Trump Completely Humiliates Elon Musk in Front of House Republicans | The New Republic
By: Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling (The New Republic)
Trump Completely Humiliates Elon Musk in Front of House Republicans
Elon Musk joined Trump on Capitol Hill for a meeting with Republicans—and the president-elect used the opportunity to ridicule the richest man in the world.
Donald Trump is wasting no time making a punch line out of some of his key allies, including Elon Musk.
During his first meeting with Republican lawmakers on the Hill as president-elect, Trump asserted his power over Musk , mocking the tech billionaire for sticking around for so long.
“Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him,” Trump said Wednesday. “Until I don’t like him.”
The world’s richest man has reportedly spent “nearly every single day” of the last week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to CNN . Musk has been spotted golfing with the president-elect, dining with him and his wife, Melania, and has even been in the room while Trump phones world leaders, hopping on calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo ğan .
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell argued that Trump’s comments about Musk were an assertion of his dominance, played before a room that has to play along.
“Everyone laughed,” said O’Donnell. “They laughed that uncomfortable laugh. But they laugh when Donald Trump makes a joke about someone on his team, a joke that everyone knows is true, a joke that paints that person as pathetic, as Donald Trump’s personal sense of superiority demands that he do.”
O’Donnell also suggested that Musk’s new role in the government—co-leading a new agency, the Department of Government Efficiency , otherwise known as “DOGE”—is basically a joke in itself, with Musk’s responsibilities being tantamount to a “fake job” with little more power than that of a lobbyist on K Street.
Musk will be the likely benefactor of his extended stay with the president-elect, whose opinion is famously swayed by whomever he last interacted with. But, according to tech journalist Kara Swisher, the relationship between the two self-imagined strongmen is destined to flame out.
“Trump goes through people like tissues, essentially,” Swisher noted. “And even if it’s Musk, they’re going to clash at some point.”
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Elon Musk joined Trump on Capitol Hill for a meeting with Republicans—and the president-elect used the opportunity to ridicule the richest man in the world.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Donald Trump is wasting no time making a punch line out of some of his key allies, including Elon Musk.
During his first meeting with Republican lawmakers on the Hill as president-elect, Trump asserted his power over Musk, mocking the tech billionaire for sticking around for so long.
"Elon won't go home. I can't get rid of him," Trump said Wednesday. "Until I don't like him."
The world's richest man has reportedly spent "nearly every single day" of the last week at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to CNN. Musk has been spotted golfing with the president-elect, dining with him and his wife, Melania, and has even been in the room while Trump phones world leaders, hopping on calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan.
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell argued that Trump's comments about Musk were an assertion of his dominance, played before a room that has to play along.
"Everyone laughed," said O'Donnell. "They laughed that uncomfortable laugh. But they laugh when Donald Trump makes a joke about someone on his team, a joke that everyone knows is true, a joke that paints that person as pathetic, as Donald Trump's personal sense of superiority demands that he do."
O'Donnell also suggested that Musk's new role in the government—co-leading a new agency, the Department of Government Efficiency, otherwise known as "DOGE"—is basically a joke in itself, with Musk's responsibilities being tantamount to a "fake job" with little more power than that of a lobbyist on K Street.
Musk will be the likely benefactor of his extended stay with the president-elect, whose opinion is famously swayed by whomever he last interacted with. But, according to tech journalist Kara Swisher, the relationship between the two self-imagined strongmen is destined to flame out.
"They're both narcissists, and there can be only one narcissist as head of the country, and that's Donald Trump who just won the election," Swisher said on Monday. "You know he owes things to Elon, but at some point, you know if he takes too much of the attention—think about Steve Bannon. You remember he was on the cover of that magazine, and how quickly he got out, even though he was critical to Trump's first campaign and he was right in the middle of the White House, and then he wasn't.
"Trump goes through people like tissues, essentially," Swisher noted. "And even if it's Musk, they're going to clash at some point."
Unfortunately More on Elon:Elon Musk Has Always Been Like This. So Has Silicon Valley.Most Recent PostHafiz Rashid/November 13, 2024/10:43 p.m. ET
Netanyahu Plans a Big Gift for Trump—Two Months From Now
Israel is reportedly preparing a win for Donald Trump in Lebanon, but only when he takes office in January.
