MLK's Daughter Takes Issue with Amy Schumer, Santos's Expulsion, and Elon Musk

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | November 1, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | November 1, 2023 |

There is so much on my mind about the situation in Israel/Gaza that it sometimes blocks out my ability to write about other things. As I wrote soon after October 7th, however, we’re staying away from it here for various reasons, not least of which is how divisive it is among us, among Democrats, and even among age groups. I hate how divisive it is; I hate (and am legit worried) about the spiking hate crimes and the antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in the United States, the violence on college campuses, the attacks against Israelis, and the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza. I am horrified by all of this.

We’re staying out of it because we’re a pop culture website and, on most days, not a complete shit show. I do, however, want to report what Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., had to say when Amy Schumer posted a video of MLK deploring antisemitism. King responded to Schumer — who has unfortunately and wrongly equated Hamas with Palestinians/Arabs in recent weeks — with a statement on which I am hopeful most people on the left can agree:

“Certainly, my father was against antisemitism, as am I,” Bernice tweeted. “He also believed militarism (along with racism and poverty) to be among the interconnected Triple Evils. I am certain he would call for Israel’s bombing of Palestinians to cease, for hostages to be released, and for us to work for true peace, which includes justice. He said, ‘Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.’ We have much to correct.”

I think we can all agree on at least one thing: “We have much to correct.”

— I didn’t realize this, but there is a possible floor vote today on the expulsion of George Santos. He’d be the first Congressperson to be removed from Congress prior to a conviction and the first Congressperson to be removed at all in 20 years.

— The civil trial against Donald Trump continues. Donald Trump, Jr. is expected to testify today. Eric will testify tomorrow, while Ivanka and Donald will testify next week. It’ll be interesting to see if any perjury comes out of this. Speaking of Donald, he was seen with Melania for the first time in seven months last night in Mar-a-Lago when he entered for a Halloween party set to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” Metallica should probably get on that cease-and-desist.

— Trump continues to lead among Republicans in the primary, which is terrible, but at least we can all take solace in the fact that Ron DeSantis continues to flame out. Most recently, it’s apparently become evident that DeSantis wears lifts in his cowboy boots that give him an extra inch and a half height. DeSantis denied wearing lifts but did so in a way that strongly suggests he actually does. Trump posted on social media, #BOOTGATE” and the “KISS OF DEATH” and he’s not wrong.

— Polls are meaningless a year ahead of the election unless those polls make me feel good about our prospects. To wit:

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— The new House Speaker, Mike Johnson, is perhaps even more evil than previously believed. His wife runs a counseling service, according to Huffington Post, “that advocates the belief that homosexuality is comparable to bestiality and incest, according to its operating documents.”

— Finally, Elon Musk appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast yesterday. I cannot emphasize this enough: Over three hours, he said nothing newsworthy and nothing of value. The only newsworthy item about Elon Musk this week is his own internal assessment that TWitter/X is only worth $19 billion now (he paid $44 billion for it).