The (no longer) much too early 2024 election thread

[N.E. Brigand]

Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Apparently, they didn't even inform McDaniel before announcing that they were cutting ties with her. Just pathetic.

[N.E. Brigand]

There's a reason so many people had this reaction. It's not because McDaniel is a Republican or a conservative, and everyone thought, "Oh no! A Republican on NBC News!" We all recognize a variety of views is vitally important in understanding our country, in doing good programming. The reason this precipitated the visceral gut reaction that it did is just there's a pretty bright red line in American life after January 6th. On one side of that line are people who aided and abetted in this attempt to end the democratic system as we know it: to steal a free and fair election, an attempt that, as Rachel noted last night, is ongoing. It's very much still happening. There's lots of Republicans who tried to stop that, but Ronna Romney McDaniel is unfortunately on the wrong side of that red line. She aided and abetted in the biggest attack to destroy American democracy since the Civil War. She helped perpetuate lies that Donald Trump told as part of his plot to overthrow the Constitutional order. As members of the press, as democratic citizens, I, we believe in democracy as a system. We're pro-democracy. We want to keep this system going. People involved in the kind of work we do every day are also signed onto that basic project, I think.

And we are in this business at a time when the information environment has never been more polluted and more confusing: more people are trying to pass off dubious stories and lies. It's important for us to do the best we can, and everyone is going to make mistakes. Lord knows, we certainly make them. But the big lie of a stolen election is one of the most consequential systematic lies told in recent memory, probably up there with all the lies about the vaccine, both of which have had incredibly damaging effects, and both of which have really destroyed the credibility of the people and the institutions and the political parties and the corporations that are associated with them.

In the end, all you can really ask of people in our profession is diligence and open-mindedness and critical thinking and, above all else -- and this is really important to me -- good faith. When I'm speaking to you here, right now, I'm not putting on a show about what I think and believe. This is it. I could be wrong about things. Lord knows, I must be, sometimes. I might have opinions you think are wrong. We might tell stories in ways you think leave stuff out or emphasize the wrong angle, but the key to this entire enterprise is a kind of bedrock trust: the trust that we really are acting in good faith, we really are trying to get it right, we are not feeding you lies to be good team players. It's a foundational principle for both working in the press and, I think, healthy democratic dialogue and debate, whatever your ideology is, wherever you come down on issues, whoever you support for president, whatever you believe in. And I have to say, I really appreciate working at a place that was able to say: "We got this one wrong," and then made the right decision.

Anyway, adding to the list:

Truss = 50 days;
Scaramucci = 11 days;
McDaniel = 5 days.

[RoseMorninStar]

*sigh* So not only is Trump a shoe salesman, he's now hawking bibles. This is probably behind a paywall but I'll put it here anyway. NYT: Trump’s Newest Venture? A $60 Bible. How can people eat this up and not feel used and tainted?

In part:

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, added a new item to the list: a $60 Bible.

Days before Easter, Mr. Trump posted a video on his social media platform in which he encouraged his supporters to buy the “God Bless the USA Bible,” named after the ballad by the country singer Lee Greenwood, which Mr. Trump plays as he takes the stage at his rallies.

“All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It’s my favorite book,” said Mr. Trump, who before entering politics was not overtly religious and who notably stumbled while referencing a book of the Bible during his 2016 campaign. “It’s a lot of people’s favorite book.”

Though Mr. Trump is not selling the Bible, he is getting royalties from purchases, according to a person familiar with the details of the business arrangement.

Priced at $59.99, plus shipping and tax, the “God Bless the USA Bible” includes a King James Bible and a handwritten version of the chorus of Mr. Greenwood’s song, and copies of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance.

In his video, Mr. Trump expressed his approval of the book’s blend of theology with foundational American political documents, framing that mix as central to the political call that has been his longtime campaign slogan, Make America Great Again.

“Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country,” Mr. Trump said. Later, he added, “We must make America pray again.”

