Tag: GOP now the cult of Trump

Republican Senators Joke About Trump’s Deadly Incitement To Rioters

On the second day of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, House managers presented evidence to support the charge of incitement to insurrection on which Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on January 13.

Republican lawmakers are treating the proceedings as a joke, ignoring the evidence of the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by Trump supporters that left five dead and deriding the entire thing as a “political stunt.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Wednesday tweeted a video of herself walking toward the Senate chamber for the second day of the trial. Continue reading.

Trump’s Senate allies Graham, Lee and Cruz huddle with defense team

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After the Senate trial adjourned Thursday, three of Donald Trump’s chamber allies, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, were seen entering a room to meet with the former president’s attorneys.

After their meeting, Trump attorney David Schoen told reporters the senators were just “talking about procedure,” called them “friendly guys” and said they did not tip him off to questions they would be asking.

They discussed “just how this format goes, you know, the question-and-answer period, all that,” Schoen said. “And then just talking about where they’re from and all that, but it’s just very nice. I said to them it was a great honor to have the opportunity to talk to them.” Continue reading.

Michigan’s top-ranked Republican says MAGA riot was a staged hoax — and ‘Mitch McConnell was in on it’

Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey is floating a conspiracy theory that claims the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was actually a “staged” event, adding that it was “hoax” that was not carried out by Trump supporters, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Shirkey made the claims in a Youtube video posted by the account R.O.A.R. (Reclaim Our American Republic), which shows him attending a meeting in a restaurant with a small group of party officials on same day the Hillsdale County Republican Party censured him for not doing enough to support former President Trump and stand up to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“That wasn’t Trump people. That’s been a hoax from day one,” Shirkey says in the video. “It was all staged.” Continue reading.

Arizona Republicans threaten to arrest fellow GOPers if they don’t turn over ballots for another recount: report

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According to a report from USA Today, the Republican majority in the State Senate is threatening to arrest members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors if they don’t turn over copies of mail-in ballots and voting machines so they can conduct another vote count of the 2020 presidential election results that led to Doinald Trump losing.

The report notes that the Maricopa board is also predominately Republican but that hasn’t stopped state senators from going after them.

“The Arizona Senate, controlled by Republicans, has threatened to hold the supervisors, nearly all Republicans, in contempt for not responding to subpoenas asking for copies of all the county’s mail-in ballots and access to voting machines. The Senate wants to perform its own audit,” the report states. “Some senators have even threatened to arrest the supervisors over the matter, and the body could vote on the contempt resolution as early as Monday.” Continue reading.

Trump supporters are still going after Arizona’s election results — here’s what we can learn from the fight

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Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo had heard enough. More than a half-hour into the board’s January 27consideration of a “forensic” audit where two outside firms would assess if its voting system used in Arizona’s 2020 presidential election had been infiltrated and the results altered, the former state senator said that his vote in favor of the audit “was a tough pill to swallow.”

“We had our presidential preference election, not one complaint,” Gallardo said. “We had our primary election in August. Not one complaint. Everyone was happy. We had our general election. No complaint, until a day or two after the general election, when some folks in our community and across this country started looking at the results.”

“They were not happy with the result,” he continued. “That’s quite normal in the world of elections. Folks that are not happy with the results generally do complain. This year, they took it a step further. They continue to spread lies and conspiracies about how our elections are conducted, and now our machines are the target.” Continue reading.

Arrested in Capitol Riot: Organized Militants and a Horde of Radicals

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In the weeks since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, federal prosecutors have announced criminal charges against more than 175 people — less than a quarter of those involved in the melee, but enough to provide a rough portrait of the mob and the sprawling investigation into its actions.

At least 21 of those charged so far had ties to militant groups and militias, according to court documents and other records. At least 22 said they were current or former members of the military. More than a dozen were clear supporters of the conspiracy theory QAnon. But a majority expressed few organizing principles, outside a fervent belief in the false assertion that President Donald J. Trump had won re-election.

The accused came from at least 39 states, as far away as Hawaii. At least three were state or local officials, and three were police officers. Some were business owners; others were unemployed or made their living as conservative social media personalities. Many made comments alluding to revolution and violence, while others said the protests had been largely peaceful. Continue reading.

GOP Reps. Gohmert, Clyde fined $5,000 each for bypassing House metal detectors

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Republican Reps. Louie Gohmert (Texas) and Andrew Clyde (Ga.) were fined $5,000 each for bypassing hand-held metal detectors before entering the House chamber on Thursday in violation of a rule adopted this week, according to a senior Democratic aide. 

Why it matters: Gohmert and Clyde are the first lawmakers to face the fine, which will be deducted directly from their salaries. 

What they’re saying: “We’ll be appealing because this is ridiculous. This isn’t ‘The Godfather’ where you plant a gun in the toilet tank,” Gohmert told Axios. “There is no toilet tank in the bathroom.”  Continue reading.

Former GOP officials ditch their party as it continues to stand by Trump

The party refuses to hold its defeated nominee accountable for anything.

Scores of Republican officials are reportedly leaving the party over its failure to hold Donald Trump accountable. This comes as the Republican Party at both the national and state level continues to rally around their defeated nominee — even as he faces a second impeachment for inciting an insurrection.

On Monday, Reuters reported that about 60 Republicans who worked in the George W. Bush administration are bolting from the party over its continued fealty to Trump.

“If it continues to be the party of Trump, many of us are not going back,” Rosario Marin, a former U.S. treasurer under Bush, told the wire service. “Unless the Senate convicts him, and rids themselves of the Trump cancer, many of us will not be going back to vote for Republican leaders.” Continue reading.

Republicans worry Greene could be drag on party in suburbs

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Republicans are increasingly concerned that the controversy over Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) could define the party and its candidates in the 2022 midterms, throwing a wrench in GOP efforts to recapture the support of suburban voters.

Democrats have already jumped on the outrage surrounding Greene. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Tuesday launched a six-figure ad campaign tying Republicans to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which Greene has voiced support for in the past, while Speaker Nancy Pelosi(D-Calif.) referred to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as “Q-CA” in a press release on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Democratic group House Majority Forward released an ad accusing McCarthy of warmly embracing “the QAnon Caucus,” after the California Republican signaled he wouldn’t move to punish Greene over her past comments. Continue reading.

GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn told a crowd before Capitol riots it had ‘fight in it.’ Now he says, ‘I don’t regret it.’

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On Jan. 6, about two hours before a violent mob breached the U.S. Capitol in a deadly riot, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) took to the stage before a fiery crowd of Trump supporters and falsely claimed that the presidential election was fraudulent.

“This crowd has some fight in it,” Cawthorn said. “The Democrats, with all the fraud they have done in this election, the Republicans hiding and not fighting, they are trying to silence your voice. Make no mistake about it, they do not want you to be heard.”

One month later, former president Donald Trump faces impeachment over his role in inciting the riot, hundreds of rioters face criminal charges, and Cawthorn faces calls for his resignation and an ethics investigation. Continue reading.