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ANALYSIS When it comes to President Joe Bidens plans for reelection, Republicans arent taking no for an answer and are pressuring him to resign altogether. Presumably, the goal is to embarrass Biden, weaken the Democratic Party and help give former President Donald Trump another advantage in the race. But the GOP strategy could do just the opposite.

The call for Biden to step down includes some of the top Republicans on the Hill.

If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President, said Speaker Mike Johnson in a release on Sunday. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.

If Joe Biden cant run for re-election, he is unable and unfit to continue serving as President of the United States. He must immediately RESIGN his office for the good of the country, said House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik in a release on Tuesday morning with the subject line JOE BIDEN MUST RESIGN.

If President Biden is not fit enough to campaign, he is not capable of holding the nuclear codes. He should resign, said GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa in an email on Sunday as well.

The call for Biden to step aside also includes candidates who havent even gotten to Capitol Hill yet.

It is simply not enough for Joe Biden to just bow out of the race. If hes unfit to run in 2024, he is unfit to hold office. He MUST resign, said a release from Ret. Col. Laurie Buckout, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Don Davis in North Carolinas 1st District. That race is rated as a Toss-up by Inside Elections.

Two more Republicans in Toss-up races are singing from the same hymnal.

If Joe Biden is not fit to run, he is unfit to serve. I am formally calling on Joe Biden to resign the Presidency because his continued presence in the situation room is a national security threat, said Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno in a release. Hes challenging Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Montanans will never forget that Jon Tester lied to all of us when he engaged in the Lefts coverup and said Biden is 100% with it, said Montana Republican Tim Sheehy in a release. The truth is, the truth is, Joe Biden must immediately resign as President of the United States because if youre not fit to even run for president, youre not fit to serve as Commander-in-Chief for one day longer.

You get the point.

So what is the potential fallout from Republicans pressure campaign?

First of all, Republicans have created an arbitrary standard of coupling serving in office with campaigning, which in reality are different functions. Serving as a president doesnt have to include a rigorous, nationwide travel schedule effectively required for a national campaign. And theres nothing beyond custom that requires someone who is eligible for another term to seek one. But Republicans are also setting a precedent that could haunt them later.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 82, has had multiple, public elderly moments. Hes not likely to run for reelection in 2026 because of his age, so should he resign early? Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa is 90 years old, so should he continue to serve if he doesnt commit to campaigning in 2028?

Coming back to the current cycle, trying to keep the attention on Bidens age and faculties might seem like a good idea and benefit Republicans by owning the Democrats, but it could also hurt the GOPs effort to win the grand prize in 2024.

Time will tell, but its possible Republicans already hurt themselves by harping on Bidens age and forcing Democrats weakest candidate from the race. Now the Democrats are riding with Vice President Kamala Harris who, at a minimum, has energized the party base beyond anything Biden was able to do. Pushing Biden out of office completely could hurt Republicans even more.

Biden is giving a national speech Wednesday night from the Oval Office about his decision to drop out of the race, and while theres no indication he would even consider it, a Biden resignation would be yet another historical event that would garner at least a few days of news coverage.

It would also elevate Harris to the top job. There would be at least a couple weeks of news coverage about the first woman president in the nations 248-year history and various aspects of the historic transition. Harris would also have the full trappings of the office. For any voters who have difficulty envisioning her as president, she would be the president. Republicans would be an afterthought for at least a little while.

It would give Harris the opportunity to do the job. If theres a moment of crisis, she could demonstrate her decision-making skills. And from a campaign perspective, a Biden resignation would give her a slightly different message. She could say, Give me a chance. I just got into this job. Give me a full term, more time to demonstrate I can do this.

That wont sway any base Republicans. Trumps core supporters who think Biden is a terrible president would likely think the same about a new President Harris. But its not an unreasonable argument to softer, independent voters who Harris needs in order to win. In other words, moderate voters may be less likely to fire someone who just got the job.

Of course its possible that Harris becomes president following a Biden resignation and fails, even in a short amount of time. She could fumble a crisis or get pinned with current problems that plague any resident of the Oval Office, even if those issues are not a result of her actions.

If Democrats come to the conclusion that helping Harris become president could boost her chances before Nov. 5, a Biden resignation could be the October surprise everyone is always looking for. And if Republicans complain, then Democrats can just say it was their idea all along.

