All posts tagged: supporters

Can the assisted dying bill be brought back? It’s possible – but supporters face four challenges

Can the assisted dying bill be brought back? It’s possible – but supporters face four challenges

Published by Sam Flores

Despite MPs backing proposals last year to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales, the plan did not become law. The bill failed to complete its passage through the House of Lords – not because peers voted against it, but because a relatively small number proposed an unprecedentedly large list of amendments. As a result, the bill ran out of time. But this is unlikely to be the end of the story for assisted dying. MPs who support the change have called for the bill to be brought back in the new parliamentary session, which begins on May 13. They have reportedly been joined in their demands by almost 200 peers in the Lords. Their strategy will be for MPs to pass the bill again in an identical form. If they do so, it could become law even if the Lords fails to pass it. This is possible because of special powers to override the Lords under what are known as the Parliament Acts. But achieving this will not be straightforward – to succeed, supporters …

Psychological Research Finds Trump Supporters Are Not Doing Well

Psychological Research Finds Trump Supporters Are Not Doing Well

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech A tranche of psychological studies found something startling about Donald Trump’s most loyal soldiers: they each turn to a grim coping mechanism to make sense of the real estate mogul’s laundry list of lies and documented sexual abuse. Three separate research papers, published together in the Journal of Social and Political Psychology, each pointing to the same conclusion. In October 2019, psychologists surveyed 128 US adults who indicated a preference for Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Asked how they justified their support for the GOP candidate given allegations of his sexual misconduct, over half the group said they simply didn’t believe the charge. Those results were reproduced in a second study, started in December 2019, two days after federal lawmakers voted to impeach the president. This time, 173 MAGA diehards largely either denied the accusations, or demurred by changing the topic to Trump’s policy decisions. In that study, the majority of supporters denied the accusations outright, while …

Staunch Trump Supporters Are Now Asking If He’s the Antichrist

Staunch Trump Supporters Are Now Asking If He’s the Antichrist

Published by skeptic

In a matter of days, MAGA media figures have gone from defending President Donald Trump as God’s chosen president to making the case that he is actually the antichrist. The accusations reached a fever pitch on Sunday night, after Trump posted an AI-generated image depicting himself dressed in a white robe and red sash and placing a hand radiating golden light on a man in a hospital bed. The image, which Trump deleted from Truth Social after around 14 hours, seemed to invoke Jesus Christ, and outraged some supporters who likened Trump’s behavior to the antichrist—a figure in Christian theology who opposes Christ and whose appearance many believe could augur the end of time. Major figures in the MAGA universe quickly spoke out. “It’s more than blasphemy. It’s an Antichrist spirit,” former congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene posted to X on Sunday. “In 18 months I went from hesitantly voting for Trump to thinking there’s a decent chance he’s the antichrist,” added Clint Russell, host of the right-wing Liberty Lockdown podcast. “I genuinely believe Trump is …

Iranian authorities remain defiant, urge supporters to stay in streets | US-Israel war on Iran News

Iranian authorities remain defiant, urge supporters to stay in streets | US-Israel war on Iran News

Published by Sam Flores

Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities say the United States needs to do more if an agreement is to be made to end the war as they urge their supporters to maintain control of the streets. The US delegation at Saturday’s marathon talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, “ultimately failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations”, said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliament speaker who led the Iranian team. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US Navy will immediately begin the process of “blockading any and all ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz” in Iran’s southern waters. He also said the US military remains “locked and loaded” and will “finish up” Iran at the “appropriate moment”. The fact that the Iranian delegation did not accede to Washington’s core demands of eliminating nuclear enrichment on Iranian soil and ending Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz was welcomed by Iranian authorities on Sunday as they projected defiance. Judiciary …

Cognitive dissonance helps explain why Trump supporters remain loyal, new research suggests

Cognitive dissonance helps explain why Trump supporters remain loyal, new research suggests

Published by José Betancourt

A recent study published in the Journal of Social and Political Psychology sheds light on how supporters of Donald Trump justify their continued allegiance despite learning about allegations of his sexual misconduct and illegal activities. The research suggests that when people face information that conflicts with their deeply held beliefs, they tend to reduce their mental discomfort by denying the allegations, focusing on policies over personal behavior, or claiming that other politicians commit similar acts. The scientists initiated this research to understand a specific political dynamic. They noticed that Donald Trump tends to retain widespread support even after facing severe accusations, including accounts of sexual misconduct, abuse of power, and efforts to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in the January 6 Capitol attack. To make sense of how voters mentally navigate this conflicting information, the researchers examined the situation using the psychological concept of cognitive dissonance. “I was motivated by real-life experiences. I’ve been puzzled and confused by the continuing support and admiration that Donald Trump’s supporters hold for him, despite the many accusations …

