Marjorie Taylor Greene made her MAGA bones as a conspiracy theorist on Facebook just six years ago so this isn’t surprising.
Does it seem to you that these people are getting nuttier by the day? The question is if it’s because they think they’re losing — or winning? I fear it’s the latter.
I once wrote that Liz Cheney was the most dangerous woman in America. I thought she could easily be the nominee in 2024 and believed that she’d be worse than her father because she was just as right wing but had served during the chaotic Trump era. I cautioned that “Democrats should work very hard to keep the loyalty of women who have left the GOP in recent years. Cheney or Haley could potentially get them back if the Dems are perceived to have failed them.”
I had come to the conclusion that it was likely that the first woman president would have to be a Republican because I didn’t think Independent men (and maybe some Democrats too) would vote for a Democratic woman, fearing that they just aren’t “tough enough.” Cheney was in the GOP leadership at the time and had made it up the ladder faster than anyone I could remember. She came into the job with a stellar Republican pedigree as the daughter of Dick “prince of darkness” Cheney and had backed Trump to the hilt. She was tough as nails and also seemed to be a pretty savvy politician. She worried me. A lot.
Needless to say, I was wrong about everything. Today Liz Cheney has been drummed out of the Republican Party and a Black, South Asian Woman from California, Kamala Harris, is running for president on the Democratic ticket. Yesterday, Liz Cheney appeared in Wisconsin and said “I tell you, I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year I am proudly casting my vote for VP Kamala Harris… We are not going back.”
I will admit this is not entirely comfortable. I’ve seen so little true political courage from Republicans in the last couple of decades, and especially in the last eight years, that I reflexively mistrust it. I’ve been on the other side of Liz Cheney on virtually every issue as long as I can remember and I’m sure I still am. And after all, she supported Trump for years and didn’t speak up when he demonstrated his unfitness both at home and abroad.
But unlike others in her party who either stood silent or spoke out briefly then retreated into their comfy partisan rabbit holes, Cheney drew the line at Trump’s attempt to overturn the election, his incitement of an insurrection and the Big Lie he perpetuates to this day. She became the voice of those Republicans who finally had enough of Trump and rejected the fascistic impulses that showed themselves in living color during that period between the election of 2020 and January 6th of 2021.
And while it may have been uncomfortable for me to see my chosen candidate bask in the warmth of a Liz Cheney endorsement, I would imagine it was just as uncomfortable for Cheney to campaign for a pro-choice, gun regulating, Obamacare loving, union backing, billionaire taxing, liberal Democrat. But she did it.
And for all of my distrust of her in the past, I believe she is entirely earnest when she exhorted those listening, “so help us right the ship of our democracy, so that history will say of us, when our time of testing came, we did our duty, and we prevailed because we loved our country more.”
It was a good speech and frankly moving to see the two strong women with polar opposite ideologies come together to oppose the narcissistic authoritarian who tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power and is promising to do even worse next time.
Her reason for doing this is simple. She believes that Donald Trump is an existential threat to the nation and the world and she became convinced of this when he openly defied the Constitution and staged an attempted coup. That so few of her allegedly patriotic Republican brethren didn’t draw that line is still shocking to me. I have to respect her for standing up against all of them when the cost to her was so high. The Republican Party as currently constituted, and as it will stay constituted for some time to come, Donald Trump or not, is never going to make Liz Cheney president.
The question a lot of Democrats are asking is why did the Harris campaign want Cheney to campaign with her in Wisconsin anyway? And apparently, some other Republican apostates including the former Trump staffer Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified before the January 6th Committee, will be holding events in the final days in the swing states. They have launched a new ad campaign aimed specifically at these voters.
It would seem they believe that there are some persuadable Independents and Republicans who could be moved by the type of argument Cheney made yesterday. This MSNBC segment featured some of those voters:
JD Vance’s unfortunate gaffe the other night in the debate in which he just could not say that Trump didn’t win the election reminded everyone of the stakes in this election once again and while they couldn’t have predicted it, Special Counsel Jack Smith dropping the new detailed brief on the case against Trump for his actions on January 6th only reinforced it.
According to The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell who has been doing focus groups with Republican and Independent voters for the past year, there is, in fact, a group that is motivated by this topic. She points out that the reason Trump didn’t want the Smith documents unsealed is because he didn’t want January 6th to return as a “high salience issue this close to the election.” Reminding these voters about it is “the number one way to sort of push those voters back away from Trump.”
