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The Midterm Elections


fraurosena

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7 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

I really want Scott Walker to end up shilling catheters and reverse mortgages on some obscure television network.

The sound of his voice makes me sick to my stomach. 2011 did a real number on me.

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1 hour ago, molecule said:

The sound of his voice makes me sick to my stomach. 2011 did a real number on me.

I ask my normally even tempered Wisconsin connection about Walker or Ryan, and he goes from calm to :my_angry: in seconds.  

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"The Republicans’ panic about their big Wisconsin loss is revealing"

Spoiler

Yesterday there was an election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court (and yes, it’s insane that we choose judges this way, a system used almost nowhere else in the world). The election was won rather easily by the liberal candidate, Rebecca Dallet.

In response, Gov. Scott Walker (R) issued a call to arms for Republicans in his state and around the country:

... < Walker's whiny tweet >

This idea that politicians win by sharing “our positive story with voters” is a common part of our collective mythology about how campaigns work. But it’s utterly, completely wrong.

I’m pretty sure nobody understands that fact better than Walker. Because there may be no governor in the United States who has worked harder to rig the game in his party’s favor than he has. As soon as he got elected, Walker began a long war on unions in the state, knowing they are one of the cornerstones of Democratic power. He signed a voter ID law that successfully disenfranchised thousands of voters. He rewrote the state’s campaign finance laws to decrease transparency and enhance corporate influence. And he presided over one of the most aggressive gerrymanders of state legislative districts anywhere in the country, which has allowed Republicans to retain large majorities in the legislature even when they get fewer votes than Democrats.

In other words, Walker doesn’t seem to believe that sharing his positive story with voters is enough to win elections. And on that, he’s completely right.

For better or worse — usually, but not always, for worse — fear and anger are much more powerful determinants of election outcomes than which party has the more compelling positive story to tell. The reason the opposition party almost always picks up seats in midterm elections is that they’re the ones who are mad, so they’re the ones who turn out to vote.

It happens in general elections, too. Every once in a while you get a candidate like Barack Obama running on hope, but even in 2008, his win was fed in no small part by anger at President George W. Bush. And it’s a little rich for Walker to claim that Democrats are driven by anger and hatred, when the leader of his party got elected by saying Mexicans are rapists and by promising to build a wall on our border, ban Muslims from entering the country and throw his opponent in jail.

But let’s say the Republican Party decided that Walker is right, and they just need to share their positive story this fall. What would they say?

Well, they’d say they cut taxes. And … um … yeah … they cut taxes.

That gets to a key weakness of the GOP’s “positive story.” As the party of small government, their positive story is pretty thin. They’ve had complete control of government for nearly 15 months, and what have they done besides that tax cut? They tried and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They repealed some Obama-era regulations. They haven’t reformed the immigration system, though they did manage to pass a budget. They increased military spending.

But that’s pretty much it, and Republicans have decided they aren’t going to be doing any more major legislation between now and the election. The only big things they want to do are things they know the public would freak out about, like privatizing Medicare, so they aren’t going to try. It doesn’t add up to much of a positive story to tell, even if you think that a positive story is what they need to prevent that blue wave.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that parties don’t need to tell voters what they want to accomplish. We’re seeing that with the Democrats that have been having such success in special and off-year elections since 2016: They’ve talked plenty about what they want to do in office. But they’ve also counted on anger at President Trump to get their voters excited and mobilized. As the party of government, they have a much more substantial agenda to offer. But it’s only in years such as this one, when their voters have reason to be mad, that they can really capitalize.

But we’re going to keep getting told this tale about how the positive story is what matters. After every loss in the last year or so, Republicans have repeated some variation of: “We just didn’t do a good enough job explaining how great our policies are.” If only they had been able to make people understand how the tax cut has transformed everyone’s lives for the better, they would have won in a rout. I can promise you, if there is indeed a blue wave this November, Republicans are certain to keep saying that it was a failure of communication, not of their (or Trump’s) policies or ideas.

The sad truth is that we’re caught in a cycle of reaction and counter-reaction that shows no sign of abating. Bill Clinton got elected and then Republicans got mad and took back Congress, then George W. Bush got elected and Democrats got mad and took back Congress, then Obama got elected and Republicans got mad and took back Congress, then Trump got elected and Democrats got mad and are probably going to take back Congress, or at least the House.

But if the GOP wants to follow Walker’s advice and keep telling their positive story, they should go right ahead and see how it works out for them.

