Category: GOP

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GOP U.S. Senate

New Questions Arise About Lindsey Graham After A Trump Ally Says He ‘Knows About’ The Senator

Something very strange is going on in South Carolina, and it could well have profound implications for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R), who just so happens to be the senior senator from the Palmetto State.

Recently in Hampton County, South Carolina, the state’s GOP chairman, Drew McKissick, was accosted by attorney Lin Wood, whose claim to fame is that he filed some of the most bizarre and batshit crazy lawsuits seeking to over the 2020 election and have federal courts declare failed, one-term former President Donald Trump the victor, even though he lost by 7 million popular votes and 74 Electoral College votes to President Joe Biden.

Wood is running to unseat McKissick as head of the South Carolina Republican Party, and during his confrontation with the current chairman, he suddenly dropped the Sen. Graham’s name.

In the clip below, Wood tells McKissick:

“I know about you and Lindsey. You need to get out of the race now. Nothing can stop what’s going to come.”

McKissick responds:

“You are supporting Chinese pornography. So just get your stuff off the internet buddy.”

Wood then repeats his original statement:

“I know about you and Lindsey.”

To that, McKissick tells Wood:

“You don’t know anything.”

Later in the clip, Wood is again trying to suggest that something is about to break that will supposedly be detrimental in one way or another to Graham and McKissick:

“It’s going to come out. You need to accept that.”

But McKissick remains undaunted:

“Hey, bring it on out buddy. Come on. I’m here. I’m right here. Come on. Bring it on. Come on. Come on. Come on.”

Once more, Wood reiterates his nebulous threat:

“I don’t think you want to bring it out but it’s going to come out. You and Lindsey. It’s going to come out Drew. I’m trying to tell you.”

What’s going to come out? That remains unclear; Wood didn’t give any specifics, and he’s known to be fond of conspiracy theories.

But Wood’s ranting has set off speculation once again that there’s something Lindsey Graham is hiding. Some have suggested Russia may have kompromat (compromising material) that proves they have given payoffs to Graham. There has been no evidence of this and it’s little more than speculation.

And there’s also the longtime whispers that the 65-year-old, never married Graham is a closeted gay man who is terrified coming out would be the end of his career in a state as conservative as South Carolina.

Whatever Lin Wood is referring to, this sort of negative publicity isn’t the least bit helpful to Graham or the GOP, and if Wood does indeed have some sort of information that would implicate Graham in something unsavory, it could do serious damage to other Republicans allied with the senator.

It’s going to come out, Lin Wood insists. We’ll just have to wait and see what in the hell he’s talking about.

 

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GOP GOP Whining Joe Biden Taxation The Biden Administration

Chris Christie Claims Biden’s Tax Increases Are ‘Socialism’ And Gets Slapped Down By Angela Rye

You can tell that former New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie is planning to run for president in 2020 because he’s already using the “socialism” scare word when discussing President Joe Biden’s planned capital gains tax cut to fund infrastructure programs.

But while Christie was spouting talking points, he quickly got his head handed to him by Democratic strategist Angela Rye, who told him and Republican operative Sarah Fagan:

“I think it’s so rich to hear folks talking about Joe Biden’s far-left agenda. If it is too far left to sign 60 executive orders overturning the hatred that was in Donald Trump’s executive orders — at least 23 of them — if it is far left to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, if it’s far left to end the Muslim travel ban, if it is far left to restore the partnership with the World Health Organization then I think most of the country is far left.”

That led Christie to claim that Biden’s proposals aren’t popular with the American people. What he neglected to mention is that a recent poll showed 59% of those surveyed said they support the Biden infrastructure program:

“Look, we can set up strawmen and say he overturned this executive order but that’s not what we’re talking about. The capital gains issue is nothing more than income redistribution. It’s socialism.”

Rye could be heard laughing as Christie spoke, and she was more than ready for him, slapping him down with this retort:

“It’s so interesting to hear this allegation of socialism,” she said. “I know these are buzzwords that work very well with the Republican Party so congratulations for using them this morning.

“But we have people in a pandemic that you said wouldn’t matter by the time you get to the fall, and on the left there’s a conversation happening about student loan debt. How much should be forgiven? $50,000 vs. $10,000. And we’re talking about a capital gains increase when you all just had basically the reparations we’ve been asking for [in] your last tax proposal. So I don’t even understand what we’re talking about here.”

One other thing on capital gains taxes: The vast majority of Americans never have to pay them. The wealthiest taxpayers do. And taxing them won’t do any long-term damage to the economy, despite what conservatives try to claim.

Nice try, Chris, but Angela Rye made sure your lie was exposed and countered with facts.

Here’s the video from ABC News:

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Corruption Crime GOP Justice Department

Here’s How Merrick Garland Is Becoming Every Republican’s Worst Nightmare

Though he’s only been on the job for a few months, Attorney General Merrick Garland has already made it clear that he plans to start dismantling some of the most disgusting tenets of the Trump administration and run the Department of Justice (DOJ) in strict adherence with the U.S. Constitution.

For example, the DOJ announced recently that it would be restoring the use of consent decrees for abuses committed by police departments across the country:

“In easing restrictions placed on the use of consent decrees, the Justice Department is making it easier for its prosecutors to use the tool to force changes at police departments and other government agencies with widespread abuse and misconduct.”

The DOJ under Garland is also going after longtime Trump stooge Roger Stone, who owes nearly $2 million in back taxes to the IRS. Justice filed suit against Stone demanding immediate repayment of the money he and his wife owe the government, which means that Stone can either comply or face imprisonment for failure to comply.

