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LAS VEGAS A woman who identified herself as a naturalized citizen who immigrated from Nicaragua endorsed Donald Trump at his rally Sunday, telling the crowd she no longer believed in Democrats promises for the Latino community and comparing the United States to a house taking in rule-breaking strangers.

An hour later, Trump took the stage and railed against what he called an invasion at the southern border, declaring that undocumented immigrants are changing the fabric of our country, turning it into a dumping ground and fighting our families.

Were not going to let them destroy our country, Trump said.

Trump often uses dehumanizing language and hyperbolic claims to bash undocumented immigrants. He claims, without evidence, that foreign countries all over the world are emptying their prisons and mental institutions in a deliberate effort to offload people into the United States. He details gruesome crimes for which police have arrested undocumented suspects and, while discussing accusations of violence, has said some migrants are animals and not people. He says migrants are fueling a crime wave and literally hail from the dungeons of the Third World, even though the rise in illegal border crossing during Joe Bidens presidency has coincided with a decrease in violent crime.

At the same time, Trump is courting Latinos, who are less likely than voters as whole to support his calls for a border crackdown. Recent polling suggests that his strategy might work.

Immigration was arguably Trumps most effective argument in 2016 and remains central as ever to his campaign, drawing rebukes from many Democrats but few Republicans. Voters tell pollsters they trust Trump more than Biden on immigration, and Trump has gained with Hispanic voters in polling especially in Nevada.

Democrats hope that Trumps rhetoric and promises of mass deportations will help mobilize key voting groups against him. But almost a decade after he burst onto the political scene with promises to build the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump is betting that hard line anti-immigration rhetoric will help him reclaim the White House.

The Biden campaigns Hispanic media director, Maca Casado, ridiculed Trumps Sunday launch of Latino Americans for Trump and said in a statement, All we saw today was a wannabe dictator spouting his trademark hatred for our community.

In 2016, Trump campaigned on a promise to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, but never fully executed those ideas in part because of the immense cost and complexity of the plan.

The idea remains popular: 62 percent of registered voters nationwide support a program to deport all undocumented immigrants, according to a CBS News poll released Sunday. But his sweeping promises to deport millions of immigrants already in the country would still be massively disruptive and difficult to carry out.

Critics say that what has changed is the level of blowback Trump receives.

It is becoming acceptable to dehumanize immigrants on a regular basis, said Vanessa Crdenas, the executive director of Americas Voice, an immigrant rights group. Theres no real pushback.

Biden has attacked Trump for turning the GOP against a bipartisan border bill that some Republicans feared would hand Democrats an election-year victory. Last week, he signed an executive order aimed at limiting the number of migrants who can seek asylum at the southern border, a move that more than 70 percent of registered voters approved of, according to the CBS News poll.

Trump assailed the executive order on Sunday. Its weak. Its ineffective. Its bull---t, he said. The crowd echoed his remarks by chanting the expletive.

Americans have been broadly critical of Bidens handling of the southern border and more likely to trust Trump on the issue, lending him and other Republicans a potent theme with cross-party appeal. Officials across the political spectrum have raised concerns about their communities ability to absorb undocumented immigrants, particularly as border states have bused migrants to liberal cities.

At rallies and on social media, Trump frequently makes claims about immigration that are unsubstantiated, misleading or difficult to fact-check. He says undocumented migrants are killing the Social Security system, when they actually pay into a program they cannot use. (His campaign says this could change if undocumented immigrants were given a pathway to citizenship, as Biden has proposed.)

He says that Bidens border invasion amounts to economic warfare on African American and Hispanic American families. Analysts say that undocumented immigrants can decrease wages in some sectors, but also note that they often compete for different jobs than American citizens and play an important role in the economy.

Trump has also said migrants are let in as part of a plot to import voters who will help his opponent, though noncitizen voting is illegal in almost all cases and extremely rare. He accuses them of taking the place of American kids in schools and even poisoning the blood of our country a statement that half of Americans agreed with in recent polling.

Theyre trying to change our laws, Las Vegas voter Linda Morton said of Democrats at Sundays rally. Theyre trying to change our demographics. Theyre going to make it a country that we dont even know anymore.

