Wednesday Reads: It’s Biden vs. the Media, MAGA, and Putin.

Good Morning!!

Mark Quinn, Radioactive Nurseries, 2010

The corporate media continues to bash President Biden and ignore Donald Trump’s insane rally speeches and his frightening plans for our future.

Trump held a rally last night after at least 10 days of golfing instead of campaigning. The rally wasn’t in a swing state though–he held it at his Doral golf course in Florida. Why isn’t the media calling him lazy?

Here’s a summary of the looney word salad Trump spewed last night. From @ArtCandee on Twitter:

Oh boy. Trump’s Doral rally tonight was a doozy. Let’s recap it:

He started off by bragging about his golf course instead of apologizing for being an hour late and leaving people waiting all day under a heat advisory.

He said he didn’t know what NATO was.

He bragged that “being indicted is a lot of fun.”

He claimed “tens of thousands” of people showed up to this sad little rally.

He later said “45,000 people” when it barely looked like 2k people were there.

He froze like a deer in headlights for 10 straight seconds.

He praised Laura Loomer and repeatedly called her “amazing.”

He’s mad that Kamala Harris laughs and called her “L-a-f-f-i-n’ Kamala,” proving what we already knew that bro can’t spell.

He said he wants a “no holds barred” debate without moderators this week. Essentially the two of them screaming at each other. Super dumb idea. Especially when Biden is hosting the NATO summit.

He also challenged President Biden to a golf tournament this week when President Biden is busy meeting with NATO leaders and doing his job.

He said Biden “doesn’t know what a synagogue is.”

He thinks you have to stop electric cars every hour.

He complained about the heat only 16 minutes in, when those people waited all day and he still showed up an hour late.

He said someone told him that he looks “great in a bathing suit.” Barf.

He called the fictional Hannibal Lecter “a lovely man” and compared him to immigrants.

He said migrants are “preying on everybody.”

He forgot how to say “feared” and said “field.” He said he’d be the “greatest president that God has ever created.”

He claimed Hunter Biden is running the country.

He babbled about facelifts.

He said he was going to bring Tom Homan back into his administration, a guy who helped author Project 2025 which he claims to know nothing about.

He claimed Biden has more homes than him.

He said we’ll become “energy independent” when we already are right now.

He complained some more about the hot weather.

He asked why “sweaty” golf caddies “never touched me, never hugged me, never kissed me.”

He made fun of Chris Christie’s weight while claiming he was standing up for him. Mighty rich.

He said the U.S. is turning into “communist Cuba or socialist Venezuela.”

He struggled to pronounce some of his sycophants’ names.

He called Don Jr. “a great talent” and that he has a “great wife” even though he’s not married to Kimberly Guilfoyle.

He said how much he loves his family showing up when his wife Melania and favorite daughter Ivanka didn’t even bother going.

He said “October 7th would not have happened” if he was President.

He said Israel “had no money.”

He said “we have nuclear submarines and five warships in Cuba,” essentially calling himself a Russian.

He said Biden has abandoned Cuba when he was the one who nixed Obama’s plan to reopen trade and travel to Cuba.

He said people get “shot, mugged, raped” when visiting the Washington Monument in DC.

He said he will protect the second amendment and “innocent life” in the same breath.

He told people to “vote whenever you want.”

He played a song performed by J6 insurrectionists and people who beat up police officers.

He read his teleprompter cue to speak quickly out loud.

He said that getting rid of energy efficiency in appliances will “keep our enemies at bay.”

He called the United States of America “a third-world country” and said we’re “a joke.”

He said President Biden “isn’t legally allowed to stand trial.”

He’s claiming that the stock market is high because of MAGA winning the election in November, and that it will crash like during the Great Depression if he loses.

He said it’s “easier to get fentanyl than groceries.”

He forgot how to say the word “economy.”

He said he’d rather take money from small dollar donors instead of the wealthy.

He said they’re “going to take over our Capitol.”

He lied like he breathes.

And we all know the media won’t cover HALF of this absolute train wreck.

Hibiscus by Hiroshige (1845)

In contrast, here is President Biden’s schedule for today:

10:00 AM: The President receives the President’s Daily Brief

10:45 AM: The President departs the White House en route to the AFL-CIO Headquarters.

11:00 AM: The President drops by a meeting of national union leaders at the AFL-CIO Headquarters.

11:45 AM: The President departs the AFL-CIO Headquarters en route to the Walter E. Washington               Convention Center.

12:15 PM: The President welcomes NATO Allied Leaders to the NATO Summit and participates in a                Welcome Handshake and NATO Family Photo.

