Daily Archives: July 25, 2022

Downtown Central City, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.

(Photographs by David Kidd/Governing)

Trump won 74 percent of the 2020 vote in Muhlenberg County, where Greenville is the county seat. This represents a huge switch. Muhlenberg County has historically been dominated by Democrats and all of the countywide posts are still held by Democrats. It wasnt long ago that even the most conservative voters registered as Democrats, because there was practically nothing to vote for as a Republican during primary elections. Just for so many years, there were few Republicans and rarely, rarely a Republican candidate, says Harvey J. VanHook, vice chair of the county GOP.

He recalls that the first time he voted in the county, the clerk couldnt find his name, since she wasnt in the habit of looking at the list of registered Republicans. But Trump holds a special appeal to voters in parts of the country that feel left behind by big cities and the coasts, both culturally and economically. Thats certainly the case in Muhlenberg County.

Doug Thompson (left) had hoped to be the Republican candidate for county judge-executive in the fall.

Its not only economic issues that have pushed voters in Muhlenberg County, along with much of rural America, away from Democrats and into the arms of Republicans. Ive seen so many people that were strong Democrats but changed because they felt that Democrats were not Christian, says Greenville Mayor Jan Yonts. (Shes a Democrat but her office is nonpartisan.) They feel that Democrats are baby killers.

Along a commercial corridor in Central City, which is the most populous city in Muhlenberg County, a Baptist church is fronted by a 50-foot tall lighthouse with the name Jesus spelled out in enormous black letters along two sides. Churchgoers in Central City have plenty of other choices for places to worship. Religion makes a big impact here, says Jack Reno, who chairs the Muhlenberg County Democratic Party. Rural Kentucky is very much religion first, guns second.

Democratic county chair Jack Reno. Rural Kentucky is very much religion first, guns second.

Ive had a lot of discussions with my neighbor and he was actually surprised I was a Democrat, says Brittney Hernandez-Stevenson, the partys candidate for state House seat in the county. Some of the support that I think I would get, I may not, unless they pay attention to me as a person and the things Ive done, versus my party.

At times, this seems almost like a party strategy. Obviously, more people live in urban areas than rural the counties Biden won are home to 67 million more people than Trump counties and Democrats have seemed dismissive of the need to appeal to rural voters. The common refrain that demography is destiny (refers) to the misguided belief that any year now the swelling suburbs and urban centers will hit a tipping point enabling Democrats to overcome the lopsided votes from our declining rural communities, write Chloe Maxmin and Canyon Woodward in their new book Dirt Road Revival, about the need for Democrats to compete in rural areas. (Maxmin is a Democratic state senator from a rural district in Maine and Woodward was her campaign manager.)

Theres hardly an economic or health indicator by which rural America doesnt lag, whether its opioid addiction or life expectancy. During the decade between the Great Recession and the start of the pandemic, nearly all the economic growth took place in a fairly small number of metropolitan areas, making rural residents feel that the recession had never ended. The much smaller number of Biden counties accounted for 70 percent of the nations economy at the time of the election. Being told to check your privilege when youre struggling naturally grates.

Religion is a big influence in rural Kentucky politics.

During his first run in 2016, Trump spoke directly to small-town concerns, promising to bring back coal and steel jobs. That didnt happen, and even before taking office Trumps transition team was talking about eliminating the Tennessee Valley Authority. But Trump certainly delivered on cultural issues a fact punctuated by the recent Supreme Court decision overturning abortion rights under Roe v. Wade.

There are plenty of counties in Kentucky that, like Muhlenberg, supported Democrats for president until recently, but now are overwhelmingly Republican. Elliott County, in the eastern part of the state, had never once voted Republican for president over its 144-year history, the longest streak in the nation but Trump took 75 percent of the vote there in 2020.

Theres a car driving around Muhlenberg County with a bumper sticker that says LGBT, only the L stands for liberty, the G for guns, the B for beer and the T for Trump. Perry OBannon, who works for the Greenville Street Department, sums up Trumps appeal succinctly. I was raised a Democrat, he says, and Trump, he didnt take no crap.

Brent Yonts lobbied officials with the TVA and the EPA to keep local coal operations open, but to no avail. As a Democrat, he took the blame, or enough of it to lose his seat. Yonts got blamed because (a coal-fired power plant) didnt get built, says Reno, the Democratic county chair. There was nothing a state rep could do about it because the EPA wasnt going to grant a permit for it.

Scenes from Central City, Ky., the most populous city in Muhlenberg County.

