Category Archives: Republican

GILFORD, N.H. Republican Sen. Rick Scotts jam-packed one day trip to New Hampshire this weekend naturally sparked speculation about the former two-term Florida governors potential national ambitions.

But while pundits see Scott as a possible 2024 GOP presidential contender, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chairman's Saturday stops in the state that for a century held the first presidential primary were laser focused on the 2022 midterm elections rather than the next White House race.

"Im focused on the Senate," Scott said in an interview with Fox News.

FIVE BIG QUESTIONS AS THE GOP TRIES TO WIN BACK THE SENATE IN 2022

Republicans need a net gain of just one seat in next years midterms to regain the Senate majority they lost in the 2020 election cycle. Theyre playing plenty of defense the GOP is defending 20 of the 34 seats up for grabs, including five seats where Republican senators are retiring, with two of them in the key battlegrounds of North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

But Republicans see strong pickup opportunities to flip a blue Senate seat red in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire, if they can recruit popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu to challenge Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, his predecessor as governor.

Scott and Sununu briefly chatted ahead of a Belknap County GOP event and fundraiser, where the governor introduced the senator, who gave the keynote address.

"I hope he runs for the Senate and Im going to do my best to get him there," Scott said. "I think hes going to do it."

Earlier Saturday Scott took part in a "Save Our Paychecks" event in Manchester organized by the conservative group Heritage Action. The senator also held private meetings during the afternoon with Republican leaders in the Granite State, which according to sources were mostly about the 2022 midterms rather than the next GOP presidential nomination race.

2022 EFFORTS BY THIS GOP SENATOR SET TABLE FOR POTENTIAL 2024 RUN

A trip by Scott in early April to Iowa the state whose caucuses kick off the presidential nominating calendar also sparked speculation. But Iowa could also have a potentially competitive Senate race next year if longtime GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley decides against running for reelection.

For years, potential White House hopefuls have traveled to the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, to help members of their party running in the midterm elections, in hopes of making friends in those key states that could pay dividends in the ensuing presidential nomination race.

Speculation over Scotts future national ambitions were first sparked early last year, when he ran ads in Iowa targeting then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in the weeks ahead of the 2020 caucuses.

Asked about a potential White House run, Scott told Fox News on Saturday that "Ill worry about 24 in 23 and 24" and emphasized that "I have no plans to run for president."

And spotlighting his busy travel schedule, the senator said "this week I was in five states, I think. Part of my job is to travel and talk to potential donors and candidates."

The other Scotts also coming to New Hampshire

There are two Republicans in the Senate named Scott.

And the other one Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is also seen by political pundits as a potential GOP 2024 White House hopeful.

Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate and a rising star in the GOP who was chosen earlier this year to give his partys response to President Joe Bidens first joint address to Congress, in April made a political stop in Iowa.

TIM SCOTT'S EYE-POPPING 2022 FUNDRAISING GRABS 2024 ATTENTION

Now, Scotts coming to New Hampshire, to headline a major state GOP fundraising event, on October 8 in Manchester.

The invitation for Scott to headline the New Hampshire GOP fundraiser is no surprise. State party chair Steve Stepanek told Fox News in May that "Im going to be watching Sen. Scott because I think great things are before him Wed love to have him up here."

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate and a rising star in the GOP, on June 28, 2021 launched his 2022 re-election campaign. (@votetimscott/Twitter)

While the New Hampshire trip will insert Scott further into the 2024 discussion, he first faces reelection next year back home in South Carolina. Scott hauled in an eye popping $9.6 million in the April-June second quarter of fundraising this year, more than any other GOP senator, in another sign of his rising stature and popularity within his party.

Noem in South Carolina on Monday

Republican Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, an ally of former President Trump whos also viewed as a potential 2024 White House hopeful if Trump doesnt run again, heads to South Carolina on Monday.

Noem will speak at the "Faith and Freedom BBQ" in Anderson, South Carolina. The event is described as one of the largest annual gatherings in the state that votes third in the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

NOEM SAYS SHE'S COUNTING ON TRUMP RUNNING AGAIN IN 2024

Noem made the short trip to neighboring Iowa last month, to speak along with former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a summit hosted by the Family Leader, an influential social conservative group. And she spoke remotely earlier in the year to a crowd of influential conservative leaders and activists in New Hampshire.

New 2024 cattle call in Palmetto State

The South Carolina Republican Party is launching a new semi-annual conference in a move to attract more potential GOP presidential contenders.

