theguardian--2020-09-17--Plan Your Vote: how artists are using their work to spread a vital message

With just weeks until an election , more than 60 artists have joined forced with some of America ’ s most prestigious museums and galleries for an urgent new social media project .
“ It is the most important election at least in my lifetime , ” said the project ’ s curator , Christine Messineo , who has teamed up with Vote.org to create Plan Your Vote , an initiative that will use artworks to send an important message .
Artists including Patti Smith , Derrick Adams , Michael Stipe and Sally Mann are partnering with institutions such as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pieces emblazoned with messaging urging people to plan their vote .
“ There ’ s a real attack on democracy , so it feels even more crucial than ever to make sure people are armed with the right information on how they can vote , ” said Messineo .
Plan Your Vote aims to empower Americans to own their voting rights , providing accurate , up-to-date voting registration details for all states , as well as mail-in and absentee voting information , polling locations and deadlines .
“ When you visit Vote.org ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s purely a utilitarian tool , ” said Messineo .
“ That ’ s intentional .
It ’ s giving people actionable items to vote to be armed in democracy , but once they started to get asks from well-known individuals , we thought : ‘ How can we improve upon the visual language that ’ s sent out to people ?
’ “ We need to create a visual asset library to use when someone like Taylor Swift wants to promote the organization .
That ’ s how artists can help.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and share images of the works from the site in order to raise awareness .
“ They ’ re all going to be downloadable images you can click on and are ready for social media posting , ” said Messineo .
“ All the museums , alliances , partnerships and artists are going to be posting these images online up until the election .
They ’ re encouraging their communities to make sure that they ’ re vote-ready , engaged citizens.
” The images range from protest placards to raised fists , podiums @ @ @ @ @ @ @ street scenes from protests .
They ’ re all different , but one thing they have in common is a sense of unity .
“ Our goal is to get people active , ” said Messineo .
“ This election feels even more urgent for people to get appropriate information and have a strategy in place for their voting.
” There ’ s art by the Guerilla Girls , who tap into the centennial of the 19th amendment , with a piece that reads : “ Guerrilla Girls refuse to celebrate the 19th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020.
” There ’ s also works by Dyani White Hawk , wearing a T-shirt that says “ More Than A Mascot ” , while Elka Krajewska features a photo of a street sign that reads “ Register to Vote ” .
Vicki DaSilva uses an image of the White House and the Monument Lab ( artists Paul Farber and Ken Lum ) show a bronze monument of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson being flung off his horse .
New York artist Kambui Olujimi features a painting of Catherine Arline , the artist ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he calls , his “ guardian angel ” .
Arline died in 2014 at 77 and was president of the 81st precinct ’ s community council in Bed-Stuy , Brooklyn .
“ Since the death of Catherine Arline , I have been creating a large-scale installation in her memory , entitled Walk With Me , ” said Olujimi .
“ Arline was a community leader and activist ; she took me to the polls the first time I ever voted .
She helped instill the importance of civic responsibility .
It seemed only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legacy.
” Photographer Marilyn Minter is using her famed photographs of foggy mirrors with slogans that read “ Resist ” ( which the artist has turned into a flag and scarf ) and “ Sad !
” into images for Plan Your Vote .
“ As far as the election goes , I saw a great quote on Twitter the other day that said : ‘ A government never announces that it has become fascist , instead it announces that anti-fascists are criminals , ’ ” said Minter .
“ The future of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has to do something.
” Vote.org is not alone .
There are other election-related fundraisers and awareness projects abound , including Artists for Biden hosted by David Zwirner Gallery and Artists Band Together , a series of bandanas raising funds for voter registration organizations such as Woke Vote , Mijente and Rise .
More art-based initiatives are likely to come , as it ’ s a critical time for Americans to vote between now and November .
As Robert Longo , one of the artists participating in the project with an artwork based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sums it up : “ I plan on both voting and sending money to candidates to create a better world .
This election is of monumental importance because democracy is being threatened like never before by an orange liar and budding fascist wannabe dictator .
”

With just weeks until an election, more than 60 artists have joined forced with some of America’s most prestigious museums and galleries for an urgent new social media project.
“It is the most important election at least in my lifetime,” said the project’s curator, Christine Messineo, who has teamed up with Vote.org to create Plan Your Vote, an initiative that will use artworks to send an important message.
Artists including Patti Smith, Derrick Adams, Michael Stipe and Sally Mann are partnering with institutions such as the Guggenheim and the New Museum for pieces emblazoned with messaging urging people to plan their vote.
“There’s a real attack on democracy, so it feels even more crucial than ever to make sure people are armed with the right information on how they can vote,” said Messineo.
Plan Your Vote aims to empower Americans to own their voting rights, providing accurate, up-to-date voting registration details for all states, as well as mail-in and absentee voting information, polling locations and deadlines.
Plan Your Vote art by Macon Reed. Photograph: Plan Your Vote/Macon Reed
“When you visit Vote.org’s website, you see it’s purely a utilitarian tool,” said Messineo. “That’s intentional. It’s giving people actionable items to vote to be armed in democracy, but once they started to get asks from well-known individuals, we thought: ‘How can we improve upon the visual language that’s sent out to people?’
“We need to create a visual asset library to use when someone like Taylor Swift wants to promote the organization. That’s how artists can help.”
The site is encouraging users to download and share images of the works from the site in order to raise awareness. “They’re all going to be downloadable images you can click on and are ready for social media posting,” said Messineo. “All the museums, alliances, partnerships and artists are going to be posting these images online up until the election. They’re encouraging their communities to make sure that they’re vote-ready, engaged citizens.”
Photograph: Plan Your Vote/Monument Lab
The images range from protest placards to raised fists, podiums, group hugs, intertwined arms and street scenes from protests. They’re all different, but one thing they have in common is a sense of unity.
“Our goal is to get people active,” said Messineo. “This election feels even more urgent for people to get appropriate information and have a strategy in place for their voting.”
There’s art by the Guerilla Girls, who tap into the centennial of the 19th amendment, with a piece that reads: “Guerrilla Girls refuse to celebrate the 19th amendment until every vote is counted November 2020.”
There’s also works by Dyani White Hawk, wearing a T-shirt that says “More Than A Mascot”, while Elka Krajewska features a photo of a street sign that reads “Register to Vote”. Vicki DaSilva uses an image of the White House and the Monument Lab (artists Paul Farber and Ken Lum) show a bronze monument of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson being flung off his horse.
New York artist Kambui Olujimi features a painting of Catherine Arline, the artist’s longtime mentor, friend and what he calls, his “guardian angel”. Arline died in 2014 at 77 and was president of the 81st precinct’s community council in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
“Since the death of Catherine Arline, I have been creating a large-scale installation in her memory, entitled Walk With Me,” said Olujimi. “Arline was a community leader and activist; she took me to the polls the first time I ever voted. She helped instill the importance of civic responsibility. It seemed only fitting that I continue and honor her legacy.”
Plan Your Vote by Jesse Duquette. Photograph: Plan Your Vote/Jesse Duquette
Photographer Marilyn Minter is using her famed photographs of foggy mirrors with slogans that read “Resist” (which the artist has turned into a flag and scarf) and “Sad!” into images for Plan Your Vote.
“As far as the election goes, I saw a great quote on Twitter the other day that said: ‘A government never announces that it has become fascist, instead it announces that anti-fascists are criminals,’” said Minter. “The future of our democracy is at stake and everyone has to do something.”
Vote.org is not alone. There are other election-related fundraisers and awareness projects abound, including Artists for Biden hosted by David Zwirner Gallery and Artists Band Together, a series of bandanas raising funds for voter registration organizations such as Woke Vote, Mijente and Rise. More art-based initiatives are likely to come, as it’s a critical time for Americans to vote between now and November.
As Robert Longo, one of the artists participating in the project with an artwork based on a photo of a protest, sums it up: “I plan on both voting and sending money to candidates to create a better world. This election is of monumental importance because democracy is being threatened like never before by an orange liar and budding fascist wannabe dictator.”


theguardian--2020-09-17--'It felt like tentacles': the women who accuse Trump of sexual misconduct

The list of women who have publicly made sexual misconduct allegations against Donald Trump outnumbers the list of officials in his cabinet .
Before today , no fewer than 25 women had made such accusations against Trump , ranging from harassment to sexual assault and rape .
The allegations span four decades .
Trump has denied every charge , dismissing his accusers as liars and publicity seekers , claiming never to have met some of them and , in at least two cases , suggesting they were not attractive enough for him .
Trump ’ s victory in the 2016 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the American electorate either believed his claims of innocence or were unswayed by the allegations .
Today Amy Dorris becomes at least the 26th woman to publicly accuse Trump of sexual misconduct – with more than a dozen of that group having accused him of sexual assault .
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian , she has alleged that Trump accosted her outside the bathroom of his VIP box at the US Open tennis tournament in New York in 1997 .
She accused Trump of forcing his tongue down her throat , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ holding her in a grip from which she could not escape , while ignoring her pleas to stop .
“ His hands were very gropey and all over my butt , my breasts , my back , everything , ” she said , recalling how she used her teeth to try to force his tongue out of her mouth .
“ I felt trapped.
” Via his lawyers , Trump denied in the strongest possible terms having ever harassed , abused or behaved improperly toward Dorris .
Some women making # MeToo sexual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solely only on their own memories of events .
But Dorris immediately shared her account of the alleged incident with two people and has recounted it to several others since .
All said Dorris had shared with them details of the alleged incident that matched what she told the Guardian .
