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Donald Trump is still the undisputed leader of the Republican Party. But you probably already knew that. The medley of conservative voters, politicians, activists and political commentators that descended on Dallas this past weekend for this years second Conservative Political Action Conference certainly did.

But some things are less clear. Namely, ahead of the midterm elections, GOP voters seem to be casting about for the best path forward and debating whether their energy would be better utilized by relitigating the results of last years presidential race (again) or chugging forward to whats expected to be a grueling midterm cycle.

This schism amongst Republicans was on display throughout the weekend. Take, for example, a conversation I had with James Scott, a once-reluctant Trump supporter whos now all in. After retrieving a hot coffee on the second day of CPAC, he sheepishly admitted to me that, back in 2016, he held his nose before voting for the now-former president. Standing across from me with a Come and See baseball cap, the bespectacled retiree described his past self as a Marco Rubio aficionado who joined Team Trump only after Trump announced an ultra-conservative Supreme Court shortlist ahead of the 2016 general election. And now, Scott is so devoted that he believes assessing Trumps baseless lies about rampant election fraud is critical to the GOPs future. We must have election integrity, he told me. The truth, he added, must be brought out because the future depends on it.

Compare that, though, to 20-year-old Aaron Genus, a college student, Instagram personality and restaurant worker who came to the conference from Michigan. Genus made clear that he, too, believed the 2020 election was an absolute joke; but unlike Scott, hes ready for the party to move on. In America, theres no such thing as an election do-over, he said. Once Trump got in that helicopter and waved goodbye, it was over. Theres no way to undo what happened. All we can do is fight for our election integrity come the next two cycles.

Heading into CPAC, I was curious where voters heads were at. How preoccupied would attendees be with rehashing 2020 versus looking ahead to 2022? In years past, CPAC has been a useful barometer for the base of the Republican Party and its most fervent activists even if it isnt always indicative of the partys future. This year was no exception, although the choice of whether to press on from the previous election is arguably a new one.

A bevy of speakers decried claims of a stolen election (though they are false), and at least two events were devoted exclusively to how to spot and guard against election fraud. Other panels focused on how to expand the partys base, and ahead of Trumps culminating speech, an emcee declared that 2022 starts right here. What I found, though, is that only a small handful of attendees were actually ready to move on.

After losing the U.S. House in 2018 and the Senate and White House in 2020, Republicans are eager to identify candidates who can help them successfully reclaim Congress in 2022 and the presidency in 2024. But if this weekends CPAC conference is any indication of the partys priorities, some of the staunchest Republicans are more concerned about challenging the last election than winning the next.

I still feel we were so cheated in 2020 and I dont think thats been resolved, attendee Pat DeLange, who turned 63 on Saturday, told me. So when there is cheating involved it needs to be exposed. I think we need to get the rightful president back in office so he can fix this and wake people up.

Trump, for his part, seemed more concerned with the past, too. If nothing else, its one way for him to maintain relevance as the partys de facto leader while he irons out his future plans. During a roughly 90-minute speech on Sunday, he mentioned similar to prior interviews and appearances a rigged election and sarcastically quipped that he lost last years race. (The crowd went wild at these bits, repeatedly booing at claims of fraud.) But perhaps most notably, he continued to tease supporters on whether hell run again. (I will never stop fighting for you, he told a brimming crowd, which chanted back, Four more years!)

On the one hand, considering Trumps grip on the party 53 percent of self-identified Republicans said in a May Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll that they believe he is the true president its not surprising that supporters are still overwhelmingly taking cues from the former president. Recent polls on who won the 2020 election confirm that much of the party isnt over last year, either. In November, roughly three in four Trump supporters said Bidens win was due to voter fraud, per a Monmouth University poll. And those numbers have barely budged. According to that May Reuters/Ipsos survey, 56 percent of Republicans still believe the election was rigged.