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Israel is preparing a cease-fire plan regarding its bombing of Lebanon as a gift to the incoming Donald Trump administration, The Washington Postreports.
The Post reports, citing three Israeli sources, that Ron Dermer, the Israeli minister of strategic affairs, told Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner on Sunday that Israel was quickly preparing a cease-fire deal to give the president-elect an early win when he takes office in January. Dermer visited Trump and Kushner on Sunday at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago estate before a visit to President Biden at the White House. There is no indication Israel will end its bombing of Lebanon before January.
It's no secret that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported Trump over Kamala Harris, and a quick peace deal would raise suspicions that Netanyahu was holding off ceasing hostilities before the election to help Trump's prospects. Trump has supported Israel's brutal bombing campaigns in both Lebanon and Gaza, reportedly telling Netanyahu to "do what you have to do" in a phone call early last month.
In a video statement Sunday, Netanyahu said he had spoken to Trump three times in the preceding days, saying that he saw "major opportunities ahead for Israel, especially in advancing peace." This is quite a different tack than what Netanyahu has been saying for the past year, as Israeli forces have killed at least 44,383 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, including more than 16,765 children.
Trump made overtures to Arab American communities in Michigan in the weeks leading up to the election, campaigning in Dearborn, the country's largest Arab-majority city. The move paid off, with Trump winning a majority of voters not only in Dearborn but also in the battleground state of Michigan.
Would a peace deal only covering Lebanon placate those voters? There is no mention of Gaza in the Post's report, and Netanyahu has not said anything about a forthcoming cease-fire, let alone a peace deal, regarding Israel's bombing campaign in the territory. But Trump will gladly take anything he can call a win while continuing to enable Netanyahu's actions.
Related read:The Harris Campaign's Missed Opportunity on Palestine Voters Most Recent PostMalcolm Ferguson/November 13, 2024/10:11 p.m. ET
Republicans Thought Trump's Matt Gaetz Appointment Was a Joke
"This one was not on my Bingo card," said one Republican about Trump's pick for Matt Gaetz as attorney general.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump surprised Republican lawmakers on Wednesday when he chose Florida Representative Matt Gaetz to serve as his attorney general—including many of the senators needed to push through his confirmation.
The antagonistic, deeply partisan MAGA cheerleader must now earn votes from the same Republicans who reviled him for forcing out Speaker Kevin McCarthy just over a year ago. And it's not looking like he has a lot of support.
Senator Jon Cornyn reportedly audibly snorted upon hearing news of Gaetz's nomination. "I don't know the man other than just his public persona," he later told Washington Postcorrespondent Liz Goodwin.
Senator Susan Collins said she was "shocked" by the news of his pick, and Senator Lisa Murkowski said, "This one was not on my Bingo card." But even Trump's biggest supporters in the chamber were surprised. "Holy cow," said Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, adding that he too did not see this one coming.
Senator Joe Manchin said that "no one could believe it" when the news broke on the Senate floor.
Politico reporter Meridith Lee Hill said she saw a House Republican laughing so hard at the pick that he began crying. When asked if he believed Gaetz has the character and experience needed to be attorney general, GOP Representative Mike Simpson replied, "Are you shittin me, that you just asked that question? No! But hell, you'll print that and now I'm going to be investigated."
Gaetz, one of the most outspoken MAGA representatives, has been described by his Republican colleagues in the past as a childish, "disgraceful," and "vile" person. He is currently under a House ethics investigation for sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, after allegations that he had sex with a minor.
Whether Trump loyalists or Liz Cheney-ites, Republicans throughout Congress were shocked at Trump's nomination of Gaetz. Perhaps Republican Senator Thom Tillis put it best: "I'm sure it'll make for a popcorn-eating confirmation."
This story has been updated.
Unfortunately More on Matt Gaetz:Trump Picks Literally Worst Person You Know for Attorney GeneralMost Recent PostHafiz Rashid/November 13, 2024/8:51 p.m. ET
Trump Picks Literally Worst Person You Know for Attorney General
Of all the people in the universe, Donald Trump has settled on Florida Representative Matt Gaetz to lead the Justice Department.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Donald Trump plans to appoint Representative Matt Gaetz to the post of attorney general, the president-elect announced on Truth Social Wednesday, and the Florida congressman has already gleefully accepted the position.
The news is a surprise, considering that Gaetz was not among the names discussed for the position, which included right-wing activist Mike Davis and Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who quickly dismissed Trump's classified documents case.