Dorris also has six photos of her encounters with Trump over the four days she spent with him , and kept her ticket to the US Open from the day of the alleged assault , 5 September 1997 .
“ I feel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ girls who have had a lot worse from him .
But in this case , he ’ s not going to be able to say he doesn ’ t know me , ” she said .
Dorris is the second woman to accuse Trump of assaulting her at the US Open .
Karena Virginia , also a former model , alleges Trump touched her breast at the tournament in 1998 .
When Virginia made her allegation in 2016 , a Trump representative dismissed her account as “ fictional ” and politically motivated .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ former models to say Trump assaulted them .
More than half of the accusations made against Trump , who bought the Miss Universe franchise in 1996 and set up his own modelling agency , Trump Model Management , in 1999 , relate to models or pageant contestants .
One was Kristin Anderson , who was a model in her early 20s when she alleges Trump sexually assaulted her .
She claims he put his hand up her skirt and touched her genitals through her underwear when they were at a nightclub in New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claimed Anderson was seeking “ free publicity ” and said her allegation was “ phoney ” .
Taken together , the accusations paint a pattern of alleged predatory behaviour .
Dorris claims Trump assaulted her after waiting for her outside the bathroom while Trump ’ s other US Open guests , including Dorris ’ s then boyfriend , Jason Binn , were just metres away .
The dividing wall is visible behind Trump and Dorris ’ s head in photographs she has shared with the Guardian .
It can also be seen in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alleged assault , when Dorris returned for a second day of tennis and she and Binn posed for photographs with celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and the illusionist David Blaine , who were among Trump ’ s other guests that day .
DiCaprio and Blaine did not respond to requests for comment .
Karen Johnson , a former dancer , has claimed she was “ grabbed and pulled behind a tapestry ” by Trump during a New Year ’ s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in the early 2000s , when he allegedly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a similarity with Dorris ’ s allegation , Johnson alleged the assault happened just out of sight from other guests , including her husband , while she was on her way to the bathroom .
Trump has denied the accusation .
These allegations also have similarities with those made by Jill Harth , who claimed Trump sexually assaulted her after pulling her into his daughter Ivanka ’ s childhood bedroom at Mar-a-Lago in the early 1990s , during a group tour of the residence .
Her then boyfriend , George Houraney , was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the time .
Harth ’ s allegations were initially contained in a lawsuit brought against Trump following a business dispute she and Houraney had with him .
Harth later withdrew the lawsuit and Trump ’ s lawyers say she has no credibility .
A spokesman for Trump said he “ denies each and every statement made by Ms Harth ” .
The journalist Natasha Stoynoff also alleges she was assaulted in a room at Mar-a-Lago with people close by .
She was scheduled to interview Trump about his first year of marriage to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was then pregnant with their son Barron .
Stoynoff alleges that as Melania was changing in a nearby room , “ within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat ” .
Trump denied the allegation , saying : “ Take a look .
Look at her .
Look at her words .
And you tell me what you think .
I don ’ t think so.
” Last year , the writer E Jean Carroll came forward to accuse Trump of raping her in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her against a wall , this time in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman , a luxury department store in Manhattan .
Last November , Carroll sued Trump for defamation after he called her a liar and said he had never met her .
Last month a New York judge rejected Trump ’ s bid to temporarily halt proceedings .
In January the former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos , who accused Trump in 2016 of forcibly kissing her and groping her breast , had her defamation lawsuit put on hold after several attempts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York court of appeal is yet to determine whether to dismiss the case , allow it to continue or postpone it until Trump is out of office .
Zervos is one of 11 women , including Dorris , Stoynoff and Johnson , to claim that Trump forcibly kissed them .
Several women have also described being allegedly groped in a fashion similar to that recounted by Dorris .
The allegation that most resonated with Dorris in 2016 , when many of his accusers first came forward , was that of Jessica Leeds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most historical .
Leeds said that in the late 70s when she was a travelling businesswoman she had sat beside Trump , whom she had never met before , in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York .
She alleged that about 45 minutes after takeoff Trump lifted the armrest , grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt .
Trump responded to Leeds ’ s allegation at a campaign rally , saying : “ Believe me , she would not be my first choice .
That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spokesman called her allegation “ fiction ” .
Leeds alleged Trump ’ s “ hands were everywhere ” , describing them as “ like an octopus ” .
That is exactly how Dorris says she described her alleged encounter with Trump to friends over the years .
“ It felt like there were tentacles on me that I couldn ’ t rip off , ” she said .
“ I was trying to get his arms off of me and they would not come off because I wasn ’ t strong enough.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suffocating .
“ It ’ s like his arms were moving so fast , it was like he had eight , ” she said .
“ You just picture those suction cups on an octopus and they ’ re stuck on you .
You ’ re trapped .
That ’ s how I felt.
” Trump famously bragged about sexually molesting women in the now–infamous Access Hollywood tape .
In the recording , first published by the Washington Post during the 2016 presidential campaign , Trump can be heard making a series of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ host Billy Bush while off-air .
“ I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her , ” he said in the previously unaired recording about the actor and model Arianne Zucker , whom they were waiting to meet .
“ You know I ’ m automatically attracted to beautiful … I just start kissing them .
It ’ s like a magnet .
Just kiss .
I don ’ t even wait .
And when you ’ re a star they let you do it .
You can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pussy.
” Trump dismissed the recording as mere “ locker room talk ” .
Leeds , who is now in her 70s , said it was Trump ’ s defence of his comments that drove her to come forward with her story .
She said she “ wanted to punch the screen ” , and days later wrote to the New York Times about her allegation , telling them : “ His behaviour is deep-seated in his character.
” Dorris said the video was “ triggering ” for her , too , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the way Trump acted toward her in the days afterwards , including on a trip to a memorial service for Gianni Versace .
She recalled how Trump , who was sat next to her , “ kept leaning over and asking me : ‘ How much longer do we have to be here ?
How much longer does this have to take ?
’ … I felt like I was with a small child.
” She was one of the few non-celebrities there .
“ Elton John sang a song , Madonna @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I mean , it was superstars constantly.
” “ He kept asking me if I wanted a Tic Tac and he kept eating Tic Tacs , ” she said .
“ They were making so much noise.
” According to Dorris , Trump continued to pursue her , which she said she ignored because she did not want to “ make a scene ” .
Now , whenever Dorris hears a reference to the Access Hollywood tape , or a mention of Tic Tacs , the memories return .
“ The only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him and that incident and that weekend , ” she said .
Dorris said she felt that Trump had been seeking to make it look like they were a couple throughout the weekend she was in New York , in spite of the fact she was there with her boyfriend .
Dorris recalls Trump claiming after the memorial to have been given the supermodel Stephanie Seymour ’ s phone number , but appeared to rip it up in front of Dorris , telling her he only wanted hers .
Dorris recalls one newspaper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wife , Marla Maples , and a picture of them appeared in the New York Daily News .
“ Yesterday we called Donald Trump ’ s office to ask the name of that lovely blonde at his side , ” the caption read .
“ Proving that hell might still freeze over , a spokeswoman responded : ‘ Donald said he wants to keep his private life private .
He said it is not fair to expose this girl to the mean world of the paparazzi.
’ ” Trump ’ s lawyers said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scrutiny and had there been any inappropriate behaviour by Trump outside of the bathroom within the VIP box , there would have been numerous witnesses .
They said Jason Binn – who did not respond to requests for comment from the Guardian – had told the president ’ s US lawyers he had no recollection of Dorris telling him that anything inappropriate had happened with Trump .
They also questioned why Dorris , after the alleged assault , would choose to spend two more days in the company of Trump , at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They said Dorris had never raised the allegations with a law enforcement agency or Trump , and suggested the timing of her claims so close to the November presidential election suggested they might be politically motivated .
Dorris said she considered coming forward in 2016 , when many of Trump ’ s other accusers chose to do so , but she was concerned for her twin daughters and could see that many of the women were being dismissed or ignored , which caused “ a lot of anxiety and fear ” .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2016 have told the Guardian about the profound impact speaking out has had on their lives .
Some say they were turned down for jobs and struggled to find work ; others received hate mail and endured online harassment .
Virginia , who had death threats sent to her family home after going public with her allegations against Trump , which she reported to the police , feels that the context has changed since the advent of the # MeToo era : “ We came forward pre- # MeToo and it was a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t listened to.
” Dorris lives in Palm Beach county , not far from Mar-a-Lago .
“ I have a lot of friends that are Trump supporters , so it ’ s just been a little difficult , ” she said .
“ I don ’ t feel safe , ” she said , but added : “ It ’ s time to speak out.
” She said she was not coming forward for “ political reasons ” .
“ I ’ ve always been independent and I ’ ve voted Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrat I would still come forward , ” she said .
“ It ’ s about the example he ’ s setting .
He ’ s shut down every woman who has come forward.
” She added : “ I ’ ve noticed a shift in how women are being treated since he became president … so I am coming out for me , for my kids .
”

The list of women who have publicly made sexual misconduct allegations against Donald Trump outnumbers the list of officials in his cabinet. Before today, no fewer than 25 women had made such accusations against Trump, ranging from harassment to sexual assault and rape.
The allegations span four decades. Trump has denied every charge, dismissing his accusers as liars and publicity seekers, claiming never to have met some of them and, in at least two cases, suggesting they were not attractive enough for him.
Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential race suggests a sizeable portion of the American electorate either believed his claims of innocence or were unswayed by the allegations.
