very MAGA Vance "seems like the least likely to gain him any votes he didn't already have."
If there is anyone to blame for the selection of Vance — with confidante Kellyanne Conway pushing hard for Rubio to no avail — it would be Trump sons Don Jr. and Eric who reportedly "steamrolled" their father.
"I have to say that in all the articles written about this decision, what comes across to me is that Donald Trump has lost a step," Parton wrote. "Maybe he's just so cocky about winning that he doesn't think it matters, which is possible. But from the way it sounds, he let himself be steamrolled into picking someone who on some level he knows wasn't the best choice for his electoral prospects."
"Maybe the 78 year old Trump is just as weak and tired as that other old guy he's running against," she concluded.
MILWAUKEE — Democrats remain in the midst of a destructive conflict over whether President Joe Biden should quit the 2024 race.
But steps outside the Republican National Convention’s security perimeter, Democratic Party leaders on Wednesday angled to frame the presidential election as a “binary choice” between Biden and Republican nominee Donald Trump. No more, no less.
“A binary choice,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) declared.
Democratic leaders uttered the “Biden-Harris” on numerous occasions.
Another oft-used phrase: “Now until November.”
Walz acknowledged that Democrats, at this moment, are not as unified behind their presidential candidate as Republicans are — quickly noting that a parade of one-time Trump critics such as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Ted Cruz all lavished Trump with praise during Tuesday night’s Republican National Convention speeches.
The Democrats drew contrasts between Biden and Trump on abortion rights, personal freedoms and the choice of Trump’s selection of a white man as his vice presidential running mate versus Biden’s choice of a Black and Asian woman.
“Trump picked J.D. Vance because he would bend over backwards,” said Quentin Fulks, Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager, said of Trump's new running mate.
He added that despite the Trump campaign’s calls for “unity” this week, Republicans “are here to divide.”
Walz mused that Republicans “don’t have much division in their party” because “they bend the knee and grovel.” He described Vance not as an independent thinker but a “perfect Frankenstein monster created by the Heritage Foundation.”
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) further panned Republicans for supporting an immigration policy that aims to potentially deport millions of people living illegally in the United States, but offers few details on how such an undertaking would be done.
“It’s just one party that proposes solutions over and over again,” Escobar said of Democrats regarding immigration. “The alternative is very dark.”
Some prominent Democratic Party members continue to openly question whether Biden, 81, is physically and mentally fit to stand for reelection following a disastrous debate performance last month and underwhelming national interviews since then. Some — including elected members of Congress — have outrightly called for Biden to yield the nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris, or to open the Democratic National Convention to other potential candidates.
Other Democrats remain steadfast in their support of Biden, and the Democratic National Committee is plowing forward toward Biden’s formal nomination.
The Republican National Convention is scheduled to conclude Thursday night with a nomination acceptance speech by Trump, who officially became the GOP nominee on Monday.
The Democratic National Convention is slated to take place a month from now in Chicago. But Democrats assembled in Milwaukee today only offered vague details about how a planned, pre-Democratic National Convention “virtual roll call” to nominate Biden and Harris will work in practice.
Following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at his Pennsylvania rally last weekend, his allies at the Republican National Convention are downright elated over the turn of events, wrote Amanda Marcotte for Salon — and already making plans to use it as a political weapon.
"Trump is leaning into this with all the subtlety of a pro wrestler," wrote Marcotte. "In a video that leaked Tuesday, Trump is heard on speakerphone talking to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about his injury, which he described as like being bitten by 'the world’s largest mosquito.' But when Trump showed up at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Monday night, he was sporting a comically oversized bandage on his ear. The crowd responded by chanting, 'Fight, fight, fight!'"
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Trump's allies tried to blame the whole thing on President Joe Biden and Democrats, either through outright conspiracy theories they orchestrated it, or because their warnings the former president poses a danger to democracy supposedly incited it. There is no evidence to support this; the shooter appears if anything to have Republican roots.
Nonetheless, Marcotte wrote, Republicans are "eager" to use the shooting, and speculation about motive, to try to confuse one of the key issues voters still don't trust Trump on: the preservation of democracy and the rule of law.
"People on the ground at the RNC are eager to use this shooting to deflect the entirely correct accusation that Republicans, by nominating the man who incited the January 6 insurrection, are the ones endorsing political violence," wrote Marcotte. "Instead, they used the shooting to level false accusations at President Joe Biden's administration. One delegate from North Carolina claimed, 'We don't really have a lot of trust in the agencies that are going to be doing an investigation.' She hoped for a private investigation because 'there's a lot of questions' about 'the FBI and who they really work for.'"
Ultimately, she wrote, Republicans care little about Trump as a human being, or about the man who died in that crowd. They just care about a rallying cry to vent their grievances about fellow Americans they hate. "That's why their response to Trump playing up his minor injury with a diaper-sized bandage was not to commiserate with his pain. Instead, the crowd chanted, 'Fight, fight, fight!'"
Many powerful Republicans are horrified and frustrated by Donald Trump's choice of running mate in the upcoming presidential election, according to a new report.
Sen. J.D. Vance's isolationist views both alarm and infuriate hawkish Republicans who fear the 39-year-old will destroy the Republican Party's longtime foreign policy consensus, Politico reported Wednesday.
" Trump didn’t just select a running mate here – he doused political kerosene on the raging Republican fire over foreign policy," writes columnist Jonathan Martin. "While toeing the party line and praising Vance in their public comments, in private the interventionists ranged from horrified to merely alarmed that one of the loudest critics of aiding Ukraine could soon be first in line for the presidency."
One influential Republican member of Congress told Martin, “I’m scared to death.”
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chair, reportedly raised concerns about Russia's invasion, telling an associate, “The Ukrainians better hurry up and win.”
Trump's decision, which represents a victory for his eldest son who lobbied hard for Vance, showcases the lack of influence Republican infighters such Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have on the former president, Martin writes.
"[McConnell] had little to say about the Vance pick, only raising an eyebrow when I asked him about it immediately after it became public and declining to speak any further," Martin writes.
"McConnell is a party man first and was unwilling to distract from the unity of the week."
Many Republicans presented a united front in public, but Martin reports a swift shift in mood behind closed doors.