Gaetz has been a staunch supporter of Trump, showing up to the president-elect's New York hush-money trial in May and leaping to Trump's defense in media appearances. But, he also has a questionable reputation, having escaped federal charges over allegations of sexual misconduct with an underage girl.
Gaetz is the target of a House Ethics Committee investigation over those allegations as well as reports of illicit drug use. The Florida representative led the effort to oust former Representative Kevin McCarthy from the House speakership in part because he wished to block the ethics probe. If he were to survive Senate confirmation and become attorney general, the ethics investigation would disappear.
While Gaetz has a law degree as well as an active law license, he does not appear to have any prosecutorial experience, which might be another obstacle in his confirmation process.
Trump will expect his attorney general to protect him from any legal cases or challenges, even though the position actually entails leading the Justice Department as the country's top law enforcement official. A Republican attorney general will also be tasked with implementing conservative goals, such as implementing the right-wing Project 2025 manifesto.
Gaetz's lack of prosecutorial experience may doom his chances, and Senate Republicans may not think he is up to the task. Several Republicans are already expressing shock and disapproval including Senators John Cornyn, Charles Grassley, and Susan Collins, among many others. It remains to be seen if Gaetz will win over enough Republican senators to be confirmed, or if the allegations against him will torpedo the nomination.
This story has been updated.
More on this disastrous decision:Republicans Thought Trump's Matt Gaetz Appointment Was a JokeMost Recent PostEllie Quinlan Houghtaling/November 13, 2024/8:46 p.m. ET
Trump Insiders Just Cashed in Big on His Stupid Media Company
Executives at Trump Media & Technology Group are selling out.
Cheng Xin/Getty Images
Trump Media insiders are dumping their stock in Truth Social's parent company.
Trump Media & Technology Group director Eric Swider sold all the stock he owned directly in the company on Friday, offloading 136,183 shares at $28.23 per share, a total value of more than $3.8 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Swider still holds a little more than 18,000 shares in TMTG via an LLC, Zach Everson reported Wednesday in his 1100 Pennsylvania newsletter.
Swider had been the CEO of Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which merged with TMTG in March when the media company was on the verge of running out of cash. The deal was seen as a major win for Trump, infusing $300 million into the company and keeping Truth Social up and running. The merger also helped the media entity make a particularly strong debut on the stock market, with a valuation of nearly $8 billion, sending the worth of Trump's personal stake in the company skyrocketing to upward of $3 billion.
But Swider wasn't the only one to offload his Trumpian assets. Also on Friday, Chief Financial Officer Phillip Juhan dumped 320,000 shares at a price of $30.65 apiece, and on Monday he sold another 64,000 shares at a price of $32.97 each, leaving him with just over 265,000 shares in the social media endeavor. General counsel and Secretary Scott Glabe also dropped shares on Friday, though significantly fewer—15,917 shares, at $32.19 each.
Read more about Truth Social:Even Trump's Election Win Can't Sustain His Garbage Media StockMost Recent PostEdith Olmsted/November 13, 2024/8:25 p.m. ET
Trump Cabinet Somehow Gets Even Worse With Addition of Tulsi Gabbard
Donald Trump has picked former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard to lead national intelligence.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images
Donald Trump nominated Republican-convert Tulsi Gabbard to be the next Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday.
"As a former Candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, she has broad support in both Parties—She is now a proud Republican! I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace Through Strength," Trump said in a statement.
After her failed presidential run in 2020, Gabbard left the Democratic Party (she seems to announce doing this at least once a week) and became something of a conservative celebrity, elevating transphobia, spreading Russian propaganda, and unsuccessfully endorsing Republicans.
She recently went full MAGA, endorsing Trump and coaching him for his disastrous debate against Kamala Harris.
Gabbard previously claimed she'd been placed on the TSA's watchlist, and now she will oversee the U.S. intelligence community including the Central Intelligence Agency.
While Gabbard paints herself as an anti-interventionist, she has acted primarily as an advocate for a slate of authoritarians. In 2019, she defended Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and voiced support for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egypt's Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Gabbard argued that it wasn't worth U.S. intervention because Ukraine "isn't actually a democracy," and claimed there were U.S.-backed biolabs in the country—a Russian conspiracy that got her publicly criticized for acting like a foreign asset. This only added to her status as an outsider, pushing her deep into the MAGA throng.
