The GOP: Not What It Used to Be

[GreyhoundFan]

At the RNC convention in 2020, they decided to not have an actual platform. They were only to worship their lord and master, the orange man.

Quote

RESOLUTION REGARDING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORM
WHEREAS, The Republican National Committee (RNC) has significantly scaled back the size and scope of the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte due to strict restrictions on gatherings and meetings, and out of concern for the safety of convention attendees and our hosts;

WHEREAS, The RNC has unanimously voted to forego the Convention Committee on Platform, in appreciation of the fact that it did not want a small contingent of delegates formulating a new platform without the breadth of perspectives within the ever-growing Republican movement;

WHEREAS, All platforms are snapshots of the historical contexts in which they are born, and parties abide by their policy priorities, rather than their political rhetoric;

WHEREAS, The RNC, had the Platform Committee been able to convene in 2020, would have undoubtedly unanimously agreed to reassert the Party’s strong support for President Donald Trump and his Administration;

WHEREAS, The media has outrageously misrepresented the implications of the RNC not adopting a new platform in 2020 and continues to engage in misleading advocacy for the failed policies of the Obama-Biden Administration, rather than providing the public with unbiased reporting of facts; and

WHEREAS, The RNC enthusiastically supports President Trump and continues to reject the policy positions of the Obama-Biden Administration, as well as those espoused by the Democratic National Committee today; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda;

RESOVLVED, That the 2020 Republican National Convention will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention;

RESOLVED, That the 2020 Republican National Convention calls on the media to engage in accurate and unbiased reporting, especially as it relates to the strong support of the RNC for President Trump and his Administration; and

RESOLVED, That any motion to amend the 2016 Platform or to adopt a new platform, including any motion to suspend the procedures that will allow doing so, will be ruled out of order.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Jeb's pathetic son kissing the massive orange backside:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Sadly, he'll probably win his primary: "In secret recording, Florida Republican threatens to send Russian-Ukrainian ‘hit squad’ after rival"

Quote

MIAMI — A little-known GOP candidate in one of Florida’s most competitive congressional seats was secretly recorded threatening to send “a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad” to a fellow Republican opponent to make her “disappear.”

During a 30-minute call with a conservative activist that was recorded before he became a candidate, William Braddock repeatedly warned the activist to not support GOP candidate Anna Paulina Luna in the Republican primary for a Tampa Bay-area congressional seat because he had access to assassins. The seat is being vacated by Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), who is running for governor.

“I really don't want to have to end anybody's life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” Braddock said at one point in the conversation last week, according to the recording exclusively obtained by POLITICO. “That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f---ing speed bump in the road. She's a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.”

Reached by text message, Braddock refused to say whether he made any threats about Luna to the person who recorded him, Erin Olszewski.

Asked repeatedly via text if he mentioned Russian-Ukrainian hit squads, Braddock wouldn’t give a yes or no answer, saying he had not heard the recording and that it’s “allegedly me … there is no proof of that.” He also suggested the recording “may even be altered and edited.”

“This is a dirty political tactic that has caused a lot of people a lot of stress and is completely unnecessary,” he said.

Olszewski denied editing or altering the recording. She said she made it because she was concerned about Braddock’s “unhinged” dislike of Luna that he had previously expressed. After she made the recording just after midnight last Wednesday, she promptly turned it over to St. Petersburg, Fla., police and gave a heads-up to her friend Luna, who filed a petition for an injunction against Braddock. Luna received a temporary restraining order against him last Friday. Braddock filed to run Monday.

In the recording, Braddock early in the call brought up the alleged assassins. He also made rambling statements about getting financial help from fellow Freemasons or by somehow importing millions of dollars from Malta and Gibraltar.

“I have access to a hit squad, too, Ukrainians and Russians,” he said about three minutes into the call, adding “don't get caught out in public supporting Luna. … Luna’s gonna go down and I hope it's by herself.”

Braddock went on to explain that he didn’t think Luna could win in the general election. Luna, an Air Force veteran and former model who went on to become a conservative activist, won a crowded GOP primary in the state’s 13th Congressional District last year but lost the general election to Crist.

It's unclear exactly why Braddock has such dislike toward Luna. The two do not appear to have any previous connection to one another, and Braddock is a lower-tier candidate in an increasingly crowded race for Crist’s seat. Already, two state lawmakers and a former Obama administration official have entered the race, with others expected to jump in.

