Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The country moves ahead as the Republican Party falls behind

Tom Nichols/USA Today:

Republicans who acquitted Trump put their careers over duty, honor and the Constitution

Trump's acquittal proved with final certainty that Republicans are driven only by ambition, comfort and self-interest — and the Constitution be damned.

The Republicans who voted to acquit Trump acted with selfishness, cynicism and even malice. They have smeared their betrayal of the Constitution all over their careers the same way the January insurrectionists smeared excrement on the walls of the Congress itself.

At least human waste can be washed away. What the Republicans did on Feb. 13, 2021, will never be expunged from the history of the United States.

ABC News/Ipsos poll: 58% of Americans say that Donald Trump should have been convicted at his impeachment trial

— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) February 15, 2021

New Politico poll - majorities trust teachers unions (along with school administrators and Biden) on school reopening. By 55-34, Americans think reopening should wait till teachers are vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/iiWnUfD3jS

— Will Jordan (@williamjordann) February 17, 2021

Elizabeth Neumann/USA Today:

Far-right extremists went mainstream under Trump. The Capitol attack cements his legacy.

Six years of Trump tweets, rallies and coddling brought extremist groups together. He used his final stand Jan. 6 to strengthen their unity and purpose.

With former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial now over, much of the world is ready to move on from the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to COVID-19 vaccine distribution, another economic relief package and the doings of the new Biden administration. But those responsible for tracking, understanding and defeating far-right violent extremists will be thinking about the Jan. 6 attack for decades to come.

To understand why, it’s important to recognize the scope of the threat posed by the various far-right radical groups in the United States. For a variety of reasons, the government doesn’t have good data on the numbers of violent extremists. Cynthia Miller Idriss, an academic expert on radicalization and extremism in the United States, offers a range in her book, "Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right."

This is where McConnell’s decisions on impeachment befuddle me. If you’re going to pick a fight with Trump, why not go all the way, convict him, disqualify him and excommunicate him?

— Bill Scher (@billscher) February 16, 2021

Greg Sargent/WaPo:

Ugly new attacks on Republicans who defied Trump hint at a dark GOP future

If you believe that the health of our civic life depends in part on having a pro-democracy, pro-empiricism center right in this country, you will be deeply dispirited by some new comments from a Pennsylvania Republican that have now gone viral.

David Ball, the chair of the Washington County GOP, vented his anger at Sen. Pat Toomey, fellow Republican of Pennsylvania, who committed the apostasy of joining six other GOP senators in voting to convict former president Donald Trump of inciting insurrection.

“We did not send him there to vote his conscience,” Ball said on Monday. “We did not send him there to do the right thing or whatever he said he was doing. We sent him there to represent us.”

The first half of this comment is generating headlines. After all, the unvarnished expression of the idea that Toomey’s proper role was to side with Trump, rather than do what his conscience dictates, is unintentionally revealing.

But the second half — the notion that representing Republican voters required this of Toomey — is also telling, and suggests the ongoing GOP war over Trump’s legacy may well lead to a very dark place.

Hard to keep pace with these incredibly dramatic swings in Biden's approval rating.https://t.co/n2XzvOgs0J pic.twitter.com/i5upXlyofH

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 17, 2021

Daniel Goldman/WaPo:

Lack of witnesses at Trump’s trial is not the problem. Witness intimidation is.

The former president has a record of threatening rhetoric toward anyone who crosses him. Now there’s a record of supporters willing to back him with violence.

Based on what we now know, the House managers made the right call. The problem was not that they decided against witnesses. The Herrera Beutler statement bolstered what was already a strong case. Additional witnesses almost certainly would not have changed the outcome. Too many Republican senators had already made up their minds not to cross Trump — or his supporters — based largely on technical arguments unrelated to the overwhelming evidence of Trump’s guilt.

Instead, the problem is what the decision highlighted: that witness intimidation was yet again a factor in a proceeding intended to hold Trump accountable for his misconduct. Trump had tried to influence potential witnesses during the special counsel’s investigation; he had intimidated witnesses in his first impeachment; and at least one surrogate appeared to be engaged in witness intimidation this time around. Given this track record, it’s reasonable to worry that such intimidation will come into play in the various investigations now circling Trump.

