House Democrats just passed the most important democracy reforms since the 1965 Voting Rights Act

Posted on March 4, 2021 (Updated March 4, 2021) by Stephen Wolf

On Wednesday, House Democrats voted 220-210 to pass H.R. 1, the “For the People Act,” which is the most important set of voting and election reforms since the historic Voting Rights Act was adopted in 1965. These reforms, which House Democrats previously passed in 2019, face a challenging path to in the Senate given Democrats’ narrow majority and uncertainty over whether they can overcome a GOP filibuster, but their adoption is critical for preserving American democracy amid unprecedented attack by Republican extremists both in and outside Congress.

H.R. 1 would implement transformative changes to federal elections by (1) removing barriers to expanding access to voting and securing the integrity of the vote; (2) establishing public financing in House elections to level the playing field; and (3) banning congressional gerrymandering by requiring that every state create a nonpartisan redistricting commission subject to nonpartisan redistricting criteria.

Using Congress’ power to regulate Senate and House elections under the Elections Clause and enforce anti-discrimination laws under the 14th Amendment, the bill would:

Establish automatic voter registration at an array of state agencies;
Establish same-day voter registration;
Allow online voter registration;
Allow 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register so they'll be on the rolls when they turn 18;
Allow state colleges and universities to serve as registration agencies;
Ban states from purging eligible voters' registration simply for infrequent voting;
Establish two weeks of in-person early voting, including availability on Sundays and outside of normal business hours;
Standardize hours within states for opening and closing polling places on Election Day, with exceptions to let cities set longer hours in municipal races;
Require paper ballots filled by hand or machines that use them as official records and let voters verify their choices;
Grant funds to states to upgrade their election security infrastructure;
Provide prepaid postage on mail ballots;
Allow voters to turn in their mail ballot in person if they choose;
Allow voters to track their absentee mail ballots;
Require states to establish nonpartisan redistricting commissions for congressional redistricting (possibly not until the 2030s round of redistricting);
Establish nonpartisan redistricting criteria such as a partisan fairness provision that courts can enforce starting immediately no matter what institution is drawing the maps;
End prison gerrymandering by counting prisoners at their last address (rather than where they're incarcerated) for the purposes of redistricting;
End felony disenfranchisement for those on parole, probation, or post-sentence, and require such citizens to be supplied with registration forms and informed their voting rights have been restored;
Provide public financing for House campaigns in the form of matching small donations at a six-for-one rate;
Expand campaign finance disclosure requirements to mitigate Citizens United;
Ban corporations from spending for campaign purposes unless the corporation has established a process for determining the political will of its shareholders; and
Make it a crime to mislead voters with the intention of preventing them from voting.

Ending Republicans’ ability to gerrymander is of the utmost importance after Republicans won the power to redistrict two-to-three times as many congressional districts as Democrats after the 2020 elections. If congressional Democrats don’t act, Republican dominance in redistricting may practically guarantee that Republicans retake the House in 2022 even if Democrats once again win more votes, an outcome that could lead to congressional Republicans more seriously trying to overturn a Democratic victory in the 2024 Electoral College vote than they did January, when two-thirds of the House caucus voted to overturn Biden's election.

If this bill becomes law, Republicans would lose that unfettered power to rig the House playing field to their advantage. Instead, reform proponents would gain the ability to challenge unfair maps in court over illegal partisan discrimination, and the bill would eventually require states to create independent redistricting commissions that would take the process out of the hands of self-interested legislators entirely.

Protecting the right to vote is just as paramount when Republican lawmakers across the country have introduced hundreds of bills to adopt new voting restrictions by furthering the lies Donald Trump told about the election that led directly to January's insurrection at the Capitol. With Republican legislatures likely to pass many of these bills into law—and the Supreme Court's conservative partisans poised to further undermine existing protections for voting rights—congressional action is an absolute must to protect the ability of voters to cast their ballots.

The most important remaining hurdle, however, is the legislative filibuster: The fate of these reforms will depend on Senate Democrats either abolishing or curtailing it. Progressive activists have relaunched a movement to eliminate the filibuster entirely, while some experts have suggested that Democrats could carve out an exception for voting rights legislation. Either way, Democrats will need to address the filibuster in some fashion, since Senate Republicans have made it clear they will not provide the support necessary to reach a 60-vote supermajority to pass H.R. 1 into law.

Morning Digest: Rhode Island has a new governor, but a hard fight looms if he wants to say in office

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Daily Kos Elections

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

● RI-Gov: On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo to serve as secretary of commerce. Raimondo resigned and was succeeded by Lt. Gov. Dan McKee, a fellow Democrat who may need to get through tough primary and general election contests in order to keep his new job.

In January, WPRI's Eli Sherman wrote that McKee was "somewhat less liberal than Raimondo," who has had a rocky relationship of her own with labor and progressives at home ever since ushering through painful pension cuts in 2011 as state treasurer. Indeed, a number of labor groups, especially teachers unions, have clashed with McKee for over a decade because of his ardent support for charter schools.

In 2008, the National Education Association of Rhode Island, the state AFL-CIO, and Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals ran ads against McKee during his re-election bid as mayor of Cumberland, but he decisively won with 64% of the vote. Six years later, after McKee claimed the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, several unions decided to back his Republican opponent in the general election, but McKee prevailed 54-34.

