CEO of ADL: Seeing a 'blitzkrieg of anti-Jewish' acts across US Dana Bash: This is so telling about where the Republican party is NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 24: Trump Tower stands on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on August 24, 2018 in New York City. Following new allegations over hush money that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid to an adult-film actress, the Manhattan district attorneyÕs office in New York City may seek criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the coming days. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Why GOP is standing in the way of Capitol riot investigation WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) remarks on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the US Capitol November 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Warner said he supports President George W. Bush's nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense. Warner said he anticipates Gates' confirmation before the end of the year. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (L) and Senate Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), speaks following a Senate Republican Policy luncheon at the Russell Senate Office Building on May 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. Hear what Matt Gaetz said about Paul Ryan before his speech Former GOP senator: If McConnell said this, 'it's shameful' 'Some people have no shame': Biden calls out GOP lawmakers with list Trump: They try to take you out with BS (CNN) — Fresh off an unsuccessful summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump jetted back from Vietnam just in time to appear at the annual CPAC conference. And appear he did! Egged on by the red-meat crowd, Trump went on and on (and on) – rarely staying on script in a speech that amounted to a sort-of greatest hits double album. I went through the whole damn transcript – and it was a doozy. The lines you need to see are below. 1. [Trump comes out on stage, claps, and then bear-hugs an American flag] And away we go! 2. “What we did in 2016 – the Election, we call it, with a capital ‘E’ – it’s never been done before.” Donald Trump, grammar expert. Also, copy editor. Also also, history-maker. 3. “I was probably more of a conservative than a Republican. People just didn’t quite understand that. They didn’t understand it.” They likely didn’t understand it because Trump, prior to running for president as a Republican, had expressed any number of views – on abortion, same-sex marriage and lots else – that suggested he was more closely aligned with Democrats than the GOP. 4. “How many times did you hear, for months and months, ‘There is no way to 270?’ You know what that means, right? ‘There is no way to 270.’” The 2016 election ended 846 days ago. 5. “So I think we’re going to do even better in 2020. I think we’re going to do numbers that people haven’t seen for a long time.” “Numbers.” 6. “But I found some very old laws from when our country was rich – really rich. The old tariff laws – we had to dust them off; you could hardly see, they were so dusty.” Ah, those rich – and dusty – days. Man, they were great. Tough on the allergies. But great. 7. “You know I’m totally off-script, right?” Oh, yes. 8. “You know I’m totally off-script right now. And this is how I got elected, by being off-script. True.” It IS true. Voters seemed to believe that Trump’s often rambling, hard-to-understand speeches were evidence that he was an authentic politician who refused to be stage-managed. And they liked the idea of a guy who just, well, says stuff. 9. “And if we don’t go off-script, our country is in big trouble, folks.” So going off-script is the key to future successes … [sharpens pencil, breaks out new sheet of paper, begins calculations] 10. “When the wind stops blowing, that’s the end of your electric. Let’s hurry up. ‘Darling’ – ‘Darling, is the wind blowing today? I’d like to watch television, darling.’” “When the wind stop blowing, that’s the end of your electric.” – The President of the United States. (Also, Trump is talking here about his sarcastic “support” for the “Green New Deal.”) 11. “So the Great Tariff Debate of 1888 – and then we had so much money we could do whatever we wanted.” Trump has taken to citing 1888 in his speeches of late. This will stun you, but his reading of the historical facts misses a few things. 12. “I won’t use a certain words because it’s not politically – but everybody knows the word I’d love to use. Should I use it? I won’t do it.” Trump has even turned his infamous love for cursing into some sort of anti-elites mantra. Amazing. 13. “If you tell a joke, if you’re sarcastic, if you’re having fun with the audience, if you’re on live television with millions of people and 25,000 people in an arena, and if you say something like, ‘Russia, please, if you can, get us Hillary Clinton’s emails. Please, Russia, please.’” HA HA HA … oh wait, on the same day Trump “jokingly” asked the Russians to get Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails, the Russians began a cybercampaign to get Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails. 14. “So everybody is having a good time. I’m laughing, we’re all having fun.” “I really can’t say I guess I laugh to keep from crying.” – Q-Tip 15. “I know there are people in the Republican Party and people – really, even conservatives – good conservatives – they don’t like tariffs. I’m not liking or not liking.” Here’s the President on tariffs: “I’m not liking or not liking.” 