Category: National Issues

Joint Chiefs chairman feared potential ‘Reichstag moment’ aimed at keeping Trump in power

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In the waning weeks of Donald Trump’s term, the country’s top military leader repeatedly worried about what the president might do to maintain power after losing reelection, comparing his rhetoric to Adolf Hitler’s during the rise of Nazi Germany and asking confidants whether a coup was forthcoming, according to a new book by two Washington Post reporters.

As Trump ceaselessly pushed false claims about the 2020 presidential election, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, grew more and more nervous, telling aides he feared that the president and his acolytes might attempt to use the military to stay in office, Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker report in “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.”

Milley described “a stomach-churning” feeling as he listened to Trump’s untrue complaints of election fraud, drawing a comparison to the 1933 attack on Germany’s parliament building that Hitler used as a pretext to establish a Nazi dictatorship. Continue reading.

House Dems launch investigation into Arizona ballot review

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The oversight committee is seeking a wide range of information from Cyber Ninjas, the firm overseeing the Arizona effort.

The House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into the ballot review being run by the Republican-controlled state Senate in Arizona, the committee announced on Wednesday.

“Americans’ right to vote is protected by the Constitution and is the cornerstone of our democratic system of government,” Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who helms the subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties, said in a statement. 

The committee is seeking a wide range of information from Cyber Ninjas, the firm overseeing the Arizona effort, including communications it had with Maricopa County officials, former President Donald Trump or his representatives, and those who have advanced election-related falsehoods such as Sidney Powell, Mike Lindell and Lin Woods. Continue reading.

How Trumpism has become outright ‘fascism’

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Although conservative journalist David Frum has been a blistering critic of Donald Trump, he has been reluctant to use the word “fascist” to describe the former president. The words “fascist” and ‘fascism,” Frum has stressed in the past, should never be used casually simply to attack policies one does not like. But in an article published by The Atlantic on July 13, the Never Trump conservative lays out some disturbing reasons why Trumpism does, in fact, fit the definition of fascism.

“Through the Trump years, it seemed sensible to eschew comparisons to the worst passages of history,” Frum explains. “I repeated over and over again a warning against too-easy use of the F-word, fascism: ‘There are a lot of stops on the train line to bad before you get to Hitler Station.'”

Frum continues, “Two traits have historically marked off European-style fascism from more homegrown American traditions of illiberalism: contempt for legality and the cult of violence. Presidential-era Trumpism operated through at least the forms of law. Presidential-era Trumpism glorified military power, not mob attacks on government institutions. Post-presidentially, those past inhibitions are fast dissolving.” Continue reading.

Oklahoma Election Board Secretary Shoots Down Republican’s Request For Audit Of 2020 Results

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Saying Oklahoma’s election system is “among the most accurate and secure anywhere in the entire world,” the state’s top election official on Tuesday rejected a call by a Republican state representative to audit the results of the 2020 general election.

“There is no controversy surrounding the 2020 General Election in Oklahoma,” Oklahoma State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax wrote in response to a letter from Rep. Sean Roberts (R-Hominy) which requested an investigation into last year’s election despite no evidence of any wrongdoing or inaccuracies. “Because of the strong protections our state has in place for the security and integrity of elections, there is no credible suspicion or evidence of pervasive fraud here. In fact, our state successfully defended a lawsuit against our election integrity laws in 2020. Furthermore, evidence suggests that voter suppression is virtually non-existent in our state.”

Ziriax said such an audit would be unnecessarily time-consuming and expensive, as well as potentially unlawful. Continue reading.

Trump gets caught plagiarizing in his endorsement of an ally’s book

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Former President Donald Trump issued a statement on Wednesday encouraging his fans to buy a recently released book by Fox News host Jesse Watters — and it immediately drew skepticism due to its coherence and post-fifth-grade vocabulary.

The statement, which was flagged by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, promotes Watters’s new book using vocabulary that is highly sophisticated compared to most other Trump statements.

“Interspersed are [Watters’s] thoughtful suggestions for overcoming left-wing radicalism, maintaining American democracy, moving beyond aging hippies (like his long-suffering, loving parents), saving the world from social justice warriors and the deep state — all while smirking his way through life in only the nicest way,” read the former president’s statement.

Haberman immediately wanted to know “who wrote this” statement, as did many of her followers. Continue reading.

Select committee on Capitol attack to hear police testimony July 27

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The special congressional committee investigating the Capitol attack of Jan. 6 will hold its first hearing on July 27, Democratic leaders announced Wednesday.

The much-anticipated public hearing will feature testimony from police officers who defended the Capitol complex from the pro-Trump mob attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The extraordinary episode prompted House Democrats, joined by 10 Republicans, to impeach Trump just a week later for inciting the violence. And last month, the House created the select committee to investigate the causes and security lapses surrounding the rampage. Continue reading.

Tucker Carlson’s first grade teacher busts him for lying about her: ‘That’s the most embellished thing I ever heard’

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Tucker Carlson’s first grade teacher called him out for lying about her.

The Fox News broadcaster blamed the teacher, whom he identified as Mrs. Raymond, for his longtime hatred for liberals, calling the educator “a parody of earth-mother liberalism” who “wore long Indian-print skirts” and was so terrible at her job that his wealthy father was forced to hire a private tutor, but the Washington Post tracked her down for comment.

“Oh my God,” said retired teacher Marianna Raymond. “That is the most embellished, crazy thing I ever heard.” Continue reading.

Anti-vaxxers gain power on right, triggering new fears

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Public health experts are growing increasingly concerned about a rise in anti-vaccination rhetoric among elected officials and right-wing media as a new wave of coronavirus infections begins to wash over Americans who have yet to get vaccinated.

Legislators in more than 40 states have introduced measures to bar vaccine passports, and many Republican governors have signed executive orders or laws barring their use. 

In some cases, Republican governors and legislators are now repeating far-right talking points questioning the safety and effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines, in spite of the overwhelming scientific evidence that the vaccines developed in the past year are some of the safest and most effective ever created.  Continue reading.

WATCH: Marjorie Taylor Greene absurdly rants ‘there were no court cases’ challenging 2020 election results

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Republican Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene falsely claimed “there were no court cases” challenging the results of the 2020 presidential contest, during an “election integrity town hall” in Georgia on Tuesday night.

“Here is the issue I have: Joe Biden was in Pennsylvania today talking about oh, how all these court cases have proven that there was no voter fraud,'” Taylor Greene told attendees at the event in Rome sponsored by Women for America First. “Let’s be real, there weren’t any court cases, were there? No, because they were dropped based on standing, so the evidence has not been heard.”

According to USA Today, Trump and his allies filed 62 lawsuits challenging the results of the election. While some were dismissed due to lack of standing, many were thrown out “based on the merits of the voter fraud allegations.” PolitiFact adds: “More than 60 lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies failed because they were unable to prove their allegations. Some lawsuits were dismissed due to errors in the filings and other procedural issues.” Continue reading.

Opinion: Republicans are dismantling the right to vote. But they’ve enshrined the right to infect.

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In the United States in the year 2021, you, as an American citizen, do not necessarily have the right to vote.

You do not necessarily have the right to teach or to learn about matters of race, gender or anything else state lawmakers consider “divisive concepts.”

But you do have one absolute, sacrosanct, inviolate, God-given, self-evident and inalienable right: the right to refuse a coronavirus vaccine — and to infect as many people as you can.

With the blessing of the Roberts court, legislatures in Republican-run states are rushing to impose new voting restrictions, particularly on non-White voters. A tally by the Brennan Center finds that, as of June 21, 17 states had enacted 28 new laws restricting the ability to vote since the start of this year. Continue reading.