Campaign Action

McKee, though, came close to losing renomination in 2018 to progressive state Rep. Aaron Regunberg. Regunberg, who accused the incumbent of accepting "dark money" from PACs, also benefited from the support of what Sherman described as "most of the state's unions." But McKee, who argued that he'd be better positioned to lead the state should Raimondo leave office early, still had the backing of most Ocean State politicos, and he held on 51-49 before decisively winning the general election.

It remains to be seen if McKee's longtime detractors will attempt to beat him in 2022, however. In January, right after Raimondo's nomination to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce was announced, the head of the state branch of the National Education Association praised McKee as someone who "will bring the perspective of local control being important." McKee and Raimondo's notoriously distant relationship may also not matter much to the new governor now that Raimondo is heading to D.C.

Of more immediate concern to McKee are the number of other Rhode Island Democrats who had planned to run in 2022, when Raimondo was to be termed-out, and may now decide to take on McKee. Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea reaffirmed her interest in January, while Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza and state Treasurer Seth Magaziner have both raised serious amounts of cash. A crowded field, though, would likely aid McKee in a state where conservative Democrats still retain plenty of influence in primaries.

Rhode Island, while a solidly blue state in federal elections, has also been willing to sending Republicans to the governor's office, and a bruising Democratic primary could give Team Red a larger opening. Former Cranston Mayor Allan Fung reportedly has been mulling a third bid for office: Raimondo beat Fung only 41-36 in the 2014 open seat race, though she prevailed by a decisive 53-37 in their 2018 rematch. There has also been speculation that state House Minority Leader Blake Filippi could also campaign for governor.

Senate

● AZ-Sen: Rep. Andy Biggs, who hasn't previously spoken publicly about his interest in seeking a promotion to the upper chamber, confirms he's "looking at" taking on Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly next year. Biggs, the extremist head of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, also appears to have leaked a very hypothetical primary poll that shows him leading a bunch of largely unknown potential rivals, though he didn't offer a timetable for making a decision.

Two of the names tested in Biggs' poll are new, though: Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire, who is in charge of the Arizona National Guard, and businessman Jim Lehman.

● MO-Sen: Disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens, who last month declined to rule out a bid for Senate, now says in a new interview that he's "evaluating" a possible campaign against Sen. Roy Blunt in next year's GOP primary.

Greitens, who was pressured to leave office by members of his own party in 2018 after he was accused of sexual abuse, criticized Blunt for insufficient fealty to Trump and even attacked him for his role presiding over Joe Biden's inauguration. However, it's traditional for the chair of the Senate Rules Committee (which Blunt presided over until recently) to do so: In 1997, the last time the Senate and White House were held by opposite parties following a presidential election, Virginia Republican John Warner chaired the inaugural committee for Bill Clinton's second swearing-in.

Greitens didn't say when he might make a decision, but if he does go for it, he may not wind up squaring off against Blunt after all: While the 71-year-old senator has said he's "planning" to seek re-election, he's made some comments this year that suggest he might not go through with it.

Governors

● FL-Gov: Mason-Dixon is out with the first poll we've seen of next year's race for governor of Florida, and it finds Republican incumbent Ron DeSantis leading two Democrats who are considering taking him on. DeSantis bests state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried 51-42, while he enjoys a slightly-larger 52-41 edge against Rep. Charlie Crist.

House

● AZ-01: Republican state Rep. Walt Blackman recently filed paperwork with the FEC for a possible bid against Democratic Rep. Tom O'Halleran in this swingy northern Arizona seat, though he doesn't appear to have said anything publicly about his interest yet.

Blackman, who earned a Bronze Star serving with the Army in Iraq, won a close race for the state House in 2018, which made him the legislature's first Black Republican member. While Blackman successfully passed a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill during his time in office, he's also made a name for himself by attacking Black Lives Matter as a "terrorist organization." Blackman also posted a video about George Floyd on Facebook that the state representative titled, "I DO NOT support George Floyd and I refuse to see him as a martyr. But I hope his family receives justice."

Blackman won re-election last year after another competitive contest, and he spent the next few months ardently echoing Donald Trump's lies about election fraud. Blackman at one point even suggested that the state legislature could try to overturn Joe Biden's victory in Arizona and instead award its 11 electoral votes to Trump, and he was one of three legislators to call for the U.S. Senate to reject the state's electors.

Another Republican, Williams Mayor John Moore, also filed with the FEC, but he's unlikely to make much of an impact if he gets in. The National Journal notes that Moore, whose community has a population of just over 3,000, ran here in 2020, but he ended his campaign before the primary.

According to new data from Daily Kos Elections, Arizona's 1st District swung to the left from 48-47 Trump to 50-48 Biden as O'Halleran was winning his third term 52-48. No one knows what the new congressional map would look like, though, especially since Republicans are continuing to do whatever they can to undermine or eliminate the state's independent redistricting commission.

● LA-02: Both Democratic state senators competing in the March 20 all-party primary for this safely blue seat received a notable endorsement over the last few days. Troy Carter picked up the support of the SEIU, which joins the AFL-CIO in his corner, while Karen Carter Peterson earned the backing of the League of Conservation Voters.

● MD-01: Foreign policy strategist Dave Harden announced this week that he would seek the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Rep. Andy Harris in Maryland's 1st District, a conservative seat that the Democratic legislature could dramatically redraw in the upcoming round of redistricting. Harden, who says he intends to "run down the middle," will face off in the primary against former Del. Heather Mizeur, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2014 as a progressive.

