Connect with us

News

‘MAGA, MAGA and More MAGA’: What Experts Are Saying About All Nine GOP Candidates for Speaker

Published

on

Legal and political experts are raising red flags about all nine Republican candidates now running for Speaker of the House, warning of their positions, histories, and voting records.

The nine are: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (MN), Republican Conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson (LA), Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern (OK), Jack Bergman (MI), Byron Donalds (FL), Dan Meuser (PA), Gary Palmer (AL), Austin Scott (GA), and Pete Sessions (TX).

“All vote suppressors, most election deniers. MAGA, MAGA and more MAGA,” warns Democratic elections attorney Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket. Elias famously won over 60 cases that Trump and his allies filed in the 2020 election, losing just one.

“It’s probably an accurate reflection of today’s GOP that 6 of 9 candidates for speaker come from the South and 2 from the Midwest,” notes Michael Li, redistricting and voting counsel at the Brennan Center at NYU School of Law.

READ MORE: Trump Threatened With Jail After Judge Fines Him for Violating Gag Order

With the exception of one, the candidates are all white. And as former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) observed, “9 men running for Speaker. Where are the women candidates?”

Noticeably absent from running: Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who serves as the Chair of the House Republican Conference.

The candidates are far older than the average American, who is just under 39 years old. Bergman is the oldest, at 76. Emmer is 62. Johnson is 51. Hern is 61. Meuser, 59. Palmer, 69. Scott, 53. Sessions, 68. Donalds is the youngest, at 44.

All come from strongly Republican-leaning districts, as University of South Carolina Professor and Political Science Department Vice Chair David Darmofal notes.

“It’s 2023 and only one of the 9 Republican candidates for Speaker of the House voted to federally codify same-sex & interracial marriages,” Darmofal adds, pointing to former pollster Adam Carlson’s spreadsheet which details just how far-right all nine candidates are.

READ MORE: ‘This Is All a Game for a Lot of Them’: MSNBC Conservative Slams GOP as Jordan Fails Again

According to Carlson’s chart and one for Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman (both below), just two voted to certify the 2020 presidential election on January 6 after the insurrection, which The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent calls “Another mark of the GOP’s descent.”

“Don’t be fooled,” warns activist and political commentator Victor Chi. “While 2 of the 9 Republicans didn’t decertify the election results on January 6, BOTH of them signed an amicus brief demanding SCOTUS overturn the 2020 election. That means ALL 9 Speaker candidates are election deniers. This is not normal. But it’s who they are.”

None voted to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection. None voted to establish the January 6 Commission.

Just five of the nine voted to avert a government default related to the debt ceiling, and five voted to avert a government shutdown by supporting the current 45-day continuing resolution. That’s an ominous possible predictor of what could happen in less than four weeks, when the federal government will shut down if the House (and Senate) do not pass legislation to fund the government.

Only four voted to support additional aid to Ukraine.

None voted for bipartisan gun control. None voted for the bipartisan Infrastructure Act. Just one voted for reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

None voted for ensuring the right to contraception, which some warn is a battle Republicans are gearing up to wage.

What are some other experts saying overall?

“The worst is Donalds. The best of the lot is Emmer,” writes political scientist Norman Ornstein of The Atlantic. Reflecting on the bigger picture of why Speaker Nancy Pelosi was successful while Speaker Kevin McCarthy was not, Ornstein writes:

“Blowing up government is the larger goal. Purity is a virtue. So is disruption. So it is not a great surprise that McCarthy, who spent much of his career, encouraging disruption, and who has no core values, failed. Nor is it a great surprise that they cannot find a replacement.”

READ MORE: Biden Says ‘American Leadership Is What Holds the World Together’ in Speech Urging Unity

House Republicans will meet behind closed doors for a “candidate forum,” Monday starting at 6:30 PM. They hope to elect one nominee who must get a majority of their fellow Republicans’ votes. Tuesday morning, exactly three weeks after Kevin McCarthy was ousted, the House is expected to convene to attempt, for the fourth time this year, to elect a Speaker.