Gallup: The first measure of job approval for Joe Biden comes in at 57-37, a jump of 48(!) net points from Donald Trump's final job approval (34-62). pic.twitter.com/ewbssk6E2V

— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) February 15, 2021

NY Times:

On Trump, Michigan Republicans Lean One Way: ‘Fealty at All Costs’

Even after his defeat, Donald Trump is causing fierce infighting among Republicans in a crucial battleground state. Loyalists are rewarded. Dissenters face punishment.

Mr. Trump’s acquittal on Saturday in his impeachment trial served as the first test of his continuing influence over Republicans, with all but seven senators in the party voting against conviction. But in Michigan, one of the key battleground states Mr. Trump lost in the November election — and home to two of the 10 House Republicans who supported impeaching him — there are growing signs of a party not in flux, but united in doubling down on the same themes that defined Mr. Trump’s political style: conspiracy theories, fealty to the leader, a web of misinformation and intolerance.

President Biden's approval rating stands at 62 percent, per new @politico/@MorningConsult polling pic.twitter.com/OdkXW7eGXP

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) February 16, 2021

David Frum/Atlantic:

The Founders Were Wrong About Democracy

The authors of the Constitution feared mass participation would unsettle government, but it’s the privileged minority that has proved destabilizing.

The system of government in the United States has evolved in many important ways since 1787. But the mistrust of unpropertied majorities—especially urban unpropertied majorities—persists. In no other comparably developed society is voting as difficult; in no peer society are votes weighted as unequally; in no peer society is there a legislative chamber where 41 percent of the lawmakers can routinely outvote 59 percent, as happens in the U.S. Senate.

“'A complete bungle': Texas' energy pride goes out with cold” https://t.co/Ze5R3hXUbn

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) February 17, 2021

David M Drucker/Washington Examiner:

Local GOP officials closing the tent to Trump apostates

The wave of party-sponsored censures greeting Republicans who cross former President Donald Trump reveals a GOP interested in pushing out heretics whose lone political sin is disloyalty to the vanquished party leader.

More than a dozen prominent Republicans have been slapped with censure resolutions by state or county parties this year. Most were rebuked for voting to impeach Trump or to convict the former president at trial in the Senate because they hold him responsible for the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol by his grassroots supporters. Some Republicans were censured because party activists decided they ignored Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Shrink the party!

It’s tough to imagine any governor, as his state is going through a once-in-a-generation life threatening emergency, deciding the best use of his time is to own the libs. Well, actually, Kristi Noem would do it too. https://t.co/uq2RNpfQNg

— Michael Freeman (@michaelpfreeman) February 17, 2021

Morning Digest: Our new data shows the Trumpiest district in the nation is also the most evangelical

The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Carolyn Fiddler, and Matt Booker, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.

Leading Off

Pres-by-CD: Our project to calculate the 2020 presidential results for all 435 House seats nationwide heads down to Alabama, which is home to the Trumpiest congressional district in America. You can find our detailed calculations here, a large-size map of the results here, and our permanent, bookmarkable link for all 435 districts here.

The constituency that gave Donald Trump both his highest percentage of the vote and widest margin of victory in the nation is Alabama's 4th Congressional District, which has been represented by Republican Rep. Robert Aderholt since 1997. Trump defeated Joe Biden in this seat, which is located in the north-central part of the state, 81-18, which was almost identical to his 80-17 performance against Hillary Clinton four years before.

The 4th gave Trump his best showing in any of the 411 congressional districts we've released 2020 data for so far, and we're confident there's no chance that it'll get displaced when we finish calculating results for our two remaining states, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. And the result is no surprise: In 2016, Trump also earned his biggest share of the vote nationwide in the 4th, though his net margin was just a touch higher in Texas' 13th.

