democracynow.org
Stories:
The Odd Couple: While Trump Openly Cheated on Ex-Wife, Pence Called for Criminalizing Adultery
Before he teamed up with Donald Trump, Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence had a history as a conservative talk radio host in which he often slammed officials caught in cheating scandals. We play an excerpt from his show and speak with Politico reporter Darren Samuelsohn, who reported on the show in his recent article, "The Old Cassettes That Explain Mike Pence." We also speak with Jeff Sharlet, associate professor of literary journalism at Dartmouth and author of the book "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re in Cleveland, Ohio, covering the Republican National Convention inside and out, from the streets to the convention floor. I’m Amy Goodman. We are broadcasting two hours a day from the Republican convention and next week, all through the week, from the Democratic convention in Philadelphia.
We’re continuing to talk about Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence. We look back now at his time as a radio show host before he was her elected to Congress. Here’s a sampling of one of Pence’s shows from 1997. Speaking in the wake of the Kelly Flinn scandal, Pence suggested there should be a law against adultery. Flinn was discharged from the U.S. Air Force following an affair with a married man and related military offenses.
MIKE PENCE: The problem here is that adultery is really an antiquated sin, if you will. It’s no longer in vogue in America. And therefore, Kelly Flinn, whether she be in the Air Force or not, ought not to be in any way censured, for all she did was be involved in an adulterous affair. I mean, you get a sense, whether it’s from columns that I’ve read in The New York Times, that called her behavior an offense of the heart, or elsewhere, you get this sense in the mainstream media. And the problem here was a discomfort with adultery. And does that trouble anybody else?
AMY GOODMAN: That recording of Mike Pence was uncovered by our next guest, Darren Samuelsohn, senior policy reporter for Politico. He just published an article headlined "The Old Cassettes That Explain Mike Pence." Still with us, Jeff Sharlet, associate professor of literary journalism at Dartmouth, author of a number of books.
But let’s go back to Darren Samuelsohn. Tell us more about what you learned about Mike Pence, looking at these—listening to these old cassettes.
DARREN SAMUELSOHN: Well, it was a little bit of a flashback to the 1990s. There was no YouTube back then. We couldn’t go and find what Mike Pence said on his radio show, going to the internet or googling. We actually had to go to Indiana. I headed out there right after we got word that Mike Pence was going to be the VP, without any sense that I was going to find anything. But a lot of phone calls, a lot of shoe leather, a lot of pounding on doors ultimately uncovered a VHS tape. We had to go and watch it on an old VCR—that was not easy to do, to find—then turn that into a DVD, which you now see and just showed there on television. So that was a little bit of a transition of technology. Also uncovered an audio cassette tape from a show one year earlier, from 1996, the day after the Iowa caucus.
So, you get a little bit of a sense of what Mike Pence was like as a talk show host. And this was what he did throughout the 1990s. He had, as we talked about before, a couple of failed congressional runs in 1988 and 1990, running against Congressman Phil Sharp, a pretty popular Indiana Democrat. Those campaigns got very nasty. Mike Pence, during and after the 1988 race, actually started his radio career in a very, very small station just outside of Indianapolis in Rushville. It was a very local show called The Washington Update with Mike Pence and Sharon Disinger, who was a local Republican. They talked once a week about what was going on in Washington. Mike Pence ran again for Congress in 1990. That was the race where he lost and then apologized afterwards for being pretty negative. Mike Pence then spent about two, three years heading something called the Indiana Policy Review, which is a think tank, a conservative think tank, where he published a lot of articles.
And it was right around then, in 1993, when he started back up on The Mike Pence Show and became kind of a local celebrity, not a big celebrity that many people knew about outside of Indiana, but he was trying to sort of—in the voice of Rush Limbaugh sometimes, you know, in the Howard Stern era, when those guys were becoming very big, Mike Pence was doing that in Indiana. And he had a mix of state politicians. He had Evan Bayh and Dan Quayle and Frank O’Bannon on his show. A lot of Democrats saw it as a really good opportunity to talk to conservative listeners in Indiana. He had a lot of Republicans. And then he also talked basketball, he talked Hoosier basketball, he talked the Indianapolis 500. He talked about the state fair. He was a big fan of that. And so, you know, we found two clips that actually let us go back and see what Mike Pence was talking about. And you could definitely hear sort of that—a little bit of that Rush Limbaugh voice coming through, and definitely a cynicism for politics and government in Washington, and Republicans and Democrats alike. And I think that’s what you get out of these clips.
AMY GOODMAN: Jeff Sharlet, as you listen to Darren Samuelsohn, do you learn anything about the man you have been looking at, through these early tapes?
JEFF SHARLET: Oh, I think this reporting is invaluable. And hearing that voice back from that time, you’re getting this sort of unvarnished sense of the man right before he—you know, he gets savvier as time goes on, as he spends time in Washington. And, you know, talking about making adultery a crime, I suppose he is ready to prosecute his running mate. But that is in line, that, on the one hand, we hear that as incredibly extreme; on the other hand, it’s worth sort of understanding that as within the mainstream of a right-wing evangelical movement, that those are the ideas that are animating that base. He’s learned to sort of smooth down the rhetoric in the same way that his language about abortion and about LGBT rights has moved over the years. The ideas haven’t moved. You know, I would love to ask Mike Pence what his ideal response to adultery is today, and if it’s not still this idea of recognizing this as a grave public moral danger in the way that Pence and his circle see morality as the most serious public issue.
AMY GOODMAN: And I’d like to ask both of you, starting with Jeff Sharlet, what about his teaming up now with Donald Trump?
JEFF SHARLET: That is not surprising to me at all. And I think—I think there’s been a big misunderstanding about what Trump is and how evangelical—conservative evangelicals view politicians for a long time. There’s always this idea: "How can they tolerate this guy? He’s a hypocrite." To which there’s a ready response, was—"And I’m a sinner." That’s in the vernacular. But there’s also, especially in those elite evangelical circles, where you see guys like Christian right leader David Barton saying, "Trump wasn’t my first choice or my second choice, but I now realize that it seems that God has chosen him for this"—they don’t see him as a godly man; they see him, as David Barton, Christian right leader, says, as God’s man, as the tool that God is using. And there’s a long, long history of that. They love going through history and finding examples of leaders who were not exactly moral exemplars, who were used. And it’s a theological moment. It goes back—you hear evangelicals citing King David. Secular viewers forget that King David wasn’t always such a nice guy in the Bible, but he was God’s chosen man. So there’s a coalescing idea that somehow, obviously, God is doing something with Trump. It’s hard to quite understand what it is, but let’s, you know, let go and let God and get yourself on the ticket, so that you can be there to influence him in the right direction.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Darren Samuelsohn, this teaming up?
DARREN SAMUELSOHN: Yeah, one thing I was really amazed by as I was watching the 1997 episode, Mike Pence was kind of doing the Donald Trump shtick before Donald Trump. I mean, Donald Trump at this point in time was going on Letterman and really more of a celebrity. But back then, Mike Pence was sounding the sort of anti—or the populist anti-Washington flavor.
The other thing was, he was attacking the media for some of the very things that we’ve seen Donald Trump do as he’s run for president. The one thing that really jumped out at me, there’s this clip where Mike Pence is railing against The Indianapolis Star, the local newspaper, for its coverage of the Indianapolis 500 that was coming up that Memorial Day weekend. And one of the things that Mike Pence really harped on was the number of people that The Indianapolis Star said were going—were at the preliminary race events, the Carburetion Day, which is sort of the last race, practice race, before the event. I think The Indianapolis Star reported there were 15,000 people there. And Mike Pence incredulously was like, "Where did they get that number? How on Earth did they get that?" He had been there as a reporter with his own press pass, and he had said that he had seen several tens thousands more people. He was upset about a picture in the newspaper that day that showed an empty sausage and peppers steak stand. And Mike Pence was like, "I was there, and I saw a much larger line." It’s the same kind of thing you heard early on in the Trump campaign, when he was railing against reporters for inaccurately reporting the size of the crowd. Only Mike Pence was doing this 20 years ago. And you hear it over and over as he kind of criticizes reporters and criticizes the mainstream media, something you heard Rush Limbaugh do a lot, obviously, in the 1990s, too.
But Mike Pence was doing this, you know, with a press pass around his neck on an Indiana radio station that was broadcast in a lot of very small towns. It really helped him, as I said in my story, you know, build the base and maintain that network of donors. People who supported his campaigns, I say, back in 1988 and 1990 were his biggest radio sponsors when he was on the air. These are local businessmen from Indiana. One, who is now actually the chairman of the Indiana Republican Party and is a close Pence ally, maintained support for him as he ran for Congress in 2000. So he really built a network. He was out there on the streets talking with his sponsors, meeting with affiliates. He was hosting, you know, salons with big names in Indiana. So he was really always courting a network for that run for Congress. And again, it just sort of shows that he was always thinking ahead to that political career that now has him on the ticket with Donald Trump. It’s quite amazing.
AMY GOODMAN: Darren Samuelsohn, I want to thank you for being with us, senior policy reporter for Politico. We’ll link to your piece, "The Old Cassettes That Explain Mike Pence." And thank you to Jeff Sharlet, who is associate professor of literary journalism at Dartmouth, author of a number of books, including C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. His most recent book, Radiant Truths. This is Democracy Now! Back in a minute.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: "Jumper" by Third Eye Blind, a song about a gay man who jumps off a bridge to commit suicide. The band performed the song at a benefit concert Tuesday night in Cleveland, and singer Stephan Jenkins drew boos from many who were in the audience, in the town for the RNC, when he introduced the song by talking about the need to bring people like, quote, "my cousins who are gay into the American fabric," quote, and to, quote, "not live your life in fear and imposing that fear on other people." Jenkins also asked the crowd to, quote, "raise your hand if you believe in science." ... Read More →
Make America Straight Again? A Debate on What Could Be the Most Anti-LGBT Republican Platform Ever
As the new Republican platform has been described as "the most anti-LGBT platform in the party’s 162-year history," we get reaction from Charles Moran, board member with the Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBT conservatives and allies. He is a delegate to the Republican National Convention from California. We also speak with Alana Jochum, executive director of Equality Ohio, about how the platform opposes same-sex marriage, appears to endorse so-called conversion therapy and criticizes the Department of Education’s recommendation that schools allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. We are "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency," broadcasting from the Republican and Democratic conventions for this two weeks with expanded two-hour broadcasts. If you miss any of them, you can go to democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
The new Republican platform has been described as the most anti-LGBT platform in the party’s 162-year history. That’s the conclusion of Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay Republicans. The platform opposes same-sex marriage, appears to endorse so-called conversion therapy by stating, quote, "the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or therapy for their minor children," unquote. The platform also criticizes the Department of Education’s recommendation that schools allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.
We’re joined now by two guests. Charles Moran is a board member with Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBT conservatives and allies. He’s a delegate to the Republican National Convention from California. Alana Jochum is also with us. She’s not a delegate, but she’s executive director of Equality Ohio.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Charles Moran, let’s begin with you. Talk about your concerns at this convention.
CHARLES MORAN: Well, we really did have an opportunity at this convention, with the nomination of Donald Trump, to actually modernize the Republican Party platform. And it’s something that a number of us have been working on for several months now. But we saw, as the Republican nomination process started to shake out—and Donald Trump began basically admitting that he has no plans on investing any kind of capital into the Republican Party platform, because he simply doesn’t agree to follow it. It’s nonbinding. He’s probably never even read it, and admits to it as much. What I call the platform is the Ted Cruz consolation prize. The platform was—committee was run by a bunch of Ted Cruz supporters, who, again, were looking to create a firewall against what would be Donald Trump reshaping the party in terms of something that’s much more socially moderate, something that’s much more contemporary than Senator Cruz and his followers would tolerate.
AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about how this platform was decided upon. Who influenced it? Where was the Log Cabin Republicans in all of this?
CHARLES MORAN: Well, again, this platform committee, which was made up of over 100 people, there were different groups and organizations that were invited to submit different languages. Groups like Log Cabin Republicans and American Unity Fund worked very closely to submit language. But again, it really is about the makeup of that committee. And we know that the Ted Cruz campaign had actually spent a lot of time and a lot of effort trying to seed all of these committees with their supporters, people who would believe, you know, in their agenda. And that’s—you know, there’s a lot more of them. Ted Cruz’s group of—his cadre of people, led by people like Kendal Unruh, the delegate from Colorado who single-handedly tried to lead a revolt, people like Ken Cuccinelli from Virginia, have been exercising their levers within the Republican Party. So, I mean, the platform committee is just an extension of that, them trying to whip the votes and count the heads and get their people placed on the platform committee to pass what is really a 19th century-style platform.
AMY GOODMAN: What did you make of the booing of Ted Cruz when he refused to endorse Donald Trump last night? Were you one of them.
CHARLES MORAN: Oh, I absolutely was. And one of the—one of the things that makes sense is, the bulk of the people on the floor this time around are all supporters of Donald Trump. That is what we came here for. And, once again, I think that the Ted Cruz supporters are—you know, again, they’re looking for their consolation prize. I think they almost want to see Donald Trump lose, so that Ted Cruz can run in 2020. I came to Cleveland to nominate Donald J. Trump and to ensure that he gets the victory in November. And I don’t know where Senator Cruz or the rest of his supporters are on that. Why did they even come here?
AMY GOODMAN: You came here to endorse Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence?
CHARLES MORAN: And Mike Pence. I think that, you know, clearly, as you described, there are some concerns with his advancement of RFRA, but part of what we—
AMY GOODMAN: The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as it’s called.
CHARLES MORAN: RFRA, yeah. And part of that was, you know, again, him understanding that this country has moved forward, business has moved forward, and him actually having to step back and make amendments to his existing law that would take out some of that discriminatory language. I think that there’s going to be a very quick correction for Mike Pence, realizing that now he’s not just the governor of his one state or representing his one belief system. He has to represent all Americans, and that includes so many Americans who have really progressed quickly on the LGBT equality issue.
AMY GOODMAN: Alana Jochum, your thoughts?
ALANA JOCHUM: You know, the hats say "Make America Great Again," but I think the policies we are seeing really say "Make America Straight Again." And this has been really disappointing to see the platform just be very hostile to the LGBTQ community. As you said, it implies that conversion therapy is acceptable. It condemns the Obergefell decision and same-sex marriage.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain that.
ALANA JOCHUM: Sure. This was a major Supreme Court case that we saw last year. Ohio has successfully implemented marriage equality for all couples. It is law. And this tries to reverse that. I think that what we are seeing here with the advisers that Trump has put around him, this platform, and his choice of Mike Pence as his vice president, we are going to halt, or at least not see any advancements, in the LGBTQ equality rights battles.
AMY GOODMAN: Charles Moran says it’s not Donald Trump who’s anti-gay.
ALANA JOCHUM: Well, I think that the policies here are clear, and he will be working with that. He also had a choice as to what vice-presidential candidate he would pick, and Mike Pence is no friend to the LGBTQ community. He has a strong record of anti-LGBTQ equality. He opposed LGBT people in the military. He doesn’t think that even basic nondiscrimination protections are acceptable for LGBTQ people. We know that, federally, there are no protections in housing, employment and in public accommodations. And in the same vein, there are 28 states, Ohio being one of them, that does not have statewide nondiscrimination protections in place. And he also put forward the RFRA, which caused huge economic devastation to Indiana.
AMY GOODMAN: Charles Moran?
ALANA JOCHUM: I’m happy that Donald Trump has said that he has not either read the platform, he has no plans on following the platform, he is not bound by the platform. Every state in this country has their own Republican Party platform, and there are a number of states that have actually removed all of the anti-LGBT language—places like California, Nevada, Washington.
AMY GOODMAN: Every state has their own, but then the Republican Party—
CHARLES MORAN: Correct, and it is nonbinding. And if you talk to any elected official and ask them, "Have you actually read the Republican Party platform?" generally, the answer is going to be no. I don’t know why we have a platform. I don’t know why we continue to go through this drill, when it is nonbinding, and our candidates, which are truly the representation of the party, openly say that they don’t know what the party platform is, and they have no plans on saying it—or, or following it. But I—
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me ask Alana Jochum, what you feel about that? Donald Trump says he hasn’t read it, and he—where did he say he doesn’t plan to follow it, Charles?
CHARLES MORAN: His consistent messaging has been: "I am the candidate. I am not going to bend to the party; the party will come and follow me."
AMY GOODMAN: Alana?
ALANA JOCHUM: Well, we’re a nonpartisan organization, and we’ve been watching this very closely. But it’s clear that there is a strong anti-LGBTQ sentiment emerging here. And the platform does have the strongest language that we’ve seen condemning LGBTQ people and marriage equality, which is essentially established law. I just don’t think that this is a step in the right direction, and I don’t expect that this entire presidential candidacy is going to embrace LGBTQ equality, based on the platform that has been put forth.
CHARLES MORAN: One of the things that I’m heartened by is, tonight, Peter Thiel, who is quite visibly—or, is quite noticeably one of the most visible LGBT, open LGBT business members in our community, a founder of Paypal, one of the initial investors in Facebook, is going to be giving a speech. The Washington Post is reporting that he is going to use the words somewhere along the lines of "I am an openly proud gay man." That is going to be prime-time tonight—for the first time, an openly gay Republican speaker at the Republican National Convention prime-time. I think it shows, if you—even if you look at the speeches, Ted Cruz last night actually recognizing, you know, the gay versus straight, acknowledged it in a positive way. No other speakers brought up any kind of anti-LGBT rhetoric. We have not seen family values mentioned from the stage at all. And then having somebody like Peter Thiel speaking tonight during prime-time, I think, shows that there is definitely a disconnect between the Ted Cruz consolation prize platform versus what America is seeing on the stage, which has been, generally, steering away from the divisive social battles.
AMY GOODMAN: Alana Jochum?
ALANA JOCHUM: I do think that there is a disconnect between where Americans are on LGBTQ equality issues and what the platform is showing. And as a nonpartisan organization, we are always encouraging this dialogue, and that is something that we take heart in. People like Rachel Hoff, who fought really vigorously in the platform committees to try to have inclusive language put forth—
AMY GOODMAN: Explain who she is.
ALANA JOCHUM: Rachel Hoff is—she describes herself as the first openly gay delegate on the Republican platform committee. And she had a beautiful and impassioned speech advocating for inclusive language. And then what we got was very hostile language. But those conversations, that is what is ultimately going to change the dialogue. And we are pleased to be seeing these issues spoken about and LGBT individuals who identify as Republican coming forth.
AMY GOODMAN: Earlier this week, Democracy Now!'s Deena Guzder spoke with New Jersey Republican County Committeewoman Jennifer Williams, who recently wrote a piece for The Washington Post headlined "I'm a Transgender Republican. My Party Has Betrayed Me."
JENNIFER WILLIAMS: My name is Jennifer Williams, and I’m here at the RNC as an honorary delegate. And I’m here as a transgender woman who’s trying to, hopefully, bridge some gaps between the Republican Party and transgender people and LGBT community.
DEENA GUZDER: Do you feel the Republican Party has betrayed you as a transgender delegate?
JENNIFER WILLIAMS: In some ways they have, because what they’ve done in the past year at the state party level is have these bathroom bills, which really are full discrimination bills, because once you discriminate people for using a bathroom, it really hurts them economically of finding jobs to applying for housing, because if you put it out there that a transgender person, particularly if a transgender woman, is dangerous, who’s going to want to hire someone or work with someone who’s transgender, let alone maybe rent an apartment or sell a home to one? So, it’s something the party really needs to look at themselves and realize that they’re really hurting a minority community, a small community. And at the same time, when they put it in a party platform about restroom usage, locker room usage, and even with Title IX, trying to go after kids in schools, you’re really hurting the future of the party.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s New Jersey Republican County Committeemember Jennifer Williams. She wrote this piece in The Washington Post, which is headlined "I’m a Transgender Republican. My Party Has Betrayed Me." Charles Moran?
CHARLES MORAN: Once again, I say that—you know, look at the lines of Donald Trump from just two months ago, saying that Caitlyn Jenner could use whatever bathroom she wanted in any of his properties. There is a disconnect here between the platform committee, the Ted Cruz activists who want to see the platform steered hard to the right, and then the forces of moderation and progress, people like Donald J. Trump, who have a business record of being inclusive. And that speaks directly to Ms. Williams’ concerns about the economic issues.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let’s go to Caitlyn Jenner. On Wednesday, the transgender celebrity athlete met with members of the American Unity Fund as part of her support for the Republican National Convention.
CAITLYN JENNER It was easy to come out as trans. It was harder to come out as a Republican. Now, as far as social issues, because when I came out as being Republican, the community—I get it. The Democratic Party does a better job when it comes to LGBT community, the trans community, all that kind of stuff. And Obama actually has been very good from that standpoint, with just recently letting trans people serve openly in the military. They’re already there. Finally, they can serve openly. I think that’s a very good step for our community, for equal rights.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Caitlyn Jenner. Alana Jochum?
ALANA JOCHUM: You know, that may have been her experience that it was easier to come out as trans than as Republican. I don’t think that many transgender individuals would say that it is easy to come out as transgender. The disparities facing the transgender community are significant—twice the rate of unemployment, 41 percent higher suicide rate. A recent study by the U.S. Trans Survey 2015 says that 59 percent of transgender individuals avoid bathrooms altogether just to avoid conflict and hostile—and any situation they might face there. These are real disparities. This is why federal and state nondiscrimination protections, including gender identity and expression, are so needed.
AMY GOODMAN: Charles Moran?
CHARLES MORAN: I’m heartened the fact that we’re even having this conversation, on the fact that you’ve got somebody like Caitlyn Jenner, who has brought so much visibility to this community. You know, 20 years ago, we weren’t talking about these issues. Ten years ago, we weren’t. I’m proud of Caitlyn Jenner as a proud Republican from California. She has stood up to a lot of criticism within her own community and from within the party and conservative circles. I talked to a lot of people this week who had heard that Caitlyn Jenner was coming, who really asked the question, "How can I get a ticket? I really want to hear what she has to say." I’m hoping at the next Republican convention, in four years from now, somebody like Caitlyn Jenner can actually take the stage and speak authentically to her experience.
AMY GOODMAN: Charles, were you disappointed by Donald Trump’s selection of Governor Pence, given his long-standing criticism of the LGBTQ community and his support for the so-called Religious Restoration Reform—the Religious [Freedom] Restoration Act?
CHARLES MORAN: It’s something that weighs heavily on me, and it’s something that I—that’s my first impression of Governor Pence. But Donald J. Trump needs to, you know, take a lot of things into account, more than just this one issue, in selecting a vice-presidential nominee. I didn’t know about John Kasich being the first call. I think that would have made a lot more—it would have made for a lot more excitement. But at the end of the day, he needed to find somebody who could bring a skill set, and that’s what he needed. He needed somebody with legislative experience, as a legislative leader, and somebody with the executive experience of being a governor. Governor Pence fits that description very well. His temperament is much more low-key. He’s going to be the yin to Donald Trump’s yang. And unfortunately, one of the drawbacks is this anti-LGBT sentiment that he’s harbored for a number of years. But I’m looking forward to us having an opportunity to be able to work with Governor Pence. He is now not going to be just the governor of a state; he’s going to be the vice-presidential nominee. He’s going to have to toe Donald Trump’s line.
AMY GOODMAN: Alana?