Harden previously served in the Foreign Service in the Middle East and other parts of Asia before taking a post in the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Obama administration. Harden left the Foreign Service in 2018 and went on to found a consulting group.

● MS-04: The Office of Congressional Ethics this week released a report determining that it had "substantial reason to believe" that Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo impermissibly used campaign funds for personal purposes. Investigators also uncovered evidence that the congressman had asked government aides to perform tasks benefitting his political campaigns and himself. The OCE recommended that the House Ethics Committee probe Palazzo, who has represented a heavily Republican seat along Mississippi's Gulf Coast since 2011.

Palazzo's campaign revealed in November that it was under investigation by the OCE for allegedly misusing nearly $200,000 in campaign funds, though his treasurer argued at the time that the congressman had done nothing wrong. The newly published report, however, highlighted what it called a "concerning pattern of campaign expenditures" to pay for rent and repairs to "a large riverfront home which Rep. Palazzo owned and rented to Palazzo for Congress as an ostensible campaign headquarters." The OCE says its evidence "casts doubt on the extent to which the River House actually was used as a campaign headquarters."

OCE staffers also concluded that the congressman's brother, Kyle Palazzo, had been paid $23,000 by the campaign during the last election cycle for work that "may not have justified the salary he received." They further "found evidence that Rep. Palazzo may have used his official position and congressional resources to contact the Assistant Secretary of the Navy in order to assist his brother's efforts to reenlist in the military." According to a former staffer, Kyle Palazzo "was separated from the Navy for affecting a fraudulent enlistment."

● TX-15: 2020 nominee Monica De La Cruz-Hernandez's new campaign earned an endorsement this week from Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a high-profile Republican whose Houston-area 2nd District is located far from this South Texas seat. Last year, De La Cruz-Hernandez held Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez to a shockingly close 51-48 win as this McAllen-based constituency snapped from 57-40 Clinton to just 50-49 Biden.

Mayors

● Hialeah, FL Mayor: Republican Mayor Carlos Hernandez is termed-out this year as leader of Hialeah, a longtime GOP bastion that's home to the highest proportion of Cuban Americans in the country, and a familiar name is running to succeed him. Former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Steve Bovo, a Republican who lost last year's race to lead the county 54-46 against Democrat Daniella Levine Cava, announced Monday that he would join the contest. He may have some big-name backing soon, as Gov. Ron DeSantis indicated last month that he'd support a Bovo campaign.

The field already includes two former city council members, Vivian Casáls-Muñoz and Isis Garcia-Martinez, as well as perennial candidate Juan Santana. All the candidates will compete in the Nov. 2 nonpartisan primary, and a runoff would take place two weeks later if no one contender received a majority of the vote.

● Minneapolis, MN Mayor: Former state Rep. Kate Knuth announced Tuesday that she would challenge her fellow Democrat, Mayor Jacob Frey, in the November instant-runoff election.

Knuth left office in early 2013 and went on to serve as Minneapolis' chief resilience officer under Frey's predecessor, Betsy Hodges, but left soon after Frey's 2017 victory. Knuth joins community organizer Sheila Nezhad in the contest, though Nezhad raised a mere $5,100 last year for her campaign. Other contenders may also get in ahead of the August filing deadline.

Both Knuth and Nezhad have emphasized police reform in a campaign that will take place the year after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. (Chauvin is scheduled to go on trial for second-degree murder and manslaughter next week.) Knuth argued in her kickoff that the Minneapolis Police Department should be abolished and replaced by a "public safety department that includes multiple ways to create public safety, including first responders who can help solve problems," though unlike Nezhad, she avoided explicitly saying the department should be defunded.

Frey, for his part, was loudly booed in June when he told a crowd that he opposed an effort by the City Council to fully defund the police. The mayor told NPR afterwards, "We need to entirely shift the culture that has for years failed Black and brown people … We need a full structural revamp. But abolishing the police department? No, I think that's a bad idea."

Frey has also defended his handling of the unrest that followed Floyd's death and argued that he's put needed changes in place at the police department. The incumbent enjoys the backing of state Attorney General Keith Ellison, a former Minneapolis-area congressman and the first Black person to win a non-judicial statewide office in Minnesota.

Other Races

● SD-AG: Former South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has announced a comeback bid for his old job next year against incumbent Jason Ravnsborg, who was criminally charged for striking and killing a man with his car late last month and now faces impeachment proceedings.

A nominee would not be chosen by voters in a primary but instead by Republican delegates at a state party convention. Jackley unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018 when he was term-limited out as attorney general, losing to now-Gov. Kristi Noem 56-44 (in a contest that was decided by a primary). Under state law, he can run again now that he's been out of office in the interim. Ravnsborg hasn't said anything about seeking re-election, though he's insisted he won't resign, even with fellow Republicans moving forward with impeachment proceedings in the state House.

Data

● House: Using Daily Kos Elections' recently completed calculations of 2020 presidential election results by congressional district, Stephen Wolf looks at the districts that split their tickets last year for House and president, complete with maps and and a chart. Seven districts voted for a Democrat and Donald Trump while nine voted for Joe Biden and a Republican, and those 16 "crossover" districts represent the lowest number of split-ticket districts in a century, a result of historically high levels of partisan polarization.