Campaign Action

There are a few reasons why Alabama's 4th is so deeply conservative. The district is both extremely rural and heavily white, but what makes it singular is that it has the highest percentage of evangelical residents in America, with approximately 54% of residents identifying as such. It's also in the bottom quintile in the nation both in terms of diversity and its level of educational attainment, a category exclusively occupied by deeply Republican districts.

However, while it's now impossible to imagine Aderholt being threatened by a Democrat, he only barely won his first election for a previous version of the 4th nearly a quarter century ago. In 1996, Aderholt ran to succeed retiring Rep. Tom Bevill, who was a prominent member of a powerful bloc of conservative Democrats nicknamed the "boll weevils." Bevill himself had won his final term two years before without any opposition even as Republicans were flipping numerous Southern districts en route to taking their first House majority in 40 years, and local Democrats still demonstrated strength further down the ballot.

The Democrats nominated former state Sen. Bob Wilson, who had narrowly lost re-election in 1994 but was still capable of putting up a strong fight. Wilson argued he'd secure needed appropriations for his seat "in the Tom Bevill tradition," but he also focused on his opposition to abortion and his membership in the NRA.

Aderholt, who was a local judge at the time, tied Wilson to the national Democratic leadership and argued that he'd be no substitute for Bevill. Both parties saw the race as a priority, and Speaker Newt Gingrich stumped for Aderholt in a cycle where his newly minted majority seemed to be on the line. Ultimately, Aderholt pulled off a 50-48 victory as Bob Dole was defeating Bill Clinton 48-43 in the district.

Wilson sought a rematch in 1998 but lost his primary to Donald Bevill, the son of the former congressman. The general election wasn't so competitive this time, though, as Aderholt won 56-44. That didn't quite bring an end to Democratic attempts to win back their old turf, but the next cycle did: Former Alabama First Lady Marsha Folsom lost the 2000 election to Aderholt by a punishing 61-37 spread as George W. Bush was pulling off a 59-39 victory. Team Blue didn't field a challenger two years later, and Aderholt has been completely safe ever since.

Trump didn't come close to matching his high-water mark elsewhere in Alabama, but he still won at least 63% of the vote in the state's five remaining GOP-held districts. Biden, meanwhile, scored a 71-28 victory in Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell's 7th District, a constituency that Republican map makers drew to take in as many African American voters as possible.

Finally, there's one methodological issue we want to address in Alabama, which, like many other states, does not assign every vote to a precinct. This is not a new issue, and we have techniques that estimate how to divvy up unassigned votes like these between districts.

However, the coronavirus pandemic led to a major expansion in the number of votes cast before Election Day, and in Alabama, that meant that a much larger than usual proportion were not assigned to a congressional district: In 2016, these unassigned votes only made up 4% of the total vote in the seven counties that are split between multiple districts, but that figure swelled to 14% in 2020.

Even with this issue, there's no question which presidential candidate won each of the state's House seats; still, we strive to make our estimates as precise as possible. Luckily, Alabama does include the total number of unassigned votes cast in each district in each county (though not their breakdowns by candidate), which is important information that is rarely available.

For example, in Jefferson County, which is the largest in the state, approximately 327,000 ballots were cast, with about 50,000 not assigned to any precinct. However, thanks to the state's data, we do know that 26,000 of these unassigned ballots were cast in the 6th Congressional District and the balance cast in the 7th.

We use this information to more accurately assign these votes by congressional district. We start by assuming that how a candidate's supporters choose to cast their ballots is similar no matter where they live. For example, if 30% of Biden voters choose to vote absentee in District A, we assume somewhere around 30% of Biden voters will also choose to vote absentee in District B. (We've validated this assumption by testing it in other states that make more detailed vote breakdowns available.) This assumption is then used to calculate an initial estimate of votes for each candidate in each district in a county.

We then use the total number of unassigned votes cast in each district in each county to adjust our initial estimates so the totals match. Finally, we adjust the number of votes again so the number of unassigned votes for each candidate in the whole county matches the official results.

