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US Congressman Quits GOP – Becomes an Independent Over Trump’s ‘Unfounded’ Election ‘Conspiracy Theories’

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U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell of Michigan has just quit the Republican Party. The 64-year old three-term congressman cited President Donald Trump’s “unfounded conspiracy theories” surrounding the 2020 election, and his attacks on immigrants, from his response to the Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally to his more recent “anti-immigrant ‘send them back’ rhetoric” as reasons he is now an independent member of Congress.

“As elected members of Congress, we take an oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States,’ not to preserve and protect the political interests of any individual, be it the president or anyone else, to the detriment of our cherished nation,” his letter reads, as CNN reported.

Late last month he blasted President Donald Trump on social media:

He also criticized Trump for his recent attacks on the judicial branch.

“It is unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third- world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote,” he wrote. “Further, it is unacceptable for the president to attack the Supreme Court of the United States because its judges, both liberal and conservative, did not rule with his side or that ‘the Court failed him.’ It was our Founding Fathers’ objective to insulate the Supreme Court from such blatant political motivations.”

On Sunday he tweeted out opposition to Trump several times, at one point saying, “Continuing this circus is just …so damaging … so unproductive … so narcissistic…what about our country?”

Mitchell was one of the few Republicans to pay his respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“I’m ‪deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” he wrote on Facebook. “She was a dedicated jurist who served our nation with honor. Her life and work on the Supreme Court created a legacy that will inspire generations to come. I offer my thanks for her service and my deepest condolences to her family during this time‬.”

Before becoming a congressman Mitchell was the chairman of the Michigan branch of conservative Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, a right wing anti-LGBTQ organization that is part Christian evangelical activist, and part Tea Party.

Mitchell, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, is retiring in January, and even noted the switch is “admittedly symbolic,” but said in his letter to RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, “we all know that symbols matter.”

Read his full letter below:

 

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Carville Predicts Trump Will Get a Complete and Total ‘Whipping’

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Prominent political strategist James Carville served up some strong language and colorful remarks about President Donald Trump on Super Bowl Sunday.

On his Politicon streaming show, Carville predicted that Trump would get a complete and total “whipping,” and will be “disgraced.”

“You can knock down the East Wing. You can s — — all over the Kennedy Center. It is not gonna do any good, because the country hates you,” he declared. “They literally cannot stand you.”

“My recommendation for everybody that loves the United States, every patriotic American, and every person that is disgusted by a putrid behavior of the United States government, join the party,” Carville continued. “Because it’s coming to an end.”

READ MORE: ‘Interests of Justice’: Pirro Signs DOJ Motion to Toss Bannon Indictment

“We’re not just gonna win, people. We’re gonna win in ways that you can’t imagine,” the political consultant, author, and a Democratic pundit added. “And not only are we gonna win, we’re gonna watch these sorry, slimy people in an effort to try to save themselves — disgrace themselves, disgrace their families, disgrace their children, their grandchildren, their great grandchildren and everything else.”

Carville also denounced “spineless jellyfish” U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), while praising “these courageous athletes in Italy” at the Olympic Games.

“You see courageous people in the streets of Minneapolis. You’re gonna see courageous people, about a million, show up at the next No Kings rally.”

Carville said he doesn’t “live in an ivory tower,” but rather, walks around and talks to people: “I see the disappointment on faces of people that, for all I know, may have voted for Trump.”

“I’m looking at election results,” he added. “And what I’m watching, entire people that have had an accomplished life, that have had a life of some pride, become Lindsay Graham, the most pliable, malleable person in the history, maybe of U.S. politics.”

READ MORE: Fascism Expert Warns Trump Could Invoke Emergency Powers to Cancel the Election

“We’re gonna beat these people,” Carville vowed. “Like, you can’t even believe what is getting ready to happen to them. And then they’re gonna all be disgraced by history.”

“But you know what you can’t steal?” Carville asked. “You cannot steal the heart of the American people. You can’t steal our traditions. You can’t steal our love of progress — and we may make a mistake, but we’re gonna correct it, and you’re gonna get corrected with the mistake.”

He also vowed that “we’re gonna enjoy ourselves in November” when Trump is “disgraced, and all of the acolytes around him will be disgraced even more.”

READ MORE: ‘Toast’: Latino GOP Strategist Warns ‘Republicans Are Gonna Lose So Big in November’

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‘Interests of Justice’: Pirro Signs DOJ Motion to Toss Bannon Indictment

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Longtime Trump ally and former White House senior counselor to the president, Steve Bannon, is trying to get his 2022 conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress overturned — and now he has the support of Trump’s Department of Justice to back him up.

“DOJ is trying to help Steve Bannon erase his conviction for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee,” reports Politico’s Kyle Cheney.

Cheney noted that the DOJ’s motion “has no career prosecutor” listed, only U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. He also reported that the case had been headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” the motion reads.

Bannon served four months in prison and was released in October 2024. He was found guilty by a jury on two counts of contempt of Congress, the Associated Press reported, “one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and a second for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.”

He referred to himself as a “political prisoner” when he began serving his sentence.

READ MORE: Fascism Expert Warns Trump Could Invoke Emergency Powers to Cancel the Election

 

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Dems Ignoring ‘Biggest Political Issue’ of 2028 Race: Strategist

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Democrats are ignoring the “biggest political issue” that will define the 2028 elections — an issue with long-range consequences — a prominent political strategist warns.

Artificial intelligence — and its effects on the workforce and the economy — is a phenomenon about which some Republicans have started to sound the alarm, says Kamala Harris’s 2024 deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty. But the Democratic Party needs to be better prepared, he writes in a New York Times op-ed.

“Being told you have no agency over a force that will reshape your job prospects, your community and your family’s future is a recipe for backlash,” writes Flaherty. “Democrats shouldn’t dismiss that anger. We should be the party that channels it and does something about it.”

“The coming A.I. revolution threatens the urban professional class that constitutes a central pillar of its political coalition — which already seems too small to win a national election,” he warns. “Democrats have a chance to unite the unemployed 25-year-old software engineer in Tucson, Ariz., and the underemployed middle-age autoworker in Detroit in a coalition big enough to win nationally and locally.”

READ MORE: ‘Toast’: Latino GOP Strategist Warns ‘Republicans Are Gonna Lose So Big in November’

Flaherty points to the chief executive of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, who “has predicted that artificial intelligence could displace half of all entry-level white collar jobs within five years. Already, layoffs are on the rise. Recent college grads are struggling to find work. And even for those of us fortunate enough to be employed, our retirement savings are increasingly dependent on the fortunes of a small handful of high-growth tech companies.”

Democrats have an opening with A.I., he says. “Americans feel pessimistic about A.I. Polling indicates that they are much more concerned than excited about the increasing use of A.I. in their lives.”

The 2028 elections, “set against the backdrop of discontent with A.I., will provide an opportunity to campaign against Big Tech’s excesses and a Republican Party that has enabled them.”

Flaherty sees A.I. as an opportunity to reimagine America’s “social bargain.” Who’s in charge? Who benefits? Who are we as a nation? He says these are the questions Democrats should be asking — and “letting voters know how we answer them.”

Democrats, he adds, need to “monopolize” the issue of artificial intelligence, “lest we risk losing voters we take for granted.”

READ MORE: Fascism Expert Warns Trump Could Invoke Emergency Powers to Cancel the Election

 

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