Today Amy Dorris becomes at least the 26th woman to publicly accuse Trump of sexual misconduct – with more than a dozen of that group having accused him of sexual assault. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, she has alleged that Trump accosted her outside the bathroom of his VIP box at the US Open tennis tournament in New York in 1997.
07:53 'I feel sick, violated': former model alleges sexual assault by Donald Trump – video
She accused Trump of forcing his tongue down her throat, touching her all over her body and holding her in a grip from which she could not escape, while ignoring her pleas to stop. “His hands were very gropey and all over my butt, my breasts, my back, everything,” she said, recalling how she used her teeth to try to force his tongue out of her mouth. “I felt trapped.”
Via his lawyers, Trump denied in the strongest possible terms having ever harassed, abused or behaved improperly toward Dorris.
Some women making #MeToo sexual misconduct allegations have been forced to rely solely only on their own memories of events. But Dorris immediately shared her account of the alleged incident with two people and has recounted it to several others since. All said Dorris had shared with them details of the alleged incident that matched what she told the Guardian.
Amy Dorris sitting between Donald Trump and Jason Binn at the US Open in Queens in 1997
Dorris also has six photos of her encounters with Trump over the four days she spent with him, and kept her ticket to the US Open from the day of the alleged assault, 5 September 1997. “I feel like there’s a lot of girls who have had a lot worse from him. But in this case, he’s not going to be able to say he doesn’t know me,” she said.
Dorris is the second woman to accuse Trump of assaulting her at the US Open. Karena Virginia, also a former model, alleges Trump touched her breast at the tournament in 1998. When Virginia made her allegation in 2016, a Trump representative dismissed her account as “fictional” and politically motivated.
Virginia and Dorris are not the only former models to say Trump assaulted them. More than half of the accusations made against Trump, who bought the Miss Universe franchise in 1996 and set up his own modelling agency, Trump Model Management, in 1999, relate to models or pageant contestants.
Dorris in 1997 Photograph: c/o Amy Dorris
One was Kristin Anderson, who was a model in her early 20s when she alleges Trump sexually assaulted her. She claims he put his hand up her skirt and touched her genitals through her underwear when they were at a nightclub in New York in the early 1990s. Trump claimed Anderson was seeking “free publicity” and said her allegation was “phoney”.
Taken together, the accusations paint a pattern of alleged predatory behaviour.
Alleged assaults at Mar-a-Lago
Dorris claims Trump assaulted her after waiting for her outside the bathroom while Trump’s other US Open guests, including Dorris’s then boyfriend, Jason Binn, were just metres away.
The dividing wall is visible behind Trump and Dorris’s head in photographs she has shared with the Guardian. It can also be seen in a photo taken the day after the alleged assault, when Dorris returned for a second day of tennis and she and Binn posed for photographs with celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and the illusionist David Blaine, who were among Trump’s other guests that day. DiCaprio and Blaine did not respond to requests for comment.
Amy seen in a photo with celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and David Blaine
Karen Johnson, a former dancer, has claimed she was “grabbed and pulled behind a tapestry” by Trump during a New Year’s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in the early 2000s, when he allegedly groped and forcibly kissed her. In a similarity with Dorris’s allegation, Johnson alleged the assault happened just out of sight from other guests, including her husband, while she was on her way to the bathroom. Trump has denied the accusation.
These allegations also have similarities with those made by Jill Harth, who claimed Trump sexually assaulted her after pulling her into his daughter Ivanka’s childhood bedroom at Mar-a-Lago in the early 1990s, during a group tour of the residence. Her then boyfriend, George Houraney, was also in the Palm Beach residence at the time.
Harth’s allegations were initially contained in a lawsuit brought against Trump following a business dispute she and Houraney had with him. Harth later withdrew the lawsuit and Trump’s lawyers say she has no credibility. A spokesman for Trump said he “denies each and every statement made by Ms Harth”.
Jill Harth, who accused Donald Trump of sexual assault. Photograph: Guardian
The journalist Natasha Stoynoff also alleges she was assaulted in a room at Mar-a-Lago with people close by. She was scheduled to interview Trump about his first year of marriage to his third wife, Melania, who was then pregnant with their son Barron. Stoynoff alleges that as Melania was changing in a nearby room, “within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat”. Trump denied the allegation, saying: “Take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. And you tell me what you think. I don’t think so.”
Last year, the writer E Jean Carroll came forward to accuse Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s. She too alleges he pushed her against a wall, this time in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store in Manhattan. Last November, Carroll sued Trump for defamation after he called her a liar and said he had never met her. Last month a New York judge rejected Trump’s bid to temporarily halt proceedings.
E Jean Carroll, right, talks to reporters outside a courthouse in New York in March. Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP
In January the former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos, who accused Trump in 2016 of forcibly kissing her and groping her breast, had her defamation lawsuit put on hold after several attempts by Trump to delay it. A New York court of appeal is yet to determine whether to dismiss the case, allow it to continue or postpone it until Trump is out of office. Zervos is one of 11 women, including Dorris, Stoynoff and Johnson, to claim that Trump forcibly kissed them.
Several women have also described being allegedly groped in a fashion similar to that recounted by Dorris.
The allegation that most resonated with Dorris in 2016, when many of his accusers first came forward, was that of Jessica Leeds, whose accusation against Trump is the most historical.
Leeds said that in the late 70s when she was a travelling businesswoman she had sat beside Trump, whom she had never met before, in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York. She alleged that about 45 minutes after takeoff Trump lifted the armrest, grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. Trump responded to Leeds’s allegation at a campaign rally, saying: “Believe me, she would not be my first choice. That I can tell you.” A Trump spokesman called her allegation “fiction”.
Leeds alleged Trump’s “hands were everywhere”, describing them as “like an octopus”.
Jessica Leeds and Samantha Holvey speak during a press conference held by women accusing Trump of sexual harassment in December 2017 in New York. Photograph: Monica Schipper/Getty Images
That is exactly how Dorris says she described her alleged encounter with Trump to friends over the years. “It felt like there were tentacles on me that I couldn’t rip off,” she said. “I was trying to get his arms off of me and they would not come off because I wasn’t strong enough.”
She said she felt like she was suffocating. “It’s like his arms were moving so fast, it was like he had eight,” she said. “You just picture those suction cups on an octopus and they’re stuck on you. You’re trapped. That’s how I felt.”
The Access Hollywood tape
Trump famously bragged about sexually molesting women in the now–infamous Access Hollywood tape. In the recording, first published by the Washington Post during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump can be heard making a series of lewd remarks about women to the TV host Billy Bush while off-air.
“I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her,” he said in the previously unaired recording about the actor and model Arianne Zucker, whom they were waiting to meet. “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful … I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab ’em by the pussy.”
Trump dismissed the recording as mere “locker room talk”. Leeds, who is now in her 70s, said it was Trump’s defence of his comments that drove her to come forward with her story. She said she “wanted to punch the screen”, and days later wrote to the New York Times about her allegation, telling them: “His behaviour is deep-seated in his character.”
Dorris said the video was “triggering” for her, too, reminding her of both the alleged assault and the way Trump acted toward her in the days afterwards, including on a trip to a memorial service for Gianni Versace.
She recalled how Trump, who was sat next to her, “kept leaning over and asking me: ‘How much longer do we have to be here? How much longer does this have to take?’… I felt like I was with a small child.”
She was one of the few non-celebrities there. “Elton John sang a song, Madonna read a poem, Whitney Houston sang. I mean, it was superstars constantly.”
“He kept asking me if I wanted a Tic Tac and he kept eating Tic Tacs,” she said. “They were making so much noise.” According to Dorris, Trump continued to pursue her, which she said she ignored because she did not want to “make a scene”.
Now, whenever Dorris hears a reference to the Access Hollywood tape, or a mention of Tic Tacs, the memories return. “The only thing that I can think of is him and that incident and that weekend,” she said.
Dorris said she felt that Trump had been seeking to make it look like they were a couple throughout the weekend she was in New York, in spite of the fact she was there with her boyfriend. Dorris recalls Trump claiming after the memorial to have been given the supermodel Stephanie Seymour’s phone number, but appeared to rip it up in front of Dorris, telling her he only wanted hers.
Dorris signing autographs with Donald Trump arriving at the US Open in 1997.
Dorris recalls one newspaper mistaking her for Trump’s then wife, Marla Maples, and a picture of them appeared in the New York Daily News.
“Yesterday we called Donald Trump’s office to ask the name of that lovely blonde at his side,” the caption read. “Proving that hell might still freeze over, a spokeswoman responded: ‘Donald said he wants to keep his private life private. He said it is not fair to expose this girl to the mean world of the paparazzi.’”
Trump’s lawyers said her allegations did not stand up to scrutiny and had there been any inappropriate behaviour by Trump outside of the bathroom within the VIP box, there would have been numerous witnesses.
They said Jason Binn – who did not respond to requests for comment from the Guardian – had told the president’s US lawyers he had no recollection of Dorris telling him that anything inappropriate had happened with Trump. They also questioned why Dorris, after the alleged assault, would choose to spend two more days in the company of Trump, at the US Open and the Versace memorial event.
They said Dorris had never raised the allegations with a law enforcement agency or Trump, and suggested the timing of her claims so close to the November presidential election suggested they might be politically motivated.
Coming forward
Dorris said she considered coming forward in 2016, when many of Trump’s other accusers chose to do so, but she was concerned for her twin daughters and could see that many of the women were being dismissed or ignored, which caused “a lot of anxiety and fear”.
