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Mother Pence, an AI-generated portrait of Mike Pence in drag (all images courtesy RuPublicans)

As Republicans in Florida, Tennessee, and beyond continue to push harmful rhetoric and legislation that oppresses and targets drag queens and performances, one Instagram account is striking back in true queen fashion: with high style and satire. Launched one week ago, @RuPublicans uses the AI image generation tool Midjourney to generate imaginary portraits of GOP higher-ups in high drag. Leave it to drag to make Republicans less of a drag!

Were huge fans of drag, RuPublicans co-creators Craig and Stephen (who preferred to use their first names only) told Hyperallergic. It has brought so much joy to our lives. Bearing witness to the GOPs anti-drag rhetoric and actions made us want to do something. So for the last 2 weeks, weve been creating AI-generated images just as over the top and ridiculous as the false narratives around drag.

The results are fabulous. Who needs Ted Cruz when we can have Cruzella Deville, a fur-draped queen whose fashion sense is as murderous as her politics? Steve Bannon is famously disheveled, but Bombshell Bannon serves a double helping of lewk along with a steady stream of misinformation. And we can all agree pink is Mike Pences color. The portraits are accompanied by delightful descriptions. Say hello to the GOPs downfall darling, Rudy Garland, serving cuckoo couture, reads the caption for an image of Rudy Giuliani in a cheetah-print coat. She used to run the Big Apple, but now shes the juiciest peach on the streets, wandering the Upper East Side looking for her next gig (NOT the Four Seasons, honey). You thought the only thing she could leak was hair dye? Girl, watch her spill the tea!

The comments on the posts are equally hilarious. One AI portrait of Ron DeSantis Rhonda Shanty sitting in a bookstore wearing a puffy-sleeved gown brought hundreds of comments. Pictured with the only books left in Florida, said one user, referencing the Republican governors crackdown on critical race theory and learning in general.

Though the accounts co-creators are not themselves drag performers, they describe themselves as two queens (husbands) who appreciate the art and what it has done for so many.

They also highlight the ways in which the speculative power of artificial intelligence whose potential for harm has been the subject of headlines lately can be harnessed for activism, and humor.

The world doesnt need more hate these days, the pair said. It needs more beauty and laughter. If it takes AI generated wigs and glitter to elevate awareness of this important issue, were here to do it.

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AI Portraits of Republicans in Drag to Get You Through the Week - Hyperallergic

Despite Gov. Bill Lee calling for the state legislature to take action on guns, Republican lawmakers seem hesitant to make any moves.

State Republican leaders stood with Lee as he announced his plan to increase school security following the Covenant School shooting. At his press conference on Tuesday, he stood alone as he called for action on gun reform, and statements from Republican legislators following the announcement indicate hesitancy.

I am committed to protecting Tennesseans constitutional rights, including the right to due process, said Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) in a statement Tuesday. I have always been and continue to be opposed to so-called red-flag laws because they deprive citizens of their rights without due process.

Despite Johnsons opposition to anything called a red-flag law, his statement does not completely shut off the possibility of any gun legislation. He goes on to say he is in favor of making sure criminals and thoseexperiencing a severe mental health crisis do not have access to guns, saying, I am not willing to express support for or opposition to a bill that I have not seen.

His sentiment was mirrored by Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) in the House, who took to Twitter with a video statement Wednesday in which he said the Republicans in the House are not going to support a red-flag law, period. Zachary did acknowledge that conversations are underway to figure out what can be done to make sure someone who poses a direct, credible, imminent threat does not have access to a gun effectively the goal of red-flag laws.

Despite resistance from some Republicans, others seem to be more on board with getting gun legislation through this session. Rep. Sam Whitson (R-Franklin) tells the Scene that on Monday he plans to sign onto a late-filed bill by Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) that would implement extreme risk protection orders, which would authorize law enforcement or relatives to petition for someone deemed a threat to themselves or others to have their guns taken away.

Ive heard from so many Williamson County traditional Republicans who said overwhelmingly, we really need to do something about this gun violence, says Whitson. The Williamson County representative has traditionally been more open to gun regulation than some of his Republican colleagues, saying he does not support constitutional carry and co-sponsoring another bill this session that would have required people to have guns secured in their cars. That bill was taken off notice by its sponsor, Rep. Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville).

A red-flag law typically allows a court to order that someone's guns be taken away from them based on the testimony from family or law enforcement saying they may be a danger to themselves or others. These laws take slightly different forms in terms of enforcement across the country, but essentially accomplish the same thing: keeping guns out of the hands of people who may be a threat. Critics of red-flag laws argue that they infringe on Second Amendment rights, with House SpeakerCameron Sexton (R-Crossville) telling reporters earlier this month that he had yet to see a red-flag law around the country that he would support.

Students, parents and allies rally for gun reform at the state Capitol

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) came out in support of some form of red-flag legislation after the Covenant shooting, but he made it clear that other members of the Senate Republican Caucus might not feel the same way.

The Tennessee Firearms Association, a gun lobbying group, was quick to speak out against Lees proposal. On Tuesday, the groups executive director John Harris released a statement calling the governors calls for red-flag type laws unconstitutional, although Lee did not expressly say red-flag during his presser, instead calling for order-of-protection laws.

Do not let it go unnoticed that while Governor Lee takes the opportunity of the Covenant school murders to make calls for gun control, he has not once called for immediately arming teachers (as he promised in 2018), for immediately enacting REAL constitutional carry, or for immediately repealing numerous gun free zones, reads the statement.

Despite the Republican supermajoritys resistance to any gun restrictions, Democrats have continued to make attempts at some common-sense gun laws. A bill from Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) would have introduced red-flag laws following an amendment, but it has not moved yet. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) said after the shooting that his committee would not take up any gun laws for the rest of the session. A late-filed bill from Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) would ban assault weapons but would need to be unanimously approved by a panel made up of the speaker of the Senate, the Senate majority leader and the Senate minority leader.

Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) came out in support of the governor, saying he is right to make this a priority before session ends. We are ready to work with the governor and the supermajority to get something done.

The clock is ticking for any action on guns, as some reports suggest the legislature could seek to end its business for the year as soon as next week.

Update, 1:35 p.m.: Shortly after this story was published, Freeman's extreme risk protection bill failed in the House Delayed Bills Committee.

See the rest here:
State Republicans Resist Lee's Call for Action on Guns - Nashville Scene

The reality, Norris wrote, is:

Since the early 1980s, on issue after issue from abortion; secular values; civil rights; racial, homosexual and gender equality; gun control; cosmopolitanism; and environmentalism the pool of social conservatives adopting traditional views on these moral and social identity issues has been shrinking in size within the U.S. national electorate, from majority to minority status. They are running down an up escalator.

With their backs to the wall, Norris argued, conservatives have capitalized on

institutional features of U.S. elections that allow Republicans to seek to dismantle checks on executive power including the extreme decentralization of electoral administration to partisan officials with minimal federal regulation, partisan gerrymandering of districts, overrepresentation of rural states in the U.S. Senate and Electoral College, partisan appointments in the judiciary, primary elections rallying the faithful in the base but excluding the less mobilized moderate independents, the role of money from rich donors in elections and campaigns and so on and so forth. The Trump presidency exacerbated these developments, but their roots are far deeper and more enduring.

Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a law professor at Harvard, noted in an email that state policy outcomes are becoming more bimodal liberal or conservative, rather than centrist than in previous eras and that the misalignment between public policy and public opinion is pervasive in modern American politics, particularly in red states where public policy is far more extreme and conservative than the public wants.

In theory, the hostility of average voters to extreme issue stances can pressure politicians to move toward the center, Stephanopoulos contended, but this aligning impact of general elections can be reduced through tactics like gerrymandering, which make it unlikely that even large swings in public opinion will much alter the composition of the legislature.

In addition, in Stephanopouloss view, in a highly polarized era, the pressure to moderate in order to win general elections faces growing counterpressure to take immoderate positions in order to win primaries:

Theres little that could persuade many voters to ever support the other side. And while general elections might be aligning, theyre pitted against many misaligning forces: the views of activists and donors, the need to win the primary election to be re-elected, pressure from legislative leadership, politicians own often extreme ideologies and so on. Its no surprise that the misaligning forces are often stronger.

Bruce Cain, a political scientist at Stanford, made the argument by email that given the clustering of communities along political, cultural and social lines in the United States presently and the dispersion of powers in American federalism, we should expect our state and local laboratories to yield a wide dispersion of products, especially when they are given more freedom to experiment.

So why dont all states converge on the national median, as revealed by the polls? Cain asked and answered that there are real public opinion differences across states and local communities, especially on hot-button social issues.

Ultimately, Cain continued, if elected officials and judges get too far out of alignment with voters, they will get the message in the form of surprising electoral outcomes, as recently occurred in Wisconsin. Democrats in the 70s and 80s experienced the same on busing, crime and welfare.

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Opinion | The Republican Strategists Who Have Carefully Planned All of This - The New York Times

The only thing red in our district is our sun burns, said state Sen. Alexis Calatayud, a Miami-area Republican who voted against the abortion bill last week when the full Senate approved it.

Calatayud said she voted against the measure because thousands of her constituents in the blue stronghold of Miami dont support such a restrictive law. Despite being a Republican, shes still beholden to the will of the voters.

Republicans hold supermajorities in the Florida Legislature, so the few GOP lawmakers who reject the measure have no power to stop or even slow its passage. But their opposition shows how abortion remains a tough issue for the party, especially after Republicans nationally underperformed in the 2022 midterms in part because the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade energized Democratic and swing voters.

That dynamic was much different in Florida, however, Republicans picked up seven new GOP members in the state House and four in the Senate. DeSantis also won the state by historic margins, even in traditionally Democratic areas like Miami.

When Florida lawmakers last year passed a 15-week ban on abortions that offers no exceptions for victims of rape and incest, only one Republican, state Rep. Rene Coach P Plasencia of Orlando, voted against it. He later resigned a few months before he was term-limited out of office.

House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa) said the difference this year is that more Republicans are realizing the consequences of the six-week ban, which does have exceptions for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking up to 15 weeks of pregnancy.

They know and understand, like we do, that at six weeks most women dont even know theyre pregnant, Driskell said. This is effectively an outright ban.

At least 12 other states have enacted six-week bans, including neighboring Georgia. The Florida bill, once DeSantis signs it into law, will effectively end the states reputation as a safe haven for people seeking abortions in the South. Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe last year, at least 4,000 people have traveled to Florida to get abortions from as far away as Texas and Alabama, where abortion is prohibited at any stage of pregnancy.

In addition to its exceptions, the six-week ban includes a provision that would give $5 million to the state Department of Health for programs that promote causes such as contraception, and $15 million for programs that support mothers who give birth.

Republican state Rep. Mike Caruso of Delray Beach told POLITICO he will vote no Thursday on the six-week ban, while GOP Rep. Traci Koster of Tampa previously rejected the bill during a March committee vote. She did not respond to requests for comment this week.

I dont think the bill takes into consideration certain religious rights, Caruso said on Wednesday. And based on that, and some other things, Im going to be down on the bill.

Several faith-based groups filed legal challenges last year against the states 15-week abortion ban, arguing that it violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and religion, among other things.

I do not like this bill, Caruso said.

The Republicans who vote against it, however, are unlikely to face any blowback from their caucus. The vast majority of the 84 House Republicans are expected to vote for the six-week ban, and Florida GOP Speaker Paul Renner told reporters on Wednesday that some Republicans in Democratic districts must still represent their constituents.

We have members who will likely not be able to support the bill because they are a good representative of their district. And thats not where their district is. Renner said. We respect those differences in our caucus.

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DeSantis wants a 6-week abortion ban. These Republicans say no. - POLITICO

Data:Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) office and Ballotpedia; Note: Districts where there was no opponent in the 2022 midterm election are not included; Chart: Alice Feng/Axios

Nine of the top 10 wealthiest congressional districts are represented by Democrats, while Republicans now represent most of the poorer half of the country, according to median income data provided by Rep. Marcy Kaptur's (D-Ohio) office.

Why it matters: The last several decades have ushered in a dramatic political realignment, as the GOP has broadened its appeal to a more diverse working class and Democrats have become the party of wealthier, more-educated voters.

By the numbers: 64% of congressional districts with median incomes below the national median are now represented by Republicans a shift in historical party demographics, the data shows.

Zoom in: Democrats are still competitive and have held on to a number of swingy, middle-income districts, including Kaptur's in Ohio. She is one of only five House Democrats representing districts won by former President Trump.

Between the lines: The relationship between geography, education, income and politics is complex and experts point to education as a stronger indicator of party affiliation.

The big picture: Class politics has become a driving force in the past several elections, supercharged by Donald Trump's populist plea to middle-class, blue collar workers in 2016.

What they're saying: While House Democrats expanded broadband internet, capped the cost of insulin, and cut child poverty in half, Republicans did everything they could to stop them from helping middle- and working-class families," DCCC spokesperson Tommy Garcia told Axios, criticizing Republicans aims to cut federal spending.

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Dramatic realignment swings working-class districts toward GOP - Axios