Ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“We hope everyone has a good time this weekend, because if Donald Trump wins in November, this Saturday could also be known as the last White House Correspondents’ Dinner. To state the obvious: Trump is a thin-skinned narcissist who – despite spending seemingly every waking moment glued to his seat consuming cable news – is constantly attacking the free press and unable to handle a little good-natured ribbing. He skipped the White House Correspondents’ Dinner every single year he was in office because of his deep-seated insecurities and pathetic desperation to be liked by the same people he rails against – and that was before he outright banned members of his administration from attending at all. Fun and jokes aside this weekend, Saturday is also a reminder of what’s at stake with an angry, vengeful Trump on the ballot. He may be a punchline, but he is also a sad, vindictive wannabe authoritarian who shows no respect for the First Amendment – or the Fourth Estate.”
Trump is too thin-skinned and insecure to handle a little teasing…
Vanity Fair: “Trump Gets Roasted After Declining Third White House Correspondents’ Dinner”
Reuters: “Trump orders administration officials not to attend White House correspondents dinner”
NPR: “Trump Will Be First President In 36 Years To Skip White House Correspondents’ Dinner”
Washington Post: “With self-deprecation on menu for presidents at correspondents’ dinner, it’s no wonder Trump is skipping it”
Politico: “Trump’s Jokes Killed DC’s Sense of Humor”
… and has repeatedly stoked anger against the media and defended violent attacks on members of the press.
Vanity Fair: “Trump Campaign Denies Press Credentials for Several Journalists”
Trump: “The Fake News Media in our Country is the real Opposition Party. It is truly the Enemy of the People! We must bring honesty back to journalism and reporting!”
CNN: “Trump calls journalists ‘bad people’ at rally a week after newsroom shooting”
Politico: “[Trump] returned to scathing attacks on the news media just one week after a gunman killed five journalists at a Maryland newspaper. He derided the press as ‘fake news,’ ‘bad people’ and ‘so damn dishonest.’ ‘They’re fake,’ he said, pointing at the press area in the arena. ‘These are really bad people.’”
Associated Press: “Trump says media is ‘Enemy of the People’ after shooting, bomb plot”
New York Times: “In urging the crowd to vote for Representative Greg Gianforte, who is running for re-election and who was sentenced to anger management classes and community service for assaulting a reporter last spring, Mr. Trump jokingly warned the crowd to ‘never wrestle him.’ ‘I had heard he body-slammed a reporter,’ Mr. Trump said, noting that he was initially concerned that Mr. Gianforte would lose in a special election last May. ‘I said, ‘Wait a minute. I know Montana pretty well; I think it might help him.’ And it did.’ ‘Anybody that can do a body-slam,’ the president added, ‘that’s my kind of guy.’”
As Donald Trump’s MAGA minions Lauren Boebert, Alex Bruesewitz, and Donald Trump Jr. campaign together in Colorado, DNC spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement:
“The last time Lauren Boebert, Alex Bruesewitz, and Donald Trump Jr. teamed up, it was to try to overturn the 2020 election results. These three MAGA minions are now pushing an extreme platform to threaten our democracy while Trump continues to center his presidential campaign on his dangerous election denialism and promises to pardon violent insurrectionists. It’s a losing formula for the Republican Party, and voters will stop these anti-democracy extremists at the polls this November.”
Lauren Boebert worked to decertify the 2020 election results and was in communication with Jan. 6 riot organizers in the lead up to the insurrection.
Colorado Newsline: “Rep. Boebert involved in ‘beginning stages’ of White House Jan. 6 planning, ex-aide says”
“U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado was involved in the ‘beginning stages’ of talks with senior White House officials that ultimately led to efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to decertify the 2020 election results, a former top aide told congressional investigators.
“Boebert, a controversial first-term lawmaker from Silt, has been scrutinized for giving tours of the Capitol to a ‘large group’ of people on the day prior to the insurrection, and for sending tweets that some characterized as relaying ‘intel’ about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s location during the attack. On the morning of Jan. 6, she tweeted, ‘Today is 1776.’”
Colorado Newsline: “Organizers of the Jan. 6 protests that led to a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol were allegedly in communication with Rep. Lauren Boebert’s office in the lead-up to the event.”
Denver Post: “Colorado U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert met with then-President Donald Trump’s White House officials before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, while they discussed what options the vice president had when faced with certifying the 2020 election, a high-level aide said.”
Boebert voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election.
Alex Bruesewitz is a MAGA loyalist who was one of the organizers of the organization that planned the Trump rally that ignited the Jan. 6 riots.
Politico: “Trump allies are plotting to fund potential pro-MAGA primary challengers to oust those disloyal Republicans. ‘We’ll put some money behind’ trying to oust these Republicans, said Alex Bruesewitz, one of the organizers of Stop the Steal, an organization linked to high-profile MAGA personalities that is helping organize a major Jan. 6 pro-Trump rally in Washington.”
Bruesewitz said he was attending Trump’s speech on Jan. 6 because he “shared President Trump’s concerns about election integrity.”
Bruesewitz: “[The Jan. 6 Select Committee] can go to hell! I will never apologize for exercising my constitutional rights after the 2020 ‘election.’”
Donald Trump Jr. pitched plans to subvert the 2020 election results and spoke at the rally on Jan. 6, where he threatened Republican lawmakers who were planning to vote in favor of certifying the election results.
CNN: “‘We control them all’: Donald Trump Jr. texted Meadows ideas for overturning 2020 election before it was called”
“In the text … Donald Trump Jr. lays out ideas for keeping his father in power by subverting the Electoral College process.”