Its an issue for the party throughout the region. Now, from I-65 westward, there is only one Democrat in the House in Kentucky, Mayor Yonts says, referring to the interstate that divides that commonwealth from Louisville to the north through Bowling Green to the south.

Its happened all across the South. For a century following the Civil War, the South was effectively under one-party, Democratic rule. But southerners started voting for Republicans in response to civil rights legislation, first for president, then U.S. Senate and on down the ballot. Just this month, the number of registered Republicans in Kentucky has exceeded the number of Democrats for the first time. Democrats still enjoy a hefty registration advantage in Muhlenberg County, but clearly many people who havent switched formally are voting for the GOP.

Republicans are convinced this is the year theyll make inroads in county offices, although the party didnt bother fielding a candidate for sheriff. Democrats arent the way they used to be, says a woman in Central City who asked to be identified only as Annie. Democrats, as far as the larger level, theyve gone so far to the left what sex are you, whats taught in schools.

A few days before the primary, Baize moved a portable billboard bearing his own likeness from a gas station along a frontage road to an auto parts store at the center of town. As he hitched the billboard to the back of his white pickup, Baize received plenty of friendly waves and honks. Small-town politics, he says.

Reno says that small-town politics still matter. He comes from a long line of Democratic activists his great-grandfather was Indiana coordinator for Harry Truman, his grandfather held that job for Robert F. Kennedy and his dad was a state party treasurer for decades. Reno is always begging candidates running for federal office to show up in the county, to look people in the eye to take credit for projects or let them know their concerns are being heard.

Breaking with family tradition, Jordan Baize ran as a Republican for county judge-executive.

Theres not as much talk as there used to be about getting parking tickets fixed if you vote the right way, but politics in Muhlenberg County remains informal. Everyone calls local officials by their first names. Reno himself seems to know just about everyone eating in the Mexican restaurant where his daughter works as a waitress, or taking a smoke break outside. Our jailer, his names Terry Nunley, Reno says. Hes related to every Nunley, Shemwell, Penrod and Whitehouse in the county. That right there is about 10,000 people. Im not kidding.

Hernandez-Stevenson runs the Muhlenberg campus of Madisonville Community College and sits on a slew of community boards. She hopes that reinforcing personal connections will help her win back the state House seat Yonts lost six years ago. She does share her fear that some people might not accept me or want to vote for me because she is a Black woman. Muhlenberg County is 93 percent white, but seven of the 20 people on the county Democratic committee are African American.

Democrat Brittney Hernandez-Stevenson is focused on local issues in her run for state representative.

Im here to serve this community, Hernandez-Stevenson says. I want people to realize that Im here to listen to them and figure out what they want done in this district, vs. focusing on some of the national issues that we really have no control over.

Her challenge is that all politics is not local. Politics are highly nationalized, making it difficult for Democrats not just in Muhlenberg County but throughout rural America to persuade voters they wont rubber stamp ideas being pushed by national party leaders from New York and San Francisco.

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How Rural America Learned to Love the Republican Party - Governing

Themis Klarides is plainspoken, socially moderate, fiscally conservative and has the requisite experience and broad appeal to defeat Democratic incumbent Richard Blumenthal in November. But first, she must secure her partys nomination. Her main opponent in the race is Leora Levy.

Ms Levy, a longtime Republican contributor, is the embodiment of a one dimensional candidate. She relies exclusively on repeating national talking points, while offering few if any original policy proposals and her depth of understanding on important issues appears shallow at best. Locally, Ms Levy all but ignored her local municipal candidates last November and has a history of showing little or no interest in support for local candidates.

On the campaign trail, Ms Levy often refers to herself as a crusader for freedom and liberty. Her campaign rhetoric resembles a throwback to the McCarthy era of the 1950s. In her skewed worldview, Democrats are Communists and Republicans who disagree with her are RINOs, or at best, Leftist Democrats. She has publicly referred to Ms Klarides as the next Liz Cheney and as un-American. One thing she is correct about, is that like Liz Cheney, Themis Klarides has experience, integrity, stands up for what is right and is a lifelong Republican.

Ms Levy has also, inexplicably embraced the local, far-right group Greenwich Patriots. This is the same group that compared the pandemic era in Connecticut to living in Nazi Germany, and has made references to the infamous Nazi Brown Shirts of that era. It is mind boggling that Ms Levy, who is Jewish, would actually allow herself to be associated with a fringe group like this.

Ms Klarides has been consistent with regard to her positions on key issues. She has always advocated for fiscally responsible positions, and has been a longtime supporter of womens reproductive rights. Ms Klarides is an advocate for effective gun control measures in CT, while also being a longtime registered gun owner, herself. In sharp contrast, Ms Levys positions have changed radically from pro-choice to aggressively pro-life and virulently anti-Trump to all-in pro-Trump.

