Tag: Donald

Categories
Health

Meghan Markle Won't Meet With Donald Trump When He Visits England Next Month


Next month President Donald Trump will make an official three-day state visit to the United Kingdom. While he’s there, he’ll be meeting with many members of the royal family at various events. But the lone American royal, Meghan Markle, is noticeably absent from the itinerary.

According to CNN, Queen Elizabeth II will be joined by Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, to greet the president and First Lady Melania Trump at Buckingham Palace. (They’ll accompany the couple to other events over the course of their stay as well.) As for the rest of the family, Prince Harry will join his grandmother for a private lunch with Donald and Melania that afternoon. The first night of Trump’s visit ends with a state banquet, and Prince William and Kate Middleton are expected to attend that.

Markle, however, will reportedly not be joining any of those events—not even the lunch with Prince Harry.

There’s a simple explanation for this: Markle is still officially on maternity leave, so she’ll likely be at home with baby Archie. That said, this may come as a welcome reprieve for Markle. The actress was quite vocal about politics and her dislike of Trump specifically before she became the Duchess of Sussex. (The royal family is expected to remain politically neutral in public.)

“It’s really the moment I go, we film Suits in Toronto, and I might just stay in Canada…” she said on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore in 2016 about Trump’s election. “Yes, of course, Trump is divisive, think about female voters alone, right? I think it was in 2012 the Republican Party lost the female vote by 12 points; that is a huge number and with as misogynistic as Trump is, and so vocal about it, that is a huge chunk of it.”

[embedded content]

This isn’t Trump’s first visit to the United Kingdom since becoming president. He and Melania met Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle in 2018, when he reportedly kept Her Majesty waiting for 15 minutes which caused a major stir on Twitter. Trump also walked in front of the queen, which the New York Times dubbed a “royal no-no.”

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

If only we could be on the royal family group text to hear what they really think after the visit…



Source link

Categories
Health

Michelle Obama Just Compared Donald Trump To A "Divorced Dad"


Michelle Obama has been relatively quiet about the Trump administration since she and her husband moved out of the White House. (She is the woman who once said, “When they go low, we go high.”) But on a few choice occasions, she gives us a little peek into how she feels about the Trump era. At a book event in conversation with late night host Stephen Colbert earlier this week, she didn’t mention the current president explicitly, but she did comment that it feels like America now is “living with divorced dad.”

The event took place in London during the international leg of her book tour for Becoming, her record-smashing, bestselling memoir. And her appereances have not only reminded audiences why the fashionable former first lady was once named America’s most admired woman, but also given her an opportunity to be more candid about the current political climate. During the discussion, Obama compared the U.S. to a “teenager” adjusting to family turmoil.

“We are a teenager,” she said, according to The Independent. “And we come from a broken family, we’re a teenager, we’re a little unsettled, and having good parents, it’s tough, sometimes you spend the weekend with divorced dad and that seems fun until you get sick. That’s what America is going through, living with divorced dad.”

The Washington Post writes that her characterization prompted Colbert to do an impersonation of the president. Obama reportedly only laughed and shook her head, keeping things classy and refraining from elaborating further on her comments. However, she seemed to direct the conversation toward Trump later when she spoke about how living in the White House didn’t change her husband Barack Obama or their children.

“We were always ourselves, the presidency does not change who you are. It reveals who you are,” she said.

Still, she isn’t too pessimistic about the direction in which America is headed. At the event, she struck a hopeful note and reminded people of how resilient humans have been, even in the face of dire challenges.

“It may feel like a dark chapter but any story has its highs and lows, but it continues. Yeah, we’re in a low, but we’ve been lower,” she said. “We’ve had tougher times with more to fear. We’re lived through slavery and the Holocaust and segregation and we’ve always come out on the other end, better and stronger.”



Source link

Categories
Health

Man Arrested for Groping Woman on Flight Tells Police That Donald Trump 'Says It's OK'


In a country where some of our leaders (and those sitting on the highest court in the land) are accused of sexual assault, we can only hope that their ability to maintain their positions doesn’t embolden would-be-assailants.

Not the case for 49-year-old Bruce Michael Alexander of Tampa, Fl., who was arrested Sunday after a woman sitting in front of him on a Southwest Airlines flight accused him of fondling her breasts while she was sleeping. While he was in custody, Alexander reportedly cited Donald Trump’s comments about women and told authorities that “the President of the United States says it’s ok to grab women by their private parts,” as justification for his actions.

According to a criminal complaint cited by the Washington Post, the woman felt a hand reach from behind her on the flight and touch the right side of her breast near her “bra line.” After she felt a second touch, she stood up and told Alexander, who was sitting behind her, that she didn’t know why he thought his behavior was okay and that he needed to stop. She changed seats, and Alexander was arrested once the aircraft landed in New Mexico.

