Day: June 2, 2024

Former President Trump’s guilty verdict in his New York City hush money trial is supercharging Republican enthusiasm, as his base rallies around him in the aftermath of Thursday’s historic verdict.

Trump’s political allies came out in force over the airwaves and social media, while grassroots supporters pulled out their pocketbooks. The GOP fundraising website WinRed even appeared to crash following the verdict. 

The enthusiasm could be a sign that a legally devastating outcome for Trump could be a political boon that helps unify a fragmented GOP going into November. 

“You can’t tell me that it doesn’t drive that low-propensity, unlikely voter into a frenzy and one where they are more inclined to engage in the election,” said Zack Roday, a Virginia-based Republican strategist. “This will drive turnout, and I think it will also drive people who don’t follow politics.” 

“That’s not good news for Joe Biden, and it probably is good news for Donald Trump, within that context of addition and subtraction,” he said.

Trump saw an immediate boost from his supporters, when he raised roughly $35 million since the verdict, his campaign announced on Friday. The campaign said 29.7 percent of the donors were brand new to the WinRed platform, signaling new grassroots interest in Trump.

In one of the most clear signs that the verdict may unify Republicans, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) came to Trump’s defense, declaring that the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should never have brought the case and predicted the conviction would be overturned.

McConnell, who has had a long-running feud with Trump, endorsed the former president after it became clear he would be the GOP nominee. But he stayed silent last April when Trump pleaded not guilty to the 34 felony counts brought by Bragg, so his decision to finally weigh after the verdict has the potential to rally other Trump skeptics in the GOP.

On Friday, Trump delivered his harshest condemnation of the trial’s judge, Judge Juan Merchan, calling him “the devil” and slamming the trial as “rigged” and “a scam.” Those remarks followed a fundraising appeal put out shortly after the verdict was delivered, in which the former president referred to himself as “a political prisoner.” 

Republican strategists say that while Trump is legitimately fuming over the verdict, his remarks are a part of a wide strategy to rev up his most diehard supporters. But, strategists note that the approach could reach farther than Trump’s base. 

“If Donald Trump can continue to convince voters that this was a rigged jury with a judge who should basically be a black jack dealer in Vegas because he’s so good at rigging the deck, then that is going to be very helpful for Donald Trump,” said Ford O’Connell, a Florida-based GOP strategist. 

“He has to be able to continue that narrative because most people who are not political partisans have not been watching this trial until the verdict was read,” he continued. 

Throughout the numerous legal investigations and cases Trump has faced, he has said that cases against him are, by extension, cases against his own supporters. 

“I don’t think it is a Republican base frame,” said Roday. “It’s going to be that if this can happen to Trump, it could happen to anybody because the basis of this case is laughable.” 

Still, with so many outside factors impacting the election, like inflation, the economy, health care and immigration, it’s unclear whether the guilty verdict in May will be on swing voters’ minds in November. 

“Everybody wants to have snap judgments on what this means,” said Tucker Martin, a Virginia GOP strategist, adding, “We’ve literally never been here before.

“It could be that so many things are baked into the cake with Trump already that it doesn’t change anything,” he said. 

Others question how much the verdict can unite the party beyond Trump allies, especially considering how much support former Republican candidate Nikki Haley (S.C.) garnered.

“The GOP doesn’t have a Trump base problem, they have an independent and Nikki Haley getting 20 percent of primary votes even when she’s not campaigning anymore problem — guilty verdicts won’t help that,” one former Trump transition official said.

Haley, who has said she would vote for Trump over Biden in November, won 20 percent of the vote in Maryland’s GOP primary, 18 percent in Nebraska’s primary, nearly 22 percent in Indiana and won more than 100,000 votes in both Arizona and Pennsylvania.

But other Republicans maintain that Trump doesn’t have a base problem, pointing to his lead in recent polls. 

“His lead in these polls is built on fracturing the Democrat coalition and bringing in new voters,” Roday said. “It’s not from the ghost vote, the Nikki Haley vote.” 

While Haley hasn’t responded to the Trump verdict, other former presidential contenders rallied around the former president, which has the potential to sway some voters who backed their candidacies.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is on Trump’s vice-presidential shortlist, told CNN “the best revenge is success” for Trump, and former Gov. Doug Bergman, another possible vice president pick, said Trump’s conviction doesn’t “give me pause.”

Meanwhile, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a longtime Trump critic, suggested Friday that he’s concerned over the Republican Party’s unity following the verdict.

“Watching my party, the party of law and order, absolutely turn their guns against the jury, against the judge, against the system and it’s not just like crazy people, it’s people like Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, this party has lost all ability to think for itself,” he told CNN.

SINGAPORE (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused China on Sunday of helping Russia to disrupt an upcoming Swiss-organized peace conference on the war in Ukraine.