In 2016, she famously wrote in a Greenwich Time Op-Ed that then candidate Donald Trump has turned the Republican primary process into a circus for his own purposes and his own aggrandizement. He is vulgar, ill-mannered and disparages those whom he cannot intimidate. His modus operandi is to try to intimidate people then call them names and calumniate about them and then if those tactics do not work, to sue them. That is how he has run his businesses and that is how he is running his campaign.Shockingly, once President Trump nominated her to be Ambassador to Chile (a position the Senate never confirmed her for), Ms Levy changed into a MAGA hat wearing election denier, and defended him at every turn.

But this past Monday, Ms Levy pulled perhaps the most despicable move of the early campaign season. Approximately half an hour after Ms Klarides publicly announced the passing of her ninety year old mother, the Levy campaign released blistering attack ads on Ms Klarides, referring to her as a Democrat in disguise and proclaiming Ms Levy as the only principled conservative in the race. This is beyond the pale and represents reprehensible behavior by a vacuous candidate.

Is this the kind of candidate Connecticut Republicans want representing them in a general election for a seat in the United States Senate?

I am a lifelong Republican, and one who enjoyed a successful term as Chairman of the Greenwich Republican Party. I have great respect for the common sense of Connecticut Republicans, and I urge them to support Themis Klarides in the upcoming August 9th Republican Primary. The alternative is a candidate who now worships at the altar of Donald Trump and supports his universally discredited election theories. Themis is a straight shooter who will stand for what is decent, honest and right. And she is the only candidate who can be trusted to provide pragmatic, moderate and principled Republican leadership that can deliver a Republican victory in November.

Dan QuigleyGreenwich, CT

Quigley is the former RTC Chairman of Greenwich

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Why I Am Supporting Themis Klarides As The Republican Nominee For US Senate - CT Examiner

Republicans have every reason to be optimistic that their party will win control of the House and likely the Senate in the November midterm elections.

The Democratic Party is defending razor-thin majorities in Congress at a time when Americansbroadly disapproveof President Biden and aredeeply pessimisticabout the way things are going in the country, especially with the economy.

Indeed, nearly three-quarters of Americans (72 percent) say that the country is on the wrong track, and a majority (51 percent) describe the economy as being in poor shape. There is also a widespread belief that inflation is a very serious problem (64 percent) and that Biden bears at least some responsibility for it (73 percent).

Given how unfavorable the current national political environment is for Democrats on top of the fact that the presidents party almost alwayslosesHouse seats in midterm elections criticizing the Biden administration for inflation and the rising cost of living could very well be a sufficient strategy for the G.O.P. to win control of Congress this year.

That being said, in order for a true red-wave election to take place in 2022 and to sustain itself through 2024 Republicans need to do more at the national, state and local levels than just attack Democrats and oppose their agenda.

Rather, the GOP must develop a positive and constructive agenda that offers centrist solutions to the key issues facing the country in order to show the American people that the partys priorities are in line with their own.

When Republicans took control of the House in 1994, they had theirContract with America, which comprised tax cuts and tax relief for middle-class families, measures to reduce crime, term limits and a balanced budget.

In 2022, the GOP needs an American Revitalization Plan that prioritizes fiscal prudence, lowering taxes, improving public safety, strengthening immigration laws, promoting individual liberties and allowing parents to have more choice over their childs education.

It is also critical that the new Republican agenda is forward-looking, and not focused on relitigating Donald Trumps past grievances about the 2020 election.

Continuing to dwell on the 2020 election is counterproductive to the G.O.P.s short- and long-term political goals, as it alienates swing voters and Independents who largely accept Joe Bidens victory as legitimate, believe Jan. 6 was an attempted insurrection and are concerned about addressing the challenges of today, not fighting about alleged voter fraud in the last election.

In order to reach these voters in the middle, Republicans should promote an economic plan that provides tax incentives for job creation, prioritizes deficit reduction, eases inflation and limits government spending to fiscally prudent programs that have broad public support, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

Loosening overly burdensome regulations on Americas energy sector would also be immensely beneficial in terms of helping the U.S. achieve energy independence which the public increasingly recognizes as an important goal, given the current crisis with gas prices.

Furthermore, instead of criticizing Democrats for surging crime and the migrant crisis at the Southern border, Republicans should propose actual solutions such as increasing funding to bolster and better train law enforcement officers both police officers in localities, and patrol agents at the southern border.

