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Across the United States, Republican state party officials are taking unprecedented steps to discourage or even purge critics of Donald Trump and promote potential allies of the former president.

These efforts are the latest sign of Trumps ongoing stranglehold over areas of the Republican party that are usually neutral and reflect his intense popularity with a wide slice of the Republican base, despite his scandal-strewn four years in power and his loss to Joe Biden in 2020.

Traditionally state Republican parties have taken pains to avoid favoritism within primaries and intra-party battles. The mission of those groups and their members is generally to help get Republicans elected, regardless of which party sect they align with.

In Oklahoma, the state Republican party chairman endorsed a challenger to Senator James Lankford, an incumbent Republican, over Lankfords last-minute decision to not object to the 2020 presidential election results on 6 January.

In Wyoming, a Republican party official sent out a plea to members of Congress to vet primary challengers to Congresswoman Liz Cheney, one of Trumps favorite obsessions since leaving office.

In Alaska, the state Republican party is backing Kelly Tshibaka, the former commissioner of administration, to take Lisa Murkowskis Senate seat about a month after Trump himself endorsed Tshibaka. Some of Tshibakas consultants are high-ranking veterans of Trumps unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign.

These latest moves are a continuation of a trend of activism among state GOP officials to side with Trump and spurn elected officials and prominent Republicans some of whom are otherwise popular who have antagonized Trump. Republican parties in Arizona, Illinois, Maine and Ohio have also censured party members who split with Trump on certifying the election results.

But rank-and-file Republican officials actively working to tip the scales to placate the whims of a one-term president are breaking new ground.

Were in a period now with a former president who has grievances of his own party and hes using his clout and his megaphone and his power to attempt to exact revenge on those individuals. And in certain states where Trump is popular or where an incumbent political figure has taken a deeply unpopular political position, you are seeing some internal opposition, said Matt Mackowiak, the chairman of the Travis county GOP, in Texas.

He added: I think were living in a time now where party officials dont feel as duty-bound to support every member of the party, particularly if theyve gone in a different direction on a fairly important issue.

Suspicions of candidate loyalty within party infrastructure are not unheard of or unique to the Republican party. During the last open race for Democratic National Committee chair in 2017, Democratic activists sometimes theorized that Barack Obama or other establishment state party chairs were subtly trying to support certain candidates and discourage others. But those suspicions only extended so far.

Theres little historical precedent for party chairs intervening in primaries, said Matt Moore, a former South Carolina Republican party chairman. Usually theres great deference given not only to elected officials but also to the state committees that elect chairs.

The impact of the help these state Republican party members provided is unclear.

Alaskas Senator Murkowski, for instance, has survived serious challenges from conservatives in the past and this financial quarter she out-raised Tshibaka a sign that the Trump-endorsed primary challengers chances of winning are not assured. In Wyoming, Cheney is facing a handful of challengers who could split the anti-Cheney vote.

Moore argued that the involvement of officials in Trumps efforts to undermine his opponents could actually undermine the state parties.

I would argue it actually weakens the party in the long term. It reduces the credibility of chairs, especially when they endorse crackpot candidates against serious US senators, Moore said. The big success of the party in the past decade is improved infrastructure, so when sitting US senators dont play ball with the party it reduces the quality of the infrastructure like field programs, data, etc.

Even more unusual, these internal Republican party conflicts have little to do with a broad swath of policy disagreements.Instead they are often about whether a candidate supported Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.

Whats happened is historically odd, Moore said. Weve seen senators over the years attacked by party chairs or the party in general, but never over one vote. Its very strange.

Its now clear that incumbent Republicans who have crossed Trump have done so at their peril. In Georgia for example, the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, the top elections official in the state and a Republican, faces a primary challenge from congressman Jody Hice after refusing to help Trump undermine the 2020 election results.

Across the country Republicans realize that their biggest electoral dangers come not necessarily from a strong Democratic opponent, but from their standing with Trump, even though he is out of office.

Here its a 100% purity test, said state representative Landon Brown of Wyoming.

The Wyoming state party has passed bylaws that bar the state party from giving a lawmaker money unless that lawmaker votes in line with the Wyoming Republican partys platform 80% of the time, Brown said. The Wyoming party gives lawmakers scorecards and lets them know if they are failing. Brown summed up the partys ideology: If you are not aligned with Trump, you are not a Republican.

Read more here:
State Republicans shun lawmakers critical of Trump and his big lie - The Guardian

Im a huge believer in the usefulness of social science, especially studies that use comparisons across time and space to shed light on our current situation. So when the political scientist Henry Farrell suggested that I look at his fields literature on cults of personality, I followed his advice. He recommended one paper in particular, by the New Zealand-based researcher Xavier Mrquez; I found it revelatory.

The Mechanisms of Cult Production compares the behavior of political elites across a wide range of dictatorial regimes, from Caligulas Rome to the Kim familys North Korea, and finds striking similarities. Despite vast differences in culture and material circumstances, elites in all such regimes engage in pretty much the same behavior, especially what the paper dubs loyalty signaling and flattery inflation.

Signaling is a concept originally drawn from economics; it says that people sometimes engage in costly, seemingly pointless behavior as a way to prove that they have attributes others value. For example, new hires at investment banks may work insanely long hours, not because the extra hours are actually productive, but to demonstrate their commitment to feeding the money machine.

In the context of dictatorial regimes, signaling typically involves making absurd claims on behalf of the Leader and his agenda, often including nauseating displays of loyalty. If the claims are obvious nonsense and destructive in their effects, if making those claims humiliates the person who makes them, these are features, not bugs. I mean, how does the Leader know if youre truly loyal unless youre willing to demonstrate your loyalty by inflicting harm both on others and on your own reputation?

And once this kind of signaling becomes the norm, those trying to prove their loyalty have to go to ever greater extremes to differentiate themselves from the pack. Hence flattery inflation: The Leader isnt just brave and wise, hes a perfect physical specimen, a brilliant health expert, a Nobel-level economic analyst, and more. The fact that hes obviously none of these things only enhances the effectiveness of the flattery as a demonstration of loyalty.

Does all of this sound familiar? Of course it does, at least to anyone who has been tracking Fox News or the utterances of political figures like Lindsey Graham or Kevin McCarthy.

Many people, myself included, have declared for years that the G.O.P. is no longer a normal political party. It doesnt look anything like, say, Dwight Eisenhowers Republican Party or Germanys Christian Democrats. But it bears a growing resemblance to the ruling parties of autocratic regimes.

The only unusual thing about the G.O.P.s wholesale adoption of the Leader Principle is that the party doesnt have a monopoly on power; in fact, it controls neither Congress nor the White House. Politicians suspected of insufficient loyalty to Donald Trump and Trumpism in general arent sent to the gulag. At most, they stand to lose intraparty offices and, possibly, future primaries. Yet such is the timidity of Republican politicians that these mild threats are apparently enough to make many of them behave like Caligulas courtiers.

Unfortunately, all this loyalty signaling is putting the whole nation at risk. In fact, it will almost surely kill large numbers of Americans in the next few months.

The stalling of Americas initially successful vaccination drive isnt entirely driven by partisanship some people, especially members of minority groups, are failing to get vaccinated for reasons having little to do with current politics.

But politics is nonetheless clearly a key factor: Republican politicians and Republican-oriented influencers have driven much of the opposition to Covid-19 vaccines, in some cases engaging in what amounts to outright sabotage. And there is a stunning negative correlation between Trumps share of a countys vote in 2020 and its current vaccination rate.

How did lifesaving vaccines become politicized? As Bloombergs Jonathan Bernstein suggests, todays Republicans are always looking for ways to show that theyre more committed to the cause than their colleagues are and given how far down the rabbit hole the party has already gone, the only way to do that is nonsense and nihilism, advocating crazy and destructive policies, like opposing vaccines.

That is, hostility to vaccines has become a form of loyalty signaling.

None of this should be taken to imply that Republicans are the root of all evil or that their opponents are saints; Democrats are by no means immune to the power of special interests or the lure of the revolving door.

But the G.O.P. has become something different, with, as far as I know, no precedent in American history although with many precedents abroad. Republicans have created for themselves a political realm in which costly demonstrations of loyalty transcend considerations of good policy or even basic logic. And all of us may pay the price.

See more here:
Opinion | Republicans Have Their Own Private Autocracy - The New York Times

The Massachusetts Republican Party is in turmoil following the resignation of its vice chairman, Tom Mountain, who stepped down Sunday night amid allegations that he posted inappropriate comments on Facebook.

Mountain's departure has all the elements of a soap opera.

It began earlier this month, when a provocative web site called the "Turtleboy Daily News" published a story that included screen shots of what it said were "creepy" comments by Mountain posted next to photos of young women on social media. Turtleboy also detailed a so-called "catfishing" scheme a kind of online trap that allegedly tricked Mountain into sharing intimate details about his sex life with an imposter pretending to be a model.

"Don't be the creepy guy on Facebook," said Aidan Kearney, the man behind Turtleboy, who talked about Mountain on his show. "You are the vice chairman of the party. It is, you know, uncalled for, absolutely uncalled for."

Mountain claimed his Facebook account was hacked. He did not respond to an interview request from WBUR. But on Sunday night, he told the GOP state committee that he would step down as vice chair to focus on clearing his name; on Monday night, the party's executive committee accepted his resignation.

The resignation is just the latest in a series of controversies within the state GOP, including a deepening divide.

Conservatives are lined up behind former President Donald Trump and state party chair Jim Lyons, while moderates support Gov. Charlie Baker. Mountain was caught in the middle. He initially supported the former president, but after Trump lost, Mountain said it was time to stop the party's war with Baker.

Mountain and Lyons also disagreed over how to handle comments by a state committee member, Deborah Martell, who said she was "sickened" that a gay couple had adopted children. Lyons acknowledged the comments were offensive, but rejected calls to push for Martell's resignation, saying the party must stand up against censorship and cancel culture. Mountain disagreed.

"You know, what she did was heinous," Mountain told WBUR in June. "It was intolerant. And quite frankly, it makes the rest of the party look bad. And what the chairman did was stay out of it, and then he doubled down to back her."

Some in the party believe that Mountain must have been set up by supporters of Lyons.

"You know, they catfished him," said Shawn Dooley, a state representative from Norfolk, who unsuccessfully challenged Lyons for the GOP chairmanship in January. "They tried to destroy this man, his family, his marriage but to what point?"

"This purity test that [says], if you're not with us 100%, you're against us, is incredibly destructive, and I think it's immoral."

Reached by WBUR, Lyons declined to comment about the Mountain affair, except to say that he had never heard of the word "catfishing" until now and remains focused on building the party at the grassroots level.

"Particularly in conservative, Republican-leaning districts where we haven't been successful in the last 20 or 30 years," Lyons said. "And clearly, the elites in the party don't view it the same way."

Republican state committee member Amanda Orlando, a Lyons supporter, wouldn't talk about the Mountain allegations either. But Orlando said she doubted Lyons had anything to do with them and she praised him for his leadership of the party.

"I think he's done a really good job," Orlando said. "He's focusing on the right issues. He's initiating ballot measures on issues that matter, like voter ID. This is an issue that affects everybody."

But Lyons critics insist he is leading the party astray. Among them is Dooley, who calls the latest controversy a "dumpster fire."

"I think the state party is just simply a laughing stock," Dooley said. "We're doubling down on losing."

Registered Democrats already outnumber Republicans more than three to one in Massachusetts, dominate the state Legislature, and control every seat in the state's Congressional delegation. Dooley said the latest controversy won't help Republicans gain ground.

Continue reading here:
Mass. Republican Party Contends With Scandal, Resignation And Division - WBUR

Last year amid the global COVID-19 crisis, Illinois became the first state to expand publicly funded health care to all low-income immigrant seniors, including those living in the country illegally.

In a recent WJPF radio interview, state Sen. Terri Bryant of Murphysboro brought up the program after a caller asked how many illegal aliens Illinois taxpayers are now responsible for.

Bryant used the question to criticize Illinois for being too soft on illegal immigration, suggesting without evidence the states policies are somehow connected with violent crime in Chicago and repeating a consistently debunked claim about the city having the nations strictest gun laws.

She also took aim at the state for expanding health care coverage to undocumented immigrants, suggesting those over a certain age are now eligible for health care benefits not available to citizens:

In this budget, we now allow for Medicaid for undocumented individuals who are 55 and older, the Republican said. So last year it seemed like it stayed very quiet, I dont know why more people werent talking about it it was 65 and older. This year they slipped in 55 and older. So you may be 55 years old in this state and a citizen and not eligible for Medicaid. But if you are an undocumented immigrant and 55 or older, youre eligible for Medicaid.

We were curious what Bryant was talking about when she said being undocumented and 55 years or older would make someone eligible for Medicaid benefits in Illinois. After all, Medicaid is a need-based program, meaning only applicants who meet certain income requirements qualify.

We called Bryants office to speak with her about what her claim was based on, but did not hear back.

Undocumented immigrants face limited access to health care, with federal law restricting them from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces.

In addition to becoming the first state to provide coverage for low-income seniors whose immigration status disqualifies them from federal programs, Illinois is one of six states funding its own program to cover income-eligible children regardless of immigration status. California, one of the other states that covers minors, expanded its program to include young adults in 2020 and last week approved a plan to cover low-income immigrants age 50 and over beginning next year.

Illinois moved to create two programs expanding coverage for older immigrants left out of federal programs. Last year, state lawmakers used the budget to create a program providing noncitizens living at or below the federal poverty level who are at least 65 years old with access to some Medicaid-like benefits regardless of their immigration status. The age and income requirements for that program mirror those for a version of Medicaid called Aid to the Aged, Blind, and Disabled, though the benefits for the immigrant seniors are not as expansive.

The budget lawmakers and the governor approved this year created a program set to launch by the end of next May providing benefits identical to Medicaid to noncitizens aged 55 through 64 who would be eligible for Medicaid if not for their immigration status.

Under Medicaid itself in Illinois, U.S. citizens and noncitizens with legal status 19 years and older are eligible for coverage if their income is within 138% of the federal poverty level. That same income requirement applies to noncitizens who will be eligible for the states new program, according to Jane Longo, deputy director of new initiatives at the Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services.

So, with the exception of immigration status, a 55-year-old who is undocumented would have to meet the same criteria as a 55-year-old citizen to qualify for coverage in Illinois.

Bryant drew a false comparison, since theres no scenario in which U.S. citizens would fail to qualify for Medicaid, as long as they fell within the proper income range.

Bryant said you may be 55 years old in this state and a citizen and not eligible for Medicaid. But if you are an undocumented immigrant and 55 or older, youre eligible for Medicaid.

This is a false comparison.

No U.S. citizens would be barred from Medicaid unless their income was too high to qualify. And the beneficiaries of the Illinois plan who are in the U.S. illegally would also have to fall below the same income restrictions.

We rate Bryants claim False.

FALSE The statement is not accurate.

Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.

The Better Government Association runs PolitiFact Illinois, the local arm of the nationally renowned, Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking enterprise that rates the truthfulness of statements made by governmental leaders and politicians. BGAs fact-checking service has teamed up weekly with the Sun-Times, in print and online. You can find all of the PolitiFact Illinois stories weve reported together here.