Look at the charts below or at this link.

 

Image via Shutterstock

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Might Use it to Vote’: Kudlow and Blackburn Fearmonger Biden Giving Undocumented Green Cards

Published

1 hour ago

on

May 15, 2024

By

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Fox News Business host Larry Kudlow are promoting a false, fearmongering conspiracy theory President Joe Biden will be handing out green cards to undocumented immigrants in an effort to help them vote. Their remarks come as ex-president Donald Trump, running to retake the White House, has amped up his anti-immigrant focus.

Kudlow on Wednesday said he worries “a lot” that President Biden will be giving green cards to undocumented immigrants who will use them to vote. Senator Blackburn agreed, telling the former Trump National Economic Council Director, “they’re gonna try to vote.”

Green card holders are not U.S. citizens, and only U.S. citizens can vote, with a handful of exceptions in local jurisdictions, but only U.S, citizens can vote in federal elections. Presenting a green card as “proof” of citizenship in states that require it to vote would have the exact opposite effect, proving ineligibility.

Kudlow and Blackburn falsely suggested both undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers who are legally in the United States, may be voting using green cards, with Sen. Blackburn increasing the fearmongering by falsely implying all undocumented immigrants are dangerous.

READ MORE: ‘Long History of Playing Games’: Biden Campaign Shuts Down Trump’s Tantrum

“I mean, I don’t know, is Biden – he’s not going to address any of that,” Kudlow told Blackburn. “He’s not going to really reform asylum policy. He’s gonna give everybody [a] green card. That’s my biggest concern. As you probably know, ma’am, you know, you have a green card or some kind of temporary visa, you might use it to vote. You might use it to vote, even though you’re not a citizen. That worries me a lot.”

“Well, it should,” the Tennessee Republican who has a history of fear-mongering, and has been accused of promoting white Christian nationalism, told Kudlow.

“These are really bad people and your audience needs to think of this in terms of the population of a city of that size, of one and a half million people, and then you’re so right there,” Blackburn said. “This administration is saying we’re going to give you IDs this summer. We’re going to give you work permits if you’re a[n asylum] parolee, what are they gonna do, they’re gonna try to vote.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kudlow replied.

Watch below or at this link.

READ MORE: Johnson Promotes Making ‘Crime a Crime Again’ After Standing Up for Trump at Courthouse

Continue Reading

News

‘Long History of Playing Games’: Biden Campaign Shuts Down Trump’s Tantrum

Published

4 hours ago

on

May 15, 2024

By

The Biden campaign on Wednesday proposed a series of two debates with very specific rules, including shutting off the microphone of the candidate not answering a question, and Donald Trump quickly accepted the invitations, including the stipulations, before turning around and proposing an additional series of debates.

In a stinging response the Biden campaign rejected Trump’s proposal.

“Donald Trump has a long history of playing games with debates: complaining about the rules, breaking those rules, pulling out at the last minute, or not showing up at all – which he’s done repeatedly in all three cycles he’s run for president,” said Biden-Harris 2024 Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon in a statement received by NCRM. “He said he would debate President Biden anytime, anywhere, anyplace. In fact, he’s said and posted it dozens of times with varying degrees of comprehension and basic grammar. President Biden made his terms clear for two one-on-one debates, and Donald Trump accepted those terms. No more games. No more chaos, no more debate about debates. We’ll see Donald Trump on June 27th in Atlanta – if he shows up.”

Politico warned Wednesday afternoon the “agreement does not ensure that either of the debates will happen. In fact, shortly after the campaigns agreed to two debates, the Trump campaign proposed two more.”

READ MORE: Johnson Promotes Making ‘Crime a Crime Again’ After Standing Up for Trump at Courthouse

Early Wednesday morning President Joe Biden posted a video to social media, saying, “Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal. I’ll even do it twice.”

Biden also ridiculed Trump’s schedule, which currently has him in court four days a week.

“I hear you’re free on Wednesdays,” Biden mocked.