These estimates are not perfect, and they do introduce some error into our final numbers; we suspect the error for Alabama districts is about one percentage point or less for a candidate's vote share district-wide, based on calculations in other states where vote count by type of ballot is known. However, we believe this method allows us to assign these previously unassigned votes as precisely as possible to their proper congressional district.

Senate

GA-Sen: Former Republican Sen. David Perdue confirmed on Tuesday that he's exploring a comeback bid against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who captured Georgia's other Senate seat in last month's legendary special election. Perdue filed paperwork with the FEC on Monday ahead of a possible run, which an unnamed advisor said he’s “leaning heavily toward.” Another aide said Perdue would make a decision in March followed by a formal kickoff in April if the answer is yes.

Whatever unfolds, Perdue certainly hasn't gotten over his stunning loss to Democrat Jon Ossoff, whose name he's still incapable of uttering. In a statement, he took loser-speaker to new heights (depths?) in declaring that the only poll that counts is the one on Election Day—i.e., the Nov. 3 election he failed to win. "Five million Georgians, the most ever, voted in that General election and it is the best poll of where Georgia is right now," claimed Perdue, despite the fact he lost the only election that actually mattered: the one on Jan. 6, when a rather impressive 4.5 million voters cast ballots.

He also argued that "[m]ore than 52% of Georgians rejected my opponent and the liberal Democrat agenda" in November, but the problem there is that 50.3% of Georgians also rejected Perdue and his far-right Trumpist agenda (oh, plus, did we mention that he lost the one race that actually mattered?). Perdue even went so far as to suggest that the runoff itself was unfair, carping that Ossoff and Warnock "do not fairly represent most Georgians."

Perdue's complaints about the runoff process are particularly rich coming from a Republican, since it was Republican lawmakers themselves who reinstituted general election runoffs in 2005 after Democrats had repealed them a decade earlier, knowing that Black voters—who disproportionately favor Democrats—tend to turn out at lower rates whenever there's a second round of voting. That pattern of low Black turnout hurting Democrats held true in every statewide runoff from 2006 to 2018, but of course now that the first and only runoff has happened that favored Democrats, Perdue has suddenly found flaws in the process.

As the New York Times' Alex Burns put it, Perdue is undoubtedly "among the best-known candidates Republicans could plausibly field and money wouldn't be a problem." But, added Burns, he's also "one of very few living republicans who has proven capable of losing a senate race in [G]eorgia." The other, of course, is Kelly Loeffler, who, along with former Rep. Doug Collins, is reportedly waiting to see what Perdue does before deciding whether to run.

IA-Sen: Far-right state Sen. Jim Carlin, who just launched a Senate bid even though fellow Republican Chuck Grassley hasn't yet announced his re-election plans, says he'll stay in the race no matter what the incumbent decides. "I appreciate [Grassley's] service, as anybody does," Carlin told Brianne Pfannenstiel of the Des Moines Register. "But I didn't get in the race to drop out."

OH-Sen: Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, who'd reportedly been considering a bid for Ohio's open Senate seat, announced on Tuesday that she would not join the race.

PA-Sen: Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb, who'd long been mentioned as a possible candidate for either Senate or governor, says he "will look at" a possible bid to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. Lamb didn't offer any sort of timeline for a decision but did tell MSNBC's Kasie Hunt that he had not spoken to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Meanwhile, Republican businessman Jeff Bartos, who was the GOP's nominee for lieutenant governor in 2018, has filed paperwork with the FEC and also just stepped down as board chair of a new nonprofit founded last year to help small businesses during the pandemic. Bartos previously promised an announcement would come in mid-March.

Governors

IL-Gov: Politico's Shia Kapos reports that Republican Reps. Rodney Davis and Darin LaHood both have not ruled out bids against Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, depending on how redistricting shapes up for them, though neither man is directly quoted. Kapos also says that another Republican, state Sen. Darren Bailey, "is expected to announce his candidacy next week." Meanwhile, attorney Richard Porter, an RNC member who's previously been mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate, says he'll decide this summer whether to run.

