We Lost the Battle for the Republican Party’s Soul Long Ago

[jhawks99]

GOP men are the problem.

^^^

Speaking of "chickenshit cowards":

Ex-Trump Attorney General Bill Barr visibly crumbles as CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins grills him on his decision to support Trump in November despite viciously criticizing him in the past.

I'd watch more 'tubes like this if some moran didn't interrupt to tell me what I just heard.

[Shirley]

GOP men are the problem.

^^^

Speaking of "chickenshit cowards":

Ex-Trump Attorney General Bill Barr visibly crumbles as CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins grills him on his decision to support Trump in November despite viciously criticizing him in the past.

I'd watch more 'tubes like this if some moran didn't interrupt to tell me what I just heard.

^^^

There are a plethora of videos I'd post if it weren't for the commentary you have to suffer through.

[jhawks99]

Thanks

[jfish26]

April 28, 2024

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.c ... il-28-2024

On Friday, in an interview with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, Trump’s former attorney general William Barr brushed off the recent news that Trump, furious that the story he had taken refuge in a bunker during the Black Lives Matter protests in summer 2020 had leaked, called for the White House leaker to be executed.

“I remember him being very mad about that. I actually don’t remember him saying ‘executing,’ but I wouldn‘t dispute it, you know,” Barr said to Collins when she asked him about it. “The president would lose his temper and say things like that. I doubt he would’ve actually carried it out.”

Collins followed up, asking if Trump would call for executions on other occasions. “He would say things similar to that on occasions to blow off steam. But I wouldn’t take them literally every time he did it,” Barr answered.

Why not? Collins asked.

“Because at the end of the day, it wouldn’t be carried out and you could talk sense into him,” Barr said. “I don’t think he would actually go and kill political rivals and things like that.” Barr said he intends to vote for Trump.

“Just to be clear,” Collins said, “you’re voting for someone who you believe tried to subvert the peaceful transfer of power, that can’t even achieve his own policies, that lied about the election even after his attorney general told him that the election wasn’t stolen.… You’re going to vote for someone who is facing 88 criminal counts?”

“The answer to the question is yes,” Barr said. “I think the real threat to democracy is the progressive movement and the Biden administration.”

The contention of the former attorney general—who had been responsible for enforcing the rule of law in the United States of America—that a man who has demanded the execution of people he dislikes is a better candidate for the presidency than a man who is using the power of the federal government to create jobs for ordinary people, combat climate change, protect the environment, and promote health and education, illustrates that Republican leaders have abandoned democracy.

In November 2019, in a speech to the right-wing Federalist Society, Barr ignored the Declaration of Independence, which is a list of complaints against King George III, to argue that Americans had rebelled in 1776 not against the king, but rather against Parliament. In the modern world, Barr argued, Congress has grown far too strong. The president should be able to act on his own initiative and not be checked by either congressional or judicial oversight.

That theory is known as the theory of the “unitary executive,” and it says that because the president is the head of one of the three unique branches of government, any oversight of that office by Congress or the courts is unconstitutional, although in fact presidents since George Washington have accepted congressional oversight.

The theory took root in 1986, when Samuel Alito, then a 35-year-old lawyer for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice, proposed the use of “signing statements” to take from Congress the sole power to make laws by giving the president the power to “interpret” them. In 1987, president Ronald Reagan issued a signing statement to a debt bill, declaring his right to interpret it as he wished and saying the president could not be forced “to follow the orders of a subordinate.”

In 2004, when Congress outlawed the newly-revealed U.S. torture program at remote sites around the world, President George W. Bush issued a signing statement rejecting any limitation on “the unitary executive branch.” In April 2020, to justify his demands for states to reopen in the face of the deadly pandemic, Trump told reporters, “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total….” Now, in 2024, Trump’s lawyers are in court arguing that the president has criminal immunity for his behavior in the White House, possibly including his right to order the executions of those he sees as enemies.

As Republicans have embraced unlimited power for the president, they have also turned against the right of American citizens to have a say in their government. Beginning with so-called ballot integrity measures in 1986, they embraced methods to knock voters off the voting rolls. That policy intensified after Democrats passed the so-called Motor-Voter Law in 1993, making it easier to register to vote.

After voters nonetheless elected Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, the Supreme Court handed down the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, permitting unlimited donations to political campaigns, and corporate money flowed into them. In that same year, Republican operatives launched Operation REDMAP to elect Republicans to state legislatures ahead of the redistricting required after the 2010 census. Operation REDMAP resulted in extreme partisan gerrymandering that would make it virtually impossible for Democrats to win elections even if they won a majority of the vote.

Then, in 2013, the Supreme Court decided Shelby County v. Holder, which gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That law had required states with a history of racial discrimination to get clearance from the Department of Justice before they changed their voting laws. The court said that preclearance was no longer necessary. Within hours of the decision, Republican-dominated states proposed new laws that discriminate against voters of color.

