DDT Adds Delegates, Has No Other Wins

Nikki Haley achieved her first victory in the GOP primaries/caucuses when she won Sunday’s Washington, D.C. primary by 63 percent over 33 percent for Deposed Donald Trump (DDT), taking all 19 delegates at the RNC convention. DDT had threatened lobbyists, saying they will have no access to the White House if they don’t show up to vote.

On Saturday, DDT added delegates in three caucuses: Missouri (54), Idaho (32), and Michigan (51 with Tuesday primary).  Haley got four delegates from the Michigan primary. Some districts weren’t represented because of confusion about Michigan’s party leadership, and Missouri caucuses locked out late-comers. Last year, Idaho tried to save money by moving all primaries to the same date in May but accidentally eliminated the presidential primary. The state held its first presidential caucus since 2012.

This week, “Super Tuesday” has Democratic primaries in 15 states and caucuses in Iowa and American Samoa. Iowa’s Democratic “caucus” consists of mail-in cards obtained by request from the DNC. Republicans have Alaska and Utah party-run presidential preference votes and caucuses with 13 primaries in the remaining states. North Dakota holds its caucus on March 5, the day before Super Tuesday.

For the third time, DDT called Barack Obama as the current president causing problems with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Virginia rally this weekend went silent. The mixup occurred the day after President Joe Biden mistakenly said the U.S. was dropping humanitarian aid into Ukraine, not Gaza.

Haley accused DDT of turning the RNC into his personal piggybank by trying to place his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as its co-chair and use its money to pay DDT’s legal fees. One of the group’s 168 members wants to block her takeover and is circulating two nonbinding resolutions for the March 8 meeting, one calling for neutrality and the other rejecting 2024 candidates’ legal fees. Resigning Chair Ronna McDaniel said in November 2022 that the RNC would stop paying for DDT’s bills when he becomes a presidential candidate.

DDT plans to use local police in what he calls the “largest deportation operation in American history” if he moves back into the White House. Steve Bannon, DDT’s adviser, has good advice for voters: “Mass deportations are going to start, if you don’t like that, then don’t vote for President Trump.” esse Watters’ guest on Fox who ranted the myth about dangers of immigrants “coming to kill your whole family” is a criminal. James Lee, actually James DePaola, was arrested in 2016—again—for violently threatening his wife for making a grilled cheese sandwich too cheesy.

DDT is lying about immigrants, which has no crime wave, and the crime rate, which has dropped since Joe Biden became president. To attack Biden, DDT and other Republicans use the isolated instance of a Venezuelan migrant killing a Georgia nursing student for the crime problems. He also accused Biden of encouraging migrants to illegally enter the U.S. and vote in the fall election. DDT is campaigning on lies.

Those who like “gossip” about the rich and famous might want to pick up a copy of American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden by New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers.

Some of DDT’s financial woes may come from problems in the commercial real estate. Last year, prices slumped 22 percent, according to Fortune. In 2015, 40 Wall St. was valued at $540 million but fell by 2024 to $270 million.

Other Legal Issues:

In another lawsuit, DDT is accused of intentionally devaluing his media company Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) which owns and operates his Truth Social platform. TMTG’s merger with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Digital World Acquisition, has been approved with DDT’s co-owners allege that he sought to “drastically dilute the company shares and distribute them among his family members.

E. Jean Carroll – Sexual Assault/Defamation:

DDT bragged about having over $600 million in liquid assets, but he can’t even afford to pay $83 million for a civil lawsuit, according to his lawyers. The judge refused his request to avoid the March 9 deadline for payment or a bond.

New York – Business Fraud Costs:

A New York civil trial ruling about DDT inflated evalation of his properties also brought out DDT’s lies as his lawyers used an 1,800-page filing to describe his inability to pay the $454 million. The judge turned down an alternative that he would post a $100 million bond for the debt due by March 25. A New York appellate court agreed with the judge but reversed the order that DDT’s two sons couldn’t run his businesses. A charity GoFundMe site set up by the wife of a multi-millionaire has raised over $1.4 million but slowed down in the past few days. New York AG Letitia James said that if DDT lacks the funds for the bond she will “ask the judge to seize his assets.”

DDT won’t pay his own bills while he complains that other NATO countries don’t pay their bills—meaning that they pay under two percent of the countries’ GDPs for defense. The invitation is that Russia should do anything it wants to those countries. DDT even stiffed 253 contractors for $70 million on just one Atlantic City property.

New York – Business Fraud/Hush Money to Stormy Daniels to Interfere with 2016 Election:

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has requested a limited gag order on DDT, similar to the one for his federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., and asked that the Access Hollywood tape be played for the jury as a “highly relevant” motive for the hush money payment. He also asked that jurors’ identities be shielded and requested a ban on evidence or arguments about DDT’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen about the accusation of perjury during DDT’s civil fraud trial in October. DDT’s attorneys are trying to block Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, and Karen McDougal, with whom DDT also had an affair, from testifying. The trial begins on March 25.

Washington, D.C. – DDT Overturning the Election:

The prosecution has found a Twitter account from Kenneth Chesebro’s pseudonym Badger Pundit recommending that DDT convince legislators to appointment electors for a rigged election. Chesebro has taken a plea in the Georgia RICO case. The Supreme Court is blocking the trial about DDT’s trying to overturn the election by delaying a decision regarding the question of DDT’s immunity.

Georgia – RICO Conspiracy to Overturn Election:

The hearing from co-defendants attempting to disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis has finished after she defended herself from a conflict of interest concerned her alleged relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Texts show that Wade’s former law partner Terrence Bradley texted co-defendants’ lawyer about the relationship beginning before Willis hired Wade but wouldn’t testify about it on the stand. Bradley also didn’t support his earlier statements that Wade spent large amounts of money on Willis for travel. The judge plans to deliver his ruling within two weeks.

DDT’s former chief-of-staff Mark Meadows lost his attempt in the 11^th Circuit Court to move his election interference case to a federal court by refusing his petition for the entire court to review the loss from a three-judge panel. Meadows still asserts that trying to overturn the Georgia election was part of his official duties. Last year, he accepted immunity from special counsel Jack Smith for testifying about events before and on the January 6 insurrection.

Hackers into Fulton County government has demanded a ransom for not publishing the information with two separate deadlines, but officials question whether the cyberattack was real and didn’t pay the extortionists.

Florida – DDT’s Taking Classified Documents:

DDT’s pet judge Aileen Cannon may delay the trial because of complex legal issues that experts say don’t exist. Smith asked for July 8 if it is postponed from May 20, but DDT’s lawyers recommended August 12. DDT wants the trial after the 2024 election, hoping for a victory to close the case. Willis has asked for the RICO trial to begin in August. Another question is whether she will seal records of witnesses to protect them as Smith wants. Cannon granted Smith’s motion “to withhold from Defendants Nauta and De Oliveira personally all classified discovery produced to date” and denied DDT’s motion for additional classified documents to be shown to his lawyers.

In one filing, Smith pointed out that DDT asked his lawyer to respond to a grand jury subpoena demanding the return of classified documents by lying, telling the FBI that he didn’t have any and then said the attorney should “hide or destroy documents.” DDT’s “defense” is typically “I have the right to take stuff.” He also used special counsel Robert Hur’s report exonerating President Joe Biden from wrong-doing in handling classified documents to show that DDT’s handling “was significantly more aggravated/willful than Joe Biden’s.”

The DOJ has told Cannon she cannot apply the “60-day rule” blocking a trial in the two months before the election because DDT has already been indicted and the case is being litigated.  Cannon plans to hold multiple hearings for about a dozen DDT pretrial motions, and  filed.  Smith’s responses to Cannon’s delays and other decisions are here.   

The 14th Amendment; DDT’s Name on State Ballots:

The Supreme Court has announced it will announce decisions on March 4 but didn’t say which ones.

GOP ‘Games’

Tuesday is the scheduled Michigan primaries. With 83 percent of the vote counted, President Joe Biden took almost 81 percent with 13 percent voting uncommitted in the state with a strong Arab-American population protesting Biden’s lack of fighting against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza during the war against Hamas. Rep. Dean Phillips (R-MN) picked up his usual approximately two percent. The state has 119 Democratic delegates for the convention this summer.

In the GOP primary, Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) got a little over 68 percent compared to Nikki Haley’s 26.6 percent. Another three percent voted uncommitted. Haley came out strong in the typically GOP area of Oakland.

Like in Nevada, the GOP decision for presidential candidate candidates demonstrates the split in their party. The Tuesday vote determines only 16 delegates to the national RNC convention; the other 39 will be selected at a state convention on March 2. The primary accommodates the Democratic nominating calendar that moved the presidential primaries from March to February. Republicans claimed that the move violated the RNC rules and cost them delegates at the July convention in Milwaukee. State and national party officials negotiated an agreement to permit the party all its delegates. Michigan’s open primaries allow voters to cast a ballot in primaries even if they aren’t a party member, but only Republicans can participate in the caucuses at the state convention(s).

More conflict within the GOP further complicates the delegate selection. DDT and the RNC recognize Pete Hoekstra as the Michigan party leader after the GOP voted to oust election denier Kristina Karamo. But she denies she is no longer “legally the chair” and controls the bank account. Hoekstra will hold a convention in Grand Rapids on Saturday; Karamo and her supporters will gather in Detroit on the same day. The issue is in court with a judge expected to rule this week.