Politico: “President Donald Trump’s eldest sons threatened Republican lawmakers … pledging that their family would continue to dispute the results of the 2020 election just hours before Congress was set to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
“‘To those Republicans, many of which may be voting on things in the coming hours: You have an opportunity today,’ Donald Trump Jr. told the crowd… ‘You can be a hero, or you can be a zero. And the choice is yours. But we are all watching. The whole world is watching, folks. Choose wisely.’
“‘These guys better fight for Trump. Because if they’re not, guess what? I’m going to be in your backyard in a couple of months!’ Donald Trump Jr. said.”
Trump is still pushing baseless lies about his loss by over 7 million votes in the 2020 election.
Associated Press: “[Trump] is flooding the airwaves and his social media platform with distortions, misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories about his defeat.”
NBC News: “Re-litigating the 2020 election, repeating false claims it was stolen and casting aspersions on the security of mail voting remain major fixtures for [Trump] on the stump. … He regularly refers to the 2020 election as ‘rigged’ on his social media channels.”
New York Times: “Donald J. Trump pressured state and federal government officials to overturn results of the 2020 election in more than 30 phone calls or meetings.”
Associated Press: “Trump, running for the White House for the third time, has signaled that the 2020 election will remain an integral part of his 2024 presidential bid.”
WPR: “One day before his campaign stop in Green Bay, former President Donald Trump continued to push the false claim that he won Wisconsin four years ago — despite a recount, audits and court cases showing he lost to President Joe Biden.”
Trump continues to praise and embrace violent Jan. 6 rioters – calling them “hostages” and “patriots” and vowing to pardon “a large portion” of those who attacked our Capitol.
Associated Press: “Trump is making the Jan. 6 attack a cornerstone of his bid for the White House”
Semafor: “How Donald Trump learned to love the January 6 prisoner movement”
The Hill: “Trump describes imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters as ‘hostages’”
Washington Post: “Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected”
Business Insider: “Then-President Donald Trump didn’t want to specifically call for the Justice Department to prosecute January 6 rioters or forcefully condemn those who stormed the Capitol as unrepresentative of the MAGA movement.”
Washington Post: “No, Trump did not order 10,000 troops to secure the Capitol on Jan. 6”
NBC News: “Former President Donald Trump promised Wednesday night that if he is elected he will pardon a ‘large portion’ of the people convicted of federal offenses for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
Washington Post: “Former president Donald Trump on Thursday praised and embraced a woman convicted of defying police orders on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. … Trump has steadily escalated his advocacy for people charged in the Capitol riot, including by pledging to pardon them if he returns to the White House, praising them as patriots, participating in a recording with Jan. 6 prisoners singing the national anthem, and playing it at his first rally of the 2024 campaign last month.”
Trump: “January 6, it was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to. And they were there proud, they were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable — and it was a beautiful day.”
NBC News: “Trump spoke at a fundraiser for Jan. 6 defendants”
As Donald Trump says climate change is “one of the greatest con jobs ever” while pushing an extreme MAGA agenda that would gut basic environmental protections and end tax relief to lower energy costs for working families, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“Donald Trump thinks climate change is ‘one of the greatest con jobs ever’ – that’s rich coming from a con artist like Trump. While President Biden is spearheading an agenda to protect our energy security and create new sustainable jobs, Trump is pursuing an extreme, climate-denying platform that would gut basic environmental protections and risk industries of the future. The American people rejected Trump’s denial of reality and refusal to address climate change in 2020, and they will do it again at the ballot box this November.”
Donald Trump called climate change “one of the greatest con jobs ever” after he spent every single year in office gutting and undermining environmental protections and regulations.
Trump: “So now they called it climate change because climate change covers everything. If it gets warm, if it gets cold. Climate change is one of the greatest con jobs ever, because ‘global warming’ didn’t work.”
New York Times: “Over four years, the Trump administration dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals.”
Associated Press: “[Trump] rolled back dozens of environmental rules he considered overly burdensome on businesses. Many of the regulations were designed to protect the environment and public health, but were viewed by the Trump administration as costly and unnecessary.”
Politico: “Trump is once again seeking deep and unrealistic cuts to most federal agency budgets … The EPA’s budget would see a nearly 27 percent chop.”
Slate: “In Trump’s budget, which was also released today, the discretionary budget for the … [EPA] is cut by $2.8 billion.”
Rolling Stone: “[Trump] dismissed the idea that climate change is anything to worry about. ‘The oceans are going to rise 1/100 th of an inch in the next 300 years and it’s going to kill everybody,’ he said sarcastically. ‘It’s going create more oceanfront property, that’s what it’s going to do.’”
Forbes: “Donald Trump told host Stuart Varney that climate change is ‘a hoax.’ The former president said ‘in my opinion, you have a thing called weather, and you go up, and you go down,’ he said. ‘If you look into the 1920s, they were talking about a global freezing, okay? In other words, the globe was going to freeze.’”
Washington Post: “Trump reiterated some of his frequently repeated falsehoods and petty grievances. ‘The global warming hoax, it just never ends,’ he said. He mocked the concept of sea levels rising, disputing widely held science. ‘To which I say, great, we have more waterfront property,’ he said. ‘There was a big thing about global cooling — what will be next?’ he said. Trump said he was more concerned about ‘nuclear warming’ than global warming.”
Trump repeatedly contradicted his own administration’s findings about the threat of climate change, and even fired the scientist responsible for assessing climate change.
Axios: “Trump says he doesn’t believe his administration’s climate report”
New York Times: “Trump Administration’s Strategy On Climate: Try To Bury Its Own Scientific Report”
New York Times: “Trump Administration Removes Scientist in Charge of Assessing Climate Change”
“The White House has removed the scientist responsible for the National Climate Assessment, the federal government’s premier contribution to climate knowledge and the foundation for regulations to combat global warming, in what critics interpreted as the latest sign that the Trump administration intends to use its remaining months in office to continue impeding climate science and policy.”
