Political Wire

Plan to Foil a 2024 Coup Attempt Quietly Advances

July 18, 2022 at 12:59 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“It may seem improbable, given adamant Republican opposition to legislation protecting voting rights, but a bipartisan group of senators is close to agreement on a separate, crucial way to protect our democracy: reforming the Electoral Count Act of 1887,” Greg Sargent reports.

“That arcane law governs how Congress counts presidential electors. If senators resolve last-minute differences, a stolen 2024 election might become substantially less likely.”

“A serious threat to our democracy is this scenario: A state legislature or governor appoints a slate of presidential electors in defiance of the state’s popular vote, and one chamber of Congress, controlled by the same party, counts those electors. Under current law, those electors would stand, potentially tipping a close election.”

Youngkin Appoints Confederate Statue Defender to Board

July 18, 2022 at 12:57 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has appointed a historian to the state Board of Historic Resources who has defended the state’s Confederate monuments and condemned their destruction as a “dangerous” rewriting of history, the Washington Post reports.

Russia Targets Ukraine’s Western-Supplied Weapons

July 18, 2022 at 12:56 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Russia ordered its forces to target the long-range missiles and artillery weapons that Western countries have recently supplied to Ukraine, a sign of how Kyiv’s additional firepower has begun to reshape the conflict,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Two Arrested for Investment Scam Using Trump Photo

July 18, 2022 at 12:54 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Two New York residents were arrested Monday on a federal criminal complaint with a nearly decade-long $27 million investment fraud scheme that leveraged their attendance at a 2017 fundraiser with then-President Donald Trump,” CNBC reports.

“Prosecutors said that the two defendants, Sherry Xue Li and Lianbo Wang, lured victims into investing in a fictitious project to build a private educational institution in Sullivan County, New York, by claiming it had the support of prominent politicians.”

Interior Secretary Breaks Her Leg Hiking In National Park

July 18, 2022 at 12:51 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland broke her left leg while hiking over the weekend in Shenandoah National Park, the Washington Post reports.

Boris Johnson Skips Emergency Heat Wave Meetings

July 18, 2022 at 12:50 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who recently resigned from his post but is staying on until a replacement is chosen, has faced backlash for missing multiple emergency Cabinet meetings to discuss the country’s dangerous heat wave,” Axios reports.

Ronny Jackson Nearly Shoots Himself in the Foot

July 18, 2022 at 12:26 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

In the latest addition to videos of GOP lawmakers grandstanding with guns, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) dared the Biden administration to take away his two assault rifles — one of which was aimed at his own foot.

Daily Beast: “Social media users reacted to Jackson’s show of force with both dismay and amusement, with some pointing out the dangerous way he was holding his rifles, at least one of which appeared to be loaded.”

Jury Selection Begins for Steve Bannon’s Trial

July 18, 2022 at 12:04 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Jury selection is underway in the federal trial of Stephen Bannon, the former Trump adviser and right-wing podcaster charged with two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with an order from the House Jan. 6 committee to turn over records and testify about his actions ahead of the attack on the U.S. Capitol,” the Washington Post reports.

GOP Lawmaker Subpoenaed In Georgia Trump Probe

July 18, 2022 at 11:34 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) said he’s been subpoenaed by the special grand jury in Fulton County investigating Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the presidential election results, Politico reports.

GOP Candidate Made False Child Trafficking Allegations

July 18, 2022 at 11:19 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Ryan Dark White (R), who is running for U.S. Senate in Maryland under the alias Jon McGreevey, was arrested on charges of making a false report of child trafficking, the Baltimore Sun reports.

White, an employee at an adult bookstore, falsely reported in April that a young girl was being trafficked by a man at the bookstore and forced to perform sex acts on male customers.

Fauci Will Retire Before End of Biden’s Term

July 18, 2022 at 11:17 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN that he plans to retire by the end of President Joe Biden’s current term in office.

How Google Can Help States Track Abortions

July 18, 2022 at 11:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Many of the states rushing to ban abortion are also the biggest users of a surveillance tool that authorities could use to track women ending their pregnancies — the location data from people’s phones,” Politico reports.

“Supporters of abortion rights are expressing growing alarm about the potential uses that police or prosecutors could find for this data after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, including to target abortion providers or the people seeking the procedure.”

“It wouldn’t be hard to do, because states across the country are already using this kind of data for other investigations.”

Media Confidence Ratings at Record Lows

July 18, 2022 at 11:05 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Gallup: “Americans’ confidence in two facets of the news media — newspapers and television news — has fallen to all-time low points.”

“Just 16% of U.S. adults now say they have ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence in newspapers and 11% in television news. Both readings are down five percentage points since last year.”

Who’s to Blame for Derailing Biden’s Agenda?

July 18, 2022 at 10:48 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

On Thursday, a trimmed-down version of a trimmed-down version of what was once a massive budget reconciliation proposal will begin to make its way through the Senate’s budgetary process.

The proposal now includes prescription drug reform — something Democrats have been promising for years — as well as a funding extension for the Affordable Care Act.

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GOP May Nominate Christian Nationalist in Maryland

July 18, 2022 at 10:17 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Michael Peroutka (R), who is running for Maryland Attorney General, “believes public education is a communist plot, abortion and gay marriage violate God’s law, and the concept of separation of church and state is a ‘great lie,'” Vice News reports.

“His views are extreme even for the modern Republican Party, and once would be considered disqualifying for any major party nominee for statewide office. But his emergence as a serious candidate shows just how far the door has been thrown open to extremism in the Republican Party. The GOP base’s embrace of election falsehoods and anti-science COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and flirtation with white supremacist rhetoric has given once- fringe figures like Peroutka an opening to push into the political mainstream.”

“To be clear, Peroutka has not changed. But the party base that’s embracing him has.”

Liz Cheney Trails Badly In Wyoming Primary

July 18, 2022 at 10:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new WPA Intelligence poll in Wyoming shows Harriet Hageman (R) beating Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) by 28 points among likely primary voters, 59% to 31%.

“Those results are based on a model in which 13% of the primary’s voters are Democrats (Wyoming allows party-switchers to vote in primaries). The poll tested two other scenarios, where Democrats are 20% or 25% of the electorate, and Hageman still leads Cheney by 18 percentage points and 12 points, respectively.”

Abortion Fight Moves to Least Favorable Terrain for GOP

July 18, 2022 at 9:53 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republicans hoped public backlash to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade would soon fade from the spotlight, and campaign season would once again turn to the prices of gas and groceries,” the Washington Post reports.

“But over the past week, the abortion debate has focused on terrain least favorable to the GOP — whether the procedure should be legal in the instances of rape and incest, as many conservatives push for bans without those two exceptions.”

The Impossible, Inevitable Survival of Trump’s Tax Cuts

July 18, 2022 at 9:48 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

American Prospect: “How Democrats went from unanimous opposition to an unpopular policy to doing nothing about it in the five years since it became law.”