Last week, we talked about 75-year-old Martin Gugino, an elderly peace protester who was violently shoved by cops in Buffalo, New York. Gugino lost his balance after being shoved and he landed hard on the sidewalk. In the video – which went viral – he could be seen lying on the pavement on his back, with blood pooling under his head, all while Buffalo police walked over him. It was an incident Buffalo police tried to lie about – they said he just lost his balance in a scuffle or something, then the video went viral and they spent a day arguing about it before anyone came close to admitting what happened. A few days after the incident, two Buffalo police officers were charged with assault. As of this moment, Mr. Gugino is still in the hospital. But that didn’t stop Donald Trump from tweeting this yesterday:
Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2020
It’s disgusting. It’s a disgusting conspiracy theory spread by a malignant narcissist who can’t even admit that the cops behaved abhorrently. To smear the victim of police brutality, a 75-year-old man who is still in the hospital… well, I expect it from Trump, but even then, this is shocking. New York papers have already looked into Gugino’s background too – he’s a long-time peace activist and his biggest causes are anti-nukes, affordable housing and human rights.
Various Republican officials are playing that game where they pretend like the president of the United States doesn’t mean what he says and everybody else has the problem. Unnamed aides are described as “exasperated” with Trump’s “beyond stupid” tweets and a reporter for the Hill printed out a copy of Trump’s tweet to show Republican senators and get them on the record:
The tweet sparked immediate backlash from GOP senators and caused broader headaches as lawmaker after lawmaker was approached by reporters with a copy of the tweet.
“It’s a serious accusation which should only be made with facts and evidence, and I haven’t seen any yet,” said Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican. Asked if the president should stop making the accusation, he added: “Well, I think that’s a given.”
Asked about the tweet, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters that she thought “it would best if the president did not comment on issues that are before the courts.”
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters that he thought it was “shocking.”
“I won’t dignify it with any further comment,” he added.
Asked about the tweet, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) responded: “Oh lord. It just makes no sense that we’re fanning the flames right at this time, this is not good,” she added.
Several GOP senators declined to comment on the tweet.
“I didn’t see it, you’re telling me about it, I don’t read Twitter, I only write on it,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told CNN. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) told reporters that he had “no real response. I don’t think it should be surprising in general because he tweets a lot so I don’t know how significant this one tweet is gonna be,” he added.
Marco Rubio is such a dipsh-t, my God. And Sen. Braun’s argument is basically “so what if Trump tweet-smears a 75-year-old man, he’ll probably tweet something worse tomorrow.” Anyway, just a reminder that Donald Trump is absolutely the worst.
Pres. Trump pushed a conspiracy theory Tuesday — without evidence — that an elderly protester shoved to the ground by two police officers may have faked the fall that left him bleeding from the head.
@POTUS' remarks are being met with outrage.@weijia has more pic.twitter.com/X2R3kJzxki— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) June 9, 2020
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
🤮😱😱😱😱😱😱😱🤮. Every day is a new low
Yes it is. And the degree to which Trump’s disgusting behavior has been normalized is beyond infuriating and depressing.
I want to believe that the tide is finally turning and that he will lose the election…but I’ve beeb proven to be a naive chump too many times to be at all confident that we as a nation will prevail over him and his rotten, grifting family.
What we saw in Georgia yesterday was a trial run for November.
It may not mean much but I know in my very republican neighborhood people are disgusted with Trump. I don’t think most would ever vote Democrat but they claim they won’t vote at all. We’ll see..
@Nicole. There’s a site-Republican Voters Against trump-where they express their disgust and vow to vote for Biden. I hope there’s enough to offset the voter suppression and DaughterWife’s voting machines.
https://twitter.com/sarahlongwell25/status/1270493213644804096?s=21
It truly is incredible how low he will go.
Unfathomable it seems.
He has no low point. It’s like he thrives on being a bottomless pit when it comes to his behavior.
Sadly I think he’s setting up your country for a civil war all because he’s too immature to give up power.
That was hardly backlash from those GOP Senators. None of them are doing the jobs they are paid to do. Trump lied & defamed a law-abiding citizen, who was seriously injured, while he was exercising his basic civil rights. He is a victim of a crime. Those senators should be standing up for Gugino, not dissembling for Trump
It’s mind-boggling that this is where we are.
Of course they’re not. They never WANTED to do the job that they’re paid to do. Trump makes it so they can pat themselves on the back for not giving a shit about anyone or anything other than their wallets. They want to pander to their wealthy white friends, and get a sweet gig with sweet perks, and the ability to lord power over others they deem unworthy. That’s it.