Associated Press: “Government climate report contradicts Trump, warns of worsening US disasters”
While President Biden spearheaded the Inflation Reduction Act, Trump is pushing to repeal the signature legislation that is tackling the climate crisis.
Financial Times: “Donald Trump would gut Joe Biden’s landmark IRA climate law if elected”
“Donald Trump is planning to gut US President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law, increase investment in fossil fuels and roll back regulations aimed at accelerating the transition to electric vehicles if he is elected next year. … The Inflation Reduction Act — the centrepiece of Biden’s economic strategy, with $369bn in tax breaks and subsidies for clean energy — would be in Trump’s crosshairs.”
CNBC: “The [Inflation Reduction Act], which President Joe Biden signed into law in August, is the most aggressive climate investment ever taken by Congress and is expected to slash the country’s planet-warming carbon emissions by about 40% this decade and move the country toward a net-zero economy by 2050.”
Bloomberg: “Between last August, when President Joe Biden’s landmark climate bill became law, and the end of January, companies have announced more than 100,000 clean energy jobs in the US, according to an analysis released Monday by the nonprofit advocacy group Climate Power.”
Trump is also vowing to once again pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, which President Biden rejoined after Trump damaged international trust in the U.S. and abdicated America’s role as a global leader in addressing climate change.
Trump: “We will again get out of Paris. … So, get those proposals ready now, because we are going to put thousands of Americans to work building the power plants, pipelines, grids, ports, refineries, and shipping terminals of tomorrow.”
NPR: “In one of his first acts in the Oval Office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to have the United States rejoin the Paris climate agreement, the largest international effort to curb global warming. … Biden’s move to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement signals to the world that the U.S. is serious about addressing climate change again, and that it will have a seat at the table when world leaders meet in Glasgow to make new climate pledges later this year.”
Politico: “The U.S. under former President Donald Trump backslid in terms of international climate leadership, essentially standing still on carbon emissions when the world drastically needed to ramp up its climate-fighting efforts.”
Reuters: “With Trump’s action, the United States will walk away from nearly every other nation in the world on one of the pressing global issues of the 21st century.”
Vox: “Trump pulling out of the Paris climate agreement is great news … for China”
Forbes: “U.S. Withdraws From Paris Accord, Ceding Leadership To China.”
Trump is spreading climate change denialism to help his wealthy Big Oil and Gas friends.
Washington Post: “Trump rails against wind energy in fundraising pitch to oil executives”
“Former president Donald Trump repeatedly ranted about wind power during a fundraising dinner with oil and gas industry executives last week, claiming that the renewable-energy source is unreliable, unattractive and bad for the environment.
“‘I hate wind,’ Trump told the executives over a meal of chopped steak at his Mar-a-Lago Club and resort in Florida.
“Trump’s comments reveal how he is wooing potential donors with his long-standing hostility to wind farms and pledges to halt this form of renewable energy if he returns to office. His stance poses a potential threat to one of the linchpins of America’s clean-energy transition, according to more than a dozen Trump allies, energy experts and offshore wind industry officials.”
Bloomberg: “Donald Trump is the oil and gas industry’s undisputed top pick for the Republican presidential nomination as energy sector donors shower his candidacy with nearly 10 times the amount of money as they gave his challenger Nikki Haley.”
In Syracuse today, President Biden will speak on his economic agenda that has created nearly a million new jobs in New York and invested $62 billion in the state, while Trump’s MAGA minions – many of whom voted against the legislation that made those jobs possible – try to take credit.
Even though MAGA Republican Representative Brandon Williams, whose district includes Syracuse, disparaged the CHIPS and Science Act, that hasn’t stopped him from trying to take credit for the influx of jobs and investments into his district. While MAGA Republicans run their mouths, President Biden and the Democrats are making investments to make New Yorkers’ lives better.
DNC spokesperson Addy Toevs released the following statement:
“Trump and his MAGA Republican allies consistently work against the needs of their constituents, putting their billionaire buddies on Park Avenue above the people they’re elected to serve. In stark contrast, President Biden delivers for working families in cities like Syracuse. President Biden has helped to create 15 million jobs here at home in less than four years, and he isn’t done yet. For working families in New York and across the nation, the choice is clear: President Biden is fighting for your jobs and your wages – Trump is cavorting in Mar-a-Lago with billionaires who wouldn’t hesitate to ship your jobs overseas.”
While Joe Biden and Democrats champion policies that create American jobs, Donald Trump created incentives for giant corporations to ship jobs overseas, leaving American workers behind.
Bloomberg: “The Offshoring of U.S. Jobs Increased on Trump’s Watch”
Reuters: “How offshoring rolled along under Trump, who vowed to stop it”
“Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency four years ago, in part, by a promise to Midwest factory workers that he would stop companies like Schneider Electric SE from moving jobs out of the country. He didn’t stop them.”
The Guardian: “‘He pulled the wool over our eyes’: workers blame Trump for moving jobs overseas”
“Promises to save US manufacturing and prevent American jobs moving abroad were a key part of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. But since Trump took office in January 2017, nearly 200,000 jobs have been moved overseas, based on Trade Adjustment Assistance certified petitions.”
Washington Post: “Trump promised ‘America First’ would keep jobs here. But the tax plan might push them overseas.”
ITEP: “The Trump-GOP tax law enacted in December 2017 creates clear incentives for American-based corporations to move operations and jobs abroad, including a zero percent tax rate on many profits generated offshore.”
New York Republican Brandon Williams derided one of President Biden’s signature jobs bills, the CHIPS and Science Act, then took credit for the jobs it created.
