David Schweikert, a crooked garden variety Arizona Republican in a swing district (R+7) has had some extremely serious ethics problems and was even formally reprimanded by the House and forced to pay hefty fines when he was caught stealing from his campaign contributors. Needless to say, he’s been endorsed by Trump, who wants to stock Congress with as many criminal as possible. Democrats have run GOP-lite conservatives against him so have been unable to beat him. His real danger stems not from an incompetent and worthless Arizona Democratic Party, but from the GOP primary. So he tried smearing his top opponent in the primary, wealthy self-funding ($2,959,097) carpetbagger Elijah Norton. Schweikert, who has a history of implying his opponents are gay, put out homophobic mailers and street signs picturing Norton with a gay man in front of a gay club, some with a caption saying “Elijah Norton isn’t being straight with you” and others with the caption “Elijah Norton Unfit for Congress.”
The other guy in the picture is suing the already cash-strapped Schweikert, noting that “pandering to homophobic narratives in the hopes of being reelected to the U.S. Congress is truly despicable and demeaning to congressional office.” Presumably, the homophobic ad was revenge for this Norton ad.
Not Republican-crazy enough for you? How about this: Idaho’s Republican Party convention started today. On the schedule: a resolution that Biden isn’t the legitimate president, same as the one the crackpot Texas GOP passed. Trump won Idaho. In fact, Trump won the state 554,119 (63.8%) to 287,021 (33.1%), the 5th highest margin of any state. Trump took all but 3 of Idaho’s 44 counties. So what are they whining about? The 10,236 votes (49.7%) Biden won in Latah County? The 8,919 votes (67.1%) he won in Blaine Co.? The 3,318 votes (52.1%) Biden took in Teton Co.? The GOP fruitcakes complain Idaho’s Secretary of State, a conservative, Trump-worshipping Republican, circumvented the state legislature, although what that has to do with Biden’s legitimacy isn’t clear to anyone. Still... the tragically brain-damaged MyPillowGuy accused Idaho of allowing election fraud, so it must be true.
Jim Jones, a former chief justice of the Idaho Supreme Court as well as a former Republican state attorney general, called the resolution rejecting the 2020 presidential election results “asinine,” noting multiple courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, rejected attempts to overturn the election.
“(The Idaho Republican Party) has gotten so caught up in conspiracy theories, meaningless culture war issues, that they have quit being able to function as a meaningful political party,” he said. “We have got to get away from this authoritarian streak that has infected the Idaho Republican Party, as well as a good part of the nation, because it’s absolutely tearing our country apart.”
More? In the Senate today, a moderate Democrat, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, asked for unanimous consent on a bill, the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act, she had introduced that allows women to freely cross state boundaries to seek an abortion. There are plenty of Republican extremists who oppose that but few want to see a vote on it. James Lankford (R-OK), a religionist fanatic who is eager to see abortion criminalized everywhere, not just in his own backward start, but in enlightened states as well, objected and… now the GOP will be able to filibuster the bill so that it never reaches the floor, let alone Biden's desk.
And let’s not forget Ty Cobb, the former head of Trump’s White House response team to the Mueller investigation. He got to know Trump up close and personal. Today he responded to an NBC News question about the prospect of another Trump presidential campaign. Enjoy:
“One thing the Democrats know for certain is that Trump’s uncontrolled ego is his own worst enemy. They are praying they are able to goad him into an announcement for a 2024 presidential run.
“A 2024 declaration of his candidacy serves no interest but his self-defeating and overwhelming need for relevance, attention and money. Such an announcement also does not inoculate him from criminal investigation.
“He is a disaster for the Republican Party for which he prevented a Senate majority in 2020 and, as time will demonstrate, has already done the same for 2022 with his endorsements of unelectable candidates all based on their loyalty or his own driving desire for revenge.
“The Big Lie has been good only for Trump and has brought him millions in donations, which some evidence suggests may have been mishandled. The Big Lie, and the related violence, election interference and other perceived misconduct, was and is an affront to this nation and its first principles. It has permanently soiled the history pages and deepened the abyss that divides our country and continues to expand due to the delusions and lack of accountability of politicians in both parties.
“It should be disqualifying for Trump and his political acolytes, and would have been at any other time in our history. To modify a well known Seinfeld quote— SANITY NOW!
“The country needs desperately to move on with new and actual leadership from a younger generation. New leadership must return to serving and championing our Constitutional form of government and its three essential pillars and accompanying checks and balances.
“Because of the grand design of that Constitution and the courage of those who preceded us, the United States has led the world, fought tyranny, and promoted peace and freedom in our two and a half centuries. Now we must unite and save our own country— right now, while there is time.”
One more for your consideration, this one from Nick Corasaniti from the NY Times. Remember Tina Peters, that sociopath county clerk in Mesa County, Colorado who tampered with voting machines in 2020? She was arrested but she’s out on bail. She also ran for Colorado Secretary of State, coming in a distant second in the 3-way primary, and then claimed, with no evidence whatsoever, that the vote was rigged against her. It’s also worth noting that she came in second in Mesa County itself, where the people have had enough of her.
Which counties did she win? All but one are counties filled with crazy people who voted heavily for Trump and who refuse to be vaccinated (FYI- 71% of Coloradans are fully vaccinated):
Montrose Co- 67.3% Trump (50% fully vaccinated)
Delta Co- 67.5% Trump (48% fully vaccinated)
Montezuma Co- 60.0% Trump (70% fully vaccinated)
Moffat Co- 80.7% Trump (44% fully vaccinated)
Baca Co- 83.9% Trump (40% fully vaccinated)
Dolores Co- 75.2% Trump (42% fully vaccinated)
Costilla Co- 35.4% Trump (61% fully vaccinated)
Corasaniti reported that district court judge Matthew Barrett revoked Peters' $25,000 bail and issued an arrest warrant today for her because she travelled out of state without seeking the court’s permission, a condition of her being allowed to stay home instead of in jail. Yesterday, she was in Las Vegas speaking to a far right sheriffs organization. And she didn't ask the judge if it was OK.
Peters had been deemed a flight risk and was ordered to remain in the state after she was indicted in March on criminal charges, including seven felonies, that stemmed from a scheme to copy sensitive election software from county voting machines in an effort to prove that the 2020 presidential election was tainted by fraud.
…During her speech in Las Vegas, Peters claimed that Representative Lauren Boebert, a Republican who is also from western Colorado, had dinner with multiple people who helped carry out the plot to copy election data.
Benjamin Stout, the communications director for Boebert, said on Thursday that Peters’s “claims are untrue.”
Peters had previously told the New York Times that Boebert “encouraged” her to carry through with the operation. Boebert’s campaign denied those allegations.