Experts I spoke to ahead of the convention said theyve never seen a past president maintain his position as head of a political party as Trump has, but they werent shocked with the crowds obsession with the past either. Its not a real future-oriented crowd. Id say theyre more interested in what they see as [a] fraudulent election and litigating all that, said Robert Saldin, a professor of political science at the University of Montana. But its always been a backwards looking thing. Make America Great Again is casting a tide to the past, so I think, in a way, theres always been a backwards focus there thats been relatively rare in American politics.

Indeed, fealty to Trump (and, by virtue, his false claims of fraud) were a key theme of the weekend. Not only were attendees there wearing a sea of red, white and blue outfits and accessories bearing Trumps face and name, they overwhelmingly selected Trump as their preferred candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination in the CPAC straw poll. He captured 70 percent of the ballots in the anonymous survey a boost from the 55 percent he won in a similar poll at the Orlando CPAC conference in February. Also during the conference, attendees circulated a seven-point plot to reinstate Trump as president in a matter of days. (Theres no constitutional mechanism for reinstating a former president.)

Of course, those who want to leave 2020 behind were at the conference, too, but they were a minority. On the last day of CPAC, I found Grizzly Joe, a Trump supporter who received national attention for telling CNN he believed Biden was the true winner of the November election. (While he had media credentials for the event, he told me he was half there for coverage and half there as an attendee.) Looking in the rearview mirror isnt going to help us move forward, he told me. When I asked him whether theres too much focus right now on debunked claims of fraud, he told me that, some people are like a dog with a bone. If theres fraud lets find it, root it out and fix it. But people jumping up and down bellyaching about Trump being the real president isnt going to put Trump back in the White House.

A second conversation with Barbara Lewis, 65, who wore a Trump 2024 shirt and blue leggings with red and white stars, yielded much of the same sentiment. They fought the [last] election enough, and the fight kind of just needs to end. I dont think they can go any further with the fight.

Its too early to say where the Republican Party will go from here, but at least for now, its clear that Trump and the 2020 election are still very resonant in voters minds. And that makes perfect sense considering Trump himself has a foot in both the past and the future.

More:
CPAC Emphasized Republicans Obsession With 2020 - FiveThirtyEight

The six-month anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol prompted somber reflections on one of the darkest moments in recent American history.

But far from creating a moment of regret or reflection, last weeks grim milestone also showed how many Republicans including in Pennsylvania have doubled down on the lies and conspiracies that sparked the insurrection. As former President Donald Trump continues promoting the fantasy of a stolen election, key Pennsylvania Republicans have amplified or nodded toward that fiction, using their loyalty to the lie as a selling point in their bids for higher office.

Calls for a new election review, and casting aspersions on the 2020 results, are now a key element of GOP primaries nationally and in Pennsylvania, where the state has critical elections for governor and U.S. Senate next year. Its also driving Republican pushes for tighter election laws, an effort President Joe Biden hopes to counter Tuesday when he comes to Philadelphia to deliver a speech on voting rights.

Last Wednesday, six months and one day after the Capitol protest he joined turned into a riot, State Sen. Doug Mastriano announced he would try to create a Pennsylvania version of Arizonas widely criticized partisan election review.

Decrying damage to our election process, he said the only way to restore confidence in our Commonwealths election process is to undertake a forensic investigation. Mastriano has spread lies about the election at every turn helping fuel the doubts that now run through much of the GOP.

READ MORE: A key Pa. Republican asks counties to hand over ballots and election equipment for an Arizona-style review

Far from sinking him politically, the Franklin County Republican hopes it will get him a promotion: Hes considered a top GOP contender for governor, and is openly angling for Trumps endorsement.

Also hoping for Trumps support, Lou Barletta, another Republican gubernatorial hopeful who has refused to acknowledge Bidens victory, pointed to his own past calls for an investigation and his campaigns election integrity commission.

And as former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain prepares to enter the gubernatorial race, he privately wrote to Trump handing the former president more ammunition for his fraud claims and seeking his endorsement.

