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Largest political cover-up

Gaslighting and lying to each of us

Coup

Border Czar

Far Left Democrats

Unfit to serve

Proof of life

All the best

Who is running the show?

Rigging

Less competent

Where is Joe Biden?

Best interest

25th Amendment

Wood chipper to democracy

Resign

While elected Democrats have been quick to rally around Vice President Kamala Harris after President Bidens announcement that he would leave the 2024 presidential race, a vast majority of prominent Republicans have treated the development with suspicion or scorn.

A New York Times analysis of statements by Republican senators, representatives and governors found that their reactions to Ms. Harriss presumptive candidacy and Mr. Bidens withdrawal clustered around several themes, including the opinions that Mr. Biden must resign or that the events of the past few days amounted to election subversion or a bloodless coup. Recent polling suggests nearly 9 in 10 Americans believe Mr. Bidens decision to step aside was the right one.

Several officials also suggested that Mr. Biden who had been in Delaware recovering from Covid-19 but returned to the White House on Tuesday had gone missing. A greater number made statements attacking Ms. Harriss record, while a small handful posted positive or supportive comments. Emphasis in these quotations was added by The Times to highlight common themes in the statements.

This is a coup of a puppet regime.

Thomas Massie

While President Trump took a bullet for our democracy, the progressive democrats are taking a wood chipper to democracy by shredding the will of 14 million primary voters.

Mark Alford

Now the Democrats are rigging their *own* elections.

These statements have tended to argue that Mr. Bidens decision to end his candidacy was not his own, was not democratic or both. Many have mocked Democrats for positioning themselves as defenders of democracy in contrast to Republicans, following attempts by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Some of this language began to bubble up among Republicans even before Mr. Biden announced that he would drop out. During the Republican National Convention last week, Chris LaCivita, a top adviser to Mr. Trumps campaign, described the pressure on Mr. Biden to withdraw as an attempted coup.

Today Im demanding the Biden Harris cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment. If Biden isnt capable of being a candidate, hes not capable of being President.

Eric Schmitt

If Joe Biden is unable to serve another term, then he must resign right now. If hes unfit to campaign, he should not have the nuclear codes its that simple.

Roger Marshall

If Joe Biden is unfit to run for re-election then hes unfit to serve the remainder of his term.

Kat Cammack

Statements along these lines have primarily argued that if Mr. Biden is not able to run for a second term, then he is unfit to continue to serve now. Many said he should step down from the presidency. Some have gone further, suggesting that the 25th Amendment should be invoked to remove Mr. Biden from office.

Kamala Harris was complicit in a massive coverup to hide and deny the fact that Joe Biden was not capable of discharging the duties of the office.

Ron DeSantis

The American people should fire every single politician that has been gaslighting and lying to each of us about Bidens capability to lead our Nation. Kamala Harris is as culpable as Bidens senior staff and family in this scheme to subvert democracy.

Jack Bergman

Democrats have been complicit in the largest political cover-up in history.

Mike Johnson

These comments have, without providing evidence, accused Ms. Harris and other top Democrats of a cover-up to hide the state of Mr. Bidens physical and mental fitness.

Where is Joe Biden? Who is running the show?

Nancy Mace

Americans are asking: Where is Joe Biden?

Markwayne Mullin

For the third time today, Im asking Joe Biden to provide the American people with proof of life.

Lauren Boebert

Mr. Biden was self-isolating with Covid-19 at his familys Delaware beach house when he made the announcement that he would step aside from the 2024 presidential race. These comments drew attention to his lack of recent public appearances, in some cases even calling for a demonstration that Mr. Biden was still alive. Mr. Biden returned to Washington Tuesday afternoon and is set to give a televised address this evening.

Border Czar Harris has NOT done her job to secure the border.

Greg Abbott

Kamala Harris leads the Far Left Democrats pro-crime, anti-victim agenda.

Elise Stefanik

Cackling Kamala is widely considered less competent than dementia-impaired Joe Biden.

Warren Davidson

Dozens of Republican officials made more typically political statements, including criticizing Ms. Harris as a candidate. One common line of attack, positing that Ms. Harris failed as a border czar, is misleading. (Some Republican candidates have already begun to run ads like this one, drawing attention to some of the more liberal positions Ms. Harris has taken in the past, particularly during her failed 2020 presidential primary campaign.)

