GOP Watch Keeping an Eye on Republicans for You - Page 11“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
How stupid do republicans believe we are? Millions of people listen to Rap Music and play Video Games If Rap Music and Video Games caused mass shootings there would be a lot more mass shootings every day.
Murjani RawlsSenate Republicans will blame anything else if it means getting away from passing common-sense gun control legislation. Despite the evidence that lowering the gun purchase age to 18 in his own state allowed the gunman to buy the weapon used in the Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) cited rap music and video games as reasons shootings keep happening. If this reasoning sounds familiar to you, it should. This is the same explanation politicians gave after the Columbine shooting – pointing to trenchcoats, rock and rap music, and video games as culprits instead of the broad access to guns. Rep. Jackson offered his thoughts and prayers during an interview with Fox News and said there would be discussions “in the media regarding Second Amendment rights.” From there, Jackson shifted the blame towards rap music and video games.
Cheryl TehRep. Mo Brooks said this weekend that he would not support any new gun control restrictions, arguing that people would need their guns if they ever had to take back power from a "dictatorial" government. "The Second Amendment is designed to help ensure that we, the citizenry, always have the right to take back our government should it become dictatorial," he said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. Sandra Smith, the show's host, had asked Brooks if he was open to changes being made to existing gun laws in the wake of last Tuesday's mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. "As long as we enjoy un-infringed Second Amendment rights, then we don't really have to worry that much about the government ever becoming dictatorial," Brooks said.
Erin Mansfield and Candy Woodall, USA TODAYCongressional candidate Joe Kent took to Twitter last summer to repeat a racist theme that has become commonplace in the country’s immigration debate and upcoming elections. “The left is supporting an invasion of illegal immigrants to replace American voters and undercut working class jobs,” Kent wrote. Then in the spring, in an interview with a white nationalist group, he nodded along as the host said Democrats don't care about the "Anglos" or "the founding stock of America." “You believe they’re trying to replace white Americans?” the host asked. “Yes,” Kent responded. “Yeah, and they’ll say, if you even mention that, you’re some sort of a neo-Nazi, white nationalist, ‘That’s the replacement theories.’ Well, no. You’re literally trying to replace an American.” Backed by former President Donald Trump, Kent is a Republican from Washington seeking to take a seat in Congress from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach the former president for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Republicans push laws to protect the unborn, but refuse to pass laws to protect born.By Eric Bradner and Jeff Zeleny, CNNHouston CNN — Former President Donald Trump and other GOP leaders rejected efforts to overhaul gun laws and mocked Democrats and activists calling for change Friday at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention. The gathering this weekend in Houston is taking place 280 miles east of the South Texas town of Uvalde, where 19 children and two adults were killed by a gunman at an elementary school Tuesday. Hours before top Republicans were scheduled to speak in Houston, law enforcement officials in Uvalde acknowledged that they had waited too long to breach the classroom where a gunman was shooting children and teachers. But those mistakes, and their ramifications on proposals to place more armed police and teachers in schools, went unmentioned in speeches by Trump and other Republicans. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott canceled his planned appearance at the NRA convention and instead pre-recorded a video in which he was dismissive of calls for gun reforms. “Remember this: There are thousands of laws on the books across the country that limit the owning or using of firearms, laws that have not stopped madmen from carrying out evil acts on innocent people in peaceful communities,” he said.
BY EWAN PALMERAnumber of Republicans are still scheduled to attend a National Rifle Association event in Houston, Texas, just days after the Uvalde school shooting. The NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) Leadership Forum will be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center from Friday to Sunday. The annual event by the pro-gun lobby group is being held as the debate on gun reform in the country has been reignited in the wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, which left 19 children and two teachers dead, as well as criticism of the influence the NRA has over lawmakers in the country. As with previous years, the NRA meeting will feature a number of Republicans as guest speakers, as well as the NRA's head, Wayne LaPierre, and Jason Ouimet, the executive director of the group's lobbying arm. The biggest name scheduled to speak is Donald Trump, who confirmed he will still be attending the event despite it being held just days after the Uvalde massacre.
By Matthew Chapman | Raw StoryOn Friday, The Washington Post reported that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was one of several lawmakers who wrote to the Biden administration in September demanding an end to the embargo on Russian ammunition imports. "The group sent a letter dated Sept. 3 to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen accusing the administration of using the sanctions as a means to enact gun control measures and arguing that it would exacerbate a shortage of ammunition," said the report. "'Wholesalers, retailers, small businesses, gun owners, and shooting sportsmen rely on ammunition imported from Russia and are rightfully concerned that this is an attempt at gun control,' the lawmakers wrote in the letter." The sanctions were first imposed in response to the 2020 poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok. He survived this attempt but was imprisoned on dubious charges upon returning to Russia. 'Two weeks before the letter was sent, the lobbying arm of the NRA wrote about the sanctions, calling it an 'overreach' and 'crusade against law-abiding gun owners' by the Biden administration," said the report. "The letter mirrors the same points the NRA made in its article. The organization wrote that it is exploring all of its legislative, legal and policy options to block the policy."
