I’m still going to cover some of the Donald Trump stuff, even now that he’s in exile in MAGAland Florida. Part of the reason why I’m still paying attention to his sh-t is because in 2016, I was really in denial about how millions of Americans were and are so profoundly stupid and evil. I just think we should continue to keep tabs on these whackjobs, because they will absolutely try to overthrow the government again and Trump is going to try to incite more terrorism. So, what is his political power at this point? There are millions of morons willing to donate their life savings to the MAGA cause, and there are so many people in his cult who will never be deprogrammed. So this is terrifying: Trump is still threatening to create a MAGA Party to take down disloyal (to Trump) Republicans.
Former president Donald Trump threw himself back into politics this weekend by publicly endorsing a devoted and divisive acolyte in Arizona who has embraced his false election conspiracy theories and entertained the creation of a new “MAGA Party.” In a recorded phone call, Trump offered his “complete and total endorsement” for another term for Arizona state party chairwoman Kelli Ward, a lightning rod who has sparred with the state’s Republican governor, been condemned by the business community and overseen a recent flight in party registrations. She narrowly won reelection, by a margin of 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent, marking Trump’s first victory in a promised battle to maintain political relevance and influence after losing the 2020 election.
In recent weeks, Trump has entertained the idea of creating a third party, called the Patriot Party, and instructed his aides to prepare election challenges to lawmakers who crossed him in the final weeks in office, including Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), according to people familiar with the plans.
Multiple people in Trump’s orbit, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, say Trump has told people that the third-party threat gives him leverage to prevent Republican senators from voting to convict him during the Senate impeachment trial. Trump advisers also say they plan to recruit opposing primary candidates and commission polling next week in districts of targeted lawmakers. Trump has more than $70 million in campaign cash banked to fund his political efforts, these people say.
The prospect of a divisive battle threatens to widen a split in the Republican Party and has alarmed leaders in Washington, who have been pleading publicly to avoid any new rounds of internecine retribution. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel are among the leaders who have worked to protect politicians like Cheney, who supported Trump’s second impeachment and now faces an internal effort to remove her from her role as the third-highest-ranking member of the House Republican leadership.
I mean, on one side, we get to just sit on the sidelines and sip our tea and watch the Republican Party rip itself apart. And if it was just that, I would do a champagne toast. But as we’ve seen, this kind of Republican melodrama spills out and affects us all, because these people are stupid as f–k and armed to the teeth. So I’ll say this… at the time, I was unsure if deplatforming Donald Trump from social media would really work, and while time will tell long-term, in the short-term, it’s been completely and utterly positive. I think it’s the same thing for the Republican Party on the whole: once Republicans are no longer afraid of him, once they realize that they can stand against him and take away his power, they’ll be shocked by how easy it was and how much better their lives are. Or, you know, they could keep empowering him and being afraid of him and the GOP will become a permanent minority. We’ll see! Also: like hell Trump has $70 million to spend on his own party. All of that money he raised is long gone, in some Cayman Island account, or it’s being used to pay off creditors.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.
Please, go right ahead. Rip apart the GOP from the inside & take Gym Jordan with you. Sadly I expect this “new” party will be formed immediately after he produces his health care plan….
His tax lawyers quit today so I think most of his time will be spent finding representative to keep him out of Sing Sing
I’ve heard it was the “Patriot” party, tho the phrase sadly connotes anarchy now…
Someone tweeted that since Portman announced he’s not running for re-election in 2022, Jordan will be the next senator from Ohio and now I’m afraid it’s gonna happen. Jesus take the wheel… People are also tweeting that LeBron should run. I wonder if he ever would? Normally I would prefer a person have some political experience before running for U.S. Senate but no one sane could be worse than Gym.
I think Gym is only safe in his highly gerrymandered district. State wide he will have to answer to his Ohio State sexual neglect problems. I really hope they do away with Ohio gerrymandering so he can be tossed on the dustbin of history
This is definitely going to tear the GOP apart. Enough republicans think he did nothing wrong with regards to the capitol riots and enough would support a Trump 2024 run. He’s got the money and he can still raise more money and primary GOP incumbents where if they win, they could just as easily lose to a democratic candidate (especially in states like PA, WI, MI, etc etc).
