In observance of the start of the 2024-25 school year, the anti-gun-violence nonprofit Artist For Action has launched launches a new campaign entitled, “Not That Lucky” in partnership with NEON and IPG Health.

The campaign’s photo makes an unmistakable reference to the assassination attempt on former President Trump, featuring a photo of a teenaged female with a bandage over her ear and the caption, “Not everyone is that lucky.”

Artist for Action to Prevent Gun Violence designed to inspire people to volunteer, donate and vote to end the epidemic of gun violence plaguing the United States. Artists involved include Billie Eilish, Sheryl Crow, Peter Gabriel, Nile Rodgers and more. AFA offers a platform to engage in gun violence prevention and launched last year with a series of concerts and events, including a performance by Bush and special guests at New York’s Irving Plaza. 

Each day 12 children die from gun violence in America and another 32 are shot and injured. In this culturally relevant campaign, images of children of various ages and backgrounds, generated by AI, portray the epidemic of gun violence in US schools and highlight how this growing crisis doesn’t just impact one age group or race. The ads include the thought-provoking phrase, “Not everyone is that lucky.” 

Led by musician Mark Barden, whose son was one of the 26 people murdered in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, the organization also includes the Pixies, LP, Old Crow Medicine Show, Halestorm, Rozzi, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town and more.

“After my son Daniel was murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I put my career as a professional guitarist on hold to devote myself to preventing gun violence,” Barden said. “Please join me and hundreds of other artists, musicians, actors, athletes, and people like you to finally end this senseless violence.”

Billie Eilish said for last year’s campaign, “As a community of Artists, we need to band together to make common sense change.” 

“This needs to stop,” said Peter Gabriel.  “So many needless deaths. So much suffering. It just needs a little common sense.” 

According to the Gun Violence Archive, 2023 is likely to be the deadliest year of gun violence on record, with the U.S. now averaging more than one mass shooting a day. Artist for Action’s mission is to prevent gun violence by forming a coalition of musicians to act and help reduce and eliminate the epidemic of gun violence in America. The platform, available here, makes it simple for artists to activate fans to get involved with gun violence prevention and other life-enriching grassroots organizations in their communities and take direct action.

It’s always the end of the world for the Make America Great Again movement. Ever since Donald Trump’s escalator ride in 2015, there’s been zero nuance to the MAGA message. “Only I can fix it,” the leader roared to thunderous applause upon accepting the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

But especially since Vice President Kamala Harris became the likely Democratic nominee, MAGA messaging has gone from overwrought and hyperbolic to absolutely hysterical and apocalyptic.

Trump’s most prominent boosters have been speaking of an imminent totalitarian government, end times and literal biblical demons.

Trumpists wave off any and all criticism as unworthy of discussion, bad-faith accusations from minds afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome. And yet, deranged is the only appropriate descriptor of the rhetoric emanating from MAGA land’s loudest megaphones. It’s Trump and some of his closest allies and most prominent boosters who have been speaking of an imminent totalitarian government, end times and literal biblical demons.

These people include podcasters with massive, fiercely dedicated audiences. Titans of industry. Religious extremists with political ambitions and close ties to Trump world. And the richest man in the world.

In just the past week, popular MAGA pundits warned that Harris is “Hitler and Stalin combined but times 200,” and also a “commie” who will choose a running mate who supports “allowing men to beat up women in the Olympics.” They also expressed outrage over the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics as the end of “Western civilization,” and singled out one woman on a Zoom fundraiser call for Harris’ campaign as another harbinger of end times.

Then there was the billionaire Trump supporter who finally freed himself from the burden of pretending he’s not MAGA, Elon Musk, bringing back one of his favorite apocalyptic buzzwords, “extinctionist,” to describe Harris. (And because he’s a serious adult, he called her “Shamala.”)

Musk once generally reserved that term for environmentalists — or really anyone concerned about climate change. But he’s since expanded the definition to anything that involves the mysterious and horror-movie-sounding “woke mind virus.” In 2023, Musk told Joe Rogan, “It’s essentially the extinctionists. It is that they’re propagating the extinction of humanity and civilization.”

It’s hard to argue what’s “most disturbing” among these deranged comments from very angry people, but a worthy contender came from Lance Wallnau, the influential Christian nationalist who has the ears of both Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson. He likened the first Black and Indian woman to be nominated for president by a major party to Jezebel — a spirit with demonic powers. In case he wasn’t driving the point home with just the name, Wallnau clarified that Harris represents “the spirit of Jezebel … in a way that’ll be even much more ominous than Hillary because she’ll bring a racial component and she’s younger.”

There’s only one with politically influential figures using this election season to prophesize about Jezebels and explicitly making it about race and gender.

The MAGA right hasn’t cornered the market on ridiculous and irresponsible hyperbole in politics. Left, right and center are all capable of taking liberties with facts, hyping the fear factor and exaggerating the stakes.

But of all American political tribes, there’s only one with politically influential figures using this election season to prophesize about Jezebels and explicitly making it about race and gender. Or literally warning of the imminent end of the world because of a Marxist conspiracy to smuggle totalitarianism on an unsuspecting public through environmentalism.

This was once the content you’d find on the furthest, most ridiculous fringes of the AM radio dial. And they are what remains of the brain trust of the MAGA movement.

The first Trump presidency — right up to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and ultimate incitement of a riot at the Capitol — was consistent in the fact that the only people who stayed until the end were the true believers. Anyone with a modicum of independence was jettisoned, forever.

The aforementioned MAGA influencers are worthy of ridicule, sure, but they’re more worthy of thoughtful, diligent scrutiny, because they’d be guiding forces of what might pass for principles in a second Trump administration.

Anthony L. Fisher

Anthony L. Fisher is a senior editor and writer for MSNBC Daily. He was previously the senior opinion editor for The Daily Beast and a politics columnist for Business Insider.

WASHINGTON — The judge overseeing the election interference case against former President Donald Trump denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the indictment, though she added that he could ‘file a renewed motion once all issues of immunity have been resolved.” 

In the Saturday filing, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan also scheduled an August conference with the defense and prosecution to teams to determine a schedule for pretrial proceedings on Aug. 16. 

Chutkan’s move comes one month after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump has some level of immunity for the conduct related to the case. The high court sent the case back for lower courts to determine what conduct Trump could be prosecuted for.

The Supreme Court also ruled that any of Trump’s conduct that is determined to be official — and therefore immune — cannot be admitted as evidence during a trial.

Trial proceedings before Chutkan had been paused as the case made its way to the Supreme Court.

Now that the case is back with Chutkan, the judge will ultimately determine what aspects of Trump’s conduct as alleged in the indictment were official and therefore immune from prosecution.

Both parties now face an Aug. 9 deadline to file a status report to Chutkan regarding a proposed schedule for pretrial proceedings. The status report is supposed to be jointly filed to the extent that both sides can find common ground. That would require that the sides meet to discuss a proposed schedule, which is typical in federal cases.

It remains unclear when the case may move forward to a trial.

Trump is not required to attend the Aug. 16 meeting.

Trump and his lawyers had repeatedly argued that the former president had prosecutorial immunity for actions he took on and before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The former president and his allies praised the Supreme Court’s ruling, while Democrats slammed it.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.