Tag: GOP

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Crime Donald Trump GOP Ron DeSantis

Indictment Of Trump Could Leave Ron DeSantis With ‘An Unenviable Dilemma’: Report

If indeed failed former president Donald Trump winds up being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury this week, it could wind up putting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in a no-wing position.

Even though Trump’s attorneys have said he will show up in Manhattan to be booked and processed if indeed he is charged in New York, there remains a chance he might refuse to surrender, which would set off a chain of events that could wind up forcing DeSantis to make a decision that could hurt his chances of being the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, the New York Times reports.

While the law is definitely on the side of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg when it comes to demanding that Trump show up for his perp walk, fingerprinting, and mug shots, there’s always the chance Donald will dig in his heels.

What if Trump refuses? What if he says he won’t leave his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida?

That’s where DeSantis would have to make a choice: Follow the law and extradite Trump or refuse to cooperate. If he does the former, he risks alienating millions of loyal Trump supporters. And if he doesn’t hand over the ex-president, he looks like a lawless pawn who is afraid of the Donald.

“Surrender, some might argue, is not in the confrontational former president’s DNA, and he often seems to relish antagonizing and attacking the prosecutors who have investigated him,” the Times explains. “In the unlikely event that the former president refuses to surrender, he would put Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, his leading but undeclared rival for the Republican nomination, in an awkward political position. Under law, the role of Mr. DeSantis would be essentially ministerial and he would have few legal options other than approving an extradition request from New York.”

“Still, if New York prosecutors sought Mr. Trump’s extradition, Mr. DeSantis would face an unenviable dilemma. He would be compelled to choose between authorizing an arrest warrant for Mr. Trump and inflaming his base, or attempting in some way to aide his Republican rival, and possibly face legal action as a result.”

Ron DeSantis is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Ironically, Trump may wind up destroying DeSantis and his presidential aspirations before any debates are held or ballots cast.

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Congress Domestic Terrorism GOP Kevin McCarthy WTF?!

Kevin McCarthy Orders House Committees To Run Interference For Trump If He’s Indicted

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Saturday that if former president Donald Trump is indicted next week in Manhattan as expected, he wants the relevant House committees to “immediately” determine if any federal funds have been used to investigate the failed ex-president.

McCarthy made his intentions clear via a posting on Twitter.

“Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump. I’m directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.”

McCarthy’s comments came just hours after Trump went on an unhinged rant, with his post made on the failing Truth Social site.

“NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”

McCarthy’s comments drew a sharp response from presidential historian Michael Beschloss, who noted, “This almost disgraceful tweet that Kevin McCarthy has put out and I don’t use that word often to describe speakers of the House. He is interfering with the process of the rule of law; this is a duly elected D.A. in New York who we don’t even know what’s going to happen yet or what the grand jury is going to do. But the speaker of the House has absolutely no business interfering with this process, siding with one side, Donald Trump’s side, and also saying that he is going to investigate the use of federal funds to interfere.”

Beschloss continued:

“We don’t know what’s going to happen yet so, you have an ex-president calling for a protest we now know could turn into violence, as it did on the 6th of January, 2021. Hordes invaded the Capitol, we were in danger of killing the vice president, killing the speaker of the House, other members of the congress, the defiling of the House and Senate chambers. That’s what happened that day. But at least, as horrible as that was, you and I talked about it that day, at least you had a speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, where we could be sure that she would do her best to try to protect the Capitol against violent attack. After this statement by Kevin McCarthy, we have no such reassurance.”

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GOP Ron DeSantis WTF?!

Ron DeSantis Freaks Out Staffers By Eating Pudding WITH HIS FINGERS!

Even though he hasn’t formally announced that he will seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to make such a public pronouncement in the coming months and is expected to be the only serious challenger to failed former president Donald Trump, who has already tossed his hat into the ring.

However, as more details about DeSantis come to light, it’s beginning to look like he may not be ready for primetime.

The Daily Beast reports that multiple sources told them the governor has trouble with basic social skills and often comes off as rude and downright strange.

For example: “He would sit in meetings and eat in front of people, always like a starving animal who has never eaten before, getting shit everywhere.”

