Las Vegas is home to a lot that might raise a pair of eyebrows, but a
new art installation depicting Donald Trump as a naked, 43-foot-tall
marionette might raise them right off your face.
Made of foam over rebar and weighing approximately 6,000 pounds, the
gigantic naked Trump will travel the United States as part of the
“Crooked and Obscene Tour” but first, you can see it in person and in
the wild at 13460 Apex Harbor Ln in Las Vegas right now.
Per the tour’s organizers, portraying Trump in the nude “is
intentional, serving as a bold statement on transparency, vulnerability,
and the public personas of political figures.”
They also aim to spark conversation about “transparency—or lack
thereof—in politics, challenging viewers to think critically about
political influence,” according to press materials.
Those who can’t make it to Las Vegas will have opportunity to see it
on tour stops at other locations across the United States. Dates and
cities for the tour have not yet been announced. We’ll keep you posted.
Enjoy — or ‘enjoy’ — some photos of the project below:
Via “Crooked and Obscene”Via “Crooked and Obscene”Via “Crooked and Obscene”Via “Crooked and Obscene”Via “Crooked and Obscene”Via “Crooked and Obscene”Via “Crooked and Obscene”
This isn’t the first time a nude statute of Trump has appeared in
public, though it certainly dwarfs its predecessor. In 2016 Joshua
“Ginger” Monroe was hired at the art collective INDECLINE to create five life-size naked statues of the former president as part of a project called “The Emperor Has No Balls.”
The statues were put up without permits at locations in Seattle, New
York City, Cleveland, Los Angeles and San Francisco; naturally they were
soon removed by police.
We’re nearing the end of the second month of Trump’s war with Iran with no end in sight. While he has tried to convince Americans not to believe their eyes, numerous polls show the President holding record low approval ratings. MS NOW Contributor Maria Teresa Kumar and author of "The Watchdog Report" on Substack Kurt Bardella join The Weekend to discuss.
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MS NOW is the go-to destination for domestic and international breaking news, and best-in-class opinion journalism. For more context and news coverage of the most important stories of our day click here: https://www.ms.now/#trump#politics#economy
Transcript
Follow along using the transcript.
0:01
1 second
But
we begin this hour, just over six months until the midterm election
President Trump is not doing the Republican Party any favors.
0:06
6 seconds
We're
nearing the end of the second month of Trump's war with Iran with no
end in sight. Also, instead of bringing consumer prices down,
0:14
14 seconds
as Trump promised to do over and over and over again, we have seen higher prices at the grocery store and the gas station.
0:20
20 seconds
Trump's redistricting efforts also appear to be backfiring,
0:24
24 seconds
leading
to the potential of more House seats for Democrats and while Trump has
tried to convince Americans not to believe their own lying eyes,
0:32
32 seconds
numerous
polls show Trump with record low approval ratings. And if that wasn't
bad enough for Republicans, Trump is facing a fractured coalition,
0:40
40 seconds
losing
the support of some of the biggest names in the conservative media and
movement like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly causing Trump to go on the
offense against them.
0:49
49 seconds
Joining us now at the table, Maria Teresa Kumar,
0:52
52 seconds
MSNOW contributor and president and CEO of VOTA Latino,
0:56
56 seconds
and Kurt Bardella, publisher for the Watchdog Report on Subsec.
1:01
1 minute, 1 second
He's
also a former spokesperson and senior advisor for Republicans on the
House Oversight Committee. Thank you both so much for coming on.
1:09
1 minute, 9 seconds
Fabulous event, VOTA Latino last night.
1:11
1 minute, 11 seconds
Our voices, Laura Barron-Lopez getting an award, our colleague.
1:15
1 minute, 15 seconds
I want to start by playing Tucker Carlson with his mea culpa on his role in helping the rise of Trump.
1:24
1 minute, 24 seconds
Let's
play that. We're implicated in this for sure. Yes. It's not enough to
say, well, I changed my mind or like, oh, this is bad.
1:33
1 minute, 33 seconds
I'm out.
1:34
1 minute, 34 seconds
You and me and millions of people like us are the reason this is happening right now.
