Category Archives: Republican

SACRAMENTO After the governor of Texas ordered state agencies to investigate parents for child abuse if they provide certain medical treatments to their transgender children, California lawmakers proposed a law making the state a refuge for transgender youths and their families.

When Idaho proposed a ban on abortions that empowers relatives to sue anyone who helps terminate a pregnancy after six weeks, nearby Oregon approved $15 million to help cover the abortion expenses of patients from out-of-state.

As Republican activists aggressively pursue conservative social policies in state legislatures across the country, liberal states are taking defensive actions. Spurred by a U.S. Supreme Court that is expected to soon upend an array of longstanding rights, including the constitutional right to abortion, left-leaning lawmakers from Washington to Vermont have begun to expand access to abortion, bolster voting rights and denounce laws in conservative states targeting L.G.B.T.Q. minors.

The flurry of action, particularly in the West, is intensifying already marked differences between life in liberal- and conservative-led parts of the country. And its a sign of the consequences when state governments are controlled increasingly by single parties. Control of legislative chambers is split between parties now in two states Minnesota and Virginia compared with 15 states 30 years ago.

Were further and further polarizing and fragmenting, so that blue states and red states are becoming not only a little different but radically different, said Jon Michaels, a law professor who studies government at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Americans have been sorting into opposing partisan camps for at least a generation, choosing more and more to live among like-minded neighbors, while legislatures, through gerrymandering, are reinforcing their states political identities by solidifying one-party rule.

As states become more red or blue, its politically easier for them to pass legislation, said Ryan D. Enos, a Harvard political scientist who studies partisan segregation. Does that create a feedback loop where more sorting happens? Thats the part we dont know yet.

With some 30 legislatures in Republican hands, conservative lawmakers, working in many cases with shared legislative language, have begun to enact a tsunami of restrictions that for years were blocked by Democrats and moderate Republicans at the federal level. A recent wave of anti-abortion bills, for instance, has been the largest since the landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.

Similar moves have recently been aimed at L.G.B.T.Q. protections and voting rights. In Florida and Texas, teams of election police have been created to crack down on the rare crime of voter fraud, fallout from former President Donald J. Trumps specious claims after he lost the 2020 presidential election.

Carrying concealed guns without a permit is now legal in nearly half of the country. Bounty laws enforced not by governments, which can be sued in federal court, but by rewards to private citizens for filing lawsuits have proliferated on issues from classroom speech to vaccination since the U.S. Supreme Court declined to strike down the legal tactic in Texas.

The moves, in an election year, have raised questions about the extent to which they are performative, as opposed to substantial. Some Republican bills are bold at first glance but vaguely worded. Some appear designed largely to energize base voters.

Many, however, send a strong cultural message. And divisions will widen further, said Peverill Squire, an expert on state legislatures at the University of Missouri, if the Supreme Court hands more power over to the states on issues like abortion and voting, as it did when it said in 2019 that partisan gerrymandering was beyond federal jurisdiction.

Some legal analysts also say the anticipated rollback of abortion rights could throw a host of other privacy rights into state-level turmoil, from contraception to health care. Meanwhile, entrenched partisanship, which has already hobbled federal decision making, could block attempts to impose strong national standards in Congress.

Were potentially entering a new era of state-centered policymaking, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a professor of public policy and political science at the University of California, Riverside. We may be heading into a future where you could have conservative states and progressive states deciding they are better off pushing their own visions of what government should be.

In recent weeks, several states including Colorado and Vermont have moved to codify a right to abortion. More Maryland and Washington, for example have expanded access or legal protection in anticipation of out-of-state patients.

But no state has been as aggressive as California in shoring up alternatives to the Republican legislation.

One package of pending California bills would expand access to California abortions and protect abortion providers from out-of-state legal action. Another proposal would thwart enforcement of out-of-state court judgments removing children from the custody of parents who get them gender-affirming health services.

Yet another would enforce a ban on ghost guns and assault weapons with a California version of Texas recent six-week ban on abortion, featuring $10,000 bounties to encourage lawsuits from private citizens against anyone who sells, distributes or manufactures those types of firearms.

In a State of the State address last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom took more than a half-dozen swipes at Florida and Texas, comparing Californias expanded sick leave, family leave and Medicaid coverage during the pandemic with the higher Covid-19 death rates in the two Republican-led states, and alluding to states where theyre banning books and where you can sue your history teacher for teaching history.

After Disney World employees protested the corporations initial reluctance to condemn the Florida bill that opponents call Dont Say Gay, Mr. Newsom suggested Disney cancel the relocation of some 2,000 West Coast positions to a new Florida campus, saying on Twitter that the door is open to bring those jobs back to California the state that actually represents the values of your workers.

Dan Schnur, a former Republican strategist who teaches political science now at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley, said that without strong Republican opposition, Mr. Newsom has been using the governors of Texas and Florida as straw men.

Its an effective way of strengthening himself at home and elevating his name in Democratic presidential conversations, Mr. Schnur said.

Conservatives in and outside California have criticized the governor for stoking division.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is a Republican presidential contender, noted in an email that Disneyland was closed three times longer than Disney World during the pandemic, and that hundreds of thousands of Americans moved to Florida between April 2020 and July 2021 while hundreds of thousands left California. Mr. Newsom, she wrote, is doing a better job as a U-Haul salesman.

Politicians in California do not have veto power over legislation passed in Florida, the spokeswoman, Christina Pushaw, added. Gov. Newsom should focus on solving the problems in his own state.

The office of Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas who, in 2018, ran on the slogan Dont California My Texas did not respond to emails and calls requesting comment.