 

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"GOP increasingly fears loss of House, focuses on saving Senate majority"

Spoiler

Republicans are increasingly worried they will lose control of the House in the midterm elections, furiously directing money and resources to hold and potentially boost their narrow majority in the Senate.

To many, the Senate is emerging as a critical barrier against Democrats demolishing President Trump’s agenda beginning in 2019. Worse yet, some in the GOP fear, Democrats could use complete control of Congress to co-opt the ideologically malleable president and advance their own priorities.

Democratic enthusiasm is surging in suburban districts that House Republicans are struggling to fortify, causing GOP officials, donors and strategists to fret. They have greater confidence in the more rural red states Trump won convincingly that make up the bulk of the Senate battlefield.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his allies are seeking to capitalize on concerns about the House. He is leading an effort to motivate conservative voters by reminding them that his side of the Capitol has the unilateral power to confirm federal judges and Trump administration nominees.

Trump is showing a keen interest in the Senate landscape, raising money for a highly touted challenger, helping clear the primary field for an endangered senator and playfully engaging in an intraparty contest.

And marquee Republican challengers are stepping up to run for the Senate, even as House GOP retirements pile up. The latest blue-chip recruit is Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who is expected to launch his challenge to Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson on Monday.

“Our donors will often say we need to do everything we can to hold onto the Senate, because there’s a chance we may not be able to hold the House,” said Steven Law, a former McConnell chief of staff who runs a super PAC called the Senate Leadership Fund.

While some Republicans believe they can expand their 51-49 Senate advantage, simply holding the slim majority has grown increasingly more complicated. Hard-right Republicans running in Arizona and Mississippi and a competitive open race in Tennessee could lead to Democratic gains. An even better pickup opportunity exists for Democrats in Nevada.

But on the whole, the Democratic path to the Senate majority is more daunting: They are defending 26 seats to just nine for the Republicans. Trump won in 10 of the states where Democrats are playing defense. They include North Dakota, West Virginia, Indiana and Missouri — all states he won by 19 points or more.

In the House, Republicans have built their ranks on locking down seats in suburban and exurban districts. But in these areas, Democratic turnout has been high in elections over the past year, fueled by anger with Trump. If Democrats can gain 23 House seats, they will clinch the majority.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) put the chances of holding the House majority at “50-50.” The veteran party strategist warned that “the environment could easily continue to deteriorate,” and said he didn’t begrudge McConnell for pitching his case for the Senate.

“If I had to bet right now, I’d say we lose the House,” said Dan Eberhart, a wealthy oil industry executive and major GOP fundraiser raising cash for several Senate contenders. At the same time, Eberhart predicted a Republican gain of three or four seats in the Senate. He said it is “galactically important” to hold the upper chamber of Congress so that Republicans can confirm nominations from the White House.

McConnell sounded similar notes Tuesday when he likened the electoral headwinds to a “Category 3, 4 or 5” storm. Republicans need to keep control of the Senate because “even if we were to lose the House and be stymied legislatively, we could still approve appointments, which is a huge part of what we do,” he told a local editorial board.

A Republican close to the Senate leader said McConnell was laying the foundation for an argument that could appeal to right-leaning voters: A GOP Senate will confirm conservative judges. The Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid, predicted that more reminders about the Senate confirming Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court last year will show up in the campaign.

And if the speculation that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy might retire this summer becomes reality, Republicans would use that as a rallying cry for keeping the Senate.

Michael Steele, a former Republican National Committee chairman, said the House “may be further gone than people like to admit publicly.” While many in the party worry about a Democratic House and Senate launching an endless string of hearings and investigations into Trump, Steele said he has a different concern — that Democrats will work with the president to pass legislation that Republicans won’t like.

“Trump will cut whatever deal he can get a vote on,” he said. The president, he argued, “is an opportunist.”

After backing embattled Republican Roy Moore in Alabama’s special election last year, only to see him lose, Trump has put greater effort into helping more mainstream Senate contenders.

He ended a fierce Republican primary in Nevada by coaxing challenger Danny Tarkanian to abandon his bid against Sen. Dean Heller and run for the House. He raised money for state Attorney General Josh Hawley in Missouri. And he helped recruit Scott to run in Florida and Rep. Kevin Cramer to mount a campaign in North Dakota.

On Thursday, Trump visited West Virginia for a roundtable on tax reform. At the end of his event, he conducted an informal audience poll of two Republican candidates for Senate who were seated to his left and right: Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

“It was fairly close,” the president remarked, seeming to enjoy the political spectacle. Snubbed was a third GOP candidate, former coal executive Don Blankenship, who served a one-year prison sentence for conspiring to violate mine safety and health standards after an accident killed 29 miners. Republicans fear a Blankenship primary win could cost them a shot at the seat.

