Latest news with #BennyJohnson
The Verge
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Verge
The intolerable memes of Alligator Alcatraz
Alligator Alcatraz, Florida's hastily built, $225 million-and-counting immigrant detention facility in the Everglades, is both a de facto concentration camp and a right-wing meme. President Donald Trump's most ardent supporters are willing to excuse — or are in some cases reveling in — allegations of inhumane treatment at the facility: worms in food, floors flooded with fecal water, fluorescent lights left on for 24 hours a day, and no air conditioning at night despite South Florida's relentless humidity. To them, the whole thing is a big joke, fodder for memes that activate the base even as they turn the majority of Americans off from Trump's draconian immigration enforcement. One Republican member of Congress is also selling Alligator Alcatraz merch Laura Loomer, a close confidante of Trump's, was giddy at the prospect of potential escapees dying in the act. 'The good news is, alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we start now,' she posted on X. (The figure refers not to the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in the country but to the United States' entire Latino population.) Conservative commentator Benny Johnson compared the facility's entrance to Jurassic Park and bragged about getting official Alligator Alcatraz merch during his visit. (Before his rightward turn, and before he was fired from BuzzFeed for plagiarism, Johnson also compared the Arab Spring to Jurassic Park. It's unclear if he's seen any other movies.) One Republican member of Congress is also selling Alligator Alcatraz merch to fund her reelection campaign. There's more merch on Etsy. Obviously, there's also a shitcoin. The memes and merch are more than a get-rich-quick scheme for enterprising nativists, though grift is obviously always part of the MAGA equation. In his second term, Trump has turned immigration enforcement into a spectator sport. Far-right influencers like Chaya Raichik, better known as Libs of TikTok, have been invited to ride-alongs with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has turned her position into a sort of cowboy cop cosplay, often appearing in public in a bulletproof vest or a ten-gallon hat (or sometimes both). The official White House X account is posting 'deportation ASMR' and Studio Ghibli-fied images of crying migrants in handcuffs. There's a real glee to it. To borrow from Adam Serwer, the cruelty is the point, but there's more to it than that. At this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, Vice President JD Vance said that voters had given Trump a mandate on immigration enforcement; Trump won the popular vote in part because the public was clamoring for mass deportations. It's true that before the 2024 election, most voters expressed disapproval with President Joe Biden's border policy and seemed open to a more hardline approach to immigration. But Trump — and the zoomers presumably running the White House's social media — either haven't realized that public opinion is no longer on his side with regard to immigration, or they simply don't care. Trump seems even less beholden to public opinion in his second term than he was in his first. Since January, he has pursued deeply unpopular policies, from tariffs to completely gutting the federal government, so relentlessly that he has even lost support from his own base. Half a year into Trump's second term, it's clear that voters agreed with some of his proposals in abstract terms — they elected him because he promised to 'do something about immigration' and 'run the government like a business' — but don't like how these policies have played out in practice. A chunk of Republican voters have turned against tariffs and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Still other Trump supporters have seen their friends, relatives, and spouses targeted by ICE since the president's return to office. One naturalized citizen who voted for Trump was even stopped by ICE agents while driving to work; he now believes that ICE is racially profiling Latinos. He told a local news station that he voted for Trump because he would be targeting 'criminals, not every Hispanic, Spanish-look-alike.' Trump's approval rating on immigration is now down to 41 percent, the lowest since his second term began. Voters may have trusted Trump to get 'criminals' out of the country, but they weren't necessarily expecting his administration to indiscriminately target noncitizens (and some citizens as well), deploy the National Guard to arrest immigrants and crack down on protesters in Los Angeles, or disappear hundreds of people to a Salvadoran megaprison. In a post on X, White House adviser Stephen Miller justified the decision to sic the National Guard on protesters by saying that 'America voted for mass deportations.' Recent polling suggests that Americans are no longer on board with Trump's immigration agenda. Rather than responding to this shift in voters' sentiment, the administration appears to be doubling down on its all-or-nothing approach to immigration enforcement and to its gleeful depictions of these draconian policies online. The memes create a sort of alternate reality, a virtual universe in which everyone is still on the Trump Train and all Americans are thrilled at the prospect of feeding immigrants to alligators. This echo chamber benefits from — and is amplified by — algorithmic silos. Your average voter may read about Alligator Alcatraz in the news, but they aren't necessarily seeing Benny Johnson's concentration camp selfies. The memes are in-group signaling; they engender a sense of belonging for Trump's most ardent supporters while inuring them to the cruelty of this new era. The memes are politics disjointed from polls and demagoguery free of democracy, a sign that the White House — either out of recklessness or something much worse — does not care about elections.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Trump goes to war with Maga over Epstein files
Archive: ABC News, CBS News, PBS, NBC News, KVUE, Theo Von podcast, Benny Johnson podcast, CBC The National, After Party podcast
Washington Post
7 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans break with Trump on Epstein
One of the leading Republicans on Capitol Hill broke with the Trump administration's decision not to release the files of deceased sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein as the controversy deepened over the handling of an issue that has seen unprecedented division among the GOP base. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson that he supported the release of the Epstein files days after Trump's Justice Department said the matter was effectively closed. Johnson is a close Trump ally and has never broken so publicly with the president on an issue.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Lara Trump breaks ranks with her father-in-law with Epstein demand