The inaugural event, titled the "First in the South Republican Action Conference," is scheduled to be held in Myrtle Beach Oct. 29-31. Organizers say the confab is modeled after the Conservative Political Action Conference, known by its acronym CPAC, which is the largest annual gathering of activists and leaders on the right.

"South Carolina's first in the South position is not something we take lightly. It's important to us and important to our voters," South Carolina GOP chair Drew McKissick said in a statement. "We're looking forward to hosting this conference, getting folks excited and prepared for the upcoming election cycles, and reminding everyone you can't make it to the White House without stopping in South Carolina."

Pence holds donor retreat

The former vice president was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a week ago, to host a donor retreat for his recently formed nonprofit organization Advancing American Freedom.

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The two day gathering Pences first since the end of the Trump administration also included speakers such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Republican Governors Association chair Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona.

News of the invitation-only retreat was first reported by Politico and confirmed by Fox News.

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Why Rick Scotts trip to New Hampshire was really more about 2022 than 2024 - Fox News

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Texas House Republicans finally got their long-sought quorum Thursday by the skin of their teeth.

There were 99 members registered as present Thursday evening, the exact number needed to end the 38-day Democratic quorum break over the GOPs priority elections bill. But it quickly became clear that some of the 99 members were not physically on the floor and instead marked present by their colleagues.

That means that the House could be operating with a tenuous quorum in the coming days, even if more Democrats start returning though none were giving any indication of that Friday.

While some Democrats conceded Thursday night that the quorum bust was over, others were less willing to admit defeat.

Based on numerous media reports, it seems evident there was not a true quorum present today ironic, given this entire session is premised around Republicans preaching about so-called voter integrity, Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement.

A group of 34 House Democrats released a statement Friday that called it a questionable quorum and warned that Republicans will lie about the number of legislators present at the Capitol to establish quorum, keep Texans in the dark, and bend the rules to get their way.

In a follow-up interview, Turner said the apparent lack of a real quorum was of grave concern. He declined to speculate on whether the Democratic presence on the floor would grow when the House nexts meets on Monday.

Publicly, House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beamont, is not showing any concern over the durability of the quorum going forward.

Speaker Phelan appreciates the growing number of members who are fighting for their districts in the State Capitol, Phelan spokesperson Enrique Marquez said in a one-sentence statement for this story.

It is certainly possible that enough Democrats return to the floor in the near future that any uncertainty over the threshold is put to rest. The next opportunity for any returning Democrat to show up is when the House meets next at 4 p.m. Monday.

The first Democrat quorum bust happened in the final hours of the regular session in May, when members filed out of the chamber to block the final passage of a GOP voting bill. They upped the ante in July when more than 50 members boarded a plane and fled to Washington, D.C., for the duration of the first special session and continued to refuse to show up at the Capitol for the first few weeks of the second special session, which began Aug. 7.

The GOP elections bill would, among other things, outlaw local voting options intended to expand voting access and bolster access for partisan poll watchers. Democrats and voting rights advocates say it restricts voting rights in the state. Republicans, who control both chambers of the Legislature, say the proposal is intended to secure election integrity.

One of the Democrats who is still in Washington, D.C., Rep. Ron Reynolds of Missouri City, said he anticipates that maybe half of the remaining Democrats will return to the floor in the coming days while he and others will remain in Washington to continue their fight for federal voting rights legislation.

Im very disappointed, Reynolds said. Were disappointed that we had some members of the Democratic caucus return without a consensus, without a unified front.

Reynolds said he intends to stay in the nations capital at least through next week, when the U.S. House is expected to vote on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. He is still deciding what to do after that.

If the quorum margin continues to remain on the razors edge, Republicans cannot afford to have any absences and would have to continue showing up unanimously or close to it. They proved they were willing to go to those lengths Thursday with the attendance of Rep. Steve Allison of San Antonio, who recently tested positive for COVID-19 and registered as present while isolating in an adjacent room.

Allison tested negative Thursday and plans to be on the floor Monday and the following days that lawmakers are in session, according to his chief of staff, Rocky Gage.

The House cant do business without a quorum, which is two-thirds of the chamber, a threshold that stands at 100 when all 150 seats are filled. With two vacant seats pending special elections to replace former state Reps. Jake Ellzey, R-Waxahachie, who is now in Congress, and Leo Pacheco, D-San Antonio, who resigned effective Thursday to work for San Antonio College, quorum threshold is currently 99.

