Tag Archives: Alex Henderson

Alternet: ‘Embarrassing boondoggle’: Trump’s ‘big beautiful wall’ is now on life support in Texas

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Long before President Donald Trump pushed the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, he called for a “big, beautiful wall” on the U.S./Mexico border. And of the four U.S. states that shared a border with Mexico, GOP-leaning Texas had the loudest and most vocal support for the wall.

But MSNBC’s Ja’han Jones, in his June 19 column, stresses that Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” now seems to be on life support in the Lone Star State.

“Texas appears to have quietly stopped funding its plans to construct its own border wall with Mexico, which could mark the end of an embarrassing boondoggle designed to bolster one of President Donald Trump’s early campaign slogans,” Jones explains. “For years, conservatives have framed the idea of a border wall as essential to immigration enforcement, despite a chorus of critics denouncing it as costly and ineffective. And Texas Republicans’ decision to defund the project seems like a tacit acknowledgment of that reality.”

‘Embarrassing boondoggle’: Trump’s ‘big beautiful wall’ is now on life support in Texas

https://www.alternet.org/trump-border-wall-texas-msnbc

Alternet: Trump’s ‘disturbing and unethical’ new rule allows discrimination against Dems and single women

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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has long had strict anti-discrimination rules. A VA center cannot refuse to treat a veteran because he or she is Black, Jewish, a woman or Latino, for example.

But according to The Guardian’s Aaron Glantz, an executive order from President Donald Trump allows some forms of discrimination.

In an article published on June 16, Glantz explains, “Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion and sex, and all veterans remain entitled to treatment. But individual workers are now free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not explicitly prohibited by federal law. Language requiring health care professionals to care for veterans regardless of their politics and marital status has been explicitly eliminated.”

The executive order that Glantz references in his article was issued by Trump on January 30 and titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

Glantz notes that the “primary purpose of” Trump’s executive order was “to strip most government protections from transgender people” but warned that its “far-reaching” effects could go way beyond that.

https://www.alternet.org/msn-uk/trumps-extremely-disturbing-and-unethical-va-rule-allows-for-far-reaching-discrimination

Alternet: ‘Theft and destruction’: Trump’s escalating self-dealing exposed in new report

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The big lie:

During his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump insisted that if he defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, he would maintain a strict separation between his business activities and the White House. And one of MAGA Republicans’ talking points is that Trump cares so deeply about the United States that he was willing to step away from his business, put his son Eric Trump in charge of the Trump Organization, and take a hit financially in order to be president and “make American great again.”

The reality:

But in fact, President Trump’s net worth has increased substantially since 2016 and continues to increase. Trump, according to his critics, is monetizing his presidency in a wide range of ways,

…

The Guardian reporter continues, “He incurred numerous accusations of first-term conflicts of interest, as foreign officials from 20 countries descended on his hotels, while Secret Service agents in Trump’s security detail were made to pay premium rates, pouring at least $10m into his bank account. Such unprecedented disregard for time-honored ethical boundaries was shocking at the time. Now, it looks merely quaint.”

During his second term, Pilkington notes, Trump has monetized his presidency with everything from promoting Tesla vehicles to receiving a jet as a gift from the Qatari government.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) told The Guardian that Trump is operating a “pay-for-play presidency.” And Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, laments that Trump and his allies “have mastered the technique of flooding the zone” by “doing so much so fast that they are overwhelming the ability of ethics groups and institutions to respond.”

‘Theft and destruction’: Trump’s escalating self-dealing exposed in new report

https://www.alternet.org/trump-grifter-guardian

Alternet: BUSTED: James Comey’s cryptic ‘8647’ doesn’t mean what Trump voters say it means

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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem [Bimbo #2], FBI Director Kash Patel and other far-right MAGA Republicans are calling for an investigation of former FBI Director James Comey in response to an Instagram post that depicted seashells in the sand forming the numbers “8647.”

The slang expression “eight-six” means to “remove” or “eject,” and Donald Trump is the 47th president of the United States. Noem [Bimbo #2], in a May 15 post on X, formerly Twitter, claimed that Comey was promoting violence against President Trump.

Noem [Bimbo #2] tweeted, “Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump. DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.”

But Noem’s [Bimbo #2’s] critics are reminding her that the term “eight-six” doesn’t automatically have a violent connotation. When restaurant workers, for example, say that they need to “eight-six” an order, it means cancel the order. Or a bar might “eighty-six” a customer who has had too much to drink.

Liberal firebrand and former MSNBC host Keith Olberman, in response to Noem’s [Bimbo #2’s] tweet, posted, “Listen, you lying witch, he didn’t call for assassinating anyone. Since you murdered your daughter’s dog maybe you ought to S— about this.”