16. “So they don’t have anything with Russia. There’s no collusion.” Here’s a few numbers on the ongoing special counsel probe into Russian interference: 199 criminal charges have been brought against 37 people and entities, seven people have pleaded guilty while four have been sentenced to prison. 17. “I saw little Shifty Schiff yesterday.” “Little Adam Schitt” grimaces. 18. “So now we’re waiting for a report, and we’ll find out whether or not, and who we’re dealing with. We’re waiting for a report by people that weren’t elected.” A terrific window into how much Trump has made the special counsel’s report about him. Remember that special counsel Robert Mueller was asked to look into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the possibility that members of Trump’s team may have colluded with the Russians. Instead of worrying about what it means that a malicious foreign power sought to influence our election, Trump is entirely focused on what the report – and its findings – mean for him. 19. “We had – think of this: We had the greatest election – in all fairness, I used to hear Andrew Jackson. This was now greater than the election of Andrew Jackson. People say that. No, people say it. I’m not saying it. Right? This was the equivalent or greater.” Well if “people say that,” who am I to argue??? ? 20. “Those red hats – and white ones. The key is in the color. The key is what it says. ‘Make America Great Again’ is what it says. Right? Right?” Wait. So is the key the color of the hats or what they say on them? I NEED TO KNOW. 21. “And unfortunately, you put the wrong people in a couple of positions, and they leave people for a long time that shouldn’t be there. And, all of a sudden, they’re trying to take you out with bullshit. OK? With bullshit.” I assume Trump is referring to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the Russia probe. Or maybe former FBI Director James Comey for launching the probe. Or deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for forming a special counsel to look into it. Maybe all of the above. Either way: It’s total bullshit! 22. “Now, Robert Mueller never received a vote, and neither did the person that appointed him.<doc-sep>President Trump defended his decision to declare a national emergency by invoking how past US presidents have used the emergency power. “Many emergency declarations have been used to protect people in faraway nations and distant lands,” the President told the audience at CPAC on Saturday. “Now we are protecting finally our people.” While Trump admitted that even some in the Republican Party had pushed back against his decision, he cited his usual rhetoric of an "invasion" at the southern border as justification. “We are being invaded," Trump said. "We’re being invaded by drugs, by people, by criminals, and we have to stop it.” The President also acknowledged some Republicans' fears that the move could set a precedent that could potentially be used against them by Democrats in the future. “They’re going to do that anyway folks,” Trump argued. “The best way to stop that is to make sure that I win the election." He also added that through his immigration policies, he was trying to do the work that Congress couldn't, or wouldn't, do. “Our laws are so crazy,” Trump said, “But one by one we’re finding ways. You know they call them loopholes, a lot of our laws are loopholes. Well, I’m trying to get loopholes to get around the loopholes because our Congress can’t act. They just can’t act.”<doc-sep>The off-script, expletive-dropping Donald Trump that we first met on the campaign trail in 2015 is back in front of cameras. Trump took to the stage at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference this weekend for a long-winded and very quotable rant against the many perceived villains weighing down his presidency: namely the media, federal investigators and “socialist” challengers in the 2020 election. He started off the event by bear-hugging a pole with the American flag, setting the tone for the rest of his appearance — reportedly the longest speech of his presidency. It was his first public address since his trip to Vietnam this week to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un ended abruptly without a deal on denuclearization. But it was nearly two hours into his speech Saturday before he made a single mention of the historic summit. Instead, he launched into a history lesson on the 1888 tariff debate, went into a bizarre aside referencing an (unnamed) friend in New York who is “a stone-cold killer” financier, and mocked both past members of his own administration as well as “white-haired” members of Congress. His speech, clocking in at just over two hours, dragged out for so long he had to check in repeatedly with the audience to make sure they hadn’t dozed off. But there were plenty of moments from the annual conservative confab to keep the attendees’ attention. Here are the seven most absurd soundbites from the speech. Trump delighted in going off script — and cussing a bunch, too