It's time to speak out. Amy Dorris
Several of Trump’s accusers from 2016 have told the Guardian about the profound impact speaking out has had on their lives. Some say they were turned down for jobs and struggled to find work; others received hate mail and endured online harassment.
Virginia, who had death threats sent to her family home after going public with her allegations against Trump, which she reported to the police, feels that the context has changed since the advent of the #MeToo era: “We came forward pre-#MeToo and it was a different world then; our voices weren’t listened to.”
Dorris lives in Palm Beach county, not far from Mar-a-Lago. “I have a lot of friends that are Trump supporters, so it’s just been a little difficult,” she said.
“I don’t feel safe,” she said, but added: “It’s time to speak out.”
She said she was not coming forward for “political reasons”. “I’ve always been independent and I’ve voted Republican many times. If he was a Democrat I would still come forward,” she said. “It’s about the example he’s setting. He’s shut down every woman who has come forward.”
She added: “I’ve noticed a shift in how women are being treated since he became president … so I am coming out for me, for my kids.”


theguardian--2020-09-17--Frank Gehry sees end to 'bombastic' monuments as Eisenhower tribute unveiled

As historic statues are torn down or questioned across America , Frank Gehry , one of the world ’ s leading architects , has declared an end to the age of bombastic “ great man ” monuments .
To illustrate the point , Gehry ’ s $ 150m tribute to Dwight Eisenhower , second world war general and 34th US president , includes a bronze sculpture of Eisenhower as a boy , statues of young soldiers and an African American presidential adviser , and a stainless steel woven tapestry depicting the Normandy coastline .
The memorial , in a four-acre @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , will be dedicated on Thursday at a time when racial unrest has prompted the removal of numerous statues of Confederate soldiers who fought to uphold slavery and debate over those commemorating former presidents such as Thomas Jefferson , Andrew Jackson and even Abraham Lincoln .
“ I think the statues going up are fairly modest compared to the ones coming down , ” Gehry , 91 , tells the Guardian by phone from Los Angeles .
“ And the ones coming down are part of a different ethic and time .
Eisenhower @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time for the community and the world at large , so it ’ s not bombastic and it ’ s trying to be more modest.
” He adds : “ We ’ re in the middle of traffic , a lot of buildings around it , so the tapestry is an attempt to organize the site , and the sculptures are meant to sit in the garden and tell about his two great accomplishments .
One is General Eisenhower , who won the war .
The other is president of many accomplishments , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The education department behind the tapestry attests to his interest in that topic .
So I think it ’ s more of a story about what he did and not a bombastic story about ‘ Look , here I am ’ .
” Gehry points to Maya Lin ’ s minimalist Vietnam war memorial , which has the names of more than 58,000 dead or missing service members inscribed in polished black granite , as evidence of a move beyond the idiom of heroic statues celebrating dead white males .
“ Maya @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vietnam memorial .
It ’ s modest .
It tells a story , and I think that ’ s what we were trying to do , ” he said .
Dozens of Confederate statues have been taken down in the wake of this year ’ s Black Lives Matter protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis .
For many , the statues are a constant reminder of the slave-owning south , erected long after the war in a bid to reassert white supremacy .
Although “ we don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gehry says , he understands the need to remove them .
“ If we ’ d gone on from it and solved the problems , then I think it ’ s less onerous to say , OK , that happened in the past and look where we came .
But we haven ’ t .
It ’ s a thorn in somebody ’ s side , in our side , to have them sticking out at us.
” Earlier this month a taskforce commissioned by the Washington DC government recommended renaming , relocating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buildings , parks and schools because of their namesakes ’ involvement in slavery or racial oppression .
The Washington monument and Jefferson memorial were among the targets , triggering a fierce critical backlash .
Gehry does not want to go there .
“ Oh , my God , I ’ m not able to make that kind of leap .
Different place , different time .
Again , if we ’ d solved all the problems , it would feel differently .
At least a little bit of anxiety is still there because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s up to us to do that.
” Gehry , who was born in Canada and served in the US military , is revered for breathtaking buildings including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles , the Dancing House in Prague and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain .
But with the Eisenhower project , authorized by Congress in 1999 , he collided with the unique frustrations of Washington as members of Congress , interest groups , historians and family members all had an opinion about a fitting memorial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Nazis .
Susan Eisenhower , “ Ike ’ s ” granddaughter , raised objections to Gehry ’ s original design during a congressional hearing in March 2012 .
“ Symbolism will also play a vital non-verbal role in capturing the essence of Ike ’ s contribution , but we ’ ve heard from many people in the last months who have objections to the 80-foot metal mesh so-called ‘ tapestries ’ , ” she said .
“ Despite the Eisenhower memorial commission ’ s references to this ancient tradition , modern tapestries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world.
” Gehry was warned from the beginning that it would be tough to please everyone .
“ If we had done anything there would have been pushback from some of these entities , ” he reflects philosophically .
“ I ’ m sure there ’ s people out there now that would love to see it all torn down and become a classical monument .
I think that ’ s not the way to go .
We ’ re not in a classical period .
We can learn from classicism but we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when we do , it ’ s to our negative.
” After years of acrimony and wrangling , James Baker , the former secretary of state , mediated a compromise and Gehry made changes to the design that satisfied the family .
But given the current political climate , Eisenhower , president from 1953 to 1961 , is not the most obvious choice for a new piece of public art .
He hailed from small town Kansas in the conservative heartland , personified a decade dominated by white men and was a staid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He signed an executive order that banned gay and lesbian people from working for the federal government .
The memorial ’ s dedication will be hosted by Bret Baier , chief political anchor of Fox News , a network notorious for its close relationship with Donald Trump ’ s White House .
Gehry himself is unable to travel to the event due to the coronavirus pandemic .
But Eisenhower also enacted the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction , appointed the supreme court chief justice who issued the Brown v Board of Education @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1,200 paratroopers to Little Rock , Arkansas , to escort Black students past a hostile white crowd .
The memorial sits cheek by jowl with three government departments he created – education , health and the Federal Aviation Administration – as well as the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum , which is fitting for the father of Nasa .
It is a complex legacy .
If protesters target this site after it opens to the public on Friday , Gehry will not object .
“ He fought for our right to protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on.
” Gehry received the presidential medal of freedom from Barack Obama in 2016 and recalls meeting Joe Biden at the ceremony .
Asked if he hopes Biden becomes the next occupant of the White House , Gehry says : “ Yes .
Emphatically yes.
” And perhaps one day an architect will be asked to design a memorial to Trump ?
The nonagenarian remarks drily : “ Somebody else would do it .
”

As historic statues are torn down or questioned across America, Frank Gehry, one of the world’s leading architects, has declared an end to the age of bombastic “great man” monuments.
To illustrate the point, Gehry’s $150m tribute to Dwight Eisenhower, second world war general and 34th US president, includes a bronze sculpture of Eisenhower as a boy, statues of young soldiers and an African American presidential adviser, and a stainless steel woven tapestry depicting the Normandy coastline.
The memorial, in a four-acre park near the US Capitol in Washington, will be dedicated on Thursday at a time when racial unrest has prompted the removal of numerous statues of Confederate soldiers who fought to uphold slavery and debate over those commemorating former presidents such as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and even Abraham Lincoln.
“I think the statues going up are fairly modest compared to the ones coming down,” Gehry, 91, tells the Guardian by phone from Los Angeles. “And the ones coming down are part of a different ethic and time. Eisenhower was a giver of his life and time for the community and the world at large, so it’s not bombastic and it’s trying to be more modest.”
He adds: “We’re in the middle of traffic, a lot of buildings around it, so the tapestry is an attempt to organize the site, and the sculptures are meant to sit in the garden and tell about his two great accomplishments. One is General Eisenhower, who won the war. The other is president of many accomplishments, including civil rights, highways and healthcare. The education department behind the tapestry attests to his interest in that topic. So I think it’s more of a story about what he did and not a bombastic story about ‘Look, here I am’.”
Gehry points to Maya Lin’s minimalist Vietnam war memorial, which has the names of more than 58,000 dead or missing service members inscribed in polished black granite, as evidence of a move beyond the idiom of heroic statues celebrating dead white males. “Maya Lin showed us the way with the Vietnam memorial. It’s modest. It tells a story, and I think that’s what we were trying to do,” he said.
Dozens of Confederate statues have been taken down in the wake of this year’s Black Lives Matter protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. For many, the statues are a constant reminder of the slave-owning south, erected long after the war in a bid to reassert white supremacy. Although “we don’t have to destroy the past”, Gehry says, he understands the need to remove them.
“If we’d gone on from it and solved the problems, then I think it’s less onerous to say, OK, that happened in the past and look where we came. But we haven’t. It’s a thorn in somebody’s side, in our side, to have them sticking out at us.”
Earlier this month a taskforce commissioned by the Washington DC government recommended renaming, relocating or adding context to many monuments, buildings, parks and schools because of their namesakes’ involvement in slavery or racial oppression. The Washington monument and Jefferson memorial were among the targets, triggering a fierce critical backlash.
Gehry does not want to go there. “Oh, my God, I’m not able to make that kind of leap. Different place, different time. Again, if we’d solved all the problems, it would feel differently. At least a little bit of anxiety is still there because we haven’t completely solved it. It’s up to us to do that.”
