Tag: woke

Commentary: Big Pharma’s Wokeness

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Pfizer Vaccine

Big Pharma is not your friend. Whether it’s hiking up drug prices or bribing the Swamp, the pharmaceutical industry works against the people’s interests. Many Americans are aware of Big Pharma’s greed and the power it wields over Washington, D.C., but fewer are aware of just how left-wing the industry is. It serves as a cash cow for the left and pushes woke ideas on its employees and the country at large. This may explain why Democrats, who act like they hate Big Pharma, serve the industry’s interests.

While the drugmakers spread their cash around all of DC, they overwhelmingly prefer Democrats. In recent elections, Big Pharma donated significantly more money to Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. From 2016 to 2022, the industry gave a whopping $29 million to Democratic candidates. This trend stands true for the current election cycle, with more cash going to Democrats once again. This favoritism extends to the presidential race. The drug lobby has donated four times more money to Joe Biden than it has to Donald Trump. And the industry’s generosity to Team Blue doesn’t end with individual candidates. Its chief lobby, PhRMA, also gives millions to liberal campaign arms like the Democratic Attorneys General Association.

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Commentary: America’s Priorities Need to Change in Order to Protect Its Citizens

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Illegal Immigrants

The horrific murder of Laken Riley by a repeated felony offender and illegal alien Jose Ibarra, 26, a Venezuelan citizen, was preventable—had federal immigration laws simply been enforced by the Biden administration.

When called out in his recent State of the Union address, President Biden referenced the deceased Ms. Riley. But Biden misidentified her as “Lincoln Riley”—the USC football coach!

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Deer Valley Unified School District Board Member Paul Carver Offers Insights for Parents Concerned with K-12 Issues Today

Rachel Alexander

A couple of Arizona’s largest school districts have been rocked with scandals lately, mainly over administrations trying to implement woke agendas.

However, the Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD), located in northwest Phoenix and surrounding cities, has escaped much of the controversy. Paul Carver, who sits on the governing board, said he believes it is because his district stresses transparency and teamwork. He said the superintendent has regular interfaith meetings, which have been transferred to Zoom since COVID-19, and the superintendent and many board members try to include everyone regardless of demographics.

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North Korean Defector Yeonmi Park Brings Her ‘Warning to America’ to Chandler Event

Rachel Alexander

North Korean defector Yeonmi Park spoke to a Davos in the Desert gathering at The Forum in Chandler Monday evening. The young author contrasted the totalitarian government she fled with increasing wokism in the U.S. Due to her speaking out, she said, “I have become the enemy of the woke.”

David Wanetick, who founded Davos in the Desert, spoke briefly first about the principles of the organization. It is an “anti-globalist movement dedicated to providing forums whereby business leaders, thought leaders and government servants share their ideas for safeguarding freedom and liberty.”

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‘Woke’ and ‘Sexual’ Books Found in 2nd Grade Classroom Library in Fountain Hills

Rachel Alexander

A parent of a child in second grade attending McDowell Mountain Elementary School in the Fountain Hills Unified School District was appalled to discover over 10 books in the classroom library inappropriate for children that age. The parent, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, informed Fountain Hills City Councilman Allen Skillicorn, who referred to the books “woke” and “sexual.” 

“As I finished my parent teacher conferences last week, my attention went to the classroom library section of the room,” the parent said. “I often wonder how teachers pick the books to line their classroom shelves. One particular SECOND GRADE classroom in the Fountain Hills Unified School District had the following books in their classroom library:

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Arizona State University Psychology Professor Teaches That ‘White Guilt’ Can Be Used to Transform Students into Social Justice Activists

Rachel Alexander

Dr. Lisa B. Spanierman, a faculty member in the psychology department of Arizona State University, teaches that “white guilt” can be used to coerce students into social justice activism. The counseling and counseling psychology professor, and associate dean for academic personnel and faculty success in ASU’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, is developing a reputation for pushing this in higher education.

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Commentary: Bidenomics Is Behind Jerome Powell’s Woke Turn

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In February 2021, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress, “We are not climate policymakers here who can decide the way climate change will be addressed by the United States. We’re a regulatory agency that regulates a part of the economy.” When Powell said that, less than a month into the Biden administration, inflation was 1.6%.

