CNN’s Jake Tapper and Lara Trump (screen capture) During an interview on CNN on Sunday morning, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump denied ever mocking former Vice President Joe Biden who has struggled with a stutter his whole life. Ms. Trump tried to say that she “had absolutely no idea” that Biden had ever struggled with a stutter, but then declared that Biden’s speech patterns were indicative of cognitive decline. CNN’s Jake Tapper quickly pointed out that lots of folks have diagnosed her father-in-law from a distance as having his own decline and noted she has no background to do the same to Biden. Tapper finally gave up on the segment as Eric Trump’s wife continued to toss a word salad trying to defend her attacks on Biden.
Let us all be grateful for Claudia Conway who sidelined her evil genius mom and forced the Trump campaign to rely on Lara Trump's off-brand Velveeta version of Trumpism.
Lara Trump's defense of Trump repeatedly ginning up "lock her up!" chants direct toward Gretchen Whitmer is pure whataboutism: "Well gosh, I'd like to show people my social media & the threats against me, the threats against my children… [Trump] was having fun at a Trump rally" pic.twitter.com/YZIhIUt5cA
Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse) “I’ve never seen a man that liked a mask more.” Watch Donald Trump recently mocked Joe Biden and reporters for wearing face masks in public, even though the CDC’s current COVID-19 public health guidelines say wearing masks can save lives. Watch below from NowThis News.
ReVae Arnaud-Jensen, who has been deaf since birth, attempted to order a meal at the drive-through window of a Jack in the Box restaurant. Since she was unable to hear the employee ask for her order through the drive-through speaker, she drove up to the window where she explained she is deaf. What happened next is hideous. The employee refused to take her order telling her she had to go back to the speaker and place the order there. Instead of simply taking her order, the employee began to argue with her and eventually laughed at her and mocked her use of sign language. When Arnaud-Jensen insists that she be served, the employee shuts the window and leaves. Arnaud-Jensen shared the video of the encounter on her Facebook and explained she “sat there for two hours,” but never received her food. “This is common for deaf people to experience this including me,” wrote Arnaud-Jensen. “This is not my first time. It had this happen to me several times, however, this one was the worst I have experienced.” According to local news reports, the employee has been fired but Arnaud-Jensen intends on suing the company anyway to bring further awareness of the day-to-day struggles of the Deaf community.
This woman who is deaf was refused service and mocked by a drive-thru employee, and her son caught the whole thing on camera pic.twitter.com/bWd7vbit1E
Good Morning America host Lara Spencer apologized for her faux pas when she laughed on air at the idea of Prince George’s curriculum including ballet classes, which he reportedly enjoys. I posted some of the dance world’s response the homophobic giggle Spencer shared when she reported that news. On GMA this week, she offered a humble, sincere apology for “screwing up.” She also welcomed three major forces from the dance world to talk about the impact of laughing, mocking and shaming boys who dance: 2-time Emmy Award winner Travis Wall, ballet star and soon-to-appear in the film adaptation of CATS, Robbie Fairchild, and Joffrey Ballet’s Fabrice Calmels. When she first issued a mea culpa via Instagram, being married to a publicist the text seemed a bit “the network said I have to do this.” But watching her in this GMA segment, I take her at her word that she realizes her mistake. As a guy who has danced for 40 years, and thankfully enjoyed a career of incredible opportunity thanks to dance, I accept her apology and appreciate that it comes across as authentic and sincere.
Good Morning America co-host Lara Spencer stepped in it this week when reporting on Prince George as part of her Pop News segment. Talking about the young royal’s new school curriculum, she paused when she mentioned that he would be taking “ballet,” and then began to laugh at the idea that boys would study dance. As the studio audience continued laughing, Spencer added, “I’ve got news for you Prince William, we’ll see how long that lasts.”
Folks in the dance world, male and female, clapped back at Spencer laughing at the idea of boys/men dancing. Social media was soon flooded with comments from dance luminaries tagging Spencer to make sure she would see them. In case people think the following reactions might be overly-sensitive, I’d point out that if Spencer had mentioned a UK princess taking ballet, there would have been NO laughs, right? Broadway and television dance star Debbie Allen, who has championed the arts for young people for decades, spoke directly to the issue saying, “Lara Spencer – I am sure you did not expect your remarks to set off the firestorm that it has – but it did.” She added, “Poking fun at the dance world, and ballet and young boys – this just isn’t cool.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1hDs_Rhi2l/ Emmy Award-winning choreographer and So You Think You Can Dance alum Travis Wall posted a video as well saying, “Dear @lara.spencer of GOOD MORNING AMERICA. I have a message for you. Wake up. It’s 2019,” he wrote. “Get with the program. Please share and repost this so a boy who needs to see this feels supported if he dances or wants to!” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1gjmZTBCxW/ Michael Dameski, from NBC’s World of Dance competition, posted this off-the-hook video clip tagging Spencer with the comment, “Still laughing?” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1hH6kmgnP3/ Dancing with the Stars alum Derek Hough chimed in saying he was surprised and disappointed by the comments and laughs, adding it reminded him of how he was laughed at as a young male dancer. https://www.instagram.com/p/B1hEfo6gJGr/ Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Pretty Woman, Legally Blond) added his thoughts advising Spencer to “think before you speak.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1guMmfnnaJ/ And as my friend Jerome Vivona, A-list Broadway dancer and currently running American Theater Dance Workshop pointed out, dance training develops, “Strength, grace, power, empathy, collaboratio, and balance.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1iDPrCpebS/ Spencer eventually apologized for her “insensitive comments” midday Friday on Instagram. “My sincere apologies for an insensitive comment I made in pop news yesterday,” she wrote. “From ballet to anything one wants to explore in life, I say GO FOR IT. I fully believe we should all be free to pursue our passions. Go climb your mountain-and love every minute of it.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1gzsy_D7-L/ I’ll add my own thoughts here as someone who enjoyed a long career in dance and theater thanks to my beginning dance classes at 14-years-old. Echoing what many have said above about the athleticism, strength, and sense of collaboration that dancers develop, I also champion the fact that dance helps men and women to understand the value of discipline which helps people as they pursue other careers outside of the dance world. Finally, I credit dance with keeping me in touch with my own body as I grow older. The photo below was taken when I turned 50 a few years ago when I appeared in Chicago the Musical at the Hollywood Bowl. While I’m no InstaHunk, trust and believe I would not be in this shape if I hadn’t danced all these years.
