A progressive activist on Tuesday interrupted President Donald Trump’s arrival to Senate Republicans’ weekly lunch by throwing Russian flags and shouting, “Trump is treason.” Trump was walking beside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“Why are you talking about tax cuts when you should be talking about treason?” Ryan Clayton shouted from the press pool. “Why is Congress talking about tax cuts when they should be talking about treason?”
He was standing directly to the left of this reporter from The Intercept:
https://twitter.com/aidachavez_/status/922870436202975233
Clayton also accused the president of conspiring with Russian agents to steal the election before being escorted out by police.
Clayton is head of the group Americans Take Action and, as the name suggestions, is no stranger to direct-action tactics. At the most recent Conservative Political Action Conference, Clayton tricked right-wing activists into waving Russian flags while Trump spoke.
He was also involved in a high-profile incident with conservative provocateur James O’Keefe, when Clayton secretly filmed O’Keefe’s speech at a fundraiser, and then interrupted it by breaking into song. He was dragged down the steps and tossed from the event.
Clayton, unsurprisingly, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Top photo: Small Russian flags bearing the word “Trump” are thrown by a protester toward President Donald Trump, as he walks with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Capitol Hill to have lunch with Senate Republicans and push for his tax reform agenda, in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017.
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
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IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
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I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
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