Just eight months later, in remarks on November 22, 2021, President Biden said Powell – then up for renomination and facing stiff opposition from congressional progressives – “made clear to me: A top priority will be to accelerate the Fed’s effort to address and mitigate the risks – the risk that climate change poses to our financial system and our economy.” At that time inflation was 6.8%, on its way up to a 40-year high of 9.1%.

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Commentary: Identity Studies in Academia Is the Birthplace of Woke

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In 1983, having spent four years earning a PhD in English, I instantly turned down the reasonably secure entry-level faculty position my alma mater offered me and chose instead to sign up for that most financially insecure of all professions: freelance literary journalist. Why? Partly because it had taken me that long to face the fact that I just wasn’t the academic type. And partly because I saw that the kind of jargon-heavy approaches that were taking over America’s English departments — from politics-driven “feminist criticism” to pretentious postmodern “deconstruction,” straight out of France by way of Yale University — had nothing whatsoever to do with my own reasons for wanting to spend my life reading and writing about books.

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Ramaswamy Returns to Iowa, Pushes Importance of Citizenship, American Revival

M.D. Kittle

While Liberal-led LinkedIn may want to silence Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Iowans have welcomed the Ohio businessman with open arms. 

Ramaswamy preached American revival with Iowa voters Saturday morning at the rustic, farmer-themed Machine Shed restaurant in suburban Des Moines, part of a multi-city trip to the Hawkeye State this Memorial Day Weekend.

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Commentary: Biden-Era Funding Is Skewing Scientific Research More Woke

RealClearWire
Man on sight with microscope

While pushing record spending for research and development, the Biden administration is working not just to advance science but also progressive ideology. In line with the administration’s “whole of government” commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, recent grants and requests for proposals from the National Science Foundation encompass research that: 

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Commentary: Equity and the Race to the Bottom

RealClearWire

Over the last few years, the rallying cry of “woke” activists has become “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (often abbreviated to DEI). There is little reason to object to such principles on the surface. After all, America was founded on the principle that all people are created equal. Unfortunately, the meaning of words can change over time.  

Rather than the Founders’ vision of equal opportunity for all, the use of the word “equity” today denotes equal outcomes for all. The implementation of this “equity agenda,” however well-intentioned, will lead to terrible consequences. 

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Commentary: Understanding ‘Woke’ Supremacy

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In a recent interview, Bethany Mandel, author of Stolen Youth, a book discussing how woke ideology is erasing childhood, was asked to define the term woke and froze. The media has predictably had a field day with this. We can be sympathetic to Mandel’s explanation of the stress she was feeling in the moment. At the same time, this situation can remind us that when engaging in such conversations, having clear definitions and logical arguments is foundational. So what do we mean by woke?

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Wisconsin Law Firm Files Discrimination Lawsuit Against Biden’s Woke Small Business Agency

M.D. Kittle

The Biden administration is facing another discrimination lawsuit, accused once again of employing identity politics to play favorites. 

On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed the complaint in U.S. District Court-Northern Texas alleging President Joe Biden’s Minority Business Development Agency “violates the Constitution’s core requirement of equal treatment under the law.” 

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Sun Prairie School District Accused of Using AmFam Donation for ‘Discrimination Laundering’

M.D. Kittle

Sun Prairie Area School District’s use of American Family Insurance grant funds to promote programs that appear to be exclusively for black students is an attempt to launder race discrimination, a public interest law firm attorney told The Wisconsin Daily Star.

Documents obtained by The Star News Network show Madison-based American Family Insurance cut a check for $35,000 to fund a cross-country field trip in October for Sun Prairie East High School students to visit Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).

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Wisconsin Law Firm Sues Biden Administration over Woke ESG Investing Policies

M.D. Kittle

The Biden administration’s woke Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) policies are putting politics ahead of people and hurting retirees savings, a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges.

The complaint, filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) on behalf of two Waukesha County residents, seeks a temporary restraining order prohibiting the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing its controversial ESG rule, pending the resolution of the lawsuit. Ultimately, the suit seems a declamatory judgment that the rule violates federal law on administrative powers.

