Key Point: “Nearly 50 leaders and activists who worked with Mr. Kennedy at an environmental nonprofit group will run ads calling on him to ‘Honor our planet, drop out.’”
The New York Times: R.F.K. Jr.’s Environmental Colleagues Urge Him to Drop Presidential Bid
By: Lisa Friedman
Dozens of Mr. Kennedy’s former colleagues at the Natural Resources Defense Council are calling on him to withdraw from the race, in full-page advertisements sponsored by the group’s political arm that are expected to appear in newspapers in six swing states on Sunday.
Separately, a dozen other national environmental organizations have issued an open letter calling Mr. Kennedy “ a “dangerous conspiracy theorist and a science denier” who promotes “toxic beliefs” on vaccines and on climate change.
“A vote for RFK Jr. is a vote to destroy that progress and put Trump back in the White House,” says the newspaper ad that will run in Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
“The Bobby I knew is gone,” said Dan Reicher, a senior energy researcher at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for Environment. Mr. Reicher worked with Mr. Kennedy at N.R.D.C. and said he had a decades-long personal friendship with Mr. Kennedy, including paddling rivers together in the United States and Chile.
Gina McCarthy was the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama and then became president of N.R.D.C. during the Trump administration, only to return to national service as Mr. Biden’s climate adviser until last year. “If folks remember him as an environmentalist, he is no more,” she said about Mr. Kennedy. “He’s against science, he’s against vaccines, he talks jibber jabber on climate. I don’t know what he stands for.”
John Hamilton Adams, who co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council and hired Mr. Kennedy in the 1980s […] “I mentored Bobby as a young environmentalist. I do not recognize the person he has become. His actions are a betrayal to our environment.”
The rebuke from Mr. Kennedy’s professional colleagues comes after his brothers and sisters and other members of the Kennedy family endorsed President Biden at a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Thursday.
In response to Donald Trump and the election-denying leadership at the RNC preparing to undermine the results of the election in November and vowing to deploy thousands of poll monitors to election sites, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“Donald Trump knows he’s running a losing campaign, so he’s working with his handpicked team of election deniers at the RNC to once again lay the groundwork to undermine our democracy and spread baseless lies about a rigged election. Trump is still hung up on his humiliating defeat by over 7 million votes in 2020 – and won’t stop pushing unhinged conspiracy theories about it on the campaign trail – but the American people aren’t interested in Trump’s anti-democratic campaign of personal revenge and retribution. While Trump and the RNC plot to cast doubt on this November’s election results, Democrats will keep fighting for every eligible voter’s right to cast their ballot free from intimidation, misinformation, or suppression.”
NEW: Donald Trump and the RNC are teaming up to prepare to undermine November’s election results.
Politico: “Trump campaign says it will deploy thousands of election workers to monitor poll sites”
“The program underscores Trump’s ongoing fixation with election security, which he deployed in an attempt to undermine the results of the 2020 election despite the widespread conclusion, even among Republican officials, that there was no widespread fraud.
“It’s also a sign that, should Trump once again attempt to overturn the election, he will already have in place tens of thousands of workers who could help with that effort.
“Those involved in the drafting of the program included RNC Chair Michael Whatley, RNC co-chair Lara Trump, who is Trump’s daughter-in-law, and the RNC’s general counsel, Charlie Spies.
“After the November 2020 election, Trump pressured government workers to overturn the election results and regularly spread false claims about voter fraud. On Jan. 6, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the election.
“Trump has continued to stoke that false belief that the election was unfair, including installing Whatley, who echoed his false claims about the 2020 election, as RNC chair.”
Trump is still pushing baseless lies about his loss by over 7 million votes in the 2020 election.
Associated Press: “[Trump] is flooding the airwaves and his social media platform with distortions, misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories about his defeat.”
NBC News: “Re-litigating the 2020 election, repeating false claims it was stolen and casting aspersions on the security of mail voting remain major fixtures for [Trump] on the stump. … He regularly refers to the 2020 election as ‘rigged’ on his social media channels.”
New York Times: “Donald J. Trump pressured state and federal government officials to overturn results of the 2020 election in more than 30 phone calls or meetings.”
Associated Press: “Trump, running for the White House for the third time, has signaled that the 2020 election will remain an integral part of his 2024 presidential bid.”
WPR: “One day before his campaign stop in Green Bay, former President Donald Trump continued to push the false claim that he won Wisconsin four years ago — despite a recount, audits and court cases showing he lost to President Joe Biden.”
Trump continues to praise and embrace violent January 6 rioters – calling them “hostages” and “patriots” and vowing to pardon “a large portion” of those who attacked our Capitol.
Associated Press: “Trump is making the Jan. 6 attack a cornerstone of his bid for the White House”
Semafor: “How Donald Trump learned to love the January 6 prisoner movement”
The Hill: “Trump describes imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters as ‘hostages’”
Washington Post: “Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected”
Business Insider: “Then-President Donald Trump didn’t want to specifically call for the Justice Department to prosecute January 6 rioters or forcefully condemn those who stormed the Capitol as unrepresentative of the MAGA movement.”
