Category Archives: Republicans

Joke’s on them: how Democrats gave up on rural America

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It is a diverse and complicated place poorly served by stereotypes and simplistic solutions

• This essay originally appeared in the Drift

One evening a few summers ago, I walked from my house to the county fairgrounds. It was a long July day, and the sun still hung above the hills that surround the small western Colorado town where I live. People packed the bleachers of an outdoor arena to watch a rodeo.

Shortly before the bullriding began, a rodeo clown strolled to the center of the dirt field and began his night with a joke. It went something like this:

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Tim Scott, only Black Senate Republican, hints he could be Trump running mate

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South Carolinian tells Fox News ‘Everybody wants to be on President Trump’s bandwagon, without any question’

The only Black Republican in the Senate, Tim Scott of South Carolina, has indicated a willingness to be Donald Trump’s running mate should the former president mount another White House campaign.

Asked by Fox News if he would consider joining a Trump ticket in 2024, Scott said: “Everybody wants to be on President Trump’s bandwagon, without any question.”

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What does it mean to ‘plead the fifth’ – and will Donald Trump do it?

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The ex-president has been ordered to testify in a New York fraud case. Will he invoke his constitutional right to remain silent?

Donald Trump and his two eldest children have been ordered by a New York judge to appear for a deposition within 21 days, as part of an investigation into the Trump family finances. The development presents the former US president with a dilemma: should he invoke his right to silence by pleading the fifth?

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Republicans who opposed racial justice protests hope truckers ‘clog up’ US cities

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Lawmakers including Ron Paul and Ron DeSantis say they would back disruption of a Canadian-style trucker convoy

In the wake of racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd, a wave of Republican lawmakers supported legislation to punish protesters who blocked roads. Now some of those same Republicans are supporting similar tactics from conservative trucker convoys protesting against vaccine mandates.

Last year, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, signed an anti-rioting law that stiffened penalties for protesters who blocked roads and even gave some legal protection to drivers who ran them over. It went so far that in September a federal judge struck down the law, ruling it unconstitutional.

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Trump interior secretary Zinke broke ethics rules and lied, watchdog finds – live

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While lawmakers were unable to come to a consensus on a sanctions bill for Russia this week, it looks like we may have some movement on the issue here:

The interior department’s inspector general said in a report made public today that Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary under Donald Trump, misused his position to advance a development project in his Montana hometown and lied to an agency ethics official about his involvement.

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Jury finds New York Times did not defame Sarah Palin – live

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Robert Califf’s appointment as the new head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was confirmed today, but the process was not as straightforward as the Biden administration first thought.

Senator Joe Manchin, a Virginia Democrat, urged senators to oppose Califf’s appointment earlier this week, saying he bears “a great deal of responsibility” for many of the US opioid overdose deaths in the years since Califf’s first stint as FDA commissioner under the Obama administration.

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Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Very real risk’ US democracy won’t exist in 10 years

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Efforts by Republicans to restrict voting rights could result in return to Jim Crow era, says progressive in New Yorker interview

The progressive New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez believes the Republican-led pressure on political systems is so great that there is “a very real risk” democracy will cease to exist in the US within a decade.

The leftist Democratic politician derided efforts by Republican legislatures around the country to restrict voting rights as the “opening salvos” in a war on democracy, which she said could result in a return to the Jim Crow-era disenfranchisement of racial minorities.

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‘She paved the way for Trump’: will Sarah Palin stay in the Republican spotlight?

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Palin’s return to the headlines – for her defamation trial and flouting Covid rules – is a reminder to many that her ascent in 2008 was a pivotal moment in US politics

Removing a white face mask as she took the witness stand behind a Plexiglass shield, Sarah Palin likened herself to the biblical David taking on the mighty Goliath of American media, the New York Times newspaper.

The 58-year-old’s appearance in a Manhattan courtroom this week was a far cry from her heyday on the campaign trail, whipping up crowds with incendiary rhetoric as a US vice-presidential candidate in 2008.

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‘Disgusting’: Republican Senate hopeful condemned over ‘showdown’ TV ad

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Jim Lamon’s ad depicts ‘shootout’ with Democrats including Mark Kelly, senator whose wife Gabby Giffords was shot in deadly attack

A Republican Senate primary candidate in Arizona has been condemned for a “disgusting” campaign ad in which he shoots at lookalike actors portraying Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and the incumbent Arizona senator Mark Kelly.

Jim Lamon, an energy executive, shared the ad on Twitter, saying it would be aired at this year’s Super Bowl.

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The Soup Nazi on Marjorie Taylor Green’s gazpacho police: ‘I knew I was in trouble’

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Larry Thomas, the actor behind the Seinfeld character, gives his take on the viral gaffe: ‘You can’t write this shit’

The extremist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who previously alerted the US to the dangers of space lasers, issued a new warning to the American people on Thursday: the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has unleashed “gazpacho police” to spy on Greene’s colleagues in Congress.

