A late Saturday report from the Washington Post that Donald Trump's choice to be secretary of defense paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault and that he was admittedly "visibly intoxicated” at the time may have created more problems for his confirmation.
According to the Post, Fox News personality Pete Hegseth "paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure agreement, though he maintained that their encounter was consensual."
On CNN, Sunday morning, reporter Daniel Strauss claimed the latest revelation won't help with an already embattled nomination.
That's from Tom Boggioni's "'Steeper climb' ahead for Trump cabinet nominee after bombshell intoxication report: CNN" (RAW STORY).
That's something to read an take seriously. It's not garbage. No garbage would be Brett Wilkins' "Antiwar Voices Rip Biden's 'Utterly Unhinged' Assent to Ukrainian Use of US Long-Range Missiles" (COMMON DREAMS):
"Biden has for the first time allowed Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to strike deep inside Russia," comedian, podcaster, and antiwar writer Lee Camp wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "Apparently the Dems want WWIII before they leave office. Utterly unhinged."
Jimmy Dore's old buddy? That's who COMMON DREAMS is pimping now? The nut job conspiracy freak? The antivax idiot? The man who promoted Jill Stein's campaign. The man who's calling for people to leave the Democratic Party right now?
Who are you working for, Brett?
It's a solid question. In your article, you link to a Tweet by Lee Camp. A Tweet. At a time when those of us who truly care about social justice are calling on everyone to leave Twitter and stop promoting it. But somehow you're promoting Twitter today.
Then there's "voices." Plural. In the headline. What voices?
The only one you cite is Lee Camp.
Who the f**k is paying Brett and COMMON DREAMS?
We need to know. Lee Camp was part of the faux nonsense Rage Against the War Machine and Jacob Crosse (WSWS) noted of that racist action:
On February 19, in Washington D.C., the Libertarian Party and “People’s Party,” along with disoriented middle class elements and outright fascistic individuals, organized what was marketed as the “Rage Against the War Machine” rally.
The event, billed by organizers Angela McArdle of the Libertarian Party and Nick Brana of the People’s Party as an attempt to bring the “left and right” together in opposition to the war in Ukraine was, the World Socialist Web Site noted, a “reactionary political freak show.”
The World Socialist Web Site will be further analyzing the main organizers and speakers at the event, confirming its thoroughly reactionary character. This article focuses on the Libertarian Party and its overt orientation to the fascistic right.
The central political perspective behind the rally was provided by the Libertarian Party, which was listed as the main organizer—above the People’s Party on the official “Rage” website.
Libertarian Party
Chair Angela McArdle moderated the “Rage” rally along with Brana. Of the
19 speakers, three were or are currently members of the Libertarian
Party: Ron Paul, Scott Horton and Daniel McAdams.
Commenting on the leading role of the Libertarian Party in organizing the event, Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone,
in a February 16 podcast promoting the rally with fellow speaker Scott
Horton, noted that the event was “substantially planned by the
Libertarian Party.”
Besides providing the political perspective, the Libertarians also financed much of the rally. The Mises Caucus donated at least $1,000 to be one of five “Silver Sponsors” for the rally.
While Libertarians have always advanced a far-right hyper-capitalist economic program, following the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and a further shift to the right by the American ruling class as a whole, members of the party, chiefly represented in the Mises Caucus, have made a marked turn toward fascist militias and anti-Semitic forces.
The Mises Caucus is the largest faction within the Libertarian Party and took control of the national apparatus in 2022 following the national convention in Reno, Nevada. McArdle was the California organizer for the caucus and a former board member.
As part of her campaign to seize the chair of the party last year, McArdle, with the backing of the caucus, spearheaded efforts to overturn limited vaccine mandates in Los Angeles County.
After earning the support of the anti-vaccine contingent of the party, McArdle shored up her candidacy when she refused to condemn vicious anti-Semite Bryan Sharpe, also known as “Hotep Jesus,” at the Libertarian Party’s Alabama State Convention in March 2021.
Sharpe had previously been invited to the Conservative Political Action Conference and been interviewed positively on Fox News.
On his blog, Sharpe previously praised the far right for not being “afraid to call out the Jews.” He also defended the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, writing that the “Blacks are so removed from reality... this is not a demonstration against blacks. This is a dispute between right and left—Liberal versus Conservative. Maybe even White vs. Jew.”
At the 2021 Alabama convention, a Libertarian
Party member asked McArdle how she could have invited Sharpe to the
national convention given his history of “anti-Semitic views.”
McArdle
responded, “I reject the premise of your question. I don’t actually
think that someone who’s trying to be a truth-seeker and understand
what’s going on—and asked the question about whether or not Jews run Hollywood is an anti-Semite.” (Emphasis added)
The Mises Caucus, the Mises Institute and Jeff Deist
An early indication of this shift to fascistic politics within the Libertarian Party was expressed in the takeover of the party by the Mises Caucus.