1:38
1 minute, 38 seconds
I do think it's like a moment to wrestle with our own consciences.
1:44
1 minute, 44 seconds
You know, we'll be tormented by it for a long time. I will be.
1:47
1 minute, 47 seconds
And I want to say I'm sorry for misleading people and it was not intentional. That's all I'll say. It was not intentional.
1:55
1 minute, 55 seconds
He's tormented and yet here are I'm gonna keep you from getting in trouble. Here are private texts. That's a good friend.
2:04
2 minutes, 4 seconds
Exactly.
2:05
2 minutes, 5 seconds
Private
texts from from from Tucker Carlson after the 2020 election. This is
what he wrote himself. What he's good at is destroying things.
2:13
2 minutes, 13 seconds
He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong. Called Trump a demonic force, a destroyer. I hate him passionately.
2:21
2 minutes, 21 seconds
We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait. That's the last four years.
2:28
2 minutes, 28 seconds
We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it because admitting what a disaster it's been. It's too tough to digest.
2:34
2 minutes, 34 seconds
But come on, there isn't really an upside to Trump.
2:36
2 minutes, 36 seconds
These were all disclosed in discovery in the Dominion voting systems defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
2:41
2 minutes, 41 seconds
Maria
Teresa, why should people believe his mea culpa and apology now,
especially when there's all this hubbub about him possibly wanting to
run for office?
2:51
2 minutes, 51 seconds
When he did something similar about Trump and knew who he was. Well, this is the thing. You see him.
2:59
2 minutes, 59 seconds
You
see Candace Owen, you see all of the folks on the extreme right saying,
oh, he's not the man that I thought he was. And it's rallying up the
base to say,
3:06
3 minutes, 6 seconds
oh
my gosh, you're exactly right. But then let's also remember Tucker
Carlson, who his friends are. He's fairly close to Putin. He's very
close to Oregon.
3:15
3 minutes, 15 seconds
So
it's almost like are you actually making this play that you do want to
run for president because you have friends on the outside as well.
3:22
3 minutes, 22 seconds
And I think that's where we have to have this conversation. Remind him who is the essence of who he is. Yeah.
3:28
3 minutes, 28 seconds
And is it really for the country or is it for Tucker Carlson? Interesting enough, you know,
3:32
3 minutes, 32 seconds
you go to all these parties last night where all the reporters are talking and there's clatter and stuff.
3:36
3 minutes, 36 seconds
And
there are a lot of folks that who LIVE AND BREATHE YOUTUBE AND THE
WEBSITE THAT HE HAS A HUGE AUDIENCE THAT IF HE WERE TO THROW HIS HAT IN
THE RACE,
3:45
3 minutes, 45 seconds
HE WOULD BE FORMIDABLE.
3:46
3 minutes, 46 seconds
THEY'RE
TRYING TO SAY WHO COULD CONTEST HIM ON THE DEMOCRATIC SIDE, AND PEOPLE
KEEP SCRATCHING THEIR HEADS. THEY'RE NOT SURE. THE ONLY PERSON THAT
SEEMS TO BE GOING TO,
3:54
3 minutes, 54 seconds
ON ALL OF THE SHOWS, WHETHER IT'S TUCKER CARLSON, CANDICE OWN, IS ROKANA.
4:00
4 minutes
THE
DEMOCRATS ARE So they're not even cultivating the base that we would
need in order to take back the White House. So it's a curious stance
that they're doing,
4:08
4 minutes, 8 seconds
but
I would say that he, Tucker Carlson has always been Tucker Carlson, so
he's coming back to himself. And Donald Trump has always been Donald
Trump,
4:16
4 minutes, 16 seconds
and
your point about him being politically aligned with those two is very
interesting. I mean, we don't have Tucker Carlson on MS.
4:25
4 minutes, 25 seconds
He's not necessarily on NBC or mainstream media.
4:28
4 minutes, 28 seconds
But
I do think something that we don't get to talk about enough on the
show that I would like to talk about more is how much value and utility
is there in Democrats going on Fox News and speaking to these,
4:39
4 minutes, 39 seconds
being able to toggle between the manosphere crowd, conservative media, and owning the media,
4:48
4 minutes, 48 seconds
the fractured media landscape a little bit more.
