There are already 19 QAnon candidates

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For the time being, congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert have effectively cornered the market of QAnon conspiracy loons in this year’s congressional class. But their monopoly on the “we believe there’s a secret cabal of satanist, child eating elites running this country” strain of Republicanism may be nearing an end, as a new and expanded crop of QAnon adherents ready themselves for a congressional run in next year’s midterm elections.

According to a new analysis from Media Matters for America, there are a whopping 17 new QAnon supporters running for Congress next year — the vast majority of them Republicans from Florida, Arizona, Ohio, and Nevada — alongside Greene and Boebert, who will both be up for re-election

Like QAnon itself, with its sprawling mythology and amorphic ability to incorporate any number of contradictory iterations and sub-genres, the roster of would-be QAnon representatives is as varied as you might expect from a group of people inclined to believe in a worldview predicated on baby cannibalization and devil worship. Some, like Arizona GOP candidate Josh Barnett, have attempted to explain away past social media posts that featured QAnon slogans and narratives by claiming he was just “retweeting the article.” Continue reading.

After hitting pause, PACs begin to press play again

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Businesses reviewed donation policies after Jan. 6 riot

Business PACs, many of which paused donations earlier this year amid fallout from the violent Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, have begun to send more money to lawmakers, including to the 147 Republicans who voted against certifying the presidential election results of some states.

Political action committees from defense, agriculture and other business sectors have led in donations to such lawmakers, including to House GOP leaders and rank-and-file members on committees that regulate their industries, a CQ Roll Call analysis of campaign finance data shows.

Still, PAC money is down. Donations to both parties’ House and Senate campaign arms dropped significantly in the first four months of this year when compared with the same period in the previous two election cycles, federal election records show. Continue reading.

As Job Growth Doubles, Republicans Insist Biden ‘Failed’

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House Republicans spent Friday morning attacking President Joe Biden over the latest jobs numbers, suggesting the figures, which were slightly lower than predicted, constituted a failure.

The U.S. economy in fact added 559,000 jobs in May — more than double the number added the month before. The improving employment data comes as new unemployment claims have dropped to new pandemic lows in recent weeks, in the wake of Biden’s American Rescue Plan and a successful COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Though the new job totals were slightly below the economists’ predictions of around 650,000 new jobs, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent — better than those same economists’ 5.9 percent expectation. Continue reading.

Republican circular firing squad in full swing because their attacks on Biden are ineffective

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On Saturday, writing for Business Insider, columnist Eoin Higgins analyzed the fragmenting of the GOP caucus as Republicans fail to come up with a damaging line of attack against President Joe Biden and his agenda.

“Biden, a 78-year-old moderate Democrat, has a job approval rating hovering around 60% of Americans. He’s been buoyed by his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a resurgent economy, and a sense — earned or not — from voters that the new president has a firmer hand on the tiller than his chaotic predecessor,” wrote Higgins. “The result is a floundering GOP as the right-wing party tries to draw a contrast with a president who isn’t nearly as liberal as they try to make it seem. Lacking that contrast, Republicans are lost.”

With Republicans unable to either damage Biden or move on from their support of former President Donald Trump, many of them have been reduced to infighting and purges of their own for perceived disloyalty — including the exile of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) from the caucus leadership and censure of Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach the former president for his role in the Capitol riot. Continue reading.

Trump and his allies try to rewrite, distort history of pandemic while casting Fauci as public enemy No. 1

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Donald Trump and his Republican allies have spent the past few weeks trying to rewrite or distort the history of the pandemic, attempting with renewed vigor to villainize Anthony S. Fauci while lionizing the former president for what they portray as heroic foresight and underappreciated efforts to combat the deadly virus.

They have focused on the early moments of the coronavirus response and the origins of the virus, downplaying any role they may have played and casting others in the wrong, at times taking comments out of context and at others drawing conclusions that are unproved.

And at a time when the number of vaccinated people continues to rise and deaths are at one of their lowest levels, it has placed the coronavirus back at the center of the political debate. Trump is planning to make it a chief argument in a reputation rehabilitation effort. And Republicans are also making it a centerpiece of their midterm election campaigns, pledging to hold congressional investigations if they win back the House majority. Continue reading.