In the June letter, seven months after the election, McSwain called the way the 2020 election was run a partisan disgrace and said he received various allegations of wrongdoing, but was ordered by then-Attorney General Bill Barr not to make any public statements about them. He wrote that he was told to pass on allegations to state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat. McSwain then asked for Trumps support and concluded, I hope to see you soon.

Trump blasted out the letter Monday night to bolster his stolen election claims.

McSwain has dodged previous questions about accepting the 2020 results.

With Trump still reigning as the partys most powerful figure, his election grievances have become a litmus test for Republican candidates. Even those who havent questioned the results have felt compelled to support new reviews, despite numerous audits and oversight by bipartisan elections officials, judges, and Trumps own Justice Department that affirmed the election results.

Its a familiar pattern: Republicans are pulled along by Trumps lies, forced to at least humor them until they take hold and become party orthodoxy.

READ MORE: What I saw inside the House chamber as the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol closed in

After Trumps initial claims of massive election fraud fell apart, Republicans have since laundered the idea through complaints about election procedures and now calls for a partisan audit, all of which nod at the original lie: that Trump was robbed. Conspiracy theories thrive on claims that stack on top of each other, said Dustin Carnahan, a Michigan State professor who focuses on misinformation and politics.

Even when you remove any one element of that narrative, the conspiracy still holds together, Carnahan said. Its all just reinforcing this idea that something illegitimate and something inappropriate may have happened in 2020.

Pennsylvania already conducted an audit of a sample of ballots in 63 of its 67 counties, which affirmed the accuracy of the outcome. Counties are also required by law to audit a small sample of ballots.

Still, while few have gone as far as Mastriano or Barletta, several of the most prominent Pennsylvania Republicans running in 2022 have embraced calls for additional reviews of last years presidential vote.

We need a full forensic audit in all the states where we had issues, and Pennsylvania certainly had issues, Republican Senate candidate Jeff Bartos recently said in a May interview with former Trump strategist Steve Bannon.

Another Senate candidate, Sean Parnell, also told Bannon he supports an audit of the 2020 results, as well as in other elections.

When asked by The Inquirer, both offered a rationale tied to business practices.

I come from the private sector we audit things all the time, every day, Bartos said in a statement. Only politicians looking to hide something would object to more integrity and more transparency in elections.

The government can audit American citizens at any time, Parnell, who last year led a failed lawsuit seeking to throw out all of Pennsylvanias 2.6 million mail ballots, said in a statement. Why shouldnt the government be subject to the same standard?

Of course, businesses audits are usually conducted by neutral professionals without a stake in the outcome. Exxon doesnt open its books for a review by Greenpeace.

READ MORE: What Sean Parnell, Liz Cheney, and Rudy Giuliani show about Trumps hold on Pennsylvania Republicans

Carla Sands, Trumps former ambassador to Denmark and now a Senate candidate, pointed to Mastrianos visit to observe Arizonas election review when she told conservative radio host Chris Stigall last week that I believe that they want our election to have integrity and be honest and fair.

Breaking with many in his party, one potential GOP gubernatorial candidate, State Sen. Dan Laughlin (R., Erie), acknowledged that Biden won Pennsylvania and doubted a new investigation would find anything of significance.

If we proceed with the audit, it will continue to perpetuate the story that there was something wrong with the 2020 election results, and I dont think thats in the best interests of Pennsylvania, Laughlin said in an interview.

The Arizona review has been rife with shoddy protocols and handling of ballots, partisan actors, and bizarre tactics including examinations of ballots for bamboo, on the cooked-up suspicion some came from Asia. Neutral observers have struggled for access. Maricopa County, the home of Phoenix and the target of the review, is likely to spend millions replacing its voting machines because of security concerns.

READ MORE: Pennsylvania Republicans have a path to victory in 2022. Pro-Trump candidates may not follow it.

But Democrats and Republicans are both glad to keep the GOP denialism and Trump front-and-center.

A Reuters-Ipsos poll in May suggests why: 56% of Republicans believe the election was rigged, but only 25% of voters overall do. The state Democratic Party and national groups have blasted out a stream of messages tying Republican candidates to election conspiracies.