4:50
4 minutes, 50 seconds
Because I do feel like a lot of times when we do have Democrats on,
4:53
4 minutes, 53 seconds
the implication is that there is not a lot of usefulness in communicating with those audiences.
5:02
5 minutes, 2 seconds
Yeah, I mean, I think that one of the challenges that Kamala Harris faced is she didn't want to go to Joe Rogan.
5:09
5 minutes, 9 seconds
But if you want to govern and be president of all Americans,
5:13
5 minutes, 13 seconds
you
can't be afraid of going on those platforms because then you're not
going to be able to bridge, I think, a lot of the fracture that we see
in this country. Yeah, I mean, there's two jobs here.
5:22
5 minutes, 22 seconds
There's
one preaching to the choir because that's the only way you can get in
the sink so that that's the utility of going on, you know, more
ideologically aligned platforms.
5:29
5 minutes, 29 seconds
But
at the end of the day, the job is to convince people wherever they
WHERE THEY ARE AND TO MEET THEM WHEREVER THEY ARE, TO AT LEAST CONSIDER
YOUR PATH,
5:37
5 minutes, 37 seconds
YOUR VISION, YOUR IDEAS.
5:39
5 minutes, 39 seconds
YOU CANNOT DO THAT IF YOU DON'T GO TO WHERE THEY ARE.
5:42
5 minutes, 42 seconds
YOU CANNOT DO THAT IF YOU DON'T GO TO WHERE THEY COMING FROM,
5:45
5 minutes, 45 seconds
IF THE CONVERSATION IS I WANT TO CHANGE YOUR MIND.
5:47
5 minutes, 47 seconds
I WANT YOU TO DO SOMETHING THAT YOU DIDN'T DO LAST TIME AND CONSIDER IT RIGHT NOW.
5:51
5 minutes, 51 seconds
THE ONLY WAY YOU'RE GOING TO EVEN BE OPEN TO HAVING THAT CONVERSATION IS IF YOU GO TO WHERE THEY THEY ARE,
5:56
5 minutes, 56 seconds
YOU
DON'T TELL THEM MEET ME WHERE I AM AND HERE'S WHY YOU WERE WRONG AND
LET ME PREACH TO YOU AND MAKE YOU FEEL BAD AND COME FROM A PLACE OF
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS,
6:03
6 minutes, 3 seconds
IT'S GOING INTO THEIR BACKYARD, UNDERSTANDING THEIR CULTURE. I'M LEAVING RIGHT AFTER THIS SHOW,
6:08
6 minutes, 8 seconds
GOING
TO TO SEE JASON ALDEEN AND LUKE BRIAN PLAY A STADIUM SHOW TONIGHT IN
ATHENS, GEORGIA. WHO'S THERE? JASON ALDEEN AND LUKE BRIAN,
6:14
6 minutes, 14 seconds
TWO OF THE BIGGEST COUNTRY MUSIC SUPERSTARS ON PLANET EARTH.
6:17
6 minutes, 17 seconds
IT
MAY NOT BE YOUR JAM, BUT THEY'RE GOING TO BE SELLING OUT IN 80 ,000
SEAT STADIUM TONIGHT IN GEORGIA, WHICH IS A FAIRLY IMPORTANT STATE.
6:26
6 minutes, 26 seconds
UNDERSTANDING WHERE THIS IS WHERE A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE IN THIS COUNTRY AND WHEREVER THEIR POLITICS ARE,
6:32
6 minutes, 32 seconds
IF
YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY TONIGHT THOSE GUYS ARE GOING TO FILL A STADIUM
IN A SWING STATE LIKE GEORGIA, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO EVER GET THOSE
PEOPLE, THEIR FANS TO VOTE FOR YOU EITHER.
6:41
6 minutes, 41 seconds
IT'S AMAZING THAT THEY CAN AFFORD THE TICKETS TO GO TO THIS CONCERT GIVEN THE WAY THE ECONOMY IS.