E&E News: “The New York Republican, now in his first term in Congress, on the campaign trail in 2022 slammed the legislation as a ‘corporate welfare package for the profitable chip industry.’ Since that time, he has praised semiconductor manufacturing company Micron’s multibillion-dollar investment for a computer chip factory in his district.”
In response to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp following Donald Trump’s playbook and doubling down on his refusal to expand Medicaid, DNC spokesperson Jackie Bush released the following statement:
“Extreme Republican Brian Kemp put his hypocrisy on full display as he took credit for health care gains in Georgia thanks to President Biden’s work building upon the Affordable Care Act – while attacking Medicaid expansion. Kemp and MAGA governors across the country are taking a page out of Donald Trump’s playbook as they double down on blocking Medicaid expansion. Kemp is all too happy to take credit for President Biden and Democrats’ health care successes while following his craven leader Donald Trump as Trump threatens to slash funding for Medicare, proposes repealing the Affordable Care Act, and bends over backwards to appease Big Pharma. Come November, Georgians won’t forget Trump and Kemp’s devastating attacks on their health care.”
NEW: Brian Kemp doubles down on rejecting Medicaid expansion and depriving hundreds of thousands of Georgians of health care coverage.
“Gov. Brian Kemp said he opposes an effort to expand Medicaid next year, even as a growing number of Republicans say they’re open to a debate on allowing Georgia to join the 40 other states that have boosted their programs for low-income residents.
“For the first time, Kemp unveiled a set of statistics he said showed that his programs have increased health care coverage to about 713,000 additional Georgians, including the 3,800 or so on his Pathways plan. However, he appears to be referring to huge increases in signups for Affordable Care Act private plans driven mostly by federal subsidies under Biden. The subsidies made the plans nearly free to low-income people.”
KFF: “In Georgia, 359,000 uninsured nonelderly adults would become eligible for Medicaid.”
Medicaid expansion could benefit up to 2.9 million Americans if Donald Trump and extreme MAGA governors would stop standing in the way of their constituents accessing health care.
KFF: “If all states adopted the Medicaid expansion, approximately 2.9 million uninsured adults would become newly eligible for Medicaid.”
Trump’s cruel crusade to attack Medicaid access mercilessly ripped away health care coverage from adults and children.
ProPublica: “The Trump Administration Cracked Down on Medicaid. Kids Lost Insurance.”
Los Angeles Times: “Rebuffed by the courts in its previous efforts to gut Medicaid, the Trump administration teed up a new, far-reaching attack on the program that could affect the health of millions of low-income Americans.”
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “President Trump has made clear that his goal remains to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including its expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults, and to impose rigid caps on the federal government’s Medicaid spending.”
CBS News: “Trump administration to withhold Medicaid funding from California over abortion insurance requirement”
Over the weekend, Kansas Democratic Party Chair Jeanna Repass discussed her harrowing experience seeking critical health care and highlighted the disproportionate dangers Black women face as Donald Trump runs on plans that would worsen the Black maternal health crisis and rip away women’s reproductive freedoms while state Republicans refuse to expand Medicaid.
Key Point: “Donald Trump has normalized extremism and has set the precedent that our freedoms aren’t guaranteed. When he was in office, he sabotaged Medicaid expansion across the country, proposed cuts to Medicaid and has promised that he’ll ‘totally kill’ the Affordable Care Act if elected to a second term — which would rip insurance coverage from more than 3 million Black Americans. And let’s not forget: Trump appointed the three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, creating a reproductive health crisis. In fact, 68% of OB-GYNs say the fall of Roe has worsened their ability to manage pregnancy-related emergencies. Black women are losing their lives at a disproportionate rate because of it.”
The Kansas City Star: Op-Ed: GOP war on women’s rights hits Black moms especially hard. Kansas, we can do better
[Jeanna Repass, 4/21/24]
When I was carrying my youngest son, I had to rush to the emergency room as I experienced critical, preterm bleeding. I was shocked when the doctor dismissed my concerns and told me that a “little spotting” was ”normal.” Luckily, both my son and I were completely healthy when I gave birth — but that wasn’t the case with my daughter, Ariel.
I delivered Ariel six weeks early after multiple hospital stays, and her birth resulted in an undetected tear in my uterus. At the time, I was once again told that the pain I was feeling was “normal.” However, I later received a blood transfusion, one that was made possible only because my mother was with me at the hospital and had to witness the harrowing scene of me seizing up and starting to bleed out on my bed. As if almost dying in the hospital wasn’t enough, hospital staff left a scar on Ariel’s left foot after taking a sample of her blood. When I asked a nurse about the scar, she responded with a statement I couldn’t make up myself: “Black babies have thicker skin on their heels.”
Unfortunately, I’m not alone in my experience. Black women are often dismissed, just like I was, when they have concerns about their health. The effects of that kind of disregard can be deadly, and it’s no surprise that Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. Even with these fatal outcomes, however, extreme Republicans from Kansas to Washington, D.C., are hell-bent on worsening this health care crisis.
Kansas is one of 10 states that have yet to expand Medicaid under the historic Affordable Care Act, even though the majority of Kansans support expansion. Mere weeks ago, Republicans in the Legislature — yet again — refused to move a bill that would finally expand Medicaid out of committee. Their refusal disproportionately affects Black women, and especially Black mothers, who saw the highest increase in the maternal mortality rate across all demographic groups in 2021.
Donald Trump has normalized extremism and has set the precedent that our freedoms aren’t guaranteed. When he was in office, he sabotaged Medicaid expansion across the country, proposed cuts to Medicaid and has promised that he’ll “totally kill” the Affordable Care Act if elected to a second term — which would rip insurance coverage from more than 3 million Black Americans. And let’s not forget: Trump appointed the three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, creating a reproductive health crisis. In fact, 68% of OB-GYNs say the fall of Roe has worsened their ability to manage pregnancy-related emergencies. Black women are losing their lives at a disproportionate rate because of it.