In an interview, Mr. Newsom noted that California has been grappling for decades with the cultural and demographic changes that are only now hitting other parts of the country, including early battles over such issues as gay rights and immigration. Im very concerned broadly about whats happening and whether or not its fully understood by the majority, not just of the American people but people within my own party, he said.

We are not going to sit back and neutrally watch the progress of the 20th century get erased, he added, decrying the zest for demonization and an anti-democratic tilt in recent policies to restrict voting and L.G.B.T.Q. protections.

If you say nothing, youre complicit, Mr. Newsom said. You have to take these guys on and push back.

Californias stance has broad implications. Although U.S. census figures showed stalled growth in the state in 2020, its population of nearly 40 million is the nations largest, encompassing one in nine U.S. residents.

In a world in which the federal government has abdicated some of its core responsibility, states like California have to figure out what their responsibilities are, said Mr. Michaels, the U.C.L.A. professor. The hard question is: Where does it end?

For example, he noted, the fallout could mean that federal rights that generations have taken for granted could become available only to those who can afford to uproot their lives and move to the states that guarantee them.

Its easy for Governor Newsom to tell struggling Alabamians, I feel your pain, but then what? Come rent a studio apartment in San Francisco for $4,000 a month?

Violet Augustine, 37, an artist, art teacher and single parent in Dallas, worries about the limits of interstate refuge. For months, she said, she considered moving away from Texas with her transgender daughter, a kindergartner, to a state where she doesnt constantly fear for their safety. When Mr. Abbott and Texas attorney general directed the state to investigate parents with transgender children for possible child abuse, her plan solidified.

An appeal on GoFundMe has raised some $23,000, and she recently made a visit to Los Angeles, staying at a hotel in the heart of the citys Koreatown and meeting with leaders of a community group that describes itself as radically inclusive of L.G.B.T.Q. families.

The city itself just felt like a safe haven, Ms. Augustine said. But, she added, her $60,000 salary, which allows her to rent a house in Texas, would scarcely cover a California apartment: Were going to have to downsize.

Michael Wines contributed reporting.

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New Laws Moves Blue and Red States Further Apart - The New York Times

When the U.S. House in January 2021 voted to impeach Donald Trump for an unprecedented second time on charges that he incited the insurrection at the Capitol, Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith voted with most of their party in opposition.

When the House in June voted to form a Democratic-run congressional committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, riot after Senate Republicans blocked an independent bipartisan panel, Van Drew and Smith again voted with most of their party against it.

But when it came to Bidens $1 trillion infrastructure law, both Smith and Van Drew bucked their leadership and voted yes.

The two New Jersey congressmen again were among the 10 House Republicans least likely to vote with a majority of their party against a majority of Democrats, according to CQ Roll Calls annual vote studies.

Van Drew ranked fifth, defying the Republicans 19% of the time. Smith was sixth with 18%.

Both Republican representatives said they were doing just that: Representing their constituents.

I vote my district and I vote my state, said Smith, R-4th Dist. Thats what its all about.

Van Drew, who switched to the GOP after voting against impeaching Trump the first time, also was among the top dissenters when he was a member of the Democratic caucus.

Im always trying to vote whats really best for my people, my district, Van Drew said. Theres a lot of uniqueness to South Jersey. Whats most important is not representing a party. Its not representing the leadership. Whats most important is representing good conservative values and the people of our district and state and nation.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who represents Bucks County just across the Delaware River from New Jersey, voted with his party the least: 66% He was followed by Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., with 72%; Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., 76%, and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., 79%. Katko, Kinzinger and Upton all voted to impeach Trump.

A year earlier, Smith and Van Drew were ranked second and third right after Fitzpatrick.

Smiths and Van Drews support of the infrastructure bill drew condemnation as traitors from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

Smith, but not Van Drew, broke with his party and voted in February 2021 to strip Greene of her committee assignments for reportedly endorsing executing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and embracing the QAnon conspiracy theory that the Anti-Defamation League said contains marked undertones of anti-Semitism and xenophobia.

And Trump called for Republicans to challenge Smith for his partys nomination this year, even as he endorsed Van Drew when the congressman held a fundraiser at the former presidents Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

Smith and Van Drew also were among the 10 Republicans who most backed President Joe Biden, supporting him 40% of the time, according to the CQ Roll Call studies.

On the Democratic side, the New Jersey lawmakers in both the House and Senate voted with a majority of their party against a majority of Republicans more than 95% of the time. And they all supported fellow Democrat Biden at least 98% of the time.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.

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N.J. Republicans wouldnt buck Trump but they defy GOP more than most - NJ.com

A circuit judge on Thursday found the Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, in contempt of court for refusing to turn over documents relating to the state's recount of the 2020 presidential election.

"Robin Vos had delegated the search for contractors' records to an employee who did nothing more than send one vague email to one contractor," wrote Dane County Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn. "Putting aside for the moment the impropriety of making a contractor responsible for a records request Robin Vos did not tell [sic] that contractor which records to produce, did not ask any of the other contractors to produce records, and did not even review the records ultimately received. Still worse, the Assembly did nothing at all."

Bailey-Rihn has ordered Vos to release the materials within fourteen days or pay a daily fine of $1,000 any time after that, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Bailey-Rihn established that, if the documents aren't provided, Vos must provide an explanation.

RELATED: Trump campaign avoids $8M bill by limiting Wisconsin recount to cities with large Black populations

Wednesday's ruling stems from an inquiry Vos launched back in May off the back of Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud. According to The Washington Post, Vos' sham audit, which has a taxpayer-funded budget of $700,000, has enlisted the help of retired police officers and an attorney. Thus far, Vos has also subpoenaed scores of election officials across the state in metropolitan areas like Green Bay, Racine and Milwaukee.