This is a disgrace to democracy not to mention a profound waste of time and taxpayer money, Gov. Tom Wolf tweeted about Mastrianos effort.

On July 6, inboxes were filled with Democratic fund-raising pitches tied to the riot anniversary.

Every minute Republicans spend competing for Trumps approval is a minute wasted for Pennsylvanians, Shapiro, a Democrat expected to run for governor, said on Twitter.

The latest election review to come up empty was in Michigan, where a Republican-led legislative panel concluded there was no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud. But far from easing doubts, the result last month only brought more attacks from Trump.

Laughlin, the state senator from Erie County, suspected the same outcome would follow in Pennsylvania.

In talking to some of my constituents that are for this, he said, I dont believe that they are going to believe the results of the audit unless it finds what they are hoping for.

Excerpt from:
Supporting Trumps election lies is becoming a litmus test for Pennsylvania Republicans seeking higher office - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Republicans are questioning Amazons relationship with the Pentagon after newly released emails show that defense officials praised tech executives vying for a $10 billion contract during the Trump administration.

On Tuesday, The New York Times reported on previously unreleased emails that show Pentagon officials applauding Amazon executives while the company sought out a lucrative defense contract between 2017 and 2018. The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project, or JEDI, set out to find a tech company that would move the Defense Departments computer networks over to the cloud.

In one instance, the Times reports that former Trump Defense Secretary Jim Mattis traveled to Silicon Valley to meet with executives from companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google in 2017. During this trip, Mattis was made uncomfortable while Amazon representatives aggressively pitched their cloud-computing products to him. A former Mattis adviser, Sally Donnelly, also referred to Bezos as the genius of our age. Donnelly, who later sent Mattis a list of reasons he should meet with Bezos, had previously worked at a consulting firm where her clients included Amazon.

This is exactly what we were concerned about, and it contradicts Amazons insistence that there is nothing to see here, Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said in a joint statement Tuesday. Its become more and more clear that Amazon used its market power and paid-for connections to circumvent ethical boundaries and avoid competition in an attempt to win this contract.

Microsoft won the multibillion-dollar contract in 2019 after a closely watched bidding fight between Amazon. In the months leading up to the contracts winner announcement, former President Donald Trump dialed up his criticism of Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos, accusing the Bezos-owned Washington Post of unfair media coverage.

But earlier this month, the Defense Department announced that it would cancel its contract amid an ongoing legal battle alleging that Trump wrongfully interfered in the bidding process. In canceling the prior contract, Amazon is given a second chance to win the $10 billion deal. But Republicans in Washington are calling for the company to testify regarding its Pentagon relationships in light of the newly released emails.

Now, more than ever, we need to ask Amazon, under oath, whether it tried to improperly influence the largest federal contract in history, the lawmakers wrote.

View original post here:
Republicans call for Amazon to testify on Pentagon relationship - The Verge

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) As state lawmakers return to Raleigh to continue the legislative session, Republicans plan to try to override Democratic Gov. Roy Coopers veto of a bill restricting certain abortions in North Carolina.

Progress NC recently launched a digital ad campaign aimed at trying to block the passage of a second abortion-related bill as well.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have scheduled an override vote for July 21 of a bill that would ban abortions based on race or the diagnosis of Down syndrome.

When the House passed that bill in May, six Democrats joined with the Republicans to vote in favor of it. That would be enough to override Coopers veto. However, no Democrats in the Senate voted for the bill.

These are private, painful moments that our state lawmakers have no business interfering with, said Susanna Birdsong, North Carolina director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.

Physicians would have to attest that the woman seeking the abortion did not cite race or Down syndrome as reasons. They could be liable for civil damages for violations.

The bills sponsors have compared the practice to eugenics.

We believe that the abortion industry is worried because they realize that the members of the General Assembly who are pro-life and who are members of the Governors party are inclined to vote their conscience, said Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the NC Values Coalition. Were just trying to encourage those members to vote their conscience.

