Republican Governor Shocks the Country by Calling for Stricter Gun Laws

Apr 12, 2023 | Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has called on his state legislature to revise the state's gun laws to make it more difficult for dangerous people to get their hands on firearms. This is a massive step forward for the country, as Republican politicians have rarely been on the side of stricter gun laws. This also shows that the protests in the Tennessee statehouse had an impact, as the national spotlight showed how horrible Republicans are. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains what happened.

Newt Gingrich Warns Republicans That Joe Biden Is Winning the fFght

THE GUARDIAN: Former speaker who led charge against Bill Clinton raises eyebrows with column heralding Democrat’s first-term success

Newt Gingrich at Trump Tower in New York in 2016. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Republicans must “quit underestimating” Joe Biden, the former US House speaker Newt Gingrich said, because the president is winning the fight.

Writing on his own website, Gingrich said: “Conservatives’ hostility to the Biden administration on our terms tends to blind us to just how effective Biden has been on his terms.

“… We dislike Biden so much, we pettily focus on his speaking difficulties, sometimes strange behavior, clear lapses of memory and other personal flaws. Our aversion to him and his policies makes us underestimate him and the Democrats.”

Gingrich’s words pleased the White House – Ron Klain, Joe Biden’s chief of staff, tweeted a link with the message: “You don’t have to take my word for it, any more.” » | Martin Pengelly in New York | Saturday, December 3, 2022

‘Interesting Evening’: Trump Has Little to Say as Republicans Fail to Deliver

THE GUARDIAN: The normally talkative former president appears uneasy at Mar-a-Lago election night event

Donald Trump takes the stage to speak at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP
It was expected to be a moment of triumph for Donald Trump, but it did not quite turn out that way.

The former US president appeared uneasy about underwhelming Republican performance in the midterms at an election watch party he hosted at his plush Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday night, after it was clear there would be no “red wave” that he had implored his supporters to deliver.

The election night gathering, organized in the large ballroom at his Florida property, was not an event where the often talkative Trump seemed particularly interested in addressing guests or even speaking to reporters after he delivered a short and solitary speech.

Trump, expected to announce his third campaign for the White House next week, had anticipated strengthening his position as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination by delivering wins for candidates he endorsed, but the results in the most competitive contests were decidedly mixed. » | Hugo Lowell in West Palm Beach, Florida | Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Trump hat den Republikanern die Wahl vermasselt: So viel lässt sich schon sagen: Weniger Trump hätte diesmal mehr Republikaner bedeutet. Dennoch könnte der frühere Präsident 2024 wieder gewinnen – oder verlieren und trotzdem ins Weiße Haus gelangen. »

ÉDITORIAL : Midterms 2022 : les deux leçons des élections américaines : Les premiers résultats des élections américaines de mi-mandat attestent d’une résistance du camp démocrate, Joe Biden échappant ainsi à un vote sanction. A trop miser sur les candidatures clivantes, la vague républicaine attendue n’a pas eu lieu. »

Trump Hoped for a Celebration but Did Not Have Much to Cheer: The former president endorsed roughly 300 candidates in the midterm elections. With votes still being counted, those in competitive races appeared to have mixed results. »

Moral Panic, Culture Wars and Ron DeSantis: Will Florida Stay Red in 2022? | Anywhere But Washington

Oliver Laughland travels to Walt Disney World, Florida, to see how a law restricting the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues is affecting voters in the run-up to the midterm elections.

Republicans extended their majority in the state in 2020, and with far-right Governor Ron DeSantis up for re-election, will his divisive culture wars help him win a second term?

The Lincoln Project : Getting Sh*t Done

Aug 9, 2022 Democrats:

Lowered prescription drug prices
Reduced tax burden on the middle class
Took action on Climate Change

Republicans:

Voted to keep insulin prices sky high
Aim to increase taxes on the middle class
Led a mob to attack our Capitol

Which America do you want?

The Lincoln Project: Alike

Aug 6, 2022 Nazi ideals have resurfaced in America under the guise of the Republican Party. It is our turn to fight them as our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents once did.

Hungary PM Viktor Orbán Addresses CPAC as American Right Embraces His Authoritarian Rule

Aug 4, 2022 We speak with international affairs scholar Kim Lane Scheppele on the rise and fall of Hungary's constitutional democracy and how Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gained popularity among the American right ahead of his speech today at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "Orbán presents, especially for the American right, a kind of irresistible combination of culture war issues," says Lane Scheppele. "These culture war issues in Hungary disguise the fact that underneath the surface Orbán has been changing the laws of the country so that gradually he has shut down all of the independent institutions that might tell him no." She says U.S. Republicans are now engaging in a very "Orbán-like" campaign to rig elections so they win regardless of the popular vote.

Hungary PM Viktor Orbán rallies US conservatives to fight for ‘less drag queens, more Chuck Norris’: Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has remarked the world needs fewer drag queens and “more rangers” in a keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference in the US. »

Why American Conservatives Love Viktor Orban: What was the prime minister of Hungary doing addressing a crowd of Republicans in Dallas? »

GOP Senator Ron Johnson Announces He Will “Not Oppose” Same-sex Marriage Bill

LGBTQNATION: Ron Johnson is the fifth GOP senator to break with party orthodoxy in a sign that the bill could pass with bipartisan support.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has announced that he will “not oppose” the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act. Johnson is the fifth Republican to break ranks with party orthodoxy on same-sex marriage. The bill would codify marriage rights for same-sex and interracial couples.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) are also in the “yes” column.