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In October, nonpartisan watchdog American Oversight filed a lawsuit against Vos and the Wisconsin State Assembly demanding that the judge release records detailing the investigation a request that Bailey-Rihn has now affirmed.

"Speaker Vos and the Assembly have had ample opportunity to comply with the court's order and produce records," Bailey-Rihn wrote.

RELATED: Dear Wisconsin: If Trump wants a recount, make him pay up front

Still, Bailey-Rihn's ruling only deals with one of three suits filed by American Oversight.

Vos, for his part, has suggested that Bailey-Rihn's ruling is part of a politically-motivated smear campaign.

"It's a liberal judge in Dane County trying to make us look bad. I don't know about you, but when you have deleted emails, how do you get deleted emails back if they're from Gmail?" he said, according to Madison.com. "We already have an expert saying they can't be done. You have a judge who's focused on making a name for herself, and that's all she's doing."

Thus far, no substantive evidence has emerged to justify the Vos' recount, for which he is being paid $11,000 a month. President Biden defeated Trump by a margin of 21,000 votes in Wisconsin, a result that a conservative law firm confirmed in December after a ten-month review of the election.

RELATED: "Crazy conspiracy theory": Wisconsin GOP investigator pushes illegal effort to "decertify" election

The ruling against the GOP speaker comes amid another outrage over the Republican takeover of the state's Natural Resources Board, which, like Vos' sham audit, is benefiting from a highly partisan State Assembly willing to defy the norms of good government.

On Friday, the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board called on Fred Prehn to resign from the Natural Resources Board over his refusal to step down eleven months after his term expired. Prehn will theoretically be able to continue serving until his replacement is confirmed by the State Assembly, whose Republican caucus is indefinitely delaying the transition.

"Prehn seems to think he can serve for life, like an emperor," the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board wrote. "If that's true, then good government in Wisconsin is further eroded along with the public's ability to hold government officials accountable."

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The Republican takeover of Wisconsin: GOP officials defy the courts and the voters - Salon

I have a B.A. in History and Creative Writing and an M.A. in History. I enjoy politics, movies, television, poker, video games, and trivia.

A List of Things Republicans Believe In

Do all Republicans believe the same things? Of course not. Rarely do members of a single political group agree on all issues. Even among Republicans, there are differences of opinion. As a group, they do not agree on every issue.

Some folks vote Republican because of fiscal concerns. Often, that trumps concerns they may have about social issues. Others are less interested in the fiscal position of the party. They vote they way they do because of religion. They believe Republicans are the party of morality. Some simply want less government. They believe only Republicans can solve the problem of big government. Republicans spend less (except on military). They lower taxes: some people vote for that alone.

However, the Republican Party does stand for certain things. So I'm answering with regard to the party as a whole. Call it a platform. Call them core beliefs. The vast majority of Republicans adhere to certain ideas.

So what do Republicans believe? Here are their basic tenets:

This is pretty universal among Republicans. Government should not be providing solutions to problems that confront people (like health issues or paying bills). Those problems should be solved by the people themselves. A Republican would say that relying on the government to solve problems is a crutch that makes people lazy and feel entitled to receive things without working for them.

A Republican believes that decision-making should be as local as possible and if there's something important that needs solving on a social level, the state's decision should trump any federal decisions. The federal government should not have control over state decisions, generally speaking.

The free market is the perfect decision-maker. There need be no interference in the market because ultimately, the needs and desires of manufacturers and consumers will resolve themselves correctly in an unregulated market.

Republicans are generally accepting only of the Judeo-Christian belief system. For most Republicans, religion is absolutely vital in their political beliefs and the two cannot be separated. Therefore, separation of church and state is not that important to them. In fact, they believe that much of what is wrong has been caused by too much secularism.

Those are the four basic Republican tenets: small government, local control, the power of free markets, and Christian authority. Below are other things they believe that derive from those four ideas.

No matter what the situation, Republicans believe in lowering taxes across the board, for both individuals and businesses. As far as they are concerned, the more money that stays in the hands of the private sector, the better. They think people and businesses should be able to determine how and when they spend their money.

Republicans favor a strong military . . . and using that military. Republicans are usually hawks where Democrats are doves. The strong military stance demonstrates how Republicans use the power of the federal government, though they believe that a strong military spurs innovation and directs tax dollars as investments into businesses they support.

Republicans are more likely to argue for the privatization of things than Democrats, even going so far as to advocate for privatizing fire departments and the police in some cases. This goes for Social Security, healthcare, medicare, and virtually anything else that's linked to the government in any way. No matter what it is, they think that private industry can always do a better job than government.

This comes from their religious beliefs, which form the basis for a lot of policy. Republicans believe that homosexuality is a choice and, as such, gay people should not be acknowledged in the same way as other groups. Therefore, according to a Republican, homosexuals should not be allowed to marry, nor should they be allowed to adopt children.

Republicans support the position of the NRA and do not believe in gun control. They believe in the right of all citizens to own guns as detailed in the Constitution.

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Republicans are fundamentally against abortion and do not support the idea that a woman should be able to choose whether to end a pregnancy no matter the reason, though some Republicans make exceptions for rape and incest. Although Republicans believe abortion is murder and believe Roe v. Wade should be overturned, they do not usually explain what punishment should befall those who get or give abortions should it become illegal.

Generally, Republicans question the conclusions scientists have come to regarding global warming. At best, they believe that the effects of global warming have been overstated and that regulating emissions should not be done; at worst, they believe global warming is a hoax.

Republicans reject the theory of evolution and believe in creationism, the idea that God created man the way he is. They believe creationism should be taught in public schools.