In more GOP games, congressional Republicans want Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson to disinvite Biden from giving his State of the Union speech. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), said to be central in planning the January 6 insurrection, said that there’s no reason for the president to deliver the address on March 7 because he’s unhappy with the direction of the U.S. The GOP stunt is not new: Republicans floated the same idea for the past two Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

One of Perry’s major complaints is the loud GOP campaign message that too many immigrants come across the border, but the Biden DHS removes 3.5 times as many people per month as DDT did, according to the right-wing Cato Institute. Another conservative complaint about Biden is that he has found large amounts of fentanyl coming across the border instead of ignoring it.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) wants a budget and “national security strategy” to address the border issue before Biden receives an invitation to deliver the speech before the congressional joint session. He actually did that in a combined emergency security bill with aid to the Indo-Pacific, Israel, Ukraine, and humanitarian assistance, but the Senate rejected it because the House refused to address the issue.

The constitution mandates the president to “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Since 1790, Presidents have given 99 in-person addresses to fulfill the requirement. The House Speaker is responsible for inviting the president, and technically Johnson could rescind his invitation.

Perry has also demanded a budget from Biden while the House continually to fail its responsibility to pass the appropriations bills. House members are even working on a bill to set a deadline of the first Monday in February for the president to submit a budget before he can give the State of the Union address. (The House always finds ways to avoid working on the appropriations bills.) Biden announced he will submit the budget on March 11, 35 days late, compared to the House now four months late for its budget. The tardiness of the budget joins the pattern by the last four presidents.  

Extremist GOP House members are furious because their impeachment of the president is failing, especially after the latest prize witness is in jail for lying to the FBI, being a Russian intelligence operative, and potentially fleeing from the U.S. A Nevada judge released him from jail on his own recognizance, but in a second arrest, a federal judge appointed by George W. Bush finds him a flight risk. Republicans were using Smirnov’s falsehood that Joe and Hunter Biden had each taken $5 million in bribes to protect the Ukrainian energy giant Burisma from prosecution.

Insanity—”doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” This quote from Albert Einstein shows that House Republicans searching for a reason to impeach Biden have gone over the edge. A GOP official called the process a “parade of embarrassments”; it has demonstrated a crusade with no factual foundation. Their latest “witness” putting Biden in the midst of his son Hunter Biden’s China and Russia business deals is a convicted felon Jason Galanis. A federal court in Manhattan sentenced him to 189 months in prison for his multiple multi-million-dollar fraudulent schemes.

During all their fake bills inspired by hatred for Democrats and campaigning for DDT, the nation is careening toward a shutdown this coming Saturday. Extremist GOP members are sulking because the Senate won’t accept their religious anti-LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights amendments stuck onto spending bills. Johnson is trying to figure out how to stay in the Speaker position, and he’s the sole person stopping more reasonable bills from going to the floor where they could be passed by Democrats and governing Republicans.

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Speaker Johnson met privately with Biden and VP Kamala Harris in an attempt to work out a deal keeping the government open. A fourth continuing resolution would keep the government functioning, but the last Speaker was voted out after just one CR. The next five days will show whether Johnson is correct when he said he thought that the House would stop the government shutdown.  

Another topic at the meeting was funding for Ukraine. Johnson declared his priority was taking care of the southern border, but he already rejected a bill that the Senate Republicans negotiated and would have passed if Johnson hadn’t said he would let the House vote on it. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said:

“We said to the speaker: Get it done!”

The Senate has returned to Washington, D.C., and Democrats have a bill to protect in vitro fertilization (IVF) after the Alabama Supreme Court endangered it by declaring that all embryos are ”children,” including frozen ones for IVF. Conservative lawmakers are working on “fetal personhood” bills to declare life begins at fertilization while Republicans reassure their constituents that this doesn’t stop IVF. In the House, a similar bill picked up 32 Democratic and one Republican, Anna Paula Luna (FL), co-sponsored a similar bill, but Luna has already asked to be removed.

A popular GOP bill in the House is the Life at Conception Act defining a “human being” as being created from “the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.” Introduced in January 2023 by Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV), the bill, which would eliminate IVF, has 125 total Republican sponsors, 57 percent of its Republicans. Some of the bill’s GOP supporters—such as Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (LA), Buddy Carter (CA), Byron Donalds (R-FL), and Michelle Steel (CA)—say they support this bill which is incompatible with IVF. Steel used IVF to become pregnant.

On Wednesday, Democratic senators hope for a vote to protect IVF, which is supported by 86 percent of voters, including 78 to 83 percent of those who consider themselves “pro-life” or evangelical. Some conservative responses to the bill.

• Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS) objected to Tammy Duckworth’s (IL) proposal for unanimous consent.
• OB-GYN Roger Marshall (KS) sees no reason to approve IVG “at the federal level.”
• J.D. Vance (OH) thinks “it’s idiotic for us to take the bait.”
• Lindsey Graham (SC) said, “Nobody’s ever been born in the freezer.”
• John Kennedy (LA) wants the decision to be by the states.

While CPAC participants spread their hatred last weekend, about 700 conservatives gathered in Washington, D.C. for the Principles First Summit with the message that DDT is a threat to U.S. democracy. If he is the presidential nominee, many of them will vote for Biden. The organization was founded in 2019, and participants this year doubled those last year while CPAC shrank. Its founder Heath Mayo described the difference between the two groups:

“We don’t have golden statues of politicians rolling around. Our speakers will celebrate the spirit of 1776 instead of Jan. 6. And the people in this room today, we know how to spot and condemn tyranny when we see it rather than to praise it.”

Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House staffer who provided pivotal testimony to the House January 6 investigative committee, received the Profiles in Courage award and signed copies of her book Enough. Speakers declared unwavering support for Ukraine, and former presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson warned that DDT is making the GOP “a pro-Putin party,” referring to the Russian president. Former conservative federal appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig said DDT must be held accountable for his actions relating to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Hope for Democracy despite CPAC

New York AG Letitia James has another win after Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) is losing his civil lawsuits—over a half billion dollars in just one of them. A judge found the National Rifle Association (NRA) and former CEO Wayne LaPierre liable for spending millions on extravagant. Jurors also found that the NRA failed to include or misrepresented information in tax filings and broke New York law by not adopting a whistleblower policy. In the last three decades, former CEO Wayne LaPierre led the NRA in its largely successful attempts to block any gun safety laws; now he owes $5.4 million. Over 150 years ago, the NRA promoted safety and marksmanship before expanding into shooting education. During the last half century, however, the focus has changed to amassing political power pushing permission for everyone to own as many guns as they want, no matter what they do with them. The repeated election conservative cry is, “They’re coming for your guns!”

The “Pillow Guy” Mike Lindell, who spent $40 million in his unsuccessful attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election, has lost another $5 million. A federal judge in Minnesota ruled his loss in a challenge to debunk his election interference claim that the Chinese government interfered in the election. The only person taking up the contest, a two-time DDT voter, proved Lindell wrong, but he shouldn’t spend the money yet. Lindell says he’ll appeal the decision. The case adds to millions of dollars in legal fees for lawsuits against Lindell’s election fraud claims, including Dominion’s $1.3 billion defamation suit. Fox has refused to air MyPillow ads over allegations of unpaid bills.

Hoping he can avoid paying his debts, DDT’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani filed bankruptcy, and the judge wants to know—in writing—who is paying his legal fees.  Giuliani’s creditors joined the judge in asked for an itemized account of the financial source, management, and disbursement. A co-defendant in the Georgia RICO case, Giuliani also currently faces former Noelle Dumphy, who is suing him for $10 million in damages for sexual assault, wage theft, harassment, and other charges. Giuliani’s attorney attacks on Dumphy for her credibility “sound more like wishful thinking than sober analysis,” her lawyer responded. Her case is delayed because of the bankruptcy proceedings.

The bankruptcy case reveals Giuliani’s debts—thousands of dollars in taxes and credit card debt with millions more to voting technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, Hunter Biden, and Dumphy if he loses their defamation lawsuits.

• Taxes: over $900,000.
• Golf clubs: almost $40,000.
• Unpaid legal fees: over $1.74 million.
• Verdict for defaming two election workers: $148 million.

Giuliani claims that he is owed $2 million in legal fees for working on DDT’s 2020 presidential campaign, and two outside entities are financially backing most of his defense, already almost $600,000. Some financing has come from a $100,000-per-plate fundraiser DDT hosted at Bedminster (NJ) golf club and widow of former Fox News chair Roger Ailes, Elizabeth Ailes. One of the groups, “Giuliani Defense,” is run by his son, Andrew. To appeal the $148 million ruling, Giuliani must acquire third-party funding approved by the court because his financial situation is so unstable.

In the midst of his financial woes, Giuliani faces disbarment in Washington, D.C. for a “frivolous” case in Pennsylvania that lacked any evidence. The disciplinary office filing the charges called him “utterly unrepentant.”

Texas AG Ken Paxton still has to show up for his April 15 criminal trial after Harris County District Court Judge Andrea Beall refused to drop the indictments against him. Two of his indictments, first-degree felony securities charges, are nine years old, and Paxton is complaining that he didn’t get a speedy trial although he has been behind the postponements. Another hearing on March 20 will settle pre-trial issues.

A Washington, D.C. federal judge ruling overturned DDT’s permission for a right-wing government takeover of wetlands by violating the Endangered Species Act and killing endangered panthers. In 2020, the EPA gave Florida oversight of dredge-and-fill permits for homes and other projects.

The bipartisan Wisconsin Ethics Committee is recommending criminal felony charges against DDT’s Save America Joint Fundraising Committee for its plot “to circumvent campaign finance laws to take out a powerful GOP lawmaker who has turned against Trump.” The race was between newcomer DDT supporter Adam Steen and GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. Three county GOP parties avoided campaign finance laws by having donors give money to the parties which then steered it to Steen. Details here.