The special election for Ellzeys seat is Aug. 31, though it could go to a runoff at a later date. And the special election for Pachecos seat has not been scheduled yet.

The 99 members who effectively make up the current quorum include all 82 Republicans; 14 Democrats who, before Thursday, had never broken quorum or had already chosen to return to the floor; and three new Democratic defectors who announced their arrival shortly before quorum was met Thursday evening: Houston Reps. Armando Walle, Ana Hernandez and Garnet Coleman.

Without a mass return of the remaining Democrats, reaching a quorum in the coming days could still be a dicey proposition.

That is, of course, if House leaders actually count how many members are physically present something they have no incentive to do as they seek to put the quorum break in the past. Any member present can request strict enforcement of a vote, which would force a more accurate attendance count, but that did not happen Thursday.

Who is asking for strict enforcement? one of the Democrats still breaking quorum, Rep. Michelle Beckley of Carrollton, tweeted shortly before the House met and quorum was established.

It is unclear what incentive the members who are showing up have to call for strict enforcement they are mostly Republicans who are eager to get back to work and move past the quorum break. The same could arguably be said of the Democrats who have been present.

Reynolds said he is optimistic that as the Democratic numbers on the floor continue to grow, there will be more potential for strict enforcement.

We were disappointed that didnt happen yesterday, Reynolds said. But hopefully, as we go forward as a group, some of the returning members will agree to do that. I think theres already been a consensus of the members that are returning that are willing to do that.

Disclosure: San Antonio College has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribunes journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Texas House finally makes quorum, but Democrats say Republicans cheated to get there - The Texas Tribune

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican in a deeply blue state who has so far resisted issuing a mask mandate or vaccination requirement for schools, came under pressure this week for stricter regulations from the states largest teachers union.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association board of directors voted on Tuesday, 46 to 4, to adopt a vaccine requirement for all eligible students and staff, following up on a unanimous vote August 1 in favor of a mask mandate. The unions president, Merrie Najimy, noted that Governor Baker has resisted taking these steps.

Educators and our unions are doing everything in our power to ensure that public schools and colleges can open safely, she said. We continue to be alarmed by the failure of state political leaders to follow our example.

She added, its as if Governor Baker and other state education officials have learned nothing over the past year and a half.

Governor Baker is facing a drumbeat of pressure on masking requirements; some of his fellow Republican governors in conservative states like Texas, Florida and Arizona have put up far stronger resistance, by issuing bans on mask and vaccine mandates.

Polling suggests strong support for a school mask mandate in the state, with 81 percent of Massachusetts voters in favor of the idea, and just 12 percent opposing it, according a survey released Thursday by The MassINC Polling Group.

Governor Baker, a Republican, has said he prefers to leave masking decisions to local officials, who know these communities best.

Different communities are in different places, he told GBH, a radio station. You have some communities in Massachusetts where 85 to 95 percent of all the kids and the middle and high school are vaccinated. You have many other districts in Massachusetts where the numbers are far, far smaller.

On Thursday afternoon, however, Governor Baker announced a strict vaccine mandate for 42,000 state executive department employees, requiring them to show proof of vaccination by mid-October.

The rest is here:

Massachusetts teachers union presses the Republican governor for a vaccine mandate. - The New York Times

The Iowa State Fair is at full boil. Its a little light on the political tourists because its not the summer before a year ending in 0, 4, 8, 12, or 16. Which is not to say that it is entirely devoid of migrant politicians from other states, or the media they drag around in their wake. On occasion, these are politicians you should keep an eye on because they have national aspirations. On other occasions, these are politicians you should keep an eye on to make sure they dont get into the poultry barn and start biting the heads off all the chickens. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Well, thats one way to describe it that begins with an S.

And, dear lord, she brought a friend, someone on whom people are keeping an eye for a whole different bunch of reasons.

Iowa needs to beef up its border security.

Oops, might be too late.

And furthermore:

I dont think MTG is elevating her national profile as much more than a wandering geek show, but her recent travels illustrate certain immutable political realities. One, that the Republican Party is no longer capable of controlling her and the people who follow her, and two, that the Republican Party cannot exist as a national party without them. Shes out there ahead of them, beating them to the freshest corn dogs.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene Is Out of the Republican Party's Control - Esquire.com

It's never been altogether clear why, exactly, Republicans like Gov. Ron DeSantis fight so aggressively against mask protections during the pandemic. At an event this week, the Floridian briefly explained his perspective.