Alexander reportedly asked authorities why he was being arrested and then made the comment about the president saying it’s okay “to grab women by their private parts.” He was likely referring to an Access Hollywood tape that captures audio of a 2005 interview in which Trump brags to television host Billy Bush about what he feels he’s entitled to do to women.

“You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” Trump says in the audio.

Bush repeats, “Whatever you want,” and Trump follows with what’s now become his infamous pussy line: “Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Alexander’s remarks have started a discussion about the very real consequences of the president’s rhetoric toward women. Some have worried that Trump’s vulgar comments might embolden men to also disrespect women and repeat patterns of misogyny and harassment. That someone arrested for sexual assault can now point to the president and claim that he “says it’s ok” to grab women in an inappropriate way seems to confirm the fears of many.

The Southwest incident unfolds at a time when stories of sexual assault have pervaded political news. Judge Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court, even after being accused of assaulting Christine Blasey Ford in 1982. A highly divisive and publicized hearing put Ford’s story of alleged assault at the center of the national conversation.

The president himself has also been accused of harassing multiple women. He also has a long history of calling women disparaging names, referring to them as “dogs” and “pigs,” and most recently called adult female star Stormy Daniels “horse face.” He has also questioned women who have come forward with claims of sexual assault, mocking Ford at a rally and suggesting that sexual assault protesters are paid professionals.

Related Stories:

Brett Kavanaugh Has Been Confirmed to the Supreme Court

Donald Trump Calls Stormy Daniels ‘Horseface’ on Twitter



Source link

Categories
Health

Donald Trump Calls Stormy Daniels 'Horseface' on Twitter


Some might say President Donald Trump has a way with words when it comes to women. Lowlife. Dog. Pocahontas. Crooked. Disgusting pig. Low IQ.

Those are just a few of the names Trump has lobbed at women—usually those who stand up to him or call him out publicly. And now we can add “horseface” to that list.

In a tweet Tuesday, Trump used the term to describe Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who alleges she had a sexual relationship with the president and was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about it. “‘Federal Judge throws out Stormy Danials lawsuit versus Trump. Trump is entitled to full legal fees.’ @FoxNews,” he wrote. “Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas. She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!”

On Monday, a federal judge dismissed a defamation suit filed by Daniels, ruling that Trump did not defame her on Twitter last spring. She was also ordered to pay his legal fees, according to the New York Times.

The tweet at the center of the lawsuit was posted in April, just one day after Daniels released a sketch of a man she says threatened her in 2011 to keep her quiet about the Trump affair.

The court ruling said that tweet included an opinion that Trump was allowed to express.

Sadly, this latest insult to Daniels is just another example of Trump digging into his go-to bag of tricks, especially when it comes to women. He tends to reserve his most aggressive insults for women who oppose him and often goes after their appearance—from Rosie O’Donnell and Maxine Waters to Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, and Omarosa Manigault. It’s deeply upsetting to see any woman treated this way by a man, let alone the leader of the free world. But here we are in 2018.

Daniels quickly responded on her own Twitter account: “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present your president. In addition to his…umm…shortcomings, he has demonstrated his incompetence, hatred of women and lack of self control on Twitter AGAIN! And perhaps a penchant for bestiality. Game on, Tiny.”

As did her attorney, Michael Avenatti, who wrote, “You are a disgusting misogynist and an embarrassment to the United States. Bring everything you have, because we are going to demonstrate to the world what a complete shyster and liar you are. How many other women did you cheat on your wife with while you had a baby at home?”

“.@realDonaldTrump – tens of millions of Americans are tired of your fraud, lies, and corruption,” Avenatti continued. “They are equally tired of your attacks on women, especially the ones who you have had sex with while cheating on your wives. We (and the UN) are laughing AT YOU, not with you. #Basta”

Of course, the larger social media outrage was also immediate. But as many pointed out, there are often no real negative repercussions for this type of behavior from Trump, outside of angering a segment of the population.

Maybe we can change that come the November midterms.

MORE: Donald Trump’s History of Calling Women ‘Dogs’ Just Got Longer With New Omarosa Tweet





Source link

Categories
Health

Barbra Streisand Takes on Donald Trump in Her New Music Video


Barbra Streisand is one of the most famous voices in the world—and she’s never shied away from using that voice to share her political views. So it’s fitting that the election of Donald Trump is what inspired her to create Walls, her first album of primarily original songs since 2005. “He’s dividing the country,” she tells Glamour. “He’s pulling us apart.”