One member of Gabbard's family has suggested that her troubling political journey could be related to her connection to the group Science of Identity Foundation, a cult that preaches homophobia, Islamophobia, and misogyny.
If Gabbard is confirmed, her appointment could cause tension with another Trump nominee: Senator Marco Rubio, whom Trump has tapped for secretary of state. In July, Gabbard criticized Rubio as representing "the neocon warmongering establishment of Washington, D.C."
Gabbard explained that Rubio should not be in contention to be Trump's running mate, and claimed Rubio was "diametrically opposed" to everything Trump stands for. It seems the president-elect disagreed.
This story has been updated.
Read about Trump's cabinet:Everyone Hates Trump's New Defense SecretaryMost Recent PostEdith Olmsted/November 13, 2024/8:11 p.m. ET
Schumer Rushes to Put Up Safeguards Against Trump's Insanity
Chuck Schumer still has a way to rein in Donald Trump.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The race is on for Senate Democrats to confirm President Joe Biden's final nominees for federal judge positions, before the party loses the chamber majority.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that he would focus on confirming judges, according to HuffPost's Jennifer Bendery. "We will work to get as many confirmed as possible," he said.
There are currently 47 judicial vacancies, including 45 in U.S. district courts and two in appeals courts. Biden has 31 nominees still in the pipeline to be confirmed, and only 22 days left in session before Republicans are set to take over on January 3.
The Senate voted 51-44 on Tuesday to confirm April M. Perry as a federal district judge for the Northern District of Illinois.
It's essential that Senate Democrats approve as many Biden nominees as possible before Donald Trump enters office next year. The president-elect made a whopping 234 judicial appointments during his first term, some of whom proved to be fierce Trump loyalists willing to upend his legal battles—such as Judge Aileen Cannon, who used an insane technicality to toss out charges that Trump mishandled classified documents.
Other Trump appointees, such as Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, simply sow nationwide chaos by using the legal landscape to push conservative, sometimes Christian nationalist, agenda items like restricting abortion access.
Read more about the Senate:Senate Republicans Reject MAGA for Mitch McConnell Ally in Shock VoteMost Recent PostEdith Olmsted/November 13, 2024/7:50 p.m. ET
Trump Gets Ultimate Power As Republicans Win House Control
Republicans now control both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
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Republicans will retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives by a narrow margin, promising more lengthy fights to pass legislation.
The GOP holds 218 seats to the Democrats' 208, NBC reported Wednesday. Six races have yet to be called. Republicans have also taken control of the Senate.
Republicans gained control of the House two years ago during the 2022 midterm elections. While there was no "red wave" as had been predicted, they were able to flip 19 districts from blue to red.
The House currently has 220 Republicans, 212 Democrats, and three vacancies, two of which were held by Democrats who passed away, and one by a Republican who sought greener pastures working at a weapons and AI contractor (after sowing plenty of anti-China sentiment), resulting in a tight race for his seat as both parties scrambled to claim an incredibly slim majority margin.
Only about 49 of the House seats were truly in play to be flipped. Democrats were able to flip two seats in New York, which are currently held by Republican Representatives Brandon Williams and Anthony D'Esposito.
A whopping 45 House members decided not to seek reelection, not including those who left office partway through the current term.
Read about Congress:Republicans Take Control of the Senate in Major UpsetMost Recent PostHafiz Rashid/November 13, 2024/6:49 p.m. ET
Tuberville Proves Again He's Dumbest Senator With Election Fraud Claim
Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville is suggesting something "doesn't add up" in an election where Republicans swept the board.
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Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville thinks that Democratic Senate wins in battleground states are suspicious.
On Tuesday, Tuberville was on The Sean Spicer Show, a podcast hosted by Donald Trump's former White House press secretary and communications director. Spicer asked Tuberville how he'd fulfill his promise to be a "legislative sledgehammer for President Trump."
"One of the things I really want to do is straighten this dang voting up across our country," Tuberville said.
"We didn't get killed downballot, but let me tell you something: Donald Trump pulled out more people to vote for him" than Harris, the Alabama senator added. "And how in the world can some of these senators … receive more votes—the Democrats—than President Trump? It doesn't add up to how this all went about."
Trump won the battleground states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona in the presidential election, but Democrats won the Senate races in the latter four states. Though he didn't come out and declare fraud, Tuberville still hinted that something was off with those results.
