Tag: GOP now the cult of Trump

Trump critic: I am not afraid of Trump

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Adam Kinzinger says he isn’t scared of President Trump.

Kinzinger, an Air Force veteran and lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, has garnered a reputation for being one of the few GOP lawmakers willing to push back on Trump. 

The Illinois Republican has been one of the most outspoken critics of the administration’s decision to pull troops out of Afghanistan, was one of the first in his party to recognize President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election, slammed the president’s allegations of voter fraud on Twitter and has come out heavily against the QAnon conspiracy theory.

‘Part of the election coup’: Fox News viewers blow up at Chris Wallace for calling Biden ‘president-elect’

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Fox News viewers expressed outrage at Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace on Sunday after he repeatedly insisted that Joe Biden is the rightful president-elect.

Wallace made the remarks during an interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who referred to Biden as a former vice president.

“He’s president-elect,” Wallace told Azar multiple times.

On Twitter, some Fox News viewers said that Wallace was part of an “election coup.” Others falsely argued that Wallace was wrong because there has not yet been meeting of the Electoral College, where electors will cast their votes for president. Continue reading.

Just 27 congressional Republicans acknowledge Biden’s win, Washington Post survey finds

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Just 27 congressional Republicans acknowledge Joe Biden’s win over President Trump a month after the former vice president’s clear victory of more than 7 million votes nationally and a convincing electoral-vote margin that exactly matched Trump’s 2016 tally.

Two Republicans consider Trump the winner despite all evidence showing otherwise. And another 220 GOP members of the House and Senate — about 88 percent of all Republicans serving in Congress — will simply not say who won the election.

Those are the findings of a Washington Post survey of all 249 Republicans in the House and Senate that began the morning after Trump posted a 46-minute video Wednesday evening in which he wrongly claimed he had defeated Biden and leveled wild and unsubstantiated allegations of “corrupt forces” who stole the outcome from the sitting president. Continue reading.

Trump allies file emergency petition at Supreme Court over 2020 election

Lawsuit seeks to throw out all mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania in 2020 election

Weeks after President Donald Trump said the Supreme Court should decide whether to throw out millions of ballots in what he dubbed a fraudulent election, and with state and federal courts rejecting nearly all his legal team’s lawsuits in multiple states, a case from Pennsylvania has limped meekly to the nation’s highest court.

The emergency petition filed Thursday is no Bush v. Gore, the 2000 case about the disputed Florida recount that determined who won the state’s electoral votes and therefore the White House. The dispute about Pennsylvania’s election results could not by itself change the outcome of the presidential race.

Instead, the appeal comes from Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Mike Kelly and other Trump allies, in a lawsuit they filed after the election to challenge a 2019 state law that allowed voters to cast mail-in ballots for any reason. Continue reading.

‘I’m Sick Of It’: GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman Unloads On Republican Colleagues, Trump

TOPLINE — Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) pulled no punches against President Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress in an interview with Forbes, accusing them of a “massive grift” in refusing to acknowledge the results of the election and claiming Trump appeals to groups that are “anti-Semitic” and “anti-American.”

KEY FACTS

  • Riggleman, one of just 10 GOP House members acknowledging Joe Biden’s victory, said the Republican refusal to acknowledge the result is “just money-making for the 2024 election” and “completely unethical,” saying he’s spoken to 30 or 40 GOP members of Congress who privately acknowledge the result despite public silence.
  • “They’re worried about committee assignments, they’re worried about the team,” Riggleman said of Republicans who have stayed loyal to Trump, noting that breaking with Trump can “cost them their careers,” and that “the career is more important than the facts, it’s that simple.” Continue reading.

Wisconsin Lawyer For Trump Campaign Takes Action To Throw Out His Own Ballot: Report

In a bizarre development, former local judge Jim Troupis is seeking to toss out all early ballots submitted in person — including the ones he and his wife cast.

In a surreal twist, the lawyer leading Donald Trump’s Wisconsin election battle is seeking to throw out thousands of “illegal” votes, including his wife’s and his own, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.

Attorney Jim Troupis, a former Dane County judge, voted early and in person, which is one of a number of classes of votes Troupis and the Trump campaign have argued is illegal.

Both his name and his wife’s were on a list of voters whose ballots Troupis wants to be tossed out in an exhibit he submitted Sunday to the Dane County Board of Canvassers, according to records obtained by the Journal-Sentinel. Continue reading.

Republican national security experts call on Trump to concede, begin transition

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A group of leading GOP national security experts — including former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge — urged congressional Republicans on Monday to demand President Trump concede the election and immediately begin the transition to the incoming Biden administration.

“President Trump’s refusal to permit the presidential transition poses significant risks to our national security, at a time when the U.S. confronts a global pandemic and faces serious threats from global adversaries, terrorist groups, and other forces,” said a statement signed by more than 100 GOP luminaries.

The signers included Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor who served as homeland security secretary under President George W. Bush, former CIA director Michael Haydenand John D. Negroponte, who served as director of national intelligence. Continue reading.

Minnesota GOP claims election ‘abnormalities’ without evidence

Election officials on Friday swiftly rejected claims by Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan that “extreme data abnormalities” might have influenced the state’s Nov. 3 election after her examples proved to be nothing more than instances of high voter turnout.

“The bottom line is you can’t just throw out conjecture and guesswork without real evidence,” said Risikat Adesaogun, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office. It was “hard to respond to allegations that are so vague and unformed.”

Nonpartisan election officials in Anoka and Wright counties, two main counties cited by Carnahan, said they found nothing that would call into question the integrity or validity of the vote. A Star Tribune analysis of Minnesota election data since 2000, for both presidential and gubernatorial elections, found nothing irregular about this year’s voting trends. Continue reading.

Historian: German denazification has lessons on how to deal with post-Trump America

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Over the last four years, President Donald Trump’s White House has been riddled with scandals, lawsuits, and other incriminating claims with evidence to support wrongdoing. But due to presidential protections, no one has been able to hold Trump accountable for his actions. As more evidence continues to mount against the president and many White House officials within his administration, calls for prosecution have become more profound. 

In fact, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris weighed in on Trump’s legal battles as she admitted that if she were president, her administration would prosecute Trump. So is there a real possibility the president and his allies could face consequences for their actions? A Washington Post editorial breaks offers a realistic perspective on whether or not this could occur.

According to the op-ed, there are liberal concerns about President-elect Joe Biden taking the high road and moving forward without a backward glance at Trump and his administration despite repeated violations of the Hatch Act. The editorial also raises awareness about the dangerous precedent that could be established if Biden ultimately refuses to prosecute Trump and members of his administration. Continue reading.

Incoming congressman complains it’s hard to get Jews to stop being Jewish

And GOP leaders who claim to be concerned about antisemitism are silent.

House Republican leaders were silent on Monday after publication of an interview conducted by the Jewish Insider with Madison Cawthorn, a newly elected Republican congressman in North Carolina who made antisemitic comments about his failed effort to convert Jews to Christianity.

Cawthorn, an evangelical Christian who made headlines on Election Day for tweeting, “Cry more, lib,” after his victory over Democratic candidate Moe Davis was announced, had been asked by interviewer Matthew Kassel if he had ever tried to convert Jews.

“I have, unsuccessfully. I have switched a lot of, uh, you know, I guess, culturally Jewish people. But being a practicing Jew, like, people who are religious about it, they are very difficult,” he told the outlet. “I’ve had a hard time connecting with them in that way.” Continue reading.