What a Difference a Bey Makes
In closing, Trump goes low, Harris goes high
Perhaps it was appropriate. It was certainly on-brand. The culmination of Donald Trump’s campaign for president was a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden, billed as his homecoming, the capstone of his political comeback.
But that’s not what happened in Manhattan last night. Instead, it was a vulgar hate-fest with possible political ramifications.
Before Trump took the stage, speaker after speaker filled the storied venue with hours of racist rants and hateful vitriol. If the intention was to inflame his MAGA extremist base, kudos to you, Donald, you did it.
I’ve long since stopped watching Trump rallies, but I was alerted yesterday with something to the effect of, “Turn on the TV, you’re not going to believe this.” During a campaign that had broken just about every taboo, I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This is Donald Trump’s America? It was an embarrassment for our country. And the low-brow warm-up acts were stealing headlines from the candidate.
To wit …
If you thought Trump and the campaign would try to avoid comparisons to the famed Nazi rally held in the Garden in 1939, you’d be wrong. Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller said, “America is for Americans and Americans only” which sounds an awful lot like Adolf Hitler’s exact words: “Germany is for Germans and Germans only.”
Speakers called Democrats “a bunch of degenerates, lowlifes and Jew-haters.” Harris was labeled “the Antichrist” and “the devil.” Another participant said Harris “and her pimp handlers will destroy our country.”
And then there was Tony Hinchcliffe, who calls himself a comedian. I doubt anyone else will after his performance.
He pointed to a Black man in the audience and made fun of his hairstyle and then made a “joke” about watermelons. He also went after Latinos, making a derogatory sex joke that was so awful it won’t be repeated here.
After denigrating Latinos for having children, he went on to disparage Puerto Rico, whose citizens are Americans — Americans who vote. “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said.
The campaign, not the candidate who came on after, said the joke “does not reflect the views” of Donald Trump. Numerous Republicans, most of whom are running for election, also condemned the remarks.
As Hinchcliffe was quite literally trashing Puerto Ricans, Kamala Harris was reaching out to them. She was in Pennsylvania at the time of the Trump rally, courting the state’s sizable Puerto Rican community, rolling out a new plan to bring economic opportunities to the island.
I love an unintended consequence, and here is a whopper. Puerto Rican superstars Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin, along with Jennifer Lopez, whose parents are Puerto Rican, all endorsed Harris immediately following Hinchcliffe’s comments. They posted to their combined 314 million-plus followers on Instagram.
In addition to Bad Bunny, Martin, and JLo, some of the most popular names in music and politics are campaigning for Harris. In what has been a measured and disciplined campaign, each celebrity has had a role to play, and a demographic to convince.
The contrast between Trump’s rally and the Democratic efforts over the past week could not be more stark.
In Houston on Friday, Beyoncé headlined Harris’s biggest rally to date. The stadium erupted into prolonged cheers as the megastar, whose song “Freedom” was adopted as the Harris campaign’s anthem, came on stage. “I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician, I’m here as a mother,” she said. “A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in. A world where we have the freedom to control our bodies.”
Earlier in the week, Michelle Obama, a reluctant campaigner, was on the trail with Harris. She was direct and serious and persuasive. “Please, please do not hand our fates over to the likes of Trump, who knows nothing about us, who has shown deep contempt for us. Because a vote for him is a vote against us. Against our health. Against our worth.”
Rapper Eminem, at a rally in his hometown of Detroit, made a pitch for Harris. “People shouldn’t be afraid to express their opinions, and I don’t think anyone wants an America where people are worried about retribution or what people will do if you make your opinion known.”
Tonight, President Barack Obama will stump for Harris at a rally and concert in Philadelphia headlined by Bruce Springsteen and John Legend.
It is striking that these celebrities are braver than some of the most influential newspapers in the country. Last week, the billionaire owners of the Los Angeles Times (Patrick Soon-Shiong) and The Washington Post (Jeff Bezos) forced their papers to forgo their planned endorsements of Kamala Harris for president in favor of not endorsing anyone.
Though the Post’s banner still reads “Democracy dies in darkness,” it feels like the lights are dimming at the once esteemed newspaper. Thousands of people have canceled their subscriptions, and staff have quit in protest.
Looking for the silver lining, The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that “in a strange way the papers did perform a public service: showing American voters what life under a dictator would feel like.”
It is impossible to measure the effect that newspaper endorsements or celebrity appearances have on a race, especially one this close. But I’ll take Beyoncé, JLo, and Springsteen over Elon Musk, Hulk Hogan, and Tucker Carlson any day.