1:00 PM: The President participates in Working Session I of the NATO Summit.

4:30 PM: The President departs the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, arrives at White House at 4:35.

5:30 PM: The President hosts a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom.

7:40 PM: The President and The First Lady host an official arrival ceremony for NATO Allies and partners.

8:00 PM: The President and The First Lady host a dinner with NATO Allies and partners

Here’s another Trump story that isn’t being covered by the corporate media. From Raw Story: Congressman shames media for ignoring Trump’s name in newly released Epstein documents.

House Democrats met Tuesday to discuss President Joe Biden’s candidacy, but one lawmaker wanted to know why the press has spent a second week on that story instead of looking at recently released Florida court documents in the Jeffrey Epstein case.

“We hear a lot from our constituents on different issues,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) said at the news conference Tuesday. “But something I’ve heard that doesn’t seem to be being covered are the Epstein files.”

He explained that Trump is all over the documents with photos of him as well as rape allegations from children. The details have trended on the social media site X under the tag #TrumpPedoFiles.

“And by the way, he was convicted in a civil court for sexual assault and convicted in a state court for 34 felonies. Donald Trump should drop out of the race,” said Lieu….

In a surprise move, Circuit Judge Luis Delgado ordered the documents be released last week, shortly before the Fourth of July holiday.

“The testimony taken by the Grand Jury concerns activity ranging from grossly unacceptable to rape — all of the conduct at issue is sexually deviant, disgusting, and criminal,” the judge wrote.

Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Joseph Abruzzo worked for the past three years trying to get the records released to the public, The Washington Post reported.

“The public, and the victims specifically, want to know how he was able to get a slap on the wrist and go on for decades, continuing these heinous acts to hundreds, or more, underage girls or women,” he said.

Trump called Epstein many times between 2004 and 2006, the Post cited from the documents….

Insider’s Jacob Shamsian explained that Trump is the likely individual referred to as “Doe 174.” It identified the individual as saying, “I wish her well,” when referring to Epstein’s girlfriend and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving 20 years in prison for her involvement….

“It’s easy to see where Trump fits into them,” Insider said. “They are all transcripts of depositions from Ransome, Giuffre, and Epstein’s Palm Beach housekeeper Juan Alessi, all of whom were asked about Epstein’s relationships with celebrities and other powerful people.”

Alex Katz, Red Roses with Blue, 2001

Trump has been trying to dissociate himself from the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” even though most of the people working on it are former members of the first Trumpadministration. 

Norman Eisen and Joshua Kolb at Slate: There’s a Reason Trump Is Suddenly Lying About Project 2025.

With all the focus in recent weeks on President Joe Biden’s age-related limitations, it’s worth remembering that Donald Trump’s incessant falsehoods and self-proclaimed desire to be a dictator on Day 1 make him far more unfit for the presidency. The latest Trump lie that should be garnering more attention is his attempt to distance himself from Project 2025: “I know nothing about Project 2025,” he posted on Truth Social last week. “I have no idea who is behind it.” That statement is demonstrably false. It reflects an attempt to deceive American voters about the dictatorship a second Trump term would bring.

The reasons that Trump is unfit are manifest. He is a convicted felon and inveterate liar who coddles the nation’s adversaries and threatens its allies. His 30-plus falsehoods in the debate were no less disqualifying than Biden’s age. But most concerning of all are his plans for autocracy, which we document in our American Autocracy Threat Tracker. We detail Trump’s own promise to be a dictator “on Day 1” of his presidency, to “terminate” or reject the Constitution, and to stretch the law to carry out his extreme policies—such as mass deportations (by military force if necessary) and concentration camps for immigrants lacking permanent legal status.

Dictatorship cannot of course be accomplished by one person alone. That’s why, in our Threat Tracker, we also document the autocratic proposals made by Trump’s campaign, allies, and enablers. First among them—and until now embraced by Trump—are the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025, an 887-page document that outlines how Trump could arrogate unprecedented power in the presidency and eradicate checks on presidential control. In our tracker, we catalog how Project 2025 “proposes to dismantle or radically overhaul the Departments of Justice and State; eliminate the Departments of Homeland Security, Education, and Commerce; radically repurpose other agencies; and eviscerate the professional civil service.” One “immediate priority” discussed by leaders of Project 2025 are proposals for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to suppress domestic dissent and violence.

That plan exemplifies the danger lurking beneath this extreme project, as hinted at by last week’s discussion of bloodshed. The president of the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025’s parent organization, Kevin Roberts, said, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” The Heritage Foundation subsequently quote-tweeted this clip with one word: “Yes.”

