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A Look Back at CPAC 2016

February 26, 2021 at 4:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Philip Bump has a telling look at some of the big-name CPAC speakers from — and what happened to them in the years to come.

“Trump was followed by Rep. Mia Love (R-UT), former U.N. ambassador John Bolton and radio host Glenn Beck. Love was seen as a rising star in the GOP, a Black woman elected from Utah. But two years later she would lose her reelection bid — and be mocked by President Trump for not being sufficiently loyal to him. Bolton ran afoul of Trump even more dramatically, writing a tell-all book about his tumultuous tenure in the White House.”

“Beck, though, is probably the most instructive inclusion. Before the 2016 election, when it seemed likely that Trump would lose, Beck excoriated him as ‘an immoral man who is absent decency or dignity’ But, like so much of the conservative right, when Trump took power, Beck slipped back into the flock.”

North Dakota Legislature May Expel GOP Lawmaker

February 26, 2021 at 3:55 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

North Dakota House Republicans are calling for state Rep. Luke Simons (R) to resign after legislative staff reports of threats and sexual harassment came to light this week, the Bismarck Tribune reports.

Said House Majority Leader Chet Pollert (R): “Should he refuse, the Legislature will weigh all the information and options, including expulsion, and make a determination when we reconvene after crossover. We want to make clear that this behavior will not be accepted at the Legislature.”

Rick Scott Sits Out the GOP Civil War

February 26, 2021 at 3:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who heads the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee, told the Wall Street Journal that he did not ask Donald Trump to refrain from endorsing primary challengers to GOP incumbents the former president regards as disloyal.

Said Scott: “Many are saying it is my job to mediate between warring factions on the right and mediate the war of words between party leaders… Well, I have news for them—I’m not going to mediate anything.”

Michigan GOP Moves Far Right

February 26, 2021 at 3:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Associated Press: “The rightward lurch has altered the GOP’s image to one unrecognizable to its pragmatic 20th century standard-bearers, and the direction of the state party here could be an exemplar of other Midwestern battleground states.”

“The move to more hard-line, extreme views in Michigan came into clearer view Wednesday when it became known that Trump devotees, no longer content with the GOP as their political home, had filed a petition with the state elections board to form a new Patriot Party.”

Khashoggi Report Leads To New Sanctions

February 26, 2021 at 2:49 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation that led to the brutal 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a long-withheld U.S. intelligence report made public Friday,” the Washington Post reports.

Axios: “The White House announced sanctions on entities implicated in the murder, though not on MBS directly. Officials also announced a new ‘Khashoggi ban’ under which individuals accused of harassing journalists or dissidents outside their borders can be barred from entering the U.S.”

Ron Kind Mulls Wisconsin Senate Bid

February 26, 2021 at 2:42 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) is mulling a U.S. Senate run, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has not yet announced if he’ll seek a third term next year.

There are three Democrats in the race: Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, County Executive Tom Nelson and Dr. Gillian Battino.

Why Is the Murder Rate Spiking?

February 26, 2021 at 2:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Stephen Mihm: “In recent months, statistics on violent crime have confirmed a troubling trend: Homicide rates in the U.S., long on the wane, shot upward in 2020. Early signs suggest it’s continuing. Many cities have reported new spikes in murder rates in early 2021.”

“Many commentators blame the pandemic for the violence. Others attribute the spike to record-breaking gun purchases or claim that protests against police brutality have undercut effective law enforcement, opening the door to mayhem.”

“These are seductive arguments. But if the past is any guide, they’re wrong. Instead, the spike in our murder rate is more likely the product of something else entirely: political instability.”

Potential Challengers See a Weakened Cuomo

February 26, 2021 at 2:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“As Gov. Andrew Cuomo confronts one of the most seemingly perilous moments in his decade as governor, private conversations are beginning to unfold about what it would take to mount a viable challenge against him next year, and who might be best positioned to take him on,” the New York Times reports.

“Progressive activists and operatives are trading a flurry of texts, calls and tweets, glued to each fresh controversy unfolding around the governor, and speculating about what the political landscape would look like if he ultimately does not seek a fourth term in 2022. He and his team have said that he intends to run.”

