Trump's speech tonight starts at 10pm Trump time (7pm PT). I will be live-tweeting video highlights. Follow me if you wanna know what's in the president's jet-lagged brain.
Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan used to broadcast from this same vantage point before Wrestlemania. #propaganda
.@AriFleischer is a purely destructive figure in world history. In 2018 he's still peddling lies and bad faith on Hannity.
As his interview with Trump is about to begin, @seanhannity works in a gratuitous shot on the "fake news" media
This is pro wrestling
Trump is on Fox News spreading insane, baseless conspiracy theories about the Clintons during his WWF-style interview with Hannity. CNN did a piece today about how "respectful" he is.
Hannity's show is straight Trumpist propaganda. For his last question to Trump, he asks him to explain why people should vote for Republicans in November. Trump suggests the country will go to hell if he doesn't have Republican majorities to do his bidding.
White House-connected lawyer Joseph diGenova thinks the real takeaway from a Republican SCOTUS nominee being accused of sexual assault is that Democrats are bad
Fox News is poison. Here's @IngrahamAngle smearing the victim of a sexual assault as an attention-seeker.
It's 10:26pm in Trump's brain. Pretty late for him. Here we go.
Trump immediately goats the crowd into lustful boos toward the "fake news" media. The president paints the free press as being treasonous.
Trump merely alludes to Hillary Clinton and the crowd breaks out in boos and "lock her up!" chants.
Trump lies, claims America "was going to war with North Korea" before he came into office. There's no evidence that's true.
Trump lies, claims members of the "fake news" media were crying as a group the night he won the election.
Trump says the word "bias" about a half-dozen times in a 20-second stretch
Trump's supporters break out in "Kav-a-naugh!" chants. Trump responds by effusively praising him, calling him "one of the finest human beings you will ever have the privilege of knowing or meeting." He doesn't allude to the sexual assault allegations against him.
Trump on Dean Heller: "We started off slow, but we ended up strong. I've had no better friend in Congress than Dean Heller."
With all of Trump's former inner circle now cooperating with prosecutors investigating him, the crowd nonetheless breaks out in "drain the swamp!" chants. #oblivious
Trump claims that "the new platform of the Democrat party is radical socialism...I won't allow the United States of America to become the next Venezuela. That is what they want to do."
The crowd responds by breaking out in "build the wall!" chants. #deplorable
Trump lies about the wall, claims "we started the wall a year ago." (He hasn't received a cent for it.)
Then he says: "I'm not thrilled, but after the election, they are all telling me we are getting our wall the way we want it." #lulz
TRUMP, goading the crowd: "How is our Justice Department doing?"
CROWD: "Booooooo!"
Fox News abruptly cuts away from Trump's speech as he starts another unhinged rant attacking the "fake news" media. Are they trying to protect him?
Fox News seems to be done covering Trump's speech well before he's done talking. They used to broadcast them live in full. Sad!
I'm switching over to CSPAN for the rest of Trump's speech. Stay tuned.
TRUMP, having a normal one: "Today's Democrat Party is held hostage by left-wing haters, angry mobs, socialist fanatics, deep state bureaucrats, and their fake news allies. That's their best partner!... I can't tell you how dishonest and corrupt much of the media is."
TRUMP: "Bitter Democrats and their establishment cronies have spent every single day since 2016 trying to undermine the results of this incredible historic presidential election that we won together."
Goes on to threaten that the GOP want to keep power "the easy way" in Nov. 🤔
Trump offers some delusional comments about manufacturing jobs in defense of his trade war: "These are, like, the best jobs."
The president then lies and claims the economy was tanking before he took office.
Trump predicts that media companies will endorse him 6 months ahead of the 2020 election, "because if they don't, those broadcasting companies, the New York Times -- they're going bankrupt so fast."
Then claims that California will collapse within 10 years because of immigration
Offering perhaps his most brazen lies of the night, Trump claims "Donald Trump and Republicans will protect patients with preexisting conditions. We're gonna do that. Democrats want to destroy Medicare with so-called Medicare for all... the Democrats will bankrupt the safety net"
Trump closes by reminding his Las Vegas audience that he was a private sector grifter before he was a public sector grifter. Warns them that terrible things will happen if Republicans don't keep power in November.
"Good luck," he tells the crowd as he leaves the stage.
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TRUMP: "[Haley] has been at the UN right from the beginning, & worked w/us on the campaign...it has been a long time, very intense & she told me probably six months ago, 'you know maybe at the end of a 2-year period, but at the end of the year I want to take a little time off.'"
HALEY: "I'm such a lucky girl to have been able to lead the state that raised me and to serve a country I love so very much has really been a blessing, and I want to thank you for that... the US Is strong again. The US is strong in a way it should make all Americans proud."
Nikki Haley describes Jared Kushner as "a hidden genius that no one understands."
Trump is about to deliver a speech to a gathering of police chiefs. Follow me for a video thread.
Trump on Hurricane Michael: "It's looking like it could be a very big one... good luck."
Trump lies, claims "before I took office less than two years ago, our nation was experiencing a historic surge in violent crime." (Violent crime has been steadily declining for more than two decades.)
TRUMP on Rod Rosenstein: "I actually have a good relationship other than, there's been no collusion folks!"
TRUMP attacks Democrats over Kavanaugh process: "The way they tortured him and his family, I thought it was a disgrace. It was one of the most disgraceful performances I've ever seen."
He then lies and says "there was no corroboration of any kind" for Dr Ford's accusation.
TRUMP: "I think a lot of Democrats are going to vote Republican because I have many friends that are Democrats. The main base of the Democrats have shifted so far left that we'll end up being Venezuela...I think a lot of Democrats are going to be voting Republican on Nov. 6."
Trump is about to deliver a speech in Topeka. Follow me for a video thread.
TRUMP: "I want to thank our incredible Republican senators for refusing to back down in the face of the Democrats' shameless campaign of political & personal destruction... radical Democrats launched a disgraceful campaign to resist & demolish right from the beginning."
TRUMP: "If you allow wrong people to get into office, things could change. They could change fast. We will not let that happen. It can go very quickly. We cannot let that happen. You don't hand matches to an arsonist and you don't get power to an angry left-wing mob."
Ahead of @SenatorCollins' speech on the Senate floor, protesters chant "believe women!" from the gallery
COLLINS is using her speech to criticize opponents of Kavanaugh as "frenzied," "spreading outright falsehoods," and representing "special interest groups."
COLLINS: "The president has broad discretion to consider a nominee's philosophy, whereas my duty as a senator is to focus on the nominee's qualifications as long as that nominee's philosophy is within the mainstream."
It sure sounds like she is going to announce a yes vote.
.@ChuckGrassley, who is struggling to read a statement on the Senate floor, baselessly accuses @SenFeinstein of "shameful" handling of Dr Ford's accusation because she didn't violate Ford's wishes and make an issue of it immediately
Grassley flat out lies, claims Ford's accusations are "refuted."
Grassley, getting angry, says "resistance" in a very odd way, closes by urging senators to "say no to mob rule by voting to confirm Judge Kavanaugh." #wut