When Cooper vetoed the bill late last month, he said it was unconstitutional and it damages the doctor-patient relationship with an unprecedented government intrusion.

The Senate also has passed a separate bill called the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act Its similar to a bill Cooper vetoed two years ago and would require that physicians provide care for a baby that survives an attempted abortion.

The House has not voted on that bill yet.

When Cooper vetoed another version of it in 2019, he called the bill needless and said the existing law protects newborn babies.

The reason behind this bill is to save actual lives, said Fitzgerald.

Birdsong pointed to physicians licensing requirements, ethics, and standards of care.

She said the bill could cause additional pain and suffering to families whose infant has severe health conditions and only hours or days to live by dictating the end-of-life care for babies who wont survive.

Original post:
NC Republicans aiming to override Gov. Coopers veto of bill restricting certain abortions - WNCT

Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiThe Memo: Trump pours gas on tribalism with Jan. 6 rewrite Former NFL player challenging Boozman in Arkansas GOP primary Pelosi offers support for Cuban protests MORE (D-Calif.), the leader of House Democrats, recently named Rep. Liz CheneyElizabeth (Liz) Lynn CheneyThe Memo: Trump pours gas on tribalism with Jan. 6 rewrite Juan Williams: Republicans prefer Trump's fantasies over truth and facts McCarthy, GOP face a delicate dance on Jan. 6 committee MORE (R-Wyo.), formerly the third-ranking Republican in the House, to a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

It was an extraordinary step to build bipartisan trust for an investigation into the most serious attempt to overthrow the U.S. government since the Civil War.

Forget it, Speaker Pelosi.

It is not going to make a difference. Republicans now define loyalty by one measure the willingness to jump headfirst into former President TrumpDonald TrumpOvernight Defense: Top US commander in Afghanistan departs | US sends delegation to Haiti after request for troops | Senate Dems propose .3B for Pentagon in Capitol security bill Fauci and Birx warned Scott Atlas was 'dangerous' Report: RNC chief counsel called 2020 Trump legal efforts 'a joke' MOREs delusional claims of massive voter fraud to explain why he lost the 2020 election.

Pelosi felt the need for bipartisanship because House Republicans initially looked inclined to boycott the probe by not naming any Republicans to the committee. In the Senate, Republicans blocked an independent investigation.

Cheney is a hard-line conservative. Her Republican credentials are unassailable. But she voted to impeach Trump for his role in inciting the attack on the government.

So, while Pelosi picked Cheney as an honest broker, some Republicans scorn Cheney as disloyal to Trump.

The dark reality is that no matter how fair the final report of the select committee, it will be ignored by most Republicans.

Similarly, it wont matter to many Republicans in Congress if federal and state investigations in New York find Trumps company guilty of engaging in a criminal enterprise full of tax fraud.

Republicans in Congress are even willing to close their eyes to a disease taking the lives of their constituents.

They refuse to rebut mindless, conspiracy talk about vaccines even as Republican-majority states that voted for Trump are disproportionately hit by a new variant of the virus.

To be a Republican in good standing these days requires buying into conspiracies, expressing racist grievances and repeating the Big Lie.

A Monmouth University poll released last month found that 63 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters say Trump lost the election because of fraud.

Last week, Pelosi called out House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthyKevin McCarthyCNN: Tucker Carlson 'furious' at Fox News execs for not defending his NSA spying claims The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Goldman Sachs - Democrats lean into midterm strategy as Senate returns to work Juan Williams: Republicans prefer Trump's fantasies over truth and facts MORE (R-Calif.) for allowing his party to reach such a low:

McCarthy looks the other way and welcomes Members who spread dangerous conspiracy theories and consort with insurrections, far right extremists and white supremacists, a statement from Pelosis press office said, but he punishes and threatens those in his Conference who dare to stand up for our democracy.

Pelosi is not the only one calling out top Republicans for their failure to lead.