Wisconsin’s GOP Assembly leaders admitted that former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to investigate the 2020 election, violated public records laws. Gableman found no evidence opposing Biden’s victory in the state and pushed Vos to illegally decertify the 2020 election result. Taxpayers ultimately paid $2.5 million for the Gableman’s failure.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) signed off on the new GOP legislative maps designed to avoid more problems from the state Supreme Court, but on the same day, he asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider the maps.

A Georgia court ruled against True the Vote, a national group disseminating conspiracy theories, for having no proof of voter fraud in the state. The group used hearsay and DDT-pardoned Dinesh D’Souza’s false film 2000 Mules to lie about “ballot trafficking,” a myth retained in GOP ideology. A man allegedly slandered by True the Vote and 2000 Mules has a pending lawsuit after a video represents him as stuffing a drop box with fraudulent ballots. He was dropping them off for himself and his family.

Last year, the Supreme Court denied higher education the right to consider race as a part of admissions; this year, it denied a challenge to a Virginia magnet school considering race in its admissions that considers socioeconomic factors for about 18 percent of the 550 students. Both Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from this ruling about the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The 4^th Circuit Court had permitted the admissions process.

Another Supreme Court rejection turned away a lawsuit from three GOP House members—Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Thomas Massie (KY), and Ralph Norman (SC)—whose pay was docked for their refusal to comply with the pandemic-era mask requirement. No dissents were noted. Starting with $500 for the first infraction, Greene racked up over $100,000 and would not identify her vaccination status. The requirement was lifted two years ago.

Last week, Michigan became the first state in six decades to repeal its Right to Work law, allowing unionized workplaces to require all employees to pay union dues and fees. Businesses oppose the repeal although workers are not required to join the union. They must still pay the union agency fees, sometimes 90 percent of full dues because unions negotiate for all employees. Non-U.S. companies tend to operate in Right to Work states where wages are lower with no salary increases.

The Biden administration is forgiving $1.2 billion in student debt for almost 153,000 borrowers in a new repayment program, Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, for borrowers in repayment for over a decade and took under $12,000. Thus far, Biden has canceled $138 billion for almost 3.9 million borrowers.

A split in the GOP is likely to exacerbate after Ronna McDaniel resigned as the RNC chair, and DDT is pushing for his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, for the new co-chair, despite her lack of experience. At his speech today after the North Carolina GOP primary, DDT announced Lara and an election denier, South Carolina’s Mike Whatley, although the RNC has not approved him. If DDT controls the RNC, the organization may find themselves on the hook for his legal fees. Fundraising for the Republican party is suffering from DDT’s growing legal bills; the RNC trails the DNC by almost three to one. Candidate Joe Biden had over $56 million in cash at the end of January 2024, compared to DDT’s campaign under $31 million. Biden’s unique donors by the end of 2023, 172,000, was also more than DDT’s 143,000. Unlike DDT, Biden and the DNC aren’t hampered by legal miseries whereas about 23 percent of DDT PACs’ fundraising went toward DDT’s legal costs.

Lara Trump repeatedly said she wants all the RNC funds, to go to DDT, potentially to help pay his legal expenses in both the civil and criminal cases. DDT’s legal fees were $3.7 million for January 2024, and one of his PACs had $2 million in unpaid legal debts. More trials during 2024 will increase the costs. Lara used the same fake arguments that DDT’s indictments come only from his candidacy for the presidency.   

CPAC is over for another year. Conservative columnist Matt Lewis, panned its disappeared “luster” as other venues attract more people. About 20,000 attendees were at far-right group Turning Point USA’s “AmericaFest” last year. (That’s the same number as anticipated attendance at the annual Seafood and Wine Festival on the Oregon coast at Newport.) Steven Senski, who came to CPAC, wrote, “I’ve seen bigger Tupperware parties.” https://www.newsweek.com/cpac-2024-turnout-empty-seats-republicans-1872627    Even conservative Newsweek called the group “sparse” when describing DDT’s audience for the closing speech.

In the straw poll at CPAC’s end, DDT took only 55 percent; only 68 percent of the ultra-conservative attendees want DDT to run again. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took 43 percent of the straw poll without DDT. Because of its narrow audience, CPAC has never been a good indicator of candidacy.   

Wars Foreign, Domestic

President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers attacking Palestinian communities in the West Bank to freeze individuals’ assets in the U.S. and restrict financial dealings with them. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan issued a statement that settler violence “poses a grave threat to peace, security, and stability in the West Bank, Israel, and the Middle East region, and threatens the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the overwhelming majority of West Bank settlers are “law-abiding citizens.”

For years, Israeli settlers in the West Bank have attacked many of the approximately three million Palestinians to seize land that Palestinians want for a future state. Since the Hamas attack on October 7, attacks have emptied entire Palestinian villages. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis settled in the area designated for Palestinians and oppose any Palestinian state. Reporter Charles Stratford wrote:

“We see settlers acting with either the tacit support or the actual physical support of the Israeli military in these attacks.”

[Right: A Palestinian inspects damage to his home by Israeli settlers in November 2023.]

After the drone attack killed three U.S. National Guard soldiers, congressional hawks call for war against Iran, but the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the country is “not looking for war.” Israeli strikes in Syria have caused Iran to reduce deployment of senior officers there, relying more on allied Shi’ite militia.

The Hezbollah Brigades, an Iraq-based, Iran-backed militant group suspected of the drone strike, stated it is suspending attacks on U.S. military installations in Iraq and Syria after Biden announced retaliatory strikes. They are planned to hit militia in Syria and perhaps Iraq, but not on Iranian land. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, returned after his January hospitalization, said that the U.S. is not at war with Iran and doesn’t know if Iran knew about the drone strikes from the “axis of resistance.”

Yemen’s Houthis claim to be supporting Palestinians in Gaza. South Africa, which accused Israel of indiscriminate killings in Gaza, stated that Israel is continuing its genocide of Palestinians despite a ruling from the International Court of Justice to prevent death and destruction in Gaza. The Gaza death toll is close to 27,000. The U.S. announced it destroyed a Houthi missile before it was fired on U.S. aircraft after shooting down an anti-ship missile. Earlier this week, the U.S. also destroyed a UAV ground control station and ten UAVs in the Houthi-controlled Yemen.

The U.S. considers recognition of a Palestinian state as a first step to resolve the Israeli war although Netanyahu opposes a two-state solution. The UK may provide formal diplomatic recognition to a Palestinian state prior to a final peace deal. In a proposed six-week pause in fighting, civilian hostages in Gaza could be released with three Palestinians released from Israeli prisons for each Hamas hostage. Israeli purports 109 hostages remain in captivity with 27 bodies. The proposal also requests an expansion of the humanitarian aid pipeline and Israeli troops moved from the most densely populated Gaza areas.

Israel and Lebanon may have a war, however; Hezbollah and Israel continue to trade destruction along the border. In 2006, the UN stopped a war between the two, but Hezbollah, however, continues to operate along the border, and Israel regularly violates Lebanese airspace and occupies part of its land. Since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, daily cross-border strikes between Hezbollah and Israel have escalated while Israel kills Hezbollah and Hamas members in Lebanon and displaced about 87,000 Lebanese from the border area. Israel evacuated 60,000 residents from its side of the border.

Hezbollah won’t agree to a ceasefire on the Israel-Lebanon border before one in Gaza and refuses to move its forces back from the border. Netanyahu threatens to “turn Beirut into Gaza,” but Hezbollah has 150,000 to 200,000 rockets and missiles of various ranges. Early in the Israeli war on Gaza, Israel had domestic support, but after almost four months, over half of Israelis support war with Hezbollah as a last resort to restore border security. Israel expects its war on Gaza to cost over $50 billion, 10 percent of national economic activity through the end of 2024. A war with Lebanon would sharply increase this cost.

Adding to the strife, Russia still invades Ukraine which is fighting back, and North Korea is launching projectiles into the Yellow Sea near the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stopped negotiating with the U.S. and moved to stronger ties with Russia and China. He also abandoned reunification with the South, threatening to occupy the South if it attacks the North and dropping a 2018 military accord with Seoul restricting military activity near the border. North Korea is growing its economy by secretly selling arms to Russia such as shells and ballistic missiles after increased trade with China.

On the home front, Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) is upsetting his conservative caucus by following the directive of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) to scuttle an immigration bill in the House. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) told right-wingers about his extreme disappointment “in the very strange maneuvering by many on the right to torpedo a potential border reform bill. That’s what we all ran on doing.” He added that “sabotage” of a bill significantly decreasing illegal immigration “is inconsistent with what we told our voters we would do.” According to Crenshaw:

“The height of stupidity is having a strong opinion on something you know nothing about. So, I don’t have a strong opinion on the bill because I haven’t seen it. Nobody has.”

RNC finances and fundraising are the worst that they’ve been in three decades and asking for a $10 million bailout. It ended 2023 with about $8 million and $1.8 million debt. Democrats have outraised the RNC by three to one with twice as much cash available. The disastrous report came out just before the RNC meets in Las Vegas. Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point is meeting next door to “hold the RNC accountable.” Like many other ultra-conservatives, Kirk opposed Ronna McDaniel as the RNC head. Radical MAGA Laura Loomer tweeted that a “grassroots ambush” awaited McDaniel at the RNC’s winter meeting. A major reason for the RNC fiscal problems is DDT because they picked up millions of his legal bills and his choice for president drying up donations.