A Cult of Losers

February 26, 2021 at 1:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Chait: “Donald Trump has refused to follow the script. He has moved into a role of opposition leader and president in exile, a sort of hybrid between a parliamentary system (where a defeated prime minister might often slide immediately into opposition leadership) and banana republic, where a deposed strongman flees the country with a Swiss bank account and a retinue of goons…”

“To the outside world, it seems strange that Republicans would not only tolerate this but in many cases actively encourage it. Trump’s appeal to his party was rooted in his reality-television-corroborated claim to be a lifelong winner. Come to Trump’s side, he promised incessantly, and you will win so much you’ll get tired of it. What value does he still have now? When previous defeated presidents were discarded, why cling to the one whose value proposition was based on never being a loser?”

“An important part of the answer is that, seen through Republican eyes, Trump didn’t lose at all.”

South Dakota AG Was Reading When He Hit Man

February 26, 2021 at 1:02 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

According to his cell phone records and police interview, South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R) was reading Joe Biden conspiracy theories at John Solomon’s Just The News website while driving when he slammed into a man and killed him.

Meanwhile, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports a state judge blocked Gov. Kristi Noem (R) from releasing additional documents and video in the investigation.

Arizona GOP Leads Way In Pushing Voting Restrictions

February 26, 2021 at 1:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The national battle over voting restrictions was, for one sluggish February afternoon, waged in a cramped hearing room of Arizona’s House of Representatives. Separated by plexiglass barriers, Republican lawmakers steadily plowed ahead on bills that, put together, could make it harder for Arizonans to vote,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“Similar scenes are playing out in statehouses across the country, with a barrage of voting restriction measures snaking through the legislative process.”

“Leading the way is Arizona, which has seen dozens of bills introduced this year, the most of any state.”

Greg Sargent: The GOP’s strategy for retaking power is uglier than you think.

Golden Statue of Trump Is Perfect Metaphor for GOP

February 26, 2021 at 12:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Vox: “The Golden Calf is one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament. The Israelites, newly freed from Egyptian slavery, have a crisis of faith while God is speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai. They melt down the golden jewelry to construct a physical god — a statue in the shape of a calf — to worship in place of their abstract, invisible deity. It’s a story about the allure of idolatry, how easy it is to abandon one’s commitments to principle in favor of shiny, easy falsehoods.”

“This biblical tale trended on Twitter in the US Friday morning because of the following video, filmed on the first day of the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference. Someone involved in the conference constructed a golden statue — not of a calf, but of Trump — and wheeled it out to cheers from conference attendees.”

QAnon Backs Off Claim Trump Will Return on March 4

February 26, 2021 at 12:09 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Vice News: “For weeks, QAnon followers have been hyping March 4 as the date when Trump would return as the rightful president of the U.S. But in the last couple of days, virtually all the major QAnon figures and influencers have reversed course and dismissed the date, calling it a false flag event created entirely by the mainstream media to ‘make the whole movement look dumb.'”

The Real Problem the GOP Has With the 1/6 Commission

February 26, 2021 at 12:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jennifer Rubin: “The problem is that the GOP has transformed into a cult of the person who instigated the attack, fed propaganda to radicalize his party and refused to denounce white supremacists. The party is thus terrified of recognizing that the problem of violent white supremacists is intrinsically linked to the disgraced former president and his accomplices.”

Senate Leaders Mull ‘Plan B’ on Minimum Wage Hike

February 26, 2021 at 11:39 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Senate Democratic leaders are weighing including a tax penalty on large corporations that refuse to pay wage workers at least $15 an hour and passing it through reconciliation, the Washington Post reports.

The Hill suggests Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is open to such an idea.

Inside Team Biden’s Push Back on Trump Jokes

February 26, 2021 at 11:30 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Vanity Fair runs an excerpt from Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency on how Biden’s campaign team tried to tone down Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ act at the Democratic convention.

Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency

Amazon Kindle Edition
Allen, Jonathan (Author)
English (Publication Language)
480 Pages - 03/02/2021 (Publication Date) - Crown (Publisher)

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February 26, 2021 at 11:24 am EST By Taegan Goddard

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House Likely to Pass Pandemic Relief Package Tonight

February 26, 2021 at 11:15 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Democrats are on track to pass President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief plan in the House by Friday night, a major milestone on the way to hitting their mid-March target for turning the $1.9 trillion package into law — and fulfilling a key priority for the White House,” Politico reports.

“The tally is expected to divide along party lines, with Republican lawmakers taking the calculated political risk of opposing the relief measure.”