Frank Gehry photographed at his Los Angeles offices in 2019. Photograph: Barry J Holmes/The Observer
Gehry, who was born in Canada and served in the US military, is revered for breathtaking buildings including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Dancing House in Prague and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain. But with the Eisenhower project, authorized by Congress in 1999, he collided with the unique frustrations of Washington as members of Congress, interest groups, historians and family members all had an opinion about a fitting memorial to the supreme allied commander who crushed the Nazis.
Susan Eisenhower, “Ike’s” granddaughter, raised objections to Gehry’s original design during a congressional hearing in March 2012. “Symbolism will also play a vital non-verbal role in capturing the essence of Ike’s contribution, but we’ve heard from many people in the last months who have objections to the 80-foot metal mesh so-called ‘tapestries’,” she said. “Despite the Eisenhower memorial commission’s references to this ancient tradition, modern tapestries have generally been found in the communist world.”
Gehry was warned from the beginning that it would be tough to please everyone. “If we had done anything there would have been pushback from some of these entities,” he reflects philosophically. “I’m sure there’s people out there now that would love to see it all torn down and become a classical monument. I think that’s not the way to go. We’re not in a classical period. We can learn from classicism but we can’t copy it and, when we do, it’s to our negative.”
After years of acrimony and wrangling, James Baker, the former secretary of state, mediated a compromise and Gehry made changes to the design that satisfied the family. But given the current political climate, Eisenhower, president from 1953 to 1961, is not the most obvious choice for a new piece of public art. He hailed from small town Kansas in the conservative heartland, personified a decade dominated by white men and was a staid Republican whose vice-president was Richard Nixon. He signed an executive order that banned gay and lesbian people from working for the federal government.
The memorial’s dedication will be hosted by Bret Baier, chief political anchor of Fox News, a network notorious for its close relationship with Donald Trump’s White House. Gehry himself is unable to travel to the event due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But Eisenhower also enacted the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, appointed the supreme court chief justice who issued the Brown v Board of Education ruling that desegregated public schools and sent 1,200 paratroopers to Little Rock, Arkansas, to escort Black students past a hostile white crowd. The memorial sits cheek by jowl with three government departments he created – education, health and the Federal Aviation Administration – as well as the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which is fitting for the father of Nasa.
It is a complex legacy. If protesters target this site after it opens to the public on Friday, Gehry will not object. “He fought for our right to protest so, I guess, bring it on.”
Gehry received the presidential medal of freedom from Barack Obama in 2016 and recalls meeting Joe Biden at the ceremony. Asked if he hopes Biden becomes the next occupant of the White House, Gehry says: “Yes. Emphatically yes.”
And perhaps one day an architect will be asked to design a memorial to Trump? The nonagenarian remarks drily: “Somebody else would do it.”


theguardian--2020-09-16--'Don't take Black voters for granted': Milwaukee leaders and activists warn Democrats

As protesters outside Wauwatosa ’ s city hall shouted “ wake up , wake up ” , to energize the crowd , activist Charley Frazier remarked how just miles away , the Democratic national convention ( DNC ) had kicked off on what was The People ’ s Revolution ’ s 81st night of demonstrations .
The coalition of organizers are made up of young activists challenging the current political system and trying to force systemic change .
“ This is the Milwaukee they don ’ t want you to see , ” she said .
“ [ It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re not even welcome out [ in the suburbs ] , and when you do travel out there , you ’ re targeted.
” More than 50,000 visitors were expected to descend on Brew City – as the largest city in Wisconsin is known – for its convention , but when the pandemic forced Democrats to go virtual , the fallout hit like a shockwave for a host city already reeling from the brunt of Wisconsin ’ s coronavirus outbreak and the recession that followed .
An anticipated $ 200m economic boom instead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pivot also proved to be the final straw for many of the city ’ s African American residents .
The coronavirus shutdown worsened national crises that disproportionately devastated Black Americans across the country , exacerbating racial inequalities in Milwaukee .
“ There ’ s this old saying from the Black community that ‘ when America catches a cold , the Black community catches pneumonia , ’ ” said Reggie Jackson , a columnist with the Milwaukee Independent , and historian with the National Black Holocaust Museum located in the city .
Donald Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for decades of decline and recent unrest .
He leaves out states like Wisconsin ’ s history of Republican governors and legislators whose years of austerity measures largely steered tax revenue and reinvestment funds toward whiter , wealthier suburbs and rural counties .
Decades of unequal investment in Milwaukee have rendered it “ the epitome of a 21st century racial regime ” .
While local leaders aimed to revitalize its downtown and Lakeshore ahead of the DNC , block after block of boarded homes and businesses bombard Black neighborhoods .
Black Milwaukeeans have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with neither speaking to their issues .
After years of disrepair , the museum was set to reopen just in time for the convention .
The pandemic ended those plans .
Jackson said it was reflective of a Democratic party that often abandons the Black communities that get them elected .
“ We ’ ve been denied the ability to have the city leaders , whether they be elected officials or business leaders , invest in our neighborhoods , ” he said .
“ To have this pandemic hit , to have the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it did , it ’ s like getting hit three different times.
” More than 88 % of Black Americans voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 .
Trump won the state of Wisconsin by just 23,000 votes .
Back then , nearly 93,000 Black Milwaukeeans stayed home .
But support for Democrats has declined slightly since Barack Obama left office .
Along with a Russian propaganda campaign that targeted Black voter apathy , analysts pinpoint young progressives overall who stayed home or sought third-party alternatives .
Many activists say the lethargy from a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solicit enthusiasm behind Joe Biden and his running mate , Kamala Harris .
Some say it ’ s a warning for Democrats not to take Black voters for granted .
“ I think people are scared because we have all of these crises going on , ” said Jordan Terry , of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges in Milwaukee ’ s central city .
“ Our government isn ’ t helping us out .
So it ’ s up to us.
” Just miles from what was left of the DNC presence , Terry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to collect surveys on the city ’ s budget .
Registering residents to vote came second .
Despite inequities in education , poverty and healthcare that lead the nation , 46 % of the city ’ s budget is allocated for law enforcement .
Amid a pandemic just 2.2 % of the city ’ s proposed 2020 budget is geared toward public health .
“ People are protesting because their material needs aren ’ t being met , ” she said .
“ A lot of people feel hopeless around our voting and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ almost feels rigged.
” Terry ’ s distrust of the system was echoed by residents , including Charles Griffin .
While local taxpayers foot a $ 250m tax bill for Milwaukee ’ s brand new , and currently shut down , basketball stadium , Griffin still waits for a break from a possible second stimulus bill amid the recession .
The pandemic had temporarily shut down the baseball stadium where Griffin is a chef , leaving him to care for small children as school resumes from home .
He said if candidates truly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ d beat the street ” .
“ You want our votes , you will come down here and see what we really want and how we really live , ” he said .
“ It ’ d probably bring a tear to some of their eyes ” .
Wedged between protests against the police killing of George Floyd that first ignited in Minnesota , and unrest that accelerated following the shooting of Jacob Blake in nearby Kenosha , was the city ’ s missed moment .
Just like the national party , local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same page about the path forward .
Locally , the city ’ s progressive youth activists often face roadblocks from their moderate elders .
For the Democratic state representative David Bowen , an unprecedented pandemic and uprising is “ a wake-up call ” to Democrats to “ tap into the energy ” of a youth-led movement for justice .
“ This is righteous anger that young people are engaging in all over the country , ” he said .
“ It ’ s this amazing synergy that says ‘ if you don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re going to lose us.
’ So they have to do it.
” Bowen is the only state lawmaker to show up for The People ’ s Revolution at nearly every night of protests .
“ We can ’ t piecemeal our way out of the problems that have accumulated over decades , or make small incremental changes to give people hope that this system will be accountable to them , ” he argued .
“ There is an opportunity for the vice-president and senator to be champions on the issues that are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day .
“ People are fighting for change .
That opportunity is incumbent upon Democrats rising to the occasion , ” he added .
Like Terry , Charley Frazier and The People ’ s Revolution aren ’ t necessarily focused on the presidential ticket .
For them , change is long-term , it ’ s local .
Frazier insisted it was not that Democrats take Black voters for granted , but that decades of failed policy have led to generations of jaded voters .
“ We sell ourselves short .
I don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our votes really are , ” she said .
“ We all have a little bit of power , and we all have to believe that .
Sometimes somebody just has to show us that in a way that we understand .
You have to come to our level .
”

As protesters outside Wauwatosa’s city hall shouted “wake up, wake up”, to energize the crowd, activist Charley Frazier remarked how just miles away, the Democratic national convention (DNC) had kicked off on what was The People’s Revolution’s 81st night of demonstrations. The coalition of organizers are made up of young activists challenging the current political system and trying to force systemic change.
“This is the Milwaukee they don’t want you to see,” she said. “[It’s] very segregated. You’re not even welcome out [in the suburbs], and when you do travel out there, you’re targeted.”
More than 50,000 visitors were expected to descend on Brew City – as the largest city in Wisconsin is known – for its convention, but when the pandemic forced Democrats to go virtual, the fallout hit like a shockwave for a host city already reeling from the brunt of Wisconsin’s coronavirus outbreak and the recession that followed.
An anticipated $200m economic boom instead spiraled into a substantial loss. The pivot also proved to be the final straw for many of the city’s African American residents. The coronavirus shutdown worsened national crises that disproportionately devastated Black Americans across the country, exacerbating racial inequalities in Milwaukee.
“There’s this old saying from the Black community that ‘when America catches a cold, the Black community catches pneumonia,’” said Reggie Jackson, a columnist with the Milwaukee Independent, and historian with the National Black Holocaust Museum located in the city.