If you value independent journalism that brings you critical information when the corporate media fails us, please consider joining as a supporting member. It allows me to keep pieces like this free for those who cannot afford it, in an election season when we need everyone to see it. Thank you.
No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading.
Stay Steady,
Dan
THE ENEMY WITHIN
What is treason? On January 28, 2021, Jeannie Suk Gersen wrote an article for the New Yorker called “Did Trump and His Supporters Commit Treason? She initially commented “Few events in American history have matched the Framer’s definition as clearly as the insurrection of January 6th. For years, Carlton F. W. Larson, a treason scholar and law professor at the University of California, Davis, has swatted away loose treason accusations by both Donald Trump and his critics. Though the term is used to describe all kinds of political betrayals, the Constitution defines treason as ‘one of two distinct specific acts: levying War against the United States or adhering to our enemies and giving them aid and comfort.’ According to Larson, the attack on the Capitol and the rioters attempt to stop the certification of the election clearly could be interpreted as ‘levying war’.” This article explains to American voters, how Trump also was adhering to our enemies.
Treason is considered the topmost criminal offense in the United States – and for that matter in almost any country worldwide. It threatens the possibility of the death penalty. Larson goes on to say “the Framers (of our Constitution) had a very specific image in mind – men gathering with guns and marching on the seat of government. Few events in American history, if any, have matched that description as clearly as the insurrection of January 6th. . .” (Ibid)
If Donald Trump looses this upcoming election, we can expect more violence, another attempt to overthrow the election and our government, and most likely more bloodshed. In fact, at an election rally in Ohio, Trump openly stated “there will be bloodshed if he looses.” (NBC News, March 16, 2024) Don’t be surprised if more lives are lost because this man - who talks about rewriting the Constitution - is actually the enemy of our country.
Vladimir Putin intends to destroy our democracy from within – and he is succeeding. In 1997, a book was published in Russia called The Foundations of Geopolitics. It outlines Putin’s goals. Among these it clearly states: to destroy the United States ‘from within.’ To achieve his goals, he is using: hatred, violence, insurrection, antisemitism, cyberattacks, inflation, isolationism, propaganda, plus there are 3 million Russian citizens living in the United States. (U.S. Census, 2020) These people are not all visiting us for vacation. Putin’s ally and “Russian asset” in these tasks has been Donald Trump. For Putin, the Cold War never ended – and has continued to this day. He blames the United States for the downfall of the Soviet Union and has vowed revenge.
How did Trump become a Russian asset? In the 1990’s when Putin became the Director of the FSB (Foreign Security Bureau), his number one mandate was to trap more Americans into working for Russia. Trump was traveling to Moscow often to discuss opening a Trump Tower there - and he mentioned that he wanted to run for the presidency. (NPR, January 20, 2017) Apparently, Putin got wind of Trump’s words and targeted him. He was treated royalty in Russia, but his massive ignorance about how Russian security forces work led him into a trap. Every hotel room assigned to a foreigner - even Trump - has cameras and listening devices in the walls and ceiling. Need I say more? He also visited the Beverly Hills nightclub, casino, and restaurant for their grand opening and several times afterward. My daughter Lize was the manager and she shared the details of his visits.
In the 1990’s, Trump had filed six bankruptcies. The Russians bailed him out and his son’s bragged about a $100 million dollar loan from a Russian bank. (www.vanityfair.com, www.businessinsider.com). They and their father did not realize that all Russian banks report directly to the FSB - managed by Putin.
Donald Trump is an indecent, indecorous, immoral, and narcissistic criminal. His lifelong focus is on himself. He has been involved with the Russian mafia since the 1980’s when he bought tv’s for his hotels from them in New York. He has been convicted of massive fraud - with tax and bank records providing solid black and white proof. He was convicted of 34 felony counts. He was adjudicated and is now permanently labeled as sexual predator. He needs to be convicted of treason.
Instead, this man is running again for the highest office in our country and half our population - all Republicans - apparently will vote for him. In December 2015, Trump told People magazine “Republicans are the dumbest group of voters in the country.” They are proving him right!
Donald Trump IS THE ENEMY WITHIN that Vladimir Putin envisioned.
Elizabeth Graham, www.democrazy2020.org
You're right about the celebrities . . . they are brave. Their careers could take a hit in a way that Bezos, et al would not face. Yet they are brave and they do it. Thanks to every single person, famous or not, who has stepped up to speak up.