Happy Monday Morning! (I know, an oxymoron.)
Guess what? Trump’s not a feminist.
“No, I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist. I mean, I think that would be, maybe, going too far. I’m for women, I’m for men, I’m for everyone,” President Donald Trump told Piers Morgan in an interview released Sunday on the show “Good Morning Britain.”
BREAKING NEWS:
President Trump has declared he is NOT a feminist.
He tells me: ‘No, I wouldn't say I'm a feminist. I mean, I think that would be, maybe, going too far. I'm for women, I'm for men, I’m for everyone.'
Full interview, Sunday, ITV, 10pm. pic.twitter.com/GCviovNb6o— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 27, 2018
Elsewhere during the interview, Trump repeated a phrase for which he has become known: “I have tremendous respect for women.” Piers Morgan noted that he has “a lot of strong women around you,” noting his wife Melania and the press team led by Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He might also have noted United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Various women have accused Trump of sexually assaulting them in the past, and his notorious Access Hollywood comments (“grab them by the p**sy”) revealed a crass sexual attitude arguably unbecoming a president. Trump’s first marriage fell apart when he slept with his mistress (who later became his second wife), and evidence suggests that Trump slept with porn star Stormy Daniels after the birth of his youngest son, despite denials from both of them.
That said, Trump has hired women for key positions. He may have rejected the term “feminist” because it is often associated with political activism — and with the deceptive push for “equal pay.” There are no fewer than three “waves” of feminism, and even the #MeToo movement is not without its critics.
Even so, Dictionary.com engaged in some good, old-fashioned virtue signaling. “Feminist means advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men,” the dictionary website tweeted, adding hashtags subverting Trump’s statement, saying feminism is “for men,” “for women,” and “for everyone.”
Feminist means advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. #ItsForWomen #ItsForMen #ItsForEveryone https://t.co/ry2z6vaENT https://t.co/bCuDPy1196
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) January 28, 2018
Naturally, Trump’s history is rather sordid on these issues, but if feminism is as broad as Dictionary.com suggested, he may fit the term.
Then again, this is a man who agreed his daughter was a “piece of **s…”
I think Howard Stern actually broke this news when he asked Donald Trump, “Can I call your daughter Ivanka a piece of ass,” and *Trump said yes.* https://t.co/fLW6ODMpie
— Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) January 27, 2018
Trump responds to Jay-Z.
Shawn Corey Carter, better known by his rapper name “Jay-Z,” took a swipe at President Trump on Saturday, calling him a “superbug” of racism.
The rapper lamented that anytime a man loses his position for racist speech, that keeps the true problem secret. “Once you do that, all of the other closet racists just run back in their hole. You haven’t fixed anything. What you’ve done is spray perfume on the trash can,” Jay-Z said on CNN.
He then referred to the rise of “superbugs” that are immune to pesticides. “You don’t take care of the problem, you don’t take the trash out, you just keep spraying whatever over it to make it acceptable and you know as these things grow you create a superbug and now we have Donald Trump, the superbug,” the rapper said.
"Everyone feels anger, but after the anger it's really hurtful. … he's looking down on a whole population of people, and he's so misinformed," JAY-Z slams Trump's "shithole" comment.
Van Jones kicks off his new show at 7pm ET with the hip hop star. https://t.co/ri68FSfaup pic.twitter.com/icLx1ZYvch
— CNN (@CNN) January 27, 2018
The president responded to these attacks in typical Trumpian fashion: “Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!”
Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2018
The president arguably should not have responded to the rapper in the first place. Worse, Jay-Z had already addressed the substance of Trump’s response in the interview Saturday night.
When Van Jones asked him about the black unemployment rate, Jay-Z responded saying, “Money doesn’t equate to happiness, that’s missing the whole point. Treat people like human beings.” He argued that Trump’s response represented a return to the kind of oppression black people endured for centuries. “That goes back to the whole thing, treat me really bad and pay me well. It’s not going to lead to happiness,” he said.