ALANA JOCHUM: We’re very disappointed in Governor Pence’s selection. He’s just not a friend at all to the LGBTQ community. One of the things that Equality Ohio has to do is try to serve as a bridge among all ideologies. LGBTQ equality is a human issue that everyone can get behind. I think this is just a reminder of how much education we have to go.
AMY GOODMAN: On a lighter note, though it’s not light for people who have it, the norovirus. Charles, you’re from the California delegation. It’s been a big thing here. Staffers of the California Republican Party, how many of them came down with norovirus?
CHARLES MORAN: Slightly under a dozen. So, it was—
AMY GOODMAN: You OK?
CHARLES MORAN: I’m fine. None of the delegation was impacted, none of the delegates, none of the alternates or our guests. You know, the County Health Department has been super-supportive working with the hotel and then our staff, as well. The situation’s contained. We quarantined a few people for a while. You know, just continuing to add the fuel to the fire, we’re staying in a lovely city called Sandusky, 60 miles west of the convention. That was—
AMY GOODMAN: Sandusky?
ALANA JOCHUM: Lovely city, it is.
CHARLES MORAN: Sandusky, Ohio. So, every day, the California delegation has been taking a 12-bus convoy the 60 miles into the city with a police escort. But I’ve seen a lot of wonderful, beautiful Ohio landscape.
ALANA JOCHUM: Jim Obergefell is actually from Sandusky originally. It’s a nice city for you to be visiting.
CHARLES MORAN: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to leave it there. I want to thank Charles Moran, board member with the Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBT conservatives and allies, delegate to the Republican National Convention from California, and Alana Jochum, who is executive director of Equality Ohio.
This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. We are "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace, and the Presidency." Where are the African-American delegates? The lowest number of black delegates in a century. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: "I’m an Alien" by Rebel Diaz. Democracy Now! interviewed the Bronx-based duo protesting outside of the Republican National Convention earlier this week. ... Read More →
Pastor on Tamir Rice Shooting: Ohio is an Open-Carry State Except If You're an African-American Male
The Republican National Convention is underway just a few miles from the park where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot dead by police in November of 2014 while he was playing with a toy pellet gun. We speak with Rev. Dr. Jawanza Karriem Colvin, the pastor of the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, which is one of the largest African-American congregations in Cleveland, about how city officials and activists responded to the killing. He was recently profiled in a Politico report titled "The Preacher Who Took on the Police."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined right now by Reverend Dr. Jawanza Karriem Colvin, the pastor of the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, which is one of the largest African-American congregations in Cleveland. He was recently profiled in Politico in a piece titled "The Preacher Who Took on the Police."
Reverend Colvin, welcome to Democracy Now!
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: Glad to be here.
AMY GOODMAN: Took on the police how?
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: Well, when the incident took place with respect to the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, I and others within the activist community made a decision that we couldn’t allow the death of this young boy to go without justice. I reached out to the Department of Justice. I began to reach out to my brothers and sisters in the activist community, many not in the church, but within a community of conscience built around academics, people in the nonprofit community. And we began to work together to figure out a way in which we could bring this issue to light. The family had done a great job in bringing national civil rights attorneys to their assistance. But we thought that if they did not have community support and they didn’t have community activism to continue to bring this, not only for individual justice for their son, but to make sure that there was attention brought to the injustice related to the entire Cleveland Police Department.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain something to me? We went to Cudell Park, to the recreational center, where young Tamir, 12 years old—it was what? November 22nd—
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: —2014, has a toy gun, police move in within a few seconds, Officer Loehmann shoots Tamir Rice dead. Now, we’re here at the convention. There have been protests around the issue of assault weapons. You have open carry in this state, so people carry guns all the time. Even if they thought he had a gun, within seconds shooting him? And it’s been shown by studies that white police officers think kids, black kids, are older like by 10 years than they are. So here they’re seeing—they thought he was like 20, and he’s got a gun. You’re allowed to carry a gun in this state.
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: Except if you’re an African-American male, particularly if you’re an African-American male that’s in a community that is perceived as hostile, if you’re in a community in which young people are oftentimes viewed as much older than they particularly are. The challenge is that there were a number of forces that were working against Tamir that day. Being a young black male with historical challenges between police and community, Tamir found himself in a place and a position where, when Loehmann, who we know had a history of instability with respect to his unfitness to being in another department, but when he came to the city of Cleveland, he was allowed to not only have a badge but also allowed to carry a gun, and when Tamir found himself in the crosshairs, in less than two seconds, this young boy, who was playing with his toy gun, was only doing something that any young 12-year-old would do in a community center, place that he went to every day, obviously found himself in a circumstance and a situation which, unfortunately, was not in the best judgment of those police officers.
AMY GOODMAN: Neither of these officers, the one who shot him, Loehmann, who, what, was described as having low gun impulse control at the previous department he worked in Independence—
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: That’s right.
AMY GOODMAN: —and Garmback, who had another excessive force case around him, where they had—the police department had to pay out, I think, a six-figure amount, have been indicted. What about the federal investigation?
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: Well, the federal investigation, at this point, we know that, in terms of civil rights, the civil rights bar is so high that oftentimes we can’t—we don’t see any federal action taking place. I mean, that’s why that I and seven of my colleagues went into municipal court, looking at the Ohio Revised Code and finding there was a statute that if citizens can come and find an affidavit—and file an affidavit stating that there is evidence, reason to believe, that a crime has been committed, you can do that. We did that. That video indicated that there was probable cause. And the fact that while a municipal court judge, an African-American municipal court judge in a majority African-American city, found there was reasonable—I mean, at least probable cause, which is a low bar. Ironically, when it went to the county, County Prosecutor Tim McGinty found that there was not enough evidence to even to have an indictment, which, in and of itself, is problematic. We’ve seen the GQ.com article, which indicates that it was a sham from the beginning, that it was an orchestrated attempt, really, to try this case in secret, which I only thought we did in Eastern Bloc countries 50 years ago.
AMY GOODMAN: McGinty ultimately losing his race again for prosecutor.
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: He did lose his race, but, unfortunately, justice still has not been served. And so, while justice was meted out for Mr. McGinty, unfortunately we still have—we still have a case, and there is no statute of limitations on murder. And so, you know, it is up to the family whether they want to continue to pursue that, because many of us in the activist community are supporting the family in such a case. But what we do know is from both the law enforcement community to the Prosecutor’s Office, there was clearly injustice that was done. And it is not simply to be found in Loehmann. It is systemic, it is institutional, and I’m not sure that changing one prosecutor is really going to change the process.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to the Republican National Convention. On Monday night, the Milwaukee County sheriff, David Clarke, celebrated the acquittal of the Baltimore police officer Brian Rice, one of the officers on trial in the Freddie Gray case. Gray died from injuries sustained in police custody. We were on the floor when Sheriff Clarke took the stage of the convention.
SHERIFF DAVID CLARKE: There is some good news out of Baltimore, Maryland, as Lieutenant Brian Rice was acquitted on all charges. ... What we witnessed in Ferguson and Baltimore and Baton Rouge was a collapse of the social order. So many of the actions of the Occupy movement and Black Lives Matter transcends peaceful protest and violates the code of conduct we rely on. I call it anarchy.
AMY GOODMAN: That is the Milwaukee County sheriff, David Clarke. Your response, Dr. Jawanza Karriem Colvin?
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: What’s interesting is that what the sheriff is calling anarchy, we call, you know, our First Amendment rights—the right to protest, the right to peaceful assembly. Black Lives Matter has utilized the best of the civil rights tradition: nonviolent direct action. The only thing and the only association that he can connect with the murders of those police officers and Black Lives Matter is the fact that they are, in fact, black. I mean, officers—we talk about the challenge with respect to rebuilding the trust between officers, law enforcement and the community. Historically, there has never been trust between the law enforcement community and African-American community. And this only reinforces the same type of enmity, deeply embedded mistrust, that is clearly not simply on the perspective or the side of the African-American community. But also, this is reflective, clearly, of mistrust on the side of law enforcement.
AMY GOODMAN: The Texas lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, appeared on CNN here in Cleveland, expressed support for an investigation, following Donald Trump’s statement Monday night on Fox News that, if elected, he would instruct his attorney general to look into Black Lives Matter.
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: Well, thankfully, he’s lieutenant governor, not president of the United States and not the head of the Department of Justice. You know, it’s amazing that Black Lives Matter, which is a movement which has brought to the fore the issue of, you know, police misconduct, Black Lives Matter, which has finally put on the national platform and in the national conversation the issue of the excessive use of force and the unconstitutionality of the encounters with police and African Americans, are now themselves being criminalized. They are the ones being criminalized. It is an amazing phenomenon that now we have the law enforcement community, and those who support them, saying somehow that the blue shield is more important than citizenship and expressing constitutional rights.
AMY GOODMAN: The number of black delegates, 18, lowest number, believed, in more than half a—in more than a century here at the Republican convention.
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: And I would add to that, I saw the recent poll, that zero percent support for Donald Trump, and I know that is not within the margin of error. It’s absolutely right. You know, Adam Clayton Powell said decades ago, the reason that black people—most African Americans are not conservative, because they have nothing to conserve. There is nothing in the current state of the American economy, the current state of American social order, the current state of policing in America that African Americans would want to preserve. So I’m not surprised. I’m actually surprised that we have as—the few that we do have, even in light of the fact of the vitriol that we have coming out of Donald Trump.
But I would say this, is that African Americans are not going to be—even on the left, are not going to be intimidated to vote against Donald Trump. We’re not going to be, in any way, shape or form, made to feel that he’s the bogeyman or anything of that nature. The truth is, African Americans, over the course of 400 years, since 1619, have dealt with all kinds of blowhards, whether we’re talking about Bull Connor, Orval Faubus, George Wallace. And so, we know how to deal with the Donald Trumps. So, when we go to the—into the polls, it’s not about who we’re voting against or what we—
AMY GOODMAN: We have five seconds.
REV. JAWANZA KARRIEM COLVIN: —but rather, what we’re voting for.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you so much for being with us, Reverend Dr. Jawanza Karriem Colvin, pastor of the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church here in Cleveland, Ohio.
That does it for our show. I’ll be doing a report back from the conventions after our two weeks of coverage—on Friday, July 29th at the Provincetown Town Hall in Massachusetts, and Saturday, July 30th, on Martha’s Vineyard at Old Whaling Church. Check our website. Follow our team for the latest updates from the convention on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. ... Read More →
"Grandiosity and Misogyny": Jeff Sharlet on "Common Thread" Between Mike Pence & Donald Trump
As Indiana Governor Mike Pence is added to the Republican ticket as Donald Trump’s running mate, we look at his religious right-wing track record as governor of Indiana and, before then, as an Indiana congressman. "The enemy, to them, is secularism," says guest Jeff Sharlet of Pence’s faith-based supporters. "They want a God-led government." Sharlet is the author several books, including "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, "Breaking with Convention." This is "War, Peace and the Presidency." We are broadcasting from the Republican National Convention, broadcasting inside and out, from the streets to the convention floor. I’m Amy Goodman.
Indiana Governor Mike Pence has accepted the Republican nomination for vice president. But Pence’s speech on Wednesday night was largely overshadowed by Senator Ted Cruz, who refused to endorse Donald Trump in a stunning 21-minute prime-time address. Cruz mentioned his former challenger by name only once.
SEN. TED CRUZ: I want to congratulate Donald Trump on winning the nomination last night.
AMY GOODMAN: Texas Senator Ted Cruz went on to outline his vision for the Republican Party. While he never directly criticized Trump, by the end of the speech Cruz was repeatedly interrupted by boos and delegates chanting "We Want Trump!"
SEN. TED CRUZ: If you love our country and love your children as much as I know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.