Speaking at Asia’s premier security conference, Zelenskyy said that China is pressuring other countries and their leaders not to attend the upcoming talks. He did not say which ones.

“Russia, using Chinese influence in the region, using Chinese diplomats also, does everything to disrupt the peace summit,” he said at a news conference at the Shangri-La defense forum. “Regrettably this is unfortunate that such a big independent powerful country as China is an instrument in the hands of (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin.”

China has staked out what it says is a neutral position on the war, putting it at odds with Ukraine, the United States and most of Europe. Its trade with Russia has grown, easing the economic impact of Western sanctions. And American, Ukrainian and other intelligence agencies say there is evidence that Chinese parts are winding up in Russian weaponry, even if China is not directly arming its neighbor.

The Swiss had been hoping China would attend the peace conference in mid-June, but Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning signaled on Friday that that was unlikely. China has been calling for a peace conference with equal participation of all sides, including Russia, which has not been invited.

“There is still a clear gap between the arrangements for the meeting and the demands of the Chinese side, as well as the general expectations of the international community,” Mao said. “This makes it difficult for China to participate in the meeting.”

The foreign ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Zelenskyy’s accusation.

The Ukrainian leader said of China’s pressure on others, “That is not only support to Russia, that is basically support of war.”

In a speech to the security conference earlier in the day, Zelenskyy urged top defense officials to attend the upcoming talks in Switzerland, saying he was disappointed at the failure of some countries to commit to joining.

Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun spoke before Zelenskyy at the Shangri-La conference but he did not appear to be in the room when Zelenskyy made his appeal.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had proposals to make at the summit as a basis for peace, addressing nuclear security, food security, the release of prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

“Time is running out, and the children are growing up in the Putin-land where they are taught to hate their homeland,” he said.

At the same time, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is “ready to hear various proposals and thoughts that lead us … to an end of the war and a sustainable and just peace.”

The greater the participation, the more likely it will be that Russia will have to listen, he said.

“The global majority can ensure with their involvement that what is agreed upon is truly implemented,” he said.

Zelenskyy said he planned to meet one-on-one with Singapore’s prime minister and would urge him to participate in person in the Switzerland talks.

“The same goes for the countries in the region,” he said through an interpreter. “We truly count on you supporting this summit, and that you will be present in Switzerland.”

Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen, who shared the stage with Zelenskyy, did not say whether his country’s leaders would attend, but did note Singapore had condemned the invasion and provided Ukraine with military ambulances.

“We stand with you, and I think your appearance at this Shangri-La Dialogue is the epitome of what we are all hoping for, a rules-based order that guarantees the security and survival of large nations and small,” he said.

Dong did not specifically mention the Switzerland meetings in his address to the forum, but did say “on the Ukraine crisis, China has been promoting peace talks with a responsible attitude.”

He added that China had not provided weapons to either side of the conflict.

“We have never done anything to fan the flames,” he said. “We stand firmly on the side of peace and dialogue.”

From Singapore, Zelenskyy may travel to Manila to invite President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the summit in person, two senior Philippine government officials said.

Ukrainian officials have notified the Philippines of Zelenskyy’s intention to go, but the visit is uncertain because of the Ukrainian president’s travel plans are constantly changing, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sat in the front row as Zelenskyy talked, and the two met on the sidelines of the conference. According to a U.S. reader, Austin provided an update on U.S. security assistance and reiterated U.S. committments to Ukraine.

In an address Saturday, Austin told the security conference that “Putin’s war of aggression has provided us all with a preview of a world that none of us would want.”

“We’ve all been inspired by the courage of Ukraine’s troops and the resilience of Ukraine’s people,” Austin said. “People around the world have rushed to help Ukraine defend itself, including countries across the Indo-Pacific.”’

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Moritsugu reported from Hong Kong. Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed.

The BBC has come up with a celebratory, joyful love letter to queerness, from butch football types to ‘edgy femme’ bisexuals

I’ve always seemed to miss the point with reality TV. Watching Love Island felt like wasting my life. I never understood why people were hooked on something so well-known for its toxic impact on mental health, for viewers and contestants. But, since watching BBC Three’s wholesome new queer dating show I Kissed a Girl, I finally see what all the fuss is about. I’ve binged every episode, and now that it’s ending tonight I’m heartbroken.

If you haven’t seen I Kissed a Girl, the show begins with 10 single women entering the masseria – a fancy, villa-esque Italian farmhouse. Striding across poolside, they must greet their matches with a club-style snog. And it only gets gayer. Activities and challenges (think: lots of chat about feelings) are designed to test their compatibility. Extra girls are thrown in to spice things up. Every few days, couples decide whether to recommit in the brutal kiss-off: a back-to-back countdown, where they either turn to kiss their partner, or don’t and save it for someone else. Anyone left unkissed is off the show.

Florence Scordoulis is a freelance journalist covering LGBTQ+ rights, women’s lifestyle and travel

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