Morton, who is in her 70s, allowed that some migrants crossing the border are probably good people but thinks most of them dont have a love for our country and dont want to assimilate.

Trumps critics say they will be working hard to remind voters of Trumps record on immigration for instance, his administrations separation of undocumented immigrant children from their parents and raise awareness about the extent of his plans for a second term, including among Latino voters.

People become desensitized to the extremism that he is spouting, said Mara Teresa Kumar, the president of voter engagement nonprofit Voto Latino.

Immigration was top-of-mind for many voters who showed up to the rally Sunday, lining up in temperatures that climbed above 100 degrees and shading themselves with umbrellas. The county fire department told local news outlets that it responded to many heat-related calls and that six people were taken to the hospital.

Build the wall! a man yelled, unprompted, as he waited to get in. A few paces away, another man held a BUILD THE WALL DEPORT THEM ALL sign under his arm.

Campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Trump speaks the unadulterated truth about the evil and cruelty of Bidens open border the lives he has wrecked and destroyed, the towns he has crushed, and that he believes one American life lost at the hands of an illegal immigrant is one too many.

In Phoenix last week, Trump hugged his longtime ally Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Arizonas Maricopa County who was accused of racial profiling and convicted in 2017 of criminal contempt of court for ignoring a federal judges order to stop detaining people based only on suspicion they were undocumented. Trump pardoned Arpaio the same year.

Bidens campaign on Saturday announced a new digital ad showcasing Trump and Arpaios embrace and noting that some establishment Republicans such as former House speaker Paul D. Ryan once criticized Trumps decision to pardon the sheriff.

You are the company you keep, the Biden campaigns Casado said in a statement.

Though Democrats have long held advantages with voters of color, polling shows that Trump is making inroads with them this election cycle, particularly with Latinos. Republicans note that many Latino voters favor border restrictions and trust Trump on the economy an issue that Trump also links to immigration.

Trumps gains among Hispanic voters have been among the most notable in Nevada. In a head-to-head matchup between Biden and Trump in the recent New York Times/Siena College poll of the Silver State, 50 percent of Hispanic voters said they were backing Trump while 41 percent said they were supporting Biden.

Some of Trumps supporters wish he would tone things down a bit. If he just shut his mouth, just about 10 percent of the time, his favorability rating would go way up, said Tom Trahan, 73, from the swing state of Michigan. Just shut up! You dont say that these immigrants are trash and theyre poisoning the country. Just say you dont like them.

But the rhetoric is not a dealbreaker for Trahan, and many other Trump backers who admire the former presidents willingness to shatter the normal bounds of political discourse.

Hes an outsider. Hes a businessman. And thats what we need, Trahan said. Like many of the people who gathered last month at a diner in Birch Run, Mich., to hear from local GOP candidates, Trahan says he plans to vote for Trump.

Maeve Reston contributed to this report.

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At scorching Vegas rally, Trump bashes migrants and courts Latinos - The Washington Post

Following his conviction in Manhattan on all 34 felony counts, Donald Trump must have an interview with his New York City probation officer. Interviews are typically scheduled for 10 days after a conviction. That would be Monday, as the 10th day was Sunday.

Trump will likely navigate between the Scylla of wanting to stay out of jail and the Charybdis of performing for his base. He knows the officers pre-sentence report to the judge will get out. So heres an imagined way the conversation might go.

Mr. Trump, my name is [redacted for safety purposes]. Im your probation officer. My job is to ask you questions so I can provide the judge with information for your pre-sentence report.

Trump: I can leak it, right? Voters love candidates like me who dont give a . . . who hate authority. Thats why I lead in every poll in the universe.

By the way, the country wont stand for it if I get jail time. Some very good people will go over the edge.

: The purpose of the pre-sentence report is to describe you and your background so Justice Merchan can make a well-informed sentencing decision. Any questions?

Trump: Who did you vote for in the last election?

: I ask the questions. They fall into two categories. First, are you likely to be amenable to a probation officers supervision and to follow the rules and restrictions?