Washington Post: “No, Trump did not order 10,000 troops to secure the Capitol on Jan. 6”
NBC News: “Former President Donald Trump promised Wednesday night that if he is elected he will pardon a ‘large portion’ of the people convicted of federal offenses for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
Washington Post: “Former president Donald Trump on Thursday praised and embraced a woman convicted of defying police orders on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. … Trump has steadily escalated his advocacy for people charged in the Capitol riot, including by pledging to pardon them if he returns to the White House, praising them as patriots, participating in a recording with Jan. 6 prisoners singing the national anthem, and playing it at his first rally of the 2024 campaign last month.”
Trump: “January 6, it was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to. And they were there proud, they were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable — and it was a beautiful day.”
NBC News: “Trump spoke at a fundraiser for Jan. 6 defendants”
Trump is promising a “bloodbath” if he loses in November.
NBC News: “Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election”
Politico: “Trump says country faces ‘bloodbath’ if Biden wins in November”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Says There Will Be a ‘Bloodbath’ and Elections Will End if He Isn’t Reelected”
New York Times: “Trump Defends His Warning of a ‘Blood Bath for the Country’”
Trump hand picked election deniers led by Michael Whatley to take over the RNC because of Whatley’s history of threatening our democracy.
CNN: “RNC under Lara Trump spreads ‘massive fraud’ claims about 2020 election”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump likes Mr. Whatley for one overwhelming reason, according to people who have discussed him with the former president: He is ‘a stop the steal guy,’ as one of the people described him. He endorses Mr. Trump’s false claims about mass voter fraud … Mr. Whatley has baselessly claimed that election security efforts from Republicans in North Carolina stopped Democrats from cheating.”
CNN: “RNC staffers and new hires asked whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen”
New York Times: “Trump’s Man at the R.N.C. Will Face Pressure to Satisfy His Election Lies”
New York Magazine: “Trump Taps Election Deniers Lara Trump, Michael Whatley to Lead RNC”
Associated Press: “In pushing Michael Whatley as the next leader of the Republican National Committee, Donald Trump zeroed in on the North Carolina GOP chairman’s dedication to ‘election integrity,’ baselessly suggesting he would ensure the 2024 race ‘can’t be stolen.’”
The Guardian: “RNC plan for 2020 denialist to head ‘election integrity’ unit raises alarms”
Under President Biden’s leadership, the U.S. economy is growing at record rates, and Latino-owned small businesses are at the forefront – the president has helped create 15 million new jobs, including 4.5 million for Latino workers, achieving the lowest Latino unemployment rate on record; Hispanic-owned businesses are starting up at the fastest rate in more than a decade; and the Biden-Harris administration is ensuring that entrepreneurs have the capital they need to kick-start their dreams by nearly doubling the number of federally-backed loans to Latino-owned small businesses over the last two years. This is a sharp contrast with the Trump administration, whose trickle-down MAGAnomics agenda shelled out tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations while leaving small businesses and working families behind.
DNC Hispanic Media Director Marco Frieri released the following statement:
“Under President Biden’s leadership, our country experienced the fastest creation rate of Latino-owned businesses in more than a decade. President Biden is providing the support and tools Latino entrepreneurs need to flourish and grow our economy. This stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s trickle-down MAGAnomics agenda to roll back the progress we’ve made by handing out tax giveaways for the ultra-wealthy and corporations at the expense of working people.”
The Biden-Harris administration has overseen the fastest creation rate of Hispanic-owned businesses in more than a decade, over 20% faster than pre-pandemic levels.
Small Business Administration: “Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the United States has experienced a historic small business boom being
led by women and people of color, with 13.6 million new business applications filed since President Biden took office — a rate 65% faster than the pre-pandemic average. This small business boom has seen the fastest creation rate of Hispanic-owned businesses in more than a decade — over 20% faster than pre-pandemic levels.”
U.S. Department of Treasury: “Average monthly business applications were 50% higher in 2021-2023 than in 2018-2019, and nearly 25% of all new entrepreneurs in 2021 were Latino. There is evidence that the rise in business applications has resulted in a greater percentage of Latino and Black business owners, given that areas with a higher proportion of Latino and Black residents saw relatively larger increases in application rates in 2020.”
… and now, Latino small businesses are growing by the day.
Wall Street Journal: “One reason Latin American immigrants have maintained their entrepreneurial momentum is that many of the businesses they started are in services, food, and delivery, sectors that have experienced increased demand since the onset of the pandemic.”
The Biden administration boosted lending to Latino small businesses and reversed Trump policies that left them behind.
Axios: “The number of federally-backed loans to Latino-owned small businesses has nearly doubled in two years, hitting a record $3 billion, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.”
“Latino-owned firms are among the nation’s fastest-growing small businesses, but a lack of access to capital, credit, and loans has prevented some of these businesses from scaling and growing.”