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Seven Questions for ‘Capitalist and Citizen’ Vivek Ramaswamy as He Jumps Into the Race for President

M.D. Kittle

Vivek Ramaswamy just went from “strongly considering” to a headlong plunge into the race for the White House. 

The 37-year-old biotech entrepreneur and crusader against corporate wokeism on Tuesday filed paperwork for a presidential run — the latest Republican to join former President Donald Trump in what’s expected to be a crowded 2024 GOP nomination chase. 

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New Country Music Label Baste Records Launched for Anti-Woke Artists

Rachel Alexander

A new country music label is recruiting and promoting anti-woke artists, launched by the young founder of The Post-Millennial. Matthew Azrieli, who is also a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, started Baste Records to promote talented country singers who are struggling to survive in the mainstream music business due to their right-leaning political and cultural views. He’s brought on talent like Chris Wallin, also a singer and songwriter who has written music for some of the biggest country stars, including Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, Garth Brooks, and Trace Adkins. 

Azrieli told The Arizona Sun Times that he started Baste Records because music is a passion. He wanted to “provide a healthy outlet for conservatives, instead of just complaining.” Baste Records intends to appeal to a certain niche, the center right, instead of attempting to have a broad appeal that risks alienating factions. He pointed out Netflix is an example of an entertainment company that is engaging in the latter, angering both conservatives and the transgender community, causing it to lose market share. He said, “Cultural and political identities are driving entertainment media.” 

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New Republican Majority Plans to Target ‘Woke’ Businesses

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exterior of BlackRock

One of the top agenda items for the GOP’s new majority in the House of Representatives is the targeting of “woke” corporations on Wall Street, threatening investigations and other government action if such companies do not reverse anti-American policies and practices.

Politico reports that some of the measures the GOP will be scrutinizing include “ESG (environmental, social, and governance)” policies, divesting from fossil fuels, and race-based affirmative action hiring policies for the sake of “diversity.”

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J.C. Bowman of Professional Educators of Tennessee on Williamson County School System’s Insistence That Teachers ‘Stick to a Script’

Julie Carr

Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Professional Educators of Tennessee Executive Director and CEO JC Bowman in studio to discuss the implementation of the Instructional Practice Guide for only Williamson County public school teachers forcing teachers to stick to a “script.”

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‘TikTok Channel for Cosmic Gendersmurfs’: Science Journals Bow to Woke Orthodoxy, Provoke Ridicule

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Before “The Science” became the default invocation in response to criticisms of COVID-19 policies, scientific journals, academic departments and faculty sought to unshackle the discipline from its purported white male heterosexist biases.

With COVID mitigations receding from American public life, the earlier ideological battles in science are are now reemerging.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: Here Come the Bad Old Days

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There is no end of history. Instead, civilization is a constant fight to embrace what has worked for the common good through the ages – and to reject what in the past has failed abysmally.

Bad and bankrupt ideas, protocols, and ideologies – like McCarthyism, communism, various cults, or fascism – resurface not because of their intrinsic or lasting value or record of success, but because civilizations become less vigilant and allow human vanities, ignorance, arrogance, and evil to reassert themselves.

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Commentary: Woke Retailers Seek Congressional Smash-and-Grab on Your Credit Card

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Woke retailers like Home Depot, Kroger, and Walmart are asking Congress to pass their own special smash and grab worth billions of dollars by mandating changes to how credit cards are processed.

Joining forces with far-left Democratic Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, retailers are seeking changes in federal law threatening rewards programs that many consumers use to take some of the sting off of the high cost of everything from food and gas to furniture and travel.

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Commentary: Drain the Academic Swamp

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Recently, a number of medical schools have joined the anti-European, anti-Christian, pro-Marxist woke bandwagon. According to physicist Lawrence Krauss, “the American Association of Medical Colleges has approved a Diversity-Equity-Inclusion based curriculum, which the AAMC Council of Deans Chair says is as important as teaching the latest scientific breakthroughs.”

Meanwhile, our military leadership continues to push incoherent gender ideology upon a captive audience of young soldiers, sailors, and airmen. And justices at the heights of our judiciary system, because of political correctness, dare not even define the word woman.