Republicans believe that illegal immigrants, no matter the reason they are in this country, should be forcibly removed from the U.S. Although illegal immigrants are often motivated to come to the U.S. by companies who hire them, Republicans generally believe that the focus of the law should be on the illegal immigrants and not on the corporations that hire them.

Republicans believe that poor people are usually poor for a reason, be it laziness, choice or whatever. Unless we demand that people pull themselves up by the bootstraps and solve their own problems, people will not be motivated to do things. Therefore, the issue of poverty cannot be solved by the government. Charity should be the choice of individuals.

Republicans believe in the death penalty and support its use in cases where violent crimes have been committed.

15 Differences Between Democrats and Republicans

Party Realignment in the Trump Era: Right Populists vs. Progressives

This content reflects the personal opinions of the author. It is accurate and true to the best of the authors knowledge and should not be substituted for impartial fact or advice in legal, political, or personal matters.

Question: Who is the leader of the Republican Party?

Answer: Donald Trump.

Question: Why doesn't Donald Trump believe in most of the typical Republican things besides immigration stances?

Answer: Donald Trump is not a typical Republican.

Question: Who is the the leader of the Green Party?

Answer: Jonathan Bartley and Sian Berry have been elected as new joint leaders of the Green Party.

Question: Why do people want to get rid of guns when it's against the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution?

Answer: People probably want to get rid of guns because they are so often used to kill people and they think that will help.

2011 Allen Donald

The rest is here:

What Do Republicans Believe? 15 Things a Republican Stands ...

As the far right in America seeks to increase its political influence, including by seeking elected office, one figure is emerging as potentially its most powerful figure: Idahos lieutenant governor, Janice McGeachin.

McGeachin is running for governor of the state and building a coalition including white nationalist and far-right militia backing, in what she tells her supporters is the fight of our lives.

Last month at the America First Political Action Conference, a white nationalist conference, McGeachin praised attendees: Keep up the good work fighting for our country, she said in a pre-taped address.

I need fighters all over this country that are willing stand up and fight, McGeachin continued, urging attendees to push out moderates in the Republican party. Even when that means fighting amongst our own ranks because there are too many Republicans who do not exhibit the courage that is needed today for us to fight and protect our freedoms and our liberties. We are literally in the fight for our lives.

Three years after attending the the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, the far-right provocateur Nick Fuentes created the white nationalist conference AFPAC in the hopes of branding it a far-right alternative to the more mainstream conservative gathering CPAC. Fuentes is a well-known white nationalist and notorious antisemite who mocks how Jews were murdered in the Holocaust while also denying the Holocaust occurred.

McGeachin has a history of giving speeches and mingling at far-right rallies, often riding the wave of the latest rightwing outrage. Last year at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, McGeachin gave a rousing speech at a mask-burning event on the Idaho capitol steps, where children burned masks in front of their parents.

The Guardian reported last year on the growing civil war inside the Republican party in Idaho, when McGeachin imposed a ban on masks while the governor was out of state. McGeachin also created a taskforce to look into claims of indoctrination in schools in order to project children from the scourge of Critical Race Theory, socialism, communism and Marxism according to documents obtained by the Idaho Statesman newspaper.

This month McGeachin also jumped on the cause of the trucker convoy protest, speaking at a locally planned convoy rally in Idaho. According to local TV station KTVB about 500 people showed up to protest against Covid-19 mandates, though Idaho has none. McGeachin told the crowd Sometimes they refer to us as being extreme for our views, before reading out loud a quote from Barry Goldwater defending extremism in pursuit of liberty. We are a free nation and it is so important that we stand now and continue to fight for that freedom and that liberty that makes this country so great, she said.

McGeachin has also attended a gathering where she was endorsed by a rightwing militia figure whom she had apparently made political promises too. In a video previously obtained by the Guardian Eric Parker who was charged over his role in the standoff in 2014 at Bundy Ranch in Nevada where he was pictured pointing an assault rifle at federal agents reminded McGeachin that she once told if I get in, youre going to have a friend in the governors office.

Experts who follow the far right in the US believe McGeachin represents a serious threat, especially as more militia-affiliated groups have started to enter local government in the US, such as in Californias Shasta county.

From her recent speech at AFPAC, continued embrace of white nationalism and endorsements from prominent antisemitic leaders to her longstanding ties with paramilitaries, it couldnt be clearer that McGeachin is a danger to the rule of law, Idaho communities and democratic institutions, said Amy Herzfeld-Copple, deputy director of programs at Western States Strategies, a non-profit that works for inclusive democracy through nonpartisan education and advocacy.

A total of 31 faith leaders in Idaho recently signed an open letter calling for McGeachin to resign. Rabbis, reverends, pastors and others of different faiths across the state warned in the letter of the staggering consequences of ignoring extremism and describe a rising tide of antisemitism here in Idaho.

The letter cited recent acts of vandalism including at the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in Boise. It said: By associating with alt-right actors and groups like AFPAC in addition to your ties to militia groups that advocate for political violence and harassment in Idaho, you have proven you are not fit to hold elected office, let alone serve a heartbeat away from becoming Idahos next governor.

Rabbi Dan Fink of Ahavath Beth Israel in Boise, who co-signed the letter, said in an interview with KTVB that he was courted by McGeachin earlier this year, to help with a campaign against antisemitism.

The dissonance was so extraordinary. I both hurt and at some level, had to laugh because it was surreal, Fink said in the interview, appalled that McGeachin would share a stage with a Holocaust denier while trying to enlist a rabbis help. That you have the chutzpah to reach out to me and say help me on antisemitism while going out and glorying in the presence of antisemites is extraordinary, Fink said.

