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Elections GOP

GOP Hoping To Turn Kyle Rittenhouse Into A ‘Political Powerhouse’ For The 2024 Election

Earlier this week, Kyle Rittenhouse began a media blitz to promote his new book, Acquitted, and based on some of the statements he’s making along the way, in addition to how conservatives are once again embracing him, it appears the GOP has big plans for Rittenhouse’s political future.

Democratic strategist Max Burns notes in a piece he wrote for MSNBC that Republicans love the book, but they love the idea of launching Rittenhouse as a rising political star even more.

Rittenhouse’s new memoir isn’t a desperate attempt to remain relevant. It’s more like the opening charge of a well-funded public relations campaign designed to build Rittenhouse’s personal brand into a political powerhouse.

Former GOP congressman Joe Walsh agrees with Burns, remarking that Rittenhouse “has been on a quest to stay as relevant as he can, and there’s no doubt he appeals to a big part of the Republican base.”

“From day one, he’s been totally used by people on the right to raise money and get constituencies fired up. He’s making money putting his face out there for MAGA causes.”

It’s clear that Rittenhouse welcomes such overtures, as he entered the political fray by endorsing several right-wing GOP candidates, all of whom failed to get elected.

He has also been raising money by using his name and acquittal on murder charges to fight a civil lawsuit filed against him by the family of one of the men he gunned down in Kensoha, Wisconsin in 2020.

One of Rittenhouse’s many fundraising appeals garnered more $200,000 from sympathetic backers. In politics, the ability to raise that kind of money doesn’t go unnoticed for long, and Republican strategists were soon urging Rittenhouse to think about his political future.

As for his own political ambitions, the 20-year-old Rittenhouse is too young to run for Congress, but his age wouldn’t keep him from seeking a state office, which some have suggested he should consider, especially in a deeply red state like Texas.

In other words, expect to see Rittenhouse a lot in 2024. He’ll be endorsing candidates, raising money, and trying to vault himself into some position of power from which he can continue to build a future that doesn’t involve him having to do any real work.

 

Categories
GOP The Biden Administration

Buttigieg Has The Perfect Clapback To ‘Extremist’ Republicans Who Complain About Holiday Travel

As the nation prepares for Thanksgiving, which is traditionally one of the busiest holidays of the year, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has some advice for Republicans who are fond of complaining about the travel situation at this time of year: Don’t start whining because you haven’t done a damn thing to help alleviate the problem.

Speaking with reporters Monday, Buttigieg remarked:

“Bottom line is that, you know, in just two or three years, we’ve gone from people wondering whether the U.S. aviation sector as we knew it would survive to a mountain right now of record demand and record work going on to meet that demand.”

The secretary added:

“I need to stress that the progress I’ve discussed and the progress underway with regard to our aviation workforce, technology and infrastructure is not guaranteed. Every time extremist Republicans in Congress bring us to the brink of a government shutdown, it threatens to stop the momentum that we built around training and around protecting customer rights.”

“Every time they threaten to slash funding for DOT and short the FAA — and there’s a Republican proposal to do that on the cusp of reaching the House floor right now — it threatens to reverse all of this progress.”

Referencing a report from aviation experts that suggests the Federal Aviation Administration needs to hire more people and update its equipment, Buttigieg noted:

“So we’re doing everything we can with everything that we have. But if some voices in Congress got their way, we would have to freeze hiring new staff. We would be set back in modernizing computer systems, including the badly outdated system that forced the FAA to ground planes when there was an outage back in January. It would disrupt the progress that we’ve made. I’m certain that it would lead to more disruptions in air travel.”

In other words, until the Republicans get serious and fund the updates that need to be made, they should shut their mouths and endure whatever delays happen because they’re a big part of the problem.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Letitia James Mocks Trump’s Latest Fraud Defense By Calling His ‘Experts’ Nothing But ‘Golf Buddies’

As she has repeatedly proven over the course of the ongoing fraud trial against former president Donald Trump and the Trump Organization, New York Attorney Letitia James has a factual retort for every so-called defense Trump’s legal team puts forth.

One of those witnesses sounded like he was testifying for the prosecution, according to Business Insider.

When it comes to Donald Trump’s estimates of his net worth, “questionable” and “inconsistencies” are words you’d expect to hear only from his accuser, the state of New York.

But on Wednesday, Trump’s third day of presenting defense witnesses for his Manhattan fraud trial, an expert accountant took the stand in the former president’s defense for a second day and used these very words to describe the creative math at the center of the case.