Vice President Pence has also pitched in to help Senate Republicans. He will hit the road in the coming days to raise money for Heller, who is considered the most vulnerable Republican senator up this year.

Pence, who has also been campaigning on behalf of House and gubernatorial candidates, is expected to travel to his home state of Indiana once the GOP nominee is chosen in the May 8 primary, a White House official said.

Against Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Pence plans to level the same, “Joe voted no” line of attack he used against Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) earlier this year when he hammered Manchin for opposing the sweeping Republican tax law, the official said.

But a trio of seats Democrats are trying to flip from Republican control could hinder the GOP effort to save the Senate majority. In each, the White House is confronting difficult decisions.

There is growing concern among Republicans about Arizona. There, Rep. Martha McSally is in a three-way primary against former sheriff Joe Arpaio and former state senator Kelli Ward, each of whom is trying to run to McSally’s right. Some Republicans have wondered whether the White House should intervene and hasten a showdown between McSally and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic recruit who is seen by Republicans as a real threat to win in November.

In Mississippi, party leaders want to stop hard-right state Sen. Chris McDaniel in a special election. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant appointed state Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) to fill retired Republican Thad Cochran’s seat and run in the special election. Trump and McConnell wanted Bryant to run. Neither has endorsed Hyde-Smith yet.

Democrat Mike Espy announced his candidacy on Friday, giving the party a solid candidate for a Southern seat. The Mississippi race has no partisan primaries before the Nov. 6 election. Instead, all the candidates will appear on one ballot, and GOP leaders worry about McDaniel advancing to a runoff against a Democrat.

In Tennessee, White House political aides worked to keep Republican Sen. Bob Corker from reversing course and running for reelection. Now, they are hoping that Rep. Marsha Blackburn can outperform public polls showing her losing to former Democratic governor Phil Bredesen.

Still, keeping the House is the steeper climb for the GOP. And each day, it gets even tougher. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report moved 13 House races toward the Democrats in its rating system on Friday.

The divergent House and the Senate outlooks have caused a kind of cognitive dissonance for Republicans. When they describe the overall mood of the party, some send mixed signals.

“It’s like fear, excitement all combined into one,” said Frank VanderSloot, a top conservative donor and the chief executive of an Idaho nutritional-supplement company.

Please, Rufus, I know November is a long time away, but I so hope the Dems can take both the House and Senate. Can you imagine the twitter meltdown?

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A new memo shows how Repugliklans used the Tax Bill to enrich themselves, and the Dems are going to use that information on the corruption of the presidunce, the administration and the GOP'ers on the Hill going into the Midterms.

Quote

Democrats are gearing up to make the culture of corruption President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have brought to Washington, DC a major theme of the 2018 midterm elections.

Trump himself (favorability, 40 percent) will surely play a starring role in that campaign, as will supporting characters like EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who is amassing corruption scandals at a record-breaking clip, and Republicans in Congress, who refuse to conduct appropriate oversight.

But Republican complicity in the culture of corruption isn’t limited to turning a blind eye to the goings on in the executive branch. To the contrary, the GOP’s signature legislative accomplishment in the Trump era is an artifact of the deep rot of corruption running through Republican politics writ large, and there are new indications that the Democratic Party is prepared to extend the corruption case beyond Trump and his cabinet secretaries to the people who will actually face voters in November.

In a new memorandum scheduled for wide release this week, the Center for American Progress Action Fund—the advocacy arm of the influential Democratic think tank—explores the self-dealing nature of the GOP’s corporate tax cut law, which Republicans enacted in historically opaque fashion late last year.

The memo, provided exclusively to Crooked.com, details how a specific measure in the bill, which was seemingly critical to securing its passage, enriched key Republicans in Congress, some to the tune of hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars a year, and provides credible estimates of the value of that provision to specific members.

Republicans adopted the provision in question just days before voting on final passage of the broader legislation. All along, Republicans intended to create a windfall for “pass-through” business owners, who collect their firms’ profits and are taxed on those profits directly. At the last moment, they widened the loophole to include real-estate investors, many of whom generate large rental-income streams, even as they employ few or no individuals. That tweak to the bill quickly became known as the “Corker Kickback” when Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who owns millions of dollars worth of real-estate assets, switched his vote from no to yes at the last minute.