Herzfeld-Copple said it was not clear how deep McGeachins popular support was in Idaho.

McGeachin is a troubling anti-democracy figure in our region seeking to build a national profile with violent and bigoted social movements that increasingly see her as their access to power. But we know these extremists are a minority and Idahoans have routinely rejected those who court white nationalists, said Herzfeld-Copple.

But far-right controversy is never far away from McGeachin and this week she took the highly unusual step of intervening on behalf of a far-right group in a child welfare case involving a 10-month old baby who is the grandson of a campaign consultant for the militia leader Ammon Bundy, founder of the far-right group Peoples Rights.

The child had been taken away from the parents after officials determined the child was suffering from severe malnourishment and in imminent danger. But the Idaho Statesman obtained text messages between McGeachin and Governor Brad Little showing McGeachin seeking to intervene in the case. Is this true? Call off this medical tyranny tell the hospital to release the baby to his parents, she wrote.

Bundy himself was subsequently arrested this week for trespassing at St Lukes hospital, where he went to protest with scores of supporters over what he called a medical kidnapping.

Nearly every day, McGeachins actions become more dangerous. She contradicted pleas from law enforcement and hospital officials and used her government Facebook page to discuss a confidential child welfare case, contributing to a mob of Ammon Bundy supporters that caused a lockdown at Idahos largest hospital, compromising delivery of patient and emergency care, said Herzfeld-Copple.

Experts who monitor the far right note that while there is a growing number of far-right legislators at the state and federal level, such as the Arizona state sentator Wendy Rogers, who has admitted to being a member of the Oath Keepers militia, or the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spoke at the same white nationalist conference as McGeachin amid chants of support for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

If McGeachin were to win the race and become governor in Idaho it would be a major victory for far-right politics in America.

There are a lot of implications for having someone in the executive branch giving the stamp of approval to far-right paramilitary groups and white nationalists, said Devin Burghart, executive director of Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights.

In recent years it is unprecedented to see a lieutenant governor doing things like participating in a white nationalist conference or weighing in on a far-right-driven child endangerment issue, we havent seen that high a level of support for the far right since the days of the Council of Conservative Citizens, the lineal descendants of the White Citizens Council in the south. said Burghart.

Burghart warned that state politics and far-right extremism in the sparsely populated west of the US is often forgotten in the national political conversation, but it can have major consequences.

What happens out here in the west becomes a model, a testing ground for far-right activism. And what happens out here in the west doesnt stay in the west, it migrates around the country, said Burghart.

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Republican hopes to ride far-right rage into Idahos governors office - The Guardian

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Texas threw out mail votes at an abnormally high rate during the nations first primary of 2022, rejecting nearly 23,000 ballots outright under tougher voting rules that are part of a broad campaign by Republicans to reshape American elections, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.

Also see (March 2021): An all-hands moment: Republicans are rallying behind new voting limits

Roughly 13% of mail ballots returned in the March 1 primary were discarded and uncounted across 187 counties in Texas. While historical primary comparisons are lacking, the double-digit rejection rate would be far beyond what is typical in a general election, when experts say anything above 2% is usually cause for attention.

My first reaction is yikes, said Charles Stewart III, director of the Election Data and Science Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It says to me that theres something seriously wrong with the way that the mail ballot policy is being administered.

Republicans promised new layers of voting rules would make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. But the final numbers recorded by AP lay bare the glaring gulf between that objective and the obstacles, frustration and tens of thousands of uncounted votes resulting from tighter restrictions and rushed implementation.

From the archives (September 2021): Republican lawmakers give voice to fear that new voting restrictions could work against their own party

Also see (January 2022): What the federal voting-rights bill successfully filibustered this week by Senate Republicans aimed to achieve

And (January 2022): Arizona Democrats censure Sinema for blocking voting-rights bill with filibuster inflexibility

In Texas, a state former President Donald Trump easily won although by a smaller margin than 2016, the trouble of navigating new rules was felt in counties big and small, red and blue. But the rejection rate was higher in counties that lean Democratic (15.1%) than Republican (9.1%).

The unusually high rejection rate to start Americas midterm election season is expected to put more attention on changes to the ballot box elsewhere in the country. Texass election was the debut of more restrictive voting rules the GOP raced to put on the books across the U.S. in time for the midterm elections, a push that took particular aim at mail voting that soared in popularity during the pandemic.

At least 17 other states in the coming months will cast ballots under tougher election laws, in part driven by Trumps baseless and persistent claims of rampant fraud in the 2020 election. The rejected ballots in Texas alone far exceeds the hundreds of even possible voter fraud cases the AP has previously identified in six battleground states that Trump disputed.

From the archives (December 2021): Swing-state Republicans full steam ahead on reviews of 2020

Also (April 2021): Pressure mounts on corporations to denounce Republican voting bills

Plus (February 2022): Comcast, Goldman Sachs resume donations to some Republicans who objected to election results

The AP counted 22,898 rejected ballots across Texas by contacting all 254 counties and obtaining final vote reconciliation reports. Some smaller counties did not provide data or respond to requests, but the 187 counties that provided full numbers to AP accounted for 85% of the 3 million people who voted in the primary.

Last week, AP reported that 27,000 ballots had been flagged in Texas for initial rejection, meaning those voters still had time to fix their ballot for several days after the primary and have it count. But the final figures suggest most voters did not.

The most rejections were around Houston, a Democratic stronghold, where Harris County elections officials reported that nearly 7,000 mail ballots about 19% were discarded. During the last midterm elections in 2018, Texass largest county only rejected 135 mail ballots. Harris County elections officials said they received more than 8,000 calls since January from voters seeking help, which they attributed to confusion and frustration over the new requirements.

