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A vendor sells 2024 Donald Trump campaign souvenirs at the Turning Point Action USA conference in West Palm Beach, Flo., in 2023. Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Trump rallies involve a lot of merch vendors sometimes set up overnight before a rally, preparing for the huge crowds. There are hats, socks, flags, buttons and, especially, T-shirts.

I go to a lot of these rallies. In the middle of it all, Ive gotten a little obsessed with this one particular shirt.

Miranda Barbee bought one in the hours before a Trump rally on the beach in Wildwood, New Jersey, and held it up, reading aloud.

I just bought this shirt for $20. It says Biden sucks, Kamala - what does that even swallows? I didn't even see the front! That is so funny. She flipped it around. And the back says, F**k Joe and the Hoe.

She and the friend she came with laughed.

I honestly didn't know the front said that, Barbee added. But I think that's hilarious.

These shirts have been sold prominently at recent rallies vendors who specialize in these particular shirts often stand right outside the entrances and exits, catching the eyes of the streams of Trump fans.

Theyre not official campaign apparel. When asked for comment, a campaign spokesperson didnt address the shirts directly, instead pointing to a Biden official campaign shirt (slogan: Free on Wednesdays) that pokes fun at Donald Trumps legal troubles.

Still, I wanted to know: why? Why do these shirts exist, and whos buying them? Sooner or later, I had spent so much time thinking about it, I wanted to know if there was anything to be learned here.

"The Hillary Nutcracker & Corkscrew Bill", a boxed set of a nutcracker and bottle corkscrew were available for sale during the 2009 holiday season. Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Sexism isnt exactly new in politics.

Consider Americas decades of Hillary Clinton hatred. One T-shirt slogan around the time of her 2008 presidential campaign read I wish Hillary had married O.J., referring to O.J. Simpson who famously faced trial for his wife's murder. He was acquitted.

And then there was the Hillary Clinton nutcrackerdescribed gleefully by MSNBCs Willie Geist in 2007 as a Hillary doll with serrated stainless steel thighs that, well, crack nuts. To this, Tucker Carlson then also of MSNBC responded, "When she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs" and declared that he would be buying one.

Over the years, Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Sarah Palin would also be the targets of demeaning, often obscene merchandise.

But still, the open lewdness of the Trump t-shirts. Thats new, right? I asked Tim Miller, a Republican strategist who worked for Jon Huntsman and Jeb Bushs presidential campaigns.

It's not like you couldn't find a guy standing outside the RNC in 2012 selling some misogynistic Hillary stuff. It was there, but just the intensity of it, he said, just how crass it is, it's definitely a category difference.

That crassness has been around from the beginning at Trump rallies. As my colleague Don Gonyea reported in 2016, vendors then were selling shirts reading, Hillary sucks, but not the way Monica does.

What's different about Donald Trump is that his campaign is not particularly worried about this type of misogyny being attached to his campaign, because at least to date, it hasn't hurt him that much, explained Kelly Dittmar, director of research for the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

A vendor sells t-shirts at a May 1, 2024, Trump rally in Freeland, Michigan. Danielle Kurtzleben/NPR hide caption

One example: Even after a jury found him civilly liable for sexual abuse last year, polls didnt budge.

Part of whats going on is partisan, Dittmar adds a reflection of an existing gender gap.

I think there's more kind of internal policing among Democrats about the fact that this is contrary to our brand and it hurts us, by the way, with the constituency that is our most reliable one, which is women.

Furthermore, she says, this kind of language is often particularly directed at women of color, like Kamala Harris. The word ho' on the shirt undeniably makes this about race as well as sex.

Meanwhile, Dittmar says, the Republican base is majority-men.

And of course, she said, of the women who do support [Republicans], they are more likely to say that this is just, you know, a joke.

That was true of voter Christena Kincaid, who talked to me just after she had bought one of these shirts at a rally in Freeland, Michigan.

It's just a slang. That's all it is, she said. It's a goofy it is a little over the top. I get it. But they're just words.

That idea, that theyre just words, fits with Trumps brand as an anti-PC crusader who tells it like it is, which has involved loudly insulting women, from Clinton to Megyn Kelly to Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar.

But also, the idea that words dont matter that much that echoes the response to the infamous Access Hollywood tape, which Trumps defenders shrugged off as locker room talk.