Corker denied having been bought off, and the best case that the provision wasn’t added specifically to secure Corker’s vote is that it will pad the fortunes of many elected Republicans, including the president, who owns and controls a real-estate empire.

Members of Congress don’t typically disclose their tax returns or open all of the books to all of their business interests, so it’s impossible to say with complete precision how much individual members of Congress stand to benefit from the kickback. But members do file financial reports, which disclose income from business interests, including from these pass-through entities. CAPAF has used these disclosures to estimate what the memo calls the “potential tax cut” certain members of Congress gave themselves through the adoption of this provision. This is above and beyond the more straightforward tax cut the law will bestow upon nearly all wealthy members.

Several of the Republican pass-through owners named in the memo (a partial list of which you can see below) are facing challenging re-election campaigns, which suggests Democrats are preparing to widen their critique of GOP corruption to include lawmakers who have used their power to enrich themselves, personally, in the Trump era. That caveat distinguishes the emerging Democratic line of attack from the ones Republicans used to run against the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The “Corker Kickback” epithet borrows heavily from the term “Cornhusker Kickback,” which Republicans adopted eight years ago to describe a provision of the ACA that would have made it easier for Nebraska to afford the law’s Medicaid expansion. Democrats ultimately equalized the Medicaid benefit in the ACA across states, but even in its original form, the measure was never intended to funnel money into the pockets of specific senators.

Evidence of corruption pervades the entire corporate tax cut saga. After the law passed, the GOP megadonor Charles Koch donated approximately $500,000 to House Speaker Paul Ryan’s joint-fundraising committee, and multiple corporate entities with business before Trump’s administration participated in a propaganda campaign to portray what were in many cases long-planned bonuses and raises as byproducts of the corporate tax cut law.

That unsubtle p.r. campaign hasn’t made the corporate tax cuts popular, let alone an asset for Republicans on the campaign trail. As CNBC’s John Harwood wrote last week, echoing Cook Political Report analyst Dave Wasserman, “Public support for the tax cuts is weak enough…that attention on tariffs or even the president’s relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels helps Trump’s approval ratings, and his Republican allies, more.”

The tax cuts haven’t been a political boon to Republicans since they passed in December. And that was before Democrats had settled on a comprehensive and simple critique of the law. It seems they finally have.

image.png.6401d73d997426c59f0d533d25c3d16d.png

The quote includes an incomplete list with the names of those R's that benefitted from the Tax Bill, and include the amounts they personally made off it.

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Maybe he'll get the spine transplant he so desperately needs: "House Speaker Paul Ryan will not seek reelection, he tells friends and colleagues"

Spoiler

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has told friends and several colleagues that he has decided not to seek reelection this year and will soon inform colleagues of his plans, according to several people familiar with his plans.

The decision comes ahead of mid-term elections that were already looking treacherous for Republicans, who risk losing control of the House.

The party has seen a large number of retirements, and Ryan’s exit is certain to sap morale as Republicans seek to contain a surge in enthusiasm from Democrats, whose fortunes have been buoyed by the unpopularity of President Trump.

Ryan, 48, was the vice presidential nominee in 2012 on the GOP ticket with Mitt Romney.

He had long championed tax reform, a goal accomplished with the passage last year of the sweeping GOP tax bill.

Ryan was elected by his colleagues in 2015 to replace John Boehner as speaker following Boehner’s retirement.

He has represented Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district since 1999. Ryan was previously chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and before that chairman of the House Budget Committee.

The news of Ryan’s retirement was first reported by Axios.

 

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@GreyhoundFan you beat me to it.  I immediately ed my Wisconsin connection who hand't heard.  Not is district, but yea he was happy

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My friends who live in Ryan's district are suspicious. After a brief "YAY!" they are now wondering what he's really up to. So far, the consensus is that he is distancing himself from the current White House so he can run for it himself in 2020.

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10 minutes ago, molecule said:

My friends who live in Ryan's district are suspicious. After a brief "YAY!" they are now wondering what he's really up to. So far, the consensus is that he is distancing himself from the current White House so he can run for it himself in 2020.

Yup.  I figure he is either looking for a Senate seat, or waiting to run against Trump Pence in 2020.

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I think he knows his reputation is shot. He knows full well he doesn't stand a chance against that blue tidal wave come November and he's slinking away, licking his wounds and trying to save what's left of that tattered reputation.

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Jennifer Rubin's take: "Paul Ryan is abandoning the ship before it sinks"

Spoiler

The Post reports:

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has told friends and several colleagues that he has decided not to seek reelection this year and will soon inform colleagues of his plans, according to several people familiar with his plans.

