When I heard about Senator Graham’s death last night, the first thing I thought about was not all the things he said and did in service of Donald Trump. I thought of the time before Donald Trump when he was a brother to Senator John McCain.
A time when senators from different parties could fight about politics and still be friends. A time when a conservative Republican from South Carolina could say of my father: “If you can’t admire Joe Biden as a person, you’ve got a problem. He’s the nicest person I’ve ever met in politics. As good a man as God ever created.”
That is the Senator Graham I will remember today. Not because I have forgotten what came after. Because in that memory there is hope. Hope for a country where brothers can fight like hell over policy and still share a meal, and a laugh, and the loss of the people they love.
I will choose to remember the time before Trump. Because I believe in an America after Trump.
🇺🇸 Donald Trump is going to lift the ban on mailing handguns directly to homes. That helps GrabAGun, the online gun store his son has a stake in. He’d rake in billions.
In any functioning democracy, this would be called massive corruption and He would have faced at least 2 years in jail.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have donated $26M to more than 20 charities this week ahead of their reported New York wedding. The recipients include:
• City Harvest (New York City)
• Food Bank for NYC
• New York Cares
• Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
• Harvesters – The Community Food Network (Kansas City, MO)
• The Store (Nashville, TN)
• Helping Harvest (Reading, PA)
• Rhode Island Community Food Bank
• Feeding America (National)
• ASPCA (National)
• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (National)
• Grammy in the Schools (National)
• Education Through Music (New York, NY)
• Answer the Call (New York, NY)
• Musical Mentors (New York, NY)
• After-School All-Stars (New York, NY)
• After-School All-Stars (Cleveland, OH)
• MSK Kids, the pediatric cancer program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (Children & Teen and Adolescents & Young Adult programs)
• Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone
• Children’s Mercy Hospital (Kansas City, MO)
https://t.co/pB1Vz5ZtiN
On June 19, 1865, African American communities in Galveston, Texas, finally learned of their freedom from slavery — two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect.
For 161 years, Juneteenth has been a day of remembrance for the freedom that was delayed. It is also a celebration of the joy and resilience that flourished despite that delay.
The contributions of African Americans, whose struggle for freedom shaped our nation, are immeasurable. Yet too many Black families continue to bear the brunt of an affordability crisis that has pushed them out of the neighborhoods and communities they've built.
True freedom has a tangible impact on daily life: the ability to afford housing, earn a living wage, put food on the table, support a family, and create a future for generations to come.
As we celebrate today, we must recommit ourselves to ensuring this freedom is fully realized.
Happy Juneteenth, New York City.
With $300 billion, we could end homelessness, fund cancer research for 40 years, and give every child free pre-K for over 7 years. Instead, Trump is sending it to Iran. This is not America First. Not even close.
Twins from Brazil are traveling with their father for the World Cup. After stopping in New York, they are now visiting Philadelphia. I asked them their impressions of the city. This was their response…