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Commentary: The Decline and Fall of Newspapers

RealClearWire

A few years ago, you would have unfolded your newspaper and read opinion and analysis like this. Those days are gone. Today, most of us get our news and commentary online, perhaps supplemented by network or cable television, although TV viewership is far smaller than in the days of  “The Big Three.” Buried alongside those iconic broadcasters is the public’s confidence in news from all sources. Only 16% of Americans say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers, only 11% in TV news. Those numbers keep sinking. Today, if Walter Cronkite ended his broadcast, “And that’s the way it is,” most people would just smirk.

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Michigan Schools Are Getting Paid to Change Their ‘Racist’ Mascots

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Several Michigan school districts will receive more than $400,000 in funding to change their mascots, according to a Native American Heritage Fund (NAHF) press release.

NAHF, which receives some of Michigan’s gaming revenue, is giving $411,438 out of $480,000 in grants to four districts with mascots that depict Native Americans, according to a press release from the fund. Each school district will receive the funds for its transformation in August.

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Community Outrage over ‘Franklin Pride’ and Mayor of Franklin’s Woke Proclamation

Aaron Gulbransen

FRANKLIN, Tennessee – Gabrielle Hanson, who is a Franklin alderman-at-large, told The Tennessee Star that her office and the offices of her peers are being flooded with outraged complaints about the June 4 “Franklin Pride” event and Mayor Ken Moore’s woke proclamation that was read at the event that included drag queens and children.

“Our phones and emails have been blowing up,” Hanson said.

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School Districts Cut Ties with Left-Wing Nonprofit ‘Equity Alliance Minnesota’

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Five east metro school districts voted to stop paying a leftist nonprofit that charges massive sums for “equity audits.” This likely spells the end of the group, called “Equity Alliance Minnesota.”

Equity Alliance Minnesota charges member school districts $5 per student per year, plus other program fees, to take stock of how equitable they are and provide suggestions to improve. In Centennial Schools, for example, the Alliance would have made $125,000 during the first year of working together if outraged parents hadn’t intervened. This would have included a $50,700 equity audit and a $28,000 equity action plan

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Metro Council Calls for More Gun Control and Recognizes Woke ‘Pride Month’

Aaron Gulbransen

Nashville Metro Council approved woke resolutions calling for increased gun control laws and recognizing “Nashville Pride Month” at its June 7 meeting.

Metro Council approved RS2022-1580, which is sponsored by Councilmembers Joy Styles, Dave Rosenberg, Tanaka Vercher, Bob Mendes, Jeff Syracuse, Colby Sledge, Kathleen Murphy, Mary Carolyn Roberts, Ginny Welsch, Sharon Hurt, Courtney Johnston, Gloria Hausser, Freddie OConnell, Burkley Allen, Tonya Hancock, Sandra Sepulveda, Kyonzte Toombs, Larry Hagar, Zulfat Suara, Bob Nash, Brandon Taylor, and Delishia Porterfield.

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Mayor of Franklin’s Woke ‘Pride Month’ Proclamation Read at Event That Included Drag Queens

Aaron Gulbransen

Franklin Vice Mayor Brandy Blanton read a woke “Pride Month” proclamation on behalf of Mayor Ken Moore alongside City Administrator Eric Stuckey and “Franklin Pride” board president Robert McNamara at “Franklin Pride” on Saturday.

The event, which was a celebration of the “LGBTQ lifestyle,” took place on June 4 from 12pm to 7pm at Harlinsdale Park. The event reportedly had drag queens in attendance as well as other expressions of the woke lifestyle.

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TVA Board Member Harwell Legally Barred from Speaking Out About Woke ‘Pride Month’ Tweets

Aaron Gulbransen

TVA board members are not legally allowed to comment on the organization’s woke tweets, a representative from the Harwell campaign told The Tennessee Star.

TN-5 candidate and Trump-appointee to the Tennessee Valley Authority board Beth Harwell “could not comment on the federal agency’s woke tweets due to legal restrictions placed on her due to her status as an appointee,” said the campaign representative.