Dont miss (March 2021):Voting rights an intensifying partisan battleground, as Democrats push H.R. 1 and Republicans alter election procedures at state level

In the five counties won by Trump that had the most mail-in primary voters, a combined 2,006 mailed ballots were rejected, a rate of 10% of the total. In the counties won by Biden with the most mail-in voters, which include most of Texas biggest cities, a combined 14,020 votes were similarly rejected, which amounted to 15.7%.

In rural East Texas, Annette Young voted by mail like usual but received a surprising letter a week after the primary, informing her that the ballot never counted because it didnt comply with a new state law requiring mail voters to include personal identification numbers.

I just threw it right in the trash, she said.

Most of the rejected ballots, according to county election officials and the Texas secretary of state, failed to adhere to the new identification requirements. The changes were part of the sweeping overhaul to Texas elections that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in October, saying at the time that no one who is eligible to vote will be denied the opportunity to vote.

Abbott and top Texas Republicans who championed the changes have largely been silent about the high rejection rates. Abbotts office did not respond to requests seeking comment, and messages for Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan also went unanswered.

Republican state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a proponent of the changes, said in an email that one issue might have been that ballot instructions printed in different ink colors red for signature, black for identification numbers might have left voters with the wrong impression they did not need to provide both.

Federal data on discarded mail ballots in general elections show few instances of double-digit rejection rates. The outliers include Indiana (14.5%) in 2006, Oregon (12.7%) in 2010 and New York (13.7%) in 2018, according to records from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Stewart, of MIT, said generally less is known about trends in primary elections because of lacking data. One assumption, he said, is that because primaries tend to draw the most habitual voters, they are less likely to mistakes that cause rejections.

But Stewart said others believe that officials may have more time to scrutinize, and reject, ballot paperwork in low-turnout elections.

The new mail ballot requirements in Texas include listing an identification number either a drivers license or a Social Security number on the ballots carrier envelope. That number must match the countys records, and if a ballot is rejected, voters are given the opportunity to supply the missing information or simply cast a ballot in person instead.

It is unknown how many Texas voters whose mail ballots were rejected may have still had their vote count by deciding to just show up in person instead.

Sam Taylor, a spokesman for the Texas secretary of state, said the office did not yet have its own final comprehensive numbers on ballot rejections. He said a significant portion of their efforts this year will be awareness about the new mail-in rules.

We are confident we will have all the information we need to apply any lessons learned during the primary to an even more robust voter education campaign heading into the November general election, he said.

Delores Tarver Smith, 87, took no chances with a mail ballot this year. She applied in Harris County for a mail ballot Feb. 1, but when none arrived before the election, she voted in person.

Last Wednesday more than a week after the primary her absentee ballot finally showed up at her home. I had to make sure my vote counted, she said.

From the archives (January 2022): Democrats more drawn to fine-tuning Electoral Count Act of 1887 after failure this week of ambitious voting-rights legislation

Read on (April 2021): More than half of Americans support open access to early and absentee voting, but nearly a third disagree

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Republican overhaul of Texas voting procedures has caused a spike in rejected ballots - MarketWatch

Eight Republicans voted against legislation to revoke normal trade relations with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in a Thursday vote.

The eight were on the other end of a lopsided 424-8 vote to punish Moscow with the removal of normal trade relations. The legislation would raise tariffs on imports from Russia and Belarus, which has backed Moscow's bombardment of Ukraine.

It would also givePresident BidenJoe BidenRepublican senators introduce bill to ban Russian uranium imports Energy & Environment Ruling blocking climate accounting metric halted Fauci says officials need more than .5B for COVID-19 response MORE power to impose even stricter taxes on their goods.

The eight GOP "no" votes were Reps. Marjorie Taylor GreeneMarjorie Taylor GreeneGOP efforts to downplay danger of Capitol riot increase The Memo: What now for anti-Trump Republicans? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's meeting with Trump 'soon' in Florida MORE (Ga.),Matt GaetzMatthew (Matt) GaetzCongress must strengthen protections against insider trading by its members and their families Far left, far right find common ground opposing US interventionism The 17 lawmakers who voted against the Russian oil ban MORE (Fla.), Lauren BoebertLauren Boebert16 House Republicans vote against bill to promote education on internment camps Five things to watch for during Zelensky's address to Congress Far left, far right find common ground opposing US interventionism MORE (Colo.),Thomas MassieThomas Harold Massie16 House Republicans vote against bill to promote education on internment camps Far left, far right find common ground opposing US interventionism The 17 lawmakers who voted against the Russian oil ban MORE (Ky.),Andy Biggs (Ariz.),Dan Bishop (N.C.),Glenn GrothmanGlenn S. GrothmanFar left, far right find common ground opposing US interventionism The 17 lawmakers who voted against the Russian oil ban Overnight Defense & National Security Russia throws curveball with troop withdrawal MORE (Wis.) andChip RoyCharles (Chip) Eugene Roy16 House Republicans vote against bill to promote education on internment camps Congress must strengthen protections against insider trading by its members and their families Far left, far right find common ground opposing US interventionism MORE (Texas).

All eight Republicans in the House who voted against the anti-war measure have made it a point to stand out in the far-right wing of the GOP and have been holding tight to former President TrumpDonald TrumpGOP talking point could turn to Biden's 'underwhelming' Russia response House Oversight Committee opens investigation into New Mexico 2020 election audit Hunter Biden paid off tax liability amid ongoing grand jury investigation: report MORE as he plots a potential run for president in 2024.