Plus neither the “respectable” wing or the crazy wing alone will be able to beat the Democrats as a whole in elections.
I mean, LOL that he’s even considering this in Georgia. Stacey Abrams by all accounts should have won against Kemp last time, then she pretty much singlehandedly helped flip our state blue since then and now we all love her even more. Seems like one of his dumbest decisions yet to split the vote in any race she’s running in.
Ugh. This sh-t will cause the Republicans to vote against conviction to avoid a split. And Trump will do it anyway. I can’t. I just can’t. Why are Republicans so dumb?
Which is why they should grow a spine and vote to convict. So he can’t run again. Good luck getting a magat party off the ground when the fuhrer can’t even legally run for office (assuming he’s not in prison, where he belongs).
Juls- all true. That’s why I said they’re so dumb. They’re killing themselves.
His social media castration is more effective than I thought it would be. For him to really come back in a meaningful way he’ll have to create his own media outlet (which he will), but just think of how janky that will be? Who is he hiring to launch a network? Rudy? He couldn’t successfully launch something if he tried, especially without using Twitter to rile up his Nazi base. He’s done, and Republicans like Mitch are finally starting to regain their leverage over the party.
Rudy’s gonna be busy elsewhere. Dominion just dropped a $1.3 billion lawsuit on him, to match the one dropped on Sidney Powell a few weeks ago. The other lawsuit, filed against Giuliani last month, is one by a high level Dominion employee who personally sued for defamation.
I suspect Dominion will be filing against Trump in the coming weeks.
Can someone explain why their defamation lawsuits are in the billions? I screamed laughing this morning when I saw how much Rudy is being sued for. Its an immense about of money and with his broke grifter self? I’m sure her panicking. It’s what they deserve.
Nina- My guess is Dominion is suing for such large amounts because these lies could cost them government contracts which are probably worth that much. It’s big money at play for these voting machines.
Mr. MyPillow has also received a “preserve all documents” letter from Dominion in the last few weeks, so something will likely be coming up for him as well.
Starting a network takes actual work, so that’s a nonstarter for Trump. Also, a network needs a platform and I don’t see any cable companies picking him up.
And now the Republicans are trying to justify not holding the impeachment trial because of threats. Allowing domestic terrorists to dictate how government functions. Whose the shit hole country now?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lawmakers-face-death-threats-second-impeachment_n_600e20ffc5b6a46978d260ae
Great. When will he be indicted?
The next time i have to watch footage of Trump and/or his kids, it better be of them being taken away in handcuffs.
MAGA-Lago?
MAGA-LAGA?
Band name, called it.
Covfefe Magalago would be a great name for a MAGAt parody drag queen…
Apparently – people are cancelling their memberships as they do not want to be publicly associated with anything Trump.
I definitely hope he does start this MAGA party, and split the right-wing vote everywhere!
I’m not sure about that. A split republican party would be divided into moderates and extremists. If Democrats don’t achieve their aims, then democrats could lose voters to the moderate republicans. Now it’s 3 parties with a plurality of votes needed. Hitler’s party took opower with 33% of the vote.
Yes, we still have the electoral college, and some states have a mandatory run-off with the top 2 candidates in congressional races, but I don’t believe that all states do. That means we could end up with more extremists winning in red and even in purple states.
An extremist party that “wins” the popular vote with a plurality would definitely claim to have “won”–imagine if Biden had won the electoral but not the popular vote. The problem is that Democrats are committed to fighting cleanly against a Republican party that’s committed to fighting as dirty as possible. There’s no sense of fair play–it’s just “Heads I win, tails you lose”.
Democrats might have to start fighting dirty as well–we may not be able to afford to take the high road. We’re in the fight for our very existence over the next 4 years as a country. Our best hope is that He Who Shall Not Be Named fast food habit offs him.
Had he won, I’m sure he would have resorted to poisoning, just like his buddy Putin. These are the people we are up against. They WANTED mass arrests and HANGINGS at the Capitol. Had they captured Pence, or AOC, or Pelosi, they would have been violated and murdered in horrific ways.
I think you’re OUTSMARTING yourself here.
How could it be good to draw voters from the GOP?
They have no money, no smarts, their party is being killed off by COVID, and yet we all still have to worry because they have guns. No sarcasm. I legit worry about these loons still and I probably will the rest of my life. The fact that they are splitting the GOP is fantastic, really, but they are also making it dangerous for all of us so any celebration comes by way of cautious optimism and vigilance.
I’m not worried about their guns that much. What really chills me is that some of these MAGATS are adjacent to or in professions on which non-white lives depend. One of the most awful congressional Republicans was an OB/Gyn. One of the insurrectionists was a firefighter and EMT!
I don’t want these hate filled people anywhere near my body or anything that sustains or impacts the quality of my life. Nor yours.
I’m absolutely appalled at the extent and reach of this cult of white and orange supremacy. But while I didn’t imagine the sheer numbers, I knew the mindset, because almost 20 years ago, I stumbled on to (via a web search on a simple benign topic) and stayed to lurk on a white supremacy forum.
It was an eye opener and I absorbed everything on that site so I would never forget that hate hides under some benign facades and that hate is directed at me because I’m, in their eyes, through no choice or action of my own, an “abomination above abominations, a mixed race betrayal of good white genes”. They spoke then, almost 2 decades ago, of how amusing it is to smile at people of color and fool us while they wait for their chance to take back “their” nation. It’s kind of sad they think we don’t know, though.
I periodically dropped in over the years to see what they were up to, though not much in the years of Trump, and they have always been dreaming of someone like Trump, before Trump himself publicly assumed this version of himself. So this didn’t start with Trump and won’t end with him, either. To some of them, their adulation is tied to him in a cult like way. But to a significant portion of them, he’s a convenient tool, a means to an end, and not the dear leader he thinks he is to them.
I am so grateful this site will continue the coverage on these MAGA related issues. Those who are sick of it can skip it. I’m not able to spare the time right now to keep an eye on all of it, so I appreciate that this site will keep us apprised of the various major developments. I will keep vigilant. Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. I want to know at all times what these hate filled monsters are up to.
It sometimes breaks my heart. On that site I saw one woman who, if she weren’t a raging racist, could have been my twin. She shared most of my hobbies and interests and loved animals as much as I do. When it came to animals, she had a big heart. But she would hate my very existence over what should be the inconsequential difference of race. And in a nation of immigrants, even cultural differences could be bridged. But not to these people afflicted with the racist mindset. As instructed by my faith, I will pray for these people. It is a great evil to hate each other. But I’m never going to stop being furious, outraged, fighting and salty.
If nothing else, this proposed party is an effective way to keep fleecing the MAGAts. Gotta find a reliable income stream when you can’t soak up any more public funds and your banks are cutting you loose.
Please, don’t even report on him. Don’t give him the time of day.
I’m definitely done reading about his empty “threats” which he’ll keep making because he knows it gets him attention. We voted him out of office, kicked him off social media and took away any little credibility he still had. I’m officially ready to move on and forget about him (unless there’s news about him getting locked up).
He should start is own MAGA country on an island far from here, and take all his people with him.
In terms of defeating this fascist wave with the current system in place, this would actually be the best case scenario because it would fracture the GOP and allow progressive candidates to take advantage of the stronghold breaking in some stakes. However, it may also motivate some GOP to vote him out in the impeachment trial for exactly that reason. We’ll see.
Why look, what is this? The consequences of the Republican party’s actions and inactions coming home to roost.
The Republicans are total loonies which means the Republican Party will be that of Trumps and the Lincoln Project folks will have to be the ones who start the new party.
I wish he would go through with it and start his own MAGA party. How many Republicans would defect to it? The GOP have really put themselves in a situation where they basically have to say an attempted coup is acceptable, as well as his attempts to overturn elections using his AG, because they are afraid of losing votes. They’re beyond help and our system is screwed because of it.