U.S. Department of Treasury: “Through the Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP), the Treasury Department has invested $1.6 billion in Latino-designated minority depository institutions. In total, ECIP participant institutions received more than $8.5 billion in Treasury ECIP investments that may enable them to collectively increase lending in Latino communities by over $50 billion over the next decade.”
CNBC: “The Department of the Treasury estimates that Biden’s investments in community lenders will lead to a $50 billion increase in lending to Latino communities and a $80 billion rise for Black communities. A White House official noted before Wednesday’s event that Black small business ownership is growing faster than it has in 30 years and the creation rate of Latino small businesses is at a decade high.”
The Biden administration directed the Small Business Administration to help increase loans to Latino-owned small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program, while Trump left business owners of color behind.
Small Business Administration: “Early indications show program reforms and efforts to engage with communities authentically are working in meaningful ways. As of March 7, a comparison of the daily average rate of loans made during the exclusivity period and daily average rate ten days before the exclusivity period show loans to:
Minority-owned businesses up by 20%, or an additional 1,000 businesses accessing relief each day
Women-owned businesses up by 14%, or an additional 600 businesses accessing relief each day
Small businesses in rural areas up by 12%, an additional 1,000 businesses accessing relief each day”
Associated Press: “By changing the PPP program’s guidelines, the Biden administration was trying to prevent the pandemic from further widening the country’s racial wealth gap.
“Black Americans make up about 12% of the U.S. population, yet they control just 2% of the assets from private business ownership that are often key for ascending the economic ladder, according to the Federal Reserve. Just 4.3% of total U.S. household wealth belongs to Black Americans and 2.5% to Hispanic Americans, significantly below their share of the total U.S. population.”
NPR: “But a new report from the Small Business Administration’s inspector general found that businesses owned by people of color may not have received loans as intended under the Paycheck Protection Program. There was no evidence, the report said, that the SBA told lenders to prioritize business owners in ‘underserved’ markets, including business owners of color — something the CARES Act had specifically instructed the SBA to do.”
Trump’s MAGAnomics tax scam overwhelmingly benefited the ultra-wealthy and big corporations while neglecting small businesses.
Vox: “Trump said this tax break was for small businesses. It’s giving $17 billion to millionaires this year.”
“If many average Americans aren’t noticing or loving the tax cut bill yet, it might be understandable — it benefits the wealthy by design. And a congressional report released this week shows that one specific new deduction for so-called ‘pass-through’ companies is heavily benefiting the rich. … The Republican tax bill cut the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent and disproportionately benefits corporations and the wealthy.”
Bloomberg: “A perk pitched as a boon for mom-and-pop businesses in President Donald Trump’s tax law could shut out smaller real estate investors while benefiting the industry’s largest property developers. The Treasury Department released final rules recently detailing how owners of businesses such as limited liability companies and partnerships can claim as much as a 20 percent deduction.”
New York Times: “Republicans argue that this will benefit small businesses. In fact, a large majority of small-business owners already have personal tax rates below 25 percent. This provision would aid a small group of developers, investors and other tycoons who work in professions or industries where it is relatively easy to set up pass-through businesses. Like, yes, Mr. Trump and his family, who make their money from one such industry: real estate.”
Economic Policy Institute: “The TCJA overwhelmingly benefited the rich and corporations while overlooking working families”
As the Republican Study Committee pushes a blueprint that would help the ultra-rich cheat their way out of paying their fair share in taxes, DNC spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement:
“Donald Trump’s MAGA minions in Congress would rather put ultra-rich tax dodgers over hardworking Americans. MAGA Republicans’ latest budget would not only give tax handouts to the ultra-rich and big corporations, but would also roll back President Biden’s work to crack down on ultra-wealthy tax evaders who want to get out of paying what they owe. It’s a slap in the face to the millions of working families who pay their fair share, and yet another reason why voters will choose President Biden’s vision to build the economy from the bottom up and middle out over Trump’s out-of-touch giveaways to tax cheats.”
The Republican Study Committe’s budget would help the ultra-rich cheat their way out of paying their fair share in taxes.
Washington Post: “More money is helping the IRS. Republicans still want to cut its budget.”
“Still, the early enforcement drive, aimed at the ultra-wealthy and complex corporate partnerships, has netted significant results. The IRS has collected more than half a billion dollars, the agency reported Thursday, from reinvigorated efforts to pursue 900 alleged tax cheats with more than $1 million in annual income and more than $250,000 in recognized tax debt.
Washington Post: “The Internal Revenue Service is fighting back against Republican efforts to shrink its budget with a new study suggesting how extra investment in the agency would collect billions more from the very rich.”
White House Fact Sheet: “[T]he Republican Study Committee—which speaks for 80% of House Republicans and 100% of their leadership—released an extreme budget that takes direct aim at Medicare and Social Security.
“Congressional Republicans are demanding these reckless cuts in order to make room for another $5.5 trillion in tax cuts skewed to the wealthy and big corporations—including by providing massive tax cuts for billionaire investors, repealing President Biden’s minimum tax on billion-dollar corporations, and weakening the IRS’s ability to make wealthy tax cheats pay the taxes they owe.”
