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Allies of Donald Trump have begun holding events in black communities where organizers lavish praise on the president as they hand out tens of thousands of dollars to lucky attendees.

The first giveaway took place last month in Cleveland, where recipients whose winning tickets were drawn from a bin landed cash gifts in increments of several hundred dollars, stuffed into envelopes. A second giveaway scheduled for this month in Virginia has been postponed, and more are said to be in the works.

What's wrong with rachel maddow?

Rachel maddow? Seriously?

But this was a pic of her celebrating her birthday. It wasnt at school. The school is acting like she broke the dress code or did some cardinal sin. What she wears or things she likes in private aint their business

and it was a lie. it is not being limited to white men, and they are actively trying to reach out to other demographics

Presently, Evryman retreats are mainly frequented by straight, white men. The group is working to attract more diverse participants.

He didnt even read the article he posted lol.

Bottling up emotions is never good and the fact that the people voting no havent got the balls to post says it all.

Sheffield (United States) (AFP) - In a chalet in the Massachusetts countryside, tears run down Lucas Krump's cheeks as he pours his heart out at one of a new kind of support group growing in popularity among American men.

"There were moments this year when I wanted to give up," the 40-year-old told the circle of participants, all tired of trying to live up to traditional male stereotypes.

The dozen men -- all white Americans ranging in age from their 20s to 60s -- were leading a retreat run by Evryman, a group that helps men shrug off the armor of masculinity to get in touch with their true feelings.

Like a sort of anti-"Fight Club."

Over the course of one weekend last month, no fewer than 55 men opened up about their weaknesses and insecurities at the chalet, as snow fell quietly in the woods outside.

"I am sad. I am afraid," says Michael. He wished he could tell his family how he feels, but finds it hard.

The groups are seeing a surge in attendance, reflecting a shift in attitudes and increased curiosity about what it means to be male, particularly among US millennials -- as well as growing debate about so-called "toxic masculinity" fueled by the #MeToo movement.

- 'Other ways to be' -

Another participant, Tom, is struggling to get over a recent breakup.

"I felt a lot of pain. I felt a lot of sadness," he says, as his fellow attendees look on with concern.

Participants share their experiences and take part in group and one-on-one workshops where they learn to deal with feelings of anxiety and anger.

Ryan Zagone has been attending sessions for six months.

"I grew up in Louisiana where the definition of a man is very narrow. Do you hunt or do you play football? And I didn't do either. I grew up feeling like an outsider," he said
"Coming here for the first time gave me role models of other ways to be as a man. How to be emotional in... a way that is powerful, loving, empathetic and at the same time strong," Zagone added.

- Take a risk -

Michael Kimmel, a sociologist who specializes in masculinity, says many American men today worry they are not doing as well as their father or grandfather and feel like they are living in a "straitjacket."

"We live in a society in which every other man is a potential competitor, for jobs, for money, for access, for power," he explained.

"So we don't look at each other as brothers, we look at each other as rivals. So when you have that kind of relationship, you feel isolated."

Other support groups providing men's workshops and regular retreats include Junto and ManKind Project.

The idea behind them is not new. Writer Robert Bly pioneered self-help books and therapy sessions for men in the 1990s.

But Owen Marcus, who helped structure Evryman's programs, says the sessions would never have been this popular 20 years ago.

"Younger men are much more open to this. They're more willing to take that initial risk," he told AFP.

- 'Meet men where they are' -

Evryman was founded in 2016, predating the #MeToo movement ignited by the Harvey Weinstein scandal in late 2017.

But the group and others like it have been brought into focus by the global reckoning on sexual misconduct, which has caused many men to question their own behavior.

Evryman co-founder Dan Doty, says its purpose is not to deal directly with "toxic masculinity" but that the issue is never too far away.

"We need to meet men where they are and not come in and say, 'Hey, what you're doing is terrible.'"

Zagone believes men cause hurt because they themselves are hurting.

"So men having the ability to go deep into that hurt, to feel

Seriously think trump is the greatest thing that ever happen. It exposes the hypocrisy on left. Can't wait for the truth to come out.

Trump will eventually be the death of the Republican Party as we know it. It all depends on how long they want to keep the drunken bender going before waking up to the mother of all hangovers.

On the topic of Van Drew, Richter is much more forthright. Ive talked to a lot of voters in the last month and I can tell you, overwhelmingly and not by a close margin, theyre not ready to back Jeff Van Drew, he said.

Of course there will be those who simply follow the presidents lead, he noted. But I think most people probably have a wait-and-see attitude, which is, Well, hes got to prove to me that hes really Republican now, and this just wasnt done opportunistically, which I dont think hes going to be able to prove, because thats exactly what this is, Richter said.

Ron Filan, Van Drews campaign manager, said in a statement, If David has any question as to Congressman Van Drews relationship with the voters of South Jersey, Id invite David to sign up for a ticket and see the response Jeff Van Drew gets when President Trump comes to support him in Wildwood later this month.

Richter is doing what any textbook would probably advise at a moment like this: Drum up ones lifelong Republican bona fides. Remind voters of all the times the other guy stood with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Stay optimistic that Republicans in this district care about the issues and the principles they believe in.