Demonstrators against racial injustice protest at the site of the Democratic national convention (DNC), which is mostly virtual, due to the coronavirus, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 20 August. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters
Donald Trump has criticized Democratic mayors in the midwest for decades of decline and recent unrest. He leaves out states like Wisconsin’s history of Republican governors and legislators whose years of austerity measures largely steered tax revenue and reinvestment funds toward whiter, wealthier suburbs and rural counties.
Decades of unequal investment in Milwaukee have rendered it “the epitome of a 21st century racial regime”. While local leaders aimed to revitalize its downtown and Lakeshore ahead of the DNC, block after block of boarded homes and businesses bombard Black neighborhoods. Black Milwaukeeans have also grown jaded by a two-party system with neither speaking to their issues.
After years of disrepair, the museum was set to reopen just in time for the convention. The pandemic ended those plans. Jackson said it was reflective of a Democratic party that often abandons the Black communities that get them elected.
“We’ve been denied the ability to have the city leaders, whether they be elected officials or business leaders, invest in our neighborhoods,” he said. “To have this pandemic hit, to have the DNC not come in the way that it did, it’s like getting hit three different times.”
A wake-up call
More than 88% of Black Americans voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Trump won the state of Wisconsin by just 23,000 votes. Back then, nearly 93,000 Black Milwaukeeans stayed home. But support for Democrats has declined slightly since Barack Obama left office. Along with a Russian propaganda campaign that targeted Black voter apathy, analysts pinpoint young progressives overall who stayed home or sought third-party alternatives.
Many activists say the lethargy from a scaled-down DNC could stifle local efforts to solicit enthusiasm behind Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris. Some say it’s a warning for Democrats not to take Black voters for granted.
“I think people are scared because we have all of these crises going on,” said Jordan Terry, of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges in Milwaukee’s central city. “Our government isn’t helping us out. So it’s up to us.”
Just miles from what was left of the DNC presence, Terry was canvassing the streets of Metcalfe Park to collect surveys on the city’s budget. Registering residents to vote came second. Despite inequities in education, poverty and healthcare that lead the nation, 46% of the city’s budget is allocated for law enforcement. Amid a pandemic just 2.2% of the city’s proposed 2020 budget is geared toward public health.
Forty-six per cent of the city’s budget is allocated for law enforcement. Amid a pandemic just 2.2% of the city’s proposed 2020 budget is geared toward public health. Photograph: The Guardian
“People are protesting because their material needs aren’t being met,” she said. “A lot of people feel hopeless around our voting and just the voting system, because it almost feels rigged.”
Terry’s distrust of the system was echoed by residents, including Charles Griffin. While local taxpayers foot a $250m tax bill for Milwaukee’s brand new, and currently shut down, basketball stadium, Griffin still waits for a break from a possible second stimulus bill amid the recession.
The pandemic had temporarily shut down the baseball stadium where Griffin is a chef, leaving him to care for small children as school resumes from home. He said if candidates truly cared about voters, “they’d beat the street”.
“You want our votes, you will come down here and see what we really want and how we really live,” he said. “It’d probably bring a tear to some of their eyes”.
Generational call for change
Wedged between protests against the police killing of George Floyd that first ignited in Minnesota, and unrest that accelerated following the shooting of Jacob Blake in nearby Kenosha, was the city’s missed moment. Just like the national party, local Democratic leaders aren’t on the same page about the path forward.
Locally, the city’s progressive youth activists often face roadblocks from their moderate elders. For the Democratic state representative David Bowen, an unprecedented pandemic and uprising is “a wake-up call” to Democrats to “tap into the energy” of a youth-led movement for justice.
Demonstrators march against racial injustice in Milwaukee in August. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters
“This is righteous anger that young people are engaging in all over the country,” he said. “It’s this amazing synergy that says ‘if you don’t tap into this, you’re going to lose us.’ So they have to do it.”
Bowen is the only state lawmaker to show up for The People’s Revolution at nearly every night of protests.
“We can’t piecemeal our way out of the problems that have accumulated over decades, or make small incremental changes to give people hope that this system will be accountable to them,” he argued. “There is an opportunity for the vice-president and senator to be champions on the issues that are driving people to not give up every day.
“People are fighting for change. That opportunity is incumbent upon Democrats rising to the occasion,” he added.
Like Terry, Charley Frazier and The People’s Revolution aren’t necessarily focused on the presidential ticket. For them, change is long-term, it’s local. Frazier insisted it was not that Democrats take Black voters for granted, but that decades of failed policy have led to generations of jaded voters.
“We sell ourselves short. I don’t think that we realize how powerful our votes really are,” she said. “We all have a little bit of power, and we all have to believe that. Sometimes somebody just has to show us that in a way that we understand. You have to come to our level.”


theguardian--2020-09-16--'The difference is QAnon': how a conspiratorial hate campaign upended California politics

Catie Stewart was on her way home from a vacation in early August when her phone reconnected to cell service and she realized something was wrong .
As the communications director for Scott Wiener , a California state senator , Stewart manages her boss ’ s Instagram account , a task that usually involves responding to a handful of messages each day .
But while Stewart had been out of cellphone range , a bill authored by Wiener had become the target of a misinformation and harassment campaign by activists who oppose coronavirus public health measures and followers of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF , ” read one representative message that accused Wiener of “ creating a law to allow pedophiles to be charged on a lesser degree ” .
Others fantasized about dragging Wiener ’ s body behind a car until he died , accused him of worshipping “ Moloch ” , or declared an intention to find and kill him .
One meme posted on Instagram featured an image of Wiener photoshopped to enlarge his nose and add sidelocks , a yarmulke and a Jewish prayer shawl .
Over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left to confront a constant digital onslaught of death threats , homophobia , antisemitism and baseless allegations of pedophilia .
“ I didn ’ t know what QAnon was a month ago , and it ’ s totally changed my life , ” Stewart said in an interview .
The frenzied pile-on against Wiener may have begun in fringe internet communities , but it soon grew to include much of the rightwing press and major figures in both the state and national Republican party .
In early September , the Texas senator Ted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the false allegation : “ Today ’ s CA Dems believe we need more adults having sex with children , and when they do , they shouldn ’ t register as sex offenders.
” The president ’ s adult son Donald Trump Jr joined in , tweeting , again falsely : “ Why are Joe Biden Democrats working in California to pander to the wishes of pedophiles and child rapists ?
” In some ways , what happened with SB145 is a local story about the politics involved in updating California ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serves as a cautionary tale for the future of political debates in the US as the QAnon conspiracy movement grows and Republican party leaders do little or nothing to stop it .
QAnon followers believe , without evidence , that the world is run by a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping Democrats and Hollywood celebrities who are engaged in wide-scale child trafficking , pedophilia and cannibalism .
A national politics infected by QAnon is wholly incompatible with the evidence-based debate and compromises required to govern any society .
Within QAnon there is no room @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only good v evil , and any disagreement with QAnon dogma is evidence of abject depravity in the form of child murder .
And yet , in recent weeks , Donald Trump has praised QAnon followers , a QAnon-backing candidate has all but assured her election to Congress in November , and the # SaveTheChildren hashtag campaign has introduced QAnon to millions of potential new recruits .
On 15 September , Trump retweeted a statement that appeared to accuse Biden , the Democratic presidential nominee , of pedophilia .
“ The Republican party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Wiener told the Guardian .
“ We ’ ve seen this kind of mass political infection before , all the way back to the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism .
Unfortunately , there are always going to be opportunistic politicians who sense that there are people who think this and jump at the chance to get political support .
It ’ s shameful , but it ’ s reality , and that ’ s what ’ s happening with QAnon .
“ We ’ re seeing it from the president .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of my Republican colleagues .
We need to push back hard.
” The battle over SB145 was always going to be politically tricky due to its sensitive subject matter : sex offender registries .
But Wiener , a 50-year-old gay Democrat from San Francisco , says that representing the city renowned for its liberal politics and large LGBTQ+ community carries with it “ an obligation to take on the hard progressive bills that not all members [ of the legislature ] can take on ” .
In 2017 , he authored a bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and in 2019 , he took on another , more modest problem with the registries .
Wiener ’ s proposed law dealt with people who are convicted of having non-forcible sex with minors above the age of 14 and who are themselves no more than 10 years older than the minor .
Judges in such cases were able to exercise discretion when deciding whether or not to place a convicted offender on the registry if the sex act was penile-vaginal sex but not if it was anal or oral sex or non-penile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stemmed from a 2015 California supreme court ruling which reasoned that if the victim in such a case became pregnant , placing the offender on the registry would make it harder for them to provide for the child .
To Wiener , this inequity was part of the legacy of the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people .
“ It used to be much more explicit and obvious in terms of anti-sodomy laws , ” he said .
“ This is one example where the judge can keep straight kids off the registry , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the registry .
It ’ s mortifying that in 2020 , in California , this discrimination continues to exist in our penal code.
” SB145 was , essentially , a clean-up bill that would allow judges to exercise discretion in all such cases , regardless of the sex act involved .
It did not change the criminality of sex with a minor ( which remains illegal ) nor did it change the criminal penalties for breaking the law .
The bill was introduced in January 2019 and had the official support of LGBTQ+ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public defenders , civil liberties groups and advocates for survivors of sexual assault .
Nevertheless , it quickly attracted some negative attention .
A conservative online news outlet , the California Globe , began covering it closely , with headlines that cast it as a “ bill to protect sex offenders who lure minors ” .