Swing state GOPs are also in chaos from loss of funding and differences of opinion:

Arizona: Jeff DeWitt, state GOP chair, abruptly resigned after politician Kari Lake threatened to publicize a tape she made in which DeWitt supposedly told Lake that big donors didn’t want her to run for Senate and suggested she try for governor, a position she lost in 2022. The tape was made long ago when Lake worked for DeWitt’s company, and he believes the remarks were edited to remove the context of the private conversation. Missing from the controversy was DeWitt’s position that the request concerned only Lake’s lack of ability to raise the necessary funding for success in a U.S. senate race. Lake has a reputation for wearing a small, concealed microphone to secretly record people for weaponization. At the GOP meeting where she nominated a DDT-supported candidate for the GOP chair, Lake was heavily booed.

Florida: In early January, the state GOP ousted chair Christian Ziegler because a woman’s accused him of raping her. Ziegler and his wife Bridget Ziegler had had a sexual threesome with the woman, and Bridget also had a separate lesbian affair with her. Bridget was a co-founder of the ultra-conservative Moms for Liberty (M4L), known for its anti-LGBTQ+ book bans and school curriculum. She dropped out of M4L but refused to leave her position on the Saratoga School Board despite a unanimous vote for her to resign. She was removed as director of the School Board Leadership Program at the Leadership Institute, an organization that trains conservative activist, but remains on Ron DeSantis’ Disney World oversight board. The scandal went public in early October, but sources said the threesome had started three years earlier.

Michigan: Election denier, anti-vaxxer, and anti-evolution MAGA Kristina Karamo has been voted out of leadership, partly because of the party’s serious financial problems and failure to make loan payments. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ousted-michigan-gop-chair-kristina-karamo-now-claims-the-rnc-is-colluding-against-her   Net income for a nine-month period of $71,000 left it in $600,000 in debt. DDT changed his support for her to the new chair, but Karamo refuses to accept her ousting.

Nevada: The state has largely conceded its GOP caucuses to DDT, but Ron DeSantis claimed officials under indictment were rigging the elections against him, calling state chair Michael McDonald a “Trump puppet.” McDonald and National Committeeman pleaded not guilty to felony charges.

 Oregon: Ten GOP state legislators cannot run for another term because they walked out of last year’s session for six weeks to stall bills. Five of them sued, but the state Supreme Court ruled against them.

DDT continues his journey of confusion when a reporter asked him how he would pay the penalties for the New York court cases. After asking “what penalties,” DDT repeatedly said he “won in the Court of Appeals.” His lawyers may not have told him he lost the E. Jean Carroll civil lawsuit for an additional penalty of $83.3 million and may lose the $370+ million in the business fraud case, to be announced in mid-February.

The Last DDT Cult Report of 2023

Deposed Donald Trump (DTT) is getting help from his top GOP opponents for the 2024 election. Asked about his 2023 disappointments for his campaign, Ron DeSantis listed DDT’s indictments, ignoring the past Republican tradition of being a “law and order” party. The more charges DDT received, the more than the GOP—including at least two opponents—backed him.

Two GOP candidates—DeSantis and Nikki Haley—also claimed they would pardon DDT if he were ruled guilty. Haley said that having “an 80-year-old man sitting in jail” divides “our country.” DeSantis said he would fire Special Counsel Jack Smith on his first day as president and called out Smith for having “weaponized the legal system to go after their political enemies.” DDT is not returning the favor but instead bashes both of them. About Haley, he said the “greatest thing” she did was to accept his appointment for UN ambassador so that Henry McMaster could become South Carolina governor, Haley’s earlier position. DDT wrote on his Truth Social:

“That was a big reason why I appointed Nikki to the position—it was a favor to the people I love in South Carolina.”

DDT also nicknamed her “Birdbrain,” followed by denigrating “Rob DeSantimonious.” Donald Trump Jr. backed up his father by saying she was “a puppet of the establishment.” In more insults toward Haley, DDT also called her “Nikki New Taxes,” referring to the “60% increase in the state gas tax in South Carolina after promising voters she would never do so.” He also criticized her suggestions to cut Medicare and Social Security plus expanding the privatized Medicare Advantage plans.

GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie lambasted Haley’s support of a possibly convicted DDT:

“Well, what that should tell the American people is that she believes in two systems of justice: one for all of us and one for the most powerful.”

The campaigns are heating up with the Iowa caucus, becoming slightly more competitive. The event is a little over two weeks away on January 15. DDT has a new plan to collect more support with his new white-and-gold variation of the MAGA hat adding “TRUMP CAUCUS CAPTAIN” across the front and a gold-and-white image of the Iowa state flag on the side. MAGA is collecting a “field army” of volunteers for frontline recruiters who become precinct representatives on January 15. A senior adviser for DDT said:

 “Any volunteer ‘caucus captain’ who persuades 10 or more Iowans to support the former president on Caucus Day, and they all show up, will be invited ‘to a special, small event with President Trump at the Republican National Convention.”

Over 2,000 of these captains are assigned the delivery of a three-minute speech supporting DDT on caucus night as well as observing their precinct’s vote tally and reporting it to the campaign. The event is preceded by an hour-long training session; supposedly 350 of these sessions were scheduled in the first half of December, culminating by 500 before Caucus Day. A 20-page handbook for each “captain” lists their roles, responsibilities, and checklist along with a suggested speech for caucus night. Other perks for some captains are reserved seats for the front of DDT’s rallies, participation in a panel about their involvement, and DDT-signed certificates.

A week ago, DDT commemorated Christmas with vile messages such as this one on his Truth Social:

“Included also are World Leaders, both good and bad, but none of which are as evil and ‘sick’ as the THUGS we have inside our Country who, with their Open Borders, INFLATION, Afghanistan Surrender, Green New Scam, High Taxes, No Energy Independence, Woke Military, Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Iran, All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA. MAY THEY ROT IN HELL.”

DDT also posted a video of his cameo in “Home Alone 2” and a meme claiming “SANTA VOTED TRUMP.” (Santa Claus is not a US citizen, and his vote would have been illegal.) In other posts, he bitterly complained about the persecution that he has suffered and bragged about how voters expect him to pursue “revenge,” “power” and “dictatorship” in a second term. He shared this “word cloud” from a recent poll describing his political plans from polling that asked for one word to describe what DDT would want if he were elected in 2024. The resulting image uses the size of print for the frequency of the word use. And more hatred.

Furious with former aides who have raised $38 million to start a far-right think tank, DDT wants a cut from them. He wants his share from the $38 million from the founders of America First Policy Institute (AFPI) in 2021—former National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow, Small Business Association administrator Linda McMahon, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and White House domestic policy aide Brooke Rollins. Any payment to DDT from AFPI would be considered an illegal political donation, and the 501(c)(3) nonprofits must operate in the public interest. DDT said he would settle for just half the money.

DDT lost again when the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court affirmed an earlier opinion against DDT’s claim of absolute immunity to permit the lawsuit by U.S. Capitol Police officers to move ahead with they lawsuit.

Other Legal Issues:

E. Jean Carroll – Sexual Assault/Defamation:

In another DDT loss, the 2^nd Circuit Court rejected his most recent attempt to delay the January 16 defamation trial in New York. Judge Arthur Engoron has already declared DDT guilty of fraud; the civil trial is to determine what DDT must pay in fines, repayments, and damages.

Washington, D.C. – Overturning the Election:

Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked a judge to block DDT from introducing “irrelevant political issues or arguments” into his trial regarding his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The filing included DDT’s claims that the prosecution is vindictive, selective, or coordinated by President Joe Biden. Scheduled for March 4, the trial may be postponed because of DDT’s immunity plea. The motion also wants to stop DDT from telling jurors about the potential punishment he could face if convicted and blaming law enforcement agencies for a lack of preparation in advance of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Prosecutors wrote: 

Florida – DDT’s Taking Classified Documents:

Judge Aileen Cannon ordered prosecutors and DDT’s attorneys to submit a joint questionnaire to be sent to prospective jurors before in-person jury selection, a common way of winnowing down the jury pool in high-profile cases. Cannon wants to see the questions by Feb. 28—a few weeks later than prosecutors requested.

The 14th Amendment; DDT’s Name on State Ballots:

DDT privately said he believes the Supreme Court will overwhelmingly rule against the Colorado and Maine decisions to remove his name from the GOP primary ballot but is also critical of the court. Although DDT appointed one-third of the justices, they have not appeared to be enthusiastic about protecting DDT in election-related cases. He worries about conservative justices not wanting to look “political,” thus ruling against him.

In an extremely narrow decision, Michigan will permit DDT to remain on the ballot about he is an ineligible insurrectionist. The case is different than that in Colorado because of the differences in state constitutions. Colorado limits presidential primary participation to a “qualified” candidate who submits a statement of intent.

In Colorado, three GOP lawmakers are trying to keep Biden off the Democratic primary ballot, declaring he is an insurrectionist. They declare the state Supreme Court’s removal from the GOP ballot is “lawfare” although strong evidence shows DDT engaged in insurrectionist behavior. The claim of Biden’s “insurrection” deals only with his policies of immigration and border security plus the unproved assertion about his corrupt family business dealings with China. Texas also considers blocking Biden from the state ballot with the same false claim. Only 35 percent of survey respondents don’t approve of Colorado’s action.

DDT won’t be at the next GOP presidential candidate debate on January 18 in New Hampshire, five days before its primary and three days after the Iowa caucus. DDT, DeSantis, Haley, and Christie already qualify; Vivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson have not yet achieved the qualifications.

Jonathan Last list differences between DDT and Biden:

DDT:

•             Lost the popular vote twice;

•             Left office with the economy in a very bad place;

•             Attempted a violent coup;

•             Was twice impeached;

•             Is currently facing 91 criminal indictments; and

•             Was just removed from the ballot in one state because his candidacy has been ruled a violation of the 14th Amendment.