It’s amazing to see, but Republicans are really digging their own graves

Posted on February 25, 2021 by kos

Much has been written lately about the GQP’s unfathomable opposition to the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package (see here, here, here and here). In short, the Democrat’s proposal is incredibly popular, even among Republicans. A Morning Consult poll pegged support at 76% of voters, including 60% of Republicans. That’s bipartisanship. But Republicans in Congress want to play off the old destroy-Obama-at-all-costs playbook, and have put up a wall of opposition to the legislation.

And not only are they rhetorically opposing it, but they’re actively whipping against it, forcing congressional Republicans to vote against it or else. Let’s hope they’re successful, because nothing will make the 2022 midterm messaging clearer than “those checks came from us, they didn’t want to help you at all.”

Indeed, their current stances are so at odds with basic political common sense, it almost makes you suspicious, right? What do they know that we don’t? But no, they think the COVID-19 relief package is like the Affordable Care Act, where they could fearmonger about losing your doctor. Pandemic relief isn’t about taking anything away from you, it’s about giving you cold, hard cash.

The current Republican response is hilariously stupid. It’s stuff like this:

We’ve run the numbers and here’s your receipt, @SpeakerPelosi @SenSchumer. pic.twitter.com/e2cAG8st8W
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) February 24, 2021

That “$$$”, of course, is checks for people. But even libraries and mass transit aren’t particularly unpopular items, so not sure what they think they’re getting from this kind of messaging. Here’s another one:

Only 9% of the Biden Bailout Bill goes to #COVID relief. A few examples of where the money is actually going: ➡️$135 million for the National Endowment of the Arts ➡️$350 billion in blue state bailouts ➡️$1.5 million for the Seaway International Bridge ➡️$1.5 billion for Amtrak
— Ways and Means GOP (@WaysandMeansGOP) February 24, 2021

For a party that is losing ground with swing voters, not sure why they think that “blue state bailouts” kind of divisive rhetoric gets them anything beyond their old, white, rural, and literally dying off base. “$1.5 million” for something? In a $1.9 TRILLION dollar bill? Does anyone care? And Amtrak is a lifeline for many rural communities. And people like trains.

Part of the GOP’s problem is that they no longer know how to message against an old white male. President Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren? Oh boy, they’d have a field day. But the old guy who doesn’t grandstand or showboat much, keeps his head down, stays professional? They’re at a loss.

So much so that he is a far more popular politician than pretty much anyone else in this country. Some polling has shown positively gaudy numbers for Biden.

New numbers from @MorningConsult show that @JoeBiden is the most popular national political leader in America https://t.co/EgQ7jtrlob pic.twitter.com/marUPs14FJ
— John Anzalone (@JohnAnzo) February 24, 2021

Civiqs, which does a great job of filtering out partisan non-response bias (in essence, demoralized partisans refusing to answer polls), has more measured numbers:

Civiqs Results

For comparison’s sake, Donald Trump is at 42% favorable, 56% unfavorable. And just as important as the toppling, the trend is a good one. Republicans can’t touch him, which is maybe why they’re resorting to this kind of buffoonery:

Newsmax guest attacks Biden's dogs for being dirty and "unlike a presidential dog" pic.twitter.com/6yitOlM765
— aliciasadowski (@aliciasadowski6) February 20, 2021

They’ve got nothing of real substance.

Now, as we look ahead to 2022, take a look at this question, which asks which party better represents you:

Civiqs Results

That 16-point gap (46% Democratic vs. 30% Republican) is quite dramatic, and is driven by crashing numbers among independents: only 22% think the GOP is concerned about people like them, down from 33% on Election Day. Meanwhile, 36% of independents say Democrats are concerned about them. Let’s keep an eye on this chart in the coming months, because it’s going to become extra clear which party cares about people, and which one is hell-bent on committing political suicide. The damage Republicans are doing to themselves is already extensive. Let’s compare the two parties:

Republican Party favorability: 23% favorable, 65% unfavorable, with brutal trendiness.

Civiqs Results

Democratic Party favorability: 44% favorable, 49% unfavorable, with gradually improving trendiness.

Civiqs Results

Republicans already lost the 2018 and 2020 elections, and demographic trends continue to move against them. Trump cost them the White House, the Senate, and the House, and there is zero guarantee his voters will ever turn out for an election without Trump on the ballot (they haven’t before). Yet the Republican Party isn’t just doubling down on Trumpism, it’s doubling down on opposing popular legislation.

Think about it, even a Q-addled Republican will have to think twice in 2022 if she or he has to vote between losing their monthly child credit check from the IRS, or a Republican promising to end any such help. Deliver help to people, and it’s a different playing field. It’s already happening, and the legislation hasn’t even passed into law.

Democrats gifted Republicans the chance to rip out the Trump cancer from their party, but the GQP refused to convict in the impeachment trial. Now Republicans are gifting Democrats the chance to lock in popular support for their party and candidates.

Perhaps it’s time to stop looking the gift horse in the mouth, and just run up the advantage.

Kamala Harris Refuses To Give Direct Answer After Being Asked If Trump Should Face Criminal Charges

Posted on February 18, 2021 by LifeZette

Vice President Kamala Harris declined to give a direct answer on Wednesday morning when she was asked if former President Donald Trump should face criminal charges for his alleged role in the Capitol riots last month.

Kamala Harris Interviewed On ‘Today’

“The president was acquitted in the Senate trial,” said “Today” host Savannah Guthrie. “Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, though, had some harsh words, saying he didn’t get away with anything yet, and that civil and criminal liability was still a possibility. I ask you — do you think that President Trump should be criminally charged?”

