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Are GOP Christian Conservatives Engaging In Blago Pay-To-Play Tactics?

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Thankfully, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is pretty much a passing memory, though his name will forever be connected with “pay-to-play” tactics. We all remember his infamous comment, via an FBI wiretap: “I’ve got this thing, and it’s fucking golden. I’m just not giving it up for fucking nothing.” The “fucking golden” thing, of course, was naming a replacement to sit in Barack Obama’s Senate seat, once he had resigned because he was elected president, and Blagojevich (yes, he was a Democrat) was looking for compensation in exchange for the appointment.

Now we have reports that Rick Santorum was asked by Bob Vander Plaats — the uber-homophobic head of a top Iowa anti-gay, anti-Islam, Christian “family values” organization — to pay for “promoting” his endorsement.

Igor Volsky at Think Progress boils it down succinctly:

Anti-gay Iowa leader Bob Vander Plaats of the FAMiLY Leader “told Rick Santorum that ‘he needed money to promote’ an eventual endorsement,” the Des Moines Register and CNN are reporting. Vander Plaats personally endorsed Santorum earlier this week. “He didn’t say, ‘Well I need X dollars from you‘ or anything like that. No,” Santorum clarified to CNN. “What he talked about was he needed money to promote the endorsement and that that would be important to do that.”

The Des Moines Register adds:

Vander Plaats has told various Republicans that he’d like to have the money to do television advertisements to promote his personal endorsement.

He told the Register Tuesday that helping saturate Iowa with news of the endorsement by himself and fellow activist Chuck Hurley was “part of our ethical responsibility.”

…

As he munched a cinnamon roll that morning, Santorum told the Register he had heard the endorsement would go to rival candidate Rick Perry. Perry’s campaign is more financially flush, and therefore potentially more viable, some Republicans think.

“Part of our ethical responsibility”?

Let’s ponder this, shall we?

Because, of course, whenever someone receives a political endorsement, it’s the endorser who is responsible for publicizing it. makes sense, right? Or, maybe not.

Let’s remember that it was rather strange that at the zero-hour, the endorsement came not from the Family Leader, which Bob Vander Plaats (image, top) heads, but rather from Vander Plaats, personally. Which, as the media has extensively reported, at the last minute decided to remain “neutral.” Neutral? Or just smelled something fishy?

And, of course, Vander Plaats — surely a nascent entrant in Iowa politics — has no ground crew, no contacts, no email list, no reporters’ phone numbers… Except, of course, for the fact that he lauds himself for being able to wage war on Iowa’s Supreme Court, accomplishing for the first time in history the no small feat of getting three of the justices kicked off the court because they chose to follow the Iowa Constitution and recognize that a ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

As The New Civil Rights Movement reported today, Vander Plaats over the weekend — before handing his endorsement to Santorum on Tuesday — called the Bachmann campaign and asked her to quit the GOP race. Was that really how the conversation went? Was it “quit”? Or was it something else? Was there an “or else”?

Regardless, who the hell does Vander Plaats think he is? And what other conversations has he had with other GOP candidates and/or campaigns? And is the FEC looking into this?

To be clear, Santorum isn’t the one who smells here.

Who knows. Maybe it’s de rigueur in GOP politics to pay someone to publicize their endorsement of you. Or, maybe it stinks.

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White House Defends Trump’s Right to Share His ‘Opinions’ Iran Has US Missiles

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March 10, 2026

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended what she claimed is President Donald Trump‘s right to share his opinion that Iran has U.S. Tomahawk missiles, a major weapon currently only in the possession of the United States, Australia, and the U.K.

On Monday, President Trump said Iran had U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles when asked if the United States would accept responsibility for the killing of at least 165 people at an Iranian girls’ school.

“Whether it’s Iran or somebody else … a Tomahawk is very generic,” Trump said, Newsweek reported. He also claimed that the missile is “sold and used by other countries” and that Iran “also has some Tomahawks.”

Newsweek noted that when pressed on why he appeared to be the only one making that claim, Trump said, “Because I just don’t know enough about it.”

He added that he was “willing to live with” the findings of any official investigation.

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

“There has never been an indication that Iran has any Tomahawks,” CNN reported, “which are made by US defense manufacturer Raytheon for the US military, subject to strict export controls and not the ‘generic’ product Trump claimed Monday.”

On Tuesday, Leavitt chastised a reporter who asked about the president’s apparently erroneous claim.

