Mark Levin: 2020 Dems' policies will 'destroy' key aspects of American society

Democratic presidential candidates' policy platforms will run the nation deeper into debt and transform American society, according to Mark Levin.
Americans must unite against the candidates' agendas to prevent "socialism" and retain "Americanism," Levin claimed Sunday on "Life, Liberty & Levin."
"They have plans that will do nothing but destroy this society," he said.
"We never talk about liberty anymore or individualism anymore or success or true free market capitalism. Look around you look at all the wealth that we have. You go to a grocery store there's everything you want in a grocery store look around your home.
"Why would we destroy such a society? It's time to take on the left. Time to take on the Democrat leadership. It's time to take on socialism with Americanism ... We never talk about liberty anymore, or individualism anymore, or success."
He mentioned several proposals including wealth taxes, Medicare-for-all, paid family leave and student debt forgiveness.
Levin claimed the Soviet Union's 1936 Constitution inspired or mirrors such initiatives, which he said were heralded by two candidates in particular.
"Article 118: Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to work, that is, are guaranteed the right to employment and payment for their work in accordance with its quantity and quality," he said.
"Article 119: Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to rest and leisure ... the institution of annual vacations with full pay for workers and employees and the provision of a wide network of sanatoria, rest homes and clubs for the accommodation of the working people -- Sounds just like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren."
The conservative radio host continued, arguing some Democrats, "embrace not the American dream, but the Soviet dream."
"Why is it that we don't have serious, substantive discussions about what they're proposing and how they're going to be paid for?" he asked.
The "Unfreedom of the Press" author said he believed such policies will make the nation's debt problems even worse.
"We have a crushing debt," he said.
"We have a fiscal operating debt of $22 trillion. Our economy produces slightly over $18 trillion in goods and services every year. That's enormous."

Antifa-Proud Boys confrontation in Portland turns violent; conservative writer injured

Maria C. Dehart, 23, was arrested during an Antifa protest and charged with disorderly conduct and harassment Saturday. (Portland Police Bureau)

At least three people were arrested and several others were reported injured, as members of Antifa and other leftist groups clashed with members of the Proud Boys and other conservatives around downtown Portland, Ore., on Saturday, police said.
One of those injured was Andy Ngo, a conservative writer who appeared to have been attacked by Antifa members, the Oregonian reported. Ngo later posted a photo of himself from a hospital, with bruises, cuts and scratches on his face.
Some of the demonstrators turned violent, throwing milkshakes said to be mixed with quick-drying cement, raw eggs and pepper spray. The gatherings were deemed "civil disturbance and unlawful assembly" by the Portland Police Bureau and the perpetrators were believed to include members of both sides.
Those arrested were identified as Gage Halupowski, 23, who was charged with multiple counts of assault, including on a public safety officer; James K. Stocks, 21, who was charged with harassment; and Maria C. Dehart, 23, who was charged with disorderly conduct and harassment.

Maria C. Dehart, 23, was arrested during an Antifa protest and charged with disorderly conduct and harassment Saturday. (Portland Police Bureau)

"During today's events, there were multiple assaults reported, as well as projectiles thrown at demonstrators and officers," the police said in a statement. "There were also reports of pepper spray and bear spray being used by people in the crowd. Officers deployed pepper spray during the incident. There were reports of individuals throwing 'milkshakes' with a substance mixed in that was similar to a quick-drying cement. One subject was arrested for throwing a substance during the incident."
Portland Fire Medics were embedded with the Portland Police Bureau members and treated eight people, including three police officers during the even, the Oregonian reported.
"Three community members received treatment at area hospitals after they were assaulted with weapons. Two officers were pepper-sprayed during the incident and were treated. Another officer was punched in the arm by a demonstrator and sustained non-life threatening injury. Another officer sustained a non-life threatening head injury from a projectile," the statement said.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham roughed up by North Korean security guards

Stephanie Grisham replaced Sarah Sanders as White House press secretary only recently, but Grisham reportedly has already been injured on the job.
Grisham suffered bruises when a scuffle broke out Sunday between North Korean security guards and members of the media trying to get close to President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as they shook hands at the Demilitarized Zone, the Associated Press reported.
The new press secretary was reportedly pushing back against the guards, trying to help members of the White House press corps position themselves to cover the historic moment between Trump and Kim.
Several reporters tweeted about the clash between the guards and the media.
It was not immediately clear if Grisham required medical attention or if anyone else was injured or detained by the guards.
Grisham, 42, had been a spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump before being named last week as the successor to Sarah Sanders, whose last day at the White House was Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Trump says US, North Korea agree to resume nuclear talks within weeks