To that end, the GOP can lead the way by proposing a long-overdue immigration compromise that strengthens our physical border security and also provides a pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants brought here illegally as children.

National Republicans should also take a page from Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkins 2021 playbook by promoting individual liberties generally, and specifically empowering parents through enhanced school choice opportunities and promoting greater parental involvement in curricula. This strategy helped Youngkin connect with moderate suburban voters, which is the precise coalition that the G.O.P. should be targeting in 2022.

Perhaps most importantly, on hot-button social issues namely, abortion and guns the G.O.P. needs to establish a more moderate party line in order to distance itself from the partys extreme fringes.

Put another way, the Republican Partys positions on these issues must reflect the reality that Americans broadly support abortion as a legal right with limitations, and widely favor common-sense restrictions on gun ownership that still allow law-abiding citizens to own guns.

Towing the centrist line on abortion and guns can be enormously beneficial to the Republican Party. By assuming a more open stance on abortion legality, Republicans can better sell their party as one that protects individual liberties; similarly, by moving to the middle on guns, the GOP can position and promote themselves as the law and order party.

However, if Republicans fail to moderate their positions, the party leaves itself vulnerable to attacks from Democrats for being extreme and out of touch.

Ultimately, Republicans merely opposing Democrats at every turn is not enough to produce a red-wave election in 2022 and will certainly not be enough to carry a pro-Republican trend through to 2024.

In order for the G.O.P. to secure a red wave in 2022 and improve their chances of retaking the White House in 2024, the party needs to coalesce around a moderate agenda that offers real solutions, avoids relitigating past grievances, and rejects the partys extreme fringes.

Douglas E. Schoen is a political consultant who served as an adviser to former President Clinton and to the 2020 presidential campaign of Michael Bloomberg. He is the author of The End of Democracy? Russia and China on the Rise and America in Retreat.

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Republicans missing 2022 ingredient: A positive and constructive agenda - The Hill

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Lawmakers in Indiana will begin a special legislative session Monday to discuss the future of abortion in the Hoosier state. Republicans are proposing a near-total on the procedure, but activists say they won't let it pass without a fight.

Crowds turned out Sunday in Highland, Indiana, to a pro-abortion rally, holding signs and chanting "keep your laws off my body."

Indiana's senate takes up the bill Monday. If approved, it moves to the house where it could become law by fall.

Banning abortions at the time of implantation is defined in Indiana as when the fetus is implanted in the uterus.Members of the Republican-controlled Indiana Senate rolled out a bill that will dramatically tighten that state's abortion laws.

However, there are exceptions, including if the life of the mother is at risk.

"It doesn't sit right with me that millions of reproductive rights were taken away. It's un-American. It's unpatriotic. To be quite frank, it's disgusting. I've been born and raised around a lot of powerful women in my life and I don't think I can stand idly by while rights are taken away," said student Noah Thomas.

Planned Parenthood said before the end of the year it is expecting 30,000 women to come to Illinois for abortions, which would be an 80% jump from a typical year in Illinois.

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Dozens gather for protest in Indiana as Republicans propose near-total ban on abortion - CBS Chicago

Mary Miller has already quoted Adolf Hitler on Jan. 5th, had her husband attend the Capitol Attack on the 6th, and recently thanked Donald Trump for doing his part to get Roe v. Wade overturned because of what a win it was for "white life". That's more red flags than you'll find at a Chinese embassy.

Welcome to what is the 1122nd original profile here at Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day, where well be profiling Mary Miller, the sitting U.S. House Representative for Illinois 15th Congressional District, first elected to office in the 2020 elections, and who is the wife of a fella weve already profiled, Chris Miller. We will say right now, though, that while her husband was up to his eyeballs in sedition on January 6th, Congresswoman Miller isnt exactly just getting guilt by association, shes making statements and doing questionable things all on her own that make it clear the both of them have made it clear they dont really take that oath they swear to the Constitution very seriously.

After winning office to replace the climate change denying monolith, John Shimkus, Mary Millers first days in Washington saw her focused solely on spreading Donald Trumps Big Lie of election fraud, and she claimed the 2020 election was tainted, saying her first priority in DC was to challenge the election results (even though she won office in them). She was quickly gaining favor among Trump loyalists that she managed to snag herself a speaking slot at the pre-coup attempt rally hosted by Moms of America on January 5th, 2021, where she talked about what Hitler got right, and then quoted the f***ing head of the Third Reich in the middle of our nations capitol. And theres video of her saying it:

Each generation has the responsibility to teach and train the next generation. You know, if we win a few elections, were still going to be losing unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing: he said, Whoever has the youth has the future.