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Republicans should be careful what they wish for on Biden resignation - Roll Call

The Bucks County Republican Party celebrated a turning point Monday.

For the first time in a decade and a half, Republicans outpaced Democrats in voter registration in the key purple county, and Bucks County became the only Republican-majority county in the Philadelphia area.

The county party enthusiastically celebrated the win on social media, and National Republican Congressional Committee touted the change as proof that GOP messaging was working.

But the reality is more complicated. Voter registration lags behind voting behavior, meaning that people who made the switch to the Republican Party were likely already voting for Republican candidates. And even the local GOP leader cast doubt on how meaningful the shift would be when voters go to the polls

Its a morale booster, its something weve been targeting for years, county GOP chair Pat Poprik said. Though she felt the change may boost GOP turnout, she didnt put too much stock in the figure as a prediction for November.

The shift does, however, underscore that Bucks County is very divided, and will be an essential battleground in this years presidential election. Former President Donald Trump lost the county in 2016 and 2020, but by narrower margins than in Philadelphias other collar counties. And the county has gone red in down-ballot races.

Voters have kept Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in office while voting for Democrats in statewide races. And Democrats seized control of county government in 2019, were swept by Republicans in 2021, then won again last year.

The county is certain to once again draw national attention and become a key area for both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the coming months.

The exact reason for the shift in voter registration can vary. Presidential election years tend to have an increase in voter registrations

Last week, Department of State data showed that Democrats held a 112-voter lead over Republicans on registration in the county. On Monday, Republicans had a 264-voter lead as a result of both new Republican voters and fewer Democratic voters. Meanwhile, the number of unaffiliated voters in Bucks County had also grown.

This has been a competitive county for years, and whether the Democrats have a small advantage in registration or the Republicans do, its still going to be a competitive place, said Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin and Marshall College.

Poprik said Bucks County Republicans had been urging voters to turn out in November and change their party affiliation.

So many people are so unhappy with the Democratic policies and performance, Poprik said, noting that shes had people walk into the GOP office asking how to change their registration.

Republican registrations saw a particular surge last week, which Poprik attributes primarily to the Republican National Convention. However, registration data tends to lag behind major events because of the time it takes for counties to process that data so its unclear whether this is any correlation to the recent events in this years presidential race.

Bucks County Democratic Party Chair State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, on the other hand, predicted the registration lead would flip back again as Democrats capitalize on a growing energy in the party following President Joe Bidens exit from the race this week. Bucks County Democrats, he said, have their own voter registration activities planned.

I think within the next few months, and certainly within the year, youre going to see a change, he said.

But Republicans in the county had been narrowing Democrats edge for years, and that hasnt always corresponded to a change in election outcomes.

Registration numbers are unlikely to be a clear signal of who will win an election in November, especially because registration tends to lag behind voting behavior.

If I were they, I would not be celebrating because they still keep losing elections, Santarsiero said.

Bucks County, referred to by some as the key to the keystone is a consistently hotly contested area.

I think that there are more traditional Republican voters who may have, or at least in the past had, less comfort with the kind of politics that say a President Trump practices, Yost said, noting that concern about losing voter in places like Bucks County may have been a motivating factor as Democrats pressured Biden to end his reelection campaign.

Bucks County voters are known for ticket splitting, or voting for both Republican and Democratic candidates on the same ballot. And the countys more than 61,000 unaffiliated voters will also play a role in determining the outcome in November.

I think that if you want to succeed, Santarsiero said, you really do have to speak to those folks.

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Bucks County is now the only Republican majority county in the area. What does that mean for November? - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Elon Musk, the worlds richest man, has waded into one of the thorniest issues facing U.S. politics: deepfake videos.

On Friday night, Mr. Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform X, reposted an edited campaign video for Vice President Kamala Harris that appears to have been digitally manipulated to change the spots voice-over in a deceptive manner.

The video mimics Ms. Harriss voice, but instead of using her words from the original ad, it has the vice president saying that President Biden is senile, that she does not know the first thing about running the country and that, as a woman and a person of color, she is the ultimate diversity hire.

In addition, the clip was edited to remove images of former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, and to add images of Mr. Biden. The original, unaltered ad, which the Harris campaign released on Thursday, is titled We Choose Freedom.

The version posted on X does not contain a disclaimer, though the account that first uploaded it Friday morning, @MrReaganUSA, noted in its post that the video was a parody. When Mr. Musk reposted the video on his own account eight hours later, he made no such disclosure, stating only, This is amazing, followed by a laughing emoji.

Mr. Musks post, which has since been viewed 98 million times, would seem to run afoul of Xs policies, which prohibit sharing synthetic, manipulated or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm.

Some observers quickly called out the post. This is a violation of @Xs policies on synthetic media & misleading identities, Alex Howard, a digital governance expert and the director of the Digital Democracy Project at the Demand Progress Education Fund, posted on the site on Saturday. Are you going to retroactively change them to allow violations in an election year?

Mr. Musk did not respond to a request for comment. The owner of the @MrReaganUSA account, who appears to be a conservative podcast host named Chris Kohls, also did not reply to a query. In a statement, the Harris campaign said, The American people want the real freedom, opportunity and security Vice President Harris is offering; not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

Pro-democracy groups have raised increasingly urgent alarms about deepfakes, a broad term for digital content that employs artificial intelligence and other technology to create audio, video or images that spread false information and could influence voter behavior.

In January, ahead of the New Hampshire Democratic primary, a robocall using A.I. technology to mimic Mr. Bidens voice instructed voters not to participate in the election. The political consultant who orchestrated the calls was later indicted on state charges of impersonating a candidate and voter suppression. During this years Republican primary, deepfake videos depicting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsing Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, or announcing his early withdrawal from the race, were rampant.

In March, the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, an academic research initiative, said the technology was already having a corrosive effect on the democratic process, and the Brennan Center for Justice said the most significant new threat to elections was the impact of generative A.I. on the information ecosystem.

The Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits fraudulent misrepresentation of federal candidates or political parties, but the law, written in 1971, is ambiguous when it comes to modern technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Last August, the Federal Election Commission approved a rule-making petition from the watchdog group Public Citizen calling for the law to be amended to clarify that it applies to deliberately deceptive Artificial Intelligence (AI) campaign advertisements. That amendment was supported by the Democratic National Committee, as well as 52 Democratic members of Congress, but it was opposed by the Republican National Committee, which said that it was not a proper vehicle for addressing this complex issue and argued that it could violate the First Amendment.

The commission, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans and is often split on matters of policy, has not yet voted on the proposal.

Social media platforms, for their part, are more decided.

Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, requires that manipulated media be labeled as such and that context be appended to the post. In March, Google, which owns YouTube, announced a policy requiring users posting videos to disclose when content a viewer could easily mistake for a real person, place, scene or event is made with altered or synthetic media, including generative A.I.

Xs current policy was instituted in April 2023, well after Mr. Musk took over. It defines misleading media as content that is significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated or fabricated and that is likely to result in widespread confusion on public issues. Such content, the policy states, must either be labeled or removed.

In the past, Mr. Musk has said that Xs Community Notes feature should be used to alert the public to possible misleading information. On Friday night, Community Notes users, a select group that proposes and votes on such notices, debated whether to add one to Mr. Musks post.

This is an AI generated video of Vice President Kamala Harris using audio of clips that were never actually stated by the VP, read one suggested Community Note. Videos like this are dangerous to those who can not decipher AI generated content from reality.

At least seven notes were proposed, but none had been added by Saturday evening to Mr. Musks post or the original post, and neither post has been removed from the site. Though there have been numerous posts on X by third parties questioning his amplification of a deepfake video, Mr. Musk, who frequently replies directly to critics on the site, has so far remained silent on the issue.

With 191 million followers, Mr. Musk is the most influential voice on the platform and, arguably, on all of social media, and he is able to make almost any content go viral simply by reposting it.

Two weeks ago, he endorsed Mr. Trump in a post on X shortly after the presumptive Republican nominee was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. That post has been viewed 218 million times.

In a post on Saturday afternoon, Mr. Musk used his account to boost a post by an anonymous user that said wokeness is a threat to civilization. Within six minutes, it had already been viewed 481,000 times.

Ryan Mac contributed reporting.

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Democrats Embrace Weird Messaging on Trump - The New York Times

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.

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