Nathan Phillips stopping several feet between two groups on the Lincoln Memorial mall
A witness to the entire Covington Catholic High School debacle mocking Native American Nathan Phillips recorded the entire incident and posted it to YouTube.
The first hour and twelve minutes are the African American group on the Lincoln Memorial mall having their own protest. Along comes the Covington teens, and things get tense.
Around the 1:12:00 mark, Phillips enters the scene with his drum, clearly intent on diffusing the tensions before they escalate. He clearly stops yards away from both groups. The teens then approach him.
Some students from the school have attempted to say Phillips was the aggressor with the boy. We do not see Phillips step up to the primary MAGA-hatted teen in the other videos.
This video doesn’t show the close-up of the Vietnam Veteran and the boy, but it does support Phillip’s story – along with several witnesses – that he was trying to stop something before it escalated into worse.
Hit play and the video will start shortly before we see Phillips.
In an email exchange with a reporter at Heavy.com, a woman who claimed to be the teen’s mother said that it was Phillips, who she referred as “this man,” who was drumming close to the teen’s face.
She added that the students were harassed “by black Muslims,” later identified as members of the Black Hebrew Israelites.
The Covington Catholic mother wrote, “Shame on you! Were you there? Did you hear the names the people where calling these boys? It was shameful. Did you witness the black Muslims yelling profanities and video taping trying to get something to futher (sic) your narrative of hatred?? Did you know that this “man” came up to this one boy and drummed in his face? Shame on you. Only reporting what you want. More fake news.”
Somehow, the woman was attaching the behavior of the African Americans to the Indigenous group, who we don’t see yelling any profanities in any video at the teens.
When the Heavy reporter thanked her for the correspondence and explained that it would be added to the story, she demanded her emails be erased.
This probably won’t do much to warm up the chilly relationship between President Trump and Australia’s Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull.
At a recent event down under, Turnbull’s off the record speech to journalists included mimicking Trump’s attacks on fake news, “winning,” and ties to Russia all done in the Donald’s now famous hyperbole.
In his speech to the Canberra press gallery’s Midwinter Ball, the Australian equivalent of the White House correspondents’ dinner, Turnbull says: “The Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls. We are winning so much, we are winning, we are winning like we have never won before. We are winning in the polls. We are, we are. Not the fake polls. Not the fake polls. They’re the ones we’re not winning in.
“We’re winning in the real polls.
“You know, the online polls. They are so easy to win. I know that. Did you know that? I kind of know that. They are so easy to win. I have this Russian guy.
“Believe me it’s true, it’s true.”
Speeches at the press gallery Midwinter Ball are intended to be light-hearted. For a decade, the speeches made at the dinner have been widely regarded as being off-the-record. However, the most senior press gallery journalist, Channel Nine’s Laurie Oakes, routinely refuses to attend the ball and has consistently said he is not bound by the off-the-record convention.
I do think that if the annual ball’s antics are agreed to be “off-the-record,” then Oakes is something of a dick to publish even if he didn’t attend.
Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway tried in vain to divert from the fact that we were all reminded last night of Donald Trump’s disgusting mocking of a New York Times reporter during the presidential campaign.
After Meryl Streep’s comments during the Golden Globe Awards last night, Team Trump is again on defense about the hideous mocking of Serge Kovaleski.
During Meryl Streep‘s fiery speech against the president-elect at the Golden Globes, she brought up the moment in the 2016 election where Trump seemed to crudely mock the disability of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski. Conway was asked about this by CNN’s Chris Cuomo, where he pressed her to explain why Trump couldn’t just admit to what he did, apologize for it, and move on.
“That is not what he did,” Conway said when asked if what Trump did was wrong. Cuomo brought up how Trump can deny mocking Kovaleski’s arthrogryposis as much as he wants, and yet, there’s a great deal of evidence to show that that is what he did.
“Why can’t you give him the benefit of the doubt…,” Conway asked, to which, Cuomo answered “because he’s making a disgusting gesture on video about Serge.”
The two of them continued to spar as Cuomo pointed out Trump’s actions, while Conway continued to insist that the mocking behavior was about Kovaleski “groveling.”
“Why don’t you believe him? Why isn’t it taken at face value?” Conway said in exasperation. “You can’t give him the benefit of the doubt on this and he’s telling you what was in his heart? You want to go with what’s come out of his mouth rather than what’s in his heart.”
Wait – did we read that correctly? Conway wants us to stop listening to what’s coming out of Trump’s mouth and instead of “what’s in his heart???”
Good for Chris Cuomo for not letting her divert from the issue.
“Why can’t you give him the benefit of the doubt?” Kellyanne Conway says Trump wasn’t mocking reporter’s disability. https://t.co/3LAWwTIME4
When she first issued a mea culpa via Instagram, being married to a publicist the text seemed a bit “the network said I have to do this.” But watching her in this GMA segment, I take her at her word that she realizes her mistake. As a guy who has danced for 40 years, and thankfully enjoyed a career of incredible opportunity thanks to dance, I accept her apology and appreciate that it comes across as authentic and sincere. 