Contrary to Trump’s disavowal, Project 2025 has been conceived, staffed, and endorsed by a plethora of Trump insiders—including some of the former president’s most senior and influential advisers. Notably, John McEntee, a powerful figure in the Trump administration as the director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, is a senior adviser to the effort and has helped spearhead its lists of potential Trump administration staffers. And Stephen Miller, a top Trump aide, is “one of the most powerful architects” of Project 2025, Axios has reported.

The list of Trump-affiliated figures who have played a role in Project 2025 does not stop there. It also includes Ben Carson, Trump’s ex–secretary of housing and urban development; Peter Navarro, the White House trade adviser under Trump; and Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget under Trump. Vought is yet another central player in the former president’s orbit: He drafted a key chapter in Project 2025 and is now the policy director for the committee writing the Republican National Committee’s policy platform. And there are many other lower-profile Trump advisers involved in Project 2025, as we discuss in our Threat Tracker.

Meanwhile, Trump’s super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., has been running ads promoting a website called Trump Project 2025. And figures like Miller and Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt have previously appeared in online advertisements promoting Project 2025.

Read more at Slate.

Roses and Lillies by Henri Fantin-Latour (1888)

This morning, Raw Story published an investigative article by Jordan Green and Mark Alesia: Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’ has a ‘target list’ of 350 people he wants arrested.

Retribution is at the center of Donald Trump’s third presidential election campaign.

“I am your warrior,” Trump proclaimed earlier this year. “I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

Trump’s loyal surrogates have duly embraced the project — perhaps no one more zealously than Ivan Raiklin, a retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency employee, who bills himself as the former and would-be president’s “future secretary of retribution.”

Raiklin is seeking to enlist so-called “constitutional” sheriffs in rural, conservative counties across the country to detain Trump’s political enemies. Or, as he says, carry out “live-streamed swatting raids” against individuals on his “Deep State target list.”

“This is a deadly serious report,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Raw Story. “A retired U.S. military officer has drawn up a ‘Deep State target list’ of public officials he considers traitors, along with our family members and staff. His hit list is a vigilante death warrant for hundreds of Americans and a clear and present danger to the survival of American democracy and freedom.” [….]

The list Raiklin has been circulating since January is extensive.

It includes numerous Democratic and Republican elected officials; FBI and intelligence officials; members of the House Select January 6 Committee; U.S. Capitol Police officers and civilian employees; witnesses in Trump’s two impeachment trials and the Jan. 6 committee hearings; and journalists from publications ranging from CNN and the Washington Post to Reuters and Raw Story — all considered political enemies of Trump.

Julie Farnam, a former U.S. Capitol Police employee named on the list who as assistant director of intelligence and interagency coordination warned about the potential for violence in advance of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, said she would not be intimidated by the list.

“Any hit list is designed to impart the silence and fear of those named on it,” Farnam told Raw Story. “But silence is victory for those who write such lists. Conversely, speaking the truth without fear will always be the undoing of those who seek to intimidate and spread hate in our world. I can never be silenced.”

In addition to Farnam, the list includes nine current or former U.S. Capitol Police employees. The agency declined to comment for this story.

Raw Story is not publishing the full list given the potential risk posed to people unaware that they’re on it.

Many of the people on the “retribution” list are journalists. This story is behind a paywall, but those are the basics. Here’s a bit more:

Who is Ivan Raiklin?

As the 2020 election approached, conspiracy minded Trump supporters with active Twitter accounts were in abundance. Most never broke through the incessant MAGA noise, or merely added another note to its election denialism dissonance.

Raiklin was different.

He was a seasoned veteran with a background in military intelligence who wound up playing a small but significant role in the effort to overturn the 2020 election in Trump’s name.

Bouquet of Flowers by Edouard Manet (1882)

Following a distinguished career in the U.S. Armed Forces in which he served as a military attaché to the former Soviet Republic of Georgia and foreign affairs specialist assigned to the Ukraine Crisis Team, Raiklin left the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2017 to run for U.S. Senate in Virginia, according to the Washington Post.

At the time, Raiklin’s candidacy in 2018 provided little indication of the MAGA loyalist relishing the destruction of Trump’s enemies that he would become….

Following his disappointing foray into electoral politics, Raiklin began his turn toward Trump’s MAGA movement.