AMY GOODMAN: Near the end of the speech, Donald Trump appeared at the back of the convention hall in a move to draw attention away from Cruz’s speech. Cruz left the podium to a chorus of boos. His wife had to be escorted off the floor. Some Republican delegates described Cruz as a traitor to the party, while others praised him for refusing to back Trump. This all occurred on a night when Governor Pence was supposed to be the center of attention as the Indiana governor accepted the party’s nomination to be vice president.
GOV. MIKE PENCE: We have a choice to make. This is another time for choosing. If you want a president who will protect this nation, confront radical Islamic terrorism and rid the world of ISIS, if you want a president who will restore law and order to this country and give law enforcement the support and resources they deserve, if you want a president who will cut taxes, grow our economy, and squeeze every nickel out of the federal bureaucracy, if you want a president who will build strong borders and enforce our laws, and if you want a president who will upend of the status quo in Washington, D.C., and appoint justices to the Supreme Court who will uphold the Constitution, we have but one choice, and that man is ready. This team is ready. Our party is ready. And when we elect Donald Trump the 45th president of the United States together, we will make America great again.
AMY GOODMAN: Governor Pence, speaking Wednesday night after accepting the Republican Party’s nomination to be vice president. While Trump has claimed Pence was his first choice, The New York Times is reporting Donald Trump actually wanted Ohio Governor John Kasich to be his running mate and that Kasich declined. According to the Times, Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. called Kasich’s adviser, asking if the governor wanted to be, quote, "the most powerful vice president in history," unquote, promising Kasich would be in charge of both domestic and foreign policy. Donald Trump’s son reportedly said his father’s role as president would be simply making America great again. Trump’s campaign disputes this account, denies it wanted Kasich over Pence. Ohio Governor Kasich has not come to the convention, even though it’s being held in his own state and he’s been in Cleveland this week, like at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Well, we begin today’s show with a look at Governor Mike Pence, the man who could become the most powerful vice president in history, if Donald Trump is elected in November. We’re joined by two guests. In Washington, D.C., Darren Samuelsohn is senior policy reporter for Politico. His article is called "The Old Cassettes That Explain Mike Pence." Joining us by Democracy Now! video stream in Albany is Jeff Sharlet, author of Radiant Truths.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Jeff Sharlet, let’s begin with you. Tell us the story of Governor Mike Pence. Who is this Indiana politician, who was congressmember, governor, Fox talk show host?
JEFF SHARLET: Well, he’s a Kennedy Democrat. He’s an Irish Catholic Kennedy Democrat who really either lost his way or changed his way back in college at a Christian rock festival that was meant to be sort of an evangelical Woodstock. He decided to accept Jesus and become an evangelical, and that turned him on the path to conservatism, away from the sort of Democratic roots. In 1980, I think he voted for Jimmy Carter. By '84, he was a Reagan Republican. By the early ’90s, he was running for Congress and losing badly because of his very sort of negative campaigning, and he learned how to be a kind of a smoother, kinder Ted Cruz sort of character. He has the ideological makeup of Ted Cruz. He just doesn't have the visible venom. And he entered Congress in 2000.
And what’s interesting about him is the way that the press is playing him as sort of Mr. Stability, as this kind of a more moderate—a conservative, but mild-mannered. You go back and you look at his record, and you see that this is easily the most anti-reproductive rights vice-presidential candidate in history, that he is not a man who is using his crusade against abortion as a political tool, but one who speaks of it, and extensively, as the greatest cause of our time, is what he calls it. He says that abortion is worse than slavery and the Holocaust combined. So we have a guy here who everyone is saying is the opposite of Trump, but there’s a common thread between them, and it’s—there’s two: grandiosity and misogyny.
AMY GOODMAN: I’d like to go to a clip from a speech Mike Pence gave at a Values Voter Summit in 2010.
REP. MIKE PENCE: To those who say that marriage is not relevant to our budget crisis, I say you would not be able to print enough money in a thousand years to pay for the government that you would need if the family continues to collapse. To those who say we should focus on cutting spending, I say, OK, but start by denying all federal funding for abortion at home and abroad. You want to find savings? Let’s cut funding to research that destroys human embryos in the name of science, and let’s deny any and all funding to Planned Parenthood of America.
AMY GOODMAN: That is, yes, the vice-presidential nominee, Mike Pence. Jeff Sharlet, can you elaborate on this?
JEFF SHARLET: That is a really key clip. And it goes to, I think, one of the common misunderstandings about American conservatism, is that there’s—on the one hand, there’s social conservatism, and on the other hand, there’s fiscal conservatism, and right-wingers can kind of be either-or. You’ve got guys like Mike Pence, and in that speech and in other speeches where he says what we need is a marriage of moral and fiscal conservatism—you can’t have one without the other. Abortion, as he says, is an economic issue. That comes, for him, from one of his mentors, a guy named Chuck Colson, one of the leaders of the Christian right, died a few years ago, more famous—or infamous—as one of Nixon’s dirty tricks men, who went to prison, was born again and came out as a sort of a house intellectual of the Christian right, where he mentored men like Mike Pence in this idea that all of these things are bundled up.
So when you talk about Planned Parenthood or you talk about same-sex marriage or you talk about the economy, you’re talking about one common enemy. And they do use the word "enemy." The enemy, to them, is secularism. They want a God-led government. That’s the only legitimate government. So when they speak of business, they’re speaking not of something separate from God, but they’re speaking of what, in Mike Pence’s circles, would be called biblical capitalism, the idea that this economic system is God-ordained. And you hear it right there in the Values Voter Summit. And that’s what made him a really popular man in those circles. This is—you know, everyone is obviously sort of saying this was meant to sort of attract the evangelical base. And I think it’s working, and it’s in a significant way. That base is still wobbly for Trump, but much less so with Pence on board and with the idea that in a future with Pence, that some of these issues that maybe progressives have thought they’d been winning on, the tide is going to be turned, especially, probably for Mike Pence, reproductive rights or abortion.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me go to Indiana’s highly controversial anti-LGBT Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as it’s called. Speaking to ABC News in March 2015, Governor Pence said both Clinton and Obama have supported versions of the so-called religious freedom law, as have 19 other states besides Indiana.
GOV. MIKE PENCE: The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was signed into federal law by President Bill Clinton more than 20 years ago, and it lays out a framework for ensuring that a very high level of scrutiny is given anytime government action impinges on the religious liberty of any American. After that, some 19 states followed that, adopted that statute. And after last year’s Hobby Lobby case, Indiana properly brought the same version that then-State Senator Barack Obama voted for in Illinois before our Legislature, and I was proud to sign it into law last week.
AMY GOODMAN: Then Indiana Governor Mike Pence went on to defend the law in the name of tolerance.
GOV. MIKE PENCE: Is tolerance a two-way street or not? I mean, you know, there’s a lot of talk about tolerance in this country today, having to do with people on the left. And—but here Indiana steps forward to protect the constitutional rights and privileges of freedom of religion for people of faith and families of faith in our state, and this avalanche of intolerance has been poured on our state. It’s just outrageous.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that was 2015. That same year, during a news conference, Governor Pence also insisted the law does not condone discrimination.
GOV. MIKE PENCE: This bill is not about discrimination. And if I thought it legalized discrimination in any way, I would have vetoed it. I think, in time, people will see it for what it is, and they’ll see we did the right thing here.
AMY GOODMAN: Again, that’s Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Jeff Sharlet, talk about what happened with this bill. I mean, the backlash was enormous, from sports leagues, the NCAA, to corporations, threatening to boycott Indiana. Angie’s List said they wouldn’t do a $40 million expansion of the company. Talk about what happened and what this law was about, that the Indiana governor was pioneering.
JEFF SHARLET: Yeah, yeah, heroic Angie’s List may have been the key to breaking its back. The law is—there’s one level on which he’s right, which is saying that there’s laws like this that have been passed elsewhere, in other states and at the federal level. And the rhetoric of religious freedom as a justification for what is questionably discrimination, that’s not something Mike Pence invented. That’s something that has been going on now since the '90s, and in large part because it's been able to gain that traction, because of Democrats, who—including the Clintons, who did not want to make an issue of it, who wanted to be seen as religion-friendly, and thought it was a low-cost maneuver. And it turns out to be a very high-cost maneuver in Indiana. And you saw him pushing it there just a little bit further, in the same way that he pushed anti-abortion restrictions just a little bit further than all the other states. He wanted to be the first in this kind of—this kind of Christian right crusade. The corporations? This is—this is not a great progressive victory. This is the corporations fighting back. And he walked back the bill. It’s still not a good thing. It’s still a tool for discrimination. This idea that the bill was undone is false. It’s still there. It has a little bit of language, though, that some of his allies in the Christian right didn’t like.
And again, we’re seeing a narrative in the press that maybe Mike Pence isn’t really going to activate the base, because they turned on him. That, to me, is a sign of not following the Christian right and not understanding these kinds of spats and how they understand their politicians. No politician is 100 percent. Ted Cruz is not 100 percent to them. It’s more whether this politician is being used by God. They see Pence as being used by God. They will get over their disappointment in Pence watering down the bill a little bit, because they have the language and the history. They have—when he says he’s against—he’s for tolerance, they understand. Mike Pence is a man who has compared himself to Martin Luther King, to—he’s got a long list of sort of his icons that he seems to be in the tradition of—Abraham Lincoln, William Wilberforce, the 18th and 19th century British parliamentarian who ended slavery and is an absolute icon of the Christian right. Pence sees himself in that tradition, fighting for what Wilberforce called a reformation of manners, what Pence sees in the same way. And that has to do—so, laws like this religious freedom act are just icing on the cake of a much larger project.
AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk more about the Family Research Council, its relationship with Pence?
JEFF SHARLET: Well, there’s the Family Research Council. There’s Focus on the Family. Family Research Council is Tony Perkins in Washington. It’s a sort of a—maybe the top open lobbying shop of the Christian right. Tony Perkins was, in fact, one of those guys who said, you know, "I feel a little bit brokenhearted by Mike Pence walking back this bill," that was going to be even better at discriminating against LGBT people. He will come around. He has a long history of coming around. He’s a very canny political operator. There’s guys like David Barton, who was a sort of a historian of the Christian right. There’s a whole universe.
One of the ones that I’m interested in is the Fellowship Foundation, sometimes called The Family or C Street. Viewers may remember that back in 2009, 2010, a number of congressional hopefuls—or, I’m sorry, presidential hopefuls—Mark Sanford, Senator John Ensign—were all caught up in affairs that were covered up by this evangelical organization. Mike Pence has been moving in those circles for a long time, using the National Prayer Breakfast, their annual event, as a kind of a backroom lobbying place for him. That’s his foreign policy experience, his meeting with delegations from other countries that are looking to do business with America, often in terms of military funding, and they are going to do that under the cloak of prayer. And Pence has been a really skillful operator in that sense. And I think that’s why he’s liked by conservatives, because he is this moral zealot in the vein of Ted Cruz, but he’s also an operator. He’s also a man who cuts deals. And I think there’s that question of, is he a hypocrite, or is he a true believer? And I think the answer is, yes, he is both, absolutely. And that’s what makes him a potent force.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to break and then come back to this discussion. I said before that Mike Pence was a Fox talk show host, but he was actually just a radio host. And we’re going to talk about some of the things he said there. Our guest is Jeff Sharlet. He’s author of Radiant Truths, associate professor of literary journalism at Dartmouth College, also wrote the book C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. This is Democracy Now! We’ll be back in a minute. ... Read More →
Activists Block RNC Entrance with Mock Border Wall So Trump's Hate "Won't Reach Our Communities"
Protests continued outside the RNC on Wednesdayas hundreds of people gathered to erect a "Wall Against Trump," blocking the entrance to the arena with a massive ... Read More →
Have You Seen George W. Bush? John Kasich? John McCain? Looking for the GOP No-Shows at the RNC
On Wednesday, Senator Ted Cruz dominated the headlines when he refused to endorse Donald Trump during his prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention. Cruz is not the only prominent Republican to have withheld support for Trump. Many of the party’s most prominent members didn’t even show up. Democracy Now! headed to the convention floor to find out who made it to the convention and who didn’t.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency." We’re broadcasting from Cleveland, Ohio, covering the Republican National Convention inside and out, from the streets to the convention floor. I’m Amy Goodman.