"We need to get this straight: voter ID," he said. "You know, Kamala Harris won every state that was no voter ID. She did not win one that wasn't voter ID. So think about that." (This claim has already been disproven, as Harris did in fact win some states with voter ID laws and Trump won states without them.)
Tuberville's claims seem to be sour grapes in an election where Republicans have taken the presidency as well as the Senate, and are close to retaining control of the House of Representatives. Like losing Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde in Wisconsin, Tuberville doesn't seem to understand split-ticket voting.
Most Recent PostMalcolm Ferguson/November 13, 2024/5:46 p.m. ET
Elon Musk Is So Involved in Trump's Decisions It's Ringing Alarm Bells
Elon Musk has a growing behind-the-scenes role in Donald Trump's biggest decisions—and it's freaking out Trump's team.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
Elon Musk has made himself right at home by Donald Trump's side, much to the chagrin of everyone else in Mar-a-Lago.
The New York Times has reported that the world's richest man and the president-elect have been absolutely inseparable since the latter's election night victory. Musk has joined Trump for every meal, interview, golf hole, and political meeting at Mar-a-Lago over the past week, often with his 4-year-old son in tow.
Musk's role has been bigger than some Trump aides anticipated. He chatted with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey alongside Trump, and plans on meeting with President Javier Milei of Argentina at Mar-a-Lago later this week. The billionaire attended "at least" one national security meeting with Trump and aide Stephen Miller, as well as another meeting on Wednesday between Trump and House Republicans. He's even helping the Trump transition team vet potential Cabinet nominees.
That's in addition to his plans to head the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, with Vivek Ramaswamy, which Trump proudly announced Tuesday evening.
Musks's growing role in the Trump transition coincides with reports that those who actually worked in the Trump campaign have grown tired of Musk's constant presence. Tech journalist Kara Swisher said that Trump's inner circle views Musk as the "guest that wouldn't leave."
"He definitely inserts himself all the time, that's his style," Swisher told CNN on Monday. "I've heard from Trump people, calling me saying, 'Oh, wow. This is odd.' And it is."
Politico also reported that those closest to Trump are beginning to see Musk's presence as a "comical distraction" at Mar-a-Lago. "Elon is getting a little big for his britches," an insider told the outlet.
Yet as Trump's largest funder this election cycle, Musk will continue to receive this uninhibited access, even as MAGA loyalists grumble behind the scenes. Only Trump can change that.
More on the Trump transition:Trump's New Defense Secretary Is a Total NightmareView More PostsRead More: Politics, Law, Supreme Court, Constitution, Foreign Policy, Health Care, Economic Inequality, Taxes, Washington
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“Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him,” Trump said Wednesday. “Until I don’t like him.”
The world’s richest man has reportedly spent “nearly every single day” of the last week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to CNN . Musk has been spotted golfing with the president-elect, dining with him and his wife, Melania, and has even been in the room while Trump phones world leaders, hopping on calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo ğan .
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell argued that Trump’s comments about Musk were an assertion of his dominance, played before a room that has to play along.
problem is, Trump doesn't need those donations any longer, leaving Musk out to box the Ox N free
now that trump's been re-elected largely due to elon's X misinformation campaign and ground game, he's no longer useful ...
I'd be thinking twice every time I climbed into my private jet if I was elon ...
Interesting.
No one os allowed to actually share the spotlight.
I can't find the link for this article now, I wanted to post it as a separate piece, so I will post it here instead.
Fact Check: Yes, Russian State TV Aired Nude Photos of Melania Trump
Claim:
Russian state TV aired nude photos of Melania Trump shortly after the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Rating:
In early November 2024, many social media users claimed Russian state TV aired n*de photos of Melania Trump, shortly after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was announced as the winner of the Nov. 5 presidential election.
(@krassenstein / X)
Some posts suggested that this was intended as a show of control over Donald Trump. "This is Russia's state-run media airing salacious pictures of the future First Lady, Melania Trump. This is Putin letting Trump know that he is in charge. Watch as Trump rolls over," one X post claimed . "The message from Putin is clear: never forget that we own you or we'll release the Kompromat we have on you," another X user wrote .
(X user @krassenstein)
"Russia show n*de pics of Melania Trump on prime time TV. Some bits of the photo are blurred, strange you can't show an a** crack on Russian TV, but you can blatantly see 2 c****," another commented .