Rina Shah is a political strategist and a former Republican congressional aide, and a Republican who opposes Trump. She told me she thinks the shirts very much matter.

If we're allowing our kids to see this visually, even if it's contained at a rally, the person who wears that shirt at that rally isn't just going to wear that one day, she said. This flavor of incivility is permeating our nation's social fabric.

I did ask Bob Berger, who I met at that Freeland, Mich., rally, about wearing the shirt outside of a rally.

Are you worried about offending anyone when you wear it? I asked.

No.

"Do you think you'll be careful where you wear it? Like around, I don't know, grandkids?" I continued.

"Oh, maybe around the grandkids. I probably would be," he replied.

What Rina Shah said about Trumps incivility trickling down to his supporters seems true, whether its via clothing or simply their willingness to get nasty in talking about Biden and Harris.

As much as I hope Joe Biden gets arrested, whatever, is not in office anymore. I'm like, we're still stuck with the bitch. I dont want her either, said Barbee, the voter I met at that New Jersey rally, referring to Harris.

I asked her: Does that language feel demeaning to you as a young woman using words like bitch?

I mean, she is a bitch, she responded.

On top of that, you can also see all this the T-shirt slogans, the cuss words, Trumps vulgarity as a marker of a gap in American politics: a yawning partisan gap in attitudes about gender.

Those differences in gender beliefs are going to make it more permissible or not to put forth these types of messages without some sort of a backlash or pushing down, Dittmar of Rutgers University said.

Studies have found that Trump voters including women in 2016 were particularly likely to have beliefs that political scientists term hostile sexism. Furthermore, some found that these beliefs were prominent in a way they werent in 2012. Those hostile sexist beliefs include, for example, the idea that women are too easily offended.

Barbee, at that New Jersey rally, the voter who talked to me the longest about her shirt, echoed some of those beliefs.

I feel like feminism is becoming like a huge thing these days, but I also feel like it's people are overly sensitive, like they're reacting to things they shouldn't be reacting to.

Its an attitude thats been around for a long time. But her new T-shirt? That represented something new.

Read the original post:
What one vulgar Trump T-shirt reveals about his movement - NPR

Former President Donald Trump said the radical left is pushing the United States into becoming a third-world country in his Fathers Day social media post.

Happy Fathers Day to all, including the radical left degenerates that are rapidly bringing the United States of America into third world nation status with their many attempts at trying to influence our sacred court system into breaking to their very sick and dangerous will, the Truth Social post said in screaming, all-capital letters.

We need strength and loyalty to our country, and its wonderful constitution, he said. Everything will be on full display come Nov. 5, 2024 the most important day in the history of our country. Make America great again!!!

The former president was found guilty late last month of 34 felony counts in New York for falsifying business records to cover uphush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

It was the first of his four criminal cases to go to court. He still faces two cases relating to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election one in Washington and another in Georgia. He also faces charges over the handling of classified documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate.

He has repeatedly railed against President Biden and the Democrats, saying they are behind the indictments and calling the cases election interference.

The presumptive Republican nominee has a history of using holiday social media posts to attack those he thinks have wronged him.

Last years Mothers Day post, for example, celebrated the Mothers, Wives and Lovers of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, and Communists who are doing everything within their power to destroy and obliterate our once great Country.

He also has used recent Christmas and Memorial Day posts for this purpose, writing in one post about his political rivals, may they rot in hell. Again, Merry Christmas!

Read more from the original source:
Trump wishes happy Father's Day to 'radical left degenerates' - Washington Times

Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Donald Trump and his closest allies are preparing a radical reshaping of American government if he regains the White House. Here are some of his plans for cracking down on immigration, directing the Justice Department to prosecute his adversaries, increasing presidential power, upending Americas economic policies, retreating militarily from Europe and unilaterally deploying troops to Democratic-run cities.

Mr. Trump is planning a massive expansion of his first-term crackdown on immigration if he returns to power in 2025. Among other things, he would:

Mr. Trumps top immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, said that a second Trump administration would seek a tenfold increase in the volume of deportations to more than a million per year.

He plans to reassign federal agents and the National Guard to immigration control. He would also enable the use of federal troops to apprehend migrants.

