Sen. J.D.
Vance's (R-OH) attempts to justify past comments linking rising crime waves to Irish immigrants raised eyebrows from film buffs who said he used the wrong Martin Scorsese movie to defend himself. Donald Trump's running mate addressed questions about his 2021 comment on immigration and crime during a campaign address to the Milwaukee Police Association in Wisconsin on Friday. "Has anybody seen the movie 'Gangs of New York?'" Vance said in response.
"That is what I'm talking about; we know that when you have these ethnic enclaves in our country, it can lead to higher crime rates." Vance was attempting to contextualize a recently resurfaced Skype interview in which he made a similar claim. "You had this massive wave of Italian, Irish and German immigration, and that had its problems, its consequence," Vance said during the interview.
"You had higher crime rates, you had these ethnic enclaves, you had inter-ethnic conflict in the country where you really hadn't had that before." ALSO READ: 'Disqualifies himself': Veterans blast Trump for 'disrespectful' remarks about war heroes Washington Post analyst Philip Bump took issue with Vance's characterization of the 2002 film starring Daniel Day Lewis as the notorious anti-Irish gang leader William Poole, or Bill the Butcher. "The irony here being that the most brutal, vicious killer in that movie is the nativist who loathes immigrants," Bump replied .
"Poole was a thug, a thief and a celebrity, leader of a Christopher Street gang which morphed and coalesced with others to become one of the most terrifying group of criminals in New York — the Bowery Boys," according to the New York City history podcast that draws its name from the group . "The Bowery Boys were an instrument of the Know Nothings , a nativist movement which violently rejected the Irish newcomers." In 1846, as the Irish potato famine blighted the Emerald Isle's primary crop in a catastrophe that would claim up to 1.
5 million lives — and send another 1.5 million fleeing the starving nation — the New York Daily Herald reported Poole was gouging out a foe's eye in the street. This led national security attorney Bradley Moss to question whether Vance had ever seen the film.
"Did you actually watch the movie?" asked Moss . "Did Bill the Butcher strike you as a nonviolent person?" Matthew Gertz, a senior fellow with the Media Matters watchdog group, added, "'Bill the Butcher was correct' is a very interesting take on that film." Political analyst Drew Savicki struck a satirical note by mimicking Vance's comment but changing the movie.
"Has anybody seen the movie 'Toy Story?'" Savicki wrote. "This is what I'm talking about, with these dangerous toys, it can lead to higher crime rates." Moss was quick with a response.
"Has anybody seen the movie 'Despicable Me?'" Moss replied. "This is what I'm talking about, with people speaking languages no one has ever heard of, it can lead to someone trying to steal the moon!" Speaking at a police hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Friday, Donald Trump's running mate, Sen. J.
D. Vance (R-OH), claimed the ex-president's recent comments about the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal of Honor were taken out of context. Trump's controversial statement came when he talked about giving the Medal of Freedom to Miriam Adelson, the widow of late GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson.
“That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian. It’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version,” Trump said. “It’s actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers.
They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead,” Trump said. “She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman. And they’re rated equal, but she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and she got it for — and that’s through committees and everything else.
” Read Also: Harris has figured out Trump’s greatest liability Vance on Friday defended Trump and cited his relationships with veterans. "Look, I was with a group of veterans yesterday, and trust me, the veteran community is behind Donald Trump," he claimed. "What President Trump said during the ceremony — and I haven't seen the entire remarks — President Trump said that a person who received the Medal of Freedom — he was saying some nice things about her.
Donald Trump, I have seen give out a Congressional Medal of Honor. I have seen him give out a number of awards and commendations to military veterans." "Of course, I myself am a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War," Vance continued.
"This is a guy who loves and honors our veterans. I don't think he complements things, and saying a nice word about a person who received a Medal of Freedom is in any way denigrating those who receive military honors. They are two different awards, and the president said some nice things about a person he liked.
That is a reasonable thing to do." While Trump did say "nice things" about Adelson, Trump said that the civilian award was better because no one had to get shot or hurt in war to get it. This is also not the first time Trump has either implicitly or explicitly disparaged the service of veterans.
Back in 2015, for example, he attacked the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for being a prisoner of war. “ I like people that weren’t captured,” Trump said then .
Gen. John Kelly and other staffers recalled in a report that Trump didn't want to go to the graves of American soldiers who died during World War II while it was raining. He called the fallen soldiers "losers" and "suckers.
" Trump then denied saying it. After watching Vance's defense of Trump, conservative Bill Kristol argued that it didn't hold any water. "Trump: The Medal of Freedom is the 'equivalent' of--'actually much better' than--the Medal of Freedom.
Vance: Trump didn't say what we all saw him say. Orwell: The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
" See Vance's comments below or at this link . - YouTube www.youtube.
com J.D. Vance traveled with his dog to a campaign event in Milwaukee, and many saw that as a stunt intended to soften his image.
The Republican vice presidential candidate has been trying to run away from the "weird" descriptor that's seemingly stuck to him since his Democratic rival Tim Walz applied it last month, but taking his German shepherd Atlas to a campaign stop in the city where he officially joined Donald Trump's GOP ticket doesn't seem to have worked as well as he might have hoped. "This is ridiculous," said former Trump campaign adviser A.J.
Delgado, who is now an outspoken critic. "'Let's try to make him seem normal.' Taking a dog on a plane all the way to Milwaukee is not kind to the dog.
Moreover, he never once campaigned with his dog when he ran for Senate. This is using a dog for pandering. Try-hard and WEIRD.
" ALSO READ: 'Disqualifies himself': Veterans blast Trump for 'disrespectful' remarks about war heroes Vance and the dog got out of a Secret Service vehicle in the rain, and the Ohio Republican held an umbrella in his right hand and loosely held a leash tethered to a harness that appeared to be improperly buckled around the dog's upper torso. "Did Atlas shrug?" asked X user Kes Bretagne. "Why are you showing me a video of a man who looks like he has never held a leash in his life?" said X user 504yaknow.
" JD Vance five minutes before this video: We have a dog?!" joked X user Ashley Hawthorne. "All working dog trainers are cringing at that harness situation right now," added X user Brando Marlón. "Cringe," said X user Trixe- I.
"He just keeps getting weirder by the day." Conservative influencer John Cardillo found himself in disbelief watching former President Donald Trump say that it's "better" to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom than the Congressional Medal of Honor on the grounds that most people who receive the latter honor are soldiers who are either wounded or dead. During remarks made on Thursday evening, Trump paid tribute to GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, who received the Medal of Freedom from Trump back in 2018.
"When we gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom...
it’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, it’s actually much better because everyone who gets the Congressional Medal, they’re soldiers," Trump said at the time. "They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead. She gets it and she’s a healthy beautiful woman.
" ALSO READ: How Trump's new gibberish speeches are alienating swing voters Cardillo responded to this statement by simply writing, "WHY??!!" on Twitter . Many Trump supporters then flooded his replies with angry messages, but Cardillo didn't back down. "Did you even watch it?" questioned conservative J.
D. Sharp. "Yes, and it’s even worse," Cardillo replied.
"There is no context where this is remotely acceptable. It’s f------ stupid. If you want to win, stop excusing stuff like this.
" In response to another critic who said he might be misinterpreting Trump, Cardillo replied, "There is no justification for this at all. None. I don't get what he's trying to say.
" Not all of Cardillo's followers disagreed with him, however. After one of them wrote that "it's getting harder..
. to believe [Trump] wants to win," Cardillo replied by simply writing, "Seriously.".
