Politics, pop culture and entertainment news of interest to the LGBTQ community
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)Folks are gagging that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) dissed truth-challenged Rep. George Santos (R-NY) to his face last night at the State of the Union address. Continue reading “Mitt Romney To George Santos: ‘You Don’t Belong Here’”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) took to Twitter Monday night to accuse three Republican U.S. senators of being ‘pro-pedophile’ for supporting Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Continue reading “Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls 3 GOP Senators ‘Pro-Pedophile’”
Promo photo for ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’Some news items you might have missed:
• NewNowNext: A new documentary special, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Corona Can’t Keep A Good Queen Down, takes fans behind the scenes to see how the Emmy Award-winning series pulled off shooting a new season amid COVID-19.
• Broadway Cares: The fan-inspiring, steamy stream of ABC Daytime: Back on Broadway, a nostalgic evening of song and conversation with the stars of All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital, raised a stellar $130,565 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the philanthropic heart of Broadway.
• Kenneth-in-the-212: It’s Wrestle Wednesday over on KIT212 – click over to see this week’s athletic twunk.
• Washington Blade: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) signaled he would oppose the Equality Act, legislation to expand the prohibition on anti-LGBTQ discrimination under federal law, unless Christians get a carve-out to discriminate based on religious grounds.
• Revry: The queer streaming platform celebrates Black History Month with an entire February calendar highlighting incredible Black Queer content made by and for the community. Check out the 2019 film Trade which tells the tale of two men, one a streetwise hustler, the other a straight-laced lawyer, who meet and form a relationship that brings to light who they really are.
• Disney: Academy Award® winner Emma Stone (La La Land) stars in Disney’s Cruella, an all-new live-action feature film about the rebellious early days of one of cinemas most notorious – and notoriously fashionable – villains, the legendary Cruella de Vil. Due out May 2021.
• NBC News: Tim Boyd, mayor of Colorado City, Texas, resigned after lashing out at constituents who have been paralyzed by this week’s devastating cold snap. In a Facebook post, Boyd told town residents to stop complaining about the cold weather that has left millions across Texas stranded without power. “No one owes you or your family anything; nor is it the local government’s responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink or swim, it’s your choice!”
• CNN: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly laughed about Donald Trump’s recent attack statement and has no plans to engage the former President. He’s done talking Trump, with plans to focus on push to take back Senate and focus on Biden agenda. “He’s moving on,” one source said.
“You probably are not going to hear him utter the name Donald Trump ever again,” per one source. Trump also claimed McConnell “begged” for his support and gave McConnell a 20-point boost in polls. The claim has no basis in reality, per sources. McConnell is not planning to engage
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 17, 2021
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) didn’t tiptoe around his thoughts on how Donald Trump is handling his final days in the White House.
Asked about Trump’s response to recent cyber-attacks on government and major corporations this week – attributed to Russia – the 2012 Republican presidential candidate told CNN’s Jake Tapper Trump has “a blind spot when it comes to Russia and so you can expect that that’s the response he would have.”
Romney also said that “it’s sad in a lot of respects” how the Donald is “casting about” railing about his reelection loss when he could be taking a victory lap with the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines.
President Trump has “a blind spot when it comes to Russia and so you can expect that, that’s the response that he would have,” GOP Sen. Mitt Romney says on Pres. Trump downplaying the suspected Russian cyberattack.
Romney says the attack is “extraordinarily severe.” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/SGjRhBEwuw
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 20, 2020
"It's really sad in a lot of respects, and embarrassing" — Mitt Romney on Trump's ongoing, increasingly desperate attempts to overturn the election pic.twitter.com/oyNK1kM9nP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 20, 2020
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah has announced he will not block a floor vote for Donald Trump’s nominee to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court before the upcoming presidential election.
From NPR:
Romney issued a statement Tuesday that he intends “to follow the Constitution and precedent in considering the President’s nominee, and if the nominee reaches the Senate floor he intends “to vote based upon their qualifications.”
Romney’s support for moving ahead means that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is all but certain to have the 51 votes he needs to take up the nomination. Just two GOP senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have said they oppose taking up the president’s nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a presidential election year.
Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee for president, has been one of the few Republicans in the Senate to oppose Trump. In his statement, he asserted that the “historical precedent” of election-year nominations is that the Senate “generally does not confirm an opposing party’s nominee but does confirm a nominee of its own.”
“If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications,” concludes Romney’s statement.
In 2016, nearly nine months before the presidential election, Senate Republicans refused to vote on President Obama’s nominee for the high court, Merrick Garland, claiming it was “too close to the election.” At the time, nothing was mentioned about ‘opposing party’ nominees.
Trump has tweeted that he will announce his nominee to replace Ginsburg on Saturday.
We are now just 42 days before the 2020 election day.
I hope whatever you received for your soul was worth it.
If hell exists, you're a shoo-in.
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) September 22, 2020
How quickly people forgot what Mitt Romney really is. pic.twitter.com/7rVPizN6u5
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) September 22, 2020
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah is the first Republican member of Congress to publicly denounce Donald Trump’s commutation of long-time adviser Roger Stone’s prison sentence.
Stone was convicted on all seven felony charges brought against him including lying to Congress and witness tampering. The 67-year-old was sentenced to 40 months in prison. But late Friday evening, Trump officially commuted his sentence before Stone’s report to prison date on July 14.
Romney tweeted, “Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.”
Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) July 11, 2020
Agreed. Now what?
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) July 11, 2020
And so what do you plan to do other than tweet? Seriously.
— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) July 11, 2020
The U.S. Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump today on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) was the only Republican to cross party lines and vote to remove Trump from office.
