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Thomas Roberts Interviews Jimmy LaSalvia: Is GOP Embracing Gay Marriage?

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Thomas Roberts today interviewed GOProud co-founder and executive director Jimmy LaSalvia, who tells the MSNBC host, “I don’t think conservatives are any different than anyone else in America.” LaSalvia thinks the GOP is undergoing a transformation, despite most evidence to the contrary.

Roberts had to remind LaSalvia that every GOP candidate (with very few exceptions) does not support same-sex marriage. Roberts should have asked LaSalvia to comment on the recent outpourings of hate from the GOP, like these, which all happened in the past three weeks:

GOP Congressman: ENDA Part Of Obama’s ‘Ongoing War On Religion’

On Our Radar – The Oxymorons Of The North Carolina Republican Party

GOP Lawmaker: Being Gay ‘Cuts About 20 Years Off Your Life’

LaSalvia, who actually missed an opportunity to harshly attack the Left, as his GOProud partner generally does every chance he gets, did claim that President Obama was forced to take a stand for marriage by the left.

“Well, remember that President Obama was dragged kicking and screaming by his grassroots base to that position, and what’s happening in the conservative movement among grassroots conservatives is a shift in opinion and discussion on this,” LaSalvia said.

Perhaps he’s softening. Last year, LaSalvia said:

“That’s where we experience the most intolerance. The gay Left is, by far, the most intolerant toward us,” LaSalvia said on “The Brian Lehrer Show,” echoing his boilerplate rhetoric stump speech. “Us,” meaning, conservative gays.

Right…

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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Raw transcript via MSNBC:

>>> welcome back, everybody. the question of whether the legalization of marriage equality should be overturned in washington state is going public. opponents of same-sex marriage now backing initiative 74 as it’s called. gathered nearly 250,000 signatures to qualify it as a referendum on the november ballot. still, there’s a question of just how legit some of those signatures are. election officials say they are investigating approximately 1,000 that appear to be fraudulent. however, over the past year, leading democrats along with president obama have voiced support for marriage equality and other lgbt issues but support on the republican side, that’s also growing. the gop now has its own pro- marriage equality super pac so is this a game changer for the grand old party? timmy is executive director of go proud. as we talk about the new superpac, american unity pac launched by the hedge fund guy paul e. singer, a heavyweight for your party. does it mean conservatives are evolving, distancing themselves from pro-discrimination-type thinking when it comes to the lgbt community rethinking the stance on marriage equality? >> thanks for having me. i don’t think conservatives are any different than anyone else in america. in 2012 every person has a gay person in their life, friends and family. mr. singer has gay people in his family, we all have come to think about these issues in a very personal way, and so everyone in america is having this discussion and thinking about these things in a personal way, and many people, including many conservatives, are coming to the conclusion that supporting same-sex civil marriage is the right thing to do. >> jimmy, when you talk about conservatives not being different from other people in america, the gop contender is not for marriage equality, there are many who came out as well and the president demonstrated he’s pro- marriage equality so how do those two equate that you’re saying conservatives aren’t different when the person that most conservatives would like to elect to be president is against it? >> well, remember that president obama was dragged kicking and screaming by his grassroots base to that position, and what’s happening in the conservative movement among grassroots conservatives is a shift in opinion and discussion on this, and we’re seeing particularly among young conservatives, i don’t talk to any young people when i’m across the country talking to young people, almost all of them either support same-sex marriage or think like i do, that the state should decide it, and so it’s very much a generational thing. we know that politicians don’t always lead on difficult issues like this. so you know, i disagree with mitt romney on this issue. i think the states should decide marriage. i think that marriage is good for people and i think it’s a conservative position, and more and more of my fellow conservatives are joining me and others in that position. >> jimmy, is it an incentive like a superpac like the one singer created is that enough incentive to get the attention of someone like mitt romney and to go back to the way he used to feel about marriage equality when he was trying too beat teddy kennedy in massachusetts when he said he’d be to the left of him when he went back to the far fringes of the right? >> i don’t know, you’ll have to talk to mitt romney about that. it’s evidence of the way paul singer leads his life, he supports republicans because he knows conservative policies are good for the country and he supports gay issues because he knows that it’s good for gay people and his family, and so he loves his country and his family and that’s just evidence in that superpac, you know, what governor romney thinks about it, i don’t know, but it’s certainly good sign of progress that the conservative movement and republican party is having this same discussion that the rest of america is having. >> we’ll continue to watch it. go proud executive director jimmy lasalvia, thank you for your time.

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News

Fox News Host Suggests Trump ‘Force’ Court to Throw Him in Jail – by Quoting Him

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10 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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The Fox News host who targeted a juror serving on Donald Trump’s criminal New York trial is now suggesting the ex-president should violate his gag order and “force” the court to throw him in jail, by quoting the Fox News host.

Jesse Watters came under fire earlier this week for profiling juror number two, sharing possibly identifying information published by a myriad of reporters but then using that information to pass judgment on her ability to serve.

“I’m not so sure about juror number two,” Watters concluded on Fox News.

Jurors, at the judge’s direction, were to remain anonymous, for their protection and the protection of the trial.