A factual article by FoxNews.com actually tamped things down substantially by explaining the controversy and the true aim of the bill , Wiener recalled .
A bigger setback came when the Democratic assembly member Lorena Gonzalez , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10-year age gap in the bill was too large .
She delayed a final vote on the bill , pushing it on to the 2020 legislative agenda .
The delay left the bill “ hanging out there for a year ” , Wiener said , where , like legislative fly paper , it continued to catch bad-faith attacks .
One such attack came in January 2020 , when the website Law Enforcement Today ( LET ) published an inflammatory article headlined : “ California lawmakers introduce bill to protect pedophiles who sexually abuse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re a pedophile and want to rape sweet , innocent , young children , then California is the state for you , ” the piece began , before blatantly mischaracterizing the provisions in the bill .
The LET article performed well on the outlet ’ s Facebook page , garnering more than 10,000 shares in January .
But it really took off in late July , when it was reposted by LET ’ s Facebook page , just as a highly effective rebranding campaign by QAnon evangelists was catching fire on Instagram @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SaveTheChildren and # SaveOurChildren .
While “ classic ” QAnon memes and content are aggressively pro-Trump , militaristic and often include blatantly antisemitic tropes and references , # SaveOurChildren has provided QAnon with a decidedly softer aesthetic and rhetorical appeal .
Rather than enticing new recruits with the promise to unveil military intelligence secrets about the supposed evils of the Clintons and Obamas , # SaveOurChildren captures attention with exaggerated statistics about the prevalence of child sex trafficking , then draws susceptible readers down the rabbit hole of increasingly implausible falsehoods .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ red pill ” than traditional QAnon material , but the result – blatantly false beliefs about Democrats sexually abusing children in order to extract a life-extending chemical from their blood – remains the same .
The # SaveOurChildren version of QAnon has been particularly popular among a new coalition of anti-public-health activists who have been galvanized by the coronavirus pandemic .
As the Guardian reported in June , Facebook ’ s recommendation algorithm helped facilitate cross-pollination between Facebook groups dedicated to anti-vaccine activism , anti-coronavirus lockdowns and QAnon .
( In Europe , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among anti-5G activists . )
Membership in QAnon Facebook groups exploded throughout the summer , and QAnon infiltrated many online subcultures , including those formed around evangelical Christianity , New Age spiritualism and alternative medicine or “ wellness ” .
SB145 landed like a lit rag amid all that dry social media tinder .
On 31 July , the same day LET reposted its inflammatory article , the cause was picked up by Denise Aguilar , an anti-vaccine activist who was arrested at the California state capitol during a protest against the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the facts of the bill in her Instagram post , to more than 70,000 followers , and referred to Democrats as “ DEMONcrats ” .
The eight-month-old LET article quickly racked up more than 20,000 new shares , including across Facebook groups dedicated to QAnon and # SaveOurChildren .
The misinformation spread fast and furiously .
One Facebook post that falsely declared pedophilia to be “ now LEGAL in CALIFORNIA ” was viewed more than 8m times .
Rightwing news outlets jumped on the story , often using photographs of a semi-shirtless Wiener @ @ @ @ @ @ @ annual celebration of the gay leather scene .
PJ Media tried to tar the Democratic vice-presidential nominee , Kamala Harris , by association , with a headline noting her endorsement of the “ California Lawmaker behind ‘ Pro-Pedophile ’ Bill SB145 ” .
Political opportunists also swarmed in .
Angela Stanton King , a Georgia congressional candidate who denies supporting QAnon despite frequently sharing QAnon content on social media , posted about the bill multiple times on Instagram .
In one post , she used the hashtag # SaveOurChildren ; in a second @ @ @ @ @ @ @ popular QAnon and Pizzagate Instagram influencer .
Major Williams , a Republican planning to run for California governor in 2022 , began posting aggressively about # SaveOurChildren and SB145 , racking up more than 90,000 likes on a post that stated , falsely , that SB145 would mean that “ there will be no felonies for sex with a minor any longer in CA ” .
( Instagram appended a label noting that the post contained “ partly false information ” . )
Even some of Wiener ’ s colleagues in the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Republican state senator from Riverside county , tweeted that SB145 “ allows adults who have ‘ consensual ’ sex with a 14 year old to not be charged as sex offenders ” , which is false , and called it a “ disgusting bill ” .
When Wiener responded with a factcheck , she tweeted back : “ I know exactly what the bill does .
Because read it [ sic ] .
You ’ re trying to normalize sex with children .
And I ’ m not going to let you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian .
Shannon Grove , the minority leader for the state senate , also posted against SB145 , using the # SaveOurChildren hashtag on Twitter and Instagram .
A spokesman for the Senate Republican Caucus , Hector Barajas , said that Grove ’ s use of # SaveOurChildren was not a reference to QAnon .
“ Senator Grove does not believe in , support , or affiliate with QAnon , ” he said in a statement .
“ Senator Grove believes in ‘ Saving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ child predators and her use of this hashtag is not an endorsement or affiliation with the actions of QAnon.
” In the end , SB145 passed both the state assembly and state senate and was signed into law by the governor , Gavin Newsom , on the evening of 11 September .
“ In 2017 , when we passed the major restructuring of the sex offender registry , something like a third of Republican senators voted for it , ” Wiener recalled .
“ This time we got zero … The difference between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ QAnon .
This sort of semi-organized structure on social media that just pumps out massive , orchestrated misinformation .
It just flies across the internet , and if people see it on their timeline , they think it ’ s true.
” Wiener and Stewart , his communications manager , said they did their best to engage with people who were contacting him on social media , as long as their messages didn ’ t include overt threats , and found that many were open to hearing the facts .
“ You have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ caught up in the QAnon craziness , who are not inherently QAnon people , ” Wiener said .
“ They see things on their timeline and they ’ re convinced it ’ s true and they get very angry , but they ’ re QAnon-adjacent.
” For those true believers , however , Wiener sees QAnon as “ an illness that afflicts people ’ s minds ” .
“ It ’ s one of the scariest and most bizarre things I ’ ve seen , ” he said .
Speaking to the Guardian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Wiener appeared relatively assured that the death threats and harassment would die down eventually .
“ I feel for the people who don ’ t have the resources and privileges that I have as a public official , ” he said .
“ Lives are being destroyed by QAnon and we ’ re not doing enough to push back against it.
” As for the continued dissemination of memes that attempt to portray him as a predator , he said : “ I ’ m not going to change a thing about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I have thick skin.
” For the moment , it appears that Republican party leaders who have embraced QAnon have no intention of changing their behavior either .
Throughout the day on Monday 14 September , Donald Trump Jr continued to tweet false information about the SB145 .
“ They ’ re normalizing pedophilia , ” he tweeted , falsely , alongside a link to an article about Newsom ’ s signing of the bill .
“ It ’ s insanity and we must stop it .
”

Catie Stewart was on her way home from a vacation in early August when her phone reconnected to cell service and she realized something was wrong. As the communications director for Scott Wiener, a California state senator, Stewart manages her boss’s Instagram account, a task that usually involves responding to a handful of messages each day. But while Stewart had been out of cellphone range, a bill authored by Wiener had become the target of a misinformation and harassment campaign by activists who oppose coronavirus public health measures and followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
“FUCKING FILTH. BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF,” read one representative message that accused Wiener of “creating a law to allow pedophiles to be charged on a lesser degree”. Others fantasized about dragging Wiener’s body behind a car until he died, accused him of worshipping “Moloch”, or declared an intention to find and kill him. One meme posted on Instagram featured an image of Wiener photoshopped to enlarge his nose and add sidelocks, a yarmulke and a Jewish prayer shawl. Over the next month, Stewart and Wiener were left to confront a constant digital onslaught of death threats, homophobia, antisemitism and baseless allegations of pedophilia.
“I didn’t know what QAnon was a month ago, and it’s totally changed my life,” Stewart said in an interview.
Scott Wiener faced vicious antisemitic and homophobic attacks over the bill. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli/AP
The frenzied pile-on against Wiener may have begun in fringe internet communities, but it soon grew to include much of the rightwing press and major figures in both the state and national Republican party. In early September, the Texas senator Ted Cruz tweeted a photo of Wiener with the false allegation: “Today’s CA Dems believe we need more adults having sex with children, and when they do, they shouldn’t register as sex offenders.” The president’s adult son Donald Trump Jr joined in, tweeting, again falsely: “Why are Joe Biden Democrats working in California to pander to the wishes of pedophiles and child rapists?”
In some ways, what happened with SB145 is a local story about the politics involved in updating California’s outdated legal codes. But it also serves as a cautionary tale for the future of political debates in the US as the QAnon conspiracy movement grows and Republican party leaders do little or nothing to stop it.
QAnon followers believe, without evidence, that the world is run by a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping Democrats and Hollywood celebrities who are engaged in wide-scale child trafficking, pedophilia and cannibalism. A national politics infected by QAnon is wholly incompatible with the evidence-based debate and compromises required to govern any society. Within QAnon there is no room for nuance or rationality; there is only good v evil, and any disagreement with QAnon dogma is evidence of abject depravity in the form of child murder.
And yet, in recent weeks, Donald Trump has praised QAnon followers, a QAnon-backing candidate has all but assured her election to Congress in November, and the #SaveTheChildren hashtag campaign has introduced QAnon to millions of potential new recruits. On 15 September, Trump retweeted a statement that appeared to accuse Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, of pedophilia.