I’m just hitting a new level of rage every day, and I’m not even American. Sending so much love to the US celebitches because I can’t even imagine what kind of hell this is to actually live in.
What’s bizarre is that even though that was barely a defense of Gugino, this is as vociferous as the GOP has been in saying anything mildly critical of Trump.
They had their chance when the impeachment hearings were being held. Now it’s their turn to be held accountable.
I wonder if they’re thinking that if Trump is knocked out, they are next for not speaking up and holding him accountable. This is their last gasp of conservative white male power if this revolution comes through.
Exactly. And my one thought is, so what if he WAS an agitator and ANTIFA and said terrible things to the officers – he was on the ground bleeding from his head and they walked over him. I don’t care what he said or did in the past (and it sounds like he has a wonderful past). THEY. WALKED. OVER. HIM. Disgusting. Romney, for all his civil rights talk, should have commented further. They all should have. Vote them all out.
And he was very careful to write “could be” and “appearing to” so he can prevaricate in the future when people call him out for his sh*t. I am just so ^&$^&*%& angry these days.
He brushes his hair that way to hide the horns, you know.
The thud his head makes as it hits the ground is awful – i immediately thought that poor man is not going to recover but am glad he is going to be OK.
We should not be surprised at how low this man, GOP and his enablers will go – they are doing what all caged animals do, lash out at anything and anyone.
I suspect in the weeks leading up to and following the election, we’ll look back it this as one of his kindler, gentler more rational tweets.
Trump was planning to run on the economy. That’s not happening so he is pivoting to “law and order.” Since there is no actual lawlessness to point to, he has to invent some. It makes me enraged that the media reports on Antifa as if it is a real organization. It isn’t. It’s an identity that very few inhabit.
Asha Rangappa has a great thread on twitter about why the GOP uses “law and order” as their thing vs “rule of law.”
One thing we all need to remember is that the US economy was teetering on recession *before* the pandemic hit. It was announced this week that we’ve officially been in recession since February.
I think the craziest tweets are often a distraction to news headlines like this. Tweeting nonsense about this gentleman conveniently turned the focus from the “recession has been here for months” headlines.
The gaslighting will be that the pandemic closures were solely what toppled a “great” economy. It was not. GDP was already weak.
If it’s not Antifa, it will be MS-13, which he often cites as why he needs his damn wall.
It’s still a brain injury, and will have consequences. So sad and sorry about this and equally angry . Please let this also be a focus for change.
And Gugino’s response to Trump’s tweet? “No comment other than Black lives matter. Just out of the ICU. Should recover eventually. Thx.”
This man has more integrity, courage and class than any GOP member.
Where is the fact checking flag on this tweet?
Trump looking at the Bible like he’s never seen one before. Marco Rubio only writes on Twitter but doesn’t read it. Racist and stupid, the Republican Party has won the moron jackpot, haven’t they?
I came to say that as well, he’s looking at that bible like he’s never seen a book before and wondering how the heck it works. “Am I doing this right guys? Does this look right? It feels weird. I’m the bigliest book holder ever. No one has ever held a book like me.”
I have evil thoughts. Medieval kind of thoughts.
About 90% of my thoughts/comments are censored and don’t get printed.
Should we ring Joffrey Baratheon?
Fight fire with fire! By any means necessary.
like Marcellus Wallace? I feel you, Mabs.
OTOH, Trump coming out in favor of elder-abuse AND making a 75 yo senior citizen the face of the dread antifa, may backfire. I mean, I’m no marketing genius, but it could happen.
I’m going to have to cut off my mother in law and brother in law because they believe every word DT says.
I have to so, the one bright spot in the Trump disaster is I get to see who is a truly reprehensible human being for supporting that asshat for their own personal gain or racist agenda. So I can keep them out of my life.
I refuse to spend any time with my BIL and SIL. They watch Fox News and believe every word. Also, they don’t wear masks.
I believe you’re right, here. And incomprehensible for Trump to self-immolate on this when he desperately needs/wants the senior vote, and polls are showing this demographic defecting in big numbers.
Yeah I think the turning point might be that the victim was white 75 year old man that looks like Trump’s voting block. If he does that to someone that looks like them, what would he do to them? And the callous nature of the police ignoring a clearly critically injured man was just icing on the god awful tragic cake.