In 2019, Barr explained to an audience at the University of Notre Dame the ideology behind the strong executive and weakened representation. Rejecting the clear words of the Constitution’s framers, Barr said that the U.S. was never meant to be a secular democracy. When the nation’s founders had spoken so extensively about self-government, he said, they had not meant the right to elect representatives of their own choosing. Instead, he said, the founders meant the ability of individuals to “restrain and govern themselves.” And, because people are willful, the only way to achieve self-government is through religion.

Those who believe the United States is a secular country, he said, are destroying the nation. It was imperative, he said, to reject those values and embrace religion as the basis for American government.

The idea that the United States must become a Christian nation has apparently led Barr to accept the idea that a man who has called for the execution of those he sees as enemies should be president, apparently because he is expected to usher in an authoritarian Christian state, in preference to a man who is using the power of the government to help ordinary Americans.

Saturday night, journalists, politicians, and celebrities gathered for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an annual fundraiser for the White House Correspondents’ Association, which protects press passes for journalists who regularly cover the White House, assigns seats in the briefing room, funds scholarships for aspiring journalists, and gives awards for outstanding journalism. It is traditionally an evening of comedy, but last night, after a humorous speech, President Joe Biden implored the press to take the threat of dictatorship seriously.

“I’m sincerely not asking of you to take sides but asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment; move past the horse race numbers and the gotcha moments and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics; and focus on what’s actually at stake,” he said. “Every single one of us has…a serious role to play in making sure democracy endures…. I have my role, but, with all due respect, so do you.”

George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s This Week apparently took this reminder to heart. “Until now,” he said in the show’s opener on Sunday, “[n]o American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse….

“The scale of the abnormality is so staggering, that it can actually become numbing. It’s all too easy to fall into reflexive habits, to treat this as a normal campaign, where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power. But, that is not what’s happening this election year. Those bedrock tenets of our democracy are being tested in a way we haven’t seen since the Civil War. It’s a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens.”

[Shirley]

Last Week in the Republican Party - April 30, 2024

[Shirley]

They're Republicans, so cruelty is the point:

Florida workers brace for summer with no protections: ‘My body would tremble’

Effects of heat are expected to worsen after bill prohibiting municipalities from enacting shade and water protection is passed

For Javier Torres and other workers whose jobs are conducted outdoors in south Florida, the heat is unavoidable. A new law recently signed by Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, that prohibits any municipalities in the state from passing heat protections for workers ensures that it is likely to stay that way.

Torres has seen a co-worker die from heatstroke and another rushed to the emergency room in his years of working in construction in south Florida. He has also fallen and injured himself due to heat exhaustion.

“I work outdoors and have no choice but to work in the heat. I work often in painting and, in the majority of cases, we’re exposed to direct sun and we don’t have shade. Sometimes I feel dizzy and get headaches,” said Torres...

For Javier Torres and other workers whose jobs are conducted outdoors in south Florida, the heat is unavoidable. A new law recently signed by Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, that prohibits any municipalities in the state from passing heat protections for workers ensures that it is likely to stay that way.

[...]

[Sparko]

Looks to me like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[Overlander]

They're Republicans, so cruelty is the point:

Florida workers brace for summer with no protections: ‘My body would tremble’

Effects of heat are expected to worsen after bill prohibiting municipalities from enacting shade and water protection is passed

For Javier Torres and other workers whose jobs are conducted outdoors in south Florida, the heat is unavoidable. A new law recently signed by Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, that prohibits any municipalities in the state from passing heat protections for workers ensures that it is likely to stay that way.

Torres has seen a co-worker die from heatstroke and another rushed to the emergency room in his years of working in construction in south Florida. He has also fallen and injured himself due to heat exhaustion.

“I work outdoors and have no choice but to work in the heat. I work often in painting and, in the majority of cases, we’re exposed to direct sun and we don’t have shade. Sometimes I feel dizzy and get headaches,” said Torres...

For Javier Torres and other workers whose jobs are conducted outdoors in south Florida, the heat is unavoidable. A new law recently signed by Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, that prohibits any municipalities in the state from passing heat protections for workers ensures that it is likely to stay that way.

[...]

Texas did the same thing last year.

It’s the GOPs back handed way of punishing Mexicans

[Shirley]

^^^

Like I said, They're Republicans, so cruelty (and money) is the point.

Parts of the article I linked that I left out:

At the behest of agricultural industry lobbyists, DeSantis signed HB433 into law on 11 April, a bill scaling back child labor protections that also included an amendment prohibiting all local municipalities in Florida from enacting heat protections for workers.

...“I haven’t texted you in weeks–HEAT cannot die,” wrote Carol Bowen, a lobbyist for the Associated Builders and Contractors in a text message on 7 March to the House speaker Paul Renner’s chief of staff Allison Carter, the day before the last day of the legislative session when the bill was ultimately passed. “The entire business community is in lock step on this. Thank you for your attention to this concern.”