Every single Republican in Congress voted AGAINST President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which cracks down on wealthy tax cheats.
Rolling Stone: “The House of Representatives passed the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday, clearing the way for President Biden to sign the landmark climate and healthcare bill into law. The legislation passed along party lines, as Democrats overcame unified GOP opposition.”
CBS News: “IRS and Treasury officials have stated the IRS is focused on tracking down wealthy tax cheats and businesses with unpaid or overdue tax bills.
“‘This analysis demonstrates that President Biden’s investment in rebuilding the IRS will reduce the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars by making the wealthy and big corporations pay the taxes they owe,’ National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard said in a statement.”
Washington Post: “In part by tweaking federal tax laws — chiefly to target tax cheats and some billion-dollar companies that pay nothing to the government — the bill is expected to raise enough money to cover its new spending.”
New York Times: “The legislation would also bolster the I.R.S. with an investment of about $80 billion, hoping to recover additional tax revenue by cracking down on wealthy corporations and wealthy tax evaders.”
New York Times: “Charles P. Rettig, the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, told Congress on Thursday that the tax collection agency would not increase audits of households earning less than $400,000 if it was given the additional $80 billion that lawmakers were considering in a proposed climate and tax legislation package.”
Reminder: Republicans also want to make permanent Trump’s disastrous MAGAnomics tax scam that gave handouts to the ultra-rich and big corporations at the expense of middle-class Americans.
Bloomberg: “The conservative Republican Study Committee is out with a 2025 budget proposal to extend individual and corporate breaks from the 2017 Trump’ tax law.”
Forbes: “Trump Tax Cuts Helped Billionaires Pay Less Taxes Than The Working Class In 2018”
Washington Post: “The former president’s closest economic advisers are plotting an aggressive new set of tax cuts to push on the campaign trail and from the Oval Office if he wins a second term. Trump and his advisers have discussed deeper cuts to both individual and corporate tax rates that would build on his controversial 2017 tax law … Trump’s advisers, though, have discussed proposals to make deeper cuts to the overall corporate tax rate, potentially to as low as 15 percent, or to use the revenue from the proposed tariffs to pay a dividend to U.S. households. Further cutting corporate taxes … would primarily benefit large firms.”
New York Magazine: “The GOP Gutted the IRS — and the Rich Made Out Like Bandits”
In response to Mai Xiong and Peter Herzberg’s victories in the special elections for Michigan’s 13th and 25th House Districts, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison released the following statement:
“Today, Michiganders resoundingly rejected the dysfunction and extremism of Donald Trump and his MAGA minions by ensuring Lansing leadership is squarely in the hands of Democrats. While the MAGA Republican Party continues to play the losing hand by campaigning on Donald Trump’s extreme, unpopular agenda time and time again, Democrats defended the trifecta in Michigan by running on the issues that matter to everyday families so they can continue delivering record accomplishments for working people.
“These victories in critical battleground Michigan are only the latest proofpoint of Democrats’ continued momentum. In special election after special election, voters are turning out to reject Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans’ plans to ban abortion and make the ultra-rich even wealthier at the expense of working families. It’s clear that voters are energized to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in November – from the school board to the White House – so that we can continue making the progress that American families need and deserve.”
In response to Donald Trump’s MAGA ally Kari Lake telling supporters to “strap on a Glock” ahead of this November’s election, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“Kari Lake followed Donald Trump’s losing MAGA playbook in 2022 and is doing the same thing in 2024 – including by echoing his dangerous and extreme threats of political violence on the campaign trail. Lake’s shameful comments have no place in our political discourse, but they sadly come as no surprise as Trump promises a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses in November, vows to be a ‘dictator on day one,’ and pledges to lock up his political opponents. This kind of horrifying and violent rhetoric makes the stakes of this November’s election crystal clear, and the American people will not allow MAGA extremists like Trump and Lake to threaten our democracy.”
NEW: Kari Lake told supporters to “strap on a Glock” ahead of this November’s election.
NBC News: “Kari Lake suggests supporters ‘strap on a Glock’ to be ready for 2024”
“Arizona GOP Senate hopeful Kari Lake told supporters they can ‘strap on a Glock’ to be prepared for the intensity of the 2024 campaign and urged military and law enforcement veterans to be ‘ready,’ as her race heats up in a key battleground state.”
Lake has repeatedly embraced dictators and far-right extremists, spouted white nationalist talking points, and seemingly encouraged political violence.
Business Insider: “Speaking at a convention of Georgia Republicans, Lake told hundreds of delegates that the ‘75 million Americans’ who voted for Trump are armed and ready to defend him.”
Jeremy Duda, Axios: “.@KariLake called for @SecretaryHobbs to be imprisoned over fictional election rigging claims. ‘Frankly, I think she should be locked up.’ Crowd starts ‘lock her up’ chant. Lake says, ‘I agree.’”