The claim also spread on other social media platforms, including YouTube , Reddit , Threads , TikTok and Facebook , as well as websites such as Daily Star , Mint , The Maltese Herald and Hindustan Times .
An article published on Nov. 8, 2024, by Vox News Albania read : "Russia's largest television 'denigrates' the First Lady and publishes 'embarrassing' photos of Melania just 1 day after Trump's victory."
In short, because Russian state TV did indeed air revealing photos of Melania Trump taken during her modeling career shortly after the 2024 U.S. presidential election, we have rated this claim as true.
Source of the Video
The video containing clips from Russian state TV was shared on Nov. 11, 2024, on the YouTube channel of Russian News Monitor, a project of Daily Beast columnist Julia Davis that tracks Russian state media propaganda trends.
Davis also shared it on her X account on Nov. 8, 2024, writing "Meanwhile in Russia: this is how the most watched state TV channel in the country welcomed Melania Trump's upcoming return to the White House. Olga Skabeeva is trying not to laugh. This was probably her idea."
The segments featured in the video aired on Nov. 7, 2024, during "60 минут" ("60 Minutes"), a Russian political talk show on the Russia 1 channel, hosted by Skabeeva and Evgeny Popov.
The program was available on Smotrim.ru website, an official online platform of Russian state television.
The video shared on social media was compiled from separate excerpts featuring Melania Trump, taken from a program aired in Russia at 6:30 p.m. at timestamps: 41:35-42:18, 42:33-42:48, 43:34-43:42 and 45:28-45:33. (These clips also appeared in the "60 Minutes" program aired at 11.30 a.m. at time stamps: 1:05:30-1:05:45, 1:06:32-1:06:38 and 1:08:06-1:08:12).
Source of Pics
The photos of Melania Trump used in the broadcast were not new or leaked images but widely known and previously published photos from her modeling career.
Melania Trump addressed the photos in September 2024, saying: "Why do I stand proudly behind my n*de modeling work? The more pressing question is, why has the media chosen to scrutinize my celebration of the human form in a fashion photo shoot? Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body?"
"Throughout history master artists have revealed the human shape evoking profound emotions and admiration. We should honor our bodies and embrace the timeless tradition of using art as a powerful means of self-expression," she continued. The video ended with a cover of her memoir, released on Oct. 8, 2024.
The Russian TV segment also referenced a video in which Melania Trump asked: "What does my body, my choice mean?"
For further reading, in April 2024 we looked at claims that Russian TV praised U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., as "a real beauty" and "demonstrably heterosexual." Moreover, in February 2022 we fact-checked whether Russian state television had been airing and translating clips from then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson's show where he defended Putin.
Sources:
"10 Photos of Melania Trump From Her Modeling Days." Cosmopolitan, 27 Apr. 2016, .
"60 минуţ 7.11.2024 смотреть онлайн." Сайт, . Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
GQ. "Melania Trump - the First Lady in Our Nude Photo Shoot." British GQ, 8 Nov. 2016, .
Ibrahim, Nur. "Were Clips of Tucker Carlson Being Aired on Russian TV?" Snopes, 25 Feb. 2022, .
"Julia Davis." The Daily Beast, . Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
Kasprak, Alex. "Russian TV Described Marjorie Taylor Greene as a 'Demonstrably Heterosexual' Beauty?" Snopes, 23 Apr. 2024, .
"Russian Media Monitor." YouTube, . Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
Дневной 7.11 - Полный Выпуск. ok.ru, . Accessed 12 Nov. 2024
Here's another one I saved from a few days ago to post and since I can no longer find the link, I will post this here.
Trump Thinks Putin Is His Friend. The Russians Just Issued a Humiliating Statement to the Contrary.
Just one week has passed since Donald Trump’s electoral triumph, and already Russian President Vladimir Putin—one of the strongman leaders Trump admires most—is messing with his head.
First, Putin waited two days before congratulating Trump on his victory . One can imagine Trump receiving phone calls from kowtowing leaders the world over—Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, the Palestinian Authority’s Mahmoud Abbas, the chief of NATO, the European heads of state—all the while wondering about the man whom he’s admired publicly and privately for the past eight years: When is Vladimir going to call?