Kansans enshrined abortion rights into our state constitution in 2022, but the threat to reproductive freedom in the Sunflower State is still present. Our legislative Republicans continue to introduce new anti-abortion rights measures that would invade women’s privacy and discourage them from seeking the care they deserve. Furthermore, we must remember that depending on the outcome of November’s election, a federal ban on abortion will be on the table that would overrule the will of Kansas voters. Black women, who are already suffering because of Republicans’ cruelty, would experience even worse health outcomes and die at an even higher rate than they do now.
Luckily, our current leaders in the White House are delivering for Black women everywhere. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have allowed states to expand Medicaid postpartum coverage and have strengthened the Affordable Care Act’s protections. They launched the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, where new and expecting moms can connect with professional counselors, and are working to diversify the maternal health workforce so Black women’s concerns are no longer pushed to the side. Every single day, the Biden-Harris administration is fulfilling its promise to reduce the disparities in Black maternal health care.
Ariel is now a medical student about to embark on her clinical rotations. As a student, she’s done hours of research on maternal outcomes for Black women. That research, paired with the story about her birth, has scared her so much that she’s afraid to ever get pregnant or give birth. I know that so many Black women across America have that same fear, and that’s why we must elect leaders who care about changing the future of Black maternal health for the better. In November, I implore Kansans to reelect President Biden, Vice President Harris and Democrats down the ticket. The lives of Black women in Kansas and across the nation depend on it.
Today, in response to new reporting from the Washington Post highlighting how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he would support a 15-week abortion ban, repeated racially inflammatory anti-abortion talking points, and minimized abortion rights as a “culture war issue,” DNC communications adviser Lis Smith said the following:
“Like Donald Trump, RFK Jr. can’t be trusted to stand up for reproductive freedom. He’s said he would sign a national abortion ban and has repeatedly dismissed the importance of abortion rights on the campaign trail. With reproductive freedom under attack, we need leaders who will stand strong for women. It’s clear that neither RFK Jr. nor Trump will.”
ICYMI: The Washington Post: RFK Jr. rarely mentions abortion — and sends mixed signals when he does
By: Meryl Kornfield
At the Iowa State Fair in August 2023, Kennedy said he would support a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks of gestation, then said he would not “personally” restrict abortion but added, “I think the states have a right to protect a child once the child becomes viable, and that right, it increases.”
Even Kennedy has acknowledged he doesn’t know what he would do on abortion once in the White House. When a Post reporter asked him in February how he would protect abortion access and reproductive rights if he were elected president, he replied: “I don’t know, you tell me. What should I be doing?”
Kennedy has said he believes the decision to seek an abortion should be left to women and their doctors. But he has held just one campaign event focused on abortion, an October visit to an Atlanta facility founded by Angela Stanton King — an anti-abortion and criminal justice reform activist and former Trump supporter whom the ex-president pardoned for her role in a car theft ring.
In the months that followed Kennedy’s appearance at Stanton King’s facility, which aims to convince women to carry their pregnancies to term, he has repeated her false and inflammatory claims that abortion providers systematically target Black women.
In a virtual discussion with Stanton King in February, Kennedy repeated that disinformation that Black women receive a vast majority of abortions and most abortion clinics are in Black communities.
Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, funded research into the longevity of women’s reproductive health and criticized in-vitro fertilization as “one of the biggest lies that’s being told about women’s health today.” In a lengthy post on X on April 9, after Arizona’s state Supreme Court decision, Shanahan wrote she “can hold both beliefs,” suggesting bans are “coercive” and “wrong” but that women should carry pregnancies to term unless the mother or baby’s health is at risk.
Kennedy’s campaign has also used his abortion position to appeal to conservative voters. Rita Palma, who worked for Kennedy gathering ballot access signatures in New York, told voters in this month that the candidate’s position was comparable to Trump’s.
Following Kristi Noem making clear she believes rape and incest survivors should be forced to give birth while defending South Dakota’s extreme abortion ban, DNC spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement:
“Anti-choice extremist Kristi Noem once said a 10-year-old rape survivor should be forced to give birth, so it’s no surprise that today she doubled down on her cruel stance of zero exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. Just like Donald Trump, Noem has spent years working to rip away reproductive freedoms — including threatening doctors and pharmacists with jail time for assisting in medication abortion. Noem, Trump, and the rest of their MAGA allies will stop at nothing to bring their dangerous extremism nationwide, and the American people will remember the GOP’s all-out assault on women’s basic rights when they cast their vote this November.”
WATCH: Kristi Noem believes rape and incest survivors should be forced to give birth.
Dana Bash: “Do you think there should be exceptions for rape and incest, for example?”
Noem: “… I just don’t believe a tragedy should perpetuate another tragedy.”
Noem previously said a 10-year-old rape victim should be forced to carry out her pregnancy under her state’s all-out abortion ban, does not support exceptions for rape or incest, and has threatened to throw pharmacists in jail for providing medication abortions.
CNN: “South Dakota governor defends state’s abortion ‘trigger’ ban when asked if 10-year-old should be forced to give birth”
Argus Leader: “Pro-life advocates and Gov. Kristi Noem are lauding the South Dakota Legislature for further bolstering the state’s already strict anti-abortion laws this legislative session, steps necessary for states to take if abortion will ever be completely illegal in the United States, they say. … Noem told the Argus Leader this week that she is an absolutist on the topic, not even compromising in the event of rape or incest.”
Associated Press: “The Republican governor and South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley released a letter to South Dakota pharmacists saying they are ‘subject to felony prosecution’ if they procure or dispense abortion-inducing drugs.”