“You know, right now, Savannah, I’m focused on what we need to do to get relief to American families, and that is my highest priority,” Harris replied. “It is our administration’s highest priority. It is our job. It is the job we were elected to do, and that’s my focus.”

“But you’re a former prosecutor, so I have got to ask you, is that a strong case against the president, a criminal case that Mitch McConnell had raised as a possibility?” Guthrie pressed on.

“I haven’t reviewed the case through the lens of being a prosecutor,” Harris responded, dodging the question again. “I’m reviewing the case of COVID in America through the lens of being the vice president of America.”

Harris’ Past Comments Come Back To Haunt Her

Harris found herself in some hot water during Trump’s impeachment trial when past comments that she had made came back to haunt her, as Republicans claimed that she had incited violence in the past as well by encouraging racial riots and bailing out protests.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) went so far as to say that if Republicans take back the House, Harris could find herself being impeached, based on the precedent Democrats set with their latest effort against Trump.

“If you use this model, I don’t know how Kamala Harris doesn’t get impeached if the Republicans take over the House, because she actually bailed out rioters and one of the rioters went back to the streets and broke somebody’s head open,” Graham said, according to Newsweek. “So we’ve opened Pandora’s Box here, and I’m sad for the country.”

This piece was written by James Samson on February 17, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

The post Kamala Harris Refuses To Give Direct Answer After Being Asked If Trump Should Face Criminal Charges appeared first on The Political Insider.

House managers provide a compelling case against Donald Trump on opening day of his Senate trial

Posted on February 11, 2021 by Mark Sumner

Wednesday brought the first day of Donald Trump’s actual second impeachment trial, and the House managers came packing a case that could not have been more complete or compelling. Over the course of the day, the managers showed how Trump prepared his followers to revolt even before the election with repetitions of the idea that he could only lose if there was fraud. When he did lose, Trump immediately jumped in to claim that massive fraud had occurred, describing it in apocalyptic terms that meant the end of America. Throughout the period from the election to January 6, Trump repeatedly called on his supporters to actively fight to “stop the steal,” constantly signaling the need to take action and never condemning acts of violence or intimidation.

The House team also went through Trump’s own actions. That included both his increasingly flailing—and failing—attempts to find a judge that would lend credence to any part of his concocted claims. When the legal efforts proved fruitless, Trump turned to intimidation. He tried his hand at forcing state legislators, local officials, governors, and secretaries of state to overcome threats of violence and retribution. With every other option taken away, Trump prepared his final weapon—the followers he’d been lying to for years. He cultivated their anger, gathered them in numbers, and unleashed them on the Capitol in a bloody rampage resulting in five deaths and the desecration of the nation’s most revered locations.

Overall, it was a presentation that should have shocked the nation. And, if nothing else, made it absolutely clear to every Republican exactly what they’ve voting for should they vote to absolve Trump.

Throughout the day, the House team merged footage that’s become all too familiar with images taken from security cameras and police body cameras that had not previously been seen by the public. The result was the most chilling and complete view of the events on Jan. 6 that has been seen so far. Through the use of alternating shots from inside and outside the chambers of Congress, the managers revealed just how close the insurgents came to laying their hands on Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi, and other members of Congress.

In addition to the videos, the team used a model of the Capitol that highlighted locations of the rioters and their targets. The combination was extremely effective, and perhaps never more so than in the segment delivered by Virigin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett.

WATCH: Complete 40-minute presentation from @StaceyPlaskett which includes never-before-seen U.S. Capitol Security Footage https://t.co/JGhGjQq0B1 #ImpeachmentTrial pic.twitter.com/cSoXCBxYFn
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 10, 2021

Also impactful in retelling the moments of that day were slides and audio recordings from the Capitol Police and Metro D.C. Police. In their statements and voices there was an awful sense of terror and a recognition that their positions had become indefensible.

If there was any other moment that carried the same level of impact as Plaskett’s presentation of actions as the seditionists entered the Capitol, it was likely the presentation split between Rep. Rep. Joaquin Castro and Rep. David Cicilline that detailed Trump’s reaction to the invasion and violence. Not only did this include reports of Trump’s “delight” and “excitement,” it made extremely clear his inaction over a period of hours when he might have moved to help.

But no matter how many requests Trump got from insider or outside the White House, Trump was content to watch his supporters hunting Mike Pence and members of Congress.

At the very end of the day, as the House managers were moving to close their case, Republican Sen. Mike Lee rose to object, saying that some portion of the presentation had misquoted him. The action caused a disruption. In part that’s because Senators are not allowed to object to statements of fact during this part of the presentation, but it was even more confusing because the only time Lee was mentioned during the whole day was in connection to a phone call from Trump in which Lee’s entire statement was just letting Trump know that he was not Sen. Tommy Tuberville.

If anything, Lee’s objection only served to draw more attention to that call. And that call is a critical part of one part of the case — showing Trump’s level of depraved indifference. Because in comments that evening, Tuberville made it clear that he told Trump during the phone call that Pence had just been taken from the chamber. When Trump hung up from that call, what Trump did wasn’t to get help, but to make tweet about Pence.

Using the model and split screen, Rep. Castro had already pointed out that Trump’s tweet about Pence came just as the crowd was chanting “Hang Mike Pence.” That crowd read the tweet in real time, with one person even blaring it out on a bullhorn. And, as Rep. Plaskett’s presentation showed, insurgents were at that moment passing within a few feet of Pence as he escaped the building.