6:46
6 minutes, 46 seconds
AND I JUST WANT TO PUT UP THIS FOX NEWS I THINK IT'S A GOOD NEWS POLL ABOUT WHO WOULD DO A BETTER JOB ON THE ECONOMY.
6:53
6 minutes, 53 seconds
WHO IS THAT FROM AGAIN? FOX NEWS. OKAY, JUST CHECK. FOX NEWS POLL, CREDIBLE POLL, YOU KNOW WHY WE ARE SHOWING THIS.
7:02
7 minutes, 2 seconds
AND LOOK AT THIS NUMBER, 52 % SAID DEMOCRATS WOULD DO A BETTER JOB ON THE ECONOMY, 48 % said Republicans.
7:11
7 minutes, 11 seconds
Two things jump out at me because of this poll, aside from it being Fox.
7:18
7 minutes, 18 seconds
The last time Fox News recorded a Democratic edge on the economy, it was May of 2010, May of 2010, one.
7:28
7 minutes, 28 seconds
Two, this is significant because Donald Trump ran on the economy.
7:33
7 minutes, 33 seconds
It
was his number one issue along with it with immigration that helped
propel him into this second term in the White House, Maria Teresa.
7:41
7 minutes, 41 seconds
And Republicans are underwater writ large on this but we showed in the intro
7:49
7 minutes, 49 seconds
in Eugene's intro the president himself his job approval rating is below 40 percent so what does that let's
7:57
7 minutes, 57 seconds
leave aside go to where they are and talk to them what does that say about november americans are suffering
8:06
8 minutes, 6 seconds
americans are suffering we came out with a poll with murmuration that basically we did surveyed 6500 individuals and 89 percent
8:14
8 minutes, 14 seconds
of
them have had to change their lifestyle because of gas because the
prices 89 percent we have never seen that person before and when we
asked well why
8:23
8 minutes, 23 seconds
why
are you making these changes they mentioned the president number one
and government policy number two When asked who can fix it, they said
government.
8:31
8 minutes, 31 seconds
The American people have never pointed to government as fixing their problems, right? And that again was mind-blowing.
8:38
8 minutes, 38 seconds
So I do think that the reason that the people are feeling under duress, they're saying, you you know what? Gas is too expensive.
8:43
8 minutes, 43 seconds
The
tariffs are hitting us and immigration is a problem, not just because
of the chaos it's causing us, but because I can't find workers,
8:50
8 minutes, 50 seconds
because I can't find people that can actually help support the work that I need to do.
8:55
8 minutes, 55 seconds
And so I think that that is really detrimental to the Republicans. And that's why I think that there's some of them,
8:59
8 minutes, 59 seconds
they're starting to shy away from the president because they recognize that he's actually not good for them.
9:04
9 minutes, 4 seconds
The House, everyone's been talking about the house for a very long time. Not our houses, the house behind us,
9:10
9 minutes, 10 seconds
the
House of Representatives and that being up for grabs, that Democrats
are likely to take that. One person months and months ago,
9:19
9 minutes, 19 seconds
I just want to make sure everyone knows, said this a lot. This man over here said 2000, this year reminded him of 2006,
9:26
9 minutes, 26 seconds
where the House, everyone said the House was going to happen,
9:30
9 minutes, 30 seconds
but then Democrats that night also took the Senate. No one thought it.
9:34
9 minutes, 34 seconds
So
I just want to say when you start writing them think pieces about
2006, this man said it first. Nate Cohn, thank you. Exactly.
9:43
9 minutes, 43 seconds
The New York Times' Nate Cohn wrote a story this week.
9:46
9 minutes, 46 seconds
Why a Democratic Senate once unthinkable is a real possibility.
9:49
9 minutes, 49 seconds
In
recent polls, Democrats appear tied or ahead in four
Republican-controlled seats. The number they would need to take the
Senate, these include Maine, North Carolina,
9:58
9 minutes, 58 seconds
where the likely Democratic nominees hold clear with Iowa and Texas.
10:15
10 minutes, 15 seconds
Kurt, this feels good, you know, even if Democrats don't take the Senate,
10:22
10 minutes, 22 seconds
closing the gap also helps everything downbound. Yeah, you know, it's interesting, you know, I live in Dallas,
10:28
10 minutes, 28 seconds
Texas
and I can tell you one of the real interesting, and it's not a
scientific data point, but I am seeing in neighborhoods, in communities,
James Tallarico signs.