Fran and I wish President Biden and the First Lady all the best as he serves out the remainder of his term and in the years ahead.

Mike DeWine

I understand and respect President Bidens decision not to seek reelection. While we have political differences, I appreciate his lifelong service to our nation, which he dearly loves.

Lindsey Graham

I respect President Bidens decision to act in the best interest of the country by stepping aside in the 2024 presidential election.

Lisa Murkowski

A few Republican officials wrote kindly about their relationships with Mr. Biden or sent him well wishes.

In the table below, see which Republican elected officials made which types of statements, as of Tuesday night.

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Coup and Cover-Up: How the G.O.P. Is Reacting to the Harris Candidacy - The New York Times

Wisconsin Republicans are asking voters to take away the governor's power to unilaterally spend federal money, a reaction to the billions of dollars that flowed into the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers was free to spend most of that money as he pleased, directing most of it toward small businesses and economic development, angering Republicans who argued the Legislature should have oversight.

That's what would happen under a pair of related constitutional amendments up for voter approval in the Aug. 13 primary election. The changes would apply to Evers and all future governors and cover any federal money to the state that comes without specific spending requirements, often in response to disasters or other emergencies.

Democrats and other opponents are mobilizing against the amendments, calling them a legislative power grab that would hamstring governors' ability to quickly respond to a future natural disaster, economic crisis or health emergency.

If the amendments pass, Wisconsins government will become even more dysfunctional, said Julie Keown-Bomar, executive director of Wisconsin Farmers Union.

Wisconsinites are so weary of riding the partisan crazy train, but it is crucial that we show up at the polls and vote no on these changes as they will only make us go further off the rails, she said in a statement.

But Republicans and other backers say it's a necessary check on the governor's current power, which they say is too broad.

The changes increase accountability, efficiency, and transparency, Republican state Sen. Howard Marklein, a co-sponsor of the initiative, said at a legislative hearing.

The two questions, which were proposed as a single amendment and then separated on the ballot, passed the GOP-controlled Legislature twice as required by law. Voter approval is needed before they would be added to the state constitution. The governor has no veto power over constitutional amendments.

Early, in-person absentee voting for the Aug. 13 election begins Tuesday across the state and goes through Aug. 11. Locations and times for early voting vary.

Wisconsin Republicans have increasingly turned to voters to approve constitutional amendments as a way to get around Evers' vetoes. Midway through his second term, Evers has vetoed more bills than any governor in Wisconsin history.

In April, voters approved amendments to bar the use of private money to run elections and reaffirm that only election officials can work the polls. In November, an amendment on the ballot seeks to clarify that only U.S. citizens can vote in local elections.

Republicans put this question on the August primary ballot, the first time a constitutional amendment has been placed in that election where turnout is much lower than in November.

The effort to curb the governor's spending power also comes amid ongoing fights between Republicans and Evers over the extent of legislative authority. Evers in July won a case in the Wisconsin Supreme Court that challenged the power the GOP-controlled Legislature's budget committee had over conservation program spending.

Wisconsin governors were given the power to decide how to spend federal money by the Legislature in 1931, during the Great Depression, according to a report from the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Times have changed and the influx of federal dollars calls for a different approach, Republican Rep. Robert Wittke, who sponsored the amendment, said at a public hearing.

It was a power that was questioned during the Great Recession in 2008, another time when the state received a large influx of federal aid.

But calls for change intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic when the federal government handed Wisconsin $5.7 billion in aid between March 2020 and June 2022 in federal coronavirus relief. Only $1.1 billion came with restrictions on how it could be spent.

Most of the money was used for small business and local government recovery grants, buying emergency health supplies and paying health care providers to offset the costs of the pandemic.

Republicans pushed for more oversight, but Evers vetoed a GOP bill in 2021 that would have required the governor to submit a plan to the Legislatures budget committee for approval.

Republican increased the pressure for change following the release of a nonpartisan audit in 2022 that found Evers wasnt transparent about how he decided where to direct the money.

One amendment specifies the Legislature cant delegate its power to decide how money is spent. The second prohibits the governor from spending federal money without legislative approval.

