BANNON VOWS “WAR FOR TRUMP”
Ousted White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon returned to the conservative Breitbart News website on Friday and said he’ll be “going to war” for President Donald Trump, vowing to intensify the fight he has waged against opponents of his brand of populist conservatism. “If there’s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents — on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America,” Bannon told Bloomberg News.
Bannon led the evening editorial meeting at Breitbart, where he resumed his role as executive chairman, the website said.
Charities cancel Mar-a-Lago events.
Two more charities are canceling annual fundraisers at President Donald Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Fla.
The moves by the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army to shift venues from the Mar-a-Lago follow cancellations by the Cleveland Clinic, the American Cancer Society and the American Friends of David Adom as the president’s business faces backlash from his comments about the white supremacist rally in Virginia.
Art committee quits.
The entire membership of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities have announced their resignation. A letter dated Friday, and signed by 16 of 17 committee members, cited the “false equivalence” of President Donald Trump’s comments about last weekend’s “Unite the Right” gathering in Charlottesville, Va.
The White House said Trump had decided to not renewing the committee for budgetary reasons.
Evangelical advisers stick with Trump.
One of President Donald Trump’s most steadfast constituencies has been standing by him amid his defense of a white nationalist rally in Virginia, even as business leaders, artists and Republicans turn away.
Only one of Trump’s evangelical advisers has quit the role, while presidential boards in other fields saw multiple defections before being dismantled. The Rev. A.R. Bernard, pastor of the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn and one of the most influential clergymen in New York, announced his decision Friday night, saying “there was a deepening conflict in values between myself and the administration.”
Trump’s evangelical advisers have strongly condemned the bigotry behind the Charlottesville march by white nationalists and neo-Nazis over the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. But regarding Trump, they have offered either praise for his response or gentle critiques couched within complaints about how he has been treated by critics and the media.
His faith advisers include pastors who worked with his campaign, and now pray with him and consult with his staff on issues ranging from religious liberty in the U.S. to the persecution of Christian minority populations in the Middle East.
Mayors sign agreement to fight hate.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors says more than 250 of its members have signed on to a compact designed to combat hate, extremism and bigotry.
The mayors announced the compact Friday on a call with the Anti-Defamation League, a partner in the effort. The compact lists 10 components, including rejecting white supremacism and extremism, celebrating diversity, and ensuring public safety while protecting free speech.
Tina Fey urges people to eat cake.
Not everyone is laughing at Tina Fey and her sheet cake. On Thursday night, the “Saturday Night Live” and University of Virginia alum appeared on “Weekend Update: Summer Edition” and encouraged people to eat cake instead of getting into arguments with neo-Nazis.
Fey got applause from the SNL audience and the bit quickly inspired Twitter praise and hashtags including #sheetcakemovement and #sheetcaking.
But others dismissed her message — to essentially ignore racism and anti-Semitism — as tone-deaf.