Joy Reid campaigns for Iran to get 'nuclear energy' in cringe-worthy panel appearance
Fired ex-MSNBC host Joy Reid mistakenly blasted the US for trying to stop Iran obtaining nuclear energy during her latest CNN appearance.
Speaking on Newsnight earlier this week, Reid defended the country following the attacks on their nuclear sites by President Donald Trump over the weekend.
The left-wing commentator said: 'Why on earth is the United States bombing a country that did not attack us, what on earth are we doing there at all.
'Why is it there is this arrogance in the west and in the United States to say that we get to decide who can have nuclear energy.'
Trump's bunker buster bombing campaign was actually aimed at stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons, not nuclear power.
Reid then added: 'The bottom line here is the way we know that Iran did not have nuclear weapons, if they had nuclear weapons Israel would not have attacked them.
'The reason they're trying to get nukes is because an expansionist power in their region keeps threatening them and actually bomb[ing] them.'
CNN host Abby Phillip interrupted, saying: 'Joy, this is not just about nukes. It's also about Iran being a state sponsor of terrorism and chaos and violence and death around the world.'
The panel then decided into chaos over her remarks, with attorney Arthur Aidala slamming her for backing Iran.
He said: 'Joy the fact that you are backing a country that slaughters homosexuals, that slaughters people for their religious beliefs. It's crazy, it's nuts.'
In response, she said that LGBTQ people weren't allowed to serve in the US military under President Trump.
Trump has banned transgender service personnel, but gays, lesbians and bisexuals are free to serve.
Clearly angered, Aidala continued: 'But they can live, they can get married they can have children. We're not killing them!'
U.S. stealth bombers dropped 12 deep penetrator bombs, called bunker busters, on the Fordo nuclear facility and two on the Natanz site over the weekend.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the attack as a success, but a US intelligence report has since emerged that seems to discredit that.
According to the preliminary report, it was found that Iran's nuclear program had been set back only a few months.
At a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, defense officials laid out details that bolstered their argument that the attack had wiped out the key sites.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said: 'You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated, This was an historically successful attack.'
Reid's remarks this week come after she said she was disillusioned with the Democratic party to the point she was just 'hanging on'.
She told The Breakfast Club podcast on Tuesday that she believes the current Democrat line-up is fueling Trump's agenda by failing to provide opposition.
'I've been a Democrat since I was old enough to vote, but I'm barely hanging on,' Reid told The Breakfast Club podcast on Tuesday.
'At this point, the party is not bigger than the future of my kids. I have three children, that have to live in this country as black people, and fascism doesn't work for me.
'I'm not willing to cede the country to Trumpism and MAGA simply because I'm clinging to this party.'
Reid added that the party desperately needs a new leader, and a fresh ideology. She blasted Trump as having 'no actual talent' - but he still beat the Democrats.
'You have to blow up the whole Democratic Party,' she said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
30 minutes ago
- The Independent
What's in the latest version of Trump's big bill now before the Senate
At some 940-pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. Now it's up to Congress to decide whether President Donald Trump 's signature's domestic policy package will become law. Trump told Republicans, who hold majority power in the House and Senate, to skip their holiday vacations and deliver the bill by the Fourth of July. Senators were working through the weekend to pass the bill and send it back to the House for a final vote. Democrats are united against it. Here's the latest on what's in the bill. There could be changes as lawmakers negotiate. Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains roughly $3.8 trillion in tax cuts. The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill. It temporarily would add new tax breaks that Trump campaigned on: no taxes on tips, overtime pay or some automotive loans, along with a bigger $6,000 deduction in the Senate draft for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year. It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200 under the Senate proposal. Families at lower income levels would not see the full amount. A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years. There are scores of business-related tax cuts. The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, which would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version. Middle-income taxpayers would see a tax break of $500 to $1,500, the CBO said. Money for deportations, a border wall and the Golden Dome The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including $46 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year. The homeland security secretary would have a new $10 billion fund for grants for states that help with federal immigration enforcement and deportation actions. The attorney general would have $3.5 billion for a similar fund, known as Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide, or BIDEN, referring to former Democratic President Joe Biden. To help pay for it all, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections. For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security. How to pay for it? Cuts to Medicaid and other programs To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back some long-running government programs: Medicaid, food stamps, green energy incentives and others. It's essentially unraveling the accomplishments of the past two Democratic presidents, Biden and Barack Obama. Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program's work requirements. There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services. Some 80 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts. All told, the CBO estimates that under the House-passed bill, at least 10.9 million more people would go without health coverage and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps. The Senate proposes a $25 billion Rural Hospital Transformation Fund to help offset reduced Medicaid dollars. It's a new addition, intended to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that the proposed Medicaid provider tax cuts would hurt rural hospitals. Both the House and Senate bills propose a dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles. They also would phase out or terminate the various production and investment tax credits companies use to stand up wind, solar and other renewable energy projects. In total, cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs would be expected to produce at least $1.5 trillion in savings. Trump savings accounts and so, so much more A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities. The House and Senate both have a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump's long-sought 'National Garden of American Heroes.' There's a new excise tax on university endowments, restrictions on the development of artificial intelligence and blocks on transgender surgeries. A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated. One provision bars money to family planning providers, namely Planned Parenthood, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee. Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for exploration to Mars. The bill would deter states from regulating artificial intelligence by linking certain federal AI infrastructure money to maintaining a freeze. Seventeen Republican governors asked GOP leaders to drop the provision. Also, the interior secretary would be directed to sell certain Bureau of Land Management acreage to provide for housing. The sale of public lands would cover at least 600,000 acres and up to 1.2 million acres, according to a projection from the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation group. What's the final cost? Altogether, keeping the existing tax breaks and adding the new ones is expected to cost $3.8 trillion over the decade, the CBO says in its analysis of the House bill. An analysis of the Senate draft is pending. The CBO estimates the House-passed package would add $2.4 trillion to the nation's deficits over the decade. Or not, depending on how one does the math. Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already 'current policy.' Senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach. Under the Senate GOP view, the tax provisions cost $441 billion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Democrats and others say this is 'magic math' that obscures the true costs of the GOP tax breaks. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget puts the Senate tally at $4.2 trillion over the decade.