Greene, in a video posted online, said she couldn't support the U.S. intervention in the war because Americans have more pressing issues.

If we truly care about suffering and death on our television screens, we cannot fund more of it by sending money and weaponry to Ukraine to fight a war they cannot possibly win," she said. "The only effect, more arms and more money from America will be to prolong the war and magnify human suffering."

She bemoaned the attention that Ukraine has received as the Kremlin's attacks have escalated.

"All were hearing is potential war with Russia over Ukraine," she said on the House floor. "Ukraine is not a NATO member ally and President Biden had told them we would only be standing with our NATO member allies."

The vote came just after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a virtual plea to Congress for more assistance, as thousands have died in the ongoing war.

Massie said on Twitter that he thought the legislation granted too much power to the president to sanction other countries.

Gaetz last month expressed frustration over Americans providing financial assistance for the war.

"Why should Americans have to pay the costs for freedom elsewhere when our own leaders won't stand up for our freedom here?" Gaetz said during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla.

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Here are the eight Republicans who voted against ending normal trade relations with Russia | TheHill - The Hill

The New Jersey Republican Party announced today that Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under the administration of President Donald Trump, will deliver the keynote address at the state GOPs annual leadership summit next week in Atlantic City.

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Carson to gain insight into both his time in Washington and his views on the road ahead for the GOP, party chairman Bob Hugin said in an email announcing Carsons address.

The conference, which will run from the afternoon of March 25 to the evening of March 26, will also feature most of the states most prominent Republicans, including Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton), congressional candidate and former Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), both current minority leaders in the state legislature, and a large number of other Republican elected officials and strategists.

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Ben Carson will give keynote address at NJ Republican summit - New Jersey Globe | New Jersey Politics

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had another moment that lit up the right, this time pushing back against Disneys critique of the so-called Dont Say Gay bill.

In his statement, DeSantis was absolutely stalwart, saying that the chances are zero that hes going to back away from his support for the law. And he didnt hesitate to go on offense against Disney. He said it had made a fortune off being family-friendly so should understand that families dont want inappropriate material injected into the curriculum at schools and smacked the company for making money in China without denouncing the brutal practices of the Chinese Communist Party.

DeSantis had been equally forthright a few days earlier, contesting the dishonest Dont Say Gay characterization by a reporter at a news conference. Its why people dont trust people like you, the governor said, because you peddle fake narratives, and so we disabuse you of those narratives.

This is the voice of the new Republican Party.

Which is not to say that the party wasnt socially conservative before (George W. Bush ran against gay marriage in 2004), or that it didnt criticize the media (one of George H.W. Bushs best moments in 1988 was slamming Dan Rather during a live interview). But theres a new combativeness that is clearly a reflection of how Trump underlined the power of cultural issues and changed the rules around how you deal with controversy by doubling down and hitting back harder.

Perhaps DeSantis would be just as inclined to rumble if Donald Trump had never emerged Chris Christie, for instance, had considerable success with a bring it on attitude toward criticisms during his governorship.

What feels new, though, is the zest for combat on cultural issues, as well as a willingness to bring to bear public power to the fight where possible (government has every right to control what is and isnt taught in government schools).

Theres also a complete intolerance for playing along with false media narratives.

And, lastly, theres zero hesitation to stand up to corporations siding with the left in policy disputes. It seemed several years ago in the debates over religious-freedom restorations acts at the state level that corporations held the whip hand over state officials. Not anymore. Not after Republicans have learned that the appropriate response to such pressure is, No. Hell, no.

If this new approach draws on Trump, it should vitiate one of the arguments long made for Trump: At least he fights. Now, the party is full of people who want to fight in a broadly similar fashion however, with important differences from Trump.

In the Dont Say Gay controversy, DeSantis isnt relitigating what happened in the last election; he is freshly litigating a defense against a cutting-edge progressive cause.

He isnt defending the indefensible; hes defending the eminently defensible, in fact the unfairly maligned.

He isnt dragging anyone through a fight occasioned by his personal failings or dubious practices; hes standing up for a well-considered conservative initiative.

And he isnt jousting with reporters who know more about the contested topic than he does; no, on this and pretty much everything else, he knows more than any of his antagonists.

So, DeSantis opens up a vista offering an important element of Trumpism without the baggage or selfishness of Trump.

The same can be said of Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. He gave a speech the other day at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library that thoughtfully integrated Trumpian populist themes with traditional GOP thinking.

Here is another vista, of a policy vision with a strong element of Trumpism that might have broad appeal to GOP voters of all stripes without the distracting obsessions of the former president.

This gets at what could be one of the most persuasive arguments to Republican voters for Trump not running again not that he needs to go away so the old party can be restored, but that hes unnecessary because a new party has emerged.

(Rich Lowry is editor-in-chief of National Review.)

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Ron DeSantis and the new Republican Party | Opinion | oleantimesherald.com - Olean Times Herald

Like most presidents, Donald Trump changed the political party he led. But Trump was hardly a normal president.

That was apparent while Trump was president, but in many ways thats even easier to understand now that he is out of office. Unlike previous presidents, Trump has refused to take a step back from the limelight. Instead, he has continued to try and be the partys kingmaker, playing a far more active role in the 2022 primaries than he did in 2018 and 2020. His endorsements have gotten bolder and more aggressive down ballot, and hes often used them to root out those who oppose him or his false claims about the 2020 election results.

He also still commands considerable personal loyalty among voters within the party. But as Ive written before, there is evidence that the alliance between Republicans and Trump is uneasy, and it could test how much clout he carries in the party. To be sure, that doesnt mean we should expect Republicans to break from Trump en masse, but nevertheless, there are signs that both Trumps style and ideas are evolving as other politicians take them up and inevitably change them.