Reverting back to his performances on the campaign trail, where speeches would often unravel into winding rants of word association, Trump proudly made clear he wasn’t following some prewritten speech on a teleprompter. “You know I’m totally off script right now. This is how I got elected: by being off script,” he said to a roar of cheers. “If we don’t go off script, our country is in big trouble, folks.” Trump has repeatedly been criticized for using strong or explicit language during campaign rallies. On Saturday, he fell into the old routine. He called the investigations into him “bullshit.” He said John Podesta, the former chair of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, “hasn’t gotten over getting his ass kicked.” He mocked the “New Green Deal” — “whatever the hell they call it.” After a while, it was hard to count the number of times he said “damn.” Trump's argument is that Democrats will do Democratic things regardless, if he loses, and "it won't have a damn thing to do with whether or not we approve our national emergency." — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 2, 2019 Trump mocked Jeff Sessions’ southern drawl and other “white-haired” politicians The president spent a significant amount of time criticizing members of his own administration. From former FBI Director James Comey, to special counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is expected to leave the Department of Justice in coming weeks, Trump complained how, unlike him, they were not elected to office. He failed to mention, however, how many were appointed by himself. Jeff Sessions received the brunt of hate from Trump, who called him “weak and ineffective” as attorney general. Trump went as far as deriding his former Cabinet member by mocking his Southern accent and his decision to bow out of overseeing the investigation. “I’m going to recuse mahself,” Trump said. The president also made fun of old “white-haired” politicians, adding quickly: “I don’t have white hair.” (Crowd) size still matters, apparently By the time the president took the stage, Trump was rearing for a fight with the press. Trump went into an extended rant about disputed crowd sizes of attendees for his speeches and inauguration. “I saw pictures that there were no people. Those pictures were taken hours before,” he said. He name-checked individual reporters, namely Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel, who once apologized for tweeting a picture of a mostly empty arena hours before Trump was scheduled to speak, suggesting the president had few fans show up. Thousands of supporters actually attended the event. And though it was held more than two years ago, Trump still hasn’t let the slight go. “He got there four or five hours early,” Trump continued. “He took pictures and you know who really got even? Our people, because they were incensed. I don’t think we’ve had an empty seat since we announced.” On several occasions during his more than two-hour speech, Trump referenced how he hadn’t seen people grow tired of hearing him speak, claiming that not a single person had left the room (contrary to what other reporters present saw). Trump thinks anyone who disagrees with him is un-American Trump set the tone early in his speech with the amount of red meat to throw at the crowd of conservatives, warning of a “socialist takeover” that posed an existential threat to democracy and even going so far as to say outright that some elected officials hate the United States. “We have people in Congress right now that hate our country... When I see some of the statements being made, it’s very very sad,” he said. “And find out — how did they do in their country? Did they do well? ... Some will say it’s terrible he brought that up, but I don’t mind.” Trump announced plans to issue an executive order for free speech on college campuses At one point, Trump brought on stage Hayden Williams, a conservative activist who was allegedly punched in the face last week while on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. Williams, who works with the Leadership Institute in training and recruiting new activists, is not a student himself. But news of his alleged attack and a widely shared video capturing the moment have raised his profile considerably in recent days, used as an example of the hardships that young conservatives think they face in standing up for their beliefs on college campuses. In response, Trump says he plans to sign an executive order requiring colleges and universities to support free speech, or risk losing their federal grants. “We reject oppressive speech codes, censorship, political correctness and every other attempt by the hard left to stop people from challenging ridiculous and dangerous ideas. These ideas are dangerous,” Trump said. “Instead we believe in free speech, including online and including on campus.” The section on Trump’s Christmas trip to Iraq was straight-up weird Trump went into an extended story-telling mode when talking about his trip over the Christmas holiday to meet with American troops in Iraq. He complained about getting cabin fever while being holed up in the White House during the government shutdown after canceling a planned trip to spend the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “I’m in the