The decision comes ahead of mid-term elections that were already looking treacherous for Republicans, who risk losing control of the House.

The party has seen a large number of retirements, and Ryan’s exit is certain to sap morale as Republicans seek to contain a surge in enthusiasm from Democrats, whose fortunes have been buoyed by the unpopularity of President Trump.

In a written statement, his longtime adviser Brendan Buck said, “After nearly twenty years in the House, the speaker is proud of all that has been accomplished and is ready to devote more of his time to being a husband and a father. While he did not seek the position, he told his colleagues that serving as speaker has been the professional honor of his life, and he thanked them for the trust they placed in him.”

The political reality is less noble. One can hardly imagine a more obvious signal that Ryan fears the prospect, if not of losing his own seat, than of losing the majority and hence his speakership. In the past, speakers — understanding the demoralizing impact that premature white-flag-waving would have on their troops — had the good sense to wait until after the election to announce that they would exit the leadership of their party. Ryan’s move has several consequences.

First, Democrats (who were heavily spending to defeat Ryan) can declare victory in that race and save the money it would have taken to knock out a sitting speaker. Get ready for Democrats’ taunts that Ryan lacked the courage to stand before the voters with a record like his.

Second, this is a flashing light to donors and candidates on both sides. For Republican money-men, the message is: Don’t throw away cash trying to save the House. (One wonders whether Ryan, previously a strong fundraiser, will still be able to get donors to open their wallets when he’s abandoning ship.) For Democrats, it will be further encouragement to add to the record number of candidates and to get on board for a Democratic sweep. In a wave year with the GOP leaderless, why not throw your hat into the ring?

Third, this will be seen in some quarters as a sign that Ryan cannot bear defending the president from potential impeachment. It has been a chore to act as Trump’s lead apologist, ignoring Trump’s outbursts and justifying his zigzags. Trump is now going down a protectionist road that Ryan deeply opposes. As much as this is a sign of no confidence in his House majority, it is effectively an admission: “I can’t take it anymore!” Imagine how much more stressful it will be if and when the special counsel returns a report that makes the case for impeachment.

Fourth, as we have noted, it is highly unlikely that Trump is going to deliver any more items on the GOP domestic wish-list. With tax cuts under his belt, Trump shows little interest or ability to proceed with arduous negotiations on infrastructure, health-care fixes, entitlements or much of anything else. Trump surely is not going to abandon his base to push for comprehensive immigration reform. Ryan seems to agree with our analysis that the GOP has gotten whatever it is going to get from this president.

Fifth, Ryan’s departure makes his refusal to remove from committees characters such as Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) — who colluded with the White House in smearing the FBI and wrecking the intelligence-oversight system — all the more inexplicable. Why not take the heat to do the right thing, especially if Ryan is not going to run anyway? The lack of political courage still stuns onlookers who regarded Ryan at one time as a genuine policy wonk and serious leader.

In sum, Ryan retreats from the scene after loading the country up with debt and leaving virtually every other agenda item save tax cuts undone. He fantasized that in backing Trump, who lacks conservative principles (or any principles), he’d have carte blanche to enact the entire GOP agenda. He made his Faustian bargain with Trump on the false assumption that Trump would be compliant, take direction from House Republicans and demonstrate enough discipline to get through a slew of initiatives. That did not come to pass, because Ryan, in making his disastrous decision to place party over country and corporate tax cuts over defense of democratic values, failed to comprehend the depth of Trump’s unfitness and the centrality of character in determining a president’s success.

Instead of achieving the entire GOP agenda, Ryan will leave a besmirched legacy defined by his decision to back, enable and defend Trump, no matter how objectionable Trump’s rhetoric and conduct. Ryan has come to embody the nasty scourge of tribalism that dominates our politics. The inability to separate partisan loyalty from patriotic obligation — or to assess the interests of the country and the need to defend democratic norms and institutions — is proving to be the downfall of the Republican Party and the principle threat to our liberal (small “l”) democracy. And no one is more responsible for this than Ryan. No one.

The only change I'd make in her piece is that I wouldn't call Nunes a "character"; I'd call him an asshole.

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Good grief. :pb_eek:

The top Republican candidate to replace Paul Ryan is an avowed white supremacist

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Until early Wednesday morning, Paul Nehlen was little more than a racist, anti-Semitic sideshow in Wisconsin politics. Unless you happen to be a white supremacist, chances are you’ve never heard of him. His political résumé consists of one failed 2016 bid to capture the Republican nomination for a congressional race in Wisconsin, and a favorable shoutout from fellow white supremacist Donald Trump on Twitter.

