Trump scandels and controversies

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An investigation into Michael Pack’s tumultuous eight-month tenure as chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media substantiates many whistleblower complaints about his efforts to purge the organization and tear down a statutory firewall that protects the independence of its journalism from political interference. A 145-page report, written by three outside experts who were endorsed by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, concludes that Mr. Pack repeatedly “abused his authority” and “engaged in gross mismanagement and gross waste.”

President Donald Trump nominated Mr. Pack to oversee Voice of America and related networks at the behest of alt-right provocateur Stephen K. Bannon. Mr. Pack formerly led the Claremont Institute, which also employed John Eastman, the legal architect of the plot to stop the certification of the electoral college on Jan. 6, 2021. Mr. Pack was confirmed in June 2020 and immediately began upheaval of the organization.

How a Trump appointee tried to destroy Voice of America

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American author Don Winslow and vocal critic of Donald Trump has uploaded a four minute video to YouTube highlighting the many lies Trump has told during his lifetime. The best-selling writer captioned the video #DonaldTrumpLifetimeOfLies and throughout the video, he debunked many of the former president’s claims. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Winslow also posted the video to his Twitter addressing it to Trump’s supporters writing “watch me take apart your cult leader and his lifetime of lies like a Lego set in 4 minutes.” In the video, he calls Trump a “con man”, “a lie”, and an “infomercial”. As well as calling out the fact that Trump has filed for bankruptcy six separate times despite selling himself as “a great businessman”.

Trump's 'lifetime of lies' laid bare in damning 4 minute video

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Former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly is blasting his onetime boss over disparaging remarks he says the then-president repeatedly made about service members and veterans and for what he called Trump's untruthfulness about his positions on various groups as well as on abortion. In a statement to CNN published Monday, Kelly delivered a scathing criticism of former President Donald Trump while confirming reporting in The Atlantic in 2020 that detailed the comments he made during his presidency. "A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them,'" Kelly said of Trump. "A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’

A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.” The Atlantic reported that Trump privately made damning statements against U.S. service and veterans, such as the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who had been a Vietnam prisoner of war, and former President George H.W. Bush, who was shot down as a Navy pilot in World War II. During a visit to France in 2018 for the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I, Trump also reportedly called Marines who died at Belleau Wood “suckers” and fallen soldiers at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery “losers.” Kelly also slammed Trump as someone "who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women. A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about."

John Kelly confirms Trump privately disparaged U.S. service members and veterans

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A good rule of thumb in any scandal involving Donald Trump is that no matter how bad it seems—which is often very bad—it will get worse. If you thought it was bad that the former president hoarded classified presidential records at Mar-a-Lago, it got worse when we learned that Trump had shown off military plans to writers interviewing him. It got worse again when Special Counsel Jack Smith produced photographs showing that Trump had stored those documents haphazardly on a ballroom stage, documented a lengthy alleged scheme to lie to the government about them, and suggested his lawyers hide them.

Now it’s worse still: According to new reports yesterday, Trump in April 2021 shared national secrets about U.S. nuclear submarines with an Australian billionaire who is a member at Mar-a-Lago. The magnate, Anthony Pratt, has reportedly told federal investigators that Trump told him the “supposed exact number of nuclear warheads they routinely carry, and exactly how close they supposedly can get to a Russian submarine without being detected,” per ABC News.

Few things are more sensitive and more closely held than nuclear secrets. Trump has defended himself in the classified-documents case by claiming (without proof, and against other evidence) that he declassified the material before leaving office, using a power of declassification granted to presidents. But as my colleague Graeme Wood reported last year, nuclear secrets are considered so sensitive that not even the president can declassify them.

As if sharing these secrets with a foreign national was not bad enough, events after show that Pratt was even looser-lipped than Trump. “In emails and conversations after meeting with Trump, Pratt described Trump’s remarks to at least 45 others, including six journalists, 11 of his company’s employees, 10 Australian officials, and three former Australian prime ministers,” ABC News reported. Does anyone think this is the only time that Trump shared extremely sensitive secrets? Get your wagers to the betting window now, or whenever; there will always be another chance..