"Politicians want to force you to cover your face as a way for them to cover their own asses," the governor claimed. "That's just the truth. They want to be able to say they are taking this on and they're doing this even though it's not proven to be effective they want to continue to do it."

The rhetoric was bizarre for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that mask protections have, in reality, proven to be effective.

Nearly as curious is the politics of DeSantis' posturing. The governor isn't just quietly taking on school districts trying to help protect children, he's embracing the fight as if he were convinced that indifference to viral infections will prove to be a political winner. The New York Times' Jamelle Bouie marveled yesterday at the Florida Republican's willingness to make COVID-19 "the center of his national political persona," even as the pandemic takes a brutal toll on his state.

As a matter of public health, the tactics Americans have seen from DeSantis and others like him are disastrous, as evidenced by overflowing hospitals in several parts of the country. But as a Washington Post analysis noted yesterday, it's also striking to see prominent Republican voices take dangerous stands that are broadly unpopular with the American mainstream.

[O]n the central battleground -- masks in schools -- 69 percent of Americans support the mandate, per a new Axios/Ipsos poll. And when it comes to both vaccine mandates and the methods to fight mask mandates that some Republicans are floating, the verdict is also pretty strongly against the GOP. The Economist and YouGov released a new poll Wednesday asking Americans whether they would support vaccine mandates for a number of groups. And in every case the survey asked about, there was majority -- and often 2-to-1 -- support.

The same article added the aforementioned Axios-Ipsos poll that that nearly 80% of Americans oppose withholding funding from local school districts that require masks, which happens to be the approach preferred by the DeSantis administration.

We're accustomed to thinking about political disputes in left-vs-right and Democrats-vs-Republicans terms. But when it comes to public-health protections during a pandemic that's killed over 628,000 Americans, survey data suggests this is more an instance in which Republicans are up against the broader American mainstream, not their rival party.

For these GOP officials, it would appear to be the worst of both worlds: putting people at greater risk, while simultaneously ignoring popular will.

But for DeSantis and others, there's an assumption that pleasing the Republican base is all that matters. The question isn't whether an idea is popular in general, the question is whether an idea is popular with those who vote in GOP primaries, consume conservative media, and donate to the right's causes.

The Post's analysis concluded, "[O]n the political front, the Republican Party has rather clearly marched itself into a minority position." It just doesn't seem to care.

See the article here:

On COVID protections, Republicans aren't just at odds with Dems - MSNBC

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, blamed Black Texans for the country's recent surge in COVID cases and hospitalizations.

"African Americans who have not been vaccinated" are "the biggest group in most states" driving the new surge in the coronavirus cases, Patrick said on a Thursday night Fox News broadcast with host Laura Ingraham. Patrick's comments came after Ingraham askedthe Texas official whether he thought lax Republican policies were enabling the spread of the virus.

"Democrats like to blame Republicans on that," Patrick answered. "Well, the biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated. The last time I checked, over 90 percent of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties, so it's up to the Democrats, just as it's up to Republicans, to try to get as many people vaccinated."

Patrick later defended people's choice to remain unvaccinated, saying "that's their individual right."

"[The Democrats] are doing nothing for the African American community that has a significant, high number of unvaccinated people," Patrick added.

"TikTok videos. We've got a lot of TikTok videos," Ingrahm responded, eliding any context.

The Lt. Governor's comments drew immediate scorn online, with many critics suggesting his comments were blatantly racist.

"The Lt. Governor's statements are offensive and should not be ignored," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner wrote on Thursday.

Political commentator Keith Olberman echoed: "Bluntly: @DanPatrick is this era's Orville Faubus or Lester Maddox. May he burn in hell for it."

"Lt. Gov. @DanPatrick is a lying racist," tweeted Dr. Jorge A. Caballero, clinical instructor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. "We know this because [census] data shows that White Texans are responsible for twice as many cases as Black Texans, and there are 3 unvaccinated White Texans for every 1 unvaccinated Black Texan."

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, Black residents in the Lone Star State made up 16.4% of the state's new cases and just 10.2% of deaths as of Aug. 13, as The Washington Post noted. In fact, the highest case rates are seen in the state's White and Hispanic populations, who respectively account for 34.9 percent and 35.8 percent of all coronavirus cases in Texas.