President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un, pictured here, met in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea on Sunday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Trump said following his historic meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un on Sunday that the two leaders had agreed to restart a discussion on the communist nation's nuclear program.
Speaking to reporters after visiting the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, Trump said the U.S. and North Korea have both designated teams to resume the stalled talks within weeks.
The president — after roughly 50 minutes behind closed doors with Kim — said "speed is not the object" in trying to reach a deal but noted he believes both sides want to get the job done.
"We're looking to get it right," Trump said.
The meeting between Trump and Kim was the first face-to-face meeting between the two since their failed summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February. Prior to that, they met in Singapore last June.
Talks between the U.S. and North Korea had mostly broken down since the Hanoi summit, which ended without a deal. North Korea has hesitated at Trump's insistence that it give up its nuclear ambitions before it sees relief from crushing international sanctions.
The U.S. has said the North must submit to "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" before sanctions are lifted.
Despite their nearly hour-long chat, Trump said that sanctions on North Korea are still in place, although seemingly left open the possibility of scaling them back as part of renewed negotiations.
“At some point during the negotiation, things can happen," the president told reporters, adding that he suggested Kim could visit Washington, D.C., during their discussions.
Trump says he told Kim that, “at the right time, you’re going to come over” and that that could be “any time he wants to do it.” He added that he “would certainly extend the invite” and that, “at some point” it will happen.
Hours earlier, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to step foot inside North Korea. He described it as "a great day for the world."
Inside the "Freedom House" on the South Korean side of the zone, Trump and Kim were joined by the president's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
It was Trump's first visit to the DMZ, which every president since Ronald Reagan — except for President George H.W. Bush — has toured during their time in office, according to the Associated Press. But the elder Bush, who died last year, visited the DMZ while serving as vice president under Reagan.
Later Sunday, the president addressed U.S. troops at Osan Air Force Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
Fox News' Dom Calicchio and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Megan Rapinoe Cartoons

2016

As G-20 concludes, Trump tells reporters he 'may or may not' meet with Kim in North Korea

President Trump in a news conference Saturday said he doesn’t plan to add new tariffs on Chinese imports but he won’t be lifting the existing tariffs.
The president spoke from Osaka, Japan, where he met with several world leaders, including China's President Xi Jinping, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

President Trump calls on a reporter to ask a question during a news conference following the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday. (Associated Press)

“These meetings have been great,” he told reporters. He said his meeting with Xi "went better than expected" and that U.S. negotiators would “start where they left off with China.”
He called the country a "strategic partner" and said, “U.S. companies can sell their equipment to" Huawei Technologies, despite the Commerce Department's efforts to blacklist the Chinese company last month over concerns that its products could be used to spy on other countries.
“Trump also said he “may or may not see Kim Jong Un” when he makes his next stop, in South Korea, to visit that nation's President Moon Jae-in. He told Fox News he would “feel very comfortable” stepping into North Korea if the meeting with Kim became possible, but he wasn't concerned if it couldn't happen. He would be the first U.S. president to enter North Korea.
Trump sent an invitation to Kim on Friday via Twitter, suggesting the two could meet when Trump is in the DMZ with President Moon. A North Korean official reportedly said the invitation was a "very interesting suggestion."
He told reporters any meeting with Kim would just be a "quick hello."

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference following the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday. (Associated Press)

When asked if he had spoken to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the killing of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi – a murder the U.S. intelligence community believes the crown prince ordered – Trump said he asked him what was happening.
“There are large numbers of people being prosecuted," he told reporters. He added that the crown prince is “very angry” over the murder, but praised the leader as a "great ally" whose country is fighting terrorism and helping women.
When a reporter challenged his statement that no one had "pointed a finger" at bin Salman, Trump said he couldn't comment on intelligence, but added that "they’re taking it very seriously over there."
Trump also said he had “a great discussion” with Putin and hopes the U.S. will do more trade with Russia in the future.
A reporter pressed him on whether he asked Putin to stay out of U.S. elections beyond a seemingly joking rebuke Friday. Trump said he “discussed it a little bit after that,” but the Russian president "denies it totally.”
The president called Turkey a "friend" and said he and President Erdogan would "look at different solutions" in Turkey's planned purchase of a Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system.
The president covered various other topics in the hour-long news conference, weighing in on the Democratic debates, immigration and a remark Jimmy Carter made about his legitimacy before leaving for South Korea.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Cory Booker calls out Biden over 'kid in hoodie' remark, says better 'language' needed to talk about race