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Woke Resolutions Recognizing ‘Nashville Pride Month’ and Supporting ‘Stricter Gun Laws’ Highlight Metro Council June 7 Meeting Agenda

Aaron Gulbransen

Woke resolutions recognizing “Nashville Pride Month” and calling for increased gun control laws highlight the Nashville Metro Council agenda for its June 7 meeting.

RS2022-1581 is a resolution “recognizing Wednesday, June 1 to Thursday, June 30, 2022 as the ‘Nashville Pride Month’, celebrating the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer communities and their enormous contributions to the quality of life in Nashville and Davidson County, and further recognizing the 34th anniversary of the first Nashville Pride event.”

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Commentary: U.S. Spirals Toward Lawless Carnage; BLM and Woke Corporations Silent

RealClearWire

Being “woke” once symbolized one’s awareness of the historical and present injustices faced by an individual or group in the pursuit of their advancement or being. It meant that the blinders of matters of racism and systems of oppression were removed so that one could fully awaken to the reality that racism exists. It is a continual and daily acknowledgement of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

I am a young, 26-year-old black man in America. I have seen true racism, and the racist carnage in Buffalo, Charleston, Houston, and other cities across our country, and it has stirred in me and in many others a desire to see justice served.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: The Cycles of Revolutions in Our Midst

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We are witnessing a number of radical military, social, and political revolutions that are changing the United States—and the world—in fundamental ways that we still have not appreciated. 

The taboo about never mentioning the first-strike use of nuclear weapons in a major conventional war is now apparently over. Vladimir Putin routinely threatens their use. Communist China hints at its growing nuclear capability and is hell-bent on rushing into production a huge new nuclear missile force. The world is defining nuclear incineration down.

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Ortagus Holds Out-of-State Fundraiser in D.C., Host Committee Includes Never Trumpers and Fired State Dept. Staffer

Aaron Gulbransen

The host committee for an out-of-state fundraiser for the Morgan Ortagus for Congress campaign includes a former Trump administration State Department staffer who was fired for tweeting that President Trump was unfit for office, as well as several Never Trumpers.

Former Trump administration State Department spokesman and candidate for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional district Morgan Ortagus will be in Washington, D.C. on Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022 to attend this fundraiser for her campaign.

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Commentary: The Woke War Machine vs. America’s ‘Minutemoms’

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Group protesting; "no justice no peace" sign

Critical social justice’s (CSJ) march through America’s institutions is very nearly complete. CSJ, and its woke evangelists, easily penetrated and commandeered U.S. colleges and universities.

Even White House occupant Joe Biden speaks incessantly about “white supremacy.” The Department of Homeland Security tells us white domestic terrorism is the top threat to America.

Not to be left out, corporate America has proclaimed its total fealty to woke ideology. Leaked documents show companies like Coke imploring their employees to “be less white.” Raytheon—whose laser-guided bombs are disproportionally dropped on people of color—tells its white, straight, Christian, able-bodied, English-speaking employees to deconstruct their identities, “identify [their] privilege,” and “step aside” in favor of other identity groups. AT&T offers employees training that says racism is a “uniquely white trait,” telling white employees that they “are the problem.” It’s pure racism, of course. But not a single Fortune 500 CEO has spoken out against it. They’re too frightened to do so.

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Morgan Ortagus Officially Enters GOP Primary Race in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District

Aaron Gulbransen
Morgan Ortagus

Former Trump Administration State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus officially announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination to represent Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District early Monday morning.

Ortagus’ campaign sent out a press release announcing the candidacy, along with a campaign video. Ortagus then joined Nashville’s Morning News with Dan Mandis to discuss her candidacy. Mandis immediately asked her about her previous comments disparaging President Trump.

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President Trump Reiterates Support for Ortagus, Says He Didn’t Know Starbuck but Heard ‘He Voted for Obama’

Aaron Gulbransen

President Donald J. Trump says he stands by his offered endorsement of Morgan Ortagus and that he didn’t know Robby Starbuck but heard that he voted for Obama.

President Donald J. Trump appeared on the Newsmax program Rob Schmitt Tonight on Tuesday. He was asked about the blowback his offered endorsement of potential candidate and former Trump Administration State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus received.

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