Republican leaders have played footsie with dark forces on the far right, The Washington Post wrote in an editorial last week, under the mistaken impression that they could benefit from the enthusiasm of racists, conspiracy theorists and other extremists while maintaining control of the party. ... Those forces have instead reshaped the party not just on matters of policy ... but also on the most basic question of whether Americans can trust their democratic institutions.

William BarrBill BarrJuan Williams: Republicans prefer Trump's fantasies over truth and facts Trump says being impeached twice didn't change him: 'I became worse' Trump-allied GOP chairs turn on fellow Republicans MORE, Trumps own attorney general, is also calling out Republicans in Congress.

The conspiracy theory about election fraud from Trump is bullshit, Barr said.

If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it, Barr told journalist Jonathan Karl in an interview for the forthcoming book Betrayal. It was all bullshit.

Barr noted that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellThis week: Congress starts summer sprint Brewing battle over tax hikes to test Democratic unity Juan Williams: Republicans prefer Trump's fantasies over truth and facts MORE (R-Ky.) asked him to say Biden won. McConnell refused to say it for fear of losing Trumps political support in Senate elections in Georgia.

But B.S. is now required from Republicans running for Congress.

A third of the nearly 700 Republicans who have filed initial paperwork ... to run next year for the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives are embracing Trumps Big Lie, Amy Gardner reported in The Washington Post last week.

Gardner noted that 136 of the Republicans running for seats in the next Congress are sitting members of Congress who voted against certifying President BidenJoe BidenPoll: Biden approval on coronavirus slips 2 percentage points Overnight Defense: Top US commander in Afghanistan departs | US sends delegation to Haiti after request for troops | Senate Dems propose .3B for Pentagon in Capitol security bill Protests escalate US-Cuba tensions MOREs electoral college victory on Jan. 6.

The terrible consequence of this downward spiral was evident last week when The New York Times reported on social media postings suggesting that Rep. Paul GosarPaul Anthony GosarJuan Williams: Republicans prefer Trump's fantasies over truth and facts Sears, Kmart pull shirt calling Ashli Babbitt an 'American Patriot' Five big questions about the Jan. 6 select committee MORE (R-Ariz.), a leader of the Stop the Steal movement, was set to appear at a fundraiser with a white supremacist leader, Nick Fuentes.

(McCarthy, the GOP House leader, told The Washington Post that Gosar had told him the ad for the fundraiser was not real.)

Gosar in a recent fund-raising solicitation spread the conspiracy theory that the F.B.I. may have been behind the Jan. 6 attack, Catie Edmondson reported for the Times.

Meanwhile, Sen. James LankfordJames Paul LankfordJuan Williams: Republicans prefer Trump's fantasies over truth and facts Trump-allied GOP chairs turn on fellow Republicans The Hill's Morning Report - Biden renews pleas as US COVID-19 vax rate slows MORE (R-Okla.), who did not challenge the certification of Bidens win, is facing a primary opponent who attacks him for not being loyal to Trump. The challenge is being supported by the state Republican party chairman.

Its more unheard of than it is rare for an incumbent senator to see his primary opponent endorsed by the state chairman of his party, Lankford told the Tulsa World.

But American politics is in the unheard-of zone.

Eighteen more months of chaos and the inability to get stuff done thats what we want, Rep. Chip RoyCharles (Chip) Eugene RoyJuan Williams: Republicans prefer Trump's fantasies over truth and facts The Hill's Morning Report - Biden renews families plan pitch; Senate prepares to bring infrastructure package to floor House Republican says colleagues' 'job' is to slow Democratic priorities MORE (R-Texas) recently told a conservative crowd, proudly advertising a strategy to stop government from working.

Thankfully, most voters live outside the Trump-right-wing-media election conspiracy echo chamber.

But what's next? Blood has already been spilled this year on the grounds of the Capitol.

Leaders, left and right, need to join Pelosi now in facing down Trumps lies before the delusions spark more violence and more voter suppression in the 2022 midterms.

Juan Williams is an author, and a political analyst for Fox News Channel.

The rest is here:
Juan Williams: Republicans prefer Trump's fantasies over truth and facts | TheHill - The Hill