Patrick's comments come amid a period of heightened partisan conflict in the state, with Texas' Republican leadership attempting to wrest control over policies regarding vaccine and mask mandates. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has been especially active on this front, fighting to ban mask mandates in school districts despite a sharp uptick in COVID cases amongst kids.

On Tuesday, Abbot announced that he himself had contracted the disease the very same day Texas requested five additional mortuary trailers to accommodate an expected wave of deaths.

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Republicans in Texas are trying to shift blame for COVID surge to Black people - Salon

In late June, Arizona lawmakers had until the end of the month to meet a deadline to adopt a new state budget. Republicans traditionally pass spending plans on party lines, rather than negotiate a bipartisan agreement with Democrats.

On June 28, with less than 72 hours to spare, Rep. Joseph Chaplik told conservative radio host Garret Lewis hed refuse to vote for a budget if it didnt include a ban on mask mandates in K-12 public schools.

I said Im not signing onto the education budget if we dont have control of the masks,the Scottsdale Republican said. And when I say control, the parents should have control. The children and parents should have control, not the school boards, not the school districts.

List: Arizona School Districts Requiring Masks For 2021-2022 School Year

Its called horse trading Chaplik was leveraging his vote on the budget for something in return.

Its a game that a lot of people play, he said. But a lot of people play, Garret, in terms of asking for appropriations, like I need this for my district, I need millions of dollars for this project, or whatever a lobbyist is pushing, and Im not playing that game.

Coppersmith Brockelman

Roopali Desai

Thats where attorney Roopali Desai said Republicans like Chaplik got it wrong. On Aug. 12,she filed a lawsuit on behalf of Arizonas teachers union, school business officials, civic groups and others arguing that a handful of other policies that were passed as part of the budget are unconstitutional.

That includes rules for conducting elections, regulations for what teachers can and cant talk about in their classrooms, and the ban on local school leaders requiring students and staff to wear masks.

What they all have in common, Desai says, is they have nothing in common with the budget.

There's not any budget provision relating to a prohibition on COVID-19 mitigation policies (like mask requirements), she said. It's simply a substantive policy that was put in here because, and as we cited in the complaint, certain legislators insisted that it be in there if somebody wanted them to vote on a budget.

The city of Phoenix filed a separate lawsuit making the same argument earlier this week.City attorneys say a policy designed to neuter civilian oversight of the Phoenix Police Department is unconstitutional because it shouldnt have been included in the budget.

Its not the substance of the laws that are at issue. Its the way Republicans approved them.

When legislators negotiate a budget, theres typically a dozen or so bills that detail the spending plan.One is known as the feed bill its a list of all the appropriations of state revenues. Then there are budget reconciliation bills, BRBs for short. Divided into subjects like public safety and infrastructure, these bills act like an instruction manual for the feed bill. They provide details for state agencies and local governments on how to spend money in the budget.

Its like connecting the dots between a provision in the manual and an appropriation, Desai said.

You should be able to, if done correctly, line up the provision in the appropriations bill that then requires or results in a provision being put into a BRB, she said.

When theres nothing connecting a policy in a BRB to the states budget, thats a violation of the Arizona Constitution, Desai said theres a rule that a bill can only tackle one thing, or one single subject, at a time.

When it comes to the budget, Desai says the subject is how to spend taxpayer dollars.

Rocio Hernandez/KJZZ

Beth Lewis, executive director of Save Our Schools Arizona, says she and other education advocates are prepared to launch a referendum against the proposed flat tax plan if it gets to that.

Beth Lewis is a mother, teacher and executive director of Save Our Schools Arizona, a group of public school advocates whove been active at the Capitol since 2017.

Horse trading may be a part of the political game, but Lewis said Republicans took it too far with the budget.

At the end of the day, these lawmakers and the special interests that are driving these, you know, sort of pet projects or pet positions, were forced in to get other people to vote on the budget, she said. And that's just not the way the legislative process should work.

At a panel hosted by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 17, Senate President Karen Fann lamented how the budget process played out.

The Prescott Republican said her partys dwindling numbers at the Capitol were to blame. Republicans, whove held legislative majorities in both chambers for nearly three decades, dont give Democrats a seat at the table when it comes to the budget. And the Republican majority this year was so slim that to pass a budget on party lines, all 31 Republicans in the House and all 16 in the Senate had to vote for it.

Everyone knew that they were either number 16, or number 31, which created a challenge in, we ended up having to put policy in the budget that not necessarily everybody was on board with. But to get that budget moving, that's what we had to do, Fann said.