On Wednesday night, the big news of the convention was that Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former Republican presidential candidate, dominated the headlines when he refused to endorse Donald Trump during Cruz’s prime-time speech. But Cruz is not the only prominent Republican to have withheld support for Trump. Many of the party’s most prominent members didn’t even show up. Democracy Now! headed to the convention floor to look at who did and didn’t make it.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: I’m Laura Gottesdiener, here with Democracy Now! We’re at the Republican National Convention, but we’re having a really hard time finding a number of top Republican leaders—Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham, Mitt Romney, even former President George W. Bush. We just—we’ve been running around, and we just haven’t been able to find them anywhere. But we’re here right now on the convention floor. It’s the second night. And we’re going to go inside, on the floor, to see where they’re at.
Right over in the distance, we can see the Nevada delegation. Let’s go see if we can try to find Senator Dean Heller.
RYDER HAAG: My name is Ryder Haag. I’m with the Nevada delegation.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: And we’re actually here looking for your senator, Heller. Have you seen him?
RYDER HAAG: No, Senator Heller is not here.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: And do you know where he is?
RYDER HAAG: No, I do not.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Is he backstage? Is he going to be speaking soon?
RYDER HAAG: I do not believe so.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Turns out Nevada Senator Dean Heller isn’t here. He did tell one outlet that he was going to be arrogating his ranch this week. But let’s go head on over to Florida, see if we can find Marco Rubio. We haven’t seen him all week.
DELEGATES: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
MITZI PRATER: My name is Mitzi Prater. And I’m from Bay County, Florida, which is Panama City.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: We’ve been looking for a number of people from your state. We’ve been looking for Marco Rubio, as well as former Governor Jeb Bush. Do you know where we might be able to find them?
MITZI PRATER: I have no idea. I think Rubio may show up sometime this week, but I don’t know where Jeb is. I’m sure he’s in Miami.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: So it seems like a number of leaders are missing from the Florida delegation. Let’s go head on over to South Carolina, see if we can find Senator Lindsey Graham.
DON LONG: My name is Don Long, from Lake Wylie, South Carolina.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: And we’ve actually been running all over, looking for a senator from your state, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. Have you seen him?
DON LONG: I haven’t seen Lindsey here. I mean, I’ve talked to him and seen him around a lot, but I haven’t seen him here.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Do you know if he’s planning to come?
DON LONG: No.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Would you like to see him come?
DON LONG: To the convention? Sure.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: So, no-show, at least so far, with South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. But let’s keep going. Let’s keep searching for people.
MARK BROWN: My name’s Mark Brown, from Houston, Texas.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: And we were looking—we’ve been looking all over. We’ve been looking for former President George W. Bush. Have you seen him?
MARK BROWN: No, I haven’t seen him at all. No. He’s a good guy, though, so I wish him well, wherever he is.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Do you know what his thoughts are about Donald Trump?
MARK BROWN: I don’t—I think he’s very concerned about the direction of the country under Donald Trump. It seems he’s concerned that he may be the last Republican president.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Right here, I can see Kentucky delegation. So let’s see what’s going on with Senator Rand Paul.
J. TODD INMAN: My name is J. Todd Inman. And I’m from Owensboro, Kentucky.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: We haven’t seen your senator, Rand Paul. Have you seen him?
J. TODD INMAN: Senator Paul elected not to come. He’s actually in a tough re-election—not tough, but he’s in a re-election cycle this year back home, so he’s elected to stay there and is, obviously, paying a lot of attention to make sure that he’s representing the interests of Kentucky.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: So it turns out that Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is not here. But right behind us, I see the Ohio delegation. Let’s see if we can go find Governor John Kasich of Ohio.
ROBIN HAWKINS: My name is Robin Hawkins. I’m from Mansfield, Ohio. I’m serving as a delegate, alternate delegate, actually, for Governor Kasich.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Congratulations. And we’ve actually been looking for Governor Kasich. Have you been able to find him over the last few days?
ROBIN HAWKINS: I have not seen him.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Well, it doesn’t seem like we’ve been able to find Ohio Governor John Kasich. But just next door, over here, is the Pennsylvania delegation. So let’s see about Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey.
WAYNE BUCKWALTER: My name is Wayne Buckwalter, from outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: We’ve also been running around everywhere looking for your senator, Pat Toomey. Have you seen him?
WAYNE BUCKWALTER: No, I also haven’t seen the congressman from my district, Ryan Costello, who was elected as a delegate promising to vote for the district winner on the first ballot. I haven’t seen him, either.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: How do you feel about that?
WAYNE BUCKWALTER: Well, you know, all I can say is he said it, and I didn’t see him here voting.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Seems like sometimes the crowd’s a little thin. Do you feel like some Republican leaders are not showing up for Donald Trump?
WAYNE BUCKWALTER: Well, obviously. I mean, that’s—you know, that’s clear. We see a lot of the candidates who pledged to support the nominee not here. We see ex-presidents not here. Bob Dole was here, which all the ex-presidents should be.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Former President George W. Bush is not here.
WAYNE BUCKWALTER: Well, he would be an example.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: And does that—as a Trump supporter, does that make you upset?
WAYNE BUCKWALTER: Not upset. I’m kind of disappointed in somebody that I voted for twice and really thinks that people helped him, and he should be doing the same thing.
LAURA GOTTESDIENER: Well, looks like there’s still a lot of no-shows from top Republican leaders. I’m Laura Gottesdiener, with Democracy Now!
AMY GOODMAN: Former Florida—well, Florida senator and former Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio did appear in a recorded video on Wednesday night at the convention, endorsing Donald Trump, but he has not physically come to the Republican convention. ... Read More →
Did Donald Trump Pick Mike Pence to Appease the Koch Brothers & the Religious Right?
As Indiana Governor Mike Pence accepts the Republican nomination for vice president, we look at how the religious right will respond to the man who was their "dream candidate" in 2012. "In one fell swoop, he strengthens his connections to religious right leaders and to the Koch brothers’ network," says our guest Peter Montgomery, senior fellow at People for the American Way.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. This is "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency." We’re in Cleveland, Ohio, covering the Republican National Convention inside and out, from the streets to the corporate suites to the convention floor. I’m Amy Goodman. On Wednesday night, Indiana Governor Mike Pence accepted the Republican nomination for vice president.
GOV. MIKE PENCE: As this election approaches, every American should know that while we’re filling the presidency for the next four years, this election will define the Supreme Court for the next 40. We all better think very carefully, very carefully, about what this means for our Constitution and limited government. Elect Hillary Clinton, and you better get used to being subject to unelected judges using unaccountable power to take unconstitutional actions. Though let me say, for the sake of rule of law, for the sake of the sanctity of life, for the sake of our Second Amendment, and for the sake of all our other God-given liberties, we must ensure that the next president appointing justices to the Supreme Court is Donald Trump.
AMY GOODMAN: But Governor Pence’s speech Wednesday night was largely overshadowed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who refused to endorse Donald Trump in a stunning 21-minute prime-time address that was greeted by boos from Trump supporters.
SEN. TED CRUZ: If you love our country and love your children as much as I know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.
AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about the Republican National Convention, we’re joined now by Peter Montgomery, senior fellow at People for the American Way. His recent piece is headlined "How Would Religious Right Respond to Pence as VP?"
Peter Montgomery, welcome to Democracy Now! So, how are they responding?
PETER MONTGOMERY: Most of them are responding very strongly. They—he’s been a longtime champion of their issues, and, for the most part, they’re very happy with him. When he was a member of Congress before he decided to run for the governorship, he was really seen as their dream candidate in 2012, and he won the straw poll at the religious right Values Voters Summit. And one of the religious broadcasters was comparing him to Madonna. So, they’ve had some disputes with him since he became governor, but, for the most part, they’re pretty happy with him.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about Donald Trump’s selection of Pence as his running mate. Now, we have learned, since his selection, that he actually had chosen John Kasich, the governor here of Ohio, who hasn’t shown up for this convention, though he was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame down the street in Cleveland. Now, the Trump campaign is denying this, but it’s been very—it’s been reported in detail that Donald Trump Jr. approached the Trump campaign—approached Kasich and said that he would be in charge of both domestic and foreign policy. And The New York Times reports that Kasich directly spoke to Donald Trump and said no, that he would not accept this. So, it’s Donald—so it is Governor Pence. Talk about why you think Donald Trump chose him?
PETER MONTGOMERY: Well, I think he probably chose Mike Pence because Mike Pence is close to both the Koch brothers’ political network and to the religious right. And those are two hugely important parts of the Republican infrastructure that have not been uniformly excited about Trump. And some of them have been very concerned about him. So, in one fell swoop, he strengthens his connections to religious right leaders and to the Koch brothers’ network. And he gets someone who comes across as a stable person, when people are concerned about his—you know, of Trump’s temperament.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the event you attended on Tuesday night, the American Conservative Union Federation.
PETER MONTGOMERY: Yeah, the American Conservative Union had a panel discussion—
AMY GOODMAN: Foundation.
PETER MONTGOMERY: —asking whether people would be—whether conservatives will be supporting Trump. And Pence showed up as a surprise keynoter, telling conservatives that the primaries were over, it’s time to get in line and support him, and also trying to convince [them] that Trump is a good man. He used that phrase multiple times in his short speech to them. "This good man" was something that he was really trying to convince the conservatives there about.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain Governor Pence’s involvement with what’s called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, seen as a fiercely anti-LGBTQ law, that he signed off on and then was forced to, quote, "clarify."
PETER MONTGOMERY: Right. This was a law that he—was passed and he signed last spring. It’s an effort by religious right groups around the country to pass these state laws that would really give special legal protection to anti-LGBT discrimination, would allow business owners and others to claim a religious exemption from nondiscrimination laws. And he signed it with a lot of religious leaders around him, and they were very happy. But there was huge backlash, led by the business community, that I think really stunned Pence. And he was forced to sign an amendment to that law that said it can’t be used to discriminate. And many of his religious right allies saw that as a huge betrayal. He was caught between his allies in the business community and his allies in the religious right. And so, some people, like Tony Perkins at the Family Research Council, are still a little bitter about that. He said the other day, when talking about Trump’s choice of Pence, that he gives Trump credit for trying and wanting to reach out, but he’s still not too happy with Pence on that.
AMY GOODMAN: He got tremendous both corporate backlash, everyone from Angie’s List to Apple, to the athletic leagues like the NCAA, all saying that they would leave Indiana, they would boycott Indiana.
PETER MONTGOMERY: And I think he was absolutely unprepared for that. I think, you know, his—the circles that he travels in, the culture that he—you know, he’s been part of these anti-gay circles for so long, I think he didn’t realize how much the business community has moved, the way the public has moved on LGBT issues. And I think he really was not prepared for that kind of business backlash to supporting pro-discrimination legislation.
AMY GOODMAN: You’ve been tracking hate speech here at the RNC. Peter Montgomery, talk about it.
PETER MONTGOMERY: Well, you know, I think that there has been a tremendous amount of rhetoric on the floor that’s been disturbing to people, misogynist, you know, the way people have been referring to Hillary Clinton. There have been a lot of attacks, both on the floor and at some of the right-wing gatherings that have been taking place—attacks on the Black Lives Matter activists, attacks on immigration. It’s really been a disturbing show.
AMY GOODMAN: And the Gays for Trump party that you attended last night?