The threats, claims of assassins and political backstabbing put an only-in-Florida stamp on what was already shaping up to be a wild midterm of congressional races. Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz in the Panhandle is still batting back accusations in an ongoing federal sex trafficking probe.

Democratic Rep. Val Demings is leaving her Orlando seat to run for Senate, causing a mad scramble to replace her. And the state is getting an additional congressional seat that is certain to lead to another crush of candidates after redistricting before next year’s elections.

Olszewski, who initiated and recorded the call just after midnight on June 9, said she phoned Braddock at his insistence because he kept trying to get her to appear on a health care panel for an event he was organizing.

Olszewski, a nurse by training, became a conservative figure last year after penning a book called “Undercover Epicenter Nurse: How Fraud, Negligence, and Greed Led to Unnecessary Deaths at Elmhurst Hospital,” which some in the health care industry have called disinformation.

After having a few conversations with Braddock, however, Olszewski said she became concerned that he wanted to use her to advance his candidacy and that he left her “threatening” messages about Luna that sounded “unhinged.”

With such a closely divided Congress currently in Democratic control, Braddock said on the recorded call that the “pivotal” St. Petersburg-based district will take on outsized importance in 2022 to keep America from devolving into a “communist-socialist s---hole.” When Olszewski asked him why he had Russians at the ready, Braddock indicated they were to stop Luna.

“My polling people are going to charge me $20,000 to do a poll right before the primary. And if the poll says Luna’s gonna win, she’s gonna be gone. She's gonna disappear,” Braddock said in the recorded call, pledging Olszewski to secrecy. “For the good of our country, we have to sacrifice the few. … For the better or the good of the majority of the people, we've got to sacrifice the few.”

Later in the call, Olszewski asked what would happen if “Luna is gonna win” and Braddock assured her that wouldn’t happen.

“She’s gonna be gone. Period. That's the end of the discussion. Luna is not an issue,” he said.

Olszewski pushed him, asking “how do we make her go, though? I just don’t understand that.”

“I call up my Russian and Ukrainian hit squad, and within 24 hours, they're sending me pictures of her disappearing,” he replied. “No, I'm not joking. Like, this is beyond my control this point.”

Asked if the killers were snipers, Braddock described them as, “Russian mafia. Close-battle combat, TEC-9s, MAC-10s, silencers kind of thing. No snipers. Up close and personal. So they know that the target has gone.”

Olszewski said that threats like the ones Braddock made “you can’t take lightly. Normal people don’t say these things.”

Olszewski called Braddock on one smartphone and recorded video of the call with another, occasionally displaying his name and number on the video to show it was him on the call. POLITICO also obtained a separate recording, a voicemail message, Braddock left with a consultant in which his phone number was identical and voice seemed to match the information Olszewski shot in her video.

In Florida, it’s a third-degree felony to record another person without their knowledge. But Olszewski said that St. Petersburg police told her she had nothing to worry about in recording the conversation and turning it over to authorities. A spokesperson for the St. Petersburg police declined to comment on the recording or whether it was legally recorded.

Braddock, though, indicated he was ready to sue Olszewski.

“The folks in possession of whatever recording they think they have of myself or someone else (which may even be altered and edited) will be facing civil damages suit(s) when the paperwork is file [sic] with the county and felony charges after I file with the local police department,” Braddock said in his text message to POLITICO. “I strongly advise not to get involved because the civil suits will continue to be filed until people stop sharing them because whomever is on the recording did not consent to be recorded in my humble opinion.”

In her filing for an injunction, Luna also mentioned how Braddock claimed in the call with Olszewski that two other potential Republican candidates in the race, Amanda Makki and Matt Tito, had formed an alliance with him to stop Luna. Braddock briefly posted the petition for the injunction on his Facebook page Friday but then took them down.

Both Makki and Tito denied the claims of an alliance with Braddock and each of them criticized Luna for mentioning their names in the injunction she filed against Braddock.

“The fact she dragged me through the mud, after not seeing or talking to me after 11 months, it really calls into question her judgment,” said Makki, who ran unsuccessfully in the GOP primary against Luna in 2020, despite earning the endorsement of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Tito, also, was displeased with the fact that he was named in the injunction.

“This is a total political hit job. I wasn’t served. I’m not in legal trouble,” he said. “Luna doesn’t want me to get in the Republican race because she knows I’ll beat her. I’m a better candidate. She’s trying to wipe me out of the race, trying to embarrass me, intimidate me, smear my name so she has a wider path to the nomination.”

In the call, Braddock mentioned that he offered Tito a job on his campaign to keep him on the sidelines, but Tito said he had no intention to work for Braddock.