Walls, which will be released on November 2, also got Streisand back into the director’s chair for the music video of the first single off the album, “Don’t Lie to Me.” In addition to the new songs, Walls also includes Streisand’s 2018 reimaginings of classics like “What the World Needs Now” and “Happy Days Are Here Again,” which once served as the unofficial theme song of the Democratic party. “I tried to make the songs universal,” she says. “They’re not just political rants.”

PHOTO: Russell James

That’s not to say they aren’t deeply political. “I have to vent. I have to vent my despair,” she says of the album. “I do that by writing about it. A lot of my despair is about his effect on children and what children are watching and seeing and hearing. On TV they’re hearing that it’s OK to lie? It’s OK to brag about sexual assault? It’s OK to never apologize and constantly retaliate?”

While the lyrics to “Don’t Lie to Me” could easily apply to any relationship, the video leaves no doubt about who Streisand is talking about. Images of the President are sprinkled throughout, along with American iconography like the Statue of Liberty and moving protest photography.

[embedded content]

“[I think Trump] has a condition that I call the disowned self, which I learned many years ago in studying psychiatry,” Streisand says. “It’s when the person himself does not recognize his own flaws, so he projects them unconsciously onto others. Maybe in this case, it’s consciously. I don’t know.” But when asked whether she expects a response from Trump, Streisand is unconcerned. “No, I don’t care. What’s he going to do? Make the Republicans not buy my album? I don’t really care about the money.”

But the album isn’t all doom and gloom. “I think people will enjoy the songs on this album, and I think they will reflect what I’m talking about,” she says. To that end, Streisand has included her own spin on “Imagine” and “What a Wonderful World.”

And she’s still got time to root for Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s latest iteration of A Star Is Born. (Streisand famously starred in the 1976 version with Kris Kristofferson and won a Best Original Song Oscar for “Evergreen.”) She even thinks another version could come around in another 20 years.

“Well, I predicted it. It’s very good,” she says of the movie’s success, before turning the conversation back to Trump. “I’m for everybody to succeed, you know…even at the beginning, [I thought] maybe [Trump] could turn it around. It’s like certain Supreme Court justices, who started off as conservative and got more liberal. You always hope for the best. But he’s disappointed me greatly.”

Related: Barbra Streisand: “You Are the Women We’ve Been Waiting For”



Source link

Categories
Health

President Donald Trump Openly Mocked Christine Blasey Ford's Testimony Against Brett Kavanaugh


President Donald Trump may have stooped to a new low Tuesday night when he decided to openly mock Christine Blasey Ford and her allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during a rally in Mississippi.

And honestly, the only thing that’s surprising is that it took this long to happen. Gone are the headlines that touted the president’s “restraint,” like CNN’s, which read “Aides quietly stunned by Trump’s respectful handling of Kavanaugh accuser.” In the piece, two sources quoted Trump as saying, “Why would I attack her?”

But last night, that’s exactly what he did, going so far as to imitate Ford.

“’I had one beer.’ Well do you think it was… ‘Nope. It was one beer.’ Oh good. How did you get home? ‘I don’t remember.’ How did you get there? ‘I don’t remember.’ Where is the place? ‘I don’t remember,'” Trump said, prompting laughter from those in the crowd. “How many years ago was it? ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.’ What neighborhood was it in? ‘I don’t know.’ Where’s the house? ‘I don’t know. Upstairs. Downstairs. I don’t know. But I had one beer that’s the only thing I remember.'”

“And a man’s life is in tatters,” Trump continued. “A man’s life is shattered.” Then, echoing his comments from earlier in the day when he expressed fear for young men in the age of #MeToo, he claimed that he had many “false allegations” against him, adding that the crowd should “think of your son” because men are “guilty until proven innocent.”

Perhaps even more jarring than Trump’s own outrageous words is the laughter and applause of the crowd. Many social media users made the astute connection between the reactions at the rally and Ford’s poignant testimony about her memory of the alleged attack: “Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two,” she said of the one thing she remembers the most about that night more than 30 years ago.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)—who helped request the FBI investigation into Kavanaugh which delayed the confirmation vote—appeared on the Today show Wednesday morning and condemned Trump’s speech. “There’s no time and no place for remarks like that,” he said. “I wish he hadn’t have done it. It’s kind of appalling.”

Twitter agreed—and many wonder how this type of rhetoric will affect senators like Flake, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) who are thought to be on the fence regarding their Kavanaugh nomination votes.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that the Senate will vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination this week.

MORE: Christine Blasey Ford Cites ‘Uproarious Laughter’ as Strongest Memory of Alleged Kavanaugh Assault





Source link