Watch: Trump Literally Blows Hulk Hogan a Kiss at RNC

Before Donald Trump capped off the Republican National Convention with his speech accepting the party’s nomination for president, professional wrestler Hulk Hogan took the stage.

Trump seemed to really appreciate Hogan’s speech, delivered in the wrestler’s over-the-top passionate style. During the speech, the Hulkster even did his trademark T-shirt rip, discarding a black “Real Americans” muscle shirt to reveal a red Trump-Vance T-shirt underneath.

“They tried to kill the next president of the United States. Enough was enough, and I said, let Trumpamania run wild, brother. Let Trumpamania rule again. Let Trumpamania make America great again!” Hogan shouted, pointing at the crowd, who responded with chants of “USA, USA!”

Trump appreciated Hogan’s theatrics so much that he pumped his fist and blew kisses at the former wrestler.

Why Hogan was at the RNC to begin with isn’t known, although it may have had something to do with his relationship with right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, who funded his lawsuit against Gawker Media over the leak of a sex tape. Or it might have been because of Trump’s long relationship with World Wrestling Entertainment. Either way, Hogan’s job was to hype up the RNC crowd of “Real Americans,” and he succeeded, only for Trump to deliver a speech that went on way too long.

It appears that not everyone at the Republican National Convention was loving Donald Trump’s nomination acceptance speech Thursday night. What began as an intense retelling of Trump’s attempted assassination at a rally on Saturday gradually devolved into the same meandering, anti-immigration fearmongering Trump has touted throughout his campaign.

Dispatches on X, formerly Twitter, from within Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum said that Trump had a little trouble holding the crowd’s attention, as his speech stretched to one hour and 32 minutes, the longest nomination acceptance speech on record.

“People starting to leave. Loud chattering on fringes of the arena,” wrote Edward Luce, an associate editor at the Financial Times, who weighed in a little over an hour into Trump’s speech. “Trump is boring the audience.”

Around the same time, The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta wrote that even in the middle of the crowd, people were growing impatient. “I’m standing 10 feet from the stage, in a sea of diehards, and some are getting restless. Checking phones, stealing glances at the teleprompter, whispering about when it will be over,” he posted.

Wajahat Ali, a columnist for The Daily Beast, wrote that there were “a lot of concerned faces in the RNC crowd right now.”

“Definitely a different energy from an hour ago. I think some people are going, ‘Uh … what’s happening,’” he said.

While the energy in the room started high, with a wild appearance from Hulk Hogan and a weird rap performance from Kid Rock, Trump couldn’t keep the excitement alive as he worked his way through all the same beats as ever, sounding a bit more subdued than in his typical rants.

Donald Trump promised a massive deportation plan Thursday night, even larger than the biggest mass deportation in U.S. history: President Dwight Eisenhower’s racist-named “Operation Wetback.”

The former president was doing his typical fearmongering, blaming immigrants for any and all of the country’s ills, when he decided to name-drop the thirty-fourth U.S. president.

“And bad things are gonna happen, and you’re gonna see it happen all the time,” said Trump. “And that’s why the Republican platform promises to launch the biggest deportation operation in the history of our country. Even larger than that of Dwight D. Eisenhower, from many years ago.”

Under that program, which was implemented “many years ago” in 1954, U.S. authorities employed military-style tactics to deport around 1.3 million Mexican immigrants, some of whom had been naturalized. The government packed people into trucks en masse, and shipped them to locations without food and water, resulting in many unnecessary deaths.

During Trump’s speech Thursday on the final night of the Republican National Convention, he continued to baselessly claim that countries around the world were sending people from their prisons and mental institutions to the United States.

The former president also claimed that illegal immigrants were responsible for taking all the American jobs … even faster than they could possibly be created, it seems?

“Today our cities are flooded with illegal aliens. Americans are being squeezed out of the labor force and their jobs are taken. By the way, you know who’s taking the jobs, the jobs that are created? One hundred and seven percent of those jobs are taken by illegal aliens,” he said, claiming they were taking the jobs from Black and Hispanic Americans, as well as unions.