In the last few years, a number of ambitious politicians have established a national name for themselves by claiming the Trumpist mantle all while offering voters their own interpretations of Trump-style conservatism. This group includes governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia; senators like Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri; and even erstwhile members of the Trump administration like former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

Though a few of these figures, like Cruz and Haley, had national ambitions prior to the Trump era, many became national figures starting in 2016 and thus created political profiles inextricably linked to Trump. Lets take a look, then, at how these aspiring GOP leaders are reinventing or resisting Trumpism and what this might mean for the future of the Republican Party.

The first category of note is politicians who have tried to distance themselves from Trumps political style without really rejecting any of his views. The most prominent example of a GOP politician in this group is probably Youngkin, whose November 2021 victory in the Virginia gubernatorial race could serve as a model for Trump-style candidates running in purple states. What remains to be seen is whether this type of Trumpian politician will be any more successful at governing than Trump was. Youngkins administration so far has veered to the right and relied heavily on culture war tactics like going after critical race theory in schools, which hasnt proved popular among voters in the state. Its possible that this approach isnt a political winner in a purple state, even when the Democratic brand is struggling.

Some Republicans have gone further than Youngkin, though, explicitly trying to separate loyalty to Trump and his policy positions from believing in the Big Lie, the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Former New Jersey Gov. and Trump transition leader Chris Christie, who has also criticized Trumps general approach to politics, has said, for instance, that the Republican Party needs to move on from false beliefs about the last presidential election. He also recently told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt that Trump incited the Jan. 6 riot.

Pence has also publicly contradicted Trump, suggesting that Trump was wrong to claim that the vice president could overturn the results when Congress met to count the Electoral College votes. Hes also repudiated Trumps embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Haley has tried to strike more of a middle-of-the-road approach, criticizing Pences rebuke of Trump while maintaining publicly that Biden won the 2020 election. In other words, theres a not-so-insubstantial faction of Republicans trying to split the difference when it comes to Trumpism. They derive some of their national stature from their affiliation with Trump but disavow some of his more extreme positions.

Some Republicans, though, have broken even more decisively with Trump. Members of this group vary in their relationship to Trumps legislative agenda some actually backed core components of his policy goals but theyre nonetheless distinct from others in the party in that theyre not trying to reinterpret Trumpism; rather, theyre aiming to distance themselves from it. Some prominent Republicans who fall into this group include Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

A key distinction, though, between these figures and Republicans like Christie, Pence or Haley is that its even harder to imagine any of the former entering or gaining traction in a GOP presidential primary. The presence of a more outwardly anti-Trump faction is still significant, though, as it raises questions about the viability of the larger party coalition. Currently, it appears that members of this group will be ostracized. For instance, Cheney and Kinzinger have been censured by the Republican National Committee. Cheney also lost her leadership position for her comments about the 2020 election and support for Trumps second impeachment, and Kinzinger, who also supported Trumps second impeachment, isnt seeking reelection.

Finally, the polar opposite of the firmly anti-Trump group are those in the party who seem to be trying to out-Trump Trump, or leaning into the most bombastic reimagining of Trumpism possible. This group most prominently includes DeSantis, who has tried to establish himself as the 2024 front-runner of this wing of the party. As such, he has positioned himself as a leading figure in the GOPs fight to curtail abortion rights and LGBTQ rights and voting rights. He has even criticized Trump from his right, saying in January that he regretted not speaking out in 2020 against Trumps COVID-19 recommendations.

In Congress, this group includes legislators like Sen. Ron Johnson and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn and Paul Gosar. Trying to out-Trump Trump has a lot of different expressions, but among this group of Republicans, it broadly refers to their attitudes toward COVID-19, the 2020 election and electoral democracy in general. This groups rise to prominence illustrates the appeal of a constituency for an even more extreme version of Trumpism. That said, its not clear how broad the appeal is Greene faces several primary challengers (though she is likely to keep her seat) and is unpopular nationally. Meanwhile, Johnsons popularity in his home state of Wisconsin has declined since 2020, and he is up for reelection in November.

At this point, there is a lot of uncertainty about what the post-Trump Republican coalition will look like moving forward. Its possible that the GOP is now completely dominated by one individual, as evidenced by the purge of those who pushed back on the 45th presidents fraudulent claims that the election was stolen from him. But there are still other voices in the party, including some that have pushed back on some aspects of Trumpism.

In fact, if the largest group of Republicans prove to be that which seeks to reinterpret Trumpism in some way, its possible itll end up wielding a lot of influence in the party. The key question here is whether these Republicans can carve out their own political identities while still drawing on the past president, as Trump and Trumpism now define the the partys factions. This is a common dilemma for politicians after an influential presidency. And it still remains to be seen whether Trumpism is open to reinterpretation by others, or whether, as is often the case in highly personal political movements, the ideology proves impossible to separate from the leader.

In 2021, political scientist Hans Noel wrote that Republicans could agree to disagree about democracy, citing the need for parties to form broad coalitions in the U.S. political system and the many historical examples of such coalitions exiting despite deep differences within them. But disagreeing over the basic tenets of democracy might prove too much of an intra-party fissure for Republicans to overcome to form a coalition.

The fact, too, that it is so hard to imagine a post-Trump Republican Party speaks to just how successful Trump has been in seizing control of the party, whether its from election officials at the state and local level or from the RNC. And its perhaps the biggest reason why in 2024, as was the case in 2016, a well-known but divisive figure including Trump himself might once again step in and fill the void.

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How Republicans Are Thinking About Trumpism Without Trump - FiveThirtyEight