Howard Fischer/Capitol Media Services

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann on May 8, 2020.

That was not fun, she said.

Lewis said lawmakers can do better.

That's definitely politics, Lewis said. But with the single-subject rule with budget bills, we should really be talking about appropriations, and I think this is what the courts are going to decide, right? Is it unconstitutional to push in all of this other legislation when lawmakers are supposed to be talking about how to fund our state budget?

There are a number of laws at stake in the two complaints filed against Arizona. Those laws are scheduled to take effect on Sept. 29. On Thursday, Desai asked the court to block the state from enforcing laws she says shouldnt have passed as part of the budget.

The courts could also send a message to Republicans that politics as usual, when it comes to budget negotiations, must change.

The budget, Desai said, should stick to the budget.

This often happens lawsuits are brought to put folks back on the right track. This is what our founding fathers required and sort of envisioned for the process, the legislative process. It's in our Constitution, she said. We've gone astray from that process, we need the courts to set those boundaries. And then hopefully, moving forward, if we're successful in this case, the legislature won't engage in these kinds of shenanigans.

See the article here:

Arizona Republican Lawmakers Packed The Budget With Policies And Regulations. Was That Unconstitutional? - KJZZ

Pop quiz: Youre a U.S. lawmaker and the Capitol just had to be evacuated because a man parked his truck outside the Library of Congress and delivered a tirade on Facebook Live assailing the president and other members of the Democratic Party, calling for a revolt against the government, and threatening to detonate a bomb just blocks from the scene of an insurrection earlier this year. The situation would have been terrifying enough on its own but was extra disturbing and scary given the events of January 6 and the violent sentiments expressed by supporters of the last president. Do you (a) denounce the actions of the individual and offer gratitude to the law enforcement agents who were on the scene (b) Insist that no matter ones politics, violent rhetoric and behavior is never acceptable or (c) basicallyside with the guy and say you fully understand where hes coming from? If youre a member of the Republican Party in the year 2021, the answer is a resounding C.

Just hours after Floyd Ray Roseberry was taken into custody, Rep. Mo Brooks released an absurd statement effectively sympathizing with what the guy was feeling when he, again, threatened to set off a bomb on Capitol Hill. Naturally, Brooks threw in a reference to socialism, likely knowing its the sort of red meat the conservative base absolutely eats up.

As historian Kevin Kruse commented on Twitter, it seems like [Roseberry] was motivated by the irresponsible idiots who keep insisting the 2020 election was riggedhey, do you know anyone who might fit that description? Brooks, of course, was one of the leading GOP voices spreading the lie that Joe Bidens 2020 win was illegitimate, saying all the way back in November, Theres no way Ill vote in the House to ratify the Electoral College votes of states where illegal votes distorted the will of the people in those states who voted legally. Later, he gave a speech to the crowd at the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the deadly riot on Capitol Hill in which he directed Donald Trumps supporters to start taking down names and kicking ass. (In July, the Department of Justice said it would not defend him against a lawsuit over his role inciting the violent mob.)

In his livestream, Roseberry said, among other things, The revolution is on, its here, its today. America needs a voice. Ill give it to them.

Brookss statement was unsurprisingly met with disgust, which is the only correct response (though kicking him out of Congress would be a good idea too.)

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Republican Lawmaker Mo Brooks Says He Understands the Motivations of the Guy Who Threatened to Blow Up Capitol Hill - Vanity Fair

Photo: Saul Loeb (Getty Images)

We know Republicans lie. We know they are racist.

Despite the GOPs incessant whinery about identity politics and the race card, racist dog whistles are part of their political ideology. They literally sponsored a white supremacist insurrection and made taxpayers foot the bill for white nationalists like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, who were on the White House payroll. Then they lied about the election. Then they tried to toss out Black peoples votes in that election. Then they lied about the insurrection to undo that election. Then they passed laws targeting Black peoples votes.

They are liars. They are racists. We already knew this.

But when Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (not that one) and Fox News resident Nazi Barbie blamed the worsening COVID pandemic on Black peoples lack of vaccination and affinity for TikTok, it wasnt just a racist, stupid lie. It was mathematically, scientifically and factually wrong. It was so wrong, the only way someone could believe such a blatant disregard for facts is if they, too, were racist. And stupid. And a liar.