Media Matters: “Lake’s connections to political extremists in the media are not new. A longtime local TV newscaster who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, she has appeared with a Nazi-sympathizing YouTuber, QAnon activists, and once endorsed a far-right, antisemitic streamer running for Oklahoma state Senate.”
Newsweek: “Lake added that U.S. media is going after what she called ‘the truth tellers and the peacemakers,’ which she said included Trump and Hungary’s populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán. ‘I hear those two men talking about peace, but I hear the saber-rattling and the drum beat of “let’s start a war” from a lot of these countries with globalist-type political leaders,’ Lake said.”
Arizona Republic: “Kari Lake’s immigration remark plays into racist ‘Great Replacement Theory,’ scholar says”
Donald Trump is only ramping up his extreme and dangerous rhetoric, including promising a “bloodbath” if he loses in November and vowing to be a “dictator on day one.”
NBC News: “Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Says There Will Be a ‘Bloodbath’ and Elections Will End if He Isn’t Reelected”
New York Times: “Trump Defends His Warning of a ‘Blood Bath for the Country’”
The Atlantic: “Trump Says He’ll Be a Dictator on ‘Day One’”
Associated Press: “Trump declines to rule out abusing power to seek retribution if he returns to the White House”
Washington Post: “Trump calls political enemies ‘vermin,’ echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini”
The Guardian: “Donald Trump says he will lock up his political enemies if he is president again.”
Forbes: “Trump said of his relationships with dictators, ‘the tougher and meaner they are, the better I get along with them,’ which he insisted is ‘not a bad thing.’
“‘The easy ones,’ Trump said, referring to America’s allies, ‘I maybe don’t like as much or don’t get along with as much.’”
The Atlantic: “Late Friday night, the former president of the United States—and a leading candidate to be the next president—insinuated that America’s top general deserves to be put to death. That extraordinary sentence would be unthinkable in any other rich democracy. But Donald Trump, on his social-media network, Truth Social, wrote that Mark Milley’s phone call to reassure China in the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was ‘an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.’”
Trump continues to praise and embrace violent January 6 rioters – from calling them “hostages” and “patriots” to vowing to pardon “a large portion” of those who attacked our Capitol.
Newsweek: “Donald Trump Salutes Jan. 6 ‘Hostages’ at Ohio Rally”
Business Insider: “Then-President Donald Trump didn’t want to specifically call for the Justice Department to prosecute January 6 rioters or forcefully condemn those who stormed the Capitol as unrepresentative of the MAGA movement.”
Washington Post: “No, Trump did not order 10,000 troops to secure the Capitol on Jan. 6”
The Hill: “Trump describes imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters as ‘hostages’”
Washington Post: “Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected”
NBC News: “Former President Donald Trump promised Wednesday night that if he is elected he will pardon a ‘large portion’ of the people convicted of federal offenses for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
Washington Post: “Former president Donald Trump on Thursday praised and embraced a woman convicted of defying police orders on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. … Trump has steadily escalated his advocacy for people charged in the Capitol riot, including by pledging to pardon them if he returns to the White House, praising them as patriots, participating in a recording with Jan. 6 prisoners singing the national anthem, and playing it at his first rally of the 2024 campaign last month.”
Trump: “January 6, it was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to. And they were there proud, they were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable — and it was a beautiful day.”
NBC News: “Trump spoke at a fundraiser for Jan. 6 defendants”
As Michiganders head to the polls today for special elections that will decide control of the state House, the Michigan GOP remains entrenched in madness. As they face incessant infighting, ongoing money problems, and continue to support unhinged and extreme candidates, there’s no question that the Michigan GOP has abandoned Michigan voters for Trump’s MAGA extremism.
Here’s the MAGA mayhem Michigan voters will remember at the ballot box today:
This year, Michigan MAGA Republicans grew so dysfunctional that the Republican National Committee itself had to get involved – not a good look in a battleground state at any point, let alone an election year.
NBC News: “After weeks of infighting, no one knows who’s in charge of the Michigan Republican Party.
“Kristina Karamo, who was elected chairwoman last year, insists she still has the job, even after a sizable group of state party committee members voted to oust her this month. She refuses to leave the post, even as the opposition’s pick to replace her, former Ambassador Pete Hoekstra, issues statements under the state party logo declaring himself the chairman.
“The leadership crisis has resulted in chaos and confusion in what’s expected to be a top battleground state for control of the White House and Senate in 2024.
[…]
“Hoekstra welcomed the RNC’s involvement and vowed to move ‘full steam ahead’ in the role he says is rightfully his. Karamo’s team, meanwhile, responded to the letter with defiance. The impasse continues.”
The Michigan GOP’s infighting was followed by reporting that it’s flat broke, with the party unable to pay off its numerous debts or build up the skeletal infrastructure left behind by its previous leadership – and the Trump campaign doesn’t seem to want to help in any way, with little investment in the state so far.