PETER MONTGOMERY: That was one of the stranger things I think I have experienced. It was organized by a group called Gays for Trump, and the focus of it was to highlight some very hardcore, extreme anti-Islam activists who, while they were talking about freedom for gay people, they were talking about de-Islamizing Western societies and, you know, banning Muslims from entering based on their religion. And all that was happening in this context of Twinks 4 Trump posters on the wall, of young men posing with "Make America Great" hats again and guns. It was a very, very odd event. But it was disturbing to me, as a progressive gay man, to be in this event where gay people and their supporters were chanting support for this kind of incredibly divisive and discriminatory rhetoric about Muslims.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to talk about that, have a debate in our next segment. Peter Montgomery, senior fellow at People for the American Way, we’ll link to your piece. It is headlined "How Would Religious Right Respond to Pence as VP?" He’s been covering the RNC all week. This is Democracy Now! Stay with us. ... Read More →
As the Number of Black GOP Delegates Falls to Historic Low, Meet a Few of the Only Ones Left
The Washington Post is reporting there are likely fewer black delegates at this year’s Republican convention than at any point in at least a century. According to the Republican Party’s own data, only 18 of the nearly 2,500 delegates are African-American. That’s less than 1 percent. As recently as 2004, 7 percent of Republican delegates were black. On Wednesday night, Democracy Now!’s Carla Wills tracked down some of the 18 African-American delegates.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Yes, we are "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency." Democracy Now! is in Cleveland, Ohio, covering the Republican National Convention from the inside out, from the streets to the corporate suites to the convention floor. I’m Amy Goodman. We’re broadcasting two hours every day. Miss any part of it, go to democracynow.org.
The Washington Post is reporting there are likely fewer black delegates at this year’s Republican convention than at any point in at least a century. According to the Republican Party’s own data, only 18 of the nearly 2,500 delegates are African-American. That’s less than 1 percent. As recently as 2004, 7 percent of Republican delegates were black. On Wednesday night, Democracy Now!’s Carla Wills tracked down some of the 18 black delegates.
JAMES EVANS: James Evans, chair of the Utah Republican Party, Salt Lake City, Utah.
CARLA WILLS: So, I just read in The Washington Post that this year the Republican convention has the lowest number of African-American delegates in like a century. Your thoughts about why the low numbers this year?
JAMES EVANS: Well, first of all, the Republican Party doesn’t believe in quotas. So, we know that the political left, they love identity politics, and you have to have X number percent of this and that. That’s just not how the Republican Party is. There are some years—some conventions, we have higher numbers; others, we have lower numbers. People make choices whether they want to attend or not. And—but we don’t have a quota like the Democratic Party.
CARLA WILLS: So, of course, this year, Donald Trump being the nominee, there were some rallies that were a little bit violent. Do you think that had anything to do with how many African Americans are here this year?
JAMES EVANS: What I’m struggling to see—what does that have to do with Donald Trump? Those were individual Americans expressing themselves, rightly or wrongly, but that has nothing to do with Donald Trump.
CARLA WILLS: Do you not think he should have spoken out more forcefully against those people who attended his rallies that, you know, were saying racist comments?
JAMES EVANS: Well, I think he has spoken out that—against any kind of discrimination. But I think it’s more damaging that the political left plays racial politics and pit groups of people against each other.
CHRISTOPHER HARVEY: Christopher Harvey, from Houston, Texas. I’ve been Republican since I was little. Republicans, we still have a ways to go. But also means that when we go in the black community, they’ve got to open their doors and welcome us. I’ve had friends who campaigned for the Republican Party and got thrown out of churches by the pastor. So it goes both ways.
CARLA WILLS: Do you think perhaps Donald Trump as the nominee had anything to do with the lower numbers this year than before?
CHRISTOPHER HARVEY: I don’t think so. I don’t think so, because he’s only saying how he feels. People take what his words are, and the Democratic Party and, yes, even the media throws it into a racial comment. I’m talking about when black—when he calls out one black person in the audience, say that’s his African American, they call him a racist, while Hillary Clinton said at a black church—well, she didn’t say, but she uses a black dialect at a black church, like "I’s don’t get no’s where’s tired," like that’s how black people talk. Or when she has to go to—everywhere she goes into a black area, she has to say that she carries hot sauce. I mean, that’s more racist than saying, "That’s my African American." I mean, I say, "That’s my brother."
SHARON JACKSON: My name is Sharon Jackson. I’m from Anchorage, Alaska—Eagle River, actually. And I am a delegate. I’m the only African American from the state of Alaska. I don’t know if the Republican convention has a huge number of African Americans, but I must say, I’m pleased to see the African Americans that are here. When the states gave their nomination for Donald Trump, there was probably four, five states that had African-American women announce for their state. And I’m proud of that.
CALVIN TUCKER: My name is Calvin Tucker. I’m from the 2nd Congressional District in Philadelphia. I’m a delegate.
CARLA WILLS: So, I just read a Washington Post article that talked about this being the lowest number of African-American delegates in about a century at the Republican convention. Your thoughts about the lack of diversity, especially with African Americans in this convention?
CALVIN TUCKER: Well, I mean, there are African Americans here. You got delegates and alternate delegates and friends of delegates. I don’t know the numbers specifically. But we have to do our work in the African-American community. There are some deep-seated problems in our community. And the Democrats have run this process for a long time. I don’t know why that is the case, but we need to get to solutions to those problems. And I think that Donald Trump, who is a builder, who understands how to create jobs, and the jobs is a solution to many of the problems that we face. So I think that, again, it’sincumbent on me to make the case to my community that in order to have political leverage and not do the same things over and over and over, that this is an option that we ought to explore.
AMY GOODMAN: Thank you so much to Carla Wills, Democracy Now! producer. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Those, some of the 18 African-American delegates at the Republican National Convention. The Washington Post is reporting there are likely fewer black delegates at this year’s Republican convention than at any point in at least the last century, less than 1 percent. ... Read More →
Headlines:
Turkey: Erdogan Declares State of Emergency Amid Mass Arrests
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency after last week’s failed military coup. Over the past three days, tens of thousands of public employees, including soldiers, police officers and teachers, have been fired. Some have been arrested. In the Turkish capital of Ankara, Erdogan’s supporters said they welcomed the decision.
Ismael Canocak: "If Tayyip Erdogan deemed the state of emergency necessary, it should be the best option. Hopefully, we will overcome this under his leadership. We do not have any fear or reservations about the state of emergency. Life continues in Turkey. So does our demonstrations for democracy at night. God willing, this period will continue under the leadership of our commander-in-chief."
Since the coup, Erdogan has promised to reinstate the death penalty in Turkey. The Turkish government has also made a formal extradition request for Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Erdogan accuses of masterminding the coup attempt. Gülen lives in in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania. The U.S. government has not yet reached a decision on whether they would extradite Gülen.
TOPICS:
Turkey
U.S. Strike Kills 73 Civilians in Syria, Deadliest So Far in ISIS War
Activists say U.S. airstrikes on a town in northern Syria killed at least 73 civilians on Tuesday. The monitoring group Air Wars says it is the deadliest U.S. airstrike for civilians to date since the U.S. began strikes in Syria in 2014. A U.S.-supported militia called the Syrian Democratic Forces began an assault on the town of Manbij at the end of May. Since then, groups that monitor the war say at least 190 civilians have been killed in U.S. airstrikes in the town. The U.S. military has said it is investigating the incident. Until earlier this year, the Pentagon claimed no civilians had been killed in its air campaign against ISIS, while at the same time claiming more than 20,000ISIS fighters had been killed.
TOPICS:
Syria
NYT: Trump Offered John Kasich VP Job Before Picking Mike Pence
Here in Cleveland, Wednesday marked the third day of the Republican National Convention. Indiana Governor Mike Pence formally accepted the nomination to be Trump’s running mate.
Gov. Mike Pence: "I am deeply humbled by your confidence. And on behalf of my family, here and gone, I accept your nomination to run and serve as vice president of the United States of America."
But The New York Times is reporting Donald Trump actually wanted Ohio Governor John Kasich to be his running mate—and that Kasich declined. According to The New York Times, Donald Trump’s son called Kasich’s adviser asking if the governor wanted to be "the most powerful vice president in history," and promising Kasich would be in charge of both domestic and foreign policy. Donald Trump’s son reportedly said that his father’s role, as president, would be simply "making America great again." Trump’s campaign disputes this account and denies it wanted Kasich over Pence. Ohio Governor Kasich has not come to the convention, even though it’s being held in his own state and he’s been in Cleveland this week. Ultimately, the Trump campaign ended up picking Pence. Last night, during his speech, Governor Pence spoke about U.S. foreign policy, saying Donald Trump would "stand with our allies."
Gov. Mike Pence: "We cannot have four more years apologizing to our enemies and abandoning our friends. America needs to be strong for the world to be safe. And on the world stage, Donald Trump will lead from strength. Donald Trump will rebuild our military and stand with our allies."
But Donald Trump directly contradicted Pence during an interview with The New York Times Wednesday. Trump said he would break with long-standing U.S. foreign policy by not automatically defending NATO allies from attacks. Instead, Trump says, he’d only help NATO allies if they "have fulfilled their obligations to us." We’ll have more on Indiana Governor Mike Pence—the man who may become the most powerful vice president in history—after headlines.
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
RNC 2016
2016 Election
RNC: Ted Cruz Booed After Refusing to Endorse Donald Trump
Meanwhile, last night at the RNC, Mike Pence was overshadowed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who refused to officially endorse Donald Trump.
Sen. Ted Cruz: "If you love our country and love your children as much as I know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution."
That’s the crowd booing last night at the RNC, as Ted Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump. Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz, had to be escorted out by security as she was heckled by the pro-Trump delegates, who shouted "Goldman Sachs!" Heidi Cruz is a managing director at the private equity firm. After Cruz’s speech, delegates expressed outrage.
Shaun Ireland: "Those one, two sentences is all we needed. And instead, he did this 'vote your conscience,' did a mic drop and walked out. And what it really was is a big middle finger to this entire convention. ... And Ted Cruz, tonight, just set the United States up to be ruled by that corrupt woman, Hillary—crooked Hillary Clinton, just so he could set himself up to be president in four years. There probably won’t even be a Republican Party in four years."
TOPICS:
Ted Cruz
Donald Trump
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Fewer Than 1% of RNC Delegates are African-American
Delegates at the Republican National Convention are overwhelmingly white. That’s according to the Republican Party’s own data, which says out of nearly 2,500 delegates, only 18 are African-American. Statistics compiled by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies show that’s the fewest black delegates at the RNC in at least a century. One of the few African-American delegates at the RNC this year spoke.
Angela Underwood-Jacobs: "A delegate is a delegate is a delegate. And that’s truly all that matters. Hopefully, for the next time around, we’ll have more African-American delegates and people of color; however, right now it’s really about Americans."
This comes as Donald Trump has an approval rating among African Americans in Ohio of zero percent. This according to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, which also found he has a zero percent approval rating among African Americans in Pennsylvania, as well.
TOPICS:
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Trump Adviser: "Clinton Should Be Put in the Firing Line and Shot"
While the RNC has been marked by intense anger against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with many chanting "Lock her up! Lock her up!" during speeches, one Trump adviser has called for her to be executed. New Hampshire State Representative Al Baldasaro made the comments while speaking on the conservative Boston radio show "The Kuhner Report."
Rep. Al Baldasaro: "This whole thing disgusts me. Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason."
Al Baldasaro advises Trump on veterans’ issues. The Secret Service is investigating him for his comments.
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Reuters: Christie Says Trump Would Purge Obama Officials from Fed. Govt.