By David MorganWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans blocked a bill titled the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act in Congress on Thursday that Democrats view as a response to a white supremacist's killing of 10 Black people this month and a potential gateway to a gun control bill. Two days after another mass killing of 19 young children and two teachers at a Texas school, senators voted 47-47 along party lines, short of the 60 senators required to launch debate, to reject the bill authorizing federal agencies to monitor and report jointly on domestic terrorism within the United States, including incidents related to white supremacy. Republicans said the legislation was unnecessary as Democratic President Joe Biden already had the authority to organize his administration's response to violent extremism. Democrats insisted the bill was needed to bolster the federal government's response to rising incidents of violent extremism at home. The outcome, which had been expected, cut off the chance for any immediate action on gun-control legislation to address a rising tide of mass shootings in the United States. Senators were due to leave Washington for a one-week Memorial Day holiday break.
By Daniel Dale and Andrew Kaczynski, CNN(CNN) Herschel Walker, the former football star who is now the Republican nominee for a US Senate seat in Georgia, is piling dishonesty upon dishonesty on the subject of his college education. In December, Walker's campaign website falsely claimed that he had graduated from the University of Georgia, the school he left after his junior season to play professionally. (Walker's campaign deleted the claim after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution inquired about it.) In April, CNN's KFile team revealed that Walker himself had made the false graduation claim for years -- and that Walker had even asserted that he graduated in the top 1% of his University of Georgia class. But when Walker was challenged about his graduation deception in an interview last week with FOX 5 Atlanta anchor Russ Spencer, Walker declared he had never once said he graduated from the University of Georgia. Spencer told Walker that he has a "phenomenal life story," but that "in some instances you've exaggerated that story. You said that you graduated from UGA..." Walker interjected: "I never said that. They say that. And I said -- that's what you gotta remember. I never, I never have said that statement. Not one time. I've said that I studied criminal justice at UGA."Facts First: Walker's claim that he "never" and "not one time" said he graduated from the University of Georgia is flat out false. Walker said on camera at least twice that he graduated from the school. Walker's promotional materials have also featured the false claim that he graduated.
Matt NovakAmass shooter killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday. And Republican politicians took to Twitter in the wake of this tragedy to express their condolences. But if you look closely, you’ll notice something odd. Many of the messages were identical, as though they’re all just copying and pasting the same tweets from the last mass shooting. There seems to be a formula for how right-wing politicians are now responding to mass shootings on social media that goes something like this: I am [HORRIFIED, HEARTBROKEN, ETC] at the senseless tragedy in [LOCATION] today. We are [LIFTING THEM UP IN PRAYER, PRAYING FOR THEM] and thank the heroic efforts of [POLICE, FIRST RESPONDERS, ETC] on the scene. That’s it. No promise that laws will be passed to help stop these mass shootings from happening again; no recognition that the U.S. is the only wealthy country in the world where mass shootings happen frequently; no acknowledgement that children in other countries don’t have to participate in active shooter drills. The only thing politicians can muster is “thoughts and prayers” and “thank God for our cops.”
Fatma KhaledRepublican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia recently complained about the focus on white supremacists and suggested that America should focus on other issues. "Jerrold Nadler was on the House floor and he was talking about white supremacy," she said during an appearance on Real America's Voice, Raw Story reported on Sunday. Greene was referring to Democratic New York Representative Jerrold Nadler's remarks on the House floor on May 18 where he called for a stricter response to hate crimes. "And he [Nadler] was bringing up the terrible shooting that happened in [Buffalo] New York, but totally ignoring the shooting that happened in California that I think involved an Asian man that was the shooter," she added in an apparent reference to the California church shooting in Laguna Woods last week that left one dead and 5 others injured. Authorities said that the suspect is an "Asian man in his 60s" who was later identified as David Wenwei Chou.
Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus, and Kabir KhannaWith midterm primaries helping set the direction for the Democratic and Republican parties, most Americans, including many of the parties' own voters, aren't terribly happy with the parties or what they're talking about. Given that Sunday's CBS News poll finds most aren't happy with the direction of the country either, the major political parties aren't providing much solace. For starters, the Democratic Party — which controls Congress and the presidency — is not seen by a majority as either "effective" or "in touch," which are, no doubt, important measures for a party in power. The Democratic Party is more apt to be described as "weak," a label applied by a slight majority of Americans, than it is "strong." The Republican Party, for its part, is described by a slight majority as "extreme," a term Americans apply to the GOP more so than to Democrats, though neither really escapes the label. Independents are more likely to call the GOP extreme. The GOP is described as "strong" more often than as "weak," but it is also described by Americans more often as "hateful" than as "caring" — by double digits.
salarshani@businessinsider.com (Sarah Al-Arshani)Republican senators are trying to block legislation that passed in the House that would give more government resources towards preventing domestic terrorism following a fatal shooting at a Buffalo supermarket, the Hill reported. On Wednesday, the House narrowly passed the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022 mostly along party lines, with a 222-203 vote. The legislation would create offices at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the FBI that would track and investigate domestic terrorism threats. The passage in the House came days after a gunman opened fire at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people. Authorities said the suspect, an 18 year-old white man, drove hours to the predominantly black community and was motivated by hate. The suspect is allegedly a white nationalist who believes in the replacement theory, according to a manifesto posted online.