Ahead of a vote on the bill, the Florida chamber of commerce lobbyist Carolyn Johnson told Republican lawmakers their vote on the bill would be double-weighted on the How They Voted report the chamber sends to its members...

[Sparko]

Add them to the the lawsuit. People will die based on this. Bringing back the worst of the robber barons.

[jfish26]

This is bad enough BEFORE you consider the purpose behind it.

Kristen Welker: “Will you commit to accepting the election results of 2024?

Tim Scott: “At the end of the day, the 47th president of the will be Donald Trump”

Welker: “Yes or no, will you accept the election results no matter who wins?”

Scott: “That is my statement”

https://x.com/rpsagainsttrump/status/17 ... q_-8Yt1KMA

[Overlander]

This is bad enough BEFORE you consider the purpose behind it.

Kristen Welker: “Will you commit to accepting the election results of 2024?

Tim Scott: “At the end of the day, the 47th president of the will be Donald Trump”

Welker: “Yes or no, will you accept the election results no matter who wins?”

Scott: “That is my statement”

https://x.com/rpsagainsttrump/status/17 ... q_-8Yt1KMA

Cult Complex Completed

[Sparko]

They never see gas chambers coming.

[japhy]

Seeing it live this morning was even funnier.

The conversation began after Brennan quoted a passage from the book in which Noem claimed, “I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants. I’ve been a children’s pastor, after all.”

Brennan then asked Noem point-blank if the meeting had ever transpired. “You know, as soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some changes and looked at this this passage,” Noem said evasively.

“I’ve met with many many world leaders. I’ve traveled around the world. As soon as it was brought to my attention, we went forward and have made some edits. So I’m glad that this book is being released in a couple of days and that those edits will be in place and that people will will have the updated version,” she added.

“So you did not meet with Kim Jung Un,” Brennan replied. “That’s what you’re saying.”

“I’ve met with many, many world leaders, many world leaders,” Noem reiterated. “I’ve traveled around the world. I think I’ve talked extensively in this book about my time serving in Congress, my time as governor, before governor, some of the travels that I’ve had. I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders. I’m just not going to do that.”

But she did just do that, in print, and had to retract it.

She has met with many, many world leaders. She has traveled around the world.

[Sparko]

Republican=liar. Craven.

[jfish26]

Seeing it live this morning was even funnier.

The conversation began after Brennan quoted a passage from the book in which Noem claimed, “I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants. I’ve been a children’s pastor, after all.”

Brennan then asked Noem point-blank if the meeting had ever transpired. “You know, as soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some changes and looked at this this passage,” Noem said evasively.

“I’ve met with many many world leaders. I’ve traveled around the world. As soon as it was brought to my attention, we went forward and have made some edits. So I’m glad that this book is being released in a couple of days and that those edits will be in place and that people will will have the updated version,” she added.

“So you did not meet with Kim Jung Un,” Brennan replied. “That’s what you’re saying.”

“I’ve met with many, many world leaders, many world leaders,” Noem reiterated. “I’ve traveled around the world. I think I’ve talked extensively in this book about my time serving in Congress, my time as governor, before governor, some of the travels that I’ve had. I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders. I’m just not going to do that.”

But she did just do that, in print, and had to retract it.

She has met with many, many world leaders. She has traveled around the world.

“As soon as it was brought to my attention.”

“I’m not going to talk about (facts).”

I get savvier deflection from my middle schooler. Shit, maybe even the five year old.

[Shirley]

Full disclosure: After > half a century of having Republicans cram their moral superiority down my/our throats, to say I'm enjoying watching this craven piece of shit squirm, is a gross understatement.

#notsorryonebit

Lying, pious, holier than thou "Christian", "Family Values", adulterer, dog killer and, of course, Trump VP candidate Kristi Noem continues to make the rounds promoting her book.

This video is just what she deserves:

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Full disclosure: After > half a century of having Republicans cram their moral superiority down my/our throats, to say I'm enjoying watching this craven piece of shit squirm, is a gross understatement.

#notsorryonebit

Lying, pious, holier than thou "Christian", "Family Values", adulterer, dog killer and, of course, Trump VP candidate Kristi Noem continues to make the rounds promoting her book.

This video is just what she deserves:

"Iv'e specifically worked on policy for over 30 years".

WHAT?!?!?!?

She's like Trump - in that she's a horrible defender of herself and lies in the process.

[Shirley]

"Iv'e specifically worked on policy for over 30 years".

WHAT?!?!?!?

She's like Trump - in that she's a horrible defender of herself and lies in the process.

Yeah, to say she has a rather casual relationship to things like facts and reality seems accurate.

30 years ago she would have been 23 y/o.

She wasn't elected to office until 2006, as a member of the S Dakota house of representatives.

[Shirley]

Republican coward Tim Scott appears to be willing to say anything to become Trump's VP.

Here, he's shown lying about Trump's record as president: