Tag: GOP now the cult of Trump

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s endorsement of conspiracy theories, violence sparks calls for her resignation — again

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Marjorie Taylor Greene openly supported and spread conspiracy theories for years, yet her northwest Georgia district elected her to Congress by a wide margin. Now, in office for a little over three weeks, she is facing a second round of calls for her resignation after a string of reports revealed her repeated endorsements of political violence and extremism.

The latest revelations include: videos in which Greene, a Republican, parrots bogus claims by suggesting the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland, Fla., were staged; a Facebook post that expresses support for a dangerous conspiracy theory about child abuse; and a pattern of online activity approving of the execution of Democratic leaders and federal agents.

Several prominent Democrats and activist groups are arguing Greene should resign or be removed from elected office, and a small number of GOP lawmakers have also criticized her after her posts and comments resurfaced. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), according to Axios, “plans to have a conversation” with Greene, who has dismissed the denunciations as attempts to “cancel” her. Continue reading.

Senate GOP signals it’s likely to acquit Trump for second time

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Senate Republicans seem ready to hand former President Trump his second acquittal in an impeachment trial in a little more than a year after just five GOP senators on Tuesday rejected a motion that the trial was unconstitutional. 

Most GOP senators haven’t formally announced how they will vote on convicting Trump, and, in a shift from 2020, most are not rushing to defend him after a mob, egged on by the then-president, sacked the Capitol.

But Tuesday’s vote, which sidelined the effort from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), sends a clear signal to everyone in Washington that the trial is highly unlikely to end with a Trump conviction vote. Continue reading.

Sen. McCain’s Widow, Arizona Governor Shrug Off GOP Censure

Top Arizona Republican party officials are still upset with lawmakers for not objecting to presidential election results. But their criticisms are being met with yawns from their targets. 

Over the weekend, the Arizona state GOP censured three top leaders of their own party: Governor Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain – the widow of late Sen. John McCain.

The state party organization censured Sen. Flake because he did not object to the electoral votes on January 6, the same day supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol. McCain, a businesswoman, was censured for supporting what they called “leftist causes” after endorsing President Joe Biden. Continue reading.

Kevin McCarthy’s rude awakening

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Kevin McCarthy is learning you can get torched when you try to make everyone happy, especially after an insurrection.

Why it matters: The House Republican leader had been hoping to use this year to build toward taking the majority in 2022, but his efforts to bridge intra-party divisiveness over the Capitol siege have him taking heat from every direction, eroding his stature both with the public and within his party.

The latest proof: McCarthy’s digital director, Caleb Smith, sent a blast email to a group of GOP communications staff Saturday afternoon asking them to show their support for his boss. Continue reading.

Josh Hawley slammed for railing against ‘the muzzling of America’ — on the front page of the New York Post

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In an op-ed published by the New York Post on Sunday, January 24, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri complains bitterly about what he claims is “the latest form of cancel culture” in the United States: being lambasted for his unwavering support of President Donald Trump following the 2020 presidential election. But Hawley’s op-ed wasn’t buried deep inside the pages of the Post, which ran it as a cover story. And the far-right Republican and Trump loyalist is drawing a great deal of criticism for claiming that he exemplifies “the muzzling of America” in light of the fact that a major newspaper in the largest city in the U.S. gave him the front cover to make his bogus claims.

In his op-ed, Hawley writes, “On behalf of the voters of my state, I raised a challenge to the presidential electors from Pennsylvania after that state conducted the election in violation of the state constitution. Maybe you agree with me. Maybe you don’t. But whatever your view, Corporate America’s rush to cancel those it dislikes should trouble you.”

Hawley makes it sound like he is being persecuted for standing up for democracy. In fact, he’s being criticized for pandering to extremists who were making false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Hawley cynically announced that on January 6, he would contest Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. And a now-infamous photo shows Hawley waving in solidarity with violent far-right insurrectionists who later stormed the U.S. Capitol Building in the hope of preventing the certification of democratic election results. Continue reading.