Former President Donald Trump claimed that Democrats used the Covid-19 pandemic to cheat during the last presidential election.

During his speech Thursday at the Republican National Convention, Trump made a strange claim while talking about a failed deal he’d tried to make with Iran, ahead of the 2020 election.

“Iran was gonna make a deal with us, and then we had that horrible, horrible result that we’ll never let happen again. The election result, we’re never gonna let that happen again,” he said.

“They used Covid to cheat. We’re never gonna let it happen again,” Trump insisted, a strange shift in his election denialism.

Of course, Trump has been a broken record when it comes to believing he was cheated out of the White House. Earlier in his speech, Trump remarked that the Biden administration wasn’t “fierce” except for “cheating on elections, and a couple of other things.” But suggesting that Democrats had taken advantage of the deadly Covid-19 virus is a uniquely untethered claim, though it’s not totally clear how that would be even possible.

Earlier on Thursday, Lara Trump suggested that the former president had learned to embrace mail-in voting, a tactic pushed by Democrats in the previous election for the sake of public health. At the time, Trump heavily (and falsely) criticized the tactic as being rife with fraud.

A top West Coast Democratic donor has reportedly drafted and begun circulating a seven-step swan song for President Joe Biden.

The “victory speech,” which was obtained Thursday by The Daily Beast, contains seven bullet points for Biden to use, should he decide to withdraw from the presidential race.

The main points of the speech emphasize the importance of saving America and democracy, and insist that to do that, the Democrats must win. But for that to happen, Democrats need to reclaim the confidence of the American people.

The speech would maintain Biden’s position that he thinks he could still succeed in beating Trump in November, but concede that Americans desire a candidate who is younger than Biden or Trump. Biden would declare that for that reason, he has decided to leave the ticket and pass the torch to the next generation.

The speech would also have Biden pledge his support for a cease-fire in Gaza and promise to back the Democratic candidate. Notably, the speech does not have him hand over his candidacy to a specific politician, such as Vice President Kamala Harris. It also gently sidesteps the widespread criticisms of Biden’s disastrous debate performance and questions about his mental acuity.

Biden has been faced with calls from top Democrats to reconsider his candidacy in the race against Donald Trump, as well as frozen funds from several major donors who have decided to pause their six-figure contributions until Biden chooses to step down from the ticket.

While Biden has made no indication that he intends to withdraw, it’s been reported that he has grown “more receptive” to criticisms and is doing some serious “soul searching” about his candidacy.

In the past 36 hours alone, several sources have leaked that the president has had some tough conversations with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who have all urged him to reconsider his candidacy for the sake of the Democratic Party. Former President Barack Obama reportedly told his allies that he feels similarly. Meanwhile, Representatives Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin have both publicly called for Biden to take his leave from the presidential race.

The pressure is mounting against the presumptive Democratic nominee, a title that, for now, should be regularly followed with a question mark.

Another top Democrat has called on President Joe Biden to exit the presidential race, marking the fourth instance this week that news has broken of a top lawmaker suggesting it’s the 81-year-old president’s time to bow out.

In a four-page letter sent earlier this month, Representative Jamie Raskin largely waxed poetic about Biden’s myriad accomplishments in office. But the Maryland Democrat then turned to an all-American metaphor to translate his waning competence: a tired baseball pitcher, too many innings into the game.

“There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out, and there is real danger for the team in ignoring the statistics,” Raskin wrote, likening Biden’s insistence on staying in the race to the 2003 American League Championship Series, in which Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez refused to get off the mound despite his manager’s insistence eight innings in. That decision to stay and keep throwing, despite the statistical disadvantage, cost the Red Sox the game and a spot in the World Series.

“Your situation is tricky because you are both our star pitcher and our Manager,” Raskin wrote in the letter, which was obtained Thursday by The New York Times.