Trump: Rules? I follow every rule that helps me. The rules that dont will be disappearing before long.

: Second, I need to describe any mitigating or aggravating circumstances that would justify leniency or the opposite. So tell me your side of the story. Like: Please understand, these bad things have happened to me. Because of them, I am not responsible for my conviction, so you should recommend leniency.

Trump: Easy. I am wronged by everybody. For example, there are two standards of justice in this country, one for Biden and one for me. The FBI raided my beautiful Mar-a-Lago. What did they do with Bidens millions of stolen classified documents in his garage? They asked for permission. Pretty please, can we search?

Believe me, I have plans for the FBI.

: What can I tell Justice Merchan about your willingness to follow the rules of probation, like living a crime-free life, coming in regularly to see me, not using drugs, and avoiding public statements that cast aspersions on the judicial process?

Trump: Ive never committed a crime in my life. This trial was rigged, or I wouldnt have been convicted. I do no drugs other than Prevagen.

And you saw that I followed that illegal gag order 100% except for 10 times. And only once did I talk loud enough for the jury to hear me, when I said Juror No. is a Trump-hater. I was a model citizen, closing my eyes only to keep from seeing all those slime-balls like Michael Cohen who testified against me.

: OK, anything more about mitigating circumstances?

Trump: I have bone spurs. I can get you that letter my dad got his doctor to write in 68. I used it five times to get out of going to Vietnam.

How about this for mitigating? The fake media is against me. The New York liberals, and all 12 of them on the jury, were against me. (That includes the guy who lied and said he followed me on Truth Social.) The judge was against me. He only kept me out of jail because he knew how much money Id raise if he put me there.

And such stupid lawyers! They screwed up, thats the only reason Im here. Can you believe how long and hard they cross-examined Stormy Daniels, that fake actress-on-the-stand? All huffy and puffy on the witness stand about how she was surprised I wanted to have sex with her? I dont even know her.

My lawyers kept me from testifying. I would have won if I did. Then, they called that goofball, Robert Costello, just because I told them to. What kind of lawyer takes a clients advice? I was just testing them. They failed.

: One more question. Do you have family members who would support you in following the rules of probation?

Trump: Theyre loyal to me. You saw my smart son, Eric, sitting there every day of the trial. You saw Don Jr. there on the last day. My dumb lawyers said Wait until after the prosecution rests so they dont call him. Hed be a disaster.

Melania didnt come because she takes good care of that son of hers. But would you like to meet her? She looks great in a bathing suit.

Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor, is of counsel toLawyers Defending American Democracy.

See more here:
Donald Trump's probation interview New York Daily News - New York Daily News

As a journalist, I dont publicly confirm my voting history for reasons of professional ethics even though a lot of people on X assume they know when they call me a leftist and a commie.

I will, however, confirm that my decision as a Black woman will not be determined by any candidates sudden status as a convicted felon. In fact, Im more likely not to vote for that person. I am not a felon, nor are most of the people I know.

So, nah.

I bring this up, of course, because of the maddening theory eagerly pitched by members of former President Donald Trumps reelection campaign that his recent 34-count guilty verdict in New York makes him uniquely relatable to the African American community because of our historic failure to receive equal justice in court. Axios Sophia Cai recently considered all the arguments and eventually seemed to agree that theres little evidence that Trumps I-am-a-victim-just-like-you argument is swaying many Black voters.

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To even pose this as not just a possibility but a campaign strategy is deeply condescending, dehumanizing and cynically, diabolically racist.

To be clear: the situations are not remotely the same. We are comparing the prosecution of a very rich and famous white man who has been dodging criminal and civil complaints since the 1970s to a population that, in Manhattan alone, is convicted of both misdemeanors and felonies at a staggering rate 21 times greater than white defendants over the last two decades, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Yes, there are some Black celebrities and random Internet people publicly pledging support to Trump because of his alleged swagger, and probably because it gets them headlines and clicks.

Fine. I dont speak for the entire Black community; we are not a monolith. I have even long joked that I am one of two Black women born to my parents on my birthday and even my twin and I dont always share opinions on everything.