mjankowicz@businessinsider.com (Mia Jankowicz)Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy said that the state's poor maternal mortality rate is only an "outlier" because of the high proportion of Black women in the state, according to Politico. Cassidy's comment was featured in Politico's in-depth exploration of Louisiana's maternal death rates, which are among the worst in the country. The state ranks 47 out of 48 states assessed for maternal deaths, state officials said. Cassidy told the outlet that this is partly because "about a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. "So, if you correct our population for race, we're not as much of an outlier as it'd otherwise appear." He continued: "Now, I say that not to minimize the issue but to focus the issue as to where it would be. For whatever reason, people of color have a higher incidence of maternal mortality." Overall, according to Louisiana's Department of Health, "four black mothers die for every white mother" in the state. It outpaces a three-to-one ratio nationwide, which is already the worst in the developed world, Politico reported.
David CovucciThe Daily Dot has obtained a radio interview from Jan. 6, 2021, from WBHF in Cartersville, Georgia, in which Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) says, “about a dozen” people were present in his congressional office in Washington, D.C. the day before the Capitol riot. Yesterday, Loudermilk said in a statement that “a constituent family” visited him the day before the Capitol riot. That is an updated version of a previous statement by Republicans on the Committee On House Administration—which Loudermilk is a member of—that originally stated “there were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on" given by him or other Republicans in advance of the Capitol riot. But in the interview—given as the riot was winding down—Loudermilk made it clear that he met with people who were planning to protest on Jan. 6, and that he discussed how they wanted to be in the crowd that day to protest the results of the 2020 election. Yesterday, the January 6th Select Committee sent a letter to Loudermilk, requesting his testimony. In the letter, they noted that “Republicans on the Committee on House Administration ... claimed to have reviewed security footage from the days preceding January 6th and determined that '[t]here were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on.' However, the Select Committee’s review of evidence directly contradicts that denial.” Loudermilk, as has become the norm for the GOP, has repeatedly downplayed his party’s involvement in the day.
By BRIAN SLODYSKO, Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — Herschel Walker, the football legend and leading Republican Senate candidate in Georgia, often boasts of his work helping service members and veterans struggling with mental health. In interviews and campaign appearances, the former Dallas Cowboy and Heisman Trophy winner takes credit for founding, co-founding and sometimes operating a program called Patriot Support. The program, he says, has taken him to military bases all over the world. “About fifteen years ago, I started a program called Patriot Support,” Walker said in an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt last October. “People need to know I started a military program, a military program that treats (thousands) of soldiers a year,” he told Savannah TV station WTGS in February. But corporate documents, court records and Senate disclosures reviewed by The Associated Press tell a more complicated story. Together they present a portrait of a celebrity spokesman who overstated his role in a for-profit program that is alleged to have preyed upon veterans and service members while defrauding the government.
Lee MoranAlocal Colorado news anchor reminded viewers of Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) past open embrace of the racist “replacement theory” that reportedly inspired the massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, last weekend. “There are some conservative political figures that will hint about this theory or speak about it in code. And then there’s Colorado’s Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert,” Kyle Clark said on Denver’s 9News this week. Clark cut to footage of Boebert talking just last year about the baseless conspiracy theory that claims Democrats are trying to replace white Americans with immigrants.
Dave GoldinerJ.R. Majewski, a far-right-wing Republican congressional candidate from Ohio, called for states who supported former President Trump’s failed bid for the White House in 2020 to secede from the U.S. The MAGA candidate vying to unseat Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) said after the 2020 election that conservative states have little choice but to leave the union, CNN reported. “Every state that went red should secede from the United States,” Majewski said on a live stream app. “I don’t think it sounds out there.” Republican candidate J.R. Majewski is running for Congress in Ohio. Majewski, an open adherent of the QAnon conspiracy theory, said the action was necessary because the liberals who voted for President Biden in record numbers are “f---ing psychotic.”
Julia ConleyAdvocates for independently-owned businesses warned that restaurants, gyms, and other Main Street businesses across the U.S. will be forced to close in the coming months after Republicans in the Senate on Thursday blocked a $48 billion package to provide relief to owners who have struggled to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. The bipartisan Small Business Covid Relief Act (S. 4008), which was meant to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) passed last year, was cosponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., but still failed to get more than five Republican senators to support it. The vast majority of GOP lawmakers claimed that helping locally-owned restaurants and bars to stay open and continue employing people in their communities would worsen inflation and contribute to the deficit, with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., saying on the Senate floor that "dumping more money in the economy is simply pouring $5-a-gallon gas on an already out-of-control fire." As a result, said Erika Polmar of the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC), "we estimate more than half of the 177,300 restaurants waiting for an RRF grant will close in the next few months."
C.C. McCandlessOKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KNWA/KFTA) - An Oklahoma Republican candidate running for a U.S. Senate seat has promised to disestablish reservations in the state if he is elected. Alex Gray, a former staffer in the Trump White House administration, is seeking to fill the seat that will be vacated by 87-year-old Sen. Jim Inhofe’s upcoming retirement. Gray is one of ten Republicans running in the special election primary that will be held on June 28. Justices to hear Oklahoma appeal in tribal jurisdiction case. Gray voiced his views in a series of social media posts following a May 6 radio interview during which he made it clear that he planned to disestablish the reservations created by a Supreme Court of the United States ruling on his “very first day as a US Senator.”