Biden:

•             Got more votes than anyone in American history;

•             Beat COVID;

•             Achieved a nearly-unprecedented economic soft landing;

•             Kept unemployment under 4 percent and seen median household wealth increase by 37 percent; and

•             Is generally regarded as having handled geopolitical crises as well as any president in the modern era.

From the Civil War to Conservative Ignorance

A big shocker at the end of 2023 is Maine removing Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) from the state primary ballot because of his insurrection. In the second state to do so, the state’s Secretary of State made that ruling; the state constitution gives her that power. Shenna Bellows, however, did say that the decision would not be enforced until the courts weigh in. With the ruling against DDT in both Colorado and Maine, the Supreme Court is likely to take up the issue. Earlier this week, Michigan joined Arizona and Minnesota in determining DDT could stay on the ballot because the state constitution does not give the power to remove him despite the U.S. Constitution superseding a state constitution. DDT’s spokesperson also verbally attacked the Maine Secretary of State. Maine and Colorado must send ballots to overseas military service members and others 45 days before their elections on March 5, making the deadline for mailing ballots January 20 because February has 29 days in 2024.

The other popular media story concerns Nikki Haley. Two days ago, she was edging out Ron DeSantis for second in the GOP presidential candidate race. That was before she explained at a New Hampshire town hall that the reason behind the U.S. Civil War was freedom.

“I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.”

By the next day, she tried to cope with the backlash for avoiding the subject of slavery when talking about the war that killed over 600,000 by saying she knew it was about slavery. Another Haley position was that the war concerned two sets of values, one for “tradition” and one for “change.” Then she blamed the question on a “Democratic plant.” DeSantis’ campaign jumped on Haley’s attempts at clarification by calling them “embarrassing.” Another candidate, Chris Christie, said that “she did it because she’s unwilling to offend anyone by telling the truth.” 

One assumes that Haley is for what she calls “tradition”: She tried to justify a Confederal History Month. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina which was the first state to secede during the Civil War, once defended states’ rights to secede from the U.S., a position which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) frequently supports. South Carolina’s ordinance of secession in 1860 mentioned slavery in the first sentence to outline reasons for seceding from the Union: “increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) kept her South Carolinian colleague company in double-speak. He defined conservatism as the “get out of your business” and “leave you alone” ideology in declaring “war” on New York’s legislative proposal requiring restaurants in state highway system rest areas to operate seven days a week. Chick-fil-A, claiming to be religious, closes on Sunday. Graham bragged about conservatives being “tolerant …. You leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone.” He’s talking about the party that blocks abortion, marriage equality, parental healthcare for transgender youth, etc.

Recently revealed tapes and emails show that DDT’s campaign frantically worked to get fake elector certificates to Washington from Michigan and Wisconsin that were caught up in the mail. Using a chain of couriers and assistance from two congressional Republicans, Sen. Ron Johnson ((WI) and Rep. Scott Perry (PA), the campaign even considered chartering a jet to send the files. The campaign paid for the flights, but it needed congressional members to deliver the false certificates when they arrived in Washington, D.C. DDT’s former pro-DDT lawyer Kenneth Chesebro described these events as part of his plea deal to avoid prosecution in the Georgia RICO case. 

A Michigan Republican, James Renner, serving as one of 16 state fake electors, expressed regret after the state AG Dana Nessel dropped criminal charges against him after he agreed to cooperate. Renner told investigators he said in the interview process that he “knew nothing about the electoral process” and later let three others take over. Because he thought they knew “what they were talking about.” Not until he was being sued in civil court in January 2023 did he understand that what had transpired “was not legitimate,” that “there is an official state authorized process for this.”

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, appointed by President Barack Obama, handed Georgia Republicans a win by upholding the state’s GOP congressional—and racially gerrymandered—map, stating that it “fully complied with this court’s order requiring the creation of Black-majority districts in the regions of the state where vote dilution was found.” In reality, the map broke up the one minority-dominant district to create another which “blatantly targets” Rep. Lucy McBath by drawing her out of her district, according to Democratic state Rep. Jasmine Clark.

As her Democratic opponent gains ground on her, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is running away from the 4^th District to the 3^rd that she considers safer for a reelection. In her last run, she won by only 546 votes in a district learning 9 points to Republicans. Her new district leans 27 points to the GOP. Boebert doesn’t have to move into a new district to run for its representative, who is now Rep. Ken Buck, but said she will move. Buck has said he won’t run again, but at least six high-powered politicians have already lined up for the primary. Boebert’s departure gives Republicans a better chance to win the district again after her scandals.

Texas has until January 3 to say it won’t follow a new state law arresting people accused of unauthorized entry from Mexico. If not, the DOJ will sue the state because immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. According to a DHS official in a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, the new law, Senate Bill 4, is “unconstitutional and will disrupt the federal government’s operations” vis-à-vis immigration and border enforcement. If Texas refuses, the agency will “pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere with the functions of the federal government.” Abbott’s spokesperson said Texas will fight all the way to the Supreme Court. Federal court rulings have determined that only the federal government can enforce immigration laws.

Florida has a solution for his serious labor shortage after Republicans drove off all the migrant workers: work the children. If 16- and 17-year-olds can drive cars, they are not children and can have a fulltime job, according to GOP state Rep. Linda Chaney. The proposed bill will eliminate state guidelines on when they can work and limit local governments’ abilities to enact stronger regulations. Current law prevents employers from working minors under 18 over 30 hours a week during the school year, working them during school hours, assigning them night shifts, and scheduling them to work more than six consecutive days.

As of August 2023, the state has only 53 workers for every 100 open jobs. After DeSantis draconian anti-immigrant laws, experienced migrant workers fled Florida for other states with no new migrants replacing them. The text for the bill was written by a right-wing think tank, Foundation for Government Accountability and calls its program “Empowering Teenagers Through the Power of Work.” The FGA’s biggest donor is billionaire Dick Uihlein, a major DeSantis donor, who has also funds election-denial efforts and other right-wing causes. Six other states—Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and South Dakota—have introduced bills to weaken child labor protections. Arkansas has passed a law repealing restrictions on work for 14- and 15-year-olds.

Another proposed Floria bill would allow parents the decision of promoting their children lacking basic skills from third to fourth grade. It would also reduce requirements for high school graduation. In summary, Florida Republicans want their children to be uneducated workers.

A good part of MAGA ignorance comes from their conservative media. Jesse Kelly was lecturing on the superiority of U.S. art and architecture over that in Europe. Unfortunately for him, he used the Statue of Liberty as an example of U.S. superiority. The base of the statue was built in the U.S., but the statue is pure French, a gift from the country in ? The idea came from Frenchman Édouard René Lefèbvrede de Laboulaye, the design by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, and the metal framework built by Gustave Eiffel of the tower fame. Laboulaye was President of the French Anti-Slavery Society and wanted to honor the U.S. for the Union victory in the Civil War leading to the emancipation of U.S. slaves. Thus the name “liberty.”

Kelly became defensive when X explained the statue’s background attached to his original ignorant statement with this attack:

“I thought @elonmusk taking over would let freedom ring on this site. Guess I was wrong.

Kelly self-identifies himself as “Host of the nationally syndicated Jesse Kelly Show. Host of ‘I’m Right’ on The First. Anti-Communist. World Famous Author.” His discussion of the Statue of Liberty made him more famous.

Despite the belief that homicides and crime are rising, it’s falling. The homicide rate will fall almost 13 percent in 2023 from the previous year, and other violent crime is significantly down—aggravated assaults 7 percent, robbery 9 percent, and rapes 15 percent.

Gratitude on Christmas 2023

Even on the day after Christmas, people can enjoy the video from the White House—two and a half minutes of holiday decorations with a troupe dancing to a jazz version of The Nutcracker Suite by Duke Ellington. MAGA folk lost their minds over the “woke” presentation. Andrew Tate, facing rape and human trafficking charges, said, “If I believed in fear–I would be afraid.” That statement alone would encourage people to watch it.

Wonkette wrote that the adaptation of “The Waltz of the Flowers” from the Dorrance Dance troupe tap dancers is “jazzy and festive, showing off the White House’s Christmas decorations and the great big tree in the Blue Room, along with other Nutcracker-themed decor.

In a Christmas gift, prices have fallen for the first time in three and a half years, even with large corporations making much more profit since that time. The University of Michigan also reported that consumer sentiment is finally catching on. After drops in previous months, it skyrocketed 14 percent in December across all ages, incomes, education, geographies, and political groups. The index is almost as high as the time between the pre-pandemic reading and the historic low in 2022. The Federal Reserve are considering a cut in interest rate hikes in 2024.

Despite the criticism of the White House video, the emphasis of “anti-woke” in the U.S. has been disappearing. Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis doesn’t mention “woke” anymore, and his previous opponent Tim Scott, also an avid anti-woke enthusiast, is gone from the media. After the first primetime GOP debates, the term was largely gone, mentioned only twice in the next three debates, once in an aside when candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tried to plug his book, Woke, Inc.

David Wiegel gives three reasons for the disappearance of the GOP message inculcating rears of progressive ideas.

Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) is back to leading the national spotlight, and he criticized the extensive use of “woke” to demean DeSantis who had no other message. DDT said, “It’s like, just a term they use. Half the people can’t even define it.”

Republicans think they have turned back the “woke” tide, making it worthless as an election argument. Progressives don’t talk about it either.