But this is not a textbook time.

At a gathering of local Republicans at a Margate City restaurant this week, Richter introduced James Toto, a Somers Point councilman who was among the first officials to endorse him.

Toto should say hes still all in for Richter. That Van Drews switch meant nothing, that of course hed love to oblige the president, but that he already pledged his support elsewhere.

But after Richter walked away, Toto, leaning against the bar, admitted he was no longer so sure.

I support our president. And this is what the president wishes, he said of voting for Van Drew.

Toto then clutched his chest. How, he asked, do I go against what the president stands for?

AVALON, N.J. President Donald Trump has few reservations about undermining members of his own party, and David Richter was no exception.

Richter, a millionaire former chief executive of one of the nations largest construction companies, for months had been considered the front-runner in the 2020 Republican primary for New Jerseys 2nd Congressional District.

But that all changed Dec. 19, when the districts incumbent, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, one of three Democrats to vote against impeachment, appeared in the Oval Office with Trump. Van Drew announced he was leaving the Democratic Party to become a Republican and he had won the presidents endorsement in the process.

I assumed I was going to win, and win handily. And that all gets upended, Richter said in an interview at his home in Avalon. Donald Trump did what was in the best interest of Donald Trump.

The endorsement was hardly a day old before Richters institutional support began to crumble. His top advisers phoned in their apologies and said they were headed to work for Van Drew. The National Republican Congressional Committee scrubbed Richter, 52, from its 2020 Young Guns program, which is meant to highlight rising stars in the party.

Richter has remained in the race, but he now finds himself campaigning ostensibly in support of both the man and the institution that rejected him. As even longtime Republican lawmakers can attest, the merest dissent against this president can wreak havoc on ones career, often in the form of 280 characters.

Richter, whose political life has conversely just begun, is already running as Trumps roadkill.

There had been no classes on this when Richter attended Harvards Kennedy School what to do when your presumed general election opponent, once denounced by Republicans for his socialist policies, is suddenly your partys hero, beaming alongside the president in an Oval Office chair typically reserved for visiting heads of state.

It didnt matter that in his one term in Congress, Van Drew had stuck with Democrats on issues like Trumps border wall, or that hed endorsed Sen. Cory Booker for president. What mattered was that Trump had spoken.

Hes not only running against Jeff Van Drew now, Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to the president, said of Richter. Hes running against President Trump, too.

Richter said he wasnt bothered by the NRCC snub. (The benefit I saw from Young Guns, other than a news release, was close to zero, he said.) But even a rookie like him could understand that his apparent new distance from the president was less than ideal, especially in a district where Trump is incredibly popular among Republican voters.

To exist in the Republican Party today is to be defined, more than anything else, by ones relationship with the president and to accept that political survival often means maintaining it. Which is probably why, even as Richter dutifully proclaimed his commitment to seeing the race through, he quietly signaled his openness to an exit route.

In mid-December, as rumors circulated that Van Drew was planning to switch parties, Richter reached out to contacts in Trumps orbit including Bill Stepien, a Trump campaign official and New Jersey native. Stepien, as well as two others who spoke with Richter and requested anonymity to share private conversations, said Richter had stated his intention to stay in the race but would consider dropping out and running in New Jerseys 3rd Congressional District instead if he were promised financial support, the presidents endorsement and a public request to jump into the other race. One of the people who spoke to Richter said he was still waiting to hear the White Houses response to his offer.

Richter recalls those exchanges differently. I have had several conversations with people close to the White House, and that topic did come up, but I did not initiate it, he said. I also stated clearly that I did not have an interest in changing districts and I intended to continue pursuing the Republican nomination in the 2nd District. But I did say that if the White House or the Trump campaign wanted to have a dialogue with me about anything, I was willing to engage in a dialogue.

Conway said the White House hopes Richter will consider other ways to help the party. We want Mr. Richter to remain engaged and be included, she said. There are many ways to contribute short of running for Congress.

In some ways, Richter and the Trump world have been at odds from the beginning. It was Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, and Stepien who helped orchestrate Van Drews party switch. They began laying the groundwork in late October after Van Drew voted against formalizing the impeachment inquiry, one of just two Democrats to do so.

The nudge Van Drew needed came from his own polling, which showed support among Democratic voters in his district cratering if he ultimately voted against impeaching the president. Conway, who is also from South Jersey, was one of his first calls. On the night of Dec. 12, he told Conway, who was standing next to Christie at the time, that he was ready to pull the trigger. The plan was finalized in the White House residence the next morning: Van Drew would break with the Democrats on impeachment and join the president shortly after to announce his new affiliation.

Richter, for his part, remains careful to temper his criticism of the White House, and to clarify that he understands why Trump made the decision he did, and to say that he doesnt fault him for it. He credits the ordeal as yet another byproduct of the swamp, a tale of what happens when leaders like Van Drew are no longer loyal to their principles.

Asked if he believes Trump has stayed loyal to his principles, Richter paused. No comment, he said, then backtracked. And I dont want no comment to be my answer. No answer.

Ugh hes such a stupid fucking child