The Trump team plans to use military funds to build vast holding facilities to detain immigrants while their deportation cases progress.

He plans to revive safe third country agreements with Central American countries and expand them to Africa and elsewhere. The aim is to send people seeking asylum to other countries.

He plans to suspend the nations refugee program and once again bar visitors from mostly Muslim countries, reinstating a version of the travel ban that President Biden revoked in 2021.

His administration would declare that children born to undocumented parents were not entitled to citizenship and would cease issuing documents like Social Security cards and passports to them.

Mr. Trump has declared that he would use the powers of the presidency to seek vengeance on his perceived foes. His allies have developed a legal rationale to erase the Justice Departments independence from the president. Mr. Trump has suggested that he would:

As president, Mr. Trump pressed the Justice Department to investigate his foes. If re-elected, he has vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to go after Mr. Biden and his family.

He has cited the precedent of his own indictments to declare that if he became president again and someone challenged him politically, he could say, Go down and indict them.

Kash Patel, a Trump confidant, has threatened to target journalists for prosecution if Mr. Trump returns to power. The campaign later distanced Mr. Trump from the remarks.

Mr. Trump and his associates have a broad goal to alter the balance of power by increasing the presidents authority over every part of the federal government that currently operates independently of the White House. Mr. Trump has said that he will:

Congress has set up various regulatory agencies to operate independently from the White House. Mr. Trump has vowed to bring them under presidential control, setting up a potential court fight.

He has vowed to return to a system under which the president has the power to refuse to spend money that Congress has appropriated for programs the president doesnt like.

During Mr. Trumps presidency, he issued an executive order making it easier to fire career officials and replace them with loyalists. Mr. Biden rescinded it, but Mr. Trump has said that he would reissue it in a second term.

Mr. Trump has disparaged the career work force at agencies involved in national security and foreign policy as an evil deep state he intends to destroy.

Politically appointed lawyers in the first Trump administration sometimes raised objections to White House proposals. Several of his closest advisers are now vetting lawyers seen as more likely to embrace aggressive legal theories about the scope of his power.

At the risk of disrupting the economy in hopes of transforming it, Mr. Trump plans to impose new tariffs on most goods manufactured abroad. Economists say his broader agenda including on trade, deportations and taxes could cause prices to rise. He has said that he will:

Mr. Trump has said that he plans to impose a tariff on most goods made overseas, floating a figure of 10 percent for a new import tax. On top of raising prices for consumers, such a policy would risk a global trade war that hurts American exporters.

He has said that he will phase out all Chinese imports of electronics and other essential goods, and impose new rules to stop U.S. companies from making investments in China. The two countries are the largest economies in the world and exchange hundreds of billions of dollars of goods each year.

He has vowed to revive his deregulatory agenda and go further in curbing the so-called administrative state agencies that issue rules for corporations such as limits aimed at keeping the air and water clean and ensuring that food, drugs, cars and consumer products safe, but that can cut into business profits.

Mr. Trump has said he would extend the tax cuts from his 2017 tax law that are set to expire, including for all levels of personal income and for large estates. He also privately told business leaders he wants to further lower the corporate tax rate.

Mr. Trump has long made clear that he sees NATO, the countrys most important military alliance, not as a force multiplier with allies but as a drain on American resources by freeloaders. He has said he will:

While in office, he threatened to withdraw from NATO. On his campaign website, he says he plans to fundamentally re-evaluate NATOs purpose, fueling anxiety that he could gut or end the alliance.

He has claimed that he would end the war in Ukraine in a day. He has not said how, but he has suggested that he would have made a deal to prevent the war by letting Russia simply take Ukrainian lands.

Mr. Trump has been more clear about his plans for using U.S. military force closer to home. He has said that he would:

He has released a plan to fight Mexican drug cartels with military force. It would violate international law if the United States used armed forces on Mexicos soil without its consent.

While its generally illegal to use the military for domestic law enforcement, the Insurrection Act creates an exception. The Trump team would invoke it to use soldiers as immigration agents.

He came close to unleashing the active-duty military on racial justice protests that sometimes descended into riots in 2020 and remains attracted to the idea. Next time, he has said, he will unilaterally send federal forces to bring order to Democratic-run cities.