By Bob Brigham | RawStoryRep. Madison Cawthorn suffered further humiliation on Thursday after calling for a "Dark MAGA" movement to defeat "cowardly and weak" Republicans. Cawthorn's comments came to days after he became the youngest Republican congressman to lose a primary. "There are other National figures who I believe are patriots, but I am on a mission now to expose those who say and promise one thing yet legislate and work towards another, self-profiteering, globalist goal. The time for gentile (sic) politics as usual has come to an end," he wrote. "It’s time for the rise of the new right, it’s time for Dark MAGA to truly take command." "We have an enemy to defeat, but we will never be able to defeat them until we defeat the cowardly and weak members of our own party. Their days are numbered. We are coming," he threatened. Cawthorn's statement generated a great deal of commentary online. "Dark MAGA has been a growing concept among very online Trump supporters this spring. Basically it means you stole the election from us, NOW we're going to be bad," explained Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer. "Dark MAGA is an aesthetic built around glorifying ultraviolence and imagined revenge of Trump and allies against those who... uh... voted against him I guess," explained fact-checker Brooke Binkowski. "It should be watched."
Sky PalmaA new report says there's a faction of Trump supporters on the rise, labeling themselves with the hashtag #DarkMAGA. According to Newsweek's Giulia Carbonaro, Dark MAGA is a "post-alt-right aesthetic that promotes an authoritarian version of Trump in dystopian, Terminator-like images. In some, the Trump Tower is painted entirely in black and the former president is seen piercing through the screen with blue laser eyes." Dark MAGA supporters are reportedly rooting for a ruthless version of Trump to take form and carry out revenge against his enemies who defeated him in 2020. The Global Network on Extremism & Technology (GNET) says the #DarkMAGA hashtag creator's description claims the movement represents "Napoleon, being exiled, and then raising a f****** army to attack Europe to attack the elites." "#DarkMAGA is the aesthetic demand that Trump embrace a harder and more focused approach to the role only he can fill. He was too kindhearted, too forgiving. Dark MAGA demands he learn from his mistakes," wrote another Twitter user.
Joan BiskupicThere was a little seen warm moment between Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas last November 1, just before the Supreme Court heard arguments on Texas’ abortion ban. Roberts announced that 30 years ago on that exact date, a ceremonial investiture for Thomas had been held. Thomas, sitting to Roberts’ right, beamed and slung his arm over the chief’s shoulder. That collegiality in the courtroom, filled with only a few dozen spectators because of Covid-19 protocols, has vanished. The two justices are now engaged in an epic struggle over a new abortion case that could mean the end of Roe v. Wade nationwide and unsettle the public image of the court. Last week at a Dallas conference, Thomas took a surprising, public jab at Roberts. Thomas has long touted the good relations inside the court and avoided public criticism of colleagues. He might not always have embraced his colleagues, but he avoided letting any enmity slip. Thomas last week recalled the court atmosphere before 2005, when Roberts joined, and said, “We actually trusted each other. We may have been a dysfunctional family, but we were a family, and we loved it.” Thomas’ blunt remarks suggest new antagonism toward Roberts and added to the uncertainty regarding the ultimate ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, expected by the end of June.
Associated PressBUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Dozens of prominent conservatives from Europe, the United States and elsewhere gathered Thursday in Hungary as the American Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, was held in Europe for the first time. The two-day conference reflects a deepening of ties between the American right wing and the autocratic government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The burgeoning alliance with Orbán has led some U.S. commentators to warn of American conservatives allegedly embracing anti-democratic tactics. “Orbánization,” it’s been called. During his 12 years in power, Orbán, has generated controversy in the European Union for rolling back of democratic institutions under what he calls an “illiberal democracy,” but garnered the admiration of some segments of the American right for his tough stance on immigration and LGBTQ issues and his rejection of liberal pluralism. The burgeoning alliance with Orbán has led some U.S. commentators to warn of American conservatives allegedly embracing anti-democratic tactics. “Orbánization,” it’s been called. During his 12 years in power, Orbán, has generated controversy in the European Union for rolling back of democratic institutions under what he calls an “illiberal democracy,” but garnered the admiration of some segments of the American right for his tough stance on immigration and LGBTQ issues and his rejection of liberal pluralism.
American far right has long embraced Hungary’s prime minister, who speaks of Europe’s ‘suicidal’ immigration policiesFlora Garamvolgyi and Julian BorgerHungary’s nationalist leader, Viktor Orbán, will be the star speaker at an extraordinary session of America’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to be held in Hungary this week, in an effort to cement bonds between the radical right on both sides of the Atlantic under the banner of the “great replacement” ideology. In a speech on Monday, Orbán made explicit reference to the ideology, which claims there is a liberal plot to dilute the white populations of the US and European countries through immigration. Increasingly widespread among US Republicans, the creed was cited by the killer who opened fire on Saturday in a supermarket in a predominantly black area of Buffalo, New York. Speaking in Buffalo on Tuesday, Joe Biden called it a “perverse ideology” and “a lie”.