But I am comfortable in saying that all the people of African descent that I know and I know a good bit have never listed has to be a felon on their must-haves for a presidential candidate. Particularly not one with a history of racial housing discrimination, reported prejudices, alleged utterances of the N-word on the set of NBCs The Apprentice, as well as general racial callousness, like calling for the death penalty for Black and brown kids later exonerated for a violent rape in Central Park.

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I am sure there are Black people who are voting for Trump for different reasons, but I dont see relatable feloniousness as a main draw. This is not to say I dont know and love some formerly incarcerated folks, because I do. But its foul suggesting that criminality is a foundational situation in my community that would make me go, Hey, Id never consider that guy, but he might be going to jail! Were the same!

This stupidly insulting narrative has been alive since last August, when Trumps mugshot hit the Internet. Fox News Raymond Arroyo said on-air that a Black lady (notice the people in these stories never have names) told him the photo gave the former president cred in front of a new bloc of voters.

UGH. This is most terrible because its not based on shared miscarriages of justice, but because its cool to get arrested.

Arroyo also faced well-deserved controversy for crowing about Trumps alleged cultural mastery in the release of his gold Ronald McDonald-looking sneakers, which former Republican National Convention chairman Michael Steele called a big miss and ugly as hell on his MSNBC show.

But to Arroyo, those cartoonish kicks were an obvious connection between the former president and Black Americans. They love sneakers, certainly in the inner city, Arroyo said, thus reaching them on a level that defies politics. The culture always trumps politics. He added that anyone who buys $400 sneakers will absolutely vote for the person whose name is on them because it shows affection.

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Im not sure which heinous BS theory to address first.

Is it the simultaneously presumptive and dismissive use of they to describe an entire community as if theyre a separate species being observed from spaceships above their planet like in Avatar? Or is it the incredibly racist declaration that Black people are stupid enough to vote for someone whose political and personal stances have often been antithetical to us because they like his shoes? Rights? Who needs em! Gimme them spaceman rave shoes!

I have spent hundreds of dollars in the last decade on Michael Jordan sweatshirts and sneakers (mostly secondhand) for my son, which does not mean I would vote for the basketball legend should he ever run for office. It just means my kid likes his sneakers.

Who you vote for matters. I am very concerned about this country and the upcoming elections in November. I hope that as many people as possible exercise their rights to effect change. And I hope to God their choice is not based on being impressed that somebody is a felon. That would be stupid, right?

Right?

Leslie Gray Streeter is a columnist excited about telling Baltimore stories about us and the things that we care about, that touch us, that tickle us and that make us tick, from parenting to pop culture to the perfect crab cake. She is especially psyched about discussions that we don't usually have. Open mind and a sense of humor required.

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I'm Black, and being a felon or putting your name on sneakers isn't getting my vote - The Baltimore Banner

In 2009, Donald Trump fired Rod Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, from The Celebrity Apprentice. Your Harry Potter facts were not accurate, Trump told Blagojevich, who was under indictment at the time, for trying to sell President-elect Barack Obamas vacated Senate seat the previous year. Blagojevich was found guilty, and in 2012 he began a fourteen-year prison sentence, which Trump commuted eight years later. Seemed like a very nice person, Trump said after the commutation, calling Blagojevichs punishment a tremendously powerful ridiculous sentence in my opinion. Blagojevich emerged from prison a self-described Trumpocrat.

Id have just been coming home a couple weeks ago had President Trump not, you know, shortened it, Blagojevich said recently. I keep having this dream where Im still in prison, he went on. Probably because Im writing this book. Since last August, Blagojevich has been at work on a memoir about his time in the clink, with Gangster Disciples... Sinaloa drug-cartel leaders... murderers, bank robbers, sex offenders, and Enrons Jeffrey Skilling. I went from Obama, Clinton, congressmen, senators, and lawmakers to Smelly and Socks and Sharky and Mr. B., he added. They all have nicknames. His was Gov. The former governor does not enjoy writing but said that he hopes that his prison memoir will be helpful to folks facing hard times. Trump, who is now facing up to four years in prison for thirty-four felony counts of falsifying business records, might want to skim the CliffsNotes.