But it was this tidbit from the article that raised the most eyebrows and has set off a torrent of postings on social media:

Enshrined in DeSantis lore is an episode from four years ago: During a private plane trip from Tallahassee to Washington, D.C., in March of 2019, DeSantis enjoyed a chocolate pudding dessert—by eating it with three of his fingers, according to two sources familiar with the incident.

Maybe that’s why DeSantis appearances are so heavily scripted.

Several former staffers for the governor told The Daily Beast almost everything he does is scripted, which, coupled with an aversion to small talk, general pleasantries, and any unplanned interactions with the public, make him difficult to manage ahead of events.

“It’s very prescribed,” one former DeSantis staffer told The Daily Beast, while adding there are limited “off-the-cuff” interactions while on the trail with DeSantis.

Twitter had more than a few comments on the pudding incident.

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Donald Trump GOP

Jealous Trump Accuses DeSantis Of Inflating Sales Numbers For His New Book

Failed one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump is furious after seeing reports that a new book from his likely 2024 rival for the GOP presidential nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has just set records for sales.

Mediaite reported earlier this week that the DeSantis tome, The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Survival, had already outsold books from the Donald, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton at the same stage in their political careers.

That was all it took to send Trump into a rage on his failing Truth Social site, where he posted this angry screed:

Some in the Fake News are falsely stating that Ron DeSanctimonious’ book is doing as well as “LETTERS TO TRUMP,” my new book. This is FAKE NEWS in that LETTERS doesn’t even come out until April 25th. Ron has groups buying his book in order to inflate sales and, in fact, on the first day, his book was already 30% discounted. LETTERS TO TRUMP has much different pricing, and is a coffee table book. The so-called Stars corresponded with me, you’ll love it!

Surprisingly, some of what Trump said is true, as the New York Times noted when listing sales figures.

“Sales are defined as completed transactions by vendors and individual end users during the period on or after the official publication date of a title. Institutional, special interest, group or bulk purchases, if and when they are included, are at the discretion of The New York Times Best-Seller List Desk editors based on standards for inclusion that encompass proprietary vetting and audit protocols, corroborative reporting and other statistical determinations. When included, such bulk purchases appear with a dagger (†).”

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Congress GOP

Eric Swalwell Verbally Drags Jim Jordan And Twitter Can’t Stop Cheering

The House Judiciary Committee was in session today, and it’s safe to bet that its chairman, Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, probably wishes it hadn’t been, because he got called out for his hypocrisy and humiliated by committee member Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).

During the hearing, Jordan issued subpoenas in connection with an investigation he and Republicans on the committee are conducting into the Department of Justice and FBI, both of which they claim have been “weaponized” since Joe Biden became president, as Axios reported earlier this week.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) — facing criticism that his probe of alleged mistreatment of conservatives by “weaponized” U.S. agencies has moved too slowly and found little — is threatening to subpoena 16 more witnesses from the FBI.

Swalwell told Ben Cline (R-VA) of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability To Oversight that he found it incredibly ironic Jordan would dare to issue subpoenas when the Ohio Republican had refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

“I think it’s quite rich that we are talking about subpoena compliance under a chairman of the full committee who was absolutely out of subpoena compliance in the last congress.”

The California Democrat was just getting warmed up, however, adding, “So we’re gonna call witnesses in here today and claim that they did not comply with subpoenas or requests, and that request is so rich because it’s coming from a chairman who himself did not comply with the January six committees request.”

Directing his next comments directly at Jordan, Swalwell continued.

“You were a witness to a crime. You were a witness to the greatest crime ever committed with the most criminals ever indicted in America. Will you help your country? Will you comply with that subpoena?

“No compliance. Crickets. Absolute defiance of a subpoena. And because of that defiance, the chairman was referred – and still pending – to the House Ethics Committee.”

Swawell ended his comments with this flourish:

“So this our chairman, hauling all us here, everyone here today. People at the Department of Justice, the Department of Education – who are doing important work – to claim they are out of compliance when he himself is currently out of compliance.”

Twitter users gave Swalwell a social media standing ovation and took turns mocking Jordan.