If approved, the Legislature could pass rules governing how federal money would be handled. That would give them the ability to change the rules based on who is serving as governor or the purpose of the federal money.

For example, the Legislature could allow governors to spend disaster relief money with no approval, but require that other money go before lawmakers first.

Opposing the measures are voting rights groups, the Wisconsin Democratic Party and a host of other liberal organizations, including those who fought to overturn Republican-drawn legislative maps, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state's largest business lobbying group, and the Badger Institute, a conservative think tank, were the only groups that registered in support in the Legislature.

View post:
Wisconsin Republicans ask voters to take away governor's power to spend federal money - Yahoo! Voices

Were testing using AI-powered tools to provide an audio version of this story. While this audio recording is machine-generated, the story was written by human journalists. Read more on our AI policy.

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HOUSTON Gena Coston summed up the experience of being a teacher over the last four years with two words: very stressful.

Texas teachers have reported feeling burned out, underresourced and underappreciated in the last few years as theyve dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, classroom changes spearheaded by Republican officials and unsuccessful calls for more state funding toward raises.

For those gathered at the American Federation of Teachers national convention in Houston on Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris message of appreciation was a welcome change.

It is you who have taken on the most noble of work, which is to concern yourself with the well-being of the children of America, Harris said.

Harris remarks came on the last day of AFTs national convention, three days after the labor group of more than 1.7 million members became the first union to endorse her presidential run.

I'm excited because I know that she cares, said Coston, who teaches eighth grade English Language Arts in the Aldine Independent School District.

Harris message was on par with what some educators said they hoped to hear from her in recent days a message of solidarity. They acknowledged that while the president cannot control everything that happens in schools, their influence and support while shaping the national agenda is meaningful, particularly at this time in Texas.

In the last few years, teachers had to adapt to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enrollment declined. People left the profession. Officials, districts and parents fought over mask mandates. New state laws limited how they could teach about race, gender and sexual orientation and expanded the influence of Christianity. School boards banned books. A school mass shooting happened. The state ousted the democratically elected school board and superintendent of its largest district. Gov. Greg Abbott used his power to push for a program that would allow families to use tax dollars to pay for their childrens private education. And through it all, their calls for raises were largely unheeded.

One teacher at the convention, Tiffany Spurlock, who teaches second grade math and science in Cy Fair ISD, said she is concerned about school districts budget woes, accentuated by inflation and the Texas Legislatures failure to approve significant funding increases amid the fight for vouchers last year.

Spurlock also worries about her colleagues in Houston ISD, which is currently under state oversight. She and her three children previously attended school in the district, and she said current students, parents and teachers are being held to an unfair standard.

Spurlock said Harris has the perfect chance to advocate for a system that serves all families.

We have to make sure we're doing things thats best for kids, Spurlock said. Not just processes wise, not just systematically, but also morally.

Harris, who arrived in Houston a day earlier to receive a briefing on Hurricane Beryl recovery efforts, said Thursday she would fight for the rights of children and educators to have adequate resources to thrive in and out of the classroom.

She said she would also push back against a conservative-backed plan for a second Donald Trump presidency known as Project 2025, which calls for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, phasing out billions of dollars in assistance to schools serving low-income families and rolling back protections for students on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Project 2025 is a plan to return America to a dark past, Harris said. But we are not going back. No, we will move forward.

Prior to Harris arrival, some advocacy organizations criticized her for being out of touch with Texas values.

The people of Texas made it clear that it wants parents in charge of their children's education not government, said Genevieve Collins, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Texas.

Coston saw Harris visit as an opportunity for the vice president to hear teachers out. She said Texas teachers are quitting their jobs because the pay and school funding are inadequate. She worries about the rise in teachers without formal training. She is also concerned about student and teacher safety, particularly as it relates to gun violence.

We gotta feed our teachers and get them motivated, Coston said. So in turn, they'll get the kids motivated.

Going into Harris speech, Costons expectation was for the vice president to show awareness of whats going on in schools. She said she was encouraged by what she heard.

Now we just gotta see it happen, Coston said.

Big news: director and screenwriter Richard Linklater; NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher; U.S. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-California; and Luci Baines Johnson will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 57 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!