The judge excused her, after she said she felt she was not able to be impartial because friends and family were calling her asking if she had been chosen to serve on the Trump trial, after the media blitz.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan admonished the press for reporting the information, but some news outlets appeared to ignore his warning.

Watters on Wednesday “did a segment with a jury consultant, revealing details about people who had been seated on the jury and questioning whether some were ‘stealth liberals’ who would be out to convict Trump,” the Associated Press reported.

READ MORE: Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

Trump later posted Watters’ quote on his Truth Social platform, leading some, including New York prosecutors, to ask the judge to cite him for allegedly breaking his gag order.

Judge Merchan ordered Trump to not mention witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff, or the family members of prosecutors and court staff, CNN has reported.

New York prosecutors told Juge Merchan Trump has violated the gag order at least ten times.

“Prosecutor Christopher Conroy described the ‘most disturbing’ example as a social media message Trump posted on Wednesday evening quoting a Fox News host as saying, ‘They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,'” Politico reports.

That host was Jesse Watters.

RELATED: ‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

Friday afternoon, Watters appeared to egg Trump on, urging the ex-president to violate the gag order.

“I would make them put me in jail,” Watters said on Fox News. “I would have a tweet about something perhaps I said on ‘The Five’ or ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ and I would force them to throw me in jail.”

Watch Watters’ remark below or at this link.

 

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News

Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

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12 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) says some of his fellow House Republicans would “take a bribe” to throw the razor-thin GOP majority to the Democrats if a far-right faction calls up a motion to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, allowing Democrats to hand the gavel to the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. he warned if that happens, Democrats would immediately declare Trump ineligible to be President, pack the U.S. Supreme Court, and pass numerous laws like the American Rescue Plan.

“I do believe in a one seat majority there could be one or two or three of my colleagues who would take a bribe in one form or another in order to deprive the Republicans of a majority at all,” Gaetz said Friday on his podcast (video below.)

He added, “the risk that one or two of my corrupt Republican colleagues might take a bribe, take a walk, feign an ailment and flip this thing to the Democrats is a risk that is too high for me at this time.”

Gaetz’s fellow far-right Florida Republican member of Congress, Anna Paulina Luna, told listeners, “I heard that when, if and when the motion vacate is introduced, that there will be immediate resignations of a couple of more moderate members of Congress. And in the event that that happens, that ultimately means it does go to a Democrat speaker.”

RELATED: Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) last month filed a “motion to vacate,” which she can use at any time to force a vote to oust the GOP Speaker, Mike Johnson. U.S. Rep. Tim Massie (R-KY) and just today, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has signed on as co-sponsors.

Congressman Gaetz told listeners if Democrats do take the House through a force vote to remove Johnson, Democrats would “be declaring Donald Trump an insurrectionist and setting up a barrier to him being able to become the president United States.”

“That’ll be their leadoff hitter, and then the chaser to that shot will be a massive spending package that looks a lot more like the American Rescue Plan. They will blow past every concept of every cap ever imagined. You’ll be looking at Universal Basic Income, you could be looking at packing the Supreme Court.”

Watch a short clip of Gaetz’s remarks below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

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Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

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15 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed Friday the majority of Democrats will support Republicans’ Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza foreign aid legislation as Republican Speaker Mike Johnson lost support of another member of his conference to a faction determined to oust him.

“Democrats will provide a majority of our majority as it relates to funding Israel, humanitarian assistance, Ukraine, and our allies in the Indo Pacific,” Minority Leader Jeffries said. “It remains to be seen what Republicans will do in terms of meeting the national security needs of the American people, but it was important for House Democrats to ensure that the national security bills are going to be considered.”

Despite Republicans having a one-vote majority, more Democrats on Friday voted to move the critical and long-awaited foreign aid bills forward than did Republicans.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

The 316-94 vote included 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans voting yes, and 55 Republicans and 39 Democrats voting no.

Axios’ Juliegrace Brufke posted the list of Republicans voting against their party’s legislation.

Calling it a “rare” moment in modern congressional history to have to rely on opposition party votes to pass legislation, BBC News reports Speaker Johnson’s “hold on power is tenuous, and the legislators who oppose him – and his bid to provide aid to Ukraine – occupy some key positions within the House’s power structure.”

Amid the procedural vote to move the foreign aid funding bills forward, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, a far-right Republican of Arizona, announced he is joining Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Congressman Tim Massie (R-KY) in formally announcing their will vote to oust Speaker Johnson.

Gosar, like Greene, is reportedly a Christian nationalist. In 2022 CNN reported his “lengthy ties to White nationalists, [a] pro-Nazi blogger and far-right fringe received little pushback for years.”

RELATED: ‘Repercussions’: Democrats and Republicans Stand Against ‘Pro-Putin’ House GOP Faction

“We’ve been very honest in our assessment of the situation from the beginning,” Jeffries on Friday also declared. “At the appropriate time as House Democrats, we will have a conversation about how to deal with any hypothetical motion to vacate.”

“Moscow Marjorie Taylor Greene, Massie, and Gosar are quite a group. But central to our conversation is to make sure that the national security legislation in totality is passed by the House of Representatives.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

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