Donald Trump blows a kiss to the crowd as he concludes a campaign rally in Nevada. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
“The Republican party has been deeply infected by QAnon,” Wiener told the Guardian. “We’ve seen this kind of mass political infection before, all the way back to the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism. Unfortunately, there are always going to be opportunistic politicians who sense that there are people who think this and jump at the chance to get political support. It’s shameful, but it’s reality, and that’s what’s happening with QAnon.
“We’re seeing it from the president. We’re seeing it from a couple of my Republican colleagues. We need to push back hard.”
Creating a false narrative
The battle over SB145 was always going to be politically tricky due to its sensitive subject matter: sex offender registries. But Wiener, a 50-year-old gay Democrat from San Francisco, says that representing the city renowned for its liberal politics and large LGBTQ+ community carries with it “an obligation to take on the hard progressive bills that not all members [of the legislature] can take on”. In 2017, he authored a bill that completely overhauled the sex offender registry, and in 2019, he took on another, more modest problem with the registries.
Wiener’s proposed law dealt with people who are convicted of having non-forcible sex with minors above the age of 14 and who are themselves no more than 10 years older than the minor. Judges in such cases were able to exercise discretion when deciding whether or not to place a convicted offender on the registry if the sex act was penile-vaginal sex but not if it was anal or oral sex or non-penile sexual penetration. The bizarre status quo stemmed from a 2015 California supreme court ruling which reasoned that if the victim in such a case became pregnant, placing the offender on the registry would make it harder for them to provide for the child.
To Wiener, this inequity was part of the legacy of the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people. “It used to be much more explicit and obvious in terms of anti-sodomy laws,” he said. “This is one example where the judge can keep straight kids off the registry, but the gay kids have to go on the registry. It’s mortifying that in 2020, in California, this discrimination continues to exist in our penal code.”
SB145 was, essentially, a clean-up bill that would allow judges to exercise discretion in all such cases, regardless of the sex act involved. It did not change the criminality of sex with a minor (which remains illegal) nor did it change the criminal penalties for breaking the law. The bill was introduced in January 2019 and had the official support of LGBTQ+ groups, prosecutors, police chiefs, public defenders, civil liberties groups and advocates for survivors of sexual assault.
Nevertheless, it quickly attracted some negative attention. A conservative online news outlet, the California Globe, began covering it closely, with headlines that cast it as a “bill to protect sex offenders who lure minors”. A factual article by FoxNews.com actually tamped things down substantially by explaining the controversy and the true aim of the bill, Wiener recalled.
A bigger setback came when the Democratic assembly member Lorena Gonzalez, a staunch progressive, argued that the 10-year age gap in the bill was too large. She delayed a final vote on the bill, pushing it on to the 2020 legislative agenda.
The delay left the bill “hanging out there for a year”, Wiener said, where, like legislative fly paper, it continued to catch bad-faith attacks. One such attack came in January 2020, when the website Law Enforcement Today (LET) published an inflammatory article headlined: “California lawmakers introduce bill to protect pedophiles who sexually abuse innocent kids”. “If you’re a pedophile and want to rape sweet, innocent, young children, then California is the state for you,” the piece began, before blatantly mischaracterizing the provisions in the bill.
A supporter holds a QAnon sign at a Trump rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 2018. Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters
The LET article performed well on the outlet’s Facebook page, garnering more than 10,000 shares in January. But it really took off in late July, when it was reposted by LET’s Facebook page, just as a highly effective rebranding campaign by QAnon evangelists was catching fire on Instagram and Facebook under the twin hashtags #SaveTheChildren and #SaveOurChildren.
While “classic” QAnon memes and content are aggressively pro-Trump, militaristic and often include blatantly antisemitic tropes and references, #SaveOurChildren has provided QAnon with a decidedly softer aesthetic and rhetorical appeal.
Rather than enticing new recruits with the promise to unveil military intelligence secrets about the supposed evils of the Clintons and Obamas, #SaveOurChildren captures attention with exaggerated statistics about the prevalence of child sex trafficking, then draws susceptible readers down the rabbit hole of increasingly implausible falsehoods. It’s a softer, gentler “red pill” than traditional QAnon material, but the result – blatantly false beliefs about Democrats sexually abusing children in order to extract a life-extending chemical from their blood – remains the same.
The #SaveOurChildren version of QAnon has been particularly popular among a new coalition of anti-public-health activists who have been galvanized by the coronavirus pandemic. As the Guardian reported in June, Facebook’s recommendation algorithm helped facilitate cross-pollination between Facebook groups dedicated to anti-vaccine activism, anti-coronavirus lockdowns and QAnon. (In Europe, it appears that a similar synergy occurred among anti-5G activists.) Membership in QAnon Facebook groups exploded throughout the summer, and QAnon infiltrated many online subcultures, including those formed around evangelical Christianity, New Age spiritualism and alternative medicine or “wellness”.
SB145 landed like a lit rag amid all that dry social media tinder. On 31 July, the same day LET reposted its inflammatory article, the cause was picked up by Denise Aguilar, an anti-vaccine activist who was arrested at the California state capitol during a protest against the coronavirus lockdown measures in May. Aguilar misstated the facts of the bill in her Instagram post, to more than 70,000 followers, and referred to Democrats as “DEMONcrats”. The eight-month-old LET article quickly racked up more than 20,000 new shares, including across Facebook groups dedicated to QAnon and #SaveOurChildren.
The misinformation spread fast and furiously. One Facebook post that falsely declared pedophilia to be “now LEGAL in CALIFORNIA” was viewed more than 8m times. Rightwing news outlets jumped on the story, often using photographs of a semi-shirtless Wiener at the Folsom Street Fair, an annual celebration of the gay leather scene. PJ Media tried to tar the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, by association, with a headline noting her endorsement of the “California Lawmaker behind ‘Pro-Pedophile’ Bill SB145”.
A demonstrator wears a T-shirt with a QAnon slogan in New York. The ‘Save Our Children’ version of the conspiracy theory offers a decidedly softer aesthetic and rhetorical appeal. Photograph: Stephanie Keith/Reuters
Political opportunists also swarmed in. Angela Stanton King, a Georgia congressional candidate who denies supporting QAnon despite frequently sharing QAnon content on social media, posted about the bill multiple times on Instagram. In one post, she used the hashtag #SaveOurChildren; in a second, she reshared a post by a popular QAnon and Pizzagate Instagram influencer. Major Williams, a Republican planning to run for California governor in 2022, began posting aggressively about #SaveOurChildren and SB145, racking up more than 90,000 likes on a post that stated, falsely, that SB145 would mean that “there will be no felonies for sex with a minor any longer in CA”. (Instagram appended a label noting that the post contained “partly false information”.)
Even some of Wiener’s colleagues in the state senate joined in. Melissa Melendez, a Republican state senator from Riverside county, tweeted that SB145 “allows adults who have ‘consensual’ sex with a 14 year old to not be charged as sex offenders”, which is false, and called it a “disgusting bill”. When Wiener responded with a factcheck, she tweeted back: “I know exactly what the bill does. Because read it [sic]. You’re trying to normalize sex with children. And I’m not going to let you get away with it.” Melendez did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.
Shannon Grove, the minority leader for the state senate, also posted against SB145, using the #SaveOurChildren hashtag on Twitter and Instagram. A spokesman for the Senate Republican Caucus, Hector Barajas, said that Grove’s use of #SaveOurChildren was not a reference to QAnon.
“Senator Grove does not believe in, support, or affiliate with QAnon,” he said in a statement. “Senator Grove believes in ‘Saving Our Children’ from human traffickers, child predators and her use of this hashtag is not an endorsement or affiliation with the actions of QAnon.”
‘An illness that afflicts people’s minds’
In the end, SB145 passed both the state assembly and state senate and was signed into law by the governor, Gavin Newsom, on the evening of 11 September.
“In 2017, when we passed the major restructuring of the sex offender registry, something like a third of Republican senators voted for it,” Wiener recalled. “This time we got zero … The difference between now and 2017 is the existence of QAnon. This sort of semi-organized structure on social media that just pumps out massive, orchestrated misinformation. It just flies across the internet, and if people see it on their timeline, they think it’s true.”
Wiener and Stewart, his communications manager, said they did their best to engage with people who were contacting him on social media, as long as their messages didn’t include overt threats, and found that many were open to hearing the facts. “You have a lot of people who are getting caught up in the QAnon craziness, who are not inherently QAnon people,” Wiener said. “They see things on their timeline and they’re convinced it’s true and they get very angry, but they’re QAnon-adjacent.”
For those true believers, however, Wiener sees QAnon as “an illness that afflicts people’s minds”. “It’s one of the scariest and most bizarre things I’ve seen,” he said.
Donald Trump Jr has continued to tweet false information about the bill. Photograph: Rusty Jones/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
Speaking to the Guardian a few days before Newsom signed SB145, Wiener appeared relatively assured that the death threats and harassment would die down eventually. “I feel for the people who don’t have the resources and privileges that I have as a public official,” he said. “Lives are being destroyed by QAnon and we’re not doing enough to push back against it.”
As for the continued dissemination of memes that attempt to portray him as a predator, he said: “I’m not going to change a thing about who I am or what I represent. I have thick skin.”
For the moment, it appears that Republican party leaders who have embraced QAnon have no intention of changing their behavior either. Throughout the day on Monday 14 September, Donald Trump Jr continued to tweet false information about the SB145. “They’re normalizing pedophilia,” he tweeted, falsely, alongside a link to an article about Newsom’s signing of the bill.
“It’s insanity and we must stop it.”