I hate him so much. There is a new bottom every week for this asshole. Please vote people! I know Biden isn’t perfect but I can’t imagine another 4 years of this
Last night there was an AskReddit thread about “If you voted for Trump and no longer support him, what was the turning point for you?” Several respondents, especially those espousing conservative religious beliefs, cited the Layettesville Park and the Bible photo op as the turning point. A couple others cited Trump’s response to this incident in Buffalo. I don’t understand how you could continue to support this man until this week, but at least the tides seem to be turning. Praying this momentum continues to the election.
I’ve read several reasons, but I agree that people’s ongoing support for him is absolutely baffling.
Well Betsy, as my father told me there are several “bad actors” in the highest levels of government who are out to sabotage Trump simply because they can’t accept he’s president. They will be found out and prosecuted. However, if it does turn out that Trump becomes a dictator, my father will be the first to admit everyone else was right.
He has to go to jail when he leaves office. He HAS to! He has to lose access to all media or else we will be facing this BS every day until he finally dies.
And after.
Don’t forget his repellent children who think they’re god’s gift to America.
What drives me absolutely crazy is, if you’re not ANTIFA, then you’re just FA! They get that, right?? That WWII was literally “ANTI-FA”, and if they’re not anti-fascism then they’re the baddies??
This whole antifa narrative was created as a whataboutism and the fact that the media and elected officials actually gave it validity is just another way the GOP continues to erode truth and decency in this country.
Right? Is there a genuine violent far-left movement currently, or is it a boogeyman that the right has come up with to further terrify their voters? Because when I think of the far left, I think of hippies and the kooky male friend of my father’s who “got in touch with his uterus.” It’s like the ultra-violent conservatives think the left must be just like them, so they must have some violent angry people too. And they reached back into fascist history (their favorite place to be) and found Antifa and brought it back, just like they resurrected the Nazis.
I say the same thing. If you’re against “anti-fascism” then your “pro-fascism” which makes you a nazi.
It seems people have forgotten World War II somehow and what it was fought over. Some people’s attention spans relate to past few months or years.
Why is it always “without evidence” instead of “lies”? Is it a libel thing? I honestly don’t know. Regardless, I’m distressed that years of voting problems like the ones seen in Georgia are going to work for the Republicans, just like they’ve always planned.
This was a test. Everything he does is a test to see how far and how much he can get away with. Yesterday it was citing Antifa as the source of the unrest (despite evidence to the contrary). Today it’s calling a 75 year old protester an “Antifa agitator”. Tomorrow it will be journalists and media figures who call out his bullshit. The day after that it will be government officials. The show trials are coming.
Antifa provides a great cover for their agenda because it’s not a tangible organization with actual membership.
We watch the continuation of Dumty’s implode explode. One of Martins friends was on DL last night, happy to appear together once he is further along in recovery. And we finally have special correspondents stating Dumpty is a malignant narcissist. Six months until our election, expecting D to continue his elevator to hell.
Firstly, I dont understand the antifa bashing.
I worked at a company that antifa notified that a neonazi was working in my department. He was fired and later reached out to me for networking and asked for my resume. Thanks to antifa exposing him, I knew better and did not engage with him or give him my personal information that he requested.
Also pretty scary that Donald Trump and KKKayleigh condone violence against citizens who don’t agree with Trump.
I don’t see how KKKayleigh or Trump will be able to go out in public without being harrassed or heckled once he is out of office. I cant imagine flushing my professional reputation down the toilet at age 30 like KKKayleigh. Maybe she can be spokesperson for the KKK after this adminstration- who else would employ her?
He is going to do everything he can to steal the November election. I just don’t know what I will do if he wins. I don’t think I could stand it.
This should considered two things: A bannable offense with regard to twitter, and grounds for impeachment. This comes directly from him, not even in a RT, which is bad enough. He has supported conspiracy theories in the recent past, and now he’s creating them. He’s also — directly or indirectly — inciting further violence and furthering mistrust of anyone but himself and his people. Sure sounds like a dictatorship to me.
Trump fans like to talk about these protests being about dividing people as if their president hasn’t been sowing the seeds of division since 2011, when he started the birther shit.
I am genuinely afraid for this country if he is re-elected.
The reporter for the shame OANN (Kristian Brunovich Rouz) also writes for Sputnik, a Kremlin news service… and his source was from a “The Conservative Treehouse” blog post by someone named “Sundance”… enough said.
The tweet is a distraction to capture the news cycle. It did. I wonder what illegal activities they were up to that they needed cover for? Doesn’t look like media organizations care. We just get another panel discussing Trump’s bad behavior ad nauseam. They are playing us.
Bunker boy is absolutely vile. He should rot in prison.
He is one sick f*ck