Use of “anti-woke” seems to have little value at the ballot box as its advocates are losing local elections such as school boards. The trend is in throughout the U.S.—Iowa, Pennsylvania, Virginia, etc. Other issues are becoming more important: learning loss, absenteeism, emotional immaturity, etc.

Earlier this month, the FDA approved the first gene-editing treatment to erase most severe form of sickle cell disease, a blood disorder causing misshapen red blood cells needed to carry oxygen. When these sickle-shaped cells become jammed inside blood vessels, people have unpredictable excruciating pain attacks and damaged vital organs. One of the most common genetic disorders, it occurs disproportionately among people of African, Middle Eastern, and Indian descent.

The treatment resolves severe pain crises for at least 18 months in over 96 percent of the experimental patients, with similar results for a related condition called beta thalassemia. The work now is to make the treatment less expensive and more accessible with rural people at a disadvantage. Gene editing, manipulating a person’s genes, is being studied for other rare genetic disorders such as muscular dystrophy and common illness like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, AIDS, and Alzheimer’s.

Renewable energy have reached the point in which it outcompetes fossil fuel in price and expected to dominate the sector by midcentury. Wind and solar are the cheapest options almost everywhere, and building new wind and solar projects is cheaper than running existing coal plants. Tax credits from the Democrats 2022 bill in the U.S. have made prices fall even more in the country, yet Republicans went to the climate summit in Dubai to argue for fossil fuels as “a major part of the global solution.” The Biden administration assesses that their plans will require 96,000 of new pipelines, opposed by U.S. farmers.

Sixty-eight gas plants were canceled or put on hold in the first half of 2023 because of the boom in new large-scale battery storage plants. This reduction is a problem for the growth of electricity for the first time in decades with the increasing popularity of heat pumps, electric vehicles, and artificial intelligence. In the current grid, electricity production must exactly match its consumption to avoid dangerous spikes in power because of no way to store electricity or reduce demand. Renewables with “virtual power plants” can cure that problem. Battery prices are expected to fall from $139 per kilowatt to below $99 in 2025, causing expended production of batteries.

The Americans with Disabilities Act may not yet be safe, but it dodged a bullet in the Supreme Court because of a technicality. The lawsuit came about because a person denied disabled accommodations at hotels never intended to stay in the facilities. The justices ruled the case moot after the woman investigating disabled availability. If they had opposed the “testers” checking on disabled access, the act could have been seriously weakened. Last March, the justices ruled that a deaf student demanding sign language interpreters under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act could still bring a case under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Even Neil Gorsuch, who had previously ruled against people with disabilities, joined the unanimous decision.

A federal judge in San Diego, appointed by George W. Bush, has prohibited U.S. officials from separating migrant families illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico for the next eight years and gave assistance to thousands of parents and children forced apart under DDT’s administration. DDT’s policy was separating parents from children to prosecute parents with no plans to reunite them. The DOJ stated that the government will not prosecute parents for crossing the border without permission, a misdemeanor, or for the felony crime of reentering after being deported. Once in the United States, formerly separated families may apply for three-year work permits, six months of housing assistance, and one year of medical care, according to the settlement. The families also are eligible for three years of counseling under the settlement.

DDT separated between 4,000 and 5,500 children from their parents; up to 1,000 children may still be separated as advocates search for their parents. Most families were from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. In his campaign for 2024, DDT continues to praise his “zero tolerance” policy.

GOP efforts to keep abortion rights off state ballots is an indication that Republicans know they can’t defeat the measures. Republicans are going to courts to eliminate initiatives, and states such as Missouri and Oklahoma are trying to put the majority above 50 percent to pass them. This movement failed in Ohio last August. These attempts to scuttle grass-roots efforts shows that democracy may be the biggest issue in 2024 elections.

After Ohio voters passed a reproductive rights amendment to the constitution last November, the state Supreme Court dismissed the state’s challenge to a judge’s order blocking enforcement of Ohio’s near ban on abortions for the past 14 months. Abortion clinics have not asked the Hamilton County common pleas court to dismiss the law after the voters’ decision.

Former Michigan felons can vote after June 2025. The law  also automatically registers those completing sentences for felony convictions as they prepare to leave prison.

Under the leadership of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the National Park Service is teaming up with tribes and academics to tell “a more complete story of American history” at the nation’s 428 park sites, “regardless of the bad, the ugly or the good.” The material will target the transition during the Indian Reorganization Period from the 1930s to the 1950s, a time when federal law enforced tribal self-government and focused on improving the economic and social conditions of Native Americans. One example is information about the 1855 peace treaty with the Walla Walla Tribe that now permits members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation tostill hunt and gather in places such as Yellowstone.

The Indian Claims Commission was created in 1945 and set up in 1946 as an opportunity for tribes to bring before the federal government any and all claims of wrongdoing in a way that the federal government would recognize and acknowledge that it did something wrong to tribes and to compensate them for that loss. The ugly part is that many times during the Indian Claims Commission, it was just a monetary reward and not returning land. That was not the purpose of some tribes. They thought they were going to be made whole, with their lands returned or a better understanding of their rights would come about, but many times, they lost their rights.

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/merry-christmas    Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, has a valuable blog about the importance of voting to preserve democracy.

Happy holidays and thanks for reading my blog!

GOP in Worse Trouble After Stopping Shutdown

While the Republicans in Congress were trying to duke it out—literally—more good news for the U.S. economy! In October the inflation rate was zero percent, making the annual projection 3.2 percent, beating the 3.3 percent expectations. Since President Joe Biden took office 22 months ago, the economy added 670,000 construction jobs, an average of over 20,000 per month. Last month’s number set a new high since 1939 when the government started collecting data.

With a vote of 87-11, the Senate has passed the House bill, a continuing resolution (CR) to avoid a government shutdown on Friday night. Ten Republicans and Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO) voted in opposition. If President Joe Biden signs the bill, people are safe from a fiscal cliff through the winter holidays until January 19 when four appropriation bills must be approved. The other eight are due by Groundhog’s Day, February 2. The Senate considered and rejected the only amendment, Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) cut of 1 percent of budgetary spending which lost by 32-65. The next crisis is emergency foreign aid; House Republicans want nothing for Ukraine but would provide for Israel but want stringent southern border conditions.

The vote in the Senate was delayed while members argued about a motion to begin a conference negotiation between the two chambers about the annual defense authorization bill. Each chamber had passed highly different defense bills in July. Biden said he will support the bill if it passes the Senate.

House Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson also experienced failure after the budget continuing resolution passed when a protest by 19 far-right members caused the procedural vote for the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill to lose by 198-225 when the 19 dissenters joined 206 Democrats with nay votes. Also losing was a bill sanctioning Iran’s frozen assets. Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) said that they support the speaker but “disagree emphatically” on how the stopgap bill was handled. In short, retaliation. House members cast their votes and then went home for Thanksgiving recess after another short week with no votes until November 28, giving them 52 days to pass four appropriation bills before the January 19 deadline.

Miffed by no deep cuts in the bill or draconian measures at the southern border, far-right house members decided to repeatedly vote against procedures. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) said, “If we can’t fight anything, then let’s just hold up everything.” Johnson’s GOP conference is even more divided than when Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was Speaker, adding problems of Biden-district Republicans running for reelection and centrists. Rep. David Joyce (R-OH) said “everybody [is] acting as an independent [and] not necessarily in one line or the other.” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) said that Johnson’s honeymoon is over.

GOP legislators are also facing the recent sweep of liberal initiatives across their home states. In two dozen states permitting citizens’ initiatives, people use ballot measures to raise the minimum wage, legalize cannabis, expand Medicaid, and allow pro-choice reproductive care while increasing the timeline for abortions. In Nebraska, traditionally a red state, paid sick leave may reach the ballot after citizens approved an increase in the minimum wage from $9 to $15 per hour.

MAGA is also facing poverty in some swing states:

Arizona: The new state GOP chair is fruitlessly begging the RNC for a financial bailout after the former one, MAGA-obsessed Kelli Ward, moved to a boat in the Caribbean. RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel told him to send her a plan with needs and goals, adding that the party is not paying legal bills. After buying new headquarters, the state GOP has $21,000 in federal assets and $214,000 in a state account, most of it designated by the donor for opposing ballot measures on ranked-choice voting. Its state party treasurer is suing a state House member for defamation during their primary last year.

Georgia: In a standoff with GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, the state GOP is in a standoff with the GOP governor, Brian Kemp, the state GOP faces over $500,000 in legal fees for alternate electors. Former state GOP chair is a co-defendant in the RICO case.  Kemp’s lawmaker supporters passed a law permitting him to bypass the party in unlimited fundraising and election spending.

Michigan: GOP party officials got into physical fights about who controls county parties when their finances went into the red by $375,000 in April. The party considered illegally selling the headquarters, owned by a trust, because of “imminent default” on a line of credit.

In Ohio, state GOP legislators are trying to overthrow the will of the people. After voters passed an abortion-rights measure put on the November 7 ballot by citizens, four lawmakers are trying to pass legislation that would block judges of the power to interpret the constitutional amendment. They want only the GOP-led legislature, not “pro-abortion courts,” to determine any modifications to existing laws.

Leaks from the testimony by four co-defendants of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) in the Fulton County (GA) election subversion RICO case have caused DA Fani Willis to file an emergency motion for a protective order in an attempt to prevent other material from becoming public. She said the “release of these confidential video recordings is clearly intended to intimidate witnesses in this case” by subjecting them to “harassment and threats prior to trial.” Judge Scott McAfee said he will issue new restrictions about handling evidence.