Associated Press: “The Trump campaign and its partners at the Republican National Committee haven’t yet made significant general election investments in the state, according to Michigan Republican Party Chairman Pete Hoekstra. The national committee, he said, hasn’t transferred any money to the state party to help bolster its operations heading into the general election. There are no specific programs in place to court voters of color. And there’s no general election field staff in place.”
Detroit News: “The new leader of the Michigan Republican Party says his administration is having trouble taking control of the state GOP’s website and tracking down computers that are reportedly worth $113,000, seven months before a pivotal presidential election.
[…]
“It’s also unclear when Hoekstra’s administration will get full control over the Michigan Republican Party’s longtime website, www.migop.org, and its official Twitter handle, @MIGOP.”
Bridge Michigan: “The state party had just $35,000 left in its bank accounts as of mid-August, according to leaked statements first reported by The Detroit News. Karamo has since said the state party took out a $110,000 loan to pay a speaker for September’s Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, which had traditionally been a profitable fundraiser.
“The party is now facing ‘imminent default’ on its line of credit, according to a warning from state committee member Jessica Barefield, one of two Republicans who resigned from the Michigan GOP’s internal budget committee this month.”
Bridge Michigan: “The Michigan Republican Party is in default on a $500,000 loan and ignored a recent demand for immediate payment, according to a new court filing from Comerica Bank.
“‘The MRP has not responded to the Demand Letter and, as of the date of this Motion, has been in default for over 120 days,’ bank attorneys wrote in an Ingham County Circuit Court response as the state party seeks control of its former headquarters for potential sale.
“The bank’s renewed notice of default, dated Dec. 12, detailed more than $10,000 in accrued interest and $707 in late fines for missed payments on the $509,009 loan principal.”
In peak extremism, the Michigan GOP continues to be rife with MAGA Republicans who oppose abortion without exceptions and spread dangerous, racist views.
Michigan Advance: “Josh Powell, a candidate for a special Michigan House election this month, said during a GOP event that he opposes all abortion ‘“without exception’” — and, if elected, is open to repealing the state’s landmark abortion law.
[…]
“Powell then responded: ‘Yeah. No. I mean, personally, I’m 100% pro life. I know Prop 3 kind of takes away the choice in the Legislature, but if there’s any opportunities to go that route…’
[…]
“The attendee then asked: ‘But on principle, 100% pro-life, without exception?’
“‘Yeah. Me personally? Yeah,’ Powell responded.”
Detroit News: “A Michigan Republican state lawmaker is taking heat after alleging ‘”illegal invaders’” were loaded Wednesday evening from airplanes at Detroit Metro airport onto buses that had pulled on the tarmac.
“But the buses, in fact, were brought planeside to transport men’s college basketball athletes arriving in Detroit for the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 tournament games at Little Caesars Arena, the airport said in a statement. The teams arrived midweek; the games are Friday.”
Detroit Free Press: “State Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford, lost his staff and his spot on a legislative committee as punishment for sharing a social media post amplifying a racist conspiracy theory.
[…]
“Last week, Schriver shared a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, from right-wing commentator Jack Posobiec with a graphic with the text ‘The great replacement!’ showing a world map with white human figures in the U.S., Europe and Australia and black human figures dotted across the rest of the land. Tate and lawmakers from both parties condemned Schriver’s post.
“The conspiracy theory asserts that there is a coordinated and clandestine effort to replace white populations in majority-white countries, and has been described as racist and a ‘paranoid narrative,’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
As Trump bragged about being “proudly the person responsible” for overturning Roe v. Wade and paving the way for Arizona’s extreme, dangerous 160-year-old abortion ban, women across the state are expressing shock, anger, and terror in anticipation of living under a ban with no exceptions for health, rape, or incest and that could throw doctors in jail.
Watch the reactions of Arizona women whose lives have been upended by Donald Trump below:
“I have wanted a baby since I can remember.” … “My first initial reaction (to the ruling) was to call my husband at work and tell him … ‘we have to move out of state’ because that’s just my fear. … I’m scared. I’m not just scared for myself, I’m scared for other women.” …
“I worry about, you know, what’s going to happen if I get pregnant again.”
“I’m old enough that I did this before! I can not believe I’m doing it again. There are so many intended and unintended consequences to this. I am angry.”
“I’ve been in this situation, and I’m lucky to be alive. And you want to have children, and when you find out you can’t and you’re in danger – your health is in danger – and I can’t imagine the women that are going to be in situations that can’t get the care they need.”
“It is definitely rallying a lot of people right now for the upcoming votes, but the unfortunate reality is that in the time that it takes for those votes to happen and now, many people will be harmed by the ruling.”
As Donald Trump and Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson hold a joint press conference to spread more lies, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“We don’t need a press conference to know that Donald Trump and MAGA Mike Johnson are extreme election deniers and serial liars who are hellbent on threatening our democracy and spreading baseless falsehoods about the 2020 election. After leading the effort to help Trump overturn the results of the last presidential election, Johnson is now once again standing right at Trump’s side as they push his anti-democracy playbook that includes pardoning violent insurrectionists, repeating false claims about his loss in 2020 by more than 7 million votes, and promising a ‘bloodbath’ if Trump loses in November. The only thing this sad joint appearance will accomplish is to make it even more obvious to the American people that the future of our democracy is on the line this November.”