Paul Nehlen was not to be taken seriously, until suddenly he became the Republican front-runner to defend the congressional seat currently held by the most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives.

On Wednesday, reports began circulating that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) would not seek reelection in the November midterms. Pundits have long suspected Ryan might call it quits sometime this year, facing the prospect of a difficult re-election and a Democratic wave that could push him out of his Speaker’s chair. But most figured the 48-year-old congressman would at least campaign for re-election.

Instead, Ryan says he plans to retire when his term ends, leaving Wisconsin Republicans scrambling to find someone to run against likely Democratic candidate Randy Bryce. Which means for now, Nehlen is the most likely GOP nominee in a district Donald Trump won by 10 points in 2016.

Nehlen’s first primary challenge against Ryan was unremarkable. He made a few headlines by endorsing Trump’s campaign early, something Ryan himself was reluctant to do. Sarah Palin publicly supported Nehlen’s insurgent campaign, but it ultimately did no good: Ryan captured his party’s nomination with almost 85 percent of the vote.

But after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Nehlen — like so many other virulent white supremacists and neo-Nazis — was emboldened. He began openly embracing classic anti-Semitic rhetoric, sharing deeply offensive memes on Twitter and the online white supremacist clearinghouse Gab. Whatever hesitation he had to publicly share his racist views melted away as well.

His online behavior finally got him banned from Twitter in February, when he attacked actress Meghan Markle for her biracial genealogy. 

He isn’t without his supporters, though. As he alienated more and more normal Americans, he gained notoriety among the drudgery of the internet. During a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville last year in which a peaceful protester was murdered, Nehlen tweeted messages of support for the rally’s organizers, saying “Incredible moment for white people who’ve had it up to here & aren’t going to take it anymore.” After a white supremacist participant was revealed to be the murderer, Nehlen echoed Donald Trump’s response, blaming bad actors on both sides for the  incident.

Nehlen’s comments earned him favorable coverage by white supremacist media outlets like the podcasts of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke and crying NaziChristopher Cantwell, as well as Breitbart, which tried — unsuccessfully — to scrub their fawning coverage of Nehlen.

So toxic is Nehlen’s rhetoric that he’s even been banned from Gab.ai, an alternative social media platform established primarily for the benefit white supremacists and others who have been kicked off of Twitter for violating the terms of service. Nehlen was responsible for doxxing a pro-Trump online troll known as Ricky Vaughn, purportedly because Vaughn (real name Douglass Mackey) lobbied against events like the one in Charlottesville in favor of sticking to online manipulation.

For its part, the Republican Party of Wisconsin has disavowed their new frontrunner. “Nehlen and his ideas have no place in the Republican Party,” said party spokesman Alec Zimmerman in February. Nehlen, who is still running as a Republican in August’s primary, disagrees. 

“I am a member of the Republican Party regardless of what their traitorous, spineless apparatchiks believe,” Nehlen told the Wisconsin State Journal. “Not only does my America First agenda have a place in the Republican Party, it ought to be the centerpiece of the Republican Party.” 

 

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2 hours ago, fraurosena said:

For its part, the Republican Party of Wisconsin has disavowed their new frontrunner. “Nehlen and his ideas have no place in the Republican Party,” said party spokesman Alec Zimmerman in February. 

Oh honey, you shouldn't say this stuff out loud, you'll just end up looking like an idiot later on when you slink back to support Nehlen. Remember Trump and the bus tape? Roy Moore and the accusations of molesting teenagers and assaulting women?

*The Battle Hymn of the Republic begins playing in the background*

I remember those brave Republicans telling us how shocked and dismayed they were at these acts of immorality, and how upset they were at the thought of their wives and children being exposed to these accounts of the utter depravity of men.

*music stops suddenly as the record is jerked off of the turntable*

Then they realized that the base of the Republican party didn't give a damn, and most of them went back to defending Trump and Moore and nodding as the pulpit pimps convinced the "good" Christians that Jesus cries when you don't vote Republican.

Darlin' we know you're not going to support the Democratic candidate, so stop screwing around, and get busy practicing how to march in formation without accidentally setting your buddies on fire with your Walmart tiki torch.

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Yeah, the dredges of society have been loosened from the bottom of the pan and are now floating in full view on the surface of the Repugliklan soup.