PA-Gov, PA-Sen: Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale, a Trump die-hard who was censured last year by his fellow commissioners for calling Black Live Matters "a radical left-wing hate group," announced a campaign for governor on Tuesday. Gale, however, seems to be more interested in running for governor of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, since he declared that his first priority would be to "hold bad Republicans accountable not just by naming names, but by supporting primary challenges against those who undermine a common-sense conservative agenda."

Gale previously had not ruled out a bid for Republican Sen. Pat Toomey's open seat, but his brother, attorney Sean Gale, said on Tuesday that he would run for Senate instead. The siblings previously ran together for spots on the Montgomery board in 2019, but Sean Gale failed to make it out of the primary while Joe secured re-election only because one of its three slots is always reserved for the minority party. Joe Gale also tried to run for lieutenant governor in 2018 but was booted off the ballot for being under the required minimum age of 30.

House

LA-02: In her special election bid for Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District, State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson has been endorsed by the state Democratic Party, which she chaired for many years before stepping down last September. The all-party primary for this dark blue seat in New Orleans is on March 20, with a possible runoff on April 24.

MA-04: The Boston Globe reports that progressive activists are trying to recruit former Brookline Selectwoman Jesse Mermell for a rematch with freshman Rep. Jake Auchincloss, who beat her just 22-21 in last year's jam-packed Democratic primary. Mermell notably declined to provide any sort of comment to the paper.

NC-09: Democratic state Rep. Charles Graham announced a challenge to Republican Rep. Dan Bishop over the weekend, though redistricting's impact on North Carolina's 9th Congressional District won't be known for some time. The Associated Press describes Graham, who is the lone Native American member of the legislature, as "among the more conservative Democrats" in the state House, with a history of voting for Republican bills.

NV-03: Republican attorney April Becker, who lost a close race for Nevada's 6th State Senate District last year, has filed paperwork with the FEC for a possible bid against Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in the 3rd Congressional District. However, just 4% of the Senate seat she sought in 2020 overlaps with Lee's district.

TX-06: Communications consultant Jana Lynne Sanchez announced her entry into the special election for Texas' 6th Congressional District on Tuesday, making her the first notable Democrat to do so. Sanchez ran here in 2018 and lost 53-45 to Republican Ron Wright, whose death due to COVID-19 earlier this month left this seat vacant. Sanchez's campaign says she's already raised $100,000, putting her on a much faster pace compared with her prior campaign, when she brought in $730,000 all told.

According to new calculations from Daily Kos Elections, Donald Trump carried this district by a fairly slender 51-48 margin, potentially making for a competitive special election (whose date has yet to be set).

WI-03: Republican Derrick Van Orden declined to rule out a rematch with Democratic Rep. Ron Kind, telling the Badger Project, "Nothing is off the table." Kind held off Van Orden by a narrow 51-49 margin last year.

Mayors

Fort Worth, Arlington, & Plano, TX Mayor: Candidate filing closed over the weekend for the May 1 nonpartisan primaries in several large Texas cities; a runoff would take place on a later date in any election where no one takes a majority of the vote. We recently ran down the race for mayor of San Antonio, and we'll now take a look at three open seat contests in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

We'll start with Fort Worth, which is the largest of the three cities. Republican Mayor Betsy Price is not seeking a sixth two-year term, and Democrats are hoping to score a pickup. Eleven candidates have filed here, and there appear to be two serious contenders from each party.

On the Democratic side, the contenders to watch are City Councilwoman Ann Zadeh and Tarrant County Democratic Party Chairwoman Deborah Peoples, who ran against Price in 2019 and lost 56-42. The two main Republicans are nonprofit head Mattie Parker, who served as chief of staff for the mayor and council under Price, and City Councilman Brian Byrd, who has the support of local Rep. Kay Granger.

There's also a crowded race for a two-year term next door in Arlington, where eight candidates are running to succeed termed-out Republican incumbent Jeff Williams. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes that most of the contenders are people of color, and one longtime observer called this the most diverse local race he's ever seen here.