More:
If Trump Wins - The New York Times

Opponents of Donald J. Trump are drafting potential lawsuits in case he is elected in November and carries out mass deportations, as he has vowed. One group has hired a new auditor to withstand any attempt by a second Trump administration to unleash the Internal Revenue Service against them. Democratic-run state governments are even stockpiling abortion medication.

A sprawling network of Democratic officials, progressive activists, watchdog groups and ex-Republicans has been taking extraordinary steps to prepare for a potential second Trump presidency, drawn together by the fear that Mr. Trumps return to power would pose a grave threat not just to their agenda but to American democracy itself.

Trump has made clear that hell disregard the law and test the limits of our system, said Joanna Lydgate, the chief executive of States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan democracy watchdog organization that works with state officials in both parties. What were staring down is extremely dark.

While the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an attempt to nullify federal approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, liberals fear a new Trump administration could rescind the approval or use a 19th-century morality law to criminalize sending it across state lines.

The Democratic governor of Washington State, Jay Inslee, said he had secured a large enough supply of mifepristone pills to preserve access for women in his state through a second Trump administration. The supply is locked away at a state warehouse.

We have it physically in the state of Washington, which could stop him and his anti-choice forces from prohibiting its distribution, Mr. Inslee said in an interview. It has a life span of five or six years. If there was another Trump administration, itll get us through.

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The Resistance to a New Trump Administration Has Already Started - The New York Times

People arrive before Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the "People's Convention" of Turning Point Action Saturday in Detroit. Carlos Osorio/AP hide caption

Sporting a "Pretty Girls Vote Republican" baseball cap and several buttons, including one reading "Gun Rights are Women's Rights," Lauren Kerby was surprised to be asked who she plans to vote for in the fall.

"Obviously Trump," the 21-year-old from Berkeley, Mich., said with a laugh. "I came here for a reason."

Here is the 'Peoples Convention,' run by Turning Point Action, the advocacy wing of Turning Point USA, one of the largest national organizations focused on engaging students on conservative issues.

Turning Point - which rose out of concerns about free speech on college campuses, has grown into an unapologetically pro-Trump machine, focused on organizing for the former president ahead of the 2024 election.

It hosts events like these, attracting voters like Kerby and hundreds of others like her who want to party, young conservative style.

And this is certainly a Trump show. At the Huntington Place Convention Center in downtown Detroit, a bejeweled presidential seal with Trumps face in the center rests on the hood of a gold-painted Mercedes-Benz. At a nearby booth among dozens, vendors are selling "America First" cowboy hats and shirts reading, "Voting Convicted Felon, 2024."

The festivities this year come as Turning Point Action works to significantly expand its organizing presence in key swing states ahead of the general election, including Michigan, home to this years conference.

Just five months out, enthusiasm for Trump is high among younger attendees. NPR spoke with more than a dozen voters under 30 who remain committed to Trump, motivated to vote for him largely because of his isolationist ideas and focus on the economy and immigration.

Supporters cheer as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the People's Convention of Turning Point Action Saturday, June 15, 2024 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Carlos Osorio/AP hide caption

Their unwavering support stands in contrast to the sentiment of many younger Democratic voters, who remain unsure or unenthused about backing President Biden again.

Trump took the stage Saturday night as the event headliner. He ticked through his proposed second-term agenda and criticized Bidens record, making little mention of the youth-focused nature of the event, outside of publicly thanking Turning Point founder and longtime supporter, Charlie Kirk, who is a millennial.

[Kirks] got his army of young people, Trump said to a crowd of over 8,000, according to Kirk. Though Turning Point staff told NPR that around 3,000 of the attendees were students.

These are young patriots. They dont want to see what's been happening in our country," Trump added.

The former presidents remarks came after two days of speeches from conservative firebrands and high-profile Trump allies, including Republican National Committee co-chair and Trumps daughter-in-law Lara Trump, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

This years conference also comes just over two weeks after a New York jury found Trump guilty of criminal charges, a decision that could negatively impact his chances with younger voters. The latest Harvard youth poll, published in March, found a potential guilty verdict increased Bidens lead by 10 percentage points among young Americans overall.

Much like their unwavering support in the election, though, voters at the event are unphased by his conviction. His mugshot is displayed on the posters and t-shirts of attendees.

To 20-year-old activist James Hart of Tallahassee, Fla., the verdict has little effect.