That moment was already one of the most impactful of the day. Lee’s objection only served to underline it’s importance.

Jim Jordan Claims Democrats Are ‘Scared’ Of Trump

Posted on February 9, 2021 by LifeZette

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) penned an op-ed for Fox News on Tuesday that accused Democrats of having an “obsession” with impeaching Donald Trump because “they’re scared of him.”

Jordan Attacks Democrats

Jordan wrote in the op-ed that Democrats are hoping that this impeachment trial will lead to so much disdain for Trump that he will never run for office again.

“It’s been almost a month since he left office, but Democrats still can’t let go of President Donald Trump,” Jordan wrote. “That’s why, as our country faces many urgent challenges, the Senate will set aside its real work this week and instead focus on yet another political impeachment charade.”

Jordan added that while the Capitol riots should not have happened last month, they were not a concern for Democrats because while Republicans have condemned violence in the past, “Democrats have not, and now they are casting political blame for what happened at the Capitol.”

“President Trump did not incite the violence of Jan. 6,” Jordan said. “News reports suggest the FBI knew in advance that violence would occur. The U.S. Capitol Police also reportedly understood that there was a ‘strong potential for violence’ that day.”

“Pipe bombs had been placed before President Trump’s speech,” he continued. “So how can Democrats accuse President Trump of inciting violence when the violent acts had been planned in advance?”

Jordan Blasts House For Impeaching Trump

Jordan lamented the fact that in the House, there was no due process for Trump, “there was no process whatsoever.” He added that the Senate is now preparing to conduct an unconstitutional “impeachment trial” of a man no longer president.

“Last week, Democrats threatened President Trump that if he declined to testify during the Democrats’ impeachment charade, they would use it as proof of his guilt,” he wrote. “That may be how trials work in socialist countries. But that’s not how it works in America.”

“Democrats are going to these lengths because they are obsessed with canceling President Trump,” Jordan continued. “They’re scared of him. They know he works [for] the American people, and not the Washington Swamp. Unlike most politicians, President Trump did what he said he’d do. Hopefully, one day, he’ll get to do it again.”

This piece was written by James Samson on February 9, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

The post Jim Jordan Claims Democrats Are ‘Scared’ Of Trump appeared first on The Political Insider.

Liz Cheney Says ‘Massive Criminal Investigation’ Underway Into Whether Trump Incited ‘Premeditated Violence’ At The Capitol

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Rusty Weiss

Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) claims there is a “massive criminal investigation underway” to determine if former President Trump is guilty of inciting “premeditated” violence on the Capitol.

Cheney made the startling assertion during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace.

The Republican lawmaker urged her colleagues in the Senate to consider the evidence that would be put forth during the upcoming impeachment trial.

“If I was in the Senate, I would listen to the evidence,” she said. “I think that is the role the Senate has as jurors.”

“I would also point out that the Senate trial is a snapshot. There’s a massive criminal investigation underway,” continued Cheney. “There will be a massive criminal investigation of everything that happened on Jan. 6 and in the days before.”

Liz Cheney – Trump the Subject of a Massive Criminal Investigation

Rep. Liz Cheney went on to suggest that the criminal investigation into Trump’s alleged role in the Capitol riots was to determine whether or not his actions were “premeditated.”

“People will want to know exactly what the president was doing,” Cheney said referencing a tweet in which the former President criticized vice president Mike Pence for not being courageous in combating the election results.

People “will want to know … whether that tweet, for example, was a premeditated effort to provoke violence,” she claimed.

Liz Cheney floats the idea that Trump’s tweet attacking Pence during the Capitol insurrection may have been “a premeditated effort to provoke violence” pic.twitter.com/KoyatGirPG

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 7, 2021

Cheney’s rantings are nearly indiscernible from those of her colleague Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) who claims Trump should face premeditated murder charges for his alleged role in the riots.

“There’s information that some of the planning came out of individuals working in his campaign,” Waters said.

“As a matter of fact, he absolutely should be charged with premeditated murder because of the lives that were lost with this invasion, with this insurrection.”

Not an ounce of difference between what Waters has said and what Liz Cheney is trying to say with her criminal investigation comments about Trump.

Maxine Waters: Trump, “should be charged with premeditated murder.”
pic.twitter.com/l9ATfpKC2E

— 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 (@essenviews) February 3, 2021

Claims No Future For Trump in the Republican Party

Liz Cheney, during her interview with Wallace, went on to claim that Donald Trump has no future in the Republican party.

“Somebody who has provoked an attack on the United States Capitol to prevent the counting of electoral votes, which resulted in five people dying, who refused to stand up immediately when he was asked to stop the violence, that is a person who does not have a role as the leader of our party going forward,” she said.

“We should not be embracing the former president.”

The reality, however, suggests it is Cheney and the anti-Trump Republicans who are not being embraced by Republican voters.

One poll, released last month, shows a vast majority of Republicans do not hold Trump responsible for the Capitol riots, and a staggering 92 percent still see him as their preferred nominee in 2024.

Another poll shows an overwhelming percentage of Republican voters would follow him to a new political party if need be.

NEW POLL: 64 percent of GOP voters say they would join a Trump-led new party https://t.co/C1o8d0ZrOC pic.twitter.com/R2I4KenUeE

— The Hill (@thehill) February 4, 2021

Cheney, one of the few Republicans to join the Democrats in their impeachment charade, was censured by the Wyoming Republican Party for her actions.