It is, of course, possible that a clandestine network bent on the regulation of cold soup operates deep under the Capitol cafeteria. But Greene was presumably confusing “gazpacho” with the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police.

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Romney won’t criticise niece for calling Trump lies and Capitol riot ‘legitimate political discourse’

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Senator says he has texted with ‘terrific’ Ronna McDaniel, RNC chair who oversaw censure of Cheney and Kinzinger

Mitt Romney and his niece, Ronna McDaniel, exchanged texts after the Republican National Committee she chairs called Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his election defeat and the Capitol riot “legitimate political discourse”.

Romney, the Utah senator, 2012 presidential nominee and only Republican to twice vote to convict Trump at his impeachment trials, told reporters on Monday he “expressed his point of view”.

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Scholz and Biden warn Russia would pay ‘high price’ for Ukraine invasion – as it happened

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Joe Biden issues stark advice to Americans in Ukraine: ‘Leave’

Secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, speaking alongside the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, said the US and its allies in Europe are acting “in unity” in response to Russian aggression and a potential conflict with Ukraine.

Blinken vowed “real and profound consequences should Russia choose to continue aggression”.

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Peter Thiel, PayPal founder and Trump ally, to step down from Meta board

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Thiel, a major donor to the Republican party, was seen by critics as part of the reason why Facebook did not censor Trump

Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, is stepping down from the board of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, after 17 years.

Thiel, Facebook’s longest-serving board member and a major donor to the Republican party, plans to focus on backing Donald Trump’s allies in the November midterm elections, according to the New York Times. He recently donated $10m each to the Senate campaigns of Blake Masters, who is running for a seat in Arizona, and JD Vance, who is running in Ohio. Masters is the chief operating officer of Thiel’s family office and Vance used to work at one of Thiel’s venture funds.

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Ottawa declares state of emergency as Canada trucker protest paralyses city

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Police chief describes situation as a ‘siege’ as thousands of protesters join demonstrations against Covid restrictions

The mayor of Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency Sunday and a former US ambassador to Canada said groups in the US must stop interfering in the domestic affairs of America’s neighbour as protesters opposed to Covid-19 restrictions continued to paralyse Ottawa’s downtown.

The mayor, Jim Watson, said the declaration highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government. It gives the city some additional powers around procurement and how it delivers services, which could help purchase equipment required by frontline workers and first responders.

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‘Trump is not my God’: how the former president’s only vaccine victory turned sour

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A rigid anti-vaccine stance among Trump’s supporters means Republicans can’t reap the benefits of Operation Warp Speed

She is fiercely loyal to Donald Trump. But when the former US president came to her home city and praised coronavirus vaccines, Flora Moore did something she never thought possible. She booed him.

“He said take the vaccine but we all booed and said no,” she recalled of Trump’s event with broadcaster Bill O’Reilly in Orlando, Florida. “He heard us loud and clear because the Amway Center was packed. We let him know ‘no’ and a couple of us even hollered out, ‘It’s killing people!’”

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Joe Biden on crime: ‘The answer is not to defund the police’ – as it happened

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House speaker Nancy Pelosi applauded Joe Biden for overseeing the US military operation that resulted in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.

“Last night, America delivered justice to the leader of ISIS and struck a serious blow to this terrorist group,” Pelosi said in a statement.

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Biden says ‘ending cancer as we know it a White House priority. Period’ – as it happened

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki is briefing right now. She’s talking further about planned US troop deployments to NATO’s eastern flank to bolster Ukraine’s preparedness in facing massed Russian military might at its border.

“They are not going to Ukraine to fight,” Psaki said, attempting to clarify the mission, in response to questions from reporters about what they’ll be doing.

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Trump and his enablers unwittingly offer Democrats the best hope in the midterms | Robert Reich

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The former president and his allies may doom the Republicans by reminding the public of their attempted coup

The midterm elections are just over nine months away. What will Democrats run on? What will Republicans run on?

One hint came at a Houston-area Trump rally Saturday night. “If I run and if I win,” the former guy said, referring to 2024, “we will treat those people from January 6th fairly.” He then added, “and if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly.”

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Russia is the ‘aggressor’, says White House, but Biden open to more talks with Putin – live

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Today’s call between the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, lasted about 30 minutes, per the Washington Post.

In the call, Lavrov said the Kremlin is working on a full written response to the US proposal regarding Russia demands on Ukraine, which the White House delivered last week.

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Italian League’s Matteo Salvini calls for new alliance based on US Republicans

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Attempt to create a rightwing political force may mean the end of partnership with Brothers of Italy

The Italian League leader, Matteo Salvini, has proposed creating a rightwing political force styled on America’s Republican party in a move that threatens to spell the end of his tense partnership with his far-right sometime rival Giorgia Meloni.

Salvini’s League and other parties including the centre-left Democratic party and populist Five Star Movement that make up Italy’s broad ruling coalition have been left in disarray after failing to agree on a mutually acceptable candidate for head of state in last week’s presidential election, culminating with Sergio Mattarella, 80, being elected for a second term against his earlier expressed wishes.

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