Trump Goes Nuclear

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Mary Trump wrote a scathing post about her uncle, former President Donald Trump, on X, blasting his alleged leaks to foreign leaders. “This f***ing maniac likely gave Putin (who gave Iran, who gave Hamas) Israel’s national security secrets…” she wrote. “Plus, he divulged highly classified information about our nuclear subs to an Australian cardboard guy,” Ms Trump added. “Why is he still allowed to roam free?”

Ms Trump appeared to be referring to the alleged sharing of classified information — that was provided by Israel — with Russian officials in May 2017. At the time, he tweeted that he had an “absolute right” to do so. The resurfaced concern comes after Hamas’ attack on Israel over the weekend. At the time, fears swirled that Mr Trump’s alleged spilling of sensitive information to Russia could damage the nations’ relationships, according to the New York Times. The outlet also posed the possibility that the secrets could be then shared with Iran..

Trump’s niece denounces ‘maniac’ uncle for leaking Israel intel

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The Trump Media story, though, is a fascinating one because it is an amplified example of so much of the Trump playbook. Trump sold himself to the American public as a rich and successful businessman, a guy who was self-made and could solve America’s problems the same way he ruthlessly cut would-be employees on “The Apprentice.” Very little of that story was true, of course. Trump was a child of affluence. His business empire sprung from his father’s largesse. He has lied about his wealth, both to boost his own ego and, according to a case he just lost, to defraud investors. These lies are simply part of Trump’s modus operandi: In his four years as president, the Washington Post found he lied a staggering 30,573 times (and those are just the lies he told in public).

Opinion: Trump Media’s billion-dollar valuation makes no sense

And the leader is always right, even if he changes his mind. According to cult expert Rick Ross and the psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, destructive cults typically have “a living leader, who has no meaningful accountability and becomes the single most defining element of the group and its source of power and authority.”

In 2020, the Republican Party simply declined to publish a new platform. Instead, they pledged fealty to Trump, adopting a resolution that “the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.” In other words, whatever Trump says is the party’s policy. That is not the typical behavior of a political party organized around ideals or policy goals; that’s the behavior of a cult.

Cults also often financially exploit their followers, encouraging them to give their money to the leader or the institution, even if doing so offers no tangible benefit to those doing the giving (it offers many benefits to the leaders receiving it). The point is to prove loyalty to the leader. Trump has done this in many iterations, through sketchy recurring donations, by taking hold of the RNC and its money and through Trump Media, where some conservative fans seem to be buying up stock out of devotion to Trump and not because of any financial self-interest. Donations are, of course, standard in political campaigns. A single candidate taking over the party apparatus, installing unqualified lackeys (in this case his daughter-in-law) and directing donations to the group paying his legal bills is not. And people buy particular stocks for all sorts of reasons, but usually the motivation is to make money.

In this case, many who buy shares in Trump Media seem instead to want to please the former president — or at the very least continue to believe his claims, despite decades of lies. Even legal consequences haven’t shaken many MAGA members’ confidence in their man. “The first rule of cults is: you’re never in a cult,” cult expert Daniella Mestyanek Young told Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post. “The second rule of cults is: the cult will forgive any sin, except the sin of leaving. The third rule of cults is: even if he did it, that doesn’t mean he’s guilty.”

And the fourth might be: Give me your money. That’s a ruse Trump has excelled at. And for now, at least, it’s partially paying off. But like the rest of his lies, confidence can only go so far. His most dedicated followers may never wise up and realize he’s a con man. But at some point, the con will be up. The question is who will be left holding the bag: Trump or all of those who eagerly handed over their cash.

Opinion: Trump Media’s billion-dollar valuation makes no sense