Two notable red-state Democratic Senators – Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona cast ‘guilty’ votes.
This becomes the first bipartisan vote to remove a sitting president via impeachment.
From the New York Times:
The tally for conviction fell far below the 67-vote threshold necessary for removal and neither article of impeachment garnered even a simple majority.
The first article, abuse of power, was rejected 48 to 52, and the second, obstruction of Congress, was defeated 47 to 53. Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, was the only member to break with his party, voting to remove Mr. Trump from office.
The votes, ending the third presidential impeachment trial in American history, were a resounding victory for Mr. Trump after five months of blaring scandal over Ukraine that embroiled Washington and threatened his presidency. But both sides agreed that the final judgment on Mr. Trump will be rendered by voters when they cast ballots in just nine months.
Historical note: @MittRomney's vote to remove President Trump from office will make this the first bipartisan vote to remove a president from office in US history.
It will fail, as with Johnson and Clinton, but no Democrats voted to remove those two Democratic presidents.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 5, 2020
Doug Jones is up for re-election this year in a deep-red state. He’s in a much tougher spot than either Manchin or Sinema, who aren’t up until 2024. They could learn a little something from the backbone he’s showing in his decision to convict.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) February 5, 2020
Mitt Romney will be the first senator in American history to vote to convict a president of the same party in an impeachment trial.
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) February 5, 2020
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), one of the few Senate Republicans to openly question Donald Trump’s motivations for asking foreign governments to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, criticized the Donald on Twitter Friday.
When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China’s investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) October 4, 2019
By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) October 4, 2019
You knew this was coming, didn’t you? The Donald took to the Twitters calling for ROMNEY’s impeachment! How about that???
I’m hearing that the Great People of Utah are considering their vote for their Pompous Senator, Mitt Romney, to be a big mistake. I agree! He is a fool who is playing right into the hands of the Do Nothing Democrats! #IMPEACHMITTROMNEY
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019
Somebody please wake up Mitt Romney and tell him that my conversation with the Ukrainian President was a congenial and very appropriate one, and my statement on China pertained to corruption, not politics. If Mitt worked this hard on Obama, he could have won. Sadly, he choked!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019
Mitt Romney never knew how to win. He is a pompous “ass” who has been fighting me from the beginning, except when he begged me for my endorsement for his Senate run (I gave it to him), and when he begged me to be Secretary of State (I didn’t give it to him). He is so bad for R’s!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019
You do realize that Mitt Romney is going to be one of your jurors, right?
— TrumpsTaxes (@TrumpsTaxes) October 5, 2019
Fun fact: Mitt Romney will be on the jury to remove you after the House votes for impeachment.
Womp womp.#saturdaymorning #AMJoy #saturdaythoughts #Saturdaymotivationhttps://t.co/4SEyxDpFDZ pic.twitter.com/QJcdl5tqcv
— Holly Figueroa O’Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) October 5, 2019
 |
| Donald Trump and Mitt Romney |
File under ‘Infighting is funny.’
Incoming freshman US Senator Mitt Romney of Utah penned a scathing op-ed for the Washington Post criticizing Donald Trump up and down.
From the essay:
It is well known that Donald Trump was not my choice for the Republican presidential nomination. After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not. When he won the election, I hoped he would rise to the occasion. His early appointments of Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Nikki Haley, Gary Cohn, H.R. McMaster, Kelly and Mattis were encouraging. But, on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.
[sic]
To a great degree, a presidency shapes the public character of the nation. A president should unite us and inspire us to follow “our better angels.” A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect. As a nation, we have been blessed with presidents who have called on the greatness of the American spirit. With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.
Predictably, Trump clapped back wondering aloud if Romney plans to be a ‘Flake,’ meaning now-retired Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who was a sometime-thorn in Trump’s backside.
Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not. Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2019
And by the way, just keeping them honest here, Trump didn’t win “big.” He lost the popular vote, and squeezed a win in the Electoral College by just over 85K votes in 3 states.
|
| Mitt Romney |
In an article that trips over itself to fawn over former Republican presidential candidate and current multi-millionaire Mitt Romney, the Washington Examiner goes to great pains to say that for a man worth millions he is a very “uncomplicated” person.
The article even quotes him about his very humble favorite food.
To wit:
“My favorite meat is hot dog, by the way. That is my favorite meat,” he told a gathering of supporters as they joined him recently for a casual dinner organized by his campaign. “My second favorite meat is hamburger. And, everyone says, oh, don’t you prefer steak? It’s like, I know steaks are great, but I like hot dog best, and I like hamburger next best.”
Romney is currently running to replace Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) who is retiring.
The Twitterverse was rather amused:
Mitt Romney says his favorite meat is hot dog followed by hamburger. Mr. Moneybags is trying way too hard to connect with the all of us commoners.— Adam Best (@adamcbest) May 4, 2018
My favorite meat is hot dog, my favorite gun is rifle, my favorite truck is America, please vote for me bleep bloop blorp— Clue Heywood (@ClueHeywood) May 4, 2018
He says, delicately cutting his hot dog with a knife and fork https://t.co/YICdLy1xkJ— Jason Gay (@jasongay) May 4, 2018
Campaign advisor: …and your favorite kind of meat?
Romney: The heated dog.
Campaign advisor: The HOT dog.
Romney: The hot dog.https://t.co/yIeDoHCfyh— Calm Tomb (@CalmTomb) May 4, 2018
Mitt Romney: “My favorite food is hot dogs and whatever beer you poor people like the most. Except I don’t drink beer because I’m Mormon, and we don’t do drugs.”Meanwhile, back in the real world . . . pic.twitter.com/N8PUXOpS19
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) May 4, 2018