Newsmax reporter fired for going viral?

Barron Trump, modern-day Octavian?

In the weirder quarters of the right-wing internet, kooks have long made comparisons between Donald Trump and the emperors of Ancient Rome — viewing him as a Caesar wronged by his rivals and betrayed by his friends, willing that one day his successor might avenge him. A story this week gave fuel to the fire that Trump’s youngest son Barron would become the Octavian to his Julius. 

The Mail Online reports how Barron has “quietly blossomed into an engaging young man who has leading conservatives purring over his charm and political acumen” and describes him as a “strapping 6ft 7in teen who has never uttered a word in public.” 

“I see all the attributes of a future president if he has the appetite for it. And why not? He has the Trump genes,” an insider told the Mail, who are notorious for their keen interest in eighteen-year-olds. 

And Barron is taking his first steps in politics — he will serve as a delegate for Florida at July’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. His older sister Ivanka and her husband Jared served as advisors in the first Trump administration… could a nineteen-year-old Barron Trump find himself with a summer internship in the second?

Newsmax reporter fired for going viral?

Word on the street is that conservative TV network Newsmax said sayonara to one of its more prolific on-camera reporters after a recent incident. Addison Smith taped some man-on-the-street interviews with New York City construction workers at a Trump rally. They expressed their displeasure with President Joe Biden — one of these videos, featuring a worker who said his message to Biden was “fuck you,” went mega viral on social media. However, Newsmax was not happy that the clip went on Smith’s X account before airing on the network… and promptly let the reporter go. “There is a big story related to Newsmax concerning the Addison Smith situation,” said Larry Klayman, Smith’s legal counsel. “Stay tuned.”

RFK’s influence-plosion

When staff is the story, you’re probably in trouble — and RFK Jr.’s presidential campaign has been taking incoming from both sides for employing an alum of MAGA-aligned Republicans such as Vivek Ramaswamy, Kari Lake and Blake Masters who is using his conservative creds to use Twitter influencers to boost his newest boss. For years, Zach Henry has worked for figures on the far right of the GOP, even filming the January 6 protests for the Arizona GOP — but he has a new master via his company, Total Virality: Kennedy’s 2024 campaign. Thus far, Kennedy’s campaign is his only publicly-listed client on the FEC. 

What appear to be leaked images from Henry’s pitch deck, interestingly, list a lot of conservative influencers who have since publicly disavowed doing any work with him. Lavern Spicer, who is running a joke of a campaign for Congress in Florida, for example, told the Daily Caller that “RFK can kiss my Black ass and I never been paid to promote RFK in my life.” 

That didn’t stop Henry from including alleged influencers such as Spicer, Alex Jones, Scott Adams and others, on his pitch deck. According to @amuse, Henry recruits accounts via direct messages, where he promises ten cents per thousand impressions of their content. Josh Holmes, a GOP podcast host, quipped that he’s “not sure there is a real difference from Lincoln Project other than intern preferences.” 

The focus on Henry comes as both the Biden and Trump campaigns are coming to terms with how varying aspects of the brainworm-filled Kennedy’s platform could siphon off precious votes from them in November. It all burst into the open after reports, including Cockburn’s, that Henry was at the center of trying to tank GOP governor Doug Burgum’s vice presidential hopes via a Twitter pressure campaign. Maybe it wasn’t a wise move to take on the Dakota governor who brags about killing rattlesnakes — not dogs — for fun…

Blonde MILF Humiliates Businessman As Jury Watches

Stormy Daniels testified for over six hours this week in the Trump “hush money” trial in Manhattan this week — most of that time under cross-examination from the defense. Her retelling of her 2006 sexual encounter with Trump raised eyebrows the world over — with several sustained objections and even Judge Juan Merchan surprised that the former president’s lawyers didn’t raise more. 

Perhaps the most ironic part of her time on the stand was the defense’s attempt to undercut Daniels’s integrity as a witness by depicting the porn star as a profiteer seeking to make money off the Trump brand. Susan Necheles highlighted that on her website Daniels sold “Saint of Indictments” devotional candles, along with “#TeamStormy” t-shirts and comic books. “No, I’m making about $7,” Daniels said regarding how much she was making from the candles. Necheles then described Daniels’s e-commerce efforts as “shilling,” which Daniels took issue with. “Not unlike Mr. Trump,” she replied. A pair of star-cross’d lovers, selling crappy merch online to fund their lawsuits against each other. And they say romance is dead… 

It’s worth pointing out that not much progress has been made in the trial as yet to prove that Michael Cohen’s payments to Daniels were made in order to conceal another crime — which would render the payments a felony rather than a misdemeanor. Cockburn will be waving away the descriptions of Trump’s trysts until that happens, entertaining and embarrassing though they may be.