Jim Ross, who is a business owner and former police officer, has the support of Williams and former Mayor Richard Greene. The field also includes City Councilman Marvin Sutton; former City Councilman Michael Glaspie; and five others.

Finally in Plano, three Republicans make up the field running for a four-year term to replace another-termed out incumbent, Harry LaRosiliere. (LaRosiliere is also a Republican, though he's been an ardent supporter of LGBTQ rights.)

City Council member Lily Bao lost to LaRosiliere 52-42 in 2017 but was elected to her current post two years later with Gov. Greg Abbott's endorsement. We also have John Muns, who unsuccessfully challenged Collin County Judge Keith Self in the 2010 GOP primary and recently finished a stint as chair of the Plano Planning & Zoning Commission, and former economics professor Lydia Ortega, who ran for lieutenant governor of California in 2018 and took 6% in the all-party primary.

New York City, NY Mayor: 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang's campaign announced that he'd collected enough small donations to qualify for the city's matching-funds program. The city Campaign Finance Board still needs to verify that Yang has raised at least $250,000 from city residents who contributed between $10 and $250 before he can receive any public financing, though, and one of Yang's intra-party opponents learned the hard way on Tuesday just how complicated this process can be.

Attorney Maya Wiley said a month ago that she'd raised enough to unlock matching funds, which would have allowed her to collect at least $2 million at Tuesday's meeting. The Board, though, announced this week that it could not confirm that she'd hit the necessary threshold.

The New York Daily News notes that it's possible that the denial is due to "technical issues in data her campaign submitted to the Campaign Finance Board" that Wiley could correct. However, even if Wiley did raise the requisite $250,000 from small donors and fixed any issues, she would not be able to receive any public money until March 15. The only two contenders who have officially qualified for public financing so far are City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

Meanwhile, Republican billionaire John Catsimatidis made a slight concession to reality this week when he announced that he would not switch parties to seek the Democratic nomination for mayor. We say slight because Catsimatidis, who is an ardent Trump supporter, did not rule out running for Team Red as a "Republican-Liberal." That "Liberal" refers to the Liberal Party, which infamously endorsed Rudy Giuliani in 1993 and went on to lose its automatic spot on the ballot nearly a decade later.

Trump Returns To Public Spotlight, Delivers Blistering Statement On ‘Political Hack’ Mitch McConnell

Donald Trump jumped back into the public eye on Tuesday night to draw a line in the sand between himself and the Republican establishment, delivering a statement absolutely ravaging Mitch McConnell as “a dour, sullen and unsmiling political hack.”

Trump lashed out at the Senate Minority Leader for the party’s loss of the majority, attacked him for being weak on China, and threatened to campaign for his own “America First” candidates in primaries if they are not backed by the GOP.

“The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political ‘leaders’ like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm,” the statement reads.

“McConnell’s dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse.”

Trump’s message, delivered by the Save America PAC, went on to suggest McConnell “doesn’t have what it takes, never did, and never will.”

“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,” the former President warned. “He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country.”

RELATED: Polls: Majority Of Republicans Want Trump In 2024, Prefer He Play Big Role In GOP’s Future

Trump Eviscerates Mitch McConnell

If you can believe it, one report indicates aides to former President Trump had to tone down the blistering statement against Mitch McConnell.

“There was also a lot of repetitive stuff and definitely something about him having too many chins but not enough smarts,” a source told Politico.

The statement comes as McConnell has been incredibly vocal of his disdain for Trump and his alleged role in the Capitol riot, despite his vote to acquit him at the Senate impeachment trial.

McConnell practically provided a roadmap for Democrats who are now suing the former President.

“We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation,” the Kentucky Republican said adding Trump “didn’t get away with anything, yet.”

RELATED: Dem Congressman Files Lawsuit Against Trump For His Alleged Role In Capitol Riot

America First vs. America Last

Mitch McConnell has warned that he will not support Trump-backed candidates such as Kelli Ward in Arizona and the former President’s daughter-in-law Lara in North Carolina.