“But in democracy, as you have shown us more than any prior president, you are not a Manager acting all alone; you are the co-Manager along with our great team and our great people,” he continued. “Caucus with the team, Mr. President. Hear them out. You will make the right decision.”

Behind closed doors, several other major Democrats also urged the president to hit the bench this week, including a double-whammy of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of whom reportedly made direct appeals to Biden to drop out for the good of the party. Elsewhere in the liberal ecosphere, news broke that former President Barack Obama had spoken with allies about Biden’s narrowing chances at winning the White House for a second term, and believed now was the time to act to protect Biden and his legacy.

Let me tell you something, brother: For some reason, one of the scheduled speakers for the Republican National Convention Thursday night is retired professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.

Hogan doesn’t have a long history of political activism, unless you count his “run” for president as a publicity stunt two decades ago, making his appearance all the more puzzling. His peak days of being the top star in the wrestling world and starring in B and C movies are well behind him.

It’s only recently that Mr. America managed to overcome the 2015 scandal of uttering a racial slur in a leaked sex tape that resurfaced, after which he returned to making appearances in the pro wrestling world. The fallout from that tape might have gotten him into right-wing politics too.

Also in 2015, Hogan would sue Gawker Media, the company behind the publication of that video, with tech billionaire Peter Thiel, a conservative with a vendetta against Gawker for outing him in 2007, funding the lawsuit. Hogan would win the suit and be awarded $115 million, bankrupting Gawker.

Last month, Hogan appeared on Fox and Friends and said, “If you need a president or vice president, I’ll volunteer and take this country over, and I’ll rule with an iron fist.” Since Senator J.D. Vance has since been named the Republican vice presidential nominee (also with Thiel’s support), it looks like Trump wasn’t looking for Hogan’s version of an iron fist or even his signature leg drop on the ticket.

But maybe that’s what Republicans are looking for on the last night of the RNC: a celebrity has-been wrapped in the flag, with allegations of racism in his past, whose career includes an infamous heel turn to give the convention some social media attention. Doesn’t that describe Donald Trump in 2016 too? Just like the Hulkster, Trump even has ties to pro wrestling. And like any MAGA Republican, the two call themselves “real Americans” but refuse to fight for the rights of every man.

Kevin McCarthy is not wishing Matt Gaetz well.

“He looks very unhinged,” the former speaker said Thursday about Gaetz’s appearance at the Republican National Convention. “A lot of people have concerns about him.”

McCarthy wasn’t the only Republican looking to tear Gaetz down. Representative Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin called Matt Gaetz an “AI powered inflatable sex doll” while tweeting out a photo of Gaetz speaking at the convention. 

Though it does certainly look like Gaetz got his face retouched, McCarthy threw out the idea that Gaetz is unwell in some way. “I’m not sure if he was on something. But I do hope that he gets the help that he needs.”

McCarthy’s concern about Gaetz’s appearance and demeanor didn’t come out of nowhere but is a sign of the escalating feud between the two.

In the CNN interview Thursday, McCarthy accused Gaetz of “wanting to leverage” McCarthy’s fight to remain House speaker in order to stop the Ethics Committee investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

McCarthy said that after he refused, Gaetz sought revenge. “That’s what the whole motion to vacate was about.” This is a theory McCarthy has floated before. 

Gaetz is accused of having sex with a teenage girl while he was serving in Congress, and the House Ethics Committee announced last month that it is expanding its investigation against the Florida representative.

“I hope the young women get the justice they deserve when it comes to him,” said McCarthy.

Elon Musk recently came out with a public endorsement of Donald Trump for president, but Republicans haven’t fully embraced him, according to a report from The New York Times.

The tech billionaire CEO of Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX has been highly sought after by GOP fundraisers and Trump associates for years, who see him both as a meal ticket and a potential inspiration for the party. But Musk doesn’t have a solid record for political involvement.