History will record that with the 2016 elections the Republican party finally fully morphed into a white supremacist fascist party.

 

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2 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Before Mr. OneKid left for work today he said Ryan and the other Rethugs mass exit worries him. For as much as he likes to see them go, he is worried about who would replace them. Would they be worse?  Is it  good to have so many newbies in Congress at one time? All novices would be more pliable in Trump's tiny hands.

Well thanks honey. A whole bunch more stuff to worry over.

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23 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Before Mr. OneKid left for work today he said Ryan and the other Rethugs mass exit worries him. For as much as he likes to see them go, he is worried about who would replace them. Would they be worse?  Is it  good to have so many newbies in Congress at one time? All novices would be more pliable in Trump's tiny hands.

Well thanks honey. A whole bunch more stuff to worry over.

Well, if that blue wave happens, and I'm convinced it will, they won't have much to say at all. In fact, I believe these deplorable candidates will poison the Repugs ability to get elected completely. Remember Alabama? Remember Connor Lamb?

So, I wouldn't worry if I were you. Rather, I'd rejoice.

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1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

pulpit pimps

I need to remember this phrase.  It's a keeper.  :Yes:   Thanks! 

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2 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

I need to remember this phrase.  It's a keeper.  :Yes:   Thanks! 

I stole it from someone else, but you are more than welcome to it. :pb_smile:

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I love Colbert's take on Lyan's announcement:

 

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I love this from the ever-amusing Alexandra Petri: "Paul Ryan can’t possibly have made a deal with the Devil"

Spoiler

“I don’t see this as some Faustian bargain, Devil’s bargain or whatever it is you call it.”
— House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) to Jake Tapper, asked about whether he “personified the Devil’s bargain the GOP has signed with Trump”

Paul Ryan did not make a deal with the devil. That much is obvious.

His piano-playing has not improved. He has not become any wiser. He has not been able to travel widely and see the great sights of the present and past. Helen of Troy has not made him immortal with a kiss, and he has not gotten to go to a single witches’ sabbath (although he has heard continually about witch hunts).

He has not become able to fly. (Scott Pruitt has, and Tom Price has, often, and at great expense.) There is no picture of him in a closet that ages and becomes hideous while he himself remains boyish. The picture of him that has become more and more embarrassing to look at is the one that appears on TV, every day, where everyone can see it.

His golf game has not improved (nor has he really gotten the opportunity to practice, as the president has). He cannot become flame and ride a motorcycle. He has not managed to bring anyone back from the dead, or even gotten to eat half a pomegranate. The Senators, his favorite team, have not been victorious. (Well, they have, but seldom, and by very narrow margins, and not on every issue that he hoped, and usually Mitch McConnell got the credit.)

He can walk on land now, but he is pretty sure he could do that before.

Some mornings he looks in the mirror and wonders whether it was worth it, just to increase the deficit.

Sometimes — he is almost too afraid to voice the thought aloud — he thinks that increasing the deficit was not always his cherished wish. That it was something different. Something to do with Jack Kemp, maybe.

(He got to see Jack Kemp, once, in a dream, but Jack just looked disappointed and turned away.)

Undermining the institutions of this democracy? Was that the wish? He does not think that was the wish. If he was doing this to protect the institutions, then what were all these hearings casting vague suspicion on the FBI?

He tries to remember.

Tax cuts were a wish, and entitlement reform, and there must have been a third thing. To see Greg Gianforte seated in the House after he body-slammed a reporter? No.

To stand behind a president who spouted racism about “shithole countries” and equated the white nationalists at Charlottesville with those who protested them? To allow President Trump to fill his White House with family members and conflicts of interest leagues deep and fathoms wide? To support a man who never released his tax returns?

At least Ryan managed to preserve the integrity of his beloved Republican Party, a party of ideas, not of people who are banned from malls and want to do unspeakable things to schoolchildren in the name of the Second Amendment. He has lost himself, maybe, but he has protected his party’s image as a group of people who were united by something more than greed or identity. And at least the majority has been preserved.

Why does he hear laughter? Is none of this true? Has there been some horrible mistake?

He has sacrificed so many big, beautiful ideas — the notion that there are things more sacred than party loyalty? That you should persuade people, not insult them? That there are things you should not tolerate just to win some sort of hollow victory or get the chance to maybe saw the government safety net out from beneath an elderly lady? (And Ryan has not even gotten the opportunity to do that.) He must have received something truly remarkable in return.

It must have just been tax reform, but that seems so small and specific and deficit-increasing.