Las Vegas SunNo one knows better than Nevadans when it’s time to put our cards on the table. The Editorial Board, and Nevadans as a whole, are facing an agonizing problem. We have endorsed Republicans in the past and might do so again in the future. Yet as we survey the field of Republican candidates across the state, we are struggling to identify those who are not an active threat to American democracy or the institutions of government that have sustained our republic for 250 years. Those are the stakes here for the GOP. For Nevada. For our voters. Following his loss in the 2020 election, President Donald Trump told the Big Lie – that the election had been stolen from him by cheaters, frauds and a country hell-bent on keeping him out of office. Despite countless investigations and audits, no significant fraud or electoral irregularities were ever discovered. But the words had been spoken. The lie was told. Two months later, on one of the darkest days in U.S. history, we learned just how far the lie had traveled and just how important it might be. Following a rally at the White House, a violent insurrection took hold at the U.S. Capitol with the goal of overthrowing the duly elected government of the United States and stopping the peaceful transition of power. At least seven people died in connection with the attack, according to a congressional report, including three police officers who were simply doing their job.
David Jackson, USA TODAYWASHINGTON - Donald Trump-style Republicans in more than 30 states are pushing new laws that basically would make it easier for them to steal future elections, according to a new report provided to USA TODAY by a group of voting rights organizations. "This trend increases the risk of a crisis in which the outcome of an election could be decided contrary to the will of the people," said the report compiled by three organizations: States United Democracy Center, Protect Democracy, and Law Forward. Victoria Bassetti, a senior adviser with the States United Democracy Center and one of the authors of the report, described the efforts as "election subversion," and called the idea a "new and dangerous attack on democracy." With 50 proposals passed since the organizations started tracking them at the start of 2021, Bassetti said that "systematic election subversion like we have found is really new." The 2022 edition of an annual report – entitled "A Democracy Crisis In The Making" – said proponents are pursuing election subversion through five methods: Awarding state legislatures the power to award electoral votes; authorizing post-election "audits" that could be partisan in nature; giving partisan lawmakers and appointed officials more powers over election operations; placing "unworkable burdens" on election administrators; and intimidating election officials with the threat of criminal penalties for certain actions.
By Bob Brigham | Raw StoryCiting the suspension of Rudy Giuliani's law license by the state of New York, an activist organization seeks to have Sen. Ted Cruz disbarred over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. "The complaint against Mr. Cruz, filed by a group called the 65 Project, focuses on baseless assertions by Mr. Cruz about widespread voting fraud in the weeks between Election Day in 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021, as well as his participation in lawsuits protesting the results in Pennsylvania," The New York Times reported Wednesday. "The 65 Project’s advisers include the Hillary Clinton ally David Brock and Paul Rosenzweig, a conservative and former Republican who worked on the Ken Starr special prosecution team investigating the Clintons. The 65 Project was formed to hold accountable lawyers involved in a series of lawsuits seeking to undermine President Biden’s victory in 2020." The complaint argued, "just as Mr. Giuliani has been disciplined for his conduct, so should Mr. Cruz." The complaint also noted a case involving "coup memo" author John Eastman.
Claire GoforthA North Carolina congressional candidate is going viral for claiming she "never ran anyone over" or "hit them in the head with a frying pan." Republican Sandy Smith won her primary on Tuesday for North Carolina's 1st District. Smith's win resurfaced her extremely specific tweets denying allegations that she assaulted previous spouses. "I never ran over anyone with a car and I never hit anyone in the head with a frying pan," Smith tweeted on May 11. "If I did that don't you think I would be in jail? All of these #FakeNews allegations have been dismissed by a judge and the people peddling these lies will PAY when I take them to court." Smith's tweets are based on opposition research published by her former opponent. The research included accusations of domestic violence against her, including hitting a former spouse with a frying pan.
American far right has long embraced Hungary’s prime minister, who speaks of Europe’s ‘suicidal’ immigration policiesFlora Garamvolgyi and Julian BorgerHungary’s nationalist leader, Viktor Orbán, will be the star speaker at an extraordinary session of America’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to be held in Hungary this week, in an effort to cement bonds between the radical right on both sides of the Atlantic under the banner of the “great replacement” ideology. In a speech on Monday, Orbán made explicit reference to the ideology, which claims there is a liberal plot to dilute the white populations of the US and European countries through immigration. Increasingly widespread among US Republicans, the creed was cited by the killer who opened fire on Saturday in a supermarket in a predominantly black area of Buffalo, New York. Speaking in Buffalo on Tuesday, Joe Biden called it a “perverse ideology” and “a lie”.
Ed MazzaAformer Homeland Security official in the Trump administration who later turned into one of the former president’s critics has quit the Republican Party, saying the GOP can’t be saved. Miles Taylor, who was the agency’s deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff from 2017 to 2019, wrote on Twitter:
Jon SkolnikLast month, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., went on Fox News to deliver a diatribe about the apparent ills of open borders, a policy that President Biden has never supported but was nevertheless cited by the senator as an attempt to "remake the demographics of America." But now, in the wake of a deadly mass shooting carried out by white supremacist who echoed a similar sentiment, Johnson's comments are coming back to bite him, with many commentators arguing that the senator supports a racist conspiracy theory that's likely to lead to more violence in the months to come. The uproar stems from a shooting this weekend in Buffalo, New York, where ten people were killed and three were injured as part of a racially-motivated attack on a predominantly Black neighborhood in the city. Prior to the attack, the 18-year old killer, Payton Gendron, published a 180-page manifesto online, making multiple references to the "Great Replacement," a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory alleging that the Democrats are attempting to loosen borders in order to replace the white electorate with more pliant citizens from the Third World.