Illinois Is First in the Nation to Extend Health Coverage to Undocumented Seniors, Kaiser Health News, Jan. 7, 2021

Radio interview with state Sen. Terri Bryant, WJPF, July 13, 2021

Health Coverage and Care of Undocumented Immigrants, KFF, July 15, 2019

Emails and phone call: Jamie Munks, spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services, July 15 & 16, 2021

Public Act 101-0636, 101st Illinois General Assembly

Coverage for Immigrant Seniors, Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services, accessed July 15, 2021

Public Act 102-0016, 102nd Illinois General Assembly

Affordable Care Act, Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services, accessed July 16, 2021

Phone interview: Jane Longo, deputy director of new initiatives at the Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services, July 16, 2021

More here:
Fact-check: Republican Terri Bryant wrong on Medicaid eligibility for Illinois undocumented immigrants - Chicago Sun-Times

In voting to impeach Donald Trump in January, representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger threw their political futures into disarraythe two could end up losing their seats to pro-Trump primary opponentsbut their stand against the former president has paid off in other ways. Cheney, who was purged from the GOPs House leadership in May, hauled in a record-setting $1.88 million from April to June. Cheneys 2022 reelection war chest has now exploded, totaling nearly $3.5 million for the year, according to Politico. Kinzinger, a Chicago-area representative who joined Cheney in becoming the face of anti-Trump Republicans, received a fundraising boon of his own this year. He netted $1.1 million in the first quarter to spend on his reelection efforts, despite not receiving more than $350,000 in one quarter during his last reelection cycle.

For Cheney the fundraising victory is a hopeful development. Liz is demonstrating the type of effective, principled leadership that Wyoming deserves from its representative, Cheney adviser Kevin Seifert said in a statement to Fox News. She will continue to fight the Biden administrations overreach and articulate how Republicans can offer a better way forward for the nation. Its encouraging to have so many join her effort. Denver Riggleman, an anti-Trump Republican and former representative who is friends with Cheney and Kinzinger, suggested to Politico that the pairs fundraising wins could lead quietly like-minded GOP members to resist Trumps iron grip on the party. Theyre very encouraged by what they see in fundraising and by what theyre starting to hear on the ground, Riggleman said. Nobody thinks of cascading effectsThe fact is, theres a significant portion of Republicans who do not support Donald Trump anyway, whore looking at Adam and Liz to sort of carry that conservative banner nationally.

But other Republicans are not convinced. Anyone who thinks theres a different path for higher office in a Republican primary other than the Trump platform is delusional, noted Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, questioning the idea that Cheney and Kinzinger might use their funds to pursue higher office in the future. I have not spoken with Liz or Adam about their long-term goals. However, maybe looking at the battle they face in a primary, they think higher office is an easier path. And as of now, Cheney and Kinzinger are clearly unwelcome in MAGAland. Trump included both on his list of losers who represent whats really wrong with the Republican Party in a statement last month.

In a more personal condemnation, Trump said of Cheney, Heartwarming to read new polls on big-shot warmonger Liz Cheney of the great state of Wyoming. She is so low that her only chance would be if vast numbers of people run against her which, hopefully, wont happen. They never liked her much, but I say shell never run in a Wyoming election again. As for Cheneys Republican challengers, none of them have been granted Trumps coveted endorsement just yet. But hell have no shortage of options, as at least half a dozen Republicans plan to run against her, including Wyoming state senator Anthony Bouchard and state rep. Chuck Gray, who have already hauled in $334,000 and $173,000, respectively.

The primary threat hasnt prevented Cheney from again calling out those in her party who have refused to accept Joe Bidens decisive victory or are attempting to whitewash the January 6 insurrection. I will absolutely stand for the truth and I will reject partisanshipwherever it comes in, Cheney, the only Republican on the select committee investigating the attack, told CNN on Wednesday. And I think thats been very clear from the beginning of this: My obligation is to the Constitution.

Cheney and Kinzingers intraparty rivals have also been raking in donations. Rep. Elise Stefanik, who took over Cheneys leadership position upon her ousting, earned $1.5 million in donations over this years second quarter, according to Politico. After raising a fist in support of the pro-Trump rioters who broke into the U.S. Capitol, Senator Josh Hawley raised more than $3 million in the first quarter of 2021. (Hawley threw in against Cheney during the push to remove her, saying that she was spiraling and out of step with Republican voters for opposing Trump.) And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right and QAnon-affiliated lawmaker who personally helped spearhead the attack against Cheney, raised more than $3.2 million of her own in the first three months of this year.

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