Plea deal proffer videos, videotaped conversations between the co-defendants and prosecutors, were leaked to news outlets. The public learned that DDT didn’t plan to leave the White House although he lost the election (Jenna Ellis), he was encouraged to name Powell special attorney who would seize election equipment with military assistance (Sidney Powell), and he shared the plan for alternative electors in key battlegrounds (Kenneth Chesebro).

After several days, the attorney for Harrison Floyd, another co-defendant, admitted his team, both current and former defense attorneys, leaked the videos to bolster his client’s defense. A lawyer for Misty Hampton, another co-defendant and a Georgia election official in Coffee County, admitted he also gave videos to the media. Prosecutors have also asked the judge to revoke Floyd’s bail, which would cause him to be jailed until his trial, because he has used his social media to intimidate witnesses including Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Atlanta election worker Ruby Freeman.

Ellis is under fire for her comments to prosecutors about DDT’s not leaving the White House despite his losing the 2020 presidential election. “Jenna Ellis is a fraud,” declared former Fox Business producer Breanna Morello on her Rumble far-right podcast. Morello said she left Fox because of the network’s “COVID vaccine mandate.” Bernard Kerik, a former Rudy Giuliani partner pardoned by DDT after a conviction, also attacked Ellis because she had never told him anything about her conversation with Dan Scavino when Ellis learned the information.

DDT had a couple of wins. A Michigan judge is keeping DDT’s name on the ballot after Jocelyn Benson, a Democratic secretary of state, ruled that the 14^th Amendment keeps his name out of the running. Also, Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, will permit political advertising with falsehoods about DDT winning the 2020 election. On the other hand, DDT’s Truth Social reported a $31.6 net loss since its launch two years ago to mid-2023. DDT’s company Trump Media & Technology Group’s (TMTG) also eliminated several positions last March.

After wooing Univision, a Spanish-language cable news network, for three years, DDT seems to have turned it around from his description of “a leftist propaganda machine and a mouthpiece of the Democrat Party.” Biden’s ads to be used in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Florida during DDT’s interview have been canceled because of a newly-invented policy against opposition advertising in single-candidate interviews. Also canceled is a previous booking with Biden’s Hispanic Media Director Maca Casado to respond to the Trump interview. DDT’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was behind DDT’s interview—and other happenings?

U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza is dropping, down to 32 percent from 41 percent a month ago. Israel has received billions of dollars in military aid from the U.S., but that interest may be waning after Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Only 31 percent of respondents to the Reuters/Ipsos poll support sending Israel weapons while 43 percent oppose the idea. By comparison, 41 percent back sending weapons to Ukraine with 32 percent opposed. Sixty-eight want Israel to declare a ceasefire for time to negotiate.

In a lengthy Facebook post on August 7, 2015, Speaker Johnson, who claims to be deeply religious, called DDT unfit to serve and a danger as president:

“The thing about Donald Trump is that he lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House….”

Challenged by a DDT-supporter, Johnson responded:

“I am afraid he would break more things than he fixes. He is a hot head by nature, and that is a dangerous trait to have in a Commander in Chief.”

Johnson wondered what would happen if DDT “decided to bomb another head of state merely disrespecting him.” Watching DDT’s first debate with his son, then ten years old, Johnson was horrified.

Still supposedly deeply religious, Johnson has flipped 180 degrees, defending DDT through two impeachments and now saying he’s “all in” for DDT as president, “a loyal soldier” and criticized the “bogus prosecutions.” Ain’t religion wonderful!

Wars: U.S. Government, Abroad

Day 18, House Speaker Race: Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) failure to obtain votes for Speaker increased in the third vote on October 20 as 25 representatives voted against him. The second vote was 22 anti-Jordan and the first, 20. Four representatives, two from each party were absent. Short 21 votes to win the election, Jordan also lost a secret vote later in a GOP-only closed-door meeting, receiving 86 votes with 112 Republicans opposed. Twenty-three Republicans didn’t attend.

Acting Speaker Patrick McHenry (NC) said the GOP conference will have a candidate forum at 6:30 pm on Monday, Day 21 of no House Speaker and vote Tuesday morning at 9:00 am for its choice. Immediately after Jordan’s removal as candidate, at least ten, all former Jordan supporters, expressed interest. Jack Bergman (MI), Byron Donalds (FL), Kevin Hern (OK), Austin Scott (GA), and Pete Sessions (TX) are running, Tom Emmer (MN) and Mike Johnson (LA) are making calls, Jodey Arrington (TX) is praying about the decision, and Roger Williams (TX) is talking to his family. Dan Meuser (PA) is also considering a run.

The GOP—and the world—barely dodged a bullet in Jordan’s failure and become second in line for the president. A devotee of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT), he has no legislation in his 16 years, no ability to build bipartisan coalitions or work with his adversaries, no governing experience, and no interest in compromising, even with his own party. Basically, Jordan doesn’t play well with others. He plans to cause a government shutdown, block all aid to Ukraine, and cut funding to a vast majority of people in the U.S.—including Social Security and Medicare recipients. Congress has faced gridlock throughout the 21^st century because of the GOP rejection of Democratic involvement.

Worst of all, Jordan is a bully, proved again by the hardline intimidation tactics used to try for Speaker votes. His meeting with the holdouts only resulted in more holdouts. Jordan tried to overturn Biden’s election for president. After a legal election in which Biden received 74 more electoral votes and over 7 million popular votes than DDT, Jordan worked with DDT’s administration to set aside the results. He pushed MAGA members to flood Washington and led a conference call on January 2, 2021, telling Republicans how to derail the typically pro forma electoral vote election. Three days later, he texted a White House aide to give directions for VP Mike Pence on stopping the vote on the next day. Jordan was one of 146 other GOP congressional members voting to reject the electoral vote results and later refused to comply a subpoena from the House January 6 investigative committee for his testimony.  

Hamas has released two U.S. hostages, a mother and daughter from Evanston (IL) who are dual U.S./Israeli citizens, for humanitarian reasons. They originally went to celebrate a relative’s 85^th birthday and the Jewish holiday season. State Department Secretary Antony Blinken is still working for the release of almost a dozen other U.S. hostages taken by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or random Gaza citizens.

Biden sent aid for Gaza to be transported through the Rafah Crossing in Egypt on Friday, but the 20 trucks are held up by verification proceedings.  A few miles away, two million people are without water, food, medicine, fuel—everything needed for survival. Meanwhile, supplies arriving from United Arab Emirates and Jordan at the Egyptian El Arish airport, an hour away from Gaza, cannot cross the border. The continuing Israel airstrikes inside Gaza will cause great harm for people trying to get supplies, even in the southern Gaza area that Israel calls a safe zone while still bombing it. In Gaza, seven hospitals and 21 medical centers have been closed because of shelling and lack of fuel.

Although the media published news that almost 500 people were killed at a Gaza hospital because of an errant Palestinian rocket, journalists are doing a more in depth investigation. Heavy bombardment kept them from collecting evidence on the ground. Video footage, however, shows a bright light rising in the sky and flashing twice before changing direction and exploding before a blast on the ground, followed by a second much larger explosion closer to the camera. The detailed review concluded the flash that Israel attributed to a misfire is consistent with Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepting a missile fired from the Gaza Strip and destroying it in midair.

According to the investigation, there was “no proof that the midair and ground explosions are necessarily linked.” Evidence doesn’t show any missile fragments. The crater left by the explosion is not compatible with Israel’s typical weapons, but a different type of artillery cannot be ruled out, possibly an airburst munition. Analysis also shows that the projectile was fired from the northeast, the direction of Israel, not from the southwest as Israel claimed. The Israeli army’s video of a conversation between supposed Hamas officials appearing to talk about the misfired rocket causing the hospital explosion was edited from two separate channels, negating its credibility. Reporters also questioned the syntax, accent, and tone of voice.

Intelligence reveals that the Israel-Hamas war could escalate regionally after a series of attacks on U.S. forces and Israel by Iran proxies. Hezbollah has conducted almost daily small-scale attacks on Israel’s militarized northern border, and Yemen’s Houthi movement and Iraqi militias, loyal to Iran, attacked U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria, even attempting to attack Israel. In the northern Red Sea, a U.S. warship shot down several missiles and drones fired from Yemen possibly directed at Israel. Small drone attacks on U.S. bases at al Assad, Iraq, Erbil, Kurdistan, and Tanif, Syria were likely the work of Iraqi militant groups working with Iran. All the drones were intercepted with no damage to U.S. forces or facilities.

Biden is asking Congress for a foreign aid package:

• $14.3 billion – Israel for air and missile defense support plus replenishing stocks already provided.
• $61.4 billion – Ukraine for a year.
• $13.6 billion – immigration priorities including border security and refugee assistance.
• $9.15 billion – humanitarian aid and funding to counter China’s influence in Asia and the developing world.

While expressing concern about the border, Congress ignored Biden’s request last August for $4 billion to help border security.  

Insiders of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) were shocked by Sidney Powell’s defection after she pled guilty in the Georgia RICO case, and now another brick has dropped on DDT. Just as they were trying to understand what that means for DDT’s indictments, Ken Chesebro has pled guilty. The second lawyer for DDT was scheduled to go to trial on October 23; Chesebro is the third of 19 co-defendants to plead guilty and avoid prison time. He was charged with organizing fake pro-DDT electors in seven states that Joe Biden won in the 2020 presidential election. If he abides by the terms of his five-year probation, the charge will be expunged from his record. The day before his plea, Chesebro lost two motions, one of them to exclude all his communications because of attorney-client privilege.

In Michigan, a prosecutor has reached a cooperation agreement with one of 16 Republicans who signed the fake, official-looking paperwork claiming DDT had won the state. The other 15 are still being prosecuted for eight felony counts each, including forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery.