Fox News and Republican lawmakers are up in arms that the Biden administration is caring for babies at the border during a formula shortageBy WILLIAM VAILLANCOURTThere’s a baby formula shortage in the United States. Republican lawmakers and conservative media members are taking frustration out on immigrants. Fox News hosts have spent the past 24 hours raising hell over immigrant babies at the U.S.-Mexico border receiving formula, arguing that it should instead be distributed to Americans first. “[For] American families there’s a shortage, but if you’re a migrant, don’t worry because Uncle Sam has a stash of that,” Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy said Friday morning.
By Tom Boggioni | Raw StoryAccording to a report from the Daily Beast, a frantic Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) clashed with FBI investigators who were assisting the Florida Republican's father who was being blackmailed \-- and then ran to Fox News and lied about it to make the FBI look bad as news broke that he was also under investigation. As the Beast's Roger Sollenberger wrote, an FBI report details agents' interactions with the younger Gaetz on the day that it was being reported that he had allegedly been sending money to an associate who in turn was reportedly passing along the cash to young women for sexual favors -- raising questions about sex trafficking. According to the FBI report, investigators were meeting with the lawmaker's father, Don Gaetz, a former president of the Florida Senate, who was being victimized by blackmailers who claimed they had dirt on his lawmaker son, when the younger Gaetz burst in on their meeting. As Sollenberger wrote, as the elder Gaetz was handing a recording device back to the investigators while asking them to collect more evidence when his son Matt lashed out at the agents.
Matt ShuhamThe white supremacist mass shooter who targeted Black shoppers at a supermarket in Buffalo Saturday, after writing in a manifesto that he was doing so because whites were being purposefully replaced by people of color, was acting on a rich vein of conservative thought. Right-wing pundits and politicians have for years accumulated money and power with the message that a liberal elite was systematically “replacing” white Americans in order to wrest power from Americas’ historic racial majority. The notion is commonly referred to as “great replacement theory,” “white replacement theory” or “white genocide,” and it’s been inspiring shooters and bolstering Republicans for years. After the shooting, some major proponents of that assertion doubled down. Others claimed the attack was a staged “false flag” or the work of shadowy government insiders, a typical dodge.‘It Is A FACT’One of the highest-profile Republicans to voice a version of the replacement theory is Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. Last year, Stefanik said in a campaign ad that Democrats wishing to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants wanted to “overthrow our current electorate.” The policy amounted to a “PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION,” Stefanik said.
Igor DeryshRep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., accused Republican leaders of enabling "white supremacy" after a shooter who espoused "Great Replacement" theory talking points embraced by some in the GOP killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket on Saturday. Police say a white 18-year-old gunman livestreamed his attack on a Tops store in Buffalo, killing 10 and injuring three others. The suspect posted a so-called manifesto online detailing his plan to target a Black community and discussing his white supremacist ideology. The suspect wrote that he was motivated by the "Great Replacement" theory boosted by Republican lawmakers and Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson, arguing that immigration is being used to replace and diminish the influence of white people. Cheney, who served as the No. 3 Republican in the House before she was ousted by her party for criticizing former President Donald Trump, called out GOP leadership for boosting a conspiracy theory that inspired not only the Buffalo shooter but other mass shooters as well. "The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism," Cheney wrote on Twitter. "History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them."
Analysis by Philip BumpIt was about a year ago when Fox News’s Tucker Carlson first eagerly ripped off the mask. “I know that the left and all the little gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term ‘replacement,’ if you suggest for the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World,” he said in April 2021. “But they become hysterical because that’s what’s happening, actually.” This was an explicit evocation of a line of argument, once confined to the right-wing, white nationalist fringe, called “great replacement theory.” The idea, as Carlson makes clear, is not simply that immigration to the United States could reshape American politics but that some cadre of elites is intentionally encouraging that to happen. That there was a sinister plan to literally “replace” native-born Americans with immigrants.
Extremist ideology has found favor with media figures like Tucker Carlson and also with elected politicians and others seeking officeRichard LuscombeThe massacre by a white supremacist gunman of Black shoppers at a Buffalo grocery store has drawn renewed scrutiny of Republican figures in the US who have embraced the racist “great replacement theory” he is alleged to have used as justification for the murders. Born from far-right nationalism, the extremist ideology expounding the view that immigration will ultimately destroy white values and western civilization has found favor not only with media figures, such as the conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson, but a host of elected politicians and others seeking office. Those who have convinced themselves Democrats are operating an open-door immigration policy to “replace” Republican voters with people of color and keep themselves in power permanently include Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, chair of her party’s House conference, and JD Vance, the Donald Trump-approved Republican nominee to represent Ohio in the US Senate.
By Michael LucianoAs he occasionally does, J.D. Vance appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight, where he discussed illegal immigration with the host. At one point he echoed Great Replacement theory, which was first advanced by a far-right French author who claimed elites are replacing Europe’s White population with non-Whites. It has since been adopted by some conservatives in the U.S. In his efforts to out-MAGA the Republican primary field in the U.S. Senate race in Ohio, Vance has done a complete 180 from his fervent anti-Trump stance not that long ago. On Thursday, Tucker Carlson noted that the U.S. is sending military assistance to Ukraine, but is not deploying soldiers to the southern border with Mexico. “Without even weighing into the question of how and to what degree we oughta be supporting Ukraine in its efforts to get the Russians out of their country, why is no one trying to get the invasion of the United States to stop?” Carlson asked Vance. “And why is using U.S. military, in which you serve, a crazy idea?”
Marianna SotomayorRep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the No. 3 House Republican, and other GOP lawmakers came under scrutiny Sunday for previously echoing the racist “great replacement” theory that apparently inspired an 18-year-old who allegedly killed 10 people while targeting Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo. The baseless conspiracy theory claims that politicians are attempting to wipe out White Americans and their influence by replacing them with non-White immigrants. The theory was cited repeatedly by 18-year-old shooting suspect Payton Gendron in an online document that appeared to have outlined his intention to carry out his planned attack in Buffalo because of its significant population of Black people. Eleven of the 13 people shot at a Tops Friendly Markets store on Saturday were Black, according to police. While Stefanik has not pushed the theory by name, she and other conservatives have echoed the tenets of the far-right ideology as part of anti-immigrant rhetoric that has fired up the Republican base ahead of the midterm elections.
Ewan PalmerAtweet from Florida Representative Matt Gaetz calling a racist conspiracy pushed by Tucker Carlson "correct" has reemerged in the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. The September tweet from Gaetz, in which the congressman praises Carlson for explaining "what is happening to America," has been reshared online after the "Great Replacement Theory" was cited as an apparent motive for an 18-year-old gunman to kill 10 people and wound three others at the Tops supermarket on Saturday. Gaetz, along with a number of other GOP lawmakers and Carlson, has been widely criticized for helping push the far-right claim that white Americans are purposely being replaced as the dominant race in the country by minorities and immigrants for political gain. "Tucker Carlson is CORRECT about Replacement Theory as he explains what is happening to America," Gaetz tweeted while sharing a Guardian article about the Anti-Defamation League calling for the Fox News host to be fired for discussing the claim on his prime time show. "The ADL is a racist organization," Gaetz added. Gaetz's tweet has reemerged as people accused him of inflaming racial tensions following Saturday's shooting, in which almost all of the victims were Black. While retweeting the original post, SiriusXM radio host and columnist Dean Obeidallah said: "Here's Matt Gaetz in WRITING helping radicalize the Buffalo Terrorist. Others in GOP also helped radicalize the terrorist EXACTLY like ISIS recruiters do with repeating of lies over and over with the goal being action."
Great Replacement Theory and its rhetoric is seeping into conservative media. The GOP should instead be inspired by Frederick Douglass and Jack Kemp.Ben JealousThe mass shooting in Buffalo has drawn attention to the deeply pernicious "Great Replacement Theory," a theory boosted by the Far Right and its allies at Fox News and some conservative media. Tragically, the GOP, the party of Lincoln, is making the same mistakes the old Democratic Party did after the Civil War. They are becoming a party whose modern legacy is being defined by violent white supremacists. If we are ever going to stop this sort of home-grown white supremacist terrorism, it is going to take all of our leaders doing everything they can. It is time for national Republicans to go to Buffalo and reflect on the racist mass killing there, as well as the lives of great Republicans Frederick Douglass and Jack Kemp, who were both connected to that area.
By Darragh RocheVideo of the late Senator John McCain (R-AZ) saying that Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was working for Russian President Vladimir Putin has garnered renewed attention online after Paul single-handedly blocked a vote on a new aid package to Ukraine on Thursday. A C-SPAN video of McCain's remarks in 2017 was shared to Twitter on Thursday by patient advocate Peter Morley, Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko and other social media users. "So I repeat again - the senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin," the late senator said in the short video. In the clip, McCain was discussing NATO membership for the Balkan nation of Montenegro. Paul had blocked a vote to ratify a treaty that would have allowed Montenegro to join the U.S.-led military alliance by refusing to agree to unanimous consent. During those remarks on the Senate floor in 2017, McCain said that Paul "has no argument to be made. He has no justification for his objection to having a small nation be part of NATO, that is under assault from the Russians."
By Eric GarciaRepresentatives Dan Crenshaw and Marjorie Taylor Greene feuded on Twitter after the two Republican members of Congress took different votes on an aid package to Ukraine. On Tuesday, the House passed a $40bn aid package to Ukraine. Every Democrat present voted for the legislation, while 57 Republicans voted against the package, including Ms Greene. Other Republicans who voted against the legislation included Representatives Paul Gosar of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. But the feud began when Mr Crenshaw, a Texas Republican who lost an eye while serving in Afghanistan, tweeted about how the Biden administration was supposedly letting drugs pour across the US-Mexico border. In response, someone criticised him over his vote for the Ukraine package.