Don McGahn tells House panel about Trump’s bid to undermine Mueller probe

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Former White House counsel Donald McGahn detailed for the House Judiciary Committee on Friday how former president Donald Trump attempted to stymie a federal probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election — bombshell revelations that might once have fueled additional impeachment charges, were they not already public and had it not taken more than two years for Democrats to secure his testimony.

Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who led the Democrats’ exhaustive campaign to compel McGahn’s testimony, emerged from the meeting after nearly six hours but refused to discuss the closed-door interview. He said only that the terms of McGahn’s appearance limited its focus to the findings of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, whose two-year Russia investigation overshadowed much of Trump’s presidency.

In a written statement Friday evening, Nadler offered that McGahn “testified at length to an extremely dangerous period in our nation’s history — in which President Trump, increasingly unhinged and fearful of his own liability, attempted to obstruct the Mueller investigation at every turn.” McGahn, Nadler asserted, was “clearly distressed” by Trump’s repeated refusal to heed his legal advice and “shed new light on several troubling events.” Continue reading.

Gohmert speaks at conference where QAnon supporters push for coup to oust Biden

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Donald Trump associates Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell were also in attendance at the conference in Texas.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) spoke at a conference over the weekend at which prominent QAnon conspiracy theorists advocated for a military coup to oust President Joe Biden, downplayed the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and spread lies about the 2020 election.

Gohmert was the only member of Congress to speak at the conference, and was part of the conspiracy-theorizing that took place.

He said in remarks at the event that the perpetrators of the Jan. 6 insurrection weren’t “just right-wing extremists,” continuing the false GOP messaging that the failed attempt to block Congress’ certification of Biden’s Electoral College win was incited by left-wing groups. Continue reading.

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: June 4, 2021

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‘Your Shot to Summer’ Rewards Request Form Opens

‘Your Shot to Summer!’ campaign rewards you for getting your shot, protecting yourself, and kicking off summer the right way.


Gov. Walz, Your Shot to Summer


This week, Governor Walz announced the rewards request form for the ‘Your Shot to Summer’ vaccine incentive campaign is now open for submissions at mn.gov/covid19/summer. Minnesotans 12 years of age and older who have gotten their first COVID-19 vaccine dose since May 27, 2021 are eligible to fill out the request form and choose their preferred vaccine reward.

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: June 4, 2021”

Koch Networks Using Dark Money To Kill Voting Rights Bills

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Earlier this year, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives took a stand against voter suppression when they passed House Resolution 1, a.k.a. the For the People Act — a comprehensive voting rights/election reform bill that now faces an uphill climb in the U.S. Senate under the rules of the filibuster, which requires 60 or more votes for most legislation. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and many other Senate Republicans are vehemently opposed to HR 1, and according to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, “dark money” from “the Koch network” is helping to fuel that opposition.

In an article published on May 28, CREW’s Meghan Faulkner and Miru Osuga explain, “There’s a whole lot of dark money behind the opponents of democracy reform. The Koch network alone has spent tens of millions backing many of the senators who are opposing the For the People Act, which would overhaul campaign finance rules and enforcement and make it harder for dark money groups, like those in the Koch network, to secretly influence our elections.”

Faulkner and Osuga note how much “the Koch network” has spent “backing” GOP opponents of the For the People Act, including $5.6 million spent on Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, $1.3 million on Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, $4.9 million on Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, $4.3 million on Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, $5.7 million on Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and $4.3 million on Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Continue reading.

‘Bad news for Matt Gaetz’: Former prosecutor says obstruction probe could bring pro-Trump congressman down

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On CNN Thursday, former federal prosecutor Elie Honig explained the significance of the new obstruction of justice investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who is facing allegations he worked with an indicted former tax official in Seminole County to transport a minor over state lines for sex.

“It’s a big deal if there was obstruction here, because they can use that to show a consciousness of guilt, right?” asked anchor Poppy Harlow.

“Yeah, Poppy, this is bad news for Matt Gaetz on two levels, really,” said Honig. “First of all, it’s a federal crime, and a serious one, to obstruct justice. People get charged with obstruction of justice all the time and go to jail for obstruction of justice. Obstruction enables prosecutors to argue to a jury what we call ‘consciousness of guilt,’ meaning the really simple logical idea that you don’t obstruct justice unless you have a reason. You don’t try to get people to change or alter their testimony unless there’s something that you’re trying to hide. That can be a really powerful argument.” Continue reading.