“My goal is, in every way possible, to have nominees representing the Republican Party who can win in November,” McConnell told Politico.

“Some of them may be people the former president likes. Some of them may not be. The only thing I care about is electability.”

Judging by the lack of performance by Republicans in Congress, McConnell isn’t lying that ‘electability’ is the only thing he cares about.

Donald Trump certainly has the backing of Republican voters over Mitch McConnell, and thus likely the political clout for his “America First” candidates to have success.

A pair of polls from earlier this week indicate a vast majority of GOP voters want to see Trump play a big role in the future of the party, including running again in 2024.

“Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First,” Trump’s statement reads.

“We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership.”

It’s clear Trump doesn’t think McConnell fits that description any longer.

The post Trump Returns To Public Spotlight, Delivers Blistering Statement On ‘Political Hack’ Mitch McConnell appeared first on The Political Insider.

Sean Hannity Rips ‘Sanctimonious’ Mitch McConnell – Calls For New Leadership In The Senate

Fox News host Sean Hannity spoke out on Monday night to blast Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who he described as “sanctimonious” for giving a speech on the Senate floor over the weekend in which he condemned former President Donald Trump.

Hannity went so far as to suggest that it might be time to look into new leadership in the Senate.

Hannity Goes Off On GOP Leaders

“Voters in this country are smart, not stupid,” Hannity said. “We can see the snap impeachment was nothing but political theater, no due process, no evidence, no defense, none of it.”

“Now finding out it was all preplanned ahead of time and another needless smear that accomplished nothing,” the Fox News host added. “It’s been five years of this. They’ve also had it with Republicans and Democratic swamp creatures.”

“This is the question Republicans have to ask themselves tonight,” Hannity continued. “Where was John Thune and Mitch McConnell fighting against the biggest abuse of power corruption scandal in our history with Operation Crossfire Hurricane? They were missing in action.”

“Where’s the sanctimonious Mitch McConnell, John Thune, demanding that Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters— when is he going to give a speech on the Senate floor and hold those Democrats accountable for their incitement of insurrection and their insurrection-like language?” Hannnity concluded.

“The time is now coming for new leadership in the U.S. Senate,” he said. “We will be dealing with that.”

This comes after McConnell claimed that Trump had committed “a disgraceful dereliction of duty” by his actions before last month’s Capitol riot, and was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.” 

Graham Rips Into McConnell

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) ripped into McConnell for this anti-Trump speech, saying that he “put a load on the back of Republicans.”

“I think Senator McConnell’s speech, he got a load off a chest obviously, but unfortunately he put a load on the back of Republicans,” he added. “That speech you will see in 2022 campaigns.”

“I would imagine if you’re a Republican running in Arizona or  Georgia or New Hampshire, where we have a chance to take back the Senate, they may be playing Senator McConnell’s speech and asking about it as a candidate,” Graham continued.

“I imagine if you’re an incumbent Republican, they’re going to be people asking you will you support Senator McConnell in the future,” he concluded. “So I like them, Senator McConnell. He worked well with President Trump. I think his speech is an outlier regarding how Republicans feel about all this.”

This piece was written by James Samson on February 16, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
House Republicans Send Brutal Message To Pelosi – Demand Answers From Her On Security Decisions Before Capitol Riot
Graham And McConnell Feud Erupts In Senate
Pelosi Fires Back After Top Republicans Demand Answers About Capitol Security Before Riot – Deflects Blame

The post Sean Hannity Rips ‘Sanctimonious’ Mitch McConnell – Calls For New Leadership In The Senate appeared first on The Political Insider.

What’s happening to Adam Kinzinger is frightening … and telling

As many Americans are aware, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger is one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in inciting the insurrection of Jan. 6. The conservative Air National Guard veteran, currently serving his sixth term in Congress, is one of the few Republicans who declined to fall in behind Donald Trump in the wake of the lethal riots at the U.S. Capitol. He is also one of an even smaller number of Republicans who has gone public in his criticism of Trump, appearing on cable television and late-night news broadcasts to criticize Trump’s actions.