She gave a half-hearted apology three days later, because she also had the embarrassment of her husband having hung out with domestic terrorists that stormed her new workplace to try and murder the Vice-President for not setting Donald Trump as Americas authoritarian dictator two days later. But, yknow, she was talking about how cool Hitler was, guys were jumping through the Capitol Buildings windows wearing Camp Auschwitz shirts, it seemed to be a whole theme of the coup.

Anyway, after several months of just being an awful legislator who kept her mouth shut to not praise Adolf f***ing Hitler unprompted again, Miller started to get a little cocky, and was trying to stir the pot of homophobic and transphobic bulls*** the GOP were cooking up going into the 2022 elections, claiming Democrats and teachers were indoctrinating Americas youth to be victims of abuse. At CPAC in February of 2022, Miller was trying to write an alternative history where God was taken out of our schools, when based on the separation of church and state, he shouldnt have been there in the first place.

So with all her fearmongering about recognizing more than two genders and not letting the Fundies start having church revivals in homeroom, it was not at all surprising that Mary Millers 2022 re-election campaign was employing a known child sex offender who tried to lure and underage boy on the internet.

Republican Hypocrisy? Doing something worse than what you accuse the other side of? THE HELL YOU SAY.

If we havent painted enough of a picture for you that this lady is the worst, she gleefully celebrated Roe v. Wade with Donald Trump at her side being overturned by putting the ruling in a very racial context. And yes, theres video again:

President Trump I want to thank you for the historic victory for white life in the Supreme Court yesterday.

Her spokesman tried claiming she misspoke and meant to say right to life, but its hard to give someone who glowingly thinks of Hitler and is dead set on supporting a white nationalist like Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt here.

Because frankly, she legislates to reflect the things she blurts out:

After redistricting left some members of the Illinois Republican caucus having to play musical chairs for their house seats, Mary Miller was forced into a GOP Primary with veteran Republican Congressman Rodney Davis, which to our dismay, she actually advanced out of with 57% of the vote in spite of saying nice things about Hitler and hanging out with a pedophile, but Republicans flocked to her because Davis voted to create a January 6th commission, infuriating Donald Trump and netting Miller his endorsement. And OF COURSE GOP voters are still hung up on the blessing of the former guy. Her Democratic opponent in November is Paul Lange, who has twice run for the state legislature and failed to get elected, and was the only Democrat who filed to run in this race. Lange is virtually unknown to the public, and has almost no social media presence going into the general election. His strategy seems to be, Im the candidate who doesnt like sedition or Hitler, and we really do hope that someone from the DNCC helps him raise that profile a bit over the next few months.

Because in the spirit of F*** Nazis, we also believe, F*** anybody who speaks highly of them.

One Year Ago, July 24th, 2021: Karen Bedonie (KS) Two Years Ago, July 24th, 2020: Kris Kobach (KS) 2020 Update Three Years Ago, July 24th, 2019: Kris Kobach (KS) 2019 Update Four Years Ago, July 24th, 2018: Kris Kobach (KS) 2018 UpdateFive Years Ago, July 24th, 2017: Kris Kobach (KS) 2017 Update Six Years Ago, July 24th, 2016: Kris Kobach (KS) 2016 UpdateSeven Years Ago, July 24th, 2015: Kris Kobach (KS) 2015 Update Eight Years Ago, July 24th, 2014: Kris Kobach (KS) Original Profile

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Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day: Mary Miller - Daily Kos

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a former constitutional law professor, has made a habit of laying into his Republican colleagues for their moronic interpretations of American law.

Perhaps you remember: In March, he schooled former Trump White House staffers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino with an explainer on why Donald Trump has no authority as a former president to claim executive privilege and bar them from testifying before the House Jan. 6 committee.

At this point, Republicans goading Raskin into a constitutional law debate is like poking a black belt in the chest while wearing a gi. They know what they're signing up for.

Of course, that hasnt deterred Republicans from testing their hands anyway. On Wednesday, Raskin dispensed with the tired GOP argument that gun restrictions are unlawful because the framers of the Constitution wanted Americans to be able to wage war against their government. He had to teach Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a similar lesson in June. This time around, it was Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who set it off.

The clip of Raskin telling off Roy is quite gratifying and he even got an applause at the end.

Check out the clip below. And welcome, once more, to Raskin's Constitution 101. Class is in session.

Ja'han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. He's a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include "Black Hair Defined" and the "Black Obituary Project."

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Rep. Raskin: Jan. 6 committee will strongly oppose witness tampering, obstructions of justice - MSNBC