Noem is in lockstep with Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda…
Noem: “I love that man because he did everything he said he was going to do.”
The Hill: “Noem says she would be Trump’s running mate ‘in a heartbeat’”
CNN: “‘Of course, I would consider it,’ Noem told Fox News host Sean Hannity recently when asked if she would be Trump’s vice president.”
…as Trump brags about ‘proudly’ overturning Roe v. Wade and paving the way for abortion bans across the country at every opportunity.
Trump: “I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of … Roe v. Wade.”
Trump: “We broke Roe v. Wade and we did something that nobody thought was possible. We gave it back to the states, and the states are working very brilliantly… But they’re working, and it’s working the way it’s supposed to.”
Trump: “For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it. … Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it, and we did something that was a miracle.”
Trump: “After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone … Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Claims Credit for All Abortion Bans”
Business Insider: “Trump boasts he’s ‘proud’ about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, the issue that has become ballot-box poison for Republicans”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Says He’s ‘Proud’ to Have ‘Terminated’ Abortion Rights”
Trump campaign radio ad: “And Trump nominated conservative judges, leading to Roe v. Wade being overturned.”
FWIW: “This week, we found more evidence that the Trump campaign has no interest in ‘moderating’ on the issue of abortion. On Monday, his team began running new Facebook video ads targeting voters in Iowa, referring to Trump as ‘THE MOST Pro-Life President in history.’”
Trump: “I’m the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade, and everybody said that was an impossible thing to do. I put on three Supreme Court justices. Very few people have had that privilege or honor.”
Trump: “Getting rid of Roe v. Wade was an incredible thing for pro-life because it gave pro-life something to negotiate with. Pro-life had absolutely nothing, being stuck in Roe v. Wade, to negotiate with. … And look, everybody that was president wanted to get rid and tried to get rid of Roe v. Wade … For fifty years, this has been going on. I was able to do it, and I was very honored to do it.”
Reminder: Women are suffering under cruel abortion bans across the country thanks to Trump:
Alabama: “Abortions became almost entirely illegal in Alabama on June 24. A 2019 state abortion ban took effect making it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.”
Arizona: “Arizona court upholds state’s 1864 total abortion ban”
Arkansas: “Arkansas bans nearly all abortions after Roe v. Wade overturned”
Florida: “Florida’s new restrictions will chip away at the little abortion access left in the South”
Georgia: “Georgia abortion ban remains in effect after state Supreme Court ruling”
Kentucky: “Abortion is banned in almost all circumstances.”
Louisiana: “Louisiana abortion ban preserved after lawmakers kill bill to call public vote”
Missouri: “Republicans block attempt to add rape, incest exemptions to Missouri’s abortion ban”
North Carolina: “North Carolina’s abortion law may make traveling to end a pregnancy impossible for some in the South”
North Dakota: “North Dakota court keeps strict abortion ban in place even in cases of medical emergencies”
Oklahoma: “Abortion is banned in almost all circumstances.”
South Carolina: “South Carolina’s new all-male highest court reverses course on abortion, upholding strict 6-week ban”
South Dakota: “Abortions now illegal in South Dakota following Supreme Court’s ruling”
Tennessee: “Amid uncertainty and anger, Tennessee’s abortion ban takes effect”
Texas: “Texas passes law banning abortion after six weeks”
Wisconsin: “Wisconsin Republicans approve bill banning abortions after 14 weeks of pregnancy”
North Dakota: “North Dakota governor signs law banning nearly all abortions”
As Donald Trump campaigns with Mark Robinson in North Carolina today,DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“How do you win the praise of Donald Trump? In Mark Robinson’s case, it’s by pushing a cruel total abortion ban with no exceptions, mocking school shooting survivors while railing against public education, and threatening violence alongside bigoted, fringe conspiracy theories. Trump and Robinson are pushing the same extreme and unpopular platform of ripping away women’s freedoms, attacking our democracy, and spewing hate-filled, baseless lies. Every time they open their mouths, Trump and Robinson are making it clear that Republicans in North Carolina are running on a dangerous, divisive, and out-of-touch agenda that will make both candidates losers in November.”
Donald Trump is once again campaigning with anti-abortion extremist Mark Robinson, who has said a pregnant woman’s body isn’t hers anymore, railed against exceptions for rape or incest, and thrown his support behind banning abortion before many women even know they’re pregnant.
Fox 8: “[Robinson said] that if he had the authority, abortion would be completely illegal in the state. … ‘If I had all the power right now, say I was the governor and had a willing legislature, we could pass a bill right now that says you can’t get an abortion in North Carolina for any reason. … I’d love to pass a law. I’d love to see a heartbeat bill proposed in our legislature.’”
Cardinal & Pine: “Robinson is on the record calling abortion ‘murder,’ and has asserted that once a woman is pregnant ‘it’s not [her] body anymore.’ When the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, Robinson said in a statement that he was ‘overjoyed’ by the decision and that he had been ‘praying’ for such a thing to happen.”
CBS 17: “Robinson: ‘Next goal’ is to restrict abortion at six weeks in NC”
WRAL: “At one point during Friday’s speech, a precursor to the main address former President Donald Trump would give the convention Saturday, the lieutenant governor explained why he rejects all abortion, including in cases of rape and incest. ‘What about in cases of rape or incest?’ Robinson said, changing his voice to impersonate an abortion rights advocate. ‘It reminds me of the argument about seatbelts,’ Robinson said.”
Robinson has peddled Trump’s baseless lies about the 2020 election.
The News & Observer: “‘Yeah, I said that.’ Mark Robinson embraced Trump’s false claims on 2020 election”
“[Trump] continues to push false claims about the election, and an audio recording obtained by The News & Observer shows Robinson has embraced those claims. Robinson, who has endorsed Trump, said in a speech at a church in 2021 that Biden ‘stole the election,’ the recording shows.”