The Mises Caucus, named after the Mises Institute, which is currently led by Jeff Deist, was founded by Michael Heise on August 20, 2017. Several leading Libertarian Party members, including current chair McArdle, have been board members of the Mises Caucus, and many are “trained” by the Institute, located in Auburn, Alabama.
The Ludwig von Mises Institute, named after the reactionary Austrian economist, was founded by Llewellyn Rockwell Jr. in 1982, with financial backing from Ron Paul. A 2000 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) categorized the Mises Institute as “Neo-Confederate.”
In a January 11, 2023 interview on Reason.com, Heise pointed to the “Rage” rally as an example of the new type of “outreach” the Libertarian Party was undertaking under the leadership of the Mises Caucus in an attempt to grow the party.
Heise explained that the “anti-war rally” would be an example of the “first harvest” reaped of the new “fruits” cultivated under the far-right Mises Caucus leadership.
Jeff Deist, the president of the Mises Institute, is close to both Heise and McArdle, appearing on podcasts and right-wing events with both of them.
Deist has been at the Mises Institute since at least 2014. Before he was the president of the Institute, Deist, as he explained in a recent interview with fascist Patrick Casey, a co-organizer of the Unite the Right rally, “worked on Capitol Hill with Ron Paul.”
Casey was one of the leaders of the neo-Nazi group Identity Evropa and assumed leadership of the organization following the Unite the Right rally, which Identity Evropa played a main role in organizing. After Casey took control of the organization, in an attempt to distance the group from Charlottesville, he tried to rebrand the group as the “American Identity Movement.” However, this was not successful, and Casey stopped actively organizing within the group in 2020.
In 2019, Casey teamed up with Hitler-lover Nick Fuentes to promote the “groyper” army and launch the “America First Political Action Conference.” Leading up to January 6, the pair backed Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign by mobilizing their followers in support of the coup. Both Fuentes and Casey were at the Capitol on January 6, though neither have been charged.
Brett, I don't give that you're the token Black voice at COMMON DREAMS. I do give a f**k that yet again Black people are being betrayed. I do give a f**k that if this where COMMON DREAMS is going now, we need to all know because there is no reason for any Black person to visit COMMON DREAMS or to promote it.
Apparently, COMMON DREAMS will always be holding at least one table -- maybe more? -- for racists? I don't have anything in common with racists. They want me dead. If COMMON DREAMS is in bed with racists, then COMMON DREAMS wants me dead. Websites need to come with warning labels.
You're that desperate for things to write about that you're praising the racist conspiracy nut who worked for RT? And advancing Elon Musk's TWITTER? Greg Sergant (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:
Then there’s Trump’s decision to tap billionaire Elon Musk to head the grandiosely and misleadingly titled Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental body that will push substantial cuts in regulations, spending, and personnel. As The New York Times reports, Musk has grown infuriated with oversight on his SpaceX company, yet he will now be in a position to get Trump to consider regulatory rollbacks that benefit him, even as he enjoys lucrative federal contracts. That, plus government oversight on his other companies, creates the potential for serious conflicts of interest.
Trump has suggested Musk’s role will only be advisory. But even if that proves true, it’s ominous that Trump would so conspicuously hand Musk so much public influence over decisions that could heavily impact Musk’s own bottom line, especially with Trump so heavily indebted to Musk for transforming Twitter into a pro-Trump propaganda and MAGA disinformation machine. At minimum, Trump is basically declaring that his administration will be open for business to those who boost and assist him politically.
“Trump is showing that he will reward people who help him by giving them tremendous influence over his administration,” Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told me. “This will encourage more people to direct their largesse Trump’s way. We expect government to look out for the public interest. Trump is open about the fact that government is meant to serve his supporters, business partners, and friends.”
At THE BLACK COMMENTATOR, Dr Elwood Watson notes:
As is the case with race, America is a nation with sexism deeply etched into its social fabric. Hillary Clinton was unsuccessful in her bid to become the nation’s first female president. Kamala Harris fell short in achieving this goal. If we are honest, more than a few women refused to cast a ballot for another woman. They can be conditioned to be misogynistic, whether conscious or otherwise. In Harris’s case, being Black and Asian were additional impediments against her. The intersection of race and gender worked against her.
Meanwhile, the forces of White Supremacy, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia were triumphant on Tuesday. The nation is entering uncharted territory. Those of us who are committed to liberation and equality for all citizens regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion are unrelentingly committed to equal and humane treatment of all human beings as opposed to the preferential treatment of a select few.
The following sites updated:
