American Bridge 21st Century Weekly Recap: June 16, 2023
Our top moments of the week
Today, American Bridge 21st Century announced our new campaign to remind Americans about the horrors of Donald Trump’s presidency. “This F*cking Guy” will uplift Trump’s scandals, failures, and general chaos. It’ll be tough to narrow it down.
Here are our top moments of the week:
1. AB21 Launches “This F*cking Guy” Campaign
Today marks the eighth anniversary of Trump’s infamous descent on his golden escalator in Trump Tower to announce his first run for president in a hateful, xenophobic speech.
Eight years after that absurd escalator ride, Trump still dominates the news cycle. This week, he appeared in court for his second arraignment this year in the classified documents case. The ongoing legal drama gives Americans a reminder of the daily chaos of the Trump administration. Trump spent his four years in office sowing bigotry, chaos, and indisputable harm on the country he inherited. Every day of his presidency brought a new scandal, failure, or broken promise.
A second term for Trump would be completely catastrophic. That’s why American Bridge is digging deep into Trump’s actions, reminding the public and reporters alike of the daily chaos that Trump created when he was president, and launching a brand new campaign: This F*cking Guy.
“From his tax scam to his attacks on health care to that weird orb thing, this f*cking guy created daily disasters when he was president — Americans don’t have the energy to deal with another four years of it,” said American Bridge President Pat Dennis.
As part of this campaign, American Bridge will be uplifting and highlighting key dates from the Trump presidency like the Affordable Care Act repeal attempt, Trump’s botched Hurricane Maria response, Charlottesville, the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, Trump’s meetings with Kim Jong Un, and more.
2. Mark Robinson Compares Political Opponents to Hitler
At the same state convention where twice-indicted former president Donald Trump vowed to endorse Mark Robinson, the leading GOP gubernatorial candidate compared his political opponents, including his likely Democratic and Jewish opponent, to Hitler.
According to The Forward, this isn’t the first time Robinson has engaged in antisemitism:
“During the 2020 election, Robinson faced scrutiny for past racist and antisemitic comments. In social media posts, he invoked the ‘globalist’ conspiracy aimed at destroying Trump and suggested that the superhero film Black Panther was ‘created by an agnostic Jew’ to ‘pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets,’ using a Yiddish slur to describe Black people.”
3. Ron DeSantis Vetoed Millions In Funding For Law Enforcement
According to a new report from The American Independent, Florida governor and 2024 hopeful Ron DeSantis has “used his power to veto $12 million in grants for local law enforcement” and that under his leadership, “the state budget for public safety and corrections actually decreased, when adjusted for inflation” — despite the Republican presidential candidate’s pro-law enforcement messaging on the campaign trail.
It looks like the pro-law enforcement rhetoric splashed across DeSantis’ campaign website and social media is just lip service.
“After the Legislature approved its spending legislation, DeSantis used his power to veto $12 million in grants for local law enforcement…The vetoed line items included $4.8 million for the Pinellas County sheriff’s driver pursuit training facility, $3.5 million for a new police station for South Miami, and $750,000 for the Broward County sheriff’s office to reduce its crime backlog and expand its real-time crime center.”
4. David Clarke: Khashoggi Was “Not A Journalist” And Possibly A Terrorist
According to a new report from Heartland Signal, 2024 Republican U.S. Senate hopeful David Clarke spent the weekend arguing that the murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was “not a journalist” and possibly a terrorist.
Clarke — who is the most popular likely candidate in the Republican primary — was discussing the merger of the PGA and LIV Golf — the latter funded in large part by the Saudis, who are alleged to have murdered the journalist — when he said, “everyone should just stop with the self-righteousness about blood money and this [Jamal] Khashoggi.”
The GOP candidate also went on to “defend the Saudi Arabian government and suggest they should buy a National Football League (NFL) team in the future.”
5. Ron Johnson Skeptical of GOP FBI Allegations
This week, HuffPost, The Recount, Raw Story, Newsweek, Punchbowl News, The Messenger, Daily Beast, Salon, and CNN, reported that Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson is skeptical of new GOP allegations against President Joe Biden.
Johnson suggested that “not only might the tapes not exist, but also that the foreign national who spoke to the FBI informant might lack credibility.”
Johnson’s colleagues, Senator Chuck Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, also urged caution. When asked if the tapes exist, Comer said, “I don’t know that I can answer that right now.”