Reuters is reporting New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says Donald Trump would purge the federal government of all Obama-appointed officials if he wins the presidency. Christie is the head of Trump’s White House transition team. He reportedly said in a closed-door meeting, "As you know from his other career, Donald likes to fire people."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Donald Trump
Reuters: Trump Would Consider Fracking Mogul for Energy Secretary
Meanwhile, Reuters is also reporting Donald Trump is considering nominating a fracking tycoon to be energy secretary if he is elected president. Harold Hamm is theCEO of the billion-dollar oil and gas company Continental Energy. In response, co-founder of 350.org Bill McKibben told Democracy Now!: "America’s fracker in chief to work for a guy who thinks global warming is a hoax manufactured by the Chinese. What could go wrong?"
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
RNC 2016
2016 Election
Natural Gas & Oil Drilling
Trump Staffer Takes Responsibility for Plagiarizing Michelle Obama
Meredith McIver, an in-house staff writer for the Trump Organization, has taken responsibility for the plagiarism in Melania Trump’s speech at the RNC. In the speech Monday night, Melania Trump read multiple sections of Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNCspeech. Meredith McIver says Ms. Trump talked about liking Michelle Obama’s speech and had read parts of the text to her on the phone. McIver says she then left some lines of Michelle Obama’s speech in the final draft. But ThinkProgress is now reporting McIver’s apology is sparking additional questions about whether Trump’s campaign has broken any laws by receiving illegal contributions from his company. McIver works for the Trump Organization, and the apology was printed on the company’s letterhead. Former Federal Election Commission general counsel Lawrence Noble told ThinkProgress, "His company is not supposed to be supporting his campaign. The lines are becoming very blurred."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Donald Trump
RNC: Protesters Erect "Wall Against Trump"
Protests continue outside the RNC. On Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered to erect a "Wall Against Trump," blocking the entrance to the arena with a massive cloth banner painted like a wall.
Eva Cardenas: "We are going to be walling off hate, xenophobia, and we’re going to continue our pledge to protect our communities from people in positions of power who do not look out for the benefit of all of us as a community. Today we are drawing a line in the sand to demand respect for our communities and to ask for folks that are stepping on the sidelines, not knowing what they should do, to come and join us and to start walling up hate in their communities, to start protecting their people, because we, as a community, know the solutions. No one else is going to do it for us. So this is a call to action, but also a message to Trump and anyone that feels like using xenophobia and hate as a means of power. That’s not the solution, and we’re going to be here and continue to fight."
TOPICS:
RNC 2016
2016 Election
RNC: 17 Arrested After Protester Attempted to Burn an American Flag
Meanwhile, at least 17 people were arrested during another demonstration outside the RNC, after a protester attempted to burn an American flag. Burning American flags is legal under most circumstances. Police used horses to try to break up the protest.
TOPICS:
RNC 2016
Florida Police Shoot Unarmed Black Therapist Helping Autistic Man
Another shocking video of police shooting an African-American man has emerged. It happened Monday in North Miami, Florida. Police shot the unarmed man in the leg as he was attempting to help an autistic man who had wandered away from a group home. Social worker Charles Kinsey is seen lying on the ground with his hands in the air when police shot him. Police have said they were responding to a 911 call about a man with a gun. But in a cellphone video released yesterday, Kinsey can be heard telling police "All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavioral therapist at a group home."
Charles Kinsey: "All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavioral therapist at a group home."
Kinsey can also be heard on the video trying to calm down the autistic man, and said he was more worried about his patient’s safety than his own. The video does not show the moment the shots are fired, and Kinsey said officers offered no explanation.
Charles Kinsey: "When he hit me, I’m like—I still got my hands in the air. I said, 'You know, I just got shot.' And I’m standing there. I’m like, 'Sir, why did you shoot me?' And his words to me, he said, 'I don't know.’ … And I’m face down on the ground with cuffs on, waiting on the rescue squad to come. I’d say about 20—about 20 minutes for the rescue squad to get there. And I was bleeding. Yes, bleeding."
Reuters reported that the North Miami Police Department has placed an officer on leave after the incident and that the Miami-Dade County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the shooting.
TOPICS:
Police Brutality
Florida
Activists Shut Down Police Unions & Precincts in Multiple Cities
Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter activists launched protests in multiple cities Wednesday, including in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Detroit. In New York City, 10 people were arrested after activists locked themselves to each other usingPVC pipes at the entrance of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. In Detroit, six people were arrested at a protest outside a police precinct. The protest was remembering Aiyana Stanley-Jones, a seven-year-old girl who was killed in her own home in 2010 during a night raid by police that was being filmed by a reality TV show. In Washington, D.C., activists with Black Youth Project 100 and Black Lives Matter locked themselves to the steps of the national legislative office of the Fraternal Order of Police. The activists were demanding police officers stop paying dues to the private union, which they say defends officers accused of brutality.
TOPICS:
Black Lives Matter
New York
Detroit
Federal Court Rules Against Discriminatory Voting Law in Texas
A federal appeals court has ruled Texas’ strict voter ID law illegally discriminates against blacks and Hispanics and violates the Voting Rights Act. More than 600,000 Texans don’t have any of the types of IDs required under the law in order to vote. The appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that found the law disproportionately affects minorities. Among the issues with the law were the types of IDs that were acceptable. Concealed weapons permits were on the list, for instance, while student IDs were not.
TOPICS:
Texas
Voting
People's Tribunal: Indonesian Government Guilty of Genocide in 1960s
In news on Indonesia, an international people’s tribunal has found that the Indonesian government was responsible for "genocide" against members and supporters of the country’s Communist Party in 1965 and '66. The government of General Suharto killed up to a million people after the general deposed his predecessor, President Sukarno. General Suharto was backed by the United States. Speaking to Al Jazeera on Wednesday, the head of the international people's tribunal at The Hague called on the Indonesian government to apologize and provide compensation for survivors.
TOPICS:
Indonesia
Author of "Guantánamo Diary," Held for 14 Years, Cleared for Release
The author of a best-selling book about his imprisonment at Guantánamo may be freed. Mohamedou Ould Slahi is a Mauritanian citizen and the author of "Guantánamo Diary." Slahi has been imprisoned at Guantánamo for nearly 14 years without being charged with a crime. The prison’s review board has now declared he is no longer a "continuing significant threat to the security of the United States." Ould’s review took place last week, but the decision was announced yesterday. Seventy-seven prisoners remain at Guantánamo Bay, nearly eight years after President Obama first moved to close the prison.
TOPICS:
Guantanamo
And a Correction...
JULY 21, 2016
HEADLINES
And a correction: On Monday and Tuesday we reported Florida Congressmember Dennis Ross is planning to skip the RNC, saying, "It’s a good time to be fishing in Montana." In fact, Ross is not attending the convention, but the quote was actually the words of Montana Senator Steve Daines, who said that in an interview with Politico, but then ended up coming to the RNC on Tuesday.Donate today:
Follow:
SPEAKING EVENTS
Turkey: Erdogan Declares State of Emergency Amid Mass Arrests
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency after last week’s failed military coup. Over the past three days, tens of thousands of public employees, including soldiers, police officers and teachers, have been fired. Some have been arrested. In the Turkish capital of Ankara, Erdogan’s supporters said they welcomed the decision.
Ismael Canocak: "If Tayyip Erdogan deemed the state of emergency necessary, it should be the best option. Hopefully, we will overcome this under his leadership. We do not have any fear or reservations about the state of emergency. Life continues in Turkey. So does our demonstrations for democracy at night. God willing, this period will continue under the leadership of our commander-in-chief."
Since the coup, Erdogan has promised to reinstate the death penalty in Turkey. The Turkish government has also made a formal extradition request for Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Erdogan accuses of masterminding the coup attempt. Gülen lives in in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania. The U.S. government has not yet reached a decision on whether they would extradite Gülen.
TOPICS:
Turkey
U.S. Strike Kills 73 Civilians in Syria, Deadliest So Far in ISIS War
Activists say U.S. airstrikes on a town in northern Syria killed at least 73 civilians on Tuesday. The monitoring group Air Wars says it is the deadliest U.S. airstrike for civilians to date since the U.S. began strikes in Syria in 2014. A U.S.-supported militia called the Syrian Democratic Forces began an assault on the town of Manbij at the end of May. Since then, groups that monitor the war say at least 190 civilians have been killed in U.S. airstrikes in the town. The U.S. military has said it is investigating the incident. Until earlier this year, the Pentagon claimed no civilians had been killed in its air campaign against ISIS, while at the same time claiming more than 20,000ISIS fighters had been killed.
TOPICS:
Syria
NYT: Trump Offered John Kasich VP Job Before Picking Mike Pence
Here in Cleveland, Wednesday marked the third day of the Republican National Convention. Indiana Governor Mike Pence formally accepted the nomination to be Trump’s running mate.
Gov. Mike Pence: "I am deeply humbled by your confidence. And on behalf of my family, here and gone, I accept your nomination to run and serve as vice president of the United States of America."
But The New York Times is reporting Donald Trump actually wanted Ohio Governor John Kasich to be his running mate—and that Kasich declined. According to The New York Times, Donald Trump’s son called Kasich’s adviser asking if the governor wanted to be "the most powerful vice president in history," and promising Kasich would be in charge of both domestic and foreign policy. Donald Trump’s son reportedly said that his father’s role, as president, would be simply "making America great again." Trump’s campaign disputes this account and denies it wanted Kasich over Pence. Ohio Governor Kasich has not come to the convention, even though it’s being held in his own state and he’s been in Cleveland this week. Ultimately, the Trump campaign ended up picking Pence. Last night, during his speech, Governor Pence spoke about U.S. foreign policy, saying Donald Trump would "stand with our allies."
Gov. Mike Pence: "We cannot have four more years apologizing to our enemies and abandoning our friends. America needs to be strong for the world to be safe. And on the world stage, Donald Trump will lead from strength. Donald Trump will rebuild our military and stand with our allies."
But Donald Trump directly contradicted Pence during an interview with The New York Times Wednesday. Trump said he would break with long-standing U.S. foreign policy by not automatically defending NATO allies from attacks. Instead, Trump says, he’d only help NATO allies if they "have fulfilled their obligations to us." We’ll have more on Indiana Governor Mike Pence—the man who may become the most powerful vice president in history—after headlines.
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
RNC 2016
2016 Election
RNC: Ted Cruz Booed After Refusing to Endorse Donald Trump
Meanwhile, last night at the RNC, Mike Pence was overshadowed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who refused to officially endorse Donald Trump.
Sen. Ted Cruz: "If you love our country and love your children as much as I know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution."
That’s the crowd booing last night at the RNC, as Ted Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump. Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz, had to be escorted out by security as she was heckled by the pro-Trump delegates, who shouted "Goldman Sachs!" Heidi Cruz is a managing director at the private equity firm. After Cruz’s speech, delegates expressed outrage.
Shaun Ireland: "Those one, two sentences is all we needed. And instead, he did this 'vote your conscience,' did a mic drop and walked out. And what it really was is a big middle finger to this entire convention. ... And Ted Cruz, tonight, just set the United States up to be ruled by that corrupt woman, Hillary—crooked Hillary Clinton, just so he could set himself up to be president in four years. There probably won’t even be a Republican Party in four years."
TOPICS:
Ted Cruz
Donald Trump
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Fewer Than 1% of RNC Delegates are African-American
Delegates at the Republican National Convention are overwhelmingly white. That’s according to the Republican Party’s own data, which says out of nearly 2,500 delegates, only 18 are African-American. Statistics compiled by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies show that’s the fewest black delegates at the RNC in at least a century. One of the few African-American delegates at the RNC this year spoke.
Angela Underwood-Jacobs: "A delegate is a delegate is a delegate. And that’s truly all that matters. Hopefully, for the next time around, we’ll have more African-American delegates and people of color; however, right now it’s really about Americans."
This comes as Donald Trump has an approval rating among African Americans in Ohio of zero percent. This according to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, which also found he has a zero percent approval rating among African Americans in Pennsylvania, as well.