South Wales Guardian
40 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Two further terror arrests after vandalism of planes at RAF base
Counter Terrorism Policing South East said two men aged 22 and 24, both from London, were taken into police custody after the incident at RAF Brize Norton on June 20. They are accused of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, contrary to Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000. On Friday, a woman, aged 29, of no fixed address, and two men, aged 36 and 24, from London, were also arrested accused of the same offence. A 41-year-old woman, of no fixed address, was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, police said. Palestine Action previously posted footage online showing people inside the Oxfordshire base, with one person appearing to ride an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker, before spray-painting into its jet engine. The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made the decision to proscribe Palestine Action following the incident, with the arrests coming just days before the proscription is set to come into force. Support for the group will become a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison when the ban comes into effect as soon as next Friday. Palestine Action has staged demonstrations that have included spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint and vandalising US President Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire. As she announced plans for Palestine Action's proscription, Ms Cooper said the group's methods have become 'more aggressive', with its members showing 'willingness to use violence'. At the time of the incident, the group said it had 'directly intervened in the genocide and prevented crimes against the Palestinian people' by 'decommissioning two military planes'. Palestine Action said Thursday's arrests 'further demonstrates that proscription is not about enabling prosecutions under terrorism laws – it's about cracking down on non-violent protests which disrupt the flow of arms to Israel during its genocide in Palestine'.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Israel close to accomplishing objectives in Gaza, says IDF
Israel is close to accomplishing its current objectives in Gaza, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Their claim comes amid reports that ceasefire prospects between Israel and Hamas are improving, again raising hopes that the 20-month conflict could come to an end. The White House is putting increasing pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to bring an end to the war, which began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7 2023. Also suggesting an end is in sight, Qatar, who have mediated ceasefire talks, urged Israel and Hamas to take the 'window of opportunity' for a new hostage deal in the wake of the end of Israel's 12-day war with Iran. Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff, said on Friday that Israel's operation would soon 'reach the lines' defined by the government, which would see the military assert control over 75 per cent of Gaza territory. 'In the near future, we will reach the lines we defined for the current phase within the framework of Gideon's Chariots,' Mr Zamir said during a visit to the Gaza Strip. The IDF's operational plans for Gideon's Chariots, reported by The Times of Israel, had indicated that it would take two months to capture 75 per cent of Gaza. Now the government will need to decide if it pushes for full control or ends the operation, analysts have said, with the options expected to be put to the cabinet on Sunday. 'From there, operational options will develop that will be presented to the political echelon,' said Mr Zamir, adding that the IDF 'will continue to act with determination to achieve the two objectives of the campaign, the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.' Mr Netanyahu has so far said only that Israel would carry on in its attacks until it had completely destroyed Hamas, and Right-wing members of his coalition – upon whom he relies in order to govern – have called for him to seize full control of the Strip. However, Donald Trump, the US president, is pushing Israel to conclude its offensive following what he has deemed a successful 12-day war against Iran. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr Trump suggested that a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal would be reached 'within the next week', having said earlier in the week that 'great progress' had been made in ceasefire talks. Mr Netanyahu may calculate that he must keep Mr Trump onside and therefore work towards a deal, secure the release of the remaining Gaza hostages, and call an election in an attempt to capitalise on a bump in popularity in the wake of the war with Iran. Mr Zamir also said of Israel's war with Iran: 'Iran took a heavy blow. There is potential that the blow caused to Iran will advance our goals in Gaza,' he said. Gaza mediators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from the ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce in the Palestinian territory, Majed al-Ansari, a Qatar foreign ministry spokesman, said. 'If we don't utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it's an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don't want to see that again,' said Mr Ansari, who is also an adviser to Qatar's prime minister. An official with knowledge of the situation said that Ron Dermer, the Israeli minister for strategic affairs, would arrive in Washington next week for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other subjects. Mr Zamir's comments came the day before Israeli strikes killed at least 62 people across Gaza, according to reports from inside the Hamas-run territory. Three children and their parents were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent camp in Muwasi near the southern city of Khan Younis. They were struck while sleeping, relatives said. 'What did these children do to them? What is their fault?' said Suad Abu Teima, the children's grandmother, as reported by the Associated Press. Also among the dead were 12 people near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more in apartments, according to staff at Shifa hospital. More than 20 bodies were taken to Nasser hospital, according to health officials. The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It said more than half of the dead were women and children, and that they included 6,089 people killed since the end of the latest ceasefire. Hamas massacred more than 1,200 Israelis, and took 254 hostages inside Gaza. About 50 remain in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
