Trump Says He’ll ‘Speak Out Against Oppression of Women, Gays’ in Foreign Policy Speech. He’s Lying.
Misogynistic Anti-Gay Anti-Islam Republican Nominee Claims He Is a Better Advocate for Equality Than Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump delivered what was billed as a major foreign policy speech Monday afternoon and promised to be a better advocate for equality for women, gay people, and people of different faiths than his Democratic opponent. Less than one day after The New York Times published a bombshell report accusing Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort of possibly receiving 22 payments totaling $12.7 million from the political party of the Ukraine despot who was backed by Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump ignored his own personal and business dealings in countries where being gay is either illegal or extremely difficult.
“While my opponent accepted millions of dollars in Foundation donations from countries where being gay is an offense punishable by prison or death, my Administration will speak out against the oppression of women, gays and people of different faith.”
Trump: The Clinton foundation accepted money from countries “where being gay is an offense https://t.co/74hBWleQnA https://t.co/zebgiaauzw
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 15, 2016
He’s lying.
You don’t have to be president to “speak out against the oppression of women, gays and people of different faith.” You just have to do it.
And if Donald Trump actually meant it, he would have done it already, like Hillary Clinton has, for decades, time and time and time again, even when she wasn’t an elected official or Cabinet Secretary. Like in 1995, when she went to China and did the unthinkable at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, telling delegates from 180 countries, “it is no longer acceptable to discuss women’s rights as separate from human rights.”
“If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all,” Clinton said, much to the chagrin and embarrassment of China, which has a horrible record on human rights and women’s rights.
Donald Trump is opposed to same-sex marriage and same-sex couples raising children. He has flip-flopped on the rights of transgender people, and  however, has had many opportunities to speak out for equaity of women and LGBT people, and people of different faiths, and he never, ever has. Trump has made millions of dollars in countries where it is illegal to be LGBT, and made millions in countries where being LGBT may not be “illegal,” but not only can gay people not marry, they have few if any legal protections.
Trump’s empire spans the globe, including to at least four countries (likely more) where it is illegal to be gay: United Arab Emirates, India, Egypt and Indonesia. He also does business in countries where it can seem like it’s illegal to be gay, like Turkey, Panama, and Azerbaijan, which is “identified as the worst place to be gay in Europe by the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Index,” according to a report last month on Trump’s businesses by CNN. That report also notes one of Trump’s deals with just one developer “gave it the right to use the Trump brand in 19 Middle Eastern countries.” Why didn’t he speak out for gays, women, and people of different faiths then?
RELATED:Â Donald Trump: 10 Comments On Same-Sex Marriage
That CNN report states Trump “also has business ties to Indonesia — where gay sex is punishable by public caning, a fine of $37,400 and more than eight years of prison time.”
Trump reportedly also does business in the U.S. with Saudi Arabia and Libya, some of the countries the real estate magnate accuses Hillary Clinton of accepting donations from on behalf of the Clinton Foundation, even though Clinton has little of any say over its dealings.
CNN Money has also detailed a portion of Trump’s business dealings with countries that have made it illegal to be gay. The Wall Street Journals reports “Mr. Trump lists 515 companies in which he is a trustee, president, chairman or member. Many are limited liability corporations attached to Mr. Trump’s real estate holdings, including properties in Panama, Istanbul, Mumbai, Puerto Rico and Dubai. Of the 515 entities, at least 391 bear his name.” And Quartz has compiled a “list of everything Donald Trump runs that has his name on it.”
The website 76 Crimes lists the nearly 80 nations which have made being LGBT illegal.
President Donald Trump will not “speak out against the oppression of women, gays and people of different faith,” because if it actually were important for him to do so, he would have done it a long time ago.
EARLIER:
Trump Announces His New Evangelical Executive Advisory Board, List Includes Michele Bachmann
Trump On Anti-Gay ‘Religious Liberty’ Bill: ‘I Will Do All I Can To Make Sure It Comes To My Desk’
Here’s ‘Friend of the Gays’ Donald Trump Pallin’ Around With One of America’s Most Anti-Gay Pastors
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
|
Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