The polling all shows that the race is very close in the battleground states which is terrifying. For whatever reason there are tens of millions of Republicans and Independents who still believe that Donald Trump was justified in plotting to overturn the election in defiance of the law and the constitution. Many of them don’t think that storming the capitol to stop the certification of the vote was any big deal either. But if there are a few swing voters out there who feel differently, it’s well worth going after them.
I realize that there are Democrats who really hate this strategy. In the past I’ve railed against it too, worrying about the Democrats compromising their values and beliefs. But this is different. Liz Cheney and the other anti-Trump Republicans coming forward to endorse her are doing it to stand against the criminal Donald Trump and the extremist, authoritarian agenda he is running on. Kamala Harris isn’t promising to back abortion bans or burn books about gay penguins to get their votes. It’s about turning back the tide of fascism whether its face is Trump, Vance or Ted Cruz. (Cheney endorsed Cruz’s opponent Colin Allred for just that reason.)
And Democrats need to remember that even as we are fighting to maintain some semblance of a working democracy, as shaky as it is, the stakes are extremely high and very personal for millions of vulnerable people who will pay the price if we don’t win. I think former Harry Reid aide and Democratic strategist Adam Jentleson said it best:
Beating Trump means building as big and broad a coalition as possible. It’s really that simple. The people who will suffer if he wins are counting on us to do it.
So thanks Liz and all the other Republicans who are pitching to help make that happen. The Democrats need every voter they can get.
Via Denver’s ABC affiliate:
MESA COUNTY, Colo. – On Thursday, Judge Matthew Barrett sentenced a defiant Tina Peters to 9 years behind bars on multiple charges – including felonies – for a data-breach plot amid false claims of voting machine fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
Peters, the former Mesa County Clerk was found guilty in August by a jury on seven of 10 counts including first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation along with other counts.
She was acquitted of identity theft charges, criminal impersonation and one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation.
“You are no hero. You abused your position – and you’re a charlatan who used, and is still using your prior position to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again,” said Judge Barrett. “Your lies are well-documented and these convictions are serious. I’m convinced you’d do it all over again if you could.”Judge Barrett added: “You’re as defiant as a defendant as this court has ever seen.”
Peters, who was indicted in March 2022, was accused of copying hard drive images of election software in 2021, which ended up online and being discussed by Peters and others.
Before sentencing, Peters remained unapologetic. “I’ve never done anything with malice to break the law. I’ve only wanted to serve the people of Mesa County,” she said.
She’ll take her defiance to the grave. I’ve met plenty of people who are “dumb and proud of it,” but they were mostly harmless and simply uneducated. Trumpism takes that to a new and dangerous level.
Pro Publica with another scoop:
Former President Donald Trump’s media company has forced out executives in recent days after internal allegations that its CEO, former Rep. Devin Nunes, is mismanaging the company, according to interviews and records of communications among former employees.
Several people involved with Trump Media believe the ousters are retaliation following what they describe as an anonymous “whistleblower” complaint regarding Nunes that went to the company’s board of directors.
The chief operating officer and chief product officer have left the company, along with at least two lower-level staffers, according to interviews, social media posts and communications between former staffers reviewed by ProPublica. The company, which runs the social media platform Truth Social, disclosed the departure of the chief operating officer in a securities filing Thursday afternoon.
ProPublica has not seen the whistleblower complaint. But several people with knowledge of the company said the concerns revolve around alleged mismanagement by Nunes. One person said they include allegations of misuse of funds, hiring of foreign contractors and interfering with product development.
How odd that Devin Nunes would mismanage the company considering he had absolutely no experience before he got the job. He was an excellent MAGA toady which is the only qualification for anyoneTrump hires but he doesn’t actually know how to do anything.
Truth Social is a joke and if Trump loses the election it will die the minute Trump cashes out which he will do the minute he gets the chance. (The stock was up to $16 yesterday from a low of $13 last week. It was at $66 last spring. A very typical Trump business performance.) And as usual, there are a number of pending lawsuits already from and against former employees. There will be more, no doubt.
Some word of the departures became public earlier this week when former Trump Media employee Alex Gleason said in a social media post that “Truth Social in shambles. Many more people fired.”