Ouch.
Someone needs to inform @realdonaldtrump that I ALREADY asked Jay Z whether black employment figures redeem Trump’s presidency. And Jay’s answer last night on the #VanJonesShow was POWERFUL !!! … Watch the VIDEO for yourself: https://t.co/7Sv3rHKkmW https://t.co/jbHpkKOM5o
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) January 28, 2018
Interestingly, however, Jay-Z attacked the Democrats for refusing to address voters’ concerns. He lamented that many Americans vote Democrat “as a reflex,” and so “their needs weren’t addressed.” Eventually, it’ll became about votes and not people,” he said.
“My problem with government is, I think they forget that it’s real people,” Jay-Z explained. If I didn’t know any better, I might think this rapper could be a libertarian…
Democrat lawyer regrets campaigning for Obama.
Alan Dershowitz, a secular Jewish lawyer and longtime supporter of the Democratic Party, said he would not have campaigned for Barack Obama in 2012 had he known that Obama once posed with Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam (NOI).
The photo that never saw the light of day: Obama with Farrakhan in 2005 https://t.co/nUrPbYVy0q pic.twitter.com/MrjqRdJy9G
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) January 25, 2018
“If I had known that the President had posed smilingly with [Louis Farrakhan] when he was a Senator I would not have campaigned for Barack Obama,” Dershowitz said in a statement.
A powerful statement from @AlanDersh pic.twitter.com/ZqqOE8r56f
— Oliver McGee PhD MBA (@OliverMcGee) January 27, 2018
In a follow-up tweet, Dershowitz explained why Farrakhan is so odious to him.
“There must be zero tolerance for anti-Semites, whether they are David Duke or Louis Farrakhan. No one should associate with either. The suppression of that photo is disgraceful,” the Jewish lawyer declared.
There must be zero tolerance for anti-Semites, whether they are David Duke or Louis Farrakhan. No one should associate with either. The suppression of that photo is disgraceful. https://t.co/E6EoXGCBb4
— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) January 27, 2018
While Dershowitz has long supported Democrats, he has strongly opposed the RUSSIA line of attack against President Trump. He insisted that alleged “collusion” would not be a crime, that there is “no case” for obstruction of justice against Trump regarding the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, and that attacking Trump’s “mental fitness” was a “very dangerous” line of attack.
Carrie Fisher wins Grammy … from the dead.
As Variety reported:
At Sunday’s Grammy Awards, Carrie Fisher was honored for best spoken word album for her book “The Princess Diarist.”
The 2016 memoir was inspired by the diary entries that Fisher wrote while working on the first “Star Wars” film in 1977. Released five weeks before her death on Dec. 27, 2016, Fisher’s fourth book revealed even more details from her past, including an onset affair with co-star Harrison Ford.
Fisher, best known for her role as Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars, suffered a heart attack in December 2016 and passed away soon after. Princess Leia appeared in “Episode VIII: The Last Jedi” posthumously, and her character survived that film, so she may appear in the next Star Wars movie as well. Here are 14 other movies Fisher appeared in.
Star Wars fans appreciate Fisher’s posthumous Grammy, but would it have been better for the living to receive this award?
Current events picture of the day:
@nfl @6abc @duciswild @edstetzer @ESPNNFL @jaketapper Church sign at First United Methodist Church of Collingswood NJ. pic.twitter.com/4l0mGW09su
— Chuck Swanson (@Chuck_Swanson) January 25, 2018
Other morsels:
IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad dies in Sweden at 91
Man sucked into MRI machine, dies
5 Gems From President Trump’s Davos Speech
3 Critical Swamp Myths Trump’s National Security Strategy Exposes
The 5 Key Points Trump Will Talk About in First State of the Union
Donald Trump Should Refuse a Mueller Interview
Koch Network Prepping ‘Largest Investment Ever’ in Midterm Cycle
Actress: ‘People Were Testifying About God’s Miracles’ on the Set of Black Panther
Join the conversation as a VIP Member