This isn’t the first time that Johnson has bucked the party’s anti-LGBTQ stances though. He vocally opposed former President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender military members, saying, “I think any law-abiding American who wants to serve the nation should be able to.” » | Bill Browning | Friday, July 22, 2022

Democrats Call for Action after Supreme Court's Abortion Ruling

Jun 26, 2022 • MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart speaks with Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney about how Democrats can mobilize voters to the polls in November after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. »

Republican 40-year Political Project Achieves Goal with Supreme Court Ending Roe v Wade

Jun 25, 2022 • Rachel Maddow reviews how abortion was not a partisan issue until Republicans and religious groups saw a political advantage to exploit, making the overturning of Roe v. Wade by a Republicanized Supreme Court the product of a 40-year political project.

Contraception, Gay Marriage: Clarence Thomas Signals New Targets for Supreme Court

THE GUARDIAN: Rightwing justice appears to offer preview of the court’s potential future rulings after decision to remove US abortion rights

Donald Trump with Clarence Thomas as Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the supreme court in October 2020. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
Many Americans reacted to the supreme court’s decision to reverse Roe v Wade and remove federal abortion rights in the US with shock, but many also asked a terrified question: what might be next?

The conservative justice Clarence Thomas appeared to offer a preview of the court’s potential future rulings, suggesting the rightwing-controlled court may return to the issues of contraception access and marriage equality, threatening LGBTQ rights.

“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion to the ruling on Roe.

Griswold v Connecticut established a married couple’s right to use contraception without government interference in 1965. The court ruled in the 2003 case of Lawrence v Texas that states could not criminalize sodomy, and Obergefell v Hodges established the right for same-sex couples to marry in 2015.

Thomas’s words confirmed what many progressive lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates have feared for years. The end of Roe marks the beginning, not the end, of judicial overreach by the court’s conservative majority, they say.

“It is important that Americans understand that this supreme court and Republicans in Congress will not stop here,” said Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “It is clear [Thomas] and the court’s majority have no respect for other precedents that have been won in recent decades.” » | Joan E Greve in Washington | Friday, June 24, 2022

Clarence Thomas Ready to Strike Down Marriage Equality Following Dobbs: The reasoning in today's decision overruling Roe v. Wade shows that rulings on marriage equality, consensual sex, and contraception were erroneous, he says. »

Related video

They Aren't Stopping with Roe v. Wade | Robert Reich

Jun 24, 2022 • What rights will be stripped away next? Contraception? Same-sex marriage? Consensual same-sex sexual activity?

Clarence Thomas said it himself: the Supreme Court is coming for your right to privacy.

Texas Republican Platform: Being Gay Is 'Abnormal Lifestyle Choice'

From left: Dan Patrick and Greg Abbott
ADVOCATE: The platform, adopted over the weekend, also opposes “all efforts to validate transgender identity.”

The Republican Party of Texas is well known for its anti-LGBTQ+ stances, but the party platform it adopted this year goes beyond even previous ones, with language calling homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice” and opposing “all efforts to validate transgender identity.”

The party adopted the platform Saturday at its convention in Houston, The Texas Tribune reports. Republican elected officials aren’t required to follow the platform, but the document indicates the general feelings and direction of the party.

Previous platforms included much antigay and anti-trans language, but the “abnormal lifestyle choice” statement is new. The platform also endorses conversion therapy, as it has in the past, and calls it by a new name, “reintegrative therapy.”

“Homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice,” the platform reads. “We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin, and we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values. No one should be granted special legal status based on their LGBTQ+ identification.”

At least one delegate, David Gebhart, tried to soften this language, saying, “We are the Republican Party of Texas, not the Westboro Baptist Church,” Tribune editor Sewell Chan tweeted. Gebhart’s suggestion was met with laughter and boos. Other delegates made homophobic and sexually charged comments. » | Trudy Ring | Monday, June 20, 2022

The Lincoln Project: Cheney to Republicans

Jun 11, 2022 • "Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible – there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain."

Ex-gun Industry Insider Speaks Out about Republicans and NRA

Jun 6, 2022 • Author Ryan Busse, who used to work in the firearms industry, says that the gun industry has managed to control the politics of the Republican party by creating a culture of fear among gun owners.

Skin in the Game

Run Away

May 27, 2022 • When all eyes are on the GOP following a national tragedy, what do they do? They run away.

They also say they pray for the victims. As if that's going to help when you've lost a child! What a load of BS! – Mark

Tucker Carlson Under Fire for Fawning over Authoritarian Leader, Touting Hungary as Model for US

May 24, 2022 • The most influential conservative gathering on the right, CPAC, was recently held in Budapest, Hungary. Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has fawned over Hungary’s authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in past interviews, addressed the gathering, telling attendees the country’s ethno-nationalist regime offers a “better way” for America. MSNBC’s Ari Melber reports on the GOP’s embrace of “foreign exceptionalism” and the party’s decision to abandon policy.

Why Republicans are NOT the Party of Freedom | Robert Reich

May 9, 2022 • Why is the party of "freedom" trying to ban abortion? Because it's not actually about freedom. It's about power.

Lawrence: Samuel Alito's Lies Did Not Stop in His Confirmation Hearing

May 6, 2022 • MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell details the years of lying and hypocrisy from Republicans and Republican-appointed Supreme Court Justices on abortion rights.