As he runs for president this year, Mr. Trump has framed his campaign as a crusade to defend Christian values from the left. He often makes false or misleading claims that Democrats are persecuting Christians. Last month, he told a religious media convention that Democrats wanted to “tear down crosses.”

His Bible sales pitch comes as he appears to be confronting a significant financial squeeze. With his legal fees growing while he fights four criminal cases and a number of civil lawsuits, Mr. Trump is also being required to post a $175 million bond while he appeals his New York civil fraud case — a hefty amount, though one that is significantly smaller than the $454 million penalty imposed in the case.

According to the Bible’s website, Mr. Trump’s “name, likeness and image” are being used “under paid license from CIC Ventures LLC.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to questions about the business arrangement. But CIC Ventures is also connected to another product Mr. Trump has hawked while campaigning: $399 “Never Surrender” sneakers that he announced at a sneaker convention in Philadelphia last month.

[N.E. Brigand]

*sigh* So not only is Trump a shoe salesman, he's now hawking bibles. This is probably behind a paywall but I'll put it here anyway. NYT: Trump’s Newest Venture? A $60 Bible. How can people eat this up and not feel used and tainted? In part:

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, added a new item to the list: a $60 Bible. ... the “God Bless the USA Bible” includes a King James Bible and a handwritten version of the chorus of Mr. Greenwood’s song, and copies of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance.

You'd think he could at least acknowledge American Catholics by offering a Douay-Rheims or Jerusalem alternative to the King James edition.

[N.E. Brigand]

In Alabama tonight, Marilyn Lands, a Democratic candidate who lost by seven points in 2022, won a special election for the state house with a campaign in which she "openly discussed the abortion she had more than 20 years ago after her fetus tested positive for a rare genetic condition" while her Republican opponent largely ignored that subject. The seat had been held by a Republican who resigned last year after he "pleaded guilty to committing election fraud by voting in the district he represented despite not living there."

Edited to add: Landis won by 25 points tonight. (Donald Trump won the district by one point in 2020.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I saw that too. My inclination is that this is an outlier, particularly as a special election, but it is hard to ignore the sheer numbers.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Very scary.

[N.E. Brigand]

Yeah a vote for RFK Jr. in any given state is effectively a vote for the candidate who wins that state.

Thus the 50,000 people who voted for Jill Stein in Michigan in 2016 gave the state to Donald Trump, who beat Hillary Clinton there by 11,000 votes. That is: the Green Party candidate helped the guy who says that global warming is a hoax.

[RoseMorninStar]

In Alabama tonight, Marilyn Lands, a Democratic candidate who lost by seven points in 2022, won a special election for the state house with a campaign in which she "openly discussed the abortion she had more than 20 years ago after her fetus tested positive for a rare genetic condition" while her Republican opponent largely ignored that subject. The seat had been held by a Republican who resigned last year after he "pleaded guilty to committing election fraud by voting in the district he represented despite not living there."

Edited to add: Landis won by 25 points tonight. (Donald Trump won the district by one point in 2020.)

I believe that district lost out on Space command headquarters due to the reproductive rights issues, so it probably really resonates with those voters.

[N.E. Brigand]

A new CNBC poll finds Donald Trump leading President Biden 46%-45%. While that's still not good, it is a shift of five points in Biden's direction since December. Notably, for the first time for this poll since 2021, a majority of Americans think the U.S. is not heading into a recession.

[N.E. Brigand]

(I've also seen online reports that when speaking to CPAC earlier today, Trump referred to his wife Melania by the name Mercedes. I suspect that may be an error in the reports, because CPAC is run by Matt Schlapp and his wife Mercedes. His speech is 80 minutes long, and I haven't listened to the whole thing to check.)