Barely hours later, Biden, keeping the same tone, posted to social media: “I’ve also received and accepted an invitation to a debate hosted by ABC on Tuesday, September 10th. Trump says he’ll arrange his own transportation. I’ll bring my plane, too. I plan on keeping it for another four years.”

Trump on his social media website wrote, “It is my great honor to accept the CNN Debate against Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST PRESIDENT in the History of the United States and a true Threat to Democracy, on June 27th. Likewise, I accept the ABC News Debate against Crooked Joe on September 10th. Thank you, DJT!”

Also on his Truth Social page Wednesday, Trump had written, “I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!'”

CNN’s Kristin Holmes reported Wednesday afternoon the Trump campaign is “a little bit irked right now, the fact that Joe Biden somehow took over the debate narrative despite the fact that Donald Trump has been using this as a narrative at all his campaign rallies.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: Why Are One in Five GOP Voters Still Voting for Nikki Haley Over Donald Trump?

Continue Reading

News

Johnson Promotes Making ‘Crime a Crime Again’ After Standing Up for Trump at Courthouse

Published

7 hours ago

on

May 15, 2024

By

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, promoting a California sheriff who was once a member of a far-right extremist antigovernment group that has been called “instrumental” in the January 6 insurrection, on Wednesday demanded making “crimes criminal again” just one day after traveling to the Criminal Courts Building in lower Manhattan to stand up for Donald Trump. The indicted ex-president faces 34 felony charges in his election subversion, business records falsification, and “hush money” trial.

“We’ve got to make crimes criminal again,” Speaker Johnson told reporters at a “Back the Blue” Police Week news conference Wednesday, paraphrasing Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. “I mean, it’s just common sense. And I think everybody in the country who looks at this objectively understands that anybody who’s not involved in the radical woke progressive left understands clearly that you gotta maintain the peace.”

Sheriff Bianco had been invited to speak at the House GOP event. In 2021, NPR reported he “defended” his membership in the Oath Keepers extremist group, which he insisted stands “for protecting the Constitution.”

READ MORE: Johnson Would Contest 2024 Election Results Under the Same ‘Circumstances’

“If you love America, if you’re proud to be an American and you support the Constitution, you are labeled as an extremist,” Bianco said.

Speaking at the House GOP Back the Blue event Wednesday, Bianco launched an attack on the left.

“Over the past decade or so, the rule of law has been severely eroded by a sick and twisted progressive social experiment, fraudulently called criminal justice reform. In this alternate universe, law enforcement officers are the bad guys,  criminals are somehow victims of society. We cannot have a country without respect for law enforcement and adherence to the law and order of our country. There must be consequences for criminal behavior. It is time to make crime a crime again.”

The Speaker on Wednesday also slammed Attorney General Merrick Garland, declaring, “the Department of Justice has clearly been politicized. Some of us consider this actually to be a weaponized DOJ and Merrick Garland is in charge. He is the Attorney General at the top, and I think that they have, they have used our system of justice against political opponents, of course, the most prominent of which is Donald J. Trump. I was with him yesterday in Manhattan, and many in the press have asked, ‘Why did you go there?’ Because I’m a former litigator, I’m a I’m an attorney. This is an egregious violation. a travesty of justice. They are using the judicial system for political purposes and this is something that framers warned us against.”

The Associated Press on Tuesday reported Speaker Johnson had become “the highest-ranking Republican to show up at court, embrace the former president’s claims of political persecution and attack the U.S. system of justice.”

READ MORE: ‘Grave Danger’: Trump’s ‘Raw Display’ of Power at Court Alarms Conservative

“It was a remarkable moment in modern American politics: The House speaker amplifying Trump’s defense and turning the Republican Party against the federal and state legal systems that are foundational to the U.S. government and a cornerstone of democracy,” the AP continued. “Johnson, who is second in line for the presidency, called the court system ‘corrupt.'”

“The speaker is leading a growing list of Republican lawmakers who are criticizing the American judicial system as they rally to Trump’s side, appearing at the courthouse to defend the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. Trump is accused of having arranged secret payments to a porn actress to hide negative stories during his successful 2016 campaign for president.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.