James Blair, a spokesperson for Luna, said she wouldn’t comment on the ongoing investigation. But he suggested Makki had “sour grapes” for losing the primary last year to Luna. And he faulted Tito because he “immediately blamed the woman” by accusing Luna of a political hit job.

“The content of the protective order filed is based upon Mr. Braddock’s own threats, actions, and statements,” Blair said. “I understand that Mr. Braddock is the one who stated he is working with Mr. Tito and Ms. Makki, so perhaps they should take it up with him instead of attacking the person he said he was going to kill if that’s what it took to keep her from winning.”

In her petition for the restraining order, Luna made it clear that she took Braddock’s threats seriously.

“I do not feel safe and am currently in fear for my life,” Luna wrote, according to a copy of it.

Olszewski, too, said Braddock sounded dangerous. At one point, Braddock even said he was scared himself.

“Don’t be on the f---ing wrong side of supporting Luna because if you're near her when the time comes, I just don't want that to happen to you because you've got kids,” Braddock said on the call. “So don't be associated with Luna under any circumstances. Please. And do not repeat this anybody because both of us will be in jeopardy if you do. I'm not just blowing smoke here. I'm f---ing being dead ass serious and it scares the s--- out of me, too.”

 

[Audrey2]

12 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Sadly, he'll probably win his primary: "In secret recording, Florida Republican threatens to send Russian-Ukrainian ‘hit squad’ after rival"

 

I'm sure he would call himself pro-life though.

[GreyhoundFan]

The latest addition to the traveling GQP circus:

 

[Alisamer]

Are they going to arm wrestle, next? Who exactly is this supposed to impress? (Especially looking at Biden. Pretty sure he can do 22 pushups. I doubt the former guy can do more than maybe 1.)

[Chocolate Lover]

41 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

Are they going to arm wrestle, next? Who exactly is this supposed to impress? 

JillRod?

[Cartmann99]

5 hours ago, Alisamer said:

Are they going to arm wrestle, next?

The next challenge requires the removal of pants and a ruler.

[GreyhoundFan]

35 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

The next challenge requires the removal of pants and a ruler.

A magnifying glass will also be required.

[Alisamer]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

A magnifying glass will also be required.

And a pair of tweezers. 

[Cartmann99]

I can remember when National Review would have mocked an article like this instead of printing it.

 

Spoiler

The unroll can be found here.

[GreyhoundFan]

This is the GQP way:

 

[Becky]

16 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

This is the GQP way:

 

JFC - they laugh when he says this.  Disgusting.

[GreyhoundFan]

Didn't they just have the CPAC conference a month or two ago in Orlando? It seems like there are so many conferences.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Good gravy:

 

Larger version under spoiler:

Spoiler

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Jackson couldn't spell socialist, communist, or Marxist.

 

[Cartmann99]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Good gravy:

 

Larger version under spoiler:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

These people are disturbed. I’m wondering if the only hope is to give them each a dose of the memory erasing serum from “Allegient”, the third book in the “Divergent “ trilogy. 

Edited July 11, 2021 by GreyhoundFan

[47of74]

A hotel doesn't want to be the site of a Klan Gaetz and Greene rally.

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A hotel in Laguna Hills, California, canceled a July 17 event after it realized it was hosted by GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Orange County Register reported.

The staff at the Pacific Hills Banquet & Event Center on Moulton Parkway believed they were hosting a "gathering," Javad Mirtavoosi, the hotel's general manager, told the Orange County Register. Instead, they were hosting one of Gaetz and Greene's "America First" rallies, according to the report. 

"As soon as we found out who the speakers were we immediately canceled it," Mirtavoosi told the outlet. The manager declined to tell the outlet whether political differences were responsible for the venue canceling the event.

"We just want to stay clear of that," he told the outlet.

I hope they told those two sticks of fornicate when cancelling the event that they cancelled it for the same reason they would cancel a Klan or Neo Nazi event to be held at the hotel.

[Cartmann99]

This is the guy behind those cards that @GreyhoundFan told us about on Friday:

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[fraurosena]

11 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

He does realize it was still Trump's government on Jan 6, right?

[Cartmann99]

8 hours ago, fraurosena said:

He does realize it was still Trump's government on Jan 6, right?

You're giving me flashbacks to shortly after the 2016 election when some Trump supporters were angry that President Obama was still living in the White House. Since they'd never followed politics before, they were unaware of the transition period between administrations.

[Cartmann99]

 

[Cartmann99]