To begin with, Blagojevich points out, a long sentence, while otherwise undesirable, can be used to your advantage. The fourteen-year sentence made guys think, The Govs a badass, he didnt snitch on anybody, he said. In that world, the snitches, to quote them, are bitches who deserve stitches.

Blagojevich suggests getting in the shape of your life. He figures that he ran probably ten thousand miles, if not longer, during his eight years inside, along with probably twenty thousand pushups. He went on, You walk around the track, you do pushups. It helps deal with the bitterness and anger and sense of disillusionment. He added, Im as fit as a fiddle, in stark contrast to the current governor of Illinois.

I know its the championship game, but Id rather watch a movie with a dog in it.

Cartoon by Frank Cotham

A hobby is also helpful. My band was G-Rod and the Jailhouse Rockers, he said. I did an Elvis medley, which started out with all of Dont Be Cruel, two verses of Thats All Right, two verses of All Shook Up, and all five verses of Jailhouse Rock. He continued, Music was so helpful to me because it was therapeutic. If you practice it, you get better at it. Your range increases a little bit. Your voice kind of expands. Then you can work on what Frank Sinatra was big onphrasing. Before I knew it, the day was over.

Rather than watch TV or movies, Blago recommends books. I read the Bible every day, he recalled. He devoured Viktor Frankls Mans Search for Meaning three times. Its very short, and it has a lot of profound things in it, he explained. One lesson that he drew: If I can come out of here stronger and smarter, its a fuck you to those motherfuckers who did it to me.He also read Shakespeare. Henry V a few times. Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2. Richard II. Richard III. Hamlet, of course. King Lear. Henry VI. He cleared his throat and recited, The first thing we do, lets kill all the lawyers.

Watch what you eat at the chow hall, he warns. Some guys do crazy things to some of the food, he said. One time, a guy urinated in the pot of oatmeal because he was pissed offno pun intended. Black-market restaurateurs on your cellblock are a good alternative: Once in a while, Id say to myself, Im gonna go off for a longer runten milesand then Im gonna treat myself to one of Osos tacos. You could see he liked his own food. So once in a while Id have itonions, tomatoes, peppers, chicken, cheese, all smuggled from the kitchen.

Finally, Blagojevich advises identifying any supporters. There was a cop that wanted to make an example of me, so he gave me the worst job, he recalled. Washing pots and pans at five oclock in the morning. I got rescued from that because his superior was from Chicagos South Side and his mother still lived there and she liked me. So he put me in the kitchen warehouse, a highly coveted job. Conspiracy theories soon spread among his fellow-inmates. I was supposedly getting special treatment because Obama had called the warden, Blago said. Im telling you, he didnt make the call.

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Rod Blagojevich's Tips for Prison Survival, Just in Time for Trump - The New Yorker

Doug Burgum, the Republican governor of North Dakota, has emerged as a key adviser on energy issues in Donald J. Trumps campaign to retake the White House, acting as a liaison between Mr. Trump and the oil billionaires whom the former president has encouraged to fund his presidential bid.

Along the way, Governor Burgum has articulated a sophisticated policy approach that can at times seem environmentally conscious, but in fact is designed to benefit oil, gas and coal, the fossil fuels that are driving climate change.

Its a tale of two Dougs, said Dustin Gawrylow, a conservative political commentator in North Dakota.

Mr. Burgum set a goal in 2021 that North Dakota would stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2030, becoming carbon neutral. Carbon dioxide from burning oil, gas and coal is a major driver of global warming.

What other state is doing carbon neutral by 2030? said Heather Reams, the president of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, a group that tries to engage Republicans on climate policy.

I was very impressed by the level of detail that he had, said Ms. Reams, who recalled speaking to Governor Burgum about his carbon neutrality plan at a Republican Governors Association meeting. Not like he gave me a couple of talking points and walked away. He talked about how this was about economic prosperity, national security, energy independence.

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Trump's Energy Guy Talked a Green Game but Now Sells Big Oil Priorities - The New York Times