Those two moves alone are antithetical to everything Republicans have been pushing for the past four years with Trump as president: That police can abuse or kill anyone and get away scot-free and that friends of the Donald are immune to facing any consequences for their actions. Under Trump, the GOP ran roughshod over the rights of anyone who wasn’t on their side while coddling those who supported their neo-fascist agenda of hatred, scapegoating, and grift.

What does this tell us about what to expect from Merrick Garland and the DOJ in the months ahead? Well, consider what remains on the agenda:

  • The conclusion of an investigation into the January 6 Capitol insurrection, which could well result in criminal charges being filed against Donald Trump and his son, Don Jr., along with some Congressional Republicans such as Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.
  • A second look at the Russia investigation and the release of the full, unredacted report from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller
  • Possible criminal charges against the Trump family, the Trump Organization, and others associated with the Trump corporation.
  • Charges being filed against Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon, and other close Trump associates who may have served in the administration, i.e. Stephen Miller.
  • Filing suit against states such as Georgia and Texas that have passed new voter suppression legislation.
  • A return to the rule of law without interference from the White House and in accord with the way things are supposed to be done.

Attention, Republicans: The days of lawlessness that existed for you under Trump are over with. Merrick Garland is going to flush some of you right down the crapper.

 

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Donald Trump Elections GOP

Republican Donors Have A Favorite For 2024 – And It’s Not Trump

As a narcissist, Donald Trump thinks the world revolves around him, including the political world and any future election.

So it should come as no surprise that the failed, one-term former president believes he’s the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination.

But based on what’s happening behind the scenes among the megadonors who will play a major role in helping decide the 2024 GOP nominee for the White House, Trump shouldn’t be expecting to have an easy ride three years from now.

According to Politico, major donors have their eye on Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida:

“As the Republican Party charts its path forward, national donor interest in DeSantis is skyrocketing. Major givers across the country are lining up to support the governor’s 2022 reelection effort, with some committing to hosting fundraising events and others plowing funds into his campaign bank account. In the past two-plus months alone, DeSantis has received six-figure contributions from Republican megadonors including Bernie Marcus, Paul Tudor Jones and Steven Witkoff, who in March held a high-dollar fundraiser at his lavish Miami Beach home.”

Despite the early enthusiasm for DeSantis, the Florida governor isn’t a guarantee to win reelection in the Sunshine State, where many voters say they believe he’s badly mishandled the coronavirus pandemic and may have sold vaccines to the highest bidder as they were rolled out across the nation by the Biden administration.

A recent poll taken in Florida shows that in a hypothetic matchup with the most likely 2022 Democratic nominee, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, DeSantis is running dead even. That’s not exactly a comfortable position for an incumbent in a state that’s becoming more diverse and trending blue in many of the largest cities.

The polls haven’t deterred those who are early boosters of the Florida governor, with Joanne Zervos, a New York City donor, remarking:

“[He’s] a nicer version of Trump.”

That’s another problem DeSantis will have to face: His close association with Trump, whom the governor has supported since his days in Congress. If he’s running against Trump, how will he distance himself from the former president? And, conversely, how will DeSantis sell himself to independent voters who see him as an eager lickspittle for the Donald?

It’s a long way to the next presidential election. And while Ron DeSantis may be garnering rave reviews among conservatives right now, a lot can change in the months ahead. He could wind up being nothing but the flavor of the month.

 

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Congress Elections GOP

GOP Congressman Says He’s Convinced Lauren Boebert Knew About The Jan. 6 Attack In Advance

A member of the House Republican caucus is speaking out and letting it be known that the GOP in its current form has utterly capitulated to the lies and lunacy of former President Donald Trump, and that he cannot sit still and watch as his party is destroyed without sounding an alarm.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) has long been a critic of Trump, but remarks he made to The New York Times Magazine are some of the harshest yet, with the Illinois congressman noting:

“I made the decision early in my career that I would be willing to take a potentially career-ending vote. But I thought that vote would be for something like a Social Security reform bill. I never thought it would be for defending democracy.”

The vote Kinzinger took to defend democracy was when he voted to authorize the creation of a bipartisan commission to examine what happened on January 6 and who is responsible for the Capitol insurrection which left five people dead.

Kinzinger was especially critical of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA):

“Kevin gave a great speech the week after that, and then he went to Mar-a-Lago and charged the paddles and brought Trump back to life. That’s the moment when I realized, Oh, man, this is a problem. You come to understand that when the party and party leaders talk about unity, and in the same breath, say that Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party, what they’re talking about isn’t unity. They’re talking about capitulation. When under the guise of unity, you act like Jan. 6 was just whatever you want to make of it, that is capitulating to a false narrative and to a dangerous attack on democracy. I will certainly talk to Kevin if he wants to. But I don’t see how we’re ever going to come eye-to-eye on this until there is a recognition that we can’t be the party of insurrection.”

And yet the GOP has indeed become the party of insurrection, with almost no Republicans being willing to say what needs to be said: That what transpired on Jan. 6 was a direct attack on the United States and an abomination that must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Of special concern to Kinzinger is the fact that he suspects there are current Republicans in Congress who knew what was going to take place on the fateful January day, yet didn’t say a word or warn their colleagues or the authorities:

“I will say, if you just looked at Twitter — the whole reason I brought my gun and kept my staff home and told my wife to stay in the apartment was looking at Twitter. I saw the threats. When Lauren Boebert — I will call her out by name — tweeted ‘Today is 1776,’ I don’t know what that meant other than this is the time for revolution. Maybe it was a dumb tweet that she didn’t mean. Fine. I’ll give her that credit for now. But if you have members of Congress who were involved in nurturing an insurrection, heck yeah, we need to know.”

Fortunately, a select committee is now investigating what happened on Jan. 6. And if it finds that some members of Congress did indeed have advance knowledge of the attack, they need to be booted from their seats and handed over to the Justice Department for prosecution.