Lara Trump added fuel to the fire of the MAGA conspiracy flames when she demanded 'more transparency' on Jeffrey Epstein and called on President Donald Trump , her father-in-law, to release the documents 'soon.' Trump, the wife of the president's son Eric, said she believes the administration will hand out more files on the financer. 'I do think that there needs to be more transparency on this, and I think that that will happen,' she told a podcast hosted by conservative commentator and Trump ally Benny Johnson. 'I mean, look, I don't know what truly exists there, but I know that this is something that's important to the president as well,' she added. Her comments came as the White House is trying to put the scandal behind them even as more questions are being raised about the case and the president's top allies are leading the charge. But Lara Trump also offered the shocking claim that she expects the administration to provide more information soon. 'I believe that there will probably be more coming on this. And I believe anything that they are able to release that doesn't, you know, damage any witnesses or anyone underage or anything like that, I believe they'll probably try to get out sooner rather than later,' Trump said. President Trump's handling of the Epstein files has started a MAGA civil war among his supporters and within his administration . And it hasn't quieted down any of the conspiracy theories about the disgraced financer, which continue to thrive online and in the conservative zeitgeist. Lara Trump, who served as Republican National Committee co-chair during the 2024 presidential campaign and is close to her father-in-law, advised the MAGA faithful to calm down. She argued there is 'no great plot' at work. 'To everybody out there who's all worked up about it, there's no great plot to keep this information away that I'm aware of,' Trump said. 'I do just believe that maybe it's been slow-rolled for reasons that hopefully we understand down the line. And I think we're probably gonna get more transparency on it very soon.' Her conversation with Johnson, a popular podcaster and influencer in the conservative world, garnered much attention. And Johnson himself has suggested a way out of the Epstein controversy for the Trump administration, taking to social media to offer this four-part approach: 'Hold press conferences, Explain where the evidence is and why it's sealed, Promise release of all evidence after Ghislaine Maxwell's final appeal, Drag in Bill Clinton for questioning.' The MAGA faithful were counting on President Trump to release a cache of new information on Epstein, who is subject to a rash of conspiracy theories, including unproven ones that he did not [kill himself] while awaiting trial. Trump supporters also believe there was a 'deep state' coverup to protect the wealthy and powerful who may have been Epstein clients. Fanning the flames was Department of Justice's statement that there is no Epstein 'client list.' The Department also released videos from inside New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center which the DOJ says proves he [killed himself] in 2019 while being held in jail on [sexual] trafficking charges. Critics have pointed to the fact that there is a crucial minute missing from the jail house footage that also does not show the door or, indeed, the inside of Epstein's jail cell. Indeed, Attorney General Pam Bondi crushed MAGA hopes when her department released the two-page memo saying they found no evidence that the convicted [sexual] offender blackmailed powerful people or kept a 'client list' and reiterated that he died by [killing himself] in his prison cell in 2019. The memo also said that no more people would be arrested, charged or convicted in the Epstein child [sexual] trafficking case. Trump supporters were deeply disappointed. FBI director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino - two men who have pushed Epstein conspiracy theories - have clashed with the attorney general on the matter. Some even Bondi should be fired after promising to release all files relating to Epstein and his high-profile male friends only to apparently renege on that promise. President Trump, meanwhile, has tried to calm the troubled waters. He defended Bondi but also expressed his impatience with the situation. In a lengthy Truth Social post on Saturday night, he called on the in-fighting to stop and for his supporters to move on. 'What's going on with my 'boys' and, in some cases, 'gals?'' Trump wrote. 'They're all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what's happening.' He also advised his MAGA faithful not to 'waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.' But many of his supporters remain unconvinced.
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Despite Trump saying there are no more Epstein files, Lara Trump says he will release more Epstein files
Donald Trump's daughter in law Lara Trump has claimed that his administration will 'probably' release more documents about Jeffrey Epstein, despite his repeated statements to the contrary. In an interview with right-wing broadcaster Benny Johnson on Monday, Lara Trump — who is married to Trump's son Eric — said that the President wanted to 'set things right' and would release more documents sooner rather than later. Her words contradicted the Trump administration's announcement last week there is actually no 'Epstein client list' and that no further disclosures are 'appropriate or warranted', as well as Trump's own pleading with his supporters to drop the subject. That came after many months of Trump officials and outriders trumpeting the imminent release of bombshell secret Epstein documents, including the paedophile financier's supposed 'client list'. The abrupt about-face sparked fury among Trump's fan base, who had been primed to expect the unravelling of a vast child abuse conspiracy centered on Trump's political opponents. 'Look, I don't know what truly exists there, but I know this is something that's important to the President as well,' Lara Trump said in her interview with Johnson. 'He does want transparency on all these fronts, everything we're talking about. Because it's frustrated him as well. He sat for four years like the rest of us did and saw lie after lie and our country just being sent down the wrong path... 'I know this is probably not his number one thing he's focused on... but he hears all the noise, and he hears all the consternation out there, and I think he's gonna want to set things right as well. 'So I believe that there will probably be more coming on this, and I believe anything that they are able to release — that doesn't damage any witnesses or anyone underage, or anything like that — I believe they'll probably try to get out sooner rather than later.' Trump's own statements have set a very different tone, suggesting that the so-called 'Epstein files' were merely a hoax concocted by his enemies in order to persecute him. 'We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and 'selfish people' are trying to hurt it — all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein,' he said on his social network Truth Social on Saturday. 'For years, it's Epstein, over and over again... let's not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.' This story is breaking and will be updated.