It’s been a week. Thursday was the first day since the morning Helene’s winds hit that I’ve been able to load web pages. (An email bleep from the phone at 5:30 a.m. announced the news.) I thought I’d be able to provide a more coherent update this morning but the signal that was strong here yesterday is weaker this morning. I’m just beginning to see images those of you outside have seen all week. Friends who live on ridgetops seem to have had better luck. I see now that they’ve been on FB for a few days. Asheville Watchdog has an explainer for why cell service went out across WNC.
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So I’ve been in a news blackout since early last Friday morning except for local public radio. That’s filled with daily press conferences (and repeats) and updates from officials from ours and surrounding counties. The local volunteer effort has been massive.
This is an effort led by my friend, our Register of Deeds.
You know it’s a disaster zone when World Central Kitchen shows up. I’ve donated to them for years (hint, hint). Never expected to be eating their food. Brought WCK meals back to an aging neighbor who’d been eating bologna out of his five-day-dead refrigerator. (His power is back. Mine is not.)
Digby passed along this post from José Andrés about some of the disinfo that’s going around. And conspiracy theories. Ex: Why did it take FEMA days to get here? The mayor reports FEMA had boots on the ground last Thursday before the storm hit.
I expect what this dude above says he’s done he’s done. That doesn’t mean no one else is busy bringing rescue and relief supplies to people stuck in remote coves cut off by road. But there are thousands of those scattered across 25 counties (1/4 of the state). If he and his buddies are the first to arrive at one, good on them. But I’ve seen Chinooks and Blackhawks in the skies for days as well as civilian choppers. The effort is massive. WCK is loading SUVs full of meals and delivering them I know not where across the county and the region (by helicopter as well).
I can’t speak for those cut off in remote valleys. Or for my friend, Canton’s Mayor Zeb Smathers (about a half hour west). But a few personal observations from a guy in the most accessible city in the region. Friends and relatives keep offering aid. How can we help? What do you need?
People want to help. That’s wonderful. But unless you have special skills in disaster relief, your best bet is to stay home and donate to some of the relief groups Digby linked to. We’re already awash in relief supplies on street corners and in parking lots.
To avoid a darkened traffic signal the other day, I cut through a closed Fresh Market parking lot. There were two tractor trailers filled with cases of bottled water volunteers were giving out. A guy practically threw a case at me. (I now have four cases of bottled water I haven’t touched.)
There are pallets of water at Home Depot (it’s open and powered up). A religious group had trailers parked in their lot. One of their volunteers offered me a meal from a stack in her shopping cart. I felt bad not taking one. I’d just had lunch courtesy of José Andrés and my own past donations. And I’m pretty sure that was President Joe Biden and Gov. Roy Cooper who flew over in an Osprey flanked by gunships.
The grocery stores here in town are opening back up. The real needs are in remote areas you won’t help by sending supplies into the city except to shelters and collection points for them. Donate to the people who know what’s needed instead.
Otherwise, Asheville’s water system is down for weeks. “Catastrophically damaged.” So back to bottled water. Relatives and friends want to send in bottled water. The real water problem is for flushing and bathing and washing clothes. And unless you can install a spring in my front yard, bottles of water won’t help. We’re out collecting flushing and bathing water in containers filled from lakes, springs and drain pipes.
And I sprained my right foot while canvassing last week just before the rains arrived. So I’m not much good for volunteerism requiring much lifting, walking or standing just now. It’s been a week.
Not that it’s a surprise he would do it but it’s an especially good one.
Trump has been lying about the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, claiming that they are ignoring Republican areas to favor their own voters. It’s nonsense of course.
But E&E News by Politico has found new evidence that that is exactly what Trump did when was president:
But a review of Trump’s record by POLITICO’s E&E News and interviews with two former Trump White House officials show that the former president was flagrantly partisan at times in response to disasters and on at least three occasions hesitated to give disaster aid to areas he considered politically hostile or ordered special treatment for pro-Trump states.
Mark Harvey, who was Trump’s senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council staff, told E&E News on Wednesday that Trump initially refused to approve disaster aid for California after deadly wildfires in 2018 because of the state’s Democratic leanings.
But Harvey said Trump changed his mind after Harvey pulled voting results to show him that heavily damaged Orange County, California, had more Trump supporters than the entire state of Iowa.