TOPICS:
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Trump Adviser: "Clinton Should Be Put in the Firing Line and Shot"
While the RNC has been marked by intense anger against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with many chanting "Lock her up! Lock her up!" during speeches, one Trump adviser has called for her to be executed. New Hampshire State Representative Al Baldasaro made the comments while speaking on the conservative Boston radio show "The Kuhner Report."
Rep. Al Baldasaro: "This whole thing disgusts me. Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason."
Al Baldasaro advises Trump on veterans’ issues. The Secret Service is investigating him for his comments.
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Reuters: Christie Says Trump Would Purge Obama Officials from Fed. Govt.
Reuters is reporting New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says Donald Trump would purge the federal government of all Obama-appointed officials if he wins the presidency. Christie is the head of Trump’s White House transition team. He reportedly said in a closed-door meeting, "As you know from his other career, Donald likes to fire people."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Donald Trump
Reuters: Trump Would Consider Fracking Mogul for Energy Secretary
Meanwhile, Reuters is also reporting Donald Trump is considering nominating a fracking tycoon to be energy secretary if he is elected president. Harold Hamm is theCEO of the billion-dollar oil and gas company Continental Energy. In response, co-founder of 350.org Bill McKibben told Democracy Now!: "America’s fracker in chief to work for a guy who thinks global warming is a hoax manufactured by the Chinese. What could go wrong?"
TOPICS:
Donald Trump
RNC 2016
2016 Election
Natural Gas & Oil Drilling
Trump Staffer Takes Responsibility for Plagiarizing Michelle Obama
Meredith McIver, an in-house staff writer for the Trump Organization, has taken responsibility for the plagiarism in Melania Trump’s speech at the RNC. In the speech Monday night, Melania Trump read multiple sections of Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNCspeech. Meredith McIver says Ms. Trump talked about liking Michelle Obama’s speech and had read parts of the text to her on the phone. McIver says she then left some lines of Michelle Obama’s speech in the final draft. But ThinkProgress is now reporting McIver’s apology is sparking additional questions about whether Trump’s campaign has broken any laws by receiving illegal contributions from his company. McIver works for the Trump Organization, and the apology was printed on the company’s letterhead. Former Federal Election Commission general counsel Lawrence Noble told ThinkProgress, "His company is not supposed to be supporting his campaign. The lines are becoming very blurred."
TOPICS:
2016 Election
RNC 2016
Donald Trump
RNC: Protesters Erect "Wall Against Trump"
Protests continue outside the RNC. On Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered to erect a "Wall Against Trump," blocking the entrance to the arena with a massive cloth banner painted like a wall.
Eva Cardenas: "We are going to be walling off hate, xenophobia, and we’re going to continue our pledge to protect our communities from people in positions of power who do not look out for the benefit of all of us as a community. Today we are drawing a line in the sand to demand respect for our communities and to ask for folks that are stepping on the sidelines, not knowing what they should do, to come and join us and to start walling up hate in their communities, to start protecting their people, because we, as a community, know the solutions. No one else is going to do it for us. So this is a call to action, but also a message to Trump and anyone that feels like using xenophobia and hate as a means of power. That’s not the solution, and we’re going to be here and continue to fight."
TOPICS:
RNC 2016
2016 Election
RNC: 17 Arrested After Protester Attempted to Burn an American Flag
Meanwhile, at least 17 people were arrested during another demonstration outside the RNC, after a protester attempted to burn an American flag. Burning American flags is legal under most circumstances. Police used horses to try to break up the protest.
TOPICS:
RNC 2016
Florida Police Shoot Unarmed Black Therapist Helping Autistic Man
Another shocking video of police shooting an African-American man has emerged. It happened Monday in North Miami, Florida. Police shot the unarmed man in the leg as he was attempting to help an autistic man who had wandered away from a group home. Social worker Charles Kinsey is seen lying on the ground with his hands in the air when police shot him. Police have said they were responding to a 911 call about a man with a gun. But in a cellphone video released yesterday, Kinsey can be heard telling police "All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavioral therapist at a group home."
Charles Kinsey: "All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavioral therapist at a group home."
Kinsey can also be heard on the video trying to calm down the autistic man, and said he was more worried about his patient’s safety than his own. The video does not show the moment the shots are fired, and Kinsey said officers offered no explanation.
Charles Kinsey: "When he hit me, I’m like—I still got my hands in the air. I said, 'You know, I just got shot.' And I’m standing there. I’m like, 'Sir, why did you shoot me?' And his words to me, he said, 'I don't know.’ … And I’m face down on the ground with cuffs on, waiting on the rescue squad to come. I’d say about 20—about 20 minutes for the rescue squad to get there. And I was bleeding. Yes, bleeding."
Reuters reported that the North Miami Police Department has placed an officer on leave after the incident and that the Miami-Dade County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the shooting.
TOPICS:
Police Brutality
Florida
Activists Shut Down Police Unions & Precincts in Multiple Cities
Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter activists launched protests in multiple cities Wednesday, including in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Detroit. In New York City, 10 people were arrested after activists locked themselves to each other usingPVC pipes at the entrance of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. In Detroit, six people were arrested at a protest outside a police precinct. The protest was remembering Aiyana Stanley-Jones, a seven-year-old girl who was killed in her own home in 2010 during a night raid by police that was being filmed by a reality TV show. In Washington, D.C., activists with Black Youth Project 100 and Black Lives Matter locked themselves to the steps of the national legislative office of the Fraternal Order of Police. The activists were demanding police officers stop paying dues to the private union, which they say defends officers accused of brutality.
TOPICS:
Black Lives Matter
New York
Detroit
Federal Court Rules Against Discriminatory Voting Law in Texas
A federal appeals court has ruled Texas’ strict voter ID law illegally discriminates against blacks and Hispanics and violates the Voting Rights Act. More than 600,000 Texans don’t have any of the types of IDs required under the law in order to vote. The appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that found the law disproportionately affects minorities. Among the issues with the law were the types of IDs that were acceptable. Concealed weapons permits were on the list, for instance, while student IDs were not.
TOPICS:
Texas
Voting
People's Tribunal: Indonesian Government Guilty of Genocide in 1960s
In news on Indonesia, an international people’s tribunal has found that the Indonesian government was responsible for "genocide" against members and supporters of the country’s Communist Party in 1965 and '66. The government of General Suharto killed up to a million people after the general deposed his predecessor, President Sukarno. General Suharto was backed by the United States. Speaking to Al Jazeera on Wednesday, the head of the international people's tribunal at The Hague called on the Indonesian government to apologize and provide compensation for survivors.
TOPICS:
Indonesia
Author of "Guantánamo Diary," Held for 14 Years, Cleared for Release
The author of a best-selling book about his imprisonment at Guantánamo may be freed. Mohamedou Ould Slahi is a Mauritanian citizen and the author of "Guantánamo Diary." Slahi has been imprisoned at Guantánamo for nearly 14 years without being charged with a crime. The prison’s review board has now declared he is no longer a "continuing significant threat to the security of the United States." Ould’s review took place last week, but the decision was announced yesterday. Seventy-seven prisoners remain at Guantánamo Bay, nearly eight years after President Obama first moved to close the prison.
TOPICS:
Guantanamo
And a Correction...
JULY 21, 2016
HEADLINES
And a correction: On Monday and Tuesday we reported Florida Congressmember Dennis Ross is planning to skip the RNC, saying, "It’s a good time to be fishing in Montana." In fact, Ross is not attending the convention, but the quote was actually the words of Montana Senator Steve Daines, who said that in an interview with Politico, but then ended up coming to the RNC on Tuesday.Donate today:
Follow:
SPEAKING EVENTS
"Terror, Tennis Balls and Tamir Rice" COLUMNSPastor on Tamir Rice Shooting: Ohio is an Open-Carry State Except If You're an African-American MaleCLEVELAND—Welcome to Cleveland, where the Republican National Convention (RNC) is underway. The RNC is a highly scripted, elaborately staged and lavishly publicly funded private party. Here, credentialed Republican delegates, most of them party activists from around the country, circulate within a militarized perimeter of what authorities have designated a “national special security event.” As such, the U.S. Secret Service is handed complete control of an area, in this case downtown Cleveland. The area is ringed with a temporary but imposing black steel fence, patrolled by the full spectrum of law enforcement, from local police to federal SWAT teams. Yet because Ohio has extremely lenient gun laws, people can “open carry” here. And they do. Scores of Trump supporters have proudly shown up with their guns at their sides, including semi-automatic AR-15s, walking the downtown streets.
It is not a total free-for-all, however. Many things are banned: tennis balls, sleeping bags, selfie sticks and canned goods. To highlight the absurdity of the situation, the women’s peace organization Code Pink staged a demonstration at the security checkpoint to enter the RNC. In their bags, the dozen or so pink-clad women carried 500 pink and green tennis balls with the phrase “Ban Guns, Not Balls” written on them. They began tossing them to each other.
A line of Cleveland police officers quickly formed and tried to encircle the protest. They started to confiscate the tennis balls. There was confusion, as one officer asked a superior, “What do we do with the balls?” “Put them in your pocket,” came the exasperated reply. The police aggressively expanded their line, pushing observers, and us journalists, farther away. We managed to dodge them and got in close to ask Code Pink member Chelsea Byers what was going on: “We’re here saying that it’s ridiculous that the RNC has banned tennis balls, and yet they continue to let open carry happen in these streets. If they’re concerned about safety, they should be taking the guns off of these streets, not banning toys.” To reinforce the Cleveland police, a large contingent of Indiana State Police showed up, then riot police were deployed. Finally, a phalanx of police on horseback arrived. All this for about 15 women and one man from Code Pink and their 500 tennis balls.
The second evening of the RNC was about to begin. Thousands were packing into the Quicken Loans Arena. For the first time ever, an official from the National Rifle Association was invited to address the convention.
Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin told us at the protest, “We think that the NRAhas, unfortunately, been setting the agenda for this entire nation, especially the Republican Party. It’s unfortunate that the NRA has so much power in this country. That’s why we see guns on our streets and people being shot every single day, every single hour of every single day.” Eventually, with all the tennis balls safely confiscated, the police marched away.
Ninety blocks from the RNC, in the largely African-American Cudell neighborhood of Cleveland, a memorial of stuffed animals and crosses adorns a picnic area under a gazebo in a neighborhood playground. On Nov. 22, 2014, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was playing with a toy gun in his hand. Someone called 911, reporting the gun, while noting on the call that it could be a fake. Two Cleveland police officers sped to the scene. They zoomed onto the grass and, within seconds, had flung open their doors and shot Tamir in the stomach. Tamir Rice’s death at the hands of police fanned the flames of protest that had been raging since the police killings of Eric Garner in Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, just months earlier.
While covering the RNC, we took a side trip to the scene of Tamir’s fatal shooting. Our guide: former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner. As an African-American mother, she has had that all-too-familiar conversation with her son, about how to respond to police ... when he is out of uniform. Her son is a police officer, as was her husband, now retired. As she stood on the site of Tamir’s shooting, on the day that officers were killed in Baton Rouge, and the week after others were shot dead in Dallas, she offered her unique perspective: “The biggest gap that we have in this country is a value gap, the fact that African-American lives really are not as valued as the lives of our white sisters and brothers in this country,” she told us as we stood by Tamir’s memorial. “We really need to come to grips with this.”
In Cleveland, the Republican Party has nominated Donald Trump to be its presidential candidate. Outside, his supporters are free to parade with assault rifles. Tamir Rice would have turned 14 last month, if police had simply given him a chance to drop his toy gun. This fatal inequality will continue to terrorize this nation until we genuinely commit to confronting racism and gun violence.
NEW BOOK
Part 2: Color of Change's Rashad Robinson Confronts Fraternal Order of Police over Racial Profiling
WORK WITH DN!
Special Expanded 2-Hour Broadcasts from the RNC and DNC—July 18-29
207 West 25th Street, 11th Floor
New York, New York 10001, United States
---------------------
---------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment