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Hes one of the most decent people you ever want to meet. He and Jill are very good people. And you disagree with people you like. So I dont see where it helps us trying to get into a food fight with him, said Graham, a top Trump ally.

The GOP is more likely to take back the House next fall than the Senate, given the latters staggered map, and Republicans are only starting to chip away at a president who governs in precisely the opposite manner to his incendiary predecessor, Donald Trump. In Orlando, where the House GOP held a three-day retreat to start plotting its path back to the majority, Republicans coalesced around a midterm message that hits Biden on immigration, policing, climate change and raising taxes.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) speaks during a House Select Subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. | Stefani Reynolds/Pool via AP

That will have a negative impact on not just his popularity, but on the country's economy, at a time when we're just starting to come out of Covid, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters at the retreat, referring to policy items on Bidens wishlist. As people see what he's doing and it's Nancy Pelosi, it's AOC, it's that socialist wing of the party that's driving the agenda that's not what he ran on.

The GOPs reluctance to make Biden into a bogeyman stems from both a confidence that his policies are unpopular enough on their own and, for some Republicans, a personal relationship with the president. But not taking the opportunity to more concretely define Biden something Trump also struggled to do during the 2020 campaign could backfire for Republicans.

Its also a stark contrast from the GOPs approach toward Obama, who faced racist birtherism accusations and was already grappling with Tea Party demonstrations around the country within his first 100 days in office. And the fixation on Hunter Biden that energized anti-Biden conservatives during last years presidential campaign isn't part of GOP leaders current strategy.

They are having a hell of a time trying to put a negative label on him, said Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), of Biden. Its a real dilemma.

Biden is hovering above 50 percent approval, but even that might not be enough to save Pelosis control of the House. A president with an approval rating of more than 50 percent typically loses 14 seats in his partys first midterm, according to Gallup. The GOP only needs to flip five seats to seize back power in 2022, and theyll likely have forthcoming redistricting on their side. If Biden dips below 50 percent, things could get even worse.

So far, Bidens approval ratings are significantly higher than Trumps, but lower than Obamas, according to recent surveys from Pew, the Washington Post and Reuters. His $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill has proved popular, and there are early indications that more spending on infrastructure could also win public support. Biden is expected to tout both the Covid and infrastructure plans during his first joint address to Congress on Wednesday night.

Yet senior Republicans arent sweating Bidens job approval ratings. Scalise called them stagnant and argued theres a honeymoon period for any new president. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), head of the House GOPs campaign arm, expressed confidence that the president's numbers would start to deteriorate. And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Bidens sub-50-percent approval on handling of the border, as well as his marks on the economy, could spell trouble for the president.

They really ought to be worried, McCarthy said of Democrats in an interview with POLITICO.

Republicans have settled on attacking Biden as a moderate candidate who's now governing as a liberal, led around by progressive senators like Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). But compared with their relatively nuanced criticisms of Biden, House Republicans are far more comfortable going after Pelosi. It's a return to one of the GOPs greatest hits, recalling their Fire Pelosi rallying cry following the 2010 passage of Obamacare a slogan that's getting a reprise.

During a private presentation to the House GOP in Orlando, Emmer revealed internal polling that showed Pelosi is one of the least popular politicians in the country, with her numbers dropping further in the last two months, according to a source in the room. The National Republican Congressional Committee chair noted that her numbers were particularly low in the Midwest, though YouGov data shows Pelosi still polls higher than Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer or Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Meanwhile, internal polling from the National Republican Senatorial Committee in February showed a narrow majority offering a favorable view of Biden but Schumer and Pelosi underwater. A plurality of respondents in that survey said theyd support a GOP candidate as a check on Bidens agenda over a Democrat who would help approve it. The rest of the polling focused on portraying Bidens policies as unpopular.

Florida politics are complicated. So is the future of the GOP. POLITICOs Sabrina Rodriguez talks with Miamis Republican Mayor Francis Suarez about where Florida fits into that future.

We can have disagreements, but we need to make sure that we're unified and in one place. We're seeing it at this conference, which is: firing Nancy Pelosi and stopping the socialist agenda, Emmer said in an interview. Everybody is unified on that.

The desire to make Hunter Biden a political liability for the president hasnt totally disappeared in the GOP, especially among the Trump wing of the party. On Monday, a group of Republicans called on Bidens ATF nominee to probe reports that the Secret Service intervened in an investigation involving Hunter Bidens gun. But aside from Hunter, Republicans cant seem to find a bad thing to say about the president.

Freshman Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) raved about an exchange he had with Biden over the Floridian's former career as a firefighter during a White House meeting on infrastructure, calling the moment heartfelt. Summarizing Republicans dilemma, another GOP lawmaker said that "its hard to hit someone who reminds you of your grandpa.

Hes likable, hes relatable theyre not having him omnipresent, said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, of the White Houses strategy. Still, Thune added, Biden will be judged by his policies. And I think thats whats going to [happen] eventually, whether people like him personally or not.

Everett reported from Washington. Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.

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Republicans got personal with Obama. Why they won't do the same to Biden. - POLITICO

Propelled by growing voter frustration over Californias response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Republican-led drive to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office collected enough voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, state officials reported Monday, triggering for only the second time in state history a rapid-fire campaign to decide whether to oust a sitting governor.

Recall backers submitted more than 1,495,709 verified voter signatures equal to 12% of all ballots cast in the last gubernatorial election meeting the minimum threshold to force a special recall election, according to a tally released by Secretary of State Shirley Weber. Barring intervention by the courts, Newsom will face a statewide vote of confidence by years end.

We knew we gathered enough signatures, and now its time to turn it over to the voters, said Dave Gilliard, one of the strategists leading the effort to oust Newsom. Were very confident that theyre going to want to change direction in California and remove Gavin Newsom and go with someone else.

Newsoms advisors expressed confidence that the governor will defeat the attempt to remove him from office and criticized the recall effort as the work of far-right supporters of former President Trump.

The governor, who appeared prepared for Mondays announcement, quickly took to Twitter to defend his record.

This Republican recall threatens our values and seeks to undo the important progress weve made from fighting COVID, to helping struggling families, protecting our environment, and passing commonsense gun violence solutions, Newsom said. Theres too much at stake.

Though recent opinion polls showed that only 40% of California voters support recalling Newsom, an indication that the effort might fail, the success of the recall campaign in gathering enough valid signatures for a special election delivers a blow to Newsom, one of the nations most prominent and politically ambitious Democrats, who raised his national profile as a liberal foil to Trump.

In all, Newsoms critics gathered 1,626,042 valid voter signatures on recall petitions, according to the report issued Monday, which contains information collected from elections officials in Californias 58 counties as of April 19. Some signatures remain unexamined. The final report will be issued by Friday.

Before the recall petition can be certified by Weber, voters who signed the petitions will be given time to withdraw their signatures, and state officials will crunch the numbers on the cost to conduct the election, steps that could take up to three months to complete. Only then can Weber issue her official certification, triggering action by Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis to call an election within 60 to 80 days.

Voters will decide whether Newsom is recalled and, if he is removed from office, who should replace him. Newsom is barred from being listed among the candidates who can be considered if the recall passes.

Two and a half years ago, Newsom won the governors office by the largest margin in modern history, capping the telegenic Democrats steady rise to the pinnacle of California politics that began in 1996, when San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown appointed him to the citys Parking and Traffic Commission.

The son of an appellate court judge with deep ties to San Franciscos most affluent residents, Newsom ascended quickly to a seat on the citys Board of Supervisors, two terms as San Francisco mayor and, after abandoning a fledgling run for governor in 2010, eight years as Californias lieutenant governor.

Enveloped in an air of inevitability, Newsom dominated the 2018 governors race by trouncing a field of Democratic rivals that included former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former state Treasurer John Chiang and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin, as well as a little-known Republican challenger, businessman John Cox. Newsoms campaign stoked whispers and persistent speculation of a future White House run.

But Newsoms star dimmed this summer as criticism of his response to the pandemic intensified, and he now finds himself fighting for survival.

The recall vote opens up the possibility that a Republican could be elected to replace Newsom, a scenario that took place in 2003. That year, California voters soured by rolling power outages, budget cuts and a car tax hike recalled Democratic Gov. Gray Davis from office and elected Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican to serve as the states chief executive.

The spectacle of the 2003 recall election fascinated people across the country, who were intrigued by Californias reputation as a far-out haven for sun-baked dreamers, celebrities and Hollywood wannabes and political absurdity. More than 130 candidates hoping to replace Davis crammed the ballot, among them Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt, former Major League Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington and Diffrent Strokes star Gary Coleman.

Californians already trying to survive the disorienting realities of the COVID-19 pandemic may face a similar political carnival in 2021. Local officials from across California believe the cost of conducting the recall election could run as high as $400 million.

Democratic leaders have publicly vowed to support Newsom and, along with the governors advisors, have described the recall effort as the handiwork of ambitious Republican politicians and pro-Trump, anti-mask, anti-vaccine extremists.

The effort began last spring, spearheaded by Orrin Heatlie, a retired sheriffs sergeant from Yolo County. It is the sixth attempt to recall Newsom since he took office in January 2019; the previous five, including two others by Heatlie, fizzled with little support and even less notice.

The People of California have done what the politicians thought would be impossible, Heatlie said in a statement posted on the recall campaigns website. Our work is just beginning. Now the real campaign is about to commence.

The recall efforts were fueled in large part by the festering animosity Californias conservative minority holds against Newsom and his progressive agenda, a virulence highly concentrated among supporters of Trump. The petition that placed Newsoms recall on the ballot focused on well-worn GOP grievances in the deep blue state, blaming Newsom for Californias high taxes and homelessness crisis, and criticizing him for protecting immigrants who enter the county illegally and for halting executions.

Conspicuously absent from the petition is criticism of Newsoms response to the pandemic, which was in its infancy when recall proponents launched the effort.

But the governors policies to combat COVID-19 provided the blast of oxygen necessary to bring the recall to life.

Shortly after the onset of the pandemic, Newsom enjoyed soaring job approval ratings following his initial response, including imposing the nations first statewide stay-at-home order in mid-March.

However, his high marks began to plummet, as did those of other governors across the nation. Californians grew frustrated with government-mandated restrictions to stem the spread of the virus, actions that devastated businesses, put millions out of work and forced schoolchildren into distance learning programs.

Newsoms public image took a major hit in November, when he attended a lobbyists birthday party at the upscale French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley after pleading with Californians to stay home and avoid multifamily gatherings. Supporters of the Republican-led recall effort seized on the misstep, accusing the wealthy governor of hypocrisy and of enjoying the everyday freedoms and luxuries that were barred for many in the state.

Newsoms political fortunes are tied, at least in part, to Californias ability to rebound from the pandemic by the time of the recall election. If children are back on campuses and people are widely vaccinated, Democratic and independent voters may view their governor more favorably at the polls.

UC San Diego political scientist Thad Kousser said the situation looked bleak for Newsom just a few months ago when California was overwhelmed by a surge in COVID-19 cases, businesses were suffering and in the aftermath of the French Laundry episode.

Much has changed, however. Californias coronavirus case rate is now the lowest of any state in the nation, schools are reopening, the state could see a $15-billion tax revenue windfall, and Newsom has predicted the states economy will fully reopen in mid-June.

Its fate today looks much less possible than it did when when this recall drive began in earnest, Kousser said. But if theres anything weve learned last year it is that things could change dramatically in another four months.

Newsom earlier this month announced the June 15 target for that return to normality. The governor said he intends to lift business restrictions and fully reopen the state economy, so long as vaccine supply remains sufficient and hospitalization rates are stable.

Barring the emergence of a more dangerous coronavirus variant that resists vaccines, a shortage in vaccine supply or some other major failure, the chance of hitting that summer reopening date seem high as more Californians become inoculated, health officials say.

State officials in February estimated that a large swath of Californians as many as 38% had antibodies either from catching the virus or from vaccines. The Newsom administration has drastically expanded vaccine eligibility since then, opening access April 15 to all residents 16 and older.

More than 26 million vaccine doses have been administered in California, and more than a quarter of the population is fully vaccinated.

Still, Newsoms job approval rating among California voters has suffered, according to two independent political polls released in February. The surveys found that roughly half of voters gave Newsom good marks, down from 64% earlier in the year.

In a Public Policy Institute of California poll released in March, 56% of voters said they opposed the recall, and 40% supported it; the remainder were undecided. The percentage of those who favored ousting Newsom was slightly above the support for Trump in California in the November election, when he received 34% of the vote.

That hasnt deterred Republicans from lining up to replace Newsom.

Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer earlier this year announced that he would challenge Newsom, either in a recall campaign or when Newsom is up for reelection in 2022. Cox, who was defeated by Newsom in the 2018 general election, expressed similar plans. Former Northern California Rep. Doug Ose, a Republican who left office in 2005, is also in the running, as is reality television star and Olympic gold-medalist Caitlyn Jenner.

Two familiar faces who were candidates in the 2003 recall election have also joined the race: former adult film actress Mary Carey and L.A. billboard icon Angelyne.

Others caught up in the swirl of rumors and speculation about potential candidates include Richard Grenell, who served as ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence in the Trump administration.

One pivotal question that remains unclear is whether a Democrat will jump into the race, either in support of ousting Newsom or hoping to serve as a safety valve to block a Republican from being elected if Newsom is recalled.

Times staff writers Seema Mehta and John Myers contributed to this report.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom to face recall election - Los Angeles Times

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Taxpayers and politicians are forever complaining about rich people taking advantage of loopholes in the tax code, but the IRS, Americas most beloved government agency, doesnt view things such as carried interest or the special tax treatment of offshore insurerswhich hedge funders parlayed into an elaborate tax-avoidance schemeas loopholes.

The law is the law, an agency spokesman told me recently, and subject to interpretation. If a family or company is audited and found in violation, it can settle up, protest to an IRS appeals board, or take the agency to tax courta little-known venue where the white-shoe lawyers for Americas dynasties ply their trade. If the well-heeled taxpayer loses their case, they can appeal. If they win, they may well stand to save millions of dollarsor billions. And often they win.

Thats assuming they are audited in the first place. President Joe Biden is prepared to announce that his administration will seek $80 billion to beef up IRS audits of high earnersa necessary move given that the water carriers for the dynasties have done their utmost to make such audits exceedingly rare. The Republican Party has waged open warfare on the IRS since at least 1994, chipping away at its resources and enforcement abilities even as mainstream Republican lawmakers and candidates called for the agencys abolition.

Administration officials estimate that a 10-year, $80 billion investment in IRS enforcement could yield $700 billion for the Treasury. And indeed, theres a lot of catching up to do when it comes to the superrich. By the end of the Bush years, the IRS was auditing fewer than 1 in 10 taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of $10 millionplus, and just 1 in 15 with incomes from $5 million to $10 million.

These high-end audit rates increased substantially under President Barack Obama, but congressional Republicans, embittered by the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the surcharges it imposed on the wealthiest 1 percent, hit back hard. After regaining the House in 2010, they systematically eviscerated the IRS budget and launched a series of dog-and-pony-show hearings based on claims that the agency was unfairly targeting conservative nonprofits, though it later turned out the IRS was also scrutinizing liberal ones.

During a contentious 2015 hearing highlighted in a must-read piece by ProPublica, Representative Mike Kelly, a Pennsylvania Republican, laid into John Koskinen, Obamas feisty IRS commissioner. Koskinen, in a recent speech, had griped that his overworked employees would have to do less with less, and referred to the assault on his budget as a tax cut for tax cheats.

What in the world were you thinking of? Kelly demanded. Such talk could crush worker morale and encourage tax evasion, he said. Koskinen countered that the cuts had indeed crippled his agencys ability to enforce the law, and now he was worried his congressional foes were about to make the situation worse. I dont want you saying later on, you know, you should have told us about this, that it is serious, he told the senators. It is serious.

Koskinens warnings were ignored, and the cuts continued. From 2010 to 2018, even as the IRS received 9 percent more tax returns, its budget was slashed by $2.9 billiona 20 percent reduction that cost the agency more than one-fifth of its workforce. Investigations of non-filers plummeted and the amount of outstanding tax debt the IRS formally wrote off (based on the 10-year statute of limitations for collections) more than doubledfrom less than $15 billion in 2010 to more than $34 billion in 2019.

Most notably, the bloodbath resulted in an exodus of experienced auditors, people with the expertise required to decode the financial voodoo of the wealthiest taxpayers and their deliberately opaque partnerships. It can take months to identify the person who represents the partnership, IRS auditors told the Government Accountability Office in 2014.

Virtually no partnerships were audited in 2018. By then, with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, the kneecapped IRS was scrutinizing the individual returns of just 0.03 percent of those $10 millionplus taxpayers, down from a peak of 23 percent in 2010. Audits of the $5 millionto$10 million filers fell from just under 15 percent to a scant 0.04 percent.

A fair subset of superwealthy Americans doesnt even bother filing. The Treasury Departments Inspector General for Tax Administration reported in 2020 that nearly 880,000 high income non-filers from 2014 through 2016 still owed $46 billion, and the IRS was in no condition, resource-wise, to collect. The 300 biggest delinquents owed about $33 million per head, on average. Fifteen percent of their cases had been closed without examination by IRS staffers, and another one-third werent even in line to be worked.

The dynasties, in short, were safe. But now, with a new sheriff in town, it seems theyll have to watch their backs.