10:37
10 minutes, 37 seconds
And let me tell you YOU SOMETHING,
10:39
10 minutes, 39 seconds
A DEMOCRAT IN TEXAS IS NOT INCLINED TO PUT YARD SIGNS IN THEIR FRONT YARD,
10:43
10 minutes, 43 seconds
IT'S
NOT SOMEBODY TO TAKE A BIG BILLBOARD OUT USUALLY TO MAKE YOURSELF A
TARGET IN THIS ERA THAT WE LIVE IN AND THE FACT THAT I AM TAKING MY WALK
AROUND THE block and seeing Tallarico signs.
10:52
10 minutes, 52 seconds
That's really interesting. That tells me there's actual grassroots enthusiasm for this candidate,
10:58
10 minutes, 58 seconds
that voters are genuinely excited to see a CANDIDATE, TALK TO THEM AGAIN. HE MEETS YOU WHERE YOU ARE.
11:04
11 minutes, 4 seconds
THAT'S WHY HE'S SO POWERFUL AS A CANDIDATE AND ON THE STUMP. AND IF I'M SEEING THAT IN TEXAS, IN DALLAS,
11:11
11 minutes, 11 seconds
IN
COMMUNITIES THAT I KNOW VOTE HARDCORE REPUBLICAN OR ALL OF THE DADS I
AND I THINK IT'S GOAL OR MAGA AND THAT TYPE OF PRESENCE IS
11:18
11 minutes, 18 seconds
BEING
FELT IN LITERALLY MY OWN BACKYARD THAT TELLS ME THERE'S SOMETHING VERY
BIG HAPPENING ACROSS THIS COUNTRY IN PLACES THAT WE'RE NOT EVEN THINKING
OF RIGHT NOW.
STANLEY,
N.M. — More than two decades after she was sexually abused at Jeffrey
Epstein’s New Mexico ranch, Rachel Benavidez is still waiting for
someone to be held responsible for crimes there.
She is among at least 10 girls and young women
who have alleged they were groomed or assaulted at Zorro Ranch,
Epstein’s gated compound, beginning in the late 1990s. Benavidez and
others said they were lured by promises of money or career help, then
found themselves trapped, surrounded by miles of dry grassland with no
neighbors in sight. They said they were groped, forced into nude
massages, assaulted with sex toys, raped. They overcame paralyzing fear
to share their ordeals again and again. And yet authorities have never
fully investigated what happened at the ranch.
Jeffrey Epstein bought Zorro Ranch in the early 1990s and built a mansion that was miles from its nearest neighbor.Adria Malcolm for NBC News
“Until
we are heard, until survivors are heard and believed, then I don’t
think there’s ever going to be any justice,” Benavidez, 52, said in a
recent interview, her first since the Justice Department in January released millions of documents that brought renewed attention to Epstein’s activities at the ranch, and missed opportunities to investigate them.
For more on this story, watch “Hallie Jackson NOW” on NBC News NOW today at 5 p.m. ET.
The
disclosures, including an unsubstantiated anonymous claim that two
“foreign girls” died during sex and were secretly buried on the
property, prompted state authorities to launch new investigations this
year — a criminal case led by the New Mexico Department of Justice and a
“truth commission” led by the state Legislature.
Benavidez
says she would willingly tell investigators what she endured. Even
though Epstein is long dead and his chief accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell,
is in prison, Benavidez says more people need to be held accountable.
“I
don’t think it’s too late for the truth to come out about people that
were involved and helped him and turned a blind eye to his crimes,”
Benavidez said. She has not publicly shared names.
Benavidez says she will tell her story to New Mexico authorities. Krysta Jabczenski for NBC News
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said he is committed to finishing an investigation that should have been done years ago. His office searched the ranch
in March, the first time law enforcement had done so. And he promised
to give survivors a safe place to share their experiences.