Robinson is running on an extreme MAGA education agenda: He has attacked North Carolina’s public schools and teachers and is calling to strip science and social studies classes from elementary schools.
WUNC: “’Beat them in a circle’: Robinson touts corporal punishment but won’t say if it belongs in schools”
Robinson: “The way to do this is to demand proficiency in reading, writing, and math in grades one through five. In those grades, we don’t need to be teaching social studies. We don’t need to be teaching science. We surely don’t need to be talking about equity and social justice. I’ll say it again: we need to be teaching kids how to read, how to write, and how to do mathematics. If I were totally in charge of education, that’s the course I would set in North Carolina.”
“Robinson has called public school teachers “wicked people” and “so-called people” who are “wrong headed” and urged parents not to send their children to North Carolina’s public schools.”
Robinson continues to put the gun lobby over the safety of our children and even publicly berated mass shooting survivors.
CNN: “[Robinson] mocked school shooting survivors and once justified shooting protesters”
“[Robinson] has a long history of remarks viciously mocking and attacking teenage survivors of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for their advocacy for gun control measures. In posts after the shooting, Robinson called the students ‘spoiled, angry, know it all CHILDREN,’ ‘spoiled little bastards,’ and ‘media prosti-tots.’ Robinson, whose political rise as a conservative Internet personality started when a clip of him speaking at a city council meeting in April 2018 went viral, as he was speaking against a proposal to cancel a local gun show after the Parkland shooting. He also began attacking the Parkland survivors after they launched the ‘March for Our Lives’ movement that called for new gun control measures, comparing the students to communists.”
The News & Observer: “North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson delivered a fiery defense of gun ownership at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston, vowing to continue fighting against supporters of stricter gun laws who he said want to disarm all Americans. … The NRA’s decision to move ahead with the three-day annual gathering as planned has come under intense scrutiny this week after a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday left 19 children and two teachers dead.”
While Trump continues his pursuit of repealing the Affordable Care Act, Robinson has railed against giving hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians access to health care by expanding Medicaid.
The News & Observer: “Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the presumed frontrunner for the GOP nomination for governor in 2024, has said he doesn’t think the state should expand Medicaid. In September 2022, Robinson told Business NC that he wasn’t in favor of expansion and hoped the effort to expand Medicaid failed, because he didn’t want health care in the state ‘to be turned over to the federal government.’”
Like Trump, Robinson also has a long and shameful history of spewing hate and conspiracy theories.
Charlotte Observer: “Robinson said he owns AR-15s, a type of semiautomatic assault rifle, so he can fight back ‘in case the government gets too big for its britches.’”
Robinson: “When the chips are down, when the FBI is knocking on my door, will I cower, will I comply, or will I stand up and fight? Folks, it’s time to stand up and fight.”
HuffPost: “Mark Robinson’s Bizarre Ramble: ‘I Absolutely Want To Go Back To The America Where Women Couldn’t Vote’”
Daily Beast: “God Doesn’t Want Women to Lead, Says N.C. Lieutenant Governor”
HuffPost: “The Unbelievably Bonkers Conspiracy Theorist Running For Governor Of North Carolina”
“North Carolina GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson has said it himself: He’s a conspiracy theorist.”
“Robinson, who is the state’s lieutenant governor, has said he ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ if the 1969 moon landing was fake and the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an ‘inside job.’ He’s ‘SERIOUSLY skeptical’ of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. He falsely accused David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, of being a paid actor. He’s claimed that climate change is based on ‘junk science.’”
WRAL: “Robinson said this Sunday during a church service outside Charlotte that God created him specifically to fight against the push for LGBTQ rights and visibility, which he says is turning America into a ‘hellhole.’ ‘I was not crafted to be Mr. Nicey-Nice,’ Robinson said. ‘… God formed me because he knew there was going to be a time when God’s learning was going to be intolerable to the wicked. When children were going to be dragged down to go see the drag show. When pornography was going to be presented to our children in schools.’ Later on, he also slammed Christian churches that are accepting toward gay and lesbian people. ‘Makes me sick every time I see it — a church that flies that Rainbow flag, which is a direct spit in the face of God almighty,’ he said.”
Talking Points Memo: “In particular, the Black community has been a major target for Robinson. In various posts over the years he referred to Black people as ‘muddle headed negroes,’ ‘apes,’ and ‘a monkey.’ ‘February is Black History Month. I guess the shortest month of the year is all we need to learn about the separate but equal history of a people who have achieved so little,’ Robinson wrote in 2014.”
Jewish Insider: “Last fall, Raleigh’s News & Observer unearthed an interview in which Robinson spoke with a fringe pastor, Sean Moon, who claimed that the modern incarnation of the four horsemen of the apocalypse includes China, the CIA, Islam and the Rothschild family of ‘international bankers that rule every single national or federal reserve-type style of central bank in every single country.’ Rather than objecting to the blatantly antisemitic conspiracy theory, Robinson grunted along in agreement. ‘That’s exactly right,’ he said.”
HuffPost: “Top GOP Candidate For N.C. Governor Has A History Of Demeaning Successful Women.”
Like so many GOP state parties throughout the country, the North Carolina Republican Party’s descent into chaos and fringe extremism offers yet another example of how Republicans continue following Donald Trump down the rabbit hole of pushing dangerous conspiracy theories and supporting unpopular plans that would be disastrous for this country. Whether they’re fighting amongst themselves, bleeding cash, or spewing violent, extremist rhetoric, North Carolina voters are seeing how unfit Trump and the NC GOP are to lead.
