Trump Fully Embraces His Chief of Staff’s Bonkers Description of Him |
Donald Trump has totally embraced the eyebrow-raising label given to him by his own chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
In a sprawling interview Vanity Fair published Tuesday, Wiles described the president as having “an alcoholic’s personality.” Trump, in turn, apparently agrees with that assessment.
“No, she meant that I’m—you see, I don’t drink alcohol,” Trump told the New York Post later Tuesday, defending Wiles’s comments. The 79-year-old routinely toasts with Diet Coke and claims that he doesn’t touch liquor due to his older brother, Fred Trump, who struggled with alcoholism for years before he died from a heart attack in 1981.
“So everybody knows that—but I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a very good chance of being an alcoholic. I have said that many times about myself, I do. It’s a very possessive personality,” Trump continued.
“I’ve said that many times about myself. I’m fortunate I’m not a drinker. If I did, I could very well, because I’ve said that—what’s the word? Not possessive—possessive and addictive-type personality,” he said. “Oh, I’ve said it many times, many times before.”
Trump reiterated his faith in Wiles’s ability as his chief of staff, and suggested that if there was any fault to be had for the shocking value judgment, it would be on the interviewer. Trump claimed the reporter was “very misguided” even as he admitted that he did not read the piece.
The wide-ranging profile on Wiles’s first year atop the Trump administration sent shock waves through the political establishment Tuesday, and offered many Americans their first intimate glimpse into the inner machinations of Trump’s White House. Over the course of “many on-the-record conversations,” several of which took place after church on Sundays, documentary filmmaker and author Chris Whipple depicted a Cabinet structure that could not exist without the “ice maiden”’s direction and her unparalleled knack for translating the president’s agenda.
But, since he didn’t read the piece, Trump had no idea about its contents.
“Yeah, deceived—and he didn’t have great access, a couple of very short interviews,” Trump told the Post. “And Susie generally doesn’t do interviews.”
“If anybody knows the interviewer, and if they know Vanity Fair, Vanity Fair is a totally—it’s lost its way,” he said. “It’s also lost its readers, as you know. No, she’s fantastic.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is being sued by the Council on American-Islamic Relations after he signed an executive order last week labeling the civil rights group a “terrorist organization.”
In a statement, CAIR litigation director Lena Masri said, “This is still America, where due process, free speech and other rights guaranteed by the Constitution matter.”
“We look forward to once again protecting the rights of all Americans—liberal and conservative, religious and secular—to engage in activism without fear of illegal government retaliation,” the statement read.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that DeSantis is violating the Constitution, specifically the First Amendment. In his executive order, DeSantis accused CAIR of being “founded by persons connected to the Muslim Brotherhood” and claimed that people associated with the organization have been convicted for “conspiring to provide” support for terrorist organizations.
In the lawsuit CAIR wrote, “The Executive Order identifies no criminal charges or convictions, relies on no federal designation, and inaccurately invokes statutory authority. It rests on political rhetoric and imposes sweeping legal consequences on a domestic civil rights organization because of its viewpoints and advocacy.”
DeSantis’s order prohibits CAIR, a national organization with chapters in states across the country, from receiving contracts, employment, or funding from state agencies. When asked for comment, a DeSantis spokesperson directed Politico to DeSantis’s posts on X, including one where he said legislation was being drafted “to stop the creep of sharia law, and I hope that they codify these protections for Floridians against CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood in their legislation.”
DeSantis is following the example of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who declared CAIR a terrorist organization in November, only to be sued by the nonprofit a few days later. In both cases, the motives appear to be based on bigotry, with DeSantis’s order claiming that through its supposed Muslim Brotherhood connections, CAIR is seeking to establish “a world-wide Islamic caliphate.”
CAIR is also being attacked for allegedly supporting Hamas, but the organization said in its lawsuit that it has condemned Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel as well as Hamas’s other attacks. The use of the term “sharia law” evokes a conspiracy that right-wing groups have pushed for decades, claiming that Muslims are trying to set up a religious legal system.
The sharia conspiracies have been repeatedly debunked, and laws targeting sharia and Islamic practices have repeatedly failed in court. CAIR’s lawsuits seem to have the Constitution behind them, especially since CAIR is not a proselytizing organization, but one working toward civil rights. Right-wing politicians and their allies in the courts will try to say otherwise and scapegoat the estimated 4.5 million Muslims in the United States.
New York Representative Elise Stefanik is trying to completely erase her history with the New York Young Republican Club after they invited racists and German white supremacists to their annual party.
It became clear on Saturday that the club was willing to welcome even the fringiest members of the far right when white nationalists and Nazi slogan–chanting far-right German leaders attended the New York Young Republican Club’s annual gala.
In the days since, Stefanik—who “formally joined” the group in 2022, per a club announcement—has claimed that she was never affiliated with the group to begin with, according to Politico’s Jason Beeferman.
But that’s just not true. The club’s website listed Stefanik’s name on its member page as of October, though it no longer appears to. It is unclear when her name was removed from the site.
She’s also supported the Young Republican cohort........