Tensions running high after gun incident near House floor

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Lawmaker tensions are running high this week after a Republican lawmaker nearly brought a gun onto the House floor, further stoking concerns about Capitol security and whether members of Congress need protection from one another.

The renewed anxiety just two weeks after the deadly Jan. 6 attack was sparked by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) when he set off a newly installed metal detector off the House floor with a concealed gun, despite a longtime ban on firearms in the chamber.

The incident followed numerous reports of other Republicans, accustomed to bypassing metal detectors in the Capitol, chafing at the new security measures. Some Democrats are now openly expressing that they don’t feel safe around certain colleagues. Continue reading.

Trump leaves behind a Republican Party both broken and still in his grip

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There are many parts of the legacy President Trump will leave behind when his term ends Wednesday. One of them is a broken Republican Party.

In four years, Trump ideologically twisted a party that once had a coherent conservative governing philosophy, which he does not. He put a vise grip on the party’s grass roots and persuaded many of them to believe that truth does not matter. He opened up the party’s coalition to an emboldened white supremacist movement.

The party’s deterioration has been an ongoing story of the Trump presidency, but the damage done and the challenge of restoration have been underlined in the weeks since President-elect Joe Biden won the election with a comfortable electoral college majority and a decisive margin in the popular vote, amid no evidence of widespread fraud. Continue reading.

Abandon Trump? Deep in the G.O.P. Ranks, the MAGA Mind-Set Prevails

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As President Trump prepares to exit the White House, his ideas, including falsehoods and conspiracy theories, continue to exert a gravitational pull among grass-roots G.O.P. officials.

In Cleveland County, Okla., the chairman of the local Republican Party openly wondered “why violence is unacceptable,” just hours before a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol last week. “What the crap do you think the American revolution was?” he posted on Facebook. “A game of friggin pattycake?”

Two days later, the Republican chairman of Nye County in Nevada posted a conspiracy-theory-filled letter on the local committee website, accusing Vice President Mike Pence of treason and calling the rioting a “staged event meant to blame Trump supporters.”

And this week in Virginia, Amanda Chase, a two-term Republican state senator running for governor, maintained that President Trump might still be sworn into a second term on Jan. 20 and that Republicans who blocked that “alternative plan” would be punished by the president’s supporters. Continue reading.

An Organizer Of The Trump Boat Parade That Sank A Family’s Boat Was Arrested In The DC Insurrection Mob

Kristina Malimon was arrested on charges of unlawful entry and violating curfew.

One of the organizers of the Trump boat parade that sank a family’s boat in Portland, Oregon, in August was arrested Wednesday in the attempted coup on the Capitol.

Kristina Malimon, 28, was arrested on charges of unlawful entry and violating curfew. Her mother, Yevgeniya Malimon, 54, was also arrested on the same charges.

Malimon is the vice chair for the Young Republicans of Oregon. According to her bio on the organization’s website, she is also an ambassador to Turning Point USA and Liberty University’s pro-Trump think tank, the Falkirk Center. She is also listed as a delegate for the Multnomah County Republican Party. Continue reading.

‘The arrogance is breathtaking’: Milwaukee newspaper slams Ron Johnson for defying will of Wisconsin voters

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Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is among the Republican senators who, unlike Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has vowed to contest the Electoral College results when the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives meet for a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, January 6. Wisconsin was among the states that President-elect Joe Biden won in the 2020 presidential election, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s editorial board slams Johnson for failing to respect the will of Wisconsin voters in a scathing editorial published on January 5.

“The arrogance of Ron Johnson is breathtaking,” the Journal Sentinel declares. “Johnson and 12 other Republican senators say they will challenge the tabulation of Electoral College votes in Congress on Wednesday in a dangerous political stunt that will accomplish nothing but may burnish their image with those who would choose outgoing President Donald Trump over democracy. Johnson and his shameful friends are planning to support Trump as he directly opposes the will of the people.”

The editorial board stresses that although Biden will remain president-elect regardless of the “stunt” from Johnson and other GOP senators, that doesn’t make it any less shameless. Continue reading.