Here’s a look at the MAGA mess in North Carolina:
Like Trump, Republicans in North Carolina are struggling financially and have no presence on the ground as their intraparty turmoil continues to alienate North Carolinians.
Newsweek: “North Carolina GOP Owes $72k in Debt After Burning Through Cash”
WUNC: “So far this election cycle, the state Democratic party has raised $5.26 million for its state and federal campaign accounts. The state Republican Party, meanwhile, has raised over $3.34 million across its accounts.”
WUNC: “Many of the party’s past donors have decided to spend their money elsewhere. ‘I know way too many donors that are on the sidelines right now that are not giving to the Republican Party, because they don’t trust its leadership,’ [Lee County Republican Party Chair Jim] Womack said.”
NOTUS: “Republicans Can’t Afford to Help Trump Out With His Huge Bond”
“Don’t expect the Republican Party to step in just yet to help former President Donald Trump out with his financial woes: They’ve got too many problems of their own.
“The Arizona, Minnesota, Colorado, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Florida state parties have all reportedly been struggling financially.”
Axios: “Biden campaign opening 10 field offices in North Carolina”
“It also comes as the Republican National Committee struggles to boost staffing levels in battleground states, Axios reported.
“Less than eight months before the Nov. 5 election, significant parts of the RNC’s get-out-the-vote operation in states likely to decide the election are playing catch-up after Trump’s team ousted 60 staffers in its recent takeover.”
WSOC-TV: “The Biden campaign is going hard in the Tar Heel state, investing millions of dollars, and opening 10 field offices, including one in Uptown, with the goal of flipping the state from red to blue.”
Charlotte Observer: “Harris’ latest visit to Charlotte — her third since June and second in as many weeks to North Carolina — marked the opening of 10 campaign field offices across the state.
“‘Elections matter,’ Harris told the crowd at the Mecklenburg Democrats’ headquarters in uptown. ‘Organizing matters. Showing up matters. Remembering the strength and power of our voice matters.’
“The field offices, where organizers put together on-the-ground campaign work to connect with voters, are part of a coordinated effort to staff up in North Carolina, and staff up early, according to the campaign.
“The RNC’s statement did not directly address questions from an Observer reporter about the campaign’s plans in North Carolina, such as future events, advertising campaigns or field office openings.”
Trump-backed candidate for governor, Mark Robinson, will stand side by side with Trump during Saturday’s Wilmington rally. Like Trump, Robinson has a documented record of racist, sexist and dangerous rhetoric that is completely out of touch with North Carolinians.
HuffPost: “Mark Robinson’s Bizarre Ramble: ‘I Absolutely Want To Go Back To The America Where Women Couldn’t Vote’”
“On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson won the GOP primary to become his party’s nominee for North Carolina governor, presumably with the help of female voters.
“But just four years ago, Robinsoninvoked a bizarre hypothetical in which he said he’d ‘absolutely’ like to return to the days when the 19th Amendment didn’t exist ― when women didn’t have the right to vote.
“‘I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote,’ Robinson said in a newly resurfaced video of his remarks at a March 2020 event hosted by the Republican Women of Pitt County.
“During this event, Robinson, who was running for lieutenant governor at the time, recalled someone recently asking conservative activist Candace Owens to pick which version of America would make America ‘great again,’ one where ‘Black people were swinging from cheap trees’ or one where women weren’t allowed to vote.
“Robinson said he would definitely return to the days in America when women were denied the right to vote ‘because in those days we had people who fought for real social change, and they were called Republicans.’”
Washington Post: “N.C. GOP nominee compared Planned Parenthood, men with saggy pants to KKK”
“Planned Parenthood. Men with saggy pants. People who tore down Confederate flags and monuments. The Rev. Al Sharpton.
“Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee in one of this year’s most competitive governor’s races, has declared them all comparable to or worse than the Ku Klux Klan in social media posts that have drawn little attention. The posts are part of a long record of comments ranging from provocative to bigoted that are getting more scrutiny as the campaign heats up in North Carolina — and that some Republicans worry will be a liability in a battleground state.
“Robinson’s references to the KKK, a white-supremacist group that has terrorized Black Americans, underscore the risks Republicans have taken in nominating him — a longtime factory worker who posted a wide range of insults on Facebook before he became a viral hit on the right with a speech about gun laws in 2018. He was elected lieutenant governor of North Carolina in 2020 and won the gubernatorial primary by landslide this month with former president Donald Trump’s endorsement. At a rally, Trump praised Robinson as ‘Martin Luther King on steroids.’”
Donald Trump and Mark Robinson are not the only GOP extremists on the ballot in North Carolina. Donald Trump has emboldened some of the most extreme and bizarre MAGA candidates in the country, like Michele Morrow.
CNN: “GOP nominee to run North Carolina public schools called for violence against Democrats, including executing Obama and Biden”
“In other comments on social media between 2019 and 2021 reviewed by CNN’s KFile, Morrow made disturbing suggestions about executing prominent Democrats for treason, including Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chuck Schumer and other prominent people such as Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates.
“‘I prefer a Pay Per View of him in front of the firing squad,’ she wrote in a tweet from May 2020, responding to a user sharing a conspiracy theory who suggested sending Obama to prison at Guantanamo Bay. ‘I do not want to waste another dime on supporting his life. We could make some money back from televising his death.’
“In another post in May 2020, she responded to a fake Time Magazine cover that featured art of Obama in an electric chair asking if he should be executed.
“‘Death to ALL traitors!!’ Morrow responded.
“In yet another comment, Morrow suggested in December 2020 killing Biden, who at that time was president-elect, and has said he would ask Americans to wear a mask for 100 days.
“‘Never. We need to follow the Constitution’s advice and KILL all TRAITORS!!! #JusticeforAmerica,’ she wrote.”