Then, in response to Trump’s claim that during their phone call, he asked—in some accounts, warned —Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine, a Kremlin spokesman denied that the two had spoken on the phone at all. (Putin issued his belated congratulations at a news conference.)
I don’t know who’s telling the truth, a practice for which neither man has a sterling reputation. But either way, in the next few weeks, when Putin orders 50,000 fresh recruits (including 10,000 imported North Korean soldiers) to go on the next rampage—ousting Ukrainian soldiers from the thin slice of Russian territory they hold, then retaking soil across the border in Donbas province—he can tell a complaining Trump that he doesn’t recall any such conversation. If Trump thinks Putin actually will refrain from stepping up attacks on Ukraine as a friendly favor … well, maybe our once-and-future president will learn a lesson about the limits of personal relations in the face of perceived national interests early in his second term.
The final twist of this saga came on Monday when Russia’s intelligence chief, Nikolai Patrushev , made the following comment in an interview with the Moscow newspaper Kommersant:
This is a mind-blowing bit of psychological warfare! The Russians are basically telling Trump: We put you in office. Now it’s time for you to pay us back.
Did this make Trump wonder: WTF?
It is well established that toward the end of this year’s presidential election campaign, Russians created and disseminated phony videos designed to swing voters away from Vice President Kamala Harris. One such video purported to show illegal Haitian immigrants voting. (The FBI, the director of national intelligence, and the top cybersecurity agency issued a rare joint statement about that claim, warning that these videos were false and Russian in origin.) Russians also phoned in bomb scares to polling stations in Black neighborhoods that tend to favor Democratic candidates.
However, there is no evidence—nor has anyone claimed—that Trump or his campaign staffers colluded in, or knew anything about, these videos or the bomb threats. If Trump did have some involvement, or if Russia possesses some other form of kompromat (compromising material) on Trump, Patrushev’s message constitutes an extraordinarily bodacious threat of blackmail, delivered in public, against an American president-elect.
If Trump did not have any involvement in this escapade, Patrushev’s gambit shows—some would say, confirms —that Russia’s main goal, in all these misinformation ventures, is to sow chaos, breed mistrust, and weaken the sinews of democracy in Western countries, especially in the U.S., regardless of who is the president.
What Trump does about this campaign—whether he is fully aware of its extent and depth—is as yet unknown. His foreign policy, which he has clearly expressed many times, is angled toward a realignment with Putin’s Russia. At a first-term news conference in Helsinki , he said he believed Putin rather than his own intelligence agencies on the question of whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election. More broadly, Trump abhors multinational alliances , especially NATO. He considers U.S. military aid to Ukraine to be a waste of money; he doesn’t much like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, decrying him as a “ salesman ,” and he no doubt remains bitter over the role that their “ beautiful phone call ” played in his first impeachment trial. (This was the call where Trump tried to hold up delivery of U.S. anti-tank missiles until Zelensky agreed to dig up dirt on Hunter Biden.)
The entire MAGA wing of the Republican Party—which is to say, the Republican Party—endorses Trump’s desire to renew good relations with Russia, all the better to go after America’s real adversary, Xi Jinping’s China. The first few of Trump’s Cabinet nominees—Rep. Mike Waltz as national security adviser, Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state, and Rep. Elise Stefanik—all share this perspective. Soon after his victory, Trump made a point of tweeting that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, both of whom had lobbied for a senior position, would have no place in his administration. Haley had committed the unforgivable sin of running against Trump in the primaries, but beyond that, both she and Pompeo supported—and still do support—boosting military aid to Ukraine. So, they were out.
One can only wonder what Trump will do—whether he’ll change his position, whether he’s capable of changing his stance—when he realizes, if he realizes, that Putin is not his friend. Trump certainly should not act as if he is.
no worries, FOX will never air that to their audience of idiots ...
I guess Fox News hardest job is keeping those with the intelligence and attention span of a banana entertained. They gave up on trying to keep them informed over a decade ago.
trump is probably dangling his future interference in rupert's legal problems for a FOX ownership stake ...
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It’s 100% a fake job. Donald Trump doesn’t create government departments. Congress does. And anyway, we already have a government department that does exactly what Trump thinks his doge will: The Government Accountability Office. The GAO identifies waste and saves us money all the time. We have had the GAO for 100 years.
And whatever department we end up talking about, no sensible person thinks Elon Musk is going to spend a single minute doing actual government work.