White House and I was lonely,” he told the crowd. “I said, ‘Let’s go to Iraq!’” Trump said the travel arrangements and security measures didn’t quite fit his expectations (“we can’t land the plane with the lights on!”) and went on a bizarre tangent about a general who calls himself “Raisin Kane.” The story is so strange, you really just have to watch: Trump goes on a long and bizarre rant about his trip to Iraq pic.twitter.com/H9JRbmlYQL — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 2, 2019 The speech was packed with racially-coded dog whistles of a “migrant invasion” His speech really went off the rails (as usual) when talking about immigration. Trump once again stoked fears of a “migrant invasion” at the southern border. He suggested that parents from Central America were sending their daughters with “massive amounts of birth control” to cross the US border illegally, knowing they would be raped by human traffickers. (“True story told to me by the Border Patrol,” he said, “Think of how evil that is.”) He also resurrected old dog whistles about foreign women who give birth in the US to game the immigration system. “They used to call it anchor babies, but they don’t use that term anymore because it’s not nice,” Trump said.<doc-sep>
In remarks that quickly departed from the script, Trump scolded the conservative free traders who question his tariffs. He reframed the 2018 midterm elections as a victory for Republicans lucky enough to get his support. He aimed to unify his party against the radical-left Democrats, and he claimed that their Green New Deal would take away Americans’ cars and prohibit air travel. This was not a policy address; this was a rallying cry, all about making it very clear to conservatives that their political success—and their survival—depends on him. Here are seven moments of possibly record-breaking presidential oratory: About 10 minutes in, President Trump threw out his script: You know, I don’t know, maybe you know. You know, I’m totally off script, right … You know, I’m totally off script right now. And this is how I got elected, by being off script. True. And if we don’t go off script, our country is in big trouble, folks. ’Cause we have to get it back. He lampooned Democratic proposals for a Green New Deal: No planes. No energy. When the wind stops blowing, that is the end of your electric. Let’s hurry up. “Darling, darling, is the wind blowing today? I would like to watch television, darling” ... Their plan would remove every gas-powered car from American roads. Oh, that’s not so bad. They want you to have one car instead of two. And it should be electric. Okay. So tell people, no more cars, no more cars ... It would end air travel. But you’ll get on a train, don’t worry about it. You just have to cross off about 95 percent of the world. And it would force the destruction or renovation of virtually every existing structure in the United States. New York City would have to rip down buildings and rebuild ’em again. I don’t think so. This is the craziest plan. And yet I see senators that are there for 20 years, white hair. See, I don’t have white hair. I don’t have white hair. I see these white hairs, longtime senators, standing behind this young woman, and she’s ranting and raving like a lunatic, and these senators: “Yes, I agree with this. Yes I agree.” The crazy female senator from the state of Ohio. [Both of Ohio’s senators are men; it appears he was instead referring to Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.] The state of Hawaii. She’s like a crazy person. What she said about men is so bad. He mounted a ferocious attack on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation: Robert Mueller put 13 of the angriest Democrats in the history of our country on the commission. How do you do that? These are angry, angry people. You take a look at them. One of them was involved with the Hillary Clinton foundation, running it. Another one has perhaps the worst reputation of any human being I’ve ever seen. All killers. In fact it would have been actually better for them if they put half and half, and Mueller can do whatever he wants anyway, which he’ll probably. But we have conflicts. I had a nasty business transaction with Robert Mueller a number of years ago. I said, why wasn’t that mentioned? He wanted the job as FBI director. I did not give it to him. Why isn’t that mentioned? Jim Comey, Lyin’ James Comey, is his best friend. James Comey is his best friend. And those are a few of the conflicts. Other than that it’s wonderful. He decried immigrants and members of Congress who “hate our country”: We need workers to come in. But they need to come in legally, and they’ve got to come in through merit, merit, merit. They’ve got to come in through merit, they have to be people who can help us, they have to be people who can love our country, not hate our country. We have people in Congress right now, we have people in Congress that hate our country. And you know that. And we can name every one of them if they want. They hate our country. Sad. It’s very sad. When I see some of the things being made, the statements being made, it’s very, very sad. And find out: How did they do in their country? Just ask ’em. How did they do? Did they do well? Were they succeeding? Just ask that question.