“We went as far as looking up how many votes he got in those impacted areas … to show him these are people who voted for you,” said Harvey, who recently endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris alongside more than 100 other Republican former national security officials.
The exchange — not previously reported — drew a dumbfounded response on social media Thursday from President Joe Biden, who summed up Trump’s attitude as: “You can’t only help those in need if they voted for you.”
“It’s the most basic part of being president, and this guy knows nothing about it,” Biden posted on X, reacting to a tweet about an earlier version of this article.
The law comes for a true believer:
The former Mesa, Colorado Clerk who was in charge of administering the 2020 election in that county was sentenced today by Judge Matthew Barrett to a total of 9 years in prison for illegally hacking voting systems in her care and tampering with voting data.
Peters is a close ally and friend of Mike Lindell and was carrying out her efforts to attempt to prove that Donald Trump won the 2020 election due to fraud with voting machines. Despite being the person who facilitated, encouraged, and initiated Peters’s criminal conduct, Lindell was conspicuously absent from the hearing and did not speak on her behalf.
Peters was convicted by a jury in August of 7 of the 10 criminal counts against her. Peters allowed access to confidential voter data to private individuals affiliated with Lindell, one illegally entered into the offices using the identity of authorized software engineer with the county. The innocent person whose identity was stolen was under investigation for months because of Peters’ fraud.
Peters remained unrepentant and unapologetic during and after the trial, asserted that she did nothing wrong. Law enforcement investigators, prosecutors, a jury and a judge disagreed. After she was convicted, she claimed that the Deep State rigged her trial because the judge didn’t allow her to present evidence that people in Serbia rigged our 2020 election.
On some level you have to feel sorry for someone like this. She has been brainwashed by MAGA and she foolishly acted on the propaganda she received. On the other hand, this woman has shown herself to be a real piece of work.
A lot of people are paying for Donald Trump’s Big Lie. I wonder if they’re ever going to realize they were duped by the man who is still walking free and may never pay any price for it?
Listen to what the judge said:
Fergawdsakes:
Melania Trump doubled down in her first public response to news of her passionate support for abortion rights, a position starkly at odds with that of her husband, Donald Trump, and the Republican party he leads.
“Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard,” the former first lady said in a video released on Thursday. “Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth. Individual freedom. What does, ‘My body, my choice’ really mean?”
Set to classical music and posted to social media, Trump’s words were a paraphrase of those in her forthcoming memoir, Melania, which the Guardian revealed on Wednesday.
On the page, Trump says: “It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government.
As Trump said when they came to tell him that Mike Pence was in danger: “so what?”
Melania Trump believes in nothing, She’s been missing in action for the past 3 years and has come out now to grift and sell her book. I’m quite sure the campaign said, “hey Melania, put in you book that you’re pro-choice, ok? It might help with the bitches.” I’m sure she said “I really don’t care, do u?”
This is actually an old GOP ploy. Back in the day Barbara and Laura Bush were always coy about their abortion position. It was clearly a tactic to try to dog whistle some pro-choice Republicans into believing their husbands weren’t as hard core as they seemed.
But that was before the Republicans caught the car. They can’t finesse this issue anymore knowing that the right is protected under the Constitution. And nobody takes Melania Trump seriously about anything.
Trump had a bad night after the Jack Smith brief was released.
Then he ran over to News Nation to whine some more:
“He’s a deranged person,” Trump said of Special Counsel Jack Smith. “He just lost the big documents case, that was the biggest of them all.” In August, Smith formally filed to appeal a district court judge’s dismissal of the case in July.
“This was a weaponization of government and this is why it was released 30 days before the election,” Trump said. “And it’s nothing new in there, by the way, nothing new. They rigged the election. I didn’t rig the election. They rigged the election.” He repeated those claims numerous times throughout.
The former president criticized Smith for releasing the documents despite the fact he claimed he was nonplussed over the information. “They should have never allowed the information to come before the public,” he said, adding, “My poll numbers have gone up instead of down. It is pure election interference.”
His poll numbers have not gone up but he needs to say it to soothe himself and convince his cult followers that the election was rigged if he loses again.
As I wrote in the previous post, it’s doubtful that any of this will make the slightest dent in his MAGA support. He literally could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose them. But there are independents and some still squishy Liz Cheney Republicans who hate the January 6th stuff and are being reminded of just what a miscreant he is.