“We
are going to do everything we can to get to the bottom of what happened
there, follow every lead, no matter how uncomfortable it is or how long
it takes, and most importantly, we need to center the voices of victims
in this process,” Torrez told NBC News.
New
Mexico has long been treated as an undercard in the Epstein saga,
although allegations of abuse there date nearly as far back as
allegations in Florida and New York.
He
bought the ranch in 1993 and visited several times a year, often with
girls or young women. In 2008, he pleaded guilty in Florida to paying
underage girls for sex and cut a deal with prosecutors that spared him
serious jail time and ended a more expansive federal investigation that
included New Mexico. In 2019, federal authorities in New York arrested
him on a new set of charges that did not mention New Mexico. The New
Mexico Attorney General’s Office opened its own investigation of Epstein
that year, but stopped at the request of the prosecutors in New York,
ultimately sending them the case file.
Epstein returned to New Mexico after his jail sentence but was not required to register as a sex offender.Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office
Former
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, who led the 2019
investigation, said he expected the prosecutors in New York to share
evidence that could be used to charge Epstein with state crimes, but he
heard nothing from them — not after Epstein was found dead in a jail
cell in August 2019, nor after they secured a conviction of Maxwell in
December 2021.
Like the
sweetheart deal two decades ago in Florida, the missed opportunities in
New Mexico represent “a black eye in the justice system,” Balderas said.
“Not everybody’s case gets reviewed the same, and sometimes law
enforcement and prosecutors don’t do a good job at sharing information
and working together to get the conviction.”
Torrez
said he has asked the Justice Department for unredacted copies of
documents in the Epstein files that mention Zorro Ranch. The Justice
Department said it welcomed the new investigation and was ready to
provide help.
Benavidez, a
New Mexico native, first came to the ranch in late 1999 when she was a
22-year-old newly licensed massage therapist. She said she was hired
first to massage Maxwell, and later Epstein. She recalled the beauty of
the landscape as she drove to the ranch, which felt intimidating and
isolating. In an FBI interview, she described passing through security
and driving a winding dirt road to a mansion where she descended into a
basement-level massage room, passing pictures of topless women.
Zorro Ranch was one of Benavidez's first paying jobs after she graduated from massage school.Courtesy Rachel Benavidez
At
first, Benavidez said, Epstein and Maxwell seemed like eccentric rich
people with powerful connections who paid good money and could help her
find more opportunities. Her impression darkened as Epstein’s massages
turned aggressively sexual; Benavidez said he raped her. Ashamed and
scared, she said nothing. When she tried to turn down requests to
return, Epstein’s staff pushed her until she relented.
Benavidez says Ghislaine Maxwell groomed her for Epstein's abuse.Department of Justice
Benavidez
said that for a while she thought she was the only one being abused at
the ranch. “When I would go out there and I would see all these girls
who I thought were Victoria’s Secret models, there was no way he was
doing that to them,” she said.
This
went on for two years. She stopped going to the ranch when Epstein
asked her to sign a nondisclosure agreement, but the abuse haunted her,
sending her adrift. For a long time, she blamed herself.
She
kept the assaults a secret until Epstein’s 2019 arrest, when more
victims began speaking publicly. When she came forward, she met many of
the others, including five “survivor sisters” whom she leans on for
support. “They helped me to carry the weight of this very heavy issue.
Without them, I couldn’t do this,” Benavidez said.
Zorro Ranch has become a rallying point for victims, families and New Mexicans demanding answers. Adria Malcolm for NBC News
She has given interviews and talked to the FBI. The trauma, however, never goes away.
Benavidez
now works as a hospice nurse, a job she loves, and she does not want to
let Epstein take her attention away from her patients.
She still speaks because she wants to be part of an effort to expose Epstein’s enablers.
Seeing Epstein in the news triggers traumatic memories for Benavidez.Krysta Jabczenski for NBC News
“I
know that there’s co-conspirators, and there’s people even that I have
not named, that I believe were involved and knew what was going on,”
Benavidez said. “So I hope that they find the truth so those people can
be brought to justice and prosecuted.”
Hallie Jackson reported from Stanley and Jon Schuppe from New York.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
(RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You
can also access RAINN’s online chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help.