The COVID is spreading; most of the numbers are with the unvaccinated, Patrick whitesplained before Fox News host Laura Ingraham babbled something about TikTok videos. The biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated. The last time I checked, over 90 percent of them voted for Democrats in their major cities and major counties.

G/O Media may get a commission

Lets be clear. The second-in-command of the countrys second-most populous state didnt misspeak. Since African Americans are 12.9 percent of the states population and 7.9 percent of vaccinations, Patrick knows Black Texans are more vaccinated than white Texans. Nationwide, Black Americans have been getting vaccinated at higher rates than whites and may soon surpass non-Hispanic whites in the percentage of vaccinated, according to CDC data and KFF. Plus, Patrick knows that there are three times more white people in Texas than Black people. He knows that there are five times more white people in America than Black people. So he knows the biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated is not true.

He was lying. He knows what biggest means. Patrick knows how numbers work. But its hard to prove he was lying about the Democrat statement. Aside from polling, there really isnt much data because no one has compared COVID cases, deaths or even vaccination rates to political parties. We looked, but we couldnt find very specific data.

So we did it ourselves.

Instead of comparing apples to oranges, we used the CDCs data to compare each states per capita rates of positive cases, hospitalizations and deaths as of August 18, 2020. We also included the political party of each states governor, along with the states popular vote total in the 2020 presidential election to analyze the political effect on each states COVID status.

Given their aversion to masks, vaccines and facts, it may be safe to assume that COVID-19 is worse in Republican-led states. But we wanted to see if states that voted for Trump were experiencing the pandemic differently than states who voted for Joe Biden. Have efforts to ban mask mandates, open schools and spread disinformation by Republican governors like Floridas Ron DeSantis and Texas Greg Abbott affected vaccine rates and COVID cases?

What we found was staggering.

Red states are failing at protecting their citizens from the coronavirus in every measurable outcome. The COVID-19 pandemic hospitalizes and kills residents of MAGA states at twice the rate of states that voted for Joe Biden. Even worse, people who live in states with Republican governors are experiencing a pandemic that is one-and-a-half times worse than states with Democratic governors. Fewer citizens of GOP-led states have been vaccinated, more people catch the virus, more people are hospitalized and more people die.

Thank you for coming out. God bless. Good night.

Graphic: Datawrapper, The Root

What? You need more?

Here are a few more facts that may interest you:

Of course, even taking the GOPs anti-science stance into consideration, it is an oversimplification to say that Republicans are responsible for the pandemic. The truth is much more complex and any realistic analysis must factor in urbanization, income, the availability of rural healthcare and community resources. Still, the data is remarkably consistent on this. Feel fre to sort through it yourself.

Unless, of course, you are busy making a TikTok.

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We Fact-Checked Fox News' Racist Lie. It Turns Out, the Pandemic Is Worse in Republican States - The Root

Larry David (Photo by Kevork S. Djansezian/Getty Images via JTA.org)

By Gabe Friedman

Alan Dershowitzs Marthas Vineyard vacations are stillprettay, prettayuncomfortable.

Larry David screamed at the prominent legal commentator at a popular convenience store on the island, theNew York Postreported Wednesday, over Dershowitzs ties to the Donald Trump camp in recent years.

Those ties have made him a pariah at the posh vacation spotsince at least 2018, reports have claimed. But the David episode, involving two of the worlds most prominent Jews, is circulating on the internet for its humorous details.

David apparently hit Dershowitz with this line, among others: Its disgusting. Your whole enclave its disgusting. Youre disgusting! The lawyer clapped back before he drove off in an old, dirty Volvo.

Dershowitz didnt find the scene to be funny, he said. After David critiqued him for cozying up to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Dershowitz told the Post that he worked with Pompeo, a former student of his at Harvard, on the Trump administrations Israel policy.

While [David] was writing bad jokes, I was helping to bring about peace in the Middle East, Dershowitz said.

Dershowitz defended Trump against impeachment calls through several TV interviews during his presidency, and critics have also pointed to the famed O.J. Simpson defenders tiesto the late disgraced Jewish financier Jeffrey Epstein. In response, many of his liberal Marthas Vineyard friends, such as David, now shun Dershowitz.

Im reveling not whining, hetweeted in 2018.Im proud of taking an unpopular, principled position that gets me shunned by partisan zealots. Its not about me. I couldnt care less about being shunned by such people.

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Larry David Reportedly Yelled at Alan Dershowitz Over His Trump, Republican Ties - Jewish Exponent