Former Clinton campaign adviser Dick Morris recently told Newsmax that she “has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting reelected.”

The post Liz Cheney Says ‘Massive Criminal Investigation’ Underway Into Whether Trump Incited ‘Premeditated Violence’ At The Capitol appeared first on The Political Insider.

Rep. Cori Bush recounts her determination to go down fighting if the Capitol mob had reached her

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Laura Clawson

Republicans want to sweep the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol under the rug. They want us to forget how violent, how brutal, how hateful it was, and most of all how seriously it threatened our democracy. Republicans want us to forget this even though in some cases their own lives were at risk, too. Because they’ve decided it’s politically expedient to stand by their man and defend Donald Trump against impeachment for having incited an insurrection.

House Democrats, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are not interested in letting this be swept under the rug. One of their most powerful tools is a simple one: They’re telling their stories. Following AOC’s powerful Instagram Live recounting of her experience on Jan. 6, a group of Democrats rose Thursday night to speak. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee compared fleeing the Capitol on Jan. 6 to fleeing it on 9/11, describing the smoke from the Pentagon in one case and the sounds of shooting in the other.

“We must get to the bottom of this. We cannot let white supremacy … dominate the goodness of what this democracy and this Constitution stands for,” she said. “I’m here on the floor to say that we shall not be denied. We are never going to give up our love for democracy, nor its vitality, nor are we going to let this country be dominated by the insurrectionists who came to this place to do nothing but act in a bloodthirsty manner. We are not afraid of you.”

Rep. Dean Phillips—an average-looking white guy from Minnesota—recounted how the Capitol attack made him understand white privilege in a new way. “Recognizing that we were sitting ducks in this room as the chamber was about to be breached, I screamed to my colleagues to follow me. To follow me across the aisle to the Republican side of the chamber, so that we could blend in—so that we could blend in,” he said. “For I felt that the insurrectionists who were trying to break down the doors right here would spare us if they simply mistook us for Republicans.

”But within moments I recognized that blending in was not an option available to my colleagues of color. So I’m here tonight to say to my brothers and sisters in Congress and all around our country. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. For I had never understood—really understood—what privilege really means. It took a violent mob of insurrectionists and a lightning bolt moment in this very room. But now I know. Believe me, I really know.”

Phillips’ emotional apology adds context to the testimony from some of the colleagues he was referring to—people who could not hope to blend in with House Republicans. He described his fear that day, but some of his colleagues have lived with fear like that and experienced the insurrection as too close to what they already knew.

Rep. Cori Bush showed how she became a movement leader with a searing speech tying the experience of being in the Capitol on that day to her experience of protest, saying, “People were calling this a protest. Let me say this: That was not a protest. I’ve been to hundreds of protests in my life. I’ve co-organized, co-led, led, and organized protests.” Sitting in her office, with her staff, watching the attack on the Capitol on television, Bush vowed “If they touch these doors, if they hit these doors the way they hit that door and come anywhere near my staff—and I’m just going to be real honest about it, my thought process was, we bangin’ till the end. I’m not letting them take out my people and you’re not taking me out. We’ve come too far.”

Where Bush emphasized her readiness in that moment to go down fighting—a measure of the level of threat she felt, but also a truly stirring call—Rep. Rashida Tlaib described herself as “paralyzed” by the threats she has received. Sobbing almost from the beginning, she recounted getting her first death threat on the first day of orientation after her election to Congress. “I didn’t even get sworn in yet and someone wanted me dead for just existing,” she said. “More came later, uglier, more violent.” One even mentioned her son by name. Tlaib wasn’t in the Capitol on Jan. 6, but with years of death threats in her experience, the sight traumatized her again.

These are amazing moments and they are profound witness to the horror of Jan. 6—the horror of what Donald Trump spent years laying the groundwork for, months setting the stage for as he tried to overturn the election results, and a morning inciting live and in person. Trump of course had a solid bedrock of U.S. racism to build on, but this specific event was something he really worked for and owns. Republicans want to wish it away to protect their own. That must not happen.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy gushes about ‘unity’ as he embraces extremism

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Laura Clawson

Top Republicans are looking for big gains in the House in 2022, and they’ve decided that their best path to those gains is to welcome extremists to their party. Make that: to keep welcoming extremists to their party.

That’s the message they sent when House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy first refused to discipline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for her violent rhetoric, anti-Semitism, and embrace of conspiracy theories, and it’s the message they put an exclamation point on Thursday night when all but 11 Republicans voted to keep her in her committee assignments. Those assignments included the education committee, despite Greene’s harassment of survivors of the Parkland school shooting and her claims that the Parkland and Sandy Hook shootings had been hoaxes.

To McCarthy, the fact that Republicans voted both to keep Rep. Liz Cheney in leadership despite her vote to impeach Donald Trump and to protect Greene’s committee assignments is big evidence of the unity that will carry the party through 2022 successfully. “The number one thing that happened in this conference was unity,” he said after the five-hour meeting to fight over two women’s political fates. “Two years from now, we are going to win the majority.”

Both Democrats and Senate Republicans think McCarthy might be making the wrong bet in keeping the QAnon, insurrectionist far-right under the tent of the Republican establishment.

”House members never like us judging them, but I do think as a party we have to figure out what we stand for,” Republican Sen. John Thune said. “I think we’ve got to be the party, as I said, of ideas and policies and principles, and get away from members dabbling in conspiracy theories.”