No, there can have been no deal with the Devil.

The Devil at least makes a point of giving you something you want in return. Trump has no such scruples. He is happy to take your labor, for months, and then walk away, leaving you with a shattered reputation and an agreement with no signature on it. Ryan may have given away his soul, but he has started to wonder, as Stormy Daniels did, whether Trump even bothered to sign his side of the thing.

 

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A good one from Dana Milbank: "The bottom drops out for Republicans"

Spoiler

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) did not have his thoughts collected when he faced the cameras after telling Republican colleagues he would not seek reelection to Congress in November.

“I intend to full my serve term,” he announced.

Right. And I luck him good wish.

I can see why Ryan is scrambled. The party he leads is on course for a drubbing, and possibly a historic drubbing. Though much could change, Republican incumbents are voting with their feet — House Republicans who aren’t seeking reelection now number in the mid-40s — and the speaker’s announcement, after just 2½ years in the position, sends the unmistakable if unintended message that the bottom has dropped out.

The speaker’s retirement launched a thousand sinking-ship metaphors. But Capt. Ryan’s abandon-ship announcement adds a unique twist to the metaphor: The thing he’s clinging to as a life raft is actually the iceberg.

Shortly after assuming the speakership, Ryan, a promising young leader, made the mother of all miscalculations: He supported Donald Trump for president, reasoning that he could not remain speaker if he opposed Trump. And so Ryan, the highest GOP officeholder in the land and the party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, delivered the Republican establishment to Trump.

Now, 15 months into Trump’s disastrous presidency, Ryan’s speakership is ending anyway. The free-market, limited-government conservatism he championed has been destroyed. And yet he still binds himself to the man who destroyed it all.

Fox News’s Mike Emanuel asked whether Ryan was “sending a signal that the House is lost for Republicans.”

Ryan, incredibly, answered by praising Trump. “I’m grateful for the president to give us this chance to actually get this stuff done,” he said.

Was his retirement influenced by the way Trump changed the party?

“Not at all,” Ryan maintained. “. . . I’m grateful to the president for giving us this opportunity to do big things to get this country on the right track.”

The right track.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump announced via Twitter that he would be firing “nice and new and ‘smart’  ” missiles into Syria and dared Russia to shoot them down. In recent days, Trump’s third national security adviser started and his homeland security adviser quit; Trump has made noises about firing the special counsel and the deputy attorney general; federal prosecutors probed payments made in 2016 to two women who alleged affairs with Trump; the Congressional Budget Office forecast years of trillion-dollar deficits because of Trump’s tax cuts and spending hikes; there are fears of a trade war; the Environmental Protection Agency administrator is embroiled in an ethics scandal; and after a fire in Trump Tower killed a man, Trump said nothing about the death while boasting about the “well built” building.

Oh, and Trump says things are “very calm” in the White House.

Thank you for all this, Paul Ryan.

Now Republicans are dashing for the exits. Soon after Ryan’s announcement came word that Rep. Dennis A. Ross (R-Fla.), a deputy whip, would be retiring. And House Republicans, after listening to Ryan’s announcement at a caucus meeting in the Capitol basement, emerged with grim forecasts.

“There’s a lot of weariness and a lot of exhaustion, frankly,” said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who is retiring. “You’re really in a no-win position if you’re running in this cycle,” he said, calling it a “pretty damn toxic political environment. . . . It’s going to be a referendum on the president of the United States and his conduct in office.”

Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), a Ryan loyalist, called it a “tough” and “hard” moment.

Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.) said chances of keeping the House majority are “probably 50-50.”

Maybe they’ll lose 50 seats and maybe they’ll lose another 50?

Ryan gave a too-jovial “Good morning, everybody!” as he approached the cameras in the House TV studio to explain his rationale. He said he wanted to be more than a “weekend dad.” He said he was leaving on his “own terms,” like Tip O’Neill. (O’Neill was speaker for a decade and left with his party’s majority assured.) He said he achieved a “heck of a lot” with the tax cut and military spending hike. (But that sacrificed the fiscal responsibility Ryan preached for years.) He said he had “no regrets whatsoever” about taking the job — nor apparently about his decision to bind his and his party’s fate to Trump.

The Post’s Paul Kane asked about Trump’s talk of firing special counsel ­Robert S. Mueller III and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.

“I have no reason to believe that’s going to happen,” Ryan said, citing “assurances” from “people in the White House.”

These same people brought his speakership to ruin. Yet Ryan still trusts.

 

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