Trump news: President endorses man who openly avows white nationalism, collects Nazi relics and called Sandy Hook 'a hoax'

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Donald Trump spreads bogus wind energy claim in front of energy workers

Donald Trump has endorsed the political ambitions of ex-Arizona Diamondbacks baseball star Curt Schilling, an outspoken conservative and Breitbart podcast host known for espousing conspiracy theories and white nationalist rhetoric and collecting Nazi memorabilia.

The development comes after the president addressed energy workers in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and joked about calling off the 2020 election and serving a third term, attacking his political opponents including Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren, despite the event not being earmarked for campaigning.

Speaking to staff after touring the Shell Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex in Monaca, Mr Trump also spread misinformation about wind power (“All of the sudden it stops – the wind and the televisions go off”) after defending his retweeting of baseless rumours about the death of billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Trump's comments at the Shell Plant also sought to take credit for the whole place, even though it was actually green lit and started in 2012 when Barack Obama was president.

As Mr Trump rested from that trip, the White House was relatively quiet on Wednesday.

But, vice president Mike Pence announced he would be visiting Ireland soon, adding gravity to previous statements that Congress would not ratify a trade deal with the UK if the post-Brexit landscape did not honour the Good Friday Agreement.

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Key Points

• President endorses white nationalist ex-baseball star for Arizona Congress
• Trump lies about wind power to energy workers
• Defends retweeting Epstein conspiracy theories as 'fine'
• Dismisses farmer's concerns about China trade war
• 21 states sue administration over power plant rollbacks

[14 August 2019 16:30 · Joe Sommerlad]

House speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated she will block post-Brexit trade with the UK if the process in any way imperils the Good Friday Agreement.

Here's our sketch writer Tom Peck on US national security adviser John Bolton's trip to London this week, bearing promises to the contrary.

[14 August 2019 16:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

Trump is back online, quoting a Fox Business pundit to slam the Federal Reserve once again and promoting his latest rally at the SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, tomorrow night.

The venue is on Elm Street and the occasion certainly promises to be a nightmare.

[14 August 2019 17:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Those Trump boys never miss a chance to turn a dollar do they?

The president's favourite troll has also been at it, with the endorsement of Don Jr.

[14 August 2019 17:36 · Clark Mindock]

Environmental groups today have sued the Trump administration over its decision to try and repeal and replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan.

Here's a press release from one of the plaintiffs:

Ten environmental groups sued Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency today to overturn the administration’s Dirty Power Plan and reinstate the Obama-era Clean Power Plan.

Today’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, argues that the EPA failed its legal obligation under the Clean Air Act when it repealed and replaced the Clean Power Plan.

“Trump’s Dirty Power Plan will make people sick and dig us even deeper into the climate crisis,” said Clare Lakewood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Its only purpose is to make fossil fuel CEOs richer, no matter how deadly and dangerous that is for the rest of us.”

Fossil fuel power plants are the largest stationary source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The Clean Power Plan, finalized by the Obama administration in 2015, imposed the first-ever nationwide limits on carbon pollution from such plants.

The Trump administration’s replacement rule redefines the “best system of emissions reduction” of greenhouse gases from power plants as heat-rate improvements at coal-fired power plants. Heat-rate improvements result in increased generation, meaning the overall emissions reduction is smaller, and can even increase overall pollution. The rule does not set a specific emission limit, instead leaving it to states to decide what reduction each coal-fired power plant might achieve, and it fails to regulate gas-fired power plants at all.

Projections indicate the Trump rule will result in increases in carbon dioxide emissions in 18 states and D.C. in 2030, compared to having no rule in place at all. The Fourth National Climate Assessment, authored by the Trump administration’s own scientists, reported that “immediate and substantial” cuts to greenhouse gas pollution are needed to stem the worsening health and economic harms of the climate crisis.

Trump’s rule is also predicted to result in increased sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions in many states in 2030 compared to having no rule in place. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are pollutants that cause asthma and other health problems.

The EPA has previously predicted the rule will result in as many as 1,400 premature deaths per year.

“The new rule mangles both the law and the science in a desperate attempt to prop up the coal industry,” Lakewood said. “The EPA really has no leg to stand on in defending this reckless rule, so we look forward to a victory in court.”

[14 August 2019 17:47 · Clark Mindock]

Here's Donald Trump, bragging about the impact of his tariffs:

[14 August 2019 18:00 · Clark Mindock]

Not exactly sure what to make of this one:

 

[14 August 2019 18:15 · Clark Mindock]

Mr Trump is often praised for his ability to brand things, but we're not quite sure that "KAG" is quite as zingy as "MAGA".

We'll see, though...

[14 August 2019 18:30 · Clark Mindock]

Donald Trump is picking a fight with his Federal Reserve chairman, today, via Twittter:

[14 August 2019 18:45 · Clark Mindock]

If you're looking for a chuckle, take a gander at this report on a pretty popular petition in New York City:

[14 August 2019 19:00 · Clark Mindock]

  ↵Because we're all about providing fresh perspectives here at The Indy (via Voices):