“The president has a right to share his opinions with the American public,” she said, “but he has said he’ll accept the conclusion of that investigation, and, frankly, we’re not going to be harassed by the New York Times, who’s been putting out a lot of articles on this, making claims that have just not been verified by the Department of War to quickly wrap up this investigation, because the New York Times is calling on us to do so.”

The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, a retired U.S. Naval War College professor, mockingly responded, “Stop pointing out that the president has no idea what he’s talking about.”

READ MORE: ‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

 

Image via Reuters

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Democrats Warn Trump on Path to Put US Troops on the Ground

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March 10, 2026

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President Donald Trump‘s claim that his war against Iran may soon be coming to an end is being rejected by Senate Democrats, who warn that the administration may be on a path to putting boots on the ground in a “forever war.”

After attending a bipartisan briefing, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who sits on the Armed Services Committee, told reporters, “I emerged from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate.”

“We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground, in Iran,” he said, warning about “potentially huge consequences to American lives.”

U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) also expressed grave doubts.

READ MORE: ‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

“What I heard is not just concerning, it is disturbing,” said Senator Rosen, who also serves on the Armed Services Committee, as CNBC reported. “I’m not sure what the endgame is or what their plans are.”

She said that if President Trump “does want to put us in a forever war — which it seems like he does — he needs to come out and let us be able to have that discussion.”

CNBC reported that the “concerns from Democrats who attended a bipartisan classified briefing with military brass on Tuesday stand in stark contrast with the president, who on Monday suggested the U.S. may be nearing the completion of its operation. Trump’s statements sent slumping markets soaring and cratered oil prices that had skyrocketed in recent days.”

Democrats are warning that there is no end in sight, CNBC noted, and reported that the “war dragging on could also see markets whip back and oil costs continue to soar, especially as the Strait of Hormuz, which carries roughly 20% of the world’s oil remains largely impassible.”

After the Senate briefing, CBS News reported that “U.S. intelligence assets have begun to see indications Iran is taking steps to deploy mines in Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

 

 

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‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

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20 hours ago

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March 10, 2026

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quoted the Bible — specifically the Old Testament — on Tuesday during remarks on the progress of the war against Iran, leaving some to express concerns about Christian nationalism and his potentially executing a holy or religious war.

Noting that he had just returned from Dover Air Force Base to accept the dignified transfer of another service member killed in the Iran war, Hegseth said, “I’ll close with Scripture, drawing strength from Psalm 144.”

“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,” he said. “He is my loving God and my fortress. My stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge. May the Lord grant unyielding strength and refuge to our warriors. Unbreakable protection to them in our homeland. And total victory over those who seek to harm them. Amen.”

Critics slammed his introduction of the religious text.

At The New Republic, Malcolm Ferguson wrote: “The Christian nationalist undertones of this war are getting even more obvious.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

“Listening to Hegseth read Psalm 144 feels like an ominous justification for further aggression rather than a comforting message,” Ferguson said.

“While it’s a lovely verse traditionally attributed to King David, it does not accurately portray the reality of the situation whatsoever,” he wrote. “The United States is the Goliath of this story, along with Israel. The countries’ joint attacks of aggression have killed over 1,200 Iranians, many of them young schoolgirls. Iranian fuel depots were hit so hard that oil rained from the sky in Tehran on Sunday. Seven American service members have died because a president who promised peace sent them to war for money and regime change, not liberation.”

Professor of public policy Josh Cowen responded to Secretary Hegseth’s reading of scripture: “He could have chosen Jesus’s words ‘Blessed are they who mourn’ or if he was really craving a psalm, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.'”

“Instead he’s sporting militant quotes not to assuage grief but to justify his actions that caused it,” Cowen said.

Dutch journalist Michael van der Galien, according to a translation on X, called it “concerning that Pete Hegseth uses a passage from the Old Testament to suggest that God would bless a specific war between America, Israel, and Iran.”

“From a Catholic perspective, war is always a tragedy and only justified under strict conditions of just war theory, such as self-defense and the protection of innocents, not as a divine mandate.”

Professor Massimo Faggioli, a Church historian, according to a translation on X, wrote of Hegseth’s Scripture quoting, “they’ll do absolutely anything to make it look like a religious war.”

READ MORE: Cracks Widen as Trump Presses GOP on Hardline Voter ID Plan

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