Sen. Cory Booker accused Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden on Friday of not having the right "language" to talk about race that's needed to win the party's 2020 nomination.
Booker's comment came after Biden spoke about race relations in the U.S. during an appearance in Chicago earlier in the day.
“That kid wearing a hoodie may very well be the next poet laureate and not a gangbanger," Biden said, making a rhetorical point during his remarks at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a group of nonprofits organized by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
But Booker, an African-American senator from New Jersey,  took issue with Biden’s use of the word “hoodie.”
“This isn’t about a hoodie," Booker wrote on Twitter. "It’s about a culture that sees a problem with a kid wearing a hoodie in the first place. Our nominee needs to have the language to talk about race in a far more constructive way.”
Other Twitter users also took Biden to task, claiming his use of the word “gangbanger” was racially insensitive.
The blowback against Biden came less than 24 hours after his onstage clash in Miami with another 2020 White House hopeful, Sen. Kamala Harris, during Thursday night's second Democratic presidential debate.
Biden and Harris tangled over the issue of school desegregation. Harris attacked Biden’s decades-ago work with segregationist senators, making the point personal by explaining she was a member of only the second class of black children in California to be bused to school in an effort to force desegregation.
“That little girl was me,” Harris said directly to the former vice president in a moment that has since gone viral.
But in Chicago on Friday, Biden defended his record on racial issues.
“I heard and I listened to and I respect Senator Harris," Biden said. "But we all know that 30-60 seconds on campaign debate exchange can't do justice to a lifetime commitment to civil rights.”
Then, speaking directly to 77-year-old Jackson, whose long career has included two presidential runs and work with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., he said: “I know you know I fought my heart out to ensure civil rights and voting rights and equal rights are enforced everywhere.”
Biden insisted he “never, never, never, ever opposed voluntary busing.”
Booker’s Friday tweet followed his previous criticism of Biden for reminiscing over his work with two long-dead segregationist senators, Democrats James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia. During a New York fundraiser last Tuesday, Biden brought up the two senators to argue that Washington functioned more smoothly a generation ago than under today's "broken" hyperpartisanship.
"We didn't agree on much of anything," Biden said of the two men, who were prominent lawmakers when Biden was first elected in 1972. Biden described Talmadge as "one of the meanest guys I ever knew" and said Eastland called him "son," though not "boy," a reference to the racist way many whites addressed black men at the time.
“You don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys.’ Booker said responding to Biden's speech. "Men like James O. Eastland used words like that, and the racist policies that accompanied them, to perpetuate white supremacy and strip black Americans of our very humanity,” Booker said in a statement last week, according to the Hill.
Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

Trump slams 'terrible' Jimmy Carter as 'forgotten president' after suggestion 2016 win was 'illegitimate'

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference following the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, Saturday, June 29, 2019. (Associated Press)

President Trump fired back at former President Jimmy Carter’s suggestion that he’s illegitimate president, saying Carter is “the forgotten president” who’s not only “trashed” by his own party but also remembered only as being “terrible” for the country.
Trump addressed the comments made by Carter during a news conference Saturday following the G-20 summit in Japan, saying that although Carter is “a nice man, he was a terrible president,” before noting that “he’s a Democrat and it’s a typical talking point.”
He added that Carter is “loyal to the Democrats” but “as everybody now understands, I won not because of Russia, not because of anybody but myself.”

“He's a nice man, he was a terrible president. He’s a Democrat and it’s a typical talking point.”
— President Trump

Carter said Friday at a Virginia forum that “I think a full investigation would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016.”
“He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf," he added. When asked if Trump was “illegitimate president,” Carter responded saying “Basically, what I just said, which I can’t retract.”

Trump said during the news conference that he “campaigned better, smarter, hotter than Hillary Clinton. I went to Wisconsin, I went to Michigan the night of the vote.”
"I won Michigan, I won Wisconsin, I won Pennsylvania, I won states that traditionally haven’t been won by Republicans for many years,” he continued. “This had nothing to do with anybody but the fact that I worked harder and much smarter than Hillary Clinton did.”
The president added that he was “surprised” Carter made such comments but he also “felt bad” for him as he’s been attacked even by his own party.
“He’s been trashed within his own party, he’s been badly trashed. I felt bad for him because you look over the years, his party has virtually … he’s like the forgotten president,” Trump said. “And I understand why they say that.”

“He’s been trashed within his own party, he’s been badly trashed ... he’s like the forgotten president."
— President Trump

“He was not a good president. Looked at what happened with Iran – that was a disaster. What Iran did to him, they tied him in knots. The reason Ronald Reagan probably became president.”
The 94-year-old Carter recently returned to public activities after undergoing surgery for a broken hip.