“It’s certainly a red flag for me,” testified the expert, Jason Flemmons, referring to an internal Trump Organization spreadsheet from 2016 displayed on overhead screens in the lower Manhattan courtroom.

And then there was Steven Laposa, who admitted that he isn’t an expert on real estate appraisals.

Laposa said the attorney general’s approach to valuation was “flawed” because it relied on a market value analysis of Trump’s properties. He argued it should have been based on the investment value, which takes into account the owner’s investment requirements.

When Laposa returned to the stand Friday, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office asked him if he had any experience reviewing personal financial statements. Laposa said no.

That led AG James to lay waste to the Trump defense, which is crumbling almost as quickly as the Trump Organization itself.

In a video she posted online, James noted that most of the people testifying in Trump’s behalf aren’t experts at all. They’re just golfing buddies.

“We heard testimony from their many expert witnesses, but they weren’t real experts.

“We did learn something. Several of these experts are longtime friends and golf buddies of Donald Trump.”

James then focused in on why she didn’t believe a word Trump’s defenders had said in court and under oath.

“Their accounting expert has never once worked on the types of financial statements at the heart of Donald Trump’s fraud,” she explained.

“Their expert on real estate finance admitted that he not only lacks experience in valuing real estate, but he also does not have any experience with the accounting standards and personal financial statements that this case revolves around.”

Some of the witnesses, James continued, do other connections to Trump: They’ve donated money to him and been buddies for years.

“One has donated millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s campaign and his son even got married at Mar-a-Lago. Another is a member of Mar-a-Lago and several other Trump golf clubs.”

Tish James is a boss, and she’s got Donnie’s number.

 

Categories
Donald Trump Social Media

While Attending His Sister’s Funeral, Donald Trump Decided To Post Hateful Sh*t On Social Media

Today in New York, the family of Maryanne Trump Barry laid her to rest at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on the Upper East Side. Mrs. Barry, 86, was a retired federal judge, and her brother, former president Donald Trump, paid tribute to her earlier this week, posting on his failing Truth Social site:

“A truly beautiful woman, tall and elegant, with a presence like no other, she was also a tremendous student, intellect, and Judge, in charge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, just below the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Her life was largely problem free, PERFECT, until I made it difficult for her when I decided to run for President.

“The Fake News, and others, went after her mercilessly, and because of the fact that she felt it inappropriate, due to her position, to defend herself, it just never stopped!”

As usual, Donald just couldn’t resist making his sister’s death all about himself. Because in his twisted mind, the world revolves around him at all times.

While attending the Friday funeral, rather than acting like a mourning relative, the disgraced ex-president decided that he’d spew out hatred, posting video of a Trump supporter telling Fox host Brian Kilmeade that the indictments of Donald were “phony.”

That was followed by a video post of Fox contributor/right-wing hack Joe Concha with this note from Trump: “UNEQUAL JUSTICE ON THE BOXES HOAX!”

The “boxes hoax” is a reference to Trump’s prosecution for stealing and hiding classified documents. A few documents were also found at the residence of President Joe Biden, but he quickly notified authorities and cooperated fully with federal investigators. No charges will be filed against Biden.

How does Donald feel about the death of his sister? He’s outraged. Not that she’s dead, but because the law is catching up with him and he may wind up kicking the bucket in federal prison.

 

Categories
Congress GOP Viral Video

WATCH: Margie Greene Gets Brutally Schooled For Not Knowing How The Government Works

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) got her headed handed to her by a Democratic colleague when she snarkily suggested that the Democrat was too old to understand the way legislation is advanced in Congress.

During debate on a funding bill to keep the government from shutting down at the end of the week, Greene rose and remarked:

GOP showboats like Greene don’t know the first thing about legislating. All they want to do is obstruct and lead insurrections. And Margie is among the very worst of them.

 

“My Democrat colleague across the aisle, who’s 80 years old and has been here over 30 years, just said we’re on the verge of a shutdown. She probably just forgot that a few hours ago, she voted for the continuing resolution that will extend the budget, and we are not on the verge of a shutdown.”

While Greene was correct the House had passed the funding legislation, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) promptly gave her a lesson in how a bill becomes a law.

“It may be that the gentlelady doesn’t know that there is another body attached to the U.S. Congress called the United States Senate,” DeLauro said. “And they have to vote on the continuing resolution.”

“That may be a basic lesson in civics. There is the House. There is the Senate. And there is the president.”

GOP showboats like Greene don’t know the first thing about legislating. All they want to do is obstruct and lead insurrections. And Margie is among the very worst of them.