The above was adapted from senior editor Michael Mechanics new book, Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Liveand How Their Wealth Harms Us All. (April 2021, Simon & Schuster, all rights reserved)

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The IRS Used to Be a Guard Dog. Republicans Neutered It. Mother Jones - Mother Jones

In the wake of last years Black Lives Matter protests, Republican lawmakers are advancing a a number of new anti-protest measures at the state level including multiple bills that specifically make it easier for drivers to run down protesters.

The most recent example of such a law came Wednesday, when Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a new law that effectively allows drivers to hit people with a car in a specific set of circumstances.

Under the new law, an Oklahoma driver will no longer be liable for striking or even killing a person if the driver is fleeing from a riot ... under a reasonable belief that fleeing was necessary to protect the motor vehicle operator from serious injury or death.

The measure also creates new penalties for protesters who obstruct streets or vehicle traffic, including hefty fines of up to $5,000 and as much as a year in jail.

Critics argue that the law will allow people to specifically target public protesters, with little ramification, but Republicans have promoted similar measures alongside the rise of the Movement for Black Lives in recent years, and such laws have received renewed conservative support after last summers protest movement.

At its peak in June 2020, Black Lives Matter protests may have composed the single largest protest movement in US history, according to the New York Times, with as many as 26 million people nationwide demonstrating in support of racial justice and police reform following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Those protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, according to the Washington Post, and almost 98 percent resulted in no injuries to participants, bystanders or police. However, many Republican lawmakers have pushed a draconian legislative response anyway even as incidents of drivers running down protesters have increased nationwide.

In addition to the Oklahoma measure, Republicans in Iowas House passed a bill earlier this month that would carve out similar protections from civil liability for drivers who hit protesters with a car, and on Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a broad anti-protest measure into law that does the same.

These recent measures build upon laws proposed in 2017 the same year that Heather Heyer, an anti-racist protester, was killed by a white supremacist driver during protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. That driver purposefully sped into a crowd of people; the anti-protest laws passed recently offer different levels of protection depending on a drivers motivations.

As Vices Tess Owen explains, the new Florida law creates civil immunity for people who drive into crowds of protesters, meaning they wont be sued for damages if people get hurt or killed if they claim self-defense.

The Iowa bill would also grant civil immunity to drivers who hit protesters blocking traffic, so long as the driver was not engaging in reckless or willful misconduct.

But only the Oklahoma law creates both criminal and civil immunity for drivers who hit protesters with their cars while fleeing.

If the recent spate of anti-protest measures in Florida, Iowa, and Oklahoma is disturbing on its face, however, context does little to make it better. There is a specific history in the US of the far right using cars as weapons, and its not hard to see how bills like the one that is now law in Oklahoma might only make things worse.

The most notable example is from August 2017: Heyer, 32, was struck and killed and at least 19 others were injured when neo-Nazi James Alex Fields Jr. rammed a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville. Fields has since been sentenced to life in prison.

But its more than that single incident. According to Ari Weil, the deputy research director for the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, there were at least 72 incidents of cars driving into protesters over a relatively short span in 2020, from May 27 through July 7.

Examples arent hard to find. Theres even a Wikipedia page specifically dedicated to vehicle-ramming incidents during George Floyd protests. And as Weil explained in an interview with Voxs Alex Ward last year, theres an online environment that for years has been celebrating and encouraging these types of horrendous attacks.

Whats particularly worrisome is where those memes spread, Weil told Vox. I know of at least four cases where law enforcement officers were sharing these in Facebook groups. [Fields] shared these memes twice in two months before his attack, and other planners of the Unite the Right rally shared these, too.

According to Weil, the sort of law now on the books in Oklahoma isnt new, either. When he spoke to Vox in June, Weil said that at least six states had legislators who tried to pass bills that would protect drivers from civil suits if they hit protesters. Luckily, none of those passed.

Now, several of them have and Republicans in Alabama, Arizona, Kentucky, and elsewhere are also pushing bills that would limit protests in other ways.

Even more concerning, its not always just random people driving through protests. In several cases, police have also used their cars as weapons against protesters. In Detroit last June, an officer drove his police SUV through a crowd, sending protesters flying; two New York police officers did likewise at a Black Lives Matter protest in May 2020.

Indeed, some of these bills package protection for drivers alongside enhanced authority for law enforcement. The Iowa law, for example, eliminates liability for drivers who hit protesters, while expanding qualified immunity and increasing benefits for police officers, according to the Des Moines Register.