The Supreme Court giveth….  In Murthy v. Missouri, the high court temporarily permits the Biden administration to urge social media companies to remove disinformation about public health and elections from their posts. The conservative 5^th Circuit Court had, however, narrowed a lower court’s ruling by limiting the restrictions to the White House, surgeon general’s office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the FBI plus later adding the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The new order stays in effect until justices issue a ruling in June. Conservative Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Clarence Thomas, and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented.

Justices will also consider two other cases about removing controversial material on social media platforms from Texas and Florida. A Texas law may bar companies from taking down posts based on political ideology; another court blocked a similar law in Florida.

In another decision about Missouri, the Supreme Court left in place a lower court order blocking the state law that invalidates federal gun restrictions in the state and bars officials from enforcing any law that would “infringe” on the right to “bear arms.” “Any person” can sue state law-enforcement agencies who don’t comply with state law. A federal judge ruled that the law unconstitutionally usurped federal law, and the 8ith Circuit Court upheld the decision. Thomas disagreed with the high court decision.

Ukraine is making good use of the longer-range missile system with a range of 100 miles. The U.S. provided this with the agreement that Ukraine would use it only within Ukrainian borders. Ukraine also received the 31 battle tanks, and the trained personnel have returned. Russia’s Black Sea fleet has been pushed out of its Sevastopol (Crimea) port, and airfield attacks will force Russia’s aircraft to be pulled out. Ammunition depots must also be fortified or disbanded.  

A federal bankruptcy judge ruled that Alex Jones must pay families of Sandy Hook shooting victims winning a civil defamation case despite his bankruptcy proceedings.

More GOP Chaos – DDT Gets Gag Order, McCarthy Loses His Job, Etc.

As Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) tests the waters to see how much violence he can spread (stochastic terrorism), a judge overseeing his civil fraud trial is fed up after DDT attacked one of Judge Arthur Engoron’s staff members. DDT posted his fabrication that Engoron’s law clerk was a “girlfriend” of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and passing him information. The judge said all parties must not speak publicly about any members of the court staff. The trial, regarding the amount of damages for Engoron’s summary judgment of business fraud began yesterday with a furious DDT present in court.  The gag order ruling was made after several closed-door sessions with DDT, New York AG Letitia James who brought the case, and their attorneys. Engoron said that violating his order would lead to “serious sanctions.” Watch for DDT excessively whining about his victimization.

Engoron may remove DDT’s right to operate properties not only in New York but also in other states such as California, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, and South Carolina. During the trial’s breaks, DDT appears frequently at the courthouse in campaign mode, but CNN has returned to journalism. The network cut off his microphone on the first day of the trial for holding a “campaign event” instead of dealing with a legal proceeding.

Fascism scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat compared DDT’s rants of “witch hunt/victimhood rhetoric” to language used by authoritarian strongmen including “Mussolini, Hitler, Berlusconi, Erdogan.” She also talked about how the “fusion of the Proud Boys and all these other extremist groups … is part of the GOP’s trajectory to become an autocratic party … dependent on violence and on corruption for its identity.” The third DDT-supporter shooting at Democrats in New Mexico, some of them in their homes, has been arrested. Threats against Democrats has been encouraged by GOP elected officials. The most recent person arrested follows right-wing and conspiracy writings, including the one for MyPillow founded by election-denying conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell.

Another fascism authority, Federico Finchelstein, stated:

“Fascist lies are about the projection onto others of what fascists are/do. Trump today as usually display his wannabe fascist mindset.”

McCarthy No Longer House Speaker:

The U.S. faces a shutdown in 44 days, and the far-right House Republicans removed Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his Speaker position. Leader of the vendetta, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) succeeded in his publicity-seeking stun, creating history: for the first time, the House leader was removed by his own party. The last vote to vacate a Speaker was in 1910, 113 years ago, but the Speaker kept his job. Gaetz’s motion passed with eight GOP votes and all present Democrats by 216-210. An earlier vote to table the motion failed. These eight GOP representatives voted against McCarthy: Andy Biggs (AZ), Ken Buck (CO), Tim Burchett (TN), Eli Crane (AZ), Matt Gaetz (FL), Bob Good (VA), Nancy Mace (SC), and Matt Rosendale (MT).

The far-right purport that McCarthy is insufficiently conservative, and Democrats followed Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) leadership in removing the man who cannot be trusted and refuses “to break from MAGA extremism.” For example, he tried to undermine the House investigation into the January 6 insurrection after minimizing the attack. Almost all of his actions in the past nine months have been to please the far-right Republicans in opposition to Democrats and the welfare of U.S. people.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), the acting Speaker pro tempore, slammed the gavel in a recess after the vote. McCarthy selected McHenry according to protocol to ensure continuity developed after 9/11. The House will likely be paralyzed until a new Speaker is elected, probably more difficult than the last debacle in early January that took four days until McCarthy caved in to all the far-right demands.     

Gaetz may have made a big mistake because over 200 Republicans in the House voted against him. He has made Republicans look like fools before the 2024 election, and the country may be tiring of chaos. In addition, the ethics committee is deciding his fate after allegations of sex trafficking, illegal drug use, and public corruption. Some Republicans threaten to expel him if committee members release a negative report. Highly conservative Newt Gingrich, a former House Speaker, advocates Gaetz’s expulsion from the House in a Washington Post op-ed.

The aftermath of McCarthy’s ouster:

The House is in recess until October 11, 36 days until the government shuts down again. At that time, it will try to elect a new Speaker to return to business.

McCarthy announced that he won’t be running for Speaker and blamed Democrats for not supporting him after blaming them for the possible shutdown. (He had blocked Democrats from voting on thee continuing resolution until his desperation during the last few hours. Almost all Democrats voted for the continuing resolution that 40 percent of Republicans opposed.) McCarthy also didn’t say whether he will remain in the House.

The acting Speaker told former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to immediately vacate her office although it is practice for former Speakers to occupy the office, even GOP child molester, convicted Dennis Hastert. Although the House Speaker is in the line of succession to become president, the acting Speaker is not.

Gaetz has used his shutdown of the House for fundraising.

The “Young Guns,” a trio of male conservatives of the future touted in a book of this name, are gone. Authors Eric Canter, Kevin McCarthy, and Paul Ryan are now all gone, suffering from changes in their base that changed their direction. Although they argued for fiscal restraint, a senior party leader, Canter lost his election in 2014, and Ryan failed to become DDT’s vice-presidential candidate and didn’t run for House reelection in 2018. Now McCarthy is gone.

Other “young guns” highlighted in the book have also disappeared: Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) and Erik Paulsen (R-MN) who either didn’t run or lost in 2018; Aaron Schock (R-IL) who resigned in disgrace in 2015. Sean Duffy resigned in 2019 because of a family health issue; and Cory Gardner lost in 2020. Three other candidates—Charles Dijou (R-HI), Martha Roby (R-AL), and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL)– have disappeared by now.  

Other GOP Problems:

In more GOP angst, the fallout from the GOP presidential candidates’ debate continues as two hopefuls, Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy, told Bret Baier they would debate on his Fox program. The RNC has forbidden the debate during RNC-sponsored debates with other candidates although Ron DeSantis has announced a debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Fox. Instead of a face-to-face debate, Christie and Ramaswamy plan two separate, back-to-back segments, possibly approved by the RNC.   

In his war on the U.S. military, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) bragged that “there’s nobody more military” than him on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a retired Navy pilot and NASA astronaut, tried to point out the man who never served in the military was wrong when he said that at least four of the members served in the military. He asked Tuberville to “please re-evaluate” what he says and “be a little bit more careful about what you say about the United States military.” Among Senatorial committee members:

• Chair Jack Reed (D-RI) served in the Army.
• Gary Peters (D-MI) volunteered for the Navy and served overseas after 9/11.
• Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) lost both her legs in the Iraq War while she served as an Army pilot.
• Dan Sullivan (R-AK) serves in the Marine Corps Reserve and spent time in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.
• Tom Cotton (R-AR) served in the Army.
• Roger Wicker (R-MS) served in the AirForce.
• Joni Ernst (R-IA) served overseas in the Army Reserve.
• Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rick Scott (R-FL) served in the Navy.

Tuberville coached the losing football team in the 2014 Military Bowl. He continued to claim that his was more “more military” than all the others because of his father’s service. Tuberville lied about his service, failed to meet his commitments to veterans’ charities, and blockaded over 300 military officers from promotion. He also insisted that the U.S. military is “not an equal opportunity employer” in his opposition to their recruiting minorities.

Opposing the confirmation of Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Tuberville objected to “some things that he talked, about race and things that he wanted to mix into the military.” Brown is Black. He doesn’t know that the military is actually an equal-opportunity employer, and the Pentagon has an “Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.” Tuberville added, “We’re not looking for different groups.” The military desegregated in 1948 under an executive order from President Harry Truman. The Defense Department promotes a “diverse and inclusive mission-ready total force.”

“[It] “operates to ensure all individuals are provided a full and fair opportunity for employment, career advancement and access to programs without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, disability (physical or mental), gender, age, sexual orientation, [and other categories.]”

Michigan GOP legislators are trying to bring back a rejected independent state legislature [ISL] theory to nullify two pro-voting constitutional amendments approved by voters in 2018 and 2022. Republican lawmakers claim sole authority to set rules for federal elections with no interference from the courts or state votes, a position rejected by the Supreme Court in Moore v. Harper (2023).   

In Arkansas, an anonymous whistleblower claims Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office inappropriately changed and withheld public records about the scrutiny of the office’s spending.