For example, he has promised to spend money on “free speech” lawsuits to support conservatives who claim that they are the victims of social media censorship but hasn’t followed through. Musk has also been a no-show at public appearances, such as a 2023 event to support Kevin McCarthy, then the newly elected speaker of the House. In San Francisco, he promised to donate $100,000 to the centrist group GrowSF to defeat progressives, but again didn’t follow through.

“Some conservative activists said they wished that Mr. Musk had followed through more on promises,” the Times reported.

Musk’s public endorsement of Trump only came after a gunman tried to assassinate the former president and convicted felon on Saturday. Previously, the tech magnate, while privately urging friends not to vote for Biden, was waiting until the president had secured the Democratic nomination, according to the Times.

Musk’s confidants in the tech world, such as Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of data analytics firm Palantir, reportedly discuss politics with him and have urged him to play a more active role. Lonsdale founded AmericaPAC to help Trump return to the White House, with Musk reportedly pledging a monthly donation of $45 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. Musk denied the report, leaving those involved with the PAC to wonder how much he plans to donate, or if he will at all.

Alongside fellow tech CEOs Peter Thiel and David Sacks, Musk is a member of the “PayPal mafia,” the group of early supporters and founders of the payment service. All three have embraced conservative ideas and supported J.D. Vance as Trump’s running mate, with Musk and Sacks openly lobbying Trump on behalf of the Ohio senator. If Trump wins in November, the trio will have an administration friendly to their whims and those of Silicon Valley’s right wing.

Donald Trump’s campaign is still working to distance itself from the Heritage Foundation’s extremist blueprint to uproot American democracy, Project 2025.

Speaking at the CNN-Politico Grill on Thursday, senior Trump adviser and co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita suggested that any reported link between Project 2025 and Trump’s plans for a potential second administration would be “complete and utter bullshit.”

“The president has made it clear, these people do not speak for him, they do not speak for the campaign,” LaCivita told Politico’s politics bureau chief, Jonathan Martin, calling the project a “pain in the ass.”

LaCivita added that it’s “pure speculation” to suggest that the former Trump staffers currently building Project 2025 have a future in Trump’s potential next presidency.

Trump’s campaign has grown increasingly frustrated by reporting on the affiliation between the campaign and Project 2025’s agenda, despite their apparent ties, and the program’s intention to serve as a de facto policy agenda for the Trump campaign. Project 2025 includes policies ranging from the dismantling of government agencies, such as the Department of Education, to the implementation of national abortion bans and contraception restrictions.

The campaign and the project share political philosophies and key allies, including former Trump advisers Stephen Miller and John McEntee. Project 2025 employs more than 100 people who previously worked under Trump. And, as much as Trump wants to distance himself from the apparatus, Project 2025 has been thoroughly involved in staffing a future Trump presidency: Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts has claimed the project has already “trained and vetted” more than 10,000 people to replace executive branch employees should the presumptive GOP presidential candidate win in November.

But they may have more on the way—in November 2023, Trump allies claimed they were looking to install as many as 54,000 pre-vetted Trump loyalists to the executive branch via a “Schedule F” executive order.

Trump only recently began to drive a wedge between himself and the plan he once called a “colossal mandate to save America.” Earlier this month, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Project 2025 had “nothing to do” with his run for president.

“I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump posted. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”

The public split came two days after Roberts issued an ominous warning for leftists ahead of what he called a “second American Revolution.”

“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Roberts said on Steve Bannon’s podcast War Room, celebrating the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

But Trump’s sudden pushback didn’t rattle people involved with Project 2025—instead, they felt confident that his turn of favor wouldn’t stand in the way of their ability to implement the far-right agenda come Inauguration Day.

“The general sense is this is a P.R. gesture for him to provide himself maximum room to maneuver and avoid making any commitments at this point,” one source on Project 2025’s advisory board told NBC News. “He wants to avoid having to answer questions about anything he doesn’t want to answer questions about. Most people I know who are involved with it don’t seem overly worried that this actually constitutes a repudiation and is going to mean anything on Jan. 20.”