I dont really think, at this point, anyones feelings changed. I think everyone knows who theyre going to vote for. We know Trump. Trust me we know Joe Biden, said Hart. We know their policy. We know how they're going to act. And I trust Trump.

I think most young people are going after Trump-like candidates. We want the fire. We want the passion. We're tired of the same old, same old. We want bold policy that actually is going to lead with results.

James Hart, Florida Voter

June 15, 2024

For Kerby from Berkeley, Mich., supporting Trump partially stems from his push for isolationism, including limiting U.S. aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Hes focused on whats happening here, she said, pointing instead to Trumps focus on reducing illegal immigration.

Not saying that other places don't matter, but we should matter first, Kerbys friend, Elaina Luca, 21, added. When you're in a family, you make sure that your family is okay first.

Luca is also backing Trump. As a mom with two young kids, shes most concerned about rising prices.

When I drive around and see a nice house, I like to look up how much it's sold for, she explained. In today's economy, it's like, Oh, wow, how did these people even afford that? And it's like, Oh no, they bought it in 2012 for like $150,000 and now it's worth like $1 million.

How am I supposed to get a house to raise my children to live in? she wondered aloud, I don't want to pay for a house for the rest of my life.

Former President Donald Trump walks on to the stage to give the keynote address at Turning Point Action's "The People's Convention" on Saturday in Detroit, Michigan. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images hide caption

While Turning Points non-profit side has held student conferences for nearly a decade, also sprinkled with appearances from Republican politicians and conservative media figures, this conference marks just the second for Turning Point Action.

The activist network has morphed into a more pronounced political force, planning to ramp up its organizing ground game ahead of the election.

It's night and day, said Turning Point Action spokesman Andrew Kolvet. Any activities we did, in 2022 for example, in the midterms, was like the Stone Age compared to the level of sophistication and just the resources that weve poured into this project to develop it.

Kolvet is talking about the groups Chase the Vote initiative, a get-out-to-vote campaign focused on reaching low-propensity voters in swing states that launched earlier this spring. Trump recently endorsed the program during a separate Turning Point event in Arizona, another pivotal state in 2024.

Turning Point hopes to raise $100 million to build up on the ground organizing staff and plans to work with the Trump campaign on canvassing a notable change from past election cycles following new guidance from the Federal Election Commission.

Despite the roots of Turning Point, the program is not solely focused on young voters, though Kolvet said that will always be tied to Turning Points work.

Despite enthusiasm for Trump at Turning Point, Republicans face a steep challenge to bringing in more young voters. Voters under 30 have traditionally voted for Democrats, and in 2020, Biden won the age group by a 24-point margin.

Plus young voters tend to be aligned with Democrats on their key issues notably on abortion access, addressing climate and curbing gun violence. And despite struggling in polling, Biden still maintains a lead with young voters overall in multiple youth polls.

But among some young conservatives, albeit a proportionally smaller group, Trumps style of Republican politics once fringe and now mainstream is overwhelmingly what they want for their political future.

An attendee wears a "Team Trump" cowboy hat as people watch speakers during Turning Point's "Peoples Convention" on Saturday in Detroit. Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

The pro-Trump, MAGA element definitely appeals more towards young conservatives and young Americans in general, said 19-year-old Ohio student, Gabe Guidarini, a member of the College Republicans of America. It actually addresses the problems that they face.

He argued young people have trouble connecting to old school Republican rhetoric focused on cutting taxes and government spending, because they are not able to progress financially. And given the time period Gen Z has grown up during, Trumps deviation from political norms is appealing, he explained.

James Hart agrees. Though the 20-year-old now lives in Tallahassee, he grew up in Detroit. I was raised Democrat, he said.

That is, until 2016, when his family flipped for Trump.

His personality is what got my family to say. Hey, you know, maybe the Democrats aren't the greatest, he said. Honesty is the best policy. And up here in the Midwest, we're honest. We say it like it is. And Trump did that.

Now, as Hart gets ready to vote for the first time, his mind is made up.

I think most young people are going after Trump-like candidates, he said. We want the fire. We want the passion. We're tired of the same old, same old. We want bold policy that actually is going to lead with results.

Read more:
Young conservatives think enthusiasm is on their side in 2024 election - NPR