In 2019, he appeared at a QAnon-themed fundraiser for retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, whom Raiklin met in 2010. (Flynn and Raiklin have become close in recent years, with Raiklin urging Trump to select Flynn as his vice presidential running mate and Flynn featuring Raiklin in his current speaking tour.)

Roughly a week after the 2020 election, when major media outlets had called the election for Democratic candidate Joe Biden, Raiklin went on Alex Jones’ conspiracy theory show InfoWars and confidently predicted that Trump would ultimately obtain the necessary number of electoral votes to secure reelection.

“I absolutely guarantee it,” he said. “One hundred percent. Unequivocally. Full stop. There is no possibility that he does not reach 270.”

It’s a classic example of how Trump’s followers often act on Trump’s wishes or anticipate his desires without receiving specific directives.

For months, Trump had been saying that the only way he’d lose the election is if Democrats stole it through fraud. Now, Trump had lost, and Raiklin was arguing that Trump was winning, against all evidence.

Raiklin, in essence, operates as an agent of Trumpism independent of Trump.

And as the 2024 election nears, the same dynamic is apparent: Trump articulates the broad themes, and his supporters scramble to put them into practice.

“Stand back and stand by” set the stage for the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021, and now, “I am your retribution” serves as a solicitation to supporters such as Raiklin to put together specific plans for retribution against Trump’s political enemies.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the NYT and WaPo to cover this story. They are working overtime trying to normalize Trump, while attacking Biden.

And what about Trump’s good buddy in Russia? Anna Conkling at The Daily Beast: Putin Set Up Terminator-Style Skynet AI Network to Attack the U.S.

The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that the U.S. has disrupted a Russian disinformation campaign involving Artificial intelligence-powered bots that created fake profiles on the X social media platform.

It’s President Vladimir Putin’s answer to the terrifying Skynet artificial intelligence network from the Terminator movies.

Government officials seized two internet domains and searched through 968 X accounts that they accuse Russia of using to create an AI “bot farm,” which the department said “Used elements of AI to create fictitious social media profiles—often purporting to belong to individuals in the United States—which the operators then used to promote messages in support of Russian government objectives,” according to the statement.

The U.S. action was, “The first in disrupting a Russian-sponsored Generative AI-enhanced social media bot farm,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The court document read that the operation was devised by the deputy editor-in-chief at RT, formerly known as Russia Today, a Kremlin-run Russian news organization based in Moscow, in 2022. The goal was to spread RT’s standard television news broadcast on social media. It was part of a Kremlin-approved and funded project run by a Russian intelligence officer.

NBC News: Russia aims to undermine Biden in November election, intel officials say.

Russia’s efforts to influence this year’s U.S. election through information warfare have the same aim as in previous elections — to undermine President Joe Biden’s campaign and the Democratic Party and weaken public confidence in the electoral process, intelligence officials said Tuesday.

Lilacs in a Window by Mary Cassatt (1880)

Russia’s election influence operations, which include covert social media accounts and encrypted direct messaging channels, are targeting key voter groups in swing states to exploit political divisions in the U.S. and erode support for Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, officials with the Office of the Director National Intelligence, or ODNI, told reporters. 

Asked whether Russia’s information campaign is trying to boost or undermine one of the presidential candidates, an ODNI official said: “We have not observed a shift in Russia’s preferences for the presidential race from past elections, given the role the U.S. is playing with regard to Ukraine and broader policy toward Russia.”

In its assessments of previous elections dating to 2016, the intelligence community concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime sought to sway American public opinion in favor of Donald Trump’s candidacy and denigrate the Democratic Party and its presidential nominees.

Former U.S. intelligence officials and regional analysts say the Kremlin has long viewed Trump as more sympathetic to Russia, citing his frequently expressed skepticism toward the NATO alliance, his reluctance to criticize Putin and his critical portrayal of Ukraine’s government.

Other stories worth checking out:

Raw Story: Senators file official demand for criminal investigation of Clarence Thomas.

Politico: Member of Justice Sotomayor’s security detail shoots armed carjacker near her home.

The Daily Beast: MAGA Senator Josh Hawley Advocates for Being a Christian Nationalist.

CBS News: Navy sailor tried to access Biden’s medical records multiple times.

Joyce Vance at Civil Discourse: Trump’s Party Issues a Platform.

Talking Points Memo: Lies, Lewd Texts, ‘Sexualized Relationship’ At Center Of Trump-Appointed Fed Judge’s Abrupt Resignation.

The Daily Beast: MSNBC Anchor Goes After WH Reporter’s ‘Rage’ During Press Briefing.

That’s it for me today. I hope you are having a pleasant Wednesday.