Republicans say on thing but do another. Republicans say they do not want government interfering with businesses; however, their actions are to interfere with businesses.Mariella MoonTrade industry groups representing tech giants, such as Google and Facebook, have filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court to block HB 20. That's the controversial law Texan law that bars social media websites from removing or restricting content based on "the viewpoint of the user or another person." It also allows users to sue large platforms with more than than 50 million active monthly users if they believe they were banned for their political views. As The Washington Post reports, it reflects Republicans' claims that they're being being censored by "Big Tech." A federal judge blocked HB 20 from being implemented last year, but the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision recently. The panel of judges agreed with the state of Texas that social networks are "modern-day public squares," which means they're banned from censoring certain viewpoints. One of the judges also said that social networks aren't websites but "internet providers" instead. The panel allowed the law to take effect while its merits are still being litigated in lower court.
Michael LucianoCampaigning for David McCormick for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) mocked Republicans who suck up to former President Donald Trump to advance their political careers. Really. Cruz appeared to be taking a shot at McCormick’s opponent, Mehmet Oz, who has been endorsed by Trump. Oz has frequently touted Trump’s support in debates, rallies, and television appearances. The senator famously called Trump a “sniveling coward” after Trump made a personal attack against the senator’s wife during the exceedingly ugly 2016 Republican primary. Trump also implied that Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. However, Cruz ultimately backed Trump in the general election and subsequently sought and received his help in getting reelected to the Senate in 2018. Yet, this week he needled politicians for trying to out-Trump one another.
Are some Republicans trying to help Russia by slowing down help to Ukraine?Paul KaneOnce belittled by then-President Trump as a “third-rate grandstander,” Rep. Thomas Massie is used to tilting at political windmills. In early March, the Kentucky Republican was one of just three lawmakers to oppose the first piece of legislation designed to show U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against an invading Russian army, a familiar lonely spot for the libertarian-leaning lawmaker frequently at odds with his party’s leaders. But on Monday, Massie spoke to Trump for the first time in more than two years — and received the former president’s endorsement in the May 17 Kentucky primary. And on Tuesday, 56 Republicans joined Massie in opposing the latest push to send arms to the Ukrainian forces. “It’s growing by the week,” he told reporters in an impromptu 20-minute conversation off the House floor Friday. He suggested the price tag so far was “insane” and that sanctions against Moscow only increase inflation. “More and more people are agreeing with that.” Massie, 51, is the only member of the House to hold a perfect 16-for-16 record opposing legislation to support Ukraine and oppose Russia, according to House records and a Democratic analysis provided to The Washington Post.
Natalie OganesyanSen. Ted Cruz derided Republicans who obsequiously support Donald Trump while campaigning for Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick, seeming to not grasp the irony of his words. Following his comments, Twitter users took to social media to call out Cruz's previous backing of Trump, despite the fact that the former president had infamously made a personal attack against his wife. "Just once, I'd love to see a Republican candidate stand up in a primary and say, 'I am a moderate, establishment squish. I stand for absolutely nothing,'" Cruz lightheartedly told attendees. "It would be refreshingly honest at least. But nobody says that. And by the way, they all pledge their love for Donald Trump. 'I love Donald Trump.' 'No, no. I love Donald Trump more.' 'No, no, I have Donald Trump tattooed on my rear end.'" The latter comment prompted an audience member to shout, "Let's see it!" to which Cruz responded, "I like you but not that much."
Is Rand Paul trying to help Russia by slowing down help to Ukraine?BY ZOE STROZEWSKISenator Rand Paul said that the U.S. doesn't need to be a "sugar daddy" for Ukraine while speaking about his move to block the quick passage of a new aid package for Ukraine worth about $40 billion. Paul, a Republican lawmaker from Kentucky, made the comments Friday while speaking on The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show. "It's sort of the same argument that President Trump made. Everybody needs to step up, but the NATO allies need to step up and we don't need to be the sugar daddy and the policemen of the world that we have to do everything," he said. Paul blocked a fast-tracked vote Thursday for aid package for Ukraine over his objections that the bill itself did not include the creation of a special inspector general to monitor how the aid is spent. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell both offered to allow an amendment vote on Paul's requested change, but Paul said that he wanted the language to be added into the legislation.
Ed MazzaJimmy Kimmel called out Republicans as they continue to push their war on women’s rights ― while also noting that other nations are moving in the opposite direction. Spain, for example, is now offering three days of paid leave for women who have severe menstrual pain. “Meanwhile, here in the USA, Republican leaders in Washington are writing a bill that says if a woman has her period in the workplace, she is guilty of witchcraft and should be captured in a burlap bag and cast into the sea,” he said.
Steve BenenWhen writing legal opinions of great importance, it’s not uncommon for Supreme Court justices to reference others’ work and scholarship. Jurists will often cite previous justices, prominent historical figures, and legal history to bolster their conclusions. There’s nothing wrong with this. On the contrary, these citations are often helpful in shedding light, not just on what the justices believe, but also how they arrived at their decisions. With this in mind, Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has received careful scrutiny, not just because of the sweeping impact it would have on American health care, law, politics, and civil rights, but also because of the sources the Republican-appointed justice turned while building the foundation for his reasoning. For example, Alito made multiple references in his draft to Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th century British jurist whom the conservative justice described as a “great” and “eminent” authority on common law.
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