See the article here:
Texas teachers stand behind Kamala Harris after years of feeling targeted, neglected by Republicans - The Texas Tribune

Since Donald Trump chose Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, its been widely noted that Vance once described Trump as reprehensible and cultural heroin. However, the day after Vance won his own Senate race in 2022, he reportedly made it known that he would support Trump for president in 2024.

Given this dramatic change, what does Vances selection mean for the Republican Party and conservatism, the political philosophy that the GOP once claimed to embrace?

I am a political scientist whose research and political analysis focuses on the relationship between Trump, the Republican Party and conservatism. Everyday citizens define conservatism in different ways, but at its root it is a philosophy that supports smaller and less-centralized government because consolidated power could be used to silence political competition and deny citizens their liberties.

Since 2015, Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican Party, moving it further away from its professed conservative ideology. The choice of Vance as Trumps running mate and the competition that preceded it are the latest steps in this process.

Vance came from a small pool of contenders that included other noteworthy politicians who likewise once vehemently opposed Trump. By examining their trajectories, we can see how the Republican Party has abandoned conservative values to serve a single man.

Elise Stefanik ran for Congress in 2014 from a district in upstate New York as a mainstream Republican who admired Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Ryan was a traditional conservative who had run for vice president alongside former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 2012. Romney endorsed Stefanik for Congress, saying that she was a person of integrity. Every campaign is different, but values dont change.

But Stefaniks values did change. When forced to share the ballot with Trump in 2016, she couldnt even spit his name out, according to Republican consultant Tim Miller. But early in Trumps presidency, she became a vocal ally, eventually replacing Rep. Liz Cheney as chair of the House Republican Conference in 2021.

House Republicans ousted Cheney from that position after she criticized Trumps refusal to support the 2020 election results and his actions during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Cheney justified her opposition to Trump by highlighting her respect for the rule of law and support for limited government even when those positions meant opposing her own party leader. These are foundational conservative principles, centered in aversion to consolidated government power.

This switch was a significant moment in the partys ideological transformation. Stefaniks rising star subsequently landed her in the mix for vice president, which she called An honor. A humbling honor.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio challenged Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. During that race, Rubio issued a news release calling Trump a serious threat to the future of our party and our country, and blamed him for ushering in a climate of violence.

Statements like these made sense coming from a serious conservative whose worldview was defined by his familys Cuban heritage and who opposed communism, tyranny and excessive government power.

Eventually, though, Rubio became a Trump ally. He voted to acquit Trump in his second impeachment trial in 2021, which centered on charges that Trump had incited an insurrection. In line with Trumps wishes, Rubio opposed establishing an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 events.

In early 2024, Rubio was asked in an ABC interview if he really wanted to be vice president even though Trump had defended calls by Jan. 6 insurrectionists to hang former Vice President Mike Pence for certifying the 2020 election results.

When Donald Trump was president of the United States, this country was safer, it was more prosperous, Rubio responded. I think this country and the world was a better place.

This refusal to acknowledge and challenge Trumps apparent support of lawlessness by his followers was an abdication of fundamental conservative values.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has touted his conservative values and principles throughout his political life. It was logical for him to endorse Rubio as Trump gained momentum in the 2016 Republican primaries.

In 2017, Scott insisted that Trumps failure to condemn white nationalists after violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, compromised his moral authority. Not long after, however, Scott met with Trump about his comments and was convinced that Trump had obviously reflected on what he said.

When Trump refused to flatly condemn white supremacists a few years later in a 2020 presidential debate, Scott suggested that Trump misspoke and should correct the comments, but added, If he doesnt correct it, I guess he didnt misspeak. After dropping out of the Republican primaries in 2024, Scott endorsed Trump as someone who could unite the country.

These converted Trump allies still hold modern conservative stances on issues such as abortion and health care. But in seeking to become Trumps running mate, they tacitly endorsed an executives attempt to overturn a democratic election and subvert the liberties of U.S. citizens. Such a shift violates the spirit of conservatism.

These politicians have also moved away from conservative principles in areas including U.S. foreign policy and immigration. But the fundamental shift that is most profound is in their attitudes toward abuse of government power.

What should we make of Trump choosing Vance, who once privately compared Trump to Hitler but now says that he would not have readily certified the 2020 election if he had been in Pences shoes?

Many considerations affect the choice of a running mate. But Vance doesnt represent a swing state. He probably wont appeal to MAGA-skeptical independent voters who have yet to make up their minds about who to vote for.