OK, I put the CPAC speech on ... it actually runs 86 minutes. ... here's my transcript of five minutes (53:35-58:40). Italics indicate Trump raising his voice. Bold indicates my emphasis:

But one of these guys will run up and grab him and take him off the stage. This is what we have as our president. But the worst thing is when I do that, the fake news--I call up my wife, the great First Lady, she was a great--people love her [audience applauds], yeah people love her. [Trump looks to his far left] Oh look at that! Wow! Mercedes, that's pretty good! Ah, she's good. And she loves our country, and she loves the people. It's true. When I give these big rallies -- we give rallies -- they say: "We love our First Lady." [Trump waves his right hand as if holding a sign] They have signs. "We love our"--they always show a high heel, you know? "We love our First Lady." ...

So did he refer to his wife Melania as "Mercedes"? I don't think so. That video never cuts from Trump, but this one does have an occasional crowd shot, including a cut to the audience at the moment in question. As far as I can tell, Melania isn't even there. He's apparently expressing to Mercedes Schlapp his reaction to the audience giving the absent Melania a brief standing ovation. It's weird because he never mentions Melania's name at all.

Is Matt Schlapp writing Donald Trump's campaign fundraising emails?

don't let Obama spit in your face

[Trump 2024 logo]

Stand With Trump

THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM DONALD J. TRUMP:

Barack Obama wants to spit in your face.

Bill Clinton wants to utterly humiliate you.

Wow! Mercedes, that's pretty good!

[N.E. Brigand]

President Biden said this at his big New York fundraiser with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton last night:

"Harry Truman said: 'If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.' I got one, and it bit a secret service agent."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Or more than one.

[N.E. Brigand]

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

A judge ruled Wednesday that the Georgia Republican Party’s first vice chairman, Brian K. Pritchard, violated state election laws when he voted nine times while serving probation for a felony check forgery sentence.

Pritchard, a conservative talk show host, must pay a $5,000 fine and receive a public reprimand from the State Election Board, according to the decision by Administrative Law Judge Lisa Boggs.

[N.E. Brigand]

Republican budget proposals "call for cutting federal spending on health care by $4.5 trillion over the next decade. That's four times as much as the GOP envisioned cutting in its 2017 bill to repeal the ACA" -- that was the "skinny repeal" bill that the late Sen. John McCain famously torpedoed with his thumbs down* (although he was joined in that effort by Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski). To be fair, if you account for inflation, the new Republican plan is only about three times more draconian than that one.

*Here's a refresher on that 2017 moment:

[N.E. Brigand]

To be sure, there have been previous calls from both the left and the right for the repeal of the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution. The 22nd Amendment, which was approved by Congress in 1947 and ratified by the states and made effective in 1951, prohibits a president from serving more than two elected terms of office (or from serving more than ten years in the case of someone who became president due to the mid-term vacancy of that office).

But in light of Donald Trump's earlier statement that he would (temporarily) assume dictatorial powers upon reelection, for one of his allies to publish an argument for repeal explicitly to benefit Trump seems very much like part of a larger plan to end American democracy:

[N.E. Brigand]

Donald Trump today shared an image of President Biden bound and gagged in the back of a pickup truck.

This was in the form of video of two pickup trucks driven by his supporters on a rainy highway. What struck me as much as the violent image of Biden was how the official American flag is overshadowed by the "thin blue line" flag, with one of the former but five of the latter. The thin blue line flag, supposedly an image in support of the police, constitutes flag desecration per the U.S. flag code, which, however, is not legally binding. And it's just such hyperbole: the ten most dangerous U.S. professions are loggers, fishers, pilots, roofers, refuse collectors, truck drivers, farmers, metal workers, general construction workers, and groundskeepers. None of them have their own precious little flag.

[N.E. Brigand]

The Biden-Harris campaign is trying to reach Nikki Haley voters:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The Short, Fraught History of the ‘Thin Blue Line’ American Flag

The controversial version of the U.S. flag has been hailed as a sign of police solidarity and criticized as a symbol of white supremacy.