BUSTED: James Comey’s cryptic ‘8647’ doesn’t mean what Trump voters say it means

https://www.alternet.org/comey-86-noem-trump

Alternet: ‘Breadth of corruption’: How Trump is ramping up to ‘blatantly enrich himself in office’

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Almost four months into his second presidency, Donald Trump continues to be one of the most divisive presidents in U.S. history. Trump is still adored by his hardcore MAGA base, while his critics are finding even more to dislike about his second presidency than they did about his first. And it remains to be seen how swing voters and independents will feel about him when the 2026 midterms arrive.

In an article published on May 17, New York Magazine’s Ross Barkan argues that “corruption” is the main thing that makes Trump’s second term uniquely bad.

“What does seem genuinely new, even by the standards of America’s warped history, is the unabashed corruption,” Barkan stresses. “No president, really, has favor-traded like Trump. No president has ever tried to blatantly enrich himself like this while in office. No president has ever hung a for-sale sign over the White House — not like this, anyway. Trump is poised to accept a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari royal family, which feels like something of a capstone to his latest corruption binge…. And then there’s his crypto hustle.”

www.alternet.org
‘Breadth of corruption’: How Trump is ramping up to ‘blatantly enrich himself in office’

https://www.alternet.org/trump-corruption-barkan

Alternet: ‘Taunt the judiciary’: Legal scholars slam ‘invalid’ MAGA lawsuit against John Roberts

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On April 22, according to Talking Points Memo (TPM) reporter Josh Kovensky, the America First Legal Foundation filed a “little-known lawsuit” against U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and the head of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts — accusing the federal courts of undermining his presidential powers.

“The case ostensibly proceeds as a FOIA lawsuit, with the Trump-aligned group seeking access to judiciary records,” Kovensky explains. “But, in doing so, it asks the courts to cede massive power to the White House: the bodies that make court policy and manage the judiciary’s day-to-day operations should be considered independent agencies of the executive branch, the suit argues, giving the president, under the conservative legal movement’s theories, the power to appoint and dismiss people in key roles.”

‘Taunt the judiciary’: Legal scholars slam ‘invalid’ MAGA lawsuit against John Roberts
Many critics of President Donald Trump are accusing him of failing to respect the United States’ system of checks and balances, arguing that the federal government’s executive branch, under the U.S. Constitution, isn’t as powerful as he says it is. Regardless, Trump and his MAGA allies, including White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, maintain…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/taunt-the-judiciary-legal-scholars-slam-invalid-maga-lawsuit-against-john-roberts/ar-AA1E3Z7a

Alternet: ‘One phrase in particular’ makes Trump’s Smithsonian order ‘deeply disturbing’: analysis

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Trump says, “Think like me, or else!”

On Thursday, March 27, President Donald Trump issued yet another executive order — this time, one aimed at the Smithsonian Institute. Trump called for expressions of “improper ideologies” or to be removed from Smithsonian’s museums and information centers, and for the removal of displays that “promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy.”

‘One phrase in particular’ makes Trump’s Smithsonian order ‘deeply disturbing’: analysis
On Thursday, March 27, President Donald Trump issued yet another executive order — this time, one aimed at the Smithsonian Institute. Trump called for expressions of “improper ideologies” or to be removed from Smithsonian’s museums and information centers, and for the removal of displays that “promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federa…

‘One phrase in particular’ makes Trump’s Smithsonian order ‘deeply disturbing’: analysis

Alternet: ‘Why do that?’ Fox News host defends ‘decorated veteran’ against Musk’s ‘traitor’ smear

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Elon Musk = Surrender Monkey

During a recent visit to Ukraine, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) expressed his support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and additional U.S. military aid for the war-torn country. But far-right Tesla/Space/X/X.com leader Elon Musk, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, disagreed with Kelly’s position and called him a “traitor.”

Many Democrats are calling Musk out, noting that Kelly is a former U.S. Navy combat pilot. Musk, however, defended his attack on Kelly during a Thursday night, March 27 appearance on Fox News.

Fox News host Bret Baier questioned the wisdom of calling Kelly a “traitor,” asking Musk, “Why do that?”

The billionaire Trump ally responded, “Well, I think somebody should be — should care about the interest of the United States above the interests of another country. And if they don’t, they’re a traitor.”

Baier, however, defended Kelly, telling Musk, “Yes. But he’s a decorated veteran, a former astronaut, a sitting U.S. senator.”

Musk doubled down on his position, accusing Kelly of putting “the interest of another country above America.”

‘Why do that?’ Fox News host defends ‘decorated veteran’ against Musk’s ‘traitor’ smear