”It’s only going to get worse unless we do something about it,” an unnamed adviser to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told The Washington Post. But McCarthy doesn’t think the direction of his caucus is bad and getting worse, apparently. He didn’t have to make a decision between Cheney and Greene this time, and he seems to see that as a road map for the future.

The question is whether Democrats—facing the traditionally very difficult midterms for a party with a first-term president—can find the right message to voters. One Democratic group is already running ads saying “The QAnon conspiracies sound wild. But the danger is real” as they tie McCarthy to Greene’s offensive statements, including her denial of 9/11.

”You can do QAnon, and you can do swing districts, but you can’t do both,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. His Republican counterpart, Rep. Tom Emmer, though, said “This is the same QAnon playbook they tried in 2020, and they lost 15 seats.”

A few other things happened in the 2020 elections, mind you. And it’s not just QAnon. It’s Proud Boys and other hate groups. It’s the non-Q things Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert and Donald Trump himself will do and say between now and November 2022. QAnon is an easy shorthand, but the full constellation of awful things that shorthand encompasses is pretty staggering, and not terribly popular with voters.

But it should be undeniable that Democrats need a message beyond QAnon. Passing a strong COVID-19 relief package, including a minimum wage increase, would be one great message. Competently administering vaccinations and getting the country back on track would be another. Democratic policies are popular. Get them into place now and then spend the next 20 months or so hammering the contrast between those accomplishments and Republican efforts to block those popular polices and Republican embrace of extremism. There should be plenty of material to work with on the Republican side—it’s getting the material on the Democratic side in place that’s the priority right now.

MSNBC Cuts Away From GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy To Tell Audience ‘What You Are Watching Now Is Not True’

Posted on February 5, 2021 by John Hanson

On Thursday, MSNBC personality Nicolle Wallace broke away from coverage of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s floor remarks concerning Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to claim to her viewers that “what you are watching right now isn’t true.”

Wallace made her comments during her show “Deadline.”

McCarthy was speaking before Democrats held a vote to remove Greene from her committees over controversial comments she made before being elected to office.

Watch the video below.

McCarthy Blasts Democrats

McCarthy said on the House floor, “The rushed impeachment threw without a shred of due process just like today. Reducing this tool from the highest constitutional remedy to just another opportunity to fund raise and go on TV.”

“Now they are declaring the majority has veto power over the minorities members selection for committee,” McCarthy said. “We reviewed this with the parliamentarian.”

“Never before in the history of this House has the majority abused its power in this way,” he added.

The House Minority Leader then turned his sights on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“But it is clear that Speaker Pelosi’s caucus think differently,” McCarthy said. “They are blinded by partisanship and politics. It’s the American people who will suffer the most because of it.”

McCarthy then roundly condemned Greene’s comments before she became a congresswoman.

He said, “As far as the member in question, let me be very clear, Representative Greene’s past comments and posts as a private citizen do not represent of values of my party.”

“As a Republican, as a conservative, as an American, I condemn those views unequivocally,” McCarthy said. “I condemned them when they first surfaced and I condemn them today.”

McCarthy then focused on the QAnon conspiracy theory itself.

“This House overwhelmingly voted to condemn the dangerous lies of QAnon last Congress, and continue to do so,” McCarthy insisted. “I also made this clear when I met with representative Greene.”

@GOPLeader You are all fired. https://t.co/ce0b3FOkD1

— Jack St. (@coachzio) February 4, 2021

Wallace: ‘Most Of What Kevin McCarthy Is Saying… Is Not True’

“I also made clear that we as members have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard,” McCarthy said. “She acknowledged this during or conversation and apologized for her past comments.”

He emphasized, “I will hold her to her words and her actions moving forward.”

That is when Wallace cut away to tell her viewers what was ‘really’ happening.

Wallace said, breaking from covering McCarthy, “We’re going to come out of it because most of it is not true.”

Wallace then doubled down, “Most of what Kevin McCarthy is saying, while he appears to believe it as it comes out of his mouth, is not true.”

House Minority Leader McCarthy (R-CA): "When Democrats attack Congresswoman Greene, they not only ignore the infractions in their own party, they reward these members with prestige and influence.” pic.twitter.com/iLVmWZsaN8

— The Recount (@therecount) February 4, 2021

“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee appointments are not in the air and up for a vote today because of Democrats,” Wallace said. “It’s up in the air and up for a vote today because Kevin McCarthy can’t clean his own house.”

Then she backed Liz Cheney and continued to dump on McCarthy.

Wallace said, “He led 61 of his colleagues to vote against Liz Cheney’s leadership post because she had the audacity to call an insurrection incited by Donald Trump an insurrection inspired by and incited by Donald Trump. So what you are watching right now isn’t true.”

Wallace’s argument isn’t a set of facts. It’s her own opinion.

It’s her opinion that Democrats were kicking Greene off her committees because “Kevin McCarthy can’t clean his own house.”

It’s unclear what Wallace means by this. What action, exactly, is McCarthy supposed to take? Marjorie Taylor Greene was duly elected by the people of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District – by 75%.

And what does the Liz Cheney vote have to do with Democrats kicking Greene off her committees?

There’s nothing in the Constitution, or the law, or even the House rules that requires Democrats to remove someone from their committees because the other party held a vote in their caucus about their leadership.

The truth is, Wallace wanted to cut away from McCarthy to editorialize.

Watch the extraordinary segment here:

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