Donald Trump is still pushing baseless lies about his loss by over 7 million votes in the 2020 election.
Associated Press: “[Trump] is flooding the airwaves and his social media platform with distortions, misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories about his defeat.”
NBC News: “Re-litigating the 2020 election, repeating false claims it was stolen and casting aspersions on the security of mail voting remain major fixtures for [Trump] on the stump. … He regularly refers to the 2020 election as ‘rigged’ on his social media channels.”
WPR: “One day before his campaign stop in Green Bay, former President Donald Trump continued to push the false claim that he won Wisconsin four years ago — despite a recount, audits and court cases showing he lost to President Joe Biden.”
New York Times: “Donald J. Trump pressured state and federal government officials to overturn results of the 2020 election in more than 30 phone calls or meetings.”
Associated Press: “Trump, running for the White House for the third time, has signaled that the 2020 election will remain an integral part of his 2024 presidential bid.”
Trump continues to praise and embrace violent January 6 rioters – calling them “hostages” and “patriots” and vowing to pardon “a large portion” of those who attacked our Capitol.
Associated Press: “Trump is making the Jan. 6 attack a cornerstone of his bid for the White House”
Semafor: “How Donald Trump learned to love the January 6 prisoner movement”
The Hill: “Trump describes imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters as ‘hostages’”
Washington Post: “Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected”
Business Insider: “Then-President Donald Trump didn’t want to specifically call for the Justice Department to prosecute January 6 rioters or forcefully condemn those who stormed the Capitol as unrepresentative of the MAGA movement.”
Washington Post: “No, Trump did not order 10,000 troops to secure the Capitol on Jan. 6”
NBC News: “Former President Donald Trump promised Wednesday night that if he is elected he will pardon a ‘large portion’ of the people convicted of federal offenses for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
Washington Post: “Former president Donald Trump on Thursday praised and embraced a woman convicted of defying police orders on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. … Trump has steadily escalated his advocacy for people charged in the Capitol riot, including by pledging to pardon them if he returns to the White House, praising them as patriots, participating in a recording with Jan. 6 prisoners singing the national anthem, and playing it at his first rally of the 2024 campaign last month.”
Trump: “January 6, it was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to. And they were there proud, they were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable — and it was a beautiful day.”
NBC News: “Trump spoke at a fundraiser for Jan. 6 defendants”
Trump is promising a “bloodbath” if he loses in November.
NBC News: “Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election”
Politico: “Trump says country faces ‘bloodbath’ if Biden wins in November”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Says There Will Be a ‘Bloodbath’ and Elections Will End if He Isn’t Reelected”
New York Times: “Trump Defends His Warning of a ‘Blood Bath for the Country’”
Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson was a key “architect” of Trump’s Big Lie — helping spread election conspiracy theories and leading the effort to overturn the 2020 election results.
Washington Post: “Johnson played one of the most significant roles of any member of Congress in the effort to overturn the election.”
HuffPost: “Johnson, a former lawyer, led an amicus brief signed by over 100 Republican members of Congress backing a flawed Texas lawsuit that asked the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 election. He also played a key role in crafting the rationale that many of his GOP colleagues used in justifying their votes to throw out the 2020 election results ― even just hours after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.”
Johnson urged supporters to “fight” on the morning of January 6 and has since tried to downplay the riot and prevent those who violently attacked law enforcement from being charged.
Johnson on January 6, 2021: “We MUST fight for election integrity, the Constitution, and the preservation of our republic! It will be my honor to help lead that fight in the Congress today.”
Louisiana Illuminator: “Johnson, who is close to Trump, did not acknowledge that the people who attacked the Capitol were the president’s supporters. He told a reporter that he thought there was a possibly a ‘big mix of people involved in this.’
“‘I don’t think President Trump is any more responsible for what happened at the Capitol today than the congressmen of Portland are responsible for what happened there,’ said Johnson, referring to some violence that erupted in Oregon over the summer. ‘What caused [the Capitol riot] is the same thing that has caused all the unrest over the last many months.’”
2021: Johnson voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the January 6 attack.
NBC News: “Speaker Mike Johnson says he’s blurring Jan. 6 footage so rioters don’t get charged”
Raw Story: “Mike Johnson says Jan. 6 rioters just ‘happened to be walking through the building’”
As Donald Trump brags about “being the person responsible” for overturning Roe v. Wade and the extreme abortion bans across the country, women and families nationwide are having their lives thrown into chaos and uncertainty. In Alabama, a family was forced to flee the state to continue their IVF journey because Trump and his MAGA allies are inserting themselves into the most personal decisions a family could make. This is the reality Trump would force onto women nationwide as he plots to ban abortion in all 50 states, with or without Congress.
Key Point: “IVF can be as stressful as it is exciting. However, the potential of having a successful pregnancy and our own child at the end of the process, we hoped, would make it all worth it. The decision by the Alabama Supreme Court threw our dreams up in the air… The decision and its implication – that IVF could not continue in the state of Alabama – felt like a personal affront to us. We were infuriated to have this uncertainty injected into the process three days into injecting IVF medication.”
Indiana Capitol Chronicle: Commentary | Alabama Supreme Court’s IVF ruling turned professor into a reproductive-rights refugee
[Spencer Goidel,04/11/24]
The day before the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created and used for in vitro fertilization are children, my wife, Gabby, and I were greenlighted by our doctors to begin the IVF process. We live in Alabama.
That Friday evening, Feb. 16, 2024, unaware of the ruling, Gabby started taking her stimulation medications, worth roughly US$4,000 in total. We didn’t hear about the decision until Sunday morning, Feb. 18. By then, she had taken four injections – or two doses – of each of the stimulation medications.
IVF can be as stressful as it is exciting. However, the potential of having a successful pregnancy and our own child at the end of the process, we hoped, would make it all worth it. The decision by the Alabama Supreme Court threw our dreams up in the air.
I study politics – I don’t practice it. I’m not involved in state or local government. I’m a scholar, not an activist or an advocate. But now one of the most intimate, personal events of our lives had been turned into a political event by the state’s highest court. As a result, I became something else, too, which I had not been before: an activist.
Throughout the process of creating, growing and testing embryos in a lab, as many as 50% to 70% of embryos can be lost. Similarly, in the preimplantation stage of natural pregnancies, many embryos don’t survive.
The decision and its implication – that IVF could not continue in the state of Alabama – felt like a personal affront to us. We were infuriated to have this uncertainty injected into the process three days into injecting IVF medication.
While the decision clearly imperiled the future of IVF in Alabama, it was not clear to us whether we would be allowed to continue the process we had begun. We were left completely in the dark for the next four days. Gabby and I had no choice but to continue daily life and IVF as though nothing was happening.
For me, that meant teaching my political participation course at Auburn University.
I’ll never forget walking into class on Monday, Feb. 19, and telling the students about the court’s ruling and how it – maybe? – was going to jeopardize Gabby’s and my IVF process.
Before starting IVF, Gabby and I had gone through three miscarriages together.
IVF doesn’t always work. Approximately 55% of IVF patients under the age of 35 – Gabby is 26 – have a successful pregnancy after one egg retrieval. We couldn’t imagine the pain of telling friends and family that our attempt at having a child had once again failed. So we had agreed we were going to tell as few people as possible about starting IVF.
Yet, here I was now, telling my entire class what we were going through and how the Alabama Supreme Court ruling could affect us.
In an attempt to tie our personal political experience into the class topic, I remarked that this court decision was a surefire way to get people involved in politics. I had no clue at the time how prophetic my comment would be.
On Wednesday, Feb. 21, the University of Alabama Birmingham’s fertility clinic paused IVF treatments. That wasn’t our clinic, but the move sent us into a total panic. Our clinic’s closure seemed inevitable – and within 24 hours it had paused IVF treatments as well.
We didn’t know what we were going to do, but we knew we were likely leaving the state to continue IVF. I needed to tell my department chair what was going on.
I was walking out of my department chair’s office when my phone rang. Gabby told me, “We got in, we’re going to Temple.” I ran back into my department chair’s office, told her we were going to Temple, Texas, and then rushed home.
The thought of not completing the egg retrieval never seriously entered our minds. We were confident that we could get in with another IVF clinic somewhere, anywhere. But we’re affluent. We’re privileged. What if we weren’t so well off? We wouldn’t have wanted to give up, but we wouldn’t have been able to afford the fight.
We spent exactly one week at my parents’ house in Texas. Thankfully, my parents live an hour and a half away from the Temple clinic. We met our new doctor, Dr. Gordon Wright Bates, and were immediately reassured. His cool expertise and confidence were calming to a stressed-out couple. The Alabama Supreme Court may have upended our lives, but we felt weirdly lucky to be in such a comfortable place.
The egg retrieval was Wednesday morning, Feb. 28. By all indications, it went well. IVF, however, is full of uncertainties. Now we are waiting on the results from preimplantation genetic testing. After that, there’s implantation and hoping the embryo continues to grow. We’re not in the clear: IVF is a stressful process even without a state court getting in the way. But today we are in a situation more like an average couple going through IVF than we have been in the past few weeks.
In this case, the Alabama Supreme Court ruling mobilized Gabby and other women going through the IVF process. For better or worse, the women, couples and families mobilized by this decision will likely always be more engaged because of it.
“Oh, God,” I remarked to my dad, “we’re going to be activists now, aren’t we?”
“So?” he asked.
“No one likes activists,” I responded in jest. But if we’re going to have and raise the family we want, this is just the first of many decisions we’re going to make that someone’s not going to like.