Instead, people close to Trump call the 39-year-old Vance the new heir to Trumps MAGA movement. Vance is more than a proteg, though; he embodies Trumps influence on the Republican Partys evolving relationship with government power and insists his political conversion is genuine.

If there was any speculation that Republicans would revert to some form of traditional conservatism after Trump leaves politics, the prospect of a JD Vance presidency makes clear that the answer is no.

More here:
JD Vances selection as Trumps running mate marks the end of Republican conservatism - The Conversation Indonesia

Abbotts vendetta comes as other GOP figures are also going after fellow Republicans for perceived crimes against the party, notably Attorney General Ken Paxtons targeting of incumbents for voting to impeach him. House Speaker Dade Phelan is among those under siege as he fights to defend his own hold on power in the runoffs next Tuesday.

In prior years, state legislature races in Texas typically cost about $250,000. But spending in some of these primaries has been upwards of $1 million, thanks to the involvement of pro-voucher interests attacking Republicans.

We are outgunned here big time, said Rep. DeWayne Burns, a Republican lawmaker fighting to keep in his seat representing a district encompassing Cleburne, Texas, a town on the outskirts of Dallas-Fort Worth. This is a true David v. Goliath situation and Im the David here.

The negative attacks on anti-voucher Republicans financed by PACs have gone beyond school-choice and targeted the incumbents for lacking conservative bona fides on issues like guns and the border often in false or misleading mailers, texts and advertisements.

In one example, residents of Mineral Wells, Texas received mailers paid for by Libertarian PAC Make Liberty Win going after incumbent Rep. Glenn Rogers, who lost his primary in March to an Abbott-backed challenger. That mailer accused him of being anti-gun and warned that if we dont vote Rogers out, he will only drift further left.

Rogers, a fifth-generation rancher and veterinarian who was first elected in 2021, said that he was also accused of being soft on the border, an attack line he believes Abbott chose because that issue resonates more with voters than vouchers.

If you tell a lie often enough, it becomes truth to a low-information voter, Rogers said. Unfortunately we have a lot of low-information voters. That doesnt have anything to do with their mental ability, it has to do with them keeping up. Eventually it becomes truth in their minds.

Although Republicans boast big majorities in both chambers and control the governorship, school-choice proposals were repeatedly swatted down in 2023, even after Abbott made them a top priority and called special sessions to address the issue. The latest proposal would have given around 40,000 students access to about $10,500 in vouchers for private schooling or $1,000 toward homeschooling.

Rep. Glenn Rogers, a fifth-generation rancher and veterinarian who was first elected in 2021, said that he was accused of being soft on the border, an attack line he believes Abbott chose. | Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune

Republicans, many from rural areas, who have long been opposed to vouchers over concerns that it would jeopardize public education funding, banded with Democrats for an unlikely alliance that proved to be a thorn in Abbotts side. Those lawmakers were spooked by an estimate that the vouchers program would cost the state more than $2 billion annually by 2028.

I voted for my district and I have no regrets, said San Antonio Rep. Steve Allison, who lost his primary. What the governor did is extremely wrong. Me and the others that he came after have been with him 100 percent of the time on every issue except this one.

Abbott has major money on his side. Among the constellation of PACs and donations from wealthy political players dumping money into Texas elections this year, theres Pennsylvania billionaire Yass. A major school-choice supporter, Yass personally cut a check to Abbott for $6 million last year, which the governor called the largest single donation in Texas history.

Yass has also given to PACs backing pro-voucher candidates, like the School Freedom Fund, which is affiliated with the Club for Growth and has run multi-million-dollar TV blitzes.

DeVos PAC, the American Federation for Children Victory Fund, has pumped $4.5 million into the races nearly half of what the PAC has promised to spend nationwide this cycle. Of the 13 anti-school-choice lawmakers zeroed in on by the PAC, 10 candidates either lost their race or were forced into an upcoming runoff.

If youre a candidate or lawmaker who opposes school-choice and freedom in education youre a target, Tommy Schultz, CEO of AFC, said when the fundraising organization was created in 2023. If youre a champion for parents well be your shield.

Link:
What's breaking up the Texas Republican party? School vouchers - POLITICO