Though bills that would protect drivers who run over protesters are especially alarming, theyre by no means the only changes that Republicans are pushing in response to Black Lives Matter protests protests which continued this month following the police killings of Adam Toledo in Chicago, Daunte Wright in Minnesota, and MaKhia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio.

In particular, the Florida bill signed this month by DeSantis is a sprawling measure that creates new criminal penalties for protesting, among other provisions. And while it purports to address rioting DeSantis has called it the strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement piece of legislation in the country the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida warned last week that the bill effectively criminalizes peaceful protest in Florida.

Ask yourself this, ACLU of Florida executive director Micah Kubic said in a statement. What problem are Gov. DeSantis and certain members of the Florida legislature trying to solve? To be clear the goal of this law is to silence dissent and create fear among Floridians who want to take to the streets to march for justice.

During his time in office, former President Donald Trump expressed support for such aggressive measures. As protests erupted after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor last summer, Trump called on governors to quash demonstrations, and praised the National Guard for cut[ting] through demonstrations like butter in Minneapolis.

Anti-protest bills proliferated around the country during Trumps tenure in office and have continued to gain support in the early months of President Joe Bidens administration as Republican lawmakers at the state level lean even harder into a Trump-style law and order message. According to a tracker from the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, at least 30 measures restricting the right to peaceful assembly have been enacted since November 2016, while 68 more are currently pending. All told, at least 220 bills that would curb the right to protest have been introduced in 45 states since November 2016.

And in 2021 alone, International Center for Not-for-Profit Law senior legal adviser Elly Page told the New York Times last week, 81 anti-protest measures have been introduced in 34 states.

One such bill, in Kentucky, would make it a misdemeanor punishable by jail time to insult or taunt a police officer and make resisting arrest during a riot a felony offense. Both the Kentucky and Florida bills would also make it harder for protesters to post bail if arrested in certain circumstances.

Another measure, in Minnesota, would make anyone convicted of a crime at a protest ineligible for student loans and many other forms of state financial aid, including food stamps and unemployment, according to the Minnesota Daily.

Not all of those bills have a realistic chance of passing Minnesota and Kentucky, for example, both have Democratic governors, who would likely veto any such measures that reached their desks but theyre a clear indication of the broader mood of the Republican Party. Never mind that most Black Lives Matter protests have been peaceful, and never mind that George Floyd was murdered in plain sight, on video, by a police officer to Republicans, its the protests that have to be stopped.

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In Oklahoma, Florida, and other states, Republicans are passing laws that make it easier to run over proteste - Vox.com

But Manchin doesnt want to see his friend Murkowski defeated by a Trump-endorsed Republican or a Democrat. He told POLITICO's Playbook Deep Dive podcast that he will support Murkowskis challenging reelection campaign in 2022 in a heartbeat.

Illustration by Alex Fine

I've met a lot of good people in Alaska, they know when they've got the real deal. And they see the person that basically is bringing both sides together, trying to look for the best interest, Manchin said of Murkowski in a rare joint interview. People understand that they have a person that understands Alaska and has Alaska in her blood and in every part of her veins and every morsel of her body.

Murkowski hasnt officially launched her reelection campaign but was elated to get Democratic backing: I would welcome his endorsement.

The two have a relationship dating back to essentially when Manchin entered the Senate in 2010 and Murkowski, then the top Republican on the Energy Committee, visited Manchin in West Virginia. Then as chair, Murkowski hosted Manchin in Alaska in 2019 cementing their rare bipartisan relationship.

Manchin, who also endorsed Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in her 2020 reelection race, said that I don't think we should be campaigning against any colleagues, Democrat or Republican.

He conceded most of his colleagues dont agree with him. But Murkowski hopes that with the establishment of a 20-senator strong bipartisan group, called the G20, their alliance is the start of something bigger rather than an outlier in an increasingly partisan chamber.

I would like to think that were the resurgence, that it's kind of lonely right now. But why wouldn't we want to encourage greater collaboration and cooperation among our colleagues, Murkowski. I get weary of of of that energy that is focused on the dirty, unproductive process.

Murkowski's biggest problem is from within her own party, and Trump has backed Kelly Tshibaka against her. It's unclear whether Democrats will even bother to put up a credible candidate against Murkowski, who won a write-in campaign after losing her primary in 2010. The state has also changed its elections system into a nonpartisan top-four primary that could help Murkowski blunt Tshibaka's challenge.

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Democrat Joe Manchin says theres one GOP senator hed endorse in a heartbeat - POLITICO