DeSantis Signs Florida Law to Label Groups as Terrorists and Expel Student Supporters

DeSantis Signs Florida Law to Label Groups as Terrorists and Expel Student Supporters

Published by Sam Flores

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a measure into law Monday that gives him along with other Florida leaders the ability to label groups as domestic or foreign terrorist organizations and expel state university students who support them. The law, criticized by free speech advocates, allows a top official at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to designate a group as a domestic or foreign terrorist organization, with the governor and three other members of the Florida Cabinet approving or rejecting the designation. Besides the governor, the Cabinet is made up of the state attorney general, the chief financial officer and the agriculture commissioner, all of whom are elected separately. Once designated a terrorist organization, a group can be dissolved and it can no longer receive any state funding through school districts or state agencies. Universities also would have to report the status of expelled students attending on visas to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “So this will help the state of Florida protect you. It’ll help us protect your tax dollars,” DeSantis …

Iran authorities await war ‘victory’ as supporters mark 1979 anniversary | US-Israel war on Iran News

Iran authorities await war ‘victory’ as supporters mark 1979 anniversary | US-Israel war on Iran News

Published by Sam Flores

Tehran, Iran – Government supporters have taken to the streets in Iran to celebrate the anniversary of a referendum nearly half a century ago that solidified the Islamic Republic’s hold on power, even as the United States and Israel continued their attacks on the country. President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were among officials who joined pro-establishment rallies on the streets of Tehran on Tuesday night to mark Islamic Republic Day, when the nascent theocratic system in 1979 announced it had garnered 98.2 percent of the popular vote shortly after an Islamic revolution. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Shortly after and in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Washington bombed the site of the former US embassy in Tehran, in an apparent move tied to the symbolism of Islamic Republic Day. Footage from state media showed destruction and debris and smoke in the area, which is guarded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). On Wednesday afternoon, authorities hoisted what they said was Iran’s tallest and heaviest flag at 150 …

Trump Supporters Getting Scammed by AI-Generated Foot Fetish Model

Trump Supporters Getting Scammed by AI-Generated Foot Fetish Model

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech For an Instagram page only a few months old, Jessica Foster is thriving. The model has over a million followers on the social media platform, and a blossoming OnlyFans presence boasting 13,000 likes across 25 posts. A purported US military service member, Foster is young, blonde, and gorgeous. She’s appeared in images with the influencer Darren “IShowSpeed” Jason Watkins Jr., Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and even Donald and Melania Trump. By all accounts, she’s a nationalistic online fever dream — and that’s before we mention her risqué foot pics. There’s just one wrinkle: she’s 100 percent AI, a basic fact seemingly lost on a vast proportion of her followers. The account’s bizarre rise, first chronicled by Fast Company, began in December of 2025. Through a barrage of timely spam — she claimed to attend the Super Bowl shortly after invading Greenland — the puppet master running the Instagram page has amassed a major following of dupes and patriots …

MAGA Hollywood: How Many Trump Supporters Are There in LA?

MAGA Hollywood: How Many Trump Supporters Are There in LA?

Published by Sam Flores

“It’s not so much that they love Donald Trump, but they don’t mind a healthy dose of Trumpism,” Morgan explains. “It particularly breaks down on the woke stuff. They may not be natural conservatives on conservative issues like guns or abortion or things like that, but they are very much with the conservative right on all the woke insanity.” “There were a lot of people who felt uncomfortable having to walk on eggshells everywhere they went,” says CJ Pearson, a prominent conservative activist and Trump campaign adviser who lived in Los Angeles during the Biden administration. The rise of the Make America Healthy Again movement spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who, before morphing himself into a Trump booster, was a Brentwood-dwelling Democrat—also played a role: “When you think about where the seeds of MAHA were planted, it was in Los Angeles,” Pearson says. “This is the home of Erewhon and no seed oils—before that was cool.” Pratt followed a similar arc to many of those seduced by the MAHA movement. He says he was apolitical …

Trump says Democrats must cheat to win. What do his supporters think? : NPR

Trump says Democrats must cheat to win. What do his supporters think? : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

President Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9 in Doral, Fla. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images HARRISBURG, Pa. — This week and in last month’s State of the Union address, President Trump accused Democrats of planning to cheat in upcoming elections. “They want to cheat,” Trump said during the State of the Union, providing no evidence. “Their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat, and we’re going to stop it.” NPR spent several days traveling across a pair of swing congressional districts in Pennsylvania — the 10th and the 7th — to find out what people think of the president’s claim ahead of the midterms. Nearly every Republican disagreed with the president. They said Democrats could win fair and square and dismissed the idea of mass voter fraud. “I don’t think that that’s how elections are won today,” said Richard Cline, a 69-year-old preacher who was buying chocolate at a farmers market across …