And just like the seven U.S. senators who voted for Trump’s conviction in his second impeachment trial, Kinzinger is now suffering an intense backlash from a Republican Party that is now virtually indistinguishable from a cult.

Yet if you wanted a snapshot of what the Republican Party has become under Donald Trump, you need look no farther than this letter, penned by a cousin of Kinzinger and signed by several members of the congressman’s own family.

The letter reads, in part:

Oh my, what a disappointment you are to us and to God! We were once so proud of your accomplishments! Instead, you go against your Christian principals and join the “devil’s army” (Democrats and the fake news media). How do you call yourself a Christian when you join the devils army believing in abortion! We thought you were “smart” enough to see how the left is brainwashing so many “so called good people” including yourself and many other GOP members. You have even fallen for their socialism ideals! So, so sad!

(all emphasis and errors are the writer’s own)

If the reflexive censure of those senators—a punishment normally reserved by a political party for its most errant members—was insufficient evidence of the GOP’s transformation into an out-and-out cult, then the “shunning” of Congressman Kinzinger by his own family members should put any doubts to rest.

As reported by The New York Times:

As the Republican Party censures, condemns and seeks to purge leaders who aren’t in lock step with Donald J. Trump, Adam Kinzinger, the six-term Illinois congressman, stands as enemy No. 1 — unwelcome not just in his party but also in his own family, some of whom recently disowned him.

At the outset, it should be emphasized that the imposition of such mass censuring is not “typical” behavior for a political party or its adherents in addressing dissident voices within their ranks, nor is it at all typical for a politician’s own family to “disown” him. Rather, this is more akin to what cults do when faced with an “apostate” who questions the cult—or worse, seeks to leave. Cults, not political parties, close ranks and attack the person they perceive as the heretic. Cults, not political parties, attempt to isolate the offender, in order to make an example of him/her to the rest of the cult.

The author of the letter was Karen Otto, Mr. Kinzinger’s cousin, who paid $7 to send it by certified mail to Mr. Kinzinger’s father — to make sure the congressman would see it, which he did. She also sent copies to Republicans across Illinois, including other members of the state’s congressional delegation.

“I wanted Adam to be shunned,” she said in an interview.

Otto’s correspondence to her cousin is particularly revealing, with respect to how Trump’s “cult” is being nurtured and sustained through systemic allusion to Christian religious dogma, specifically of the apocalyptic, white evangelical variety. The use of foundational, textual materials, which serve to separate the cult from those perceived as non-believers, is a hallmark of cults, ranging from Scientology and the Moon Unification Church (or “Moonies”), to more insular, religious and quasi-religious sects such as the Branch Davidians and the Amish, who are known for actually institutionalizing the cruel practice of “shunning.” 

As indicated in Otto’s letter, Trump’s devotees are employing the same type of religious interpretation in justifying Donald Trump’s position as his cult’s leading spiritual figure.

Obviously, you did not hear President Trump’s “Christmas message” to the American people (fake news media did not cover his message) where he actually gave the plan of salvation, instructing people how to repent and ask the Savior into their heart to be “Born Again!”

The implications of what is happening to Kinzinger, and similarly situated Republicans who have publicly opposed Trump, shouldn’t be minimized or underestimated. A politically based cult that can drive people to cast out their own family members, or one that can prompt ordinary politicians to collectively excommunicate their members presents a clear and present danger to democratic institutions. Cults are at their most dangerous when they are under threat from an outside “enemy”; in the case of Trump’s burgeoning cult, the catalyst for that danger here is the inexplicable and confusing loss of an election that the cult leader himself (falsely) guaranteed he had won.

With shockingly few exceptions, members of the Republican Party have allowed themselves to be co-opted by a toxic cult mentality that is now dictating the actions of the party itself. The fact that this mentality is being driven by a powerful but largely unexamined religious fervor in our society makes it even more dangerous. 

This is not at all normal, and we are in truly uncharted waters.

See also: Daily Kos’ La Feminista takes on the Kinzinger family letter