Fogbow

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said President Trump has not given him a commitment to refrain from targeting House GOP incumbents in their primaries.

“I don't have a commitment on that. I work closely with the president on working on endorsements to win seats in the House,” he told reporters at a press conference on Friday. “We did quite well [last cycle] — you know, everybody said we'd lose 20 seats.”

McCarthy said that his current focus is not on the 2022 election, arguing it is too far out to be his top priority.

“So, what I have found is we've worked very well together — I think the election is a little further away,” he continued. “I'm focused more on what the American people need so really my focus right now is not on politics, my focus is getting people back to work, back to school and back to health."

With each speech, we approach the real reason everyone’s here: former President DONALD TRUMP’S Sunday appearance, in which he will formally pronounce himself party kingmaker and take aim at his enemies.

Advisers to Trump say his hit list changes daily. But typically what he says privately, he says on stage. And he’s not just griping about the usual suspects (MITCH MCCONNELL, LIZ CHENEY and NIKKI HALEY).

Three people close to Trump tell me that he’s stewing anew over KEVIN MCCARTHY. It’s become so frequent that his advisers think the House minority leader may be in for a public reprimand. That’s even after the powwow at Mar-a-Lago where McCarthy tried to patch things up after he denounced Trump for the violence on Jan. 6.

The reason for Trump’s displeasure: an emboldened Cheney. Each time Cheney criticizes Trump from her leadership post as the No. 3 House Republican, he’s reminded that it was McCarthy who pleaded with his conference to keep her on as chair — despite her vote to impeach Trump. The latest trigger came Wednesday, when Cheney said at a press conference that Trump should not lead the party going forward while McCarthy awkwardly stood by.

Over meals and many Diet Cokes, Trump has already started building his post-White House political operation and cementing his role as the party’s de facto leader. He has begun to formalize a structure of political advisers around him and made plans to start a new super PAC — capable of raising donations of any size — to support candidates he favors. His team is looking to formalize a process for vetting endorsement prospects, assessing what candidates have said and done for Trump in the past.

He has also discussed drafting a new “America First” agenda — like the 1994 “Contract with America,” but focused on issues such as border security and trade — to steer the party’s direction, according to Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.).

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It’s not just about shaping the GOP from the sidelines. Trump is keenly focused on his long-term political comeback, quizzing allies about how to launch a 2024 bid and who his most formidable challengers would be, advisers said.

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Trump’s dominance of the GOP will be reinforced Sunday, when he addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, his first major political speech since leaving the White House. In a pageant scripted to emphasize his importance, he will be one of the last to speak in the three-day gathering, taking the stage right after the announcement of a presidential straw poll that he is widely expected to win.

His team is looking to formalize a process for vetting endorsement prospects, assessing what candidates have said and done for Trump in the past.

HST's Ghost wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:15 am If this is a symbol of his "power", and the symbolism in this is biiiizarre ~ serious wtf ~ then he is going to quickly become a poor cheaply gilded clown at a Jimmy Buffay concert...
...Plus "Look Ahead America" (cuz I am behind you picking your pocket)

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:05 pm

HST's Ghost wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:15 am If this is a symbol of his "power", and the symbolism in this is biiiizarre ~ serious wtf ~ then he is going to quickly become a poor cheaply gilded clown at a Jimmy Buffay concert...
...Plus "Look Ahead America" (cuz I am behind you picking your pocket)

What is it about that idol that is supposed to impress or please anybody? I don't get it. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

Slim Cognito wrote: ↑Mon Mar 01, 2021 9:59 am I wonder if trump saw that monstrosity. But wtf is up with the fairy wand? I won't even start on the shorts and flipflops.

At CPAC, a Golden Image, a Magic Wand and Reverence for Trump
The faithful who flocked to the annual conference of conservatives made it clear that their allegiance was to the former president far more than to the Republican Party.

► Show Spoiler

ORLANDO, Fla. — Tommy Zegan was appalled by the few sculptures of Donald J. Trump in existence — the life-size nude statue that popped up in major cities in America, the golden toilet in London. So in 2018, he got to work.

Mr. Zegan, a Trump supporter who had recently moved to Mexico from the United States, created a six-foot-tall fiberglass mold of the former president and painted it gold. Mr. Zegan’s Trump carried a magic wand in his left hand, a reference to Barack Obama’s quip in 2016 about Mr. Trump’s needing one to bring back manufacturing jobs. The sculpted Trump wore his customary suit jacket and red tie, American flag shorts — and flip-flops — “because technically he should be retired,” Mr. Zegan explained, “but he chose to be a servant.”

The final product, titled “Trump and His Magic Wand,” was among the more popular attractions at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla. On Saturday, attendees flocked to the event’s merchandise hall for photos with the golden sculpture, the scene an almost literal rendering of the Republican Party, which continues to reserve its reverence not for ideas or elected officials but for one man.

“It’s definitely not an idol,” Mr. Zegan insisted. (“I was a youth pastor for 18 years,” he noted.) “An idol is something somebody worships and bows down to. This is a sculpture. It’s two different things.”

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:05 pm

HST's Ghost wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:15 am If this is a symbol of his "power", and the symbolism in this is biiiizarre ~ serious wtf ~ then he is going to quickly become a poor cheaply gilded clown at a Jimmy Buffay concert...
...Plus "Look Ahead America" (cuz I am behind you picking your pocket)

What is it about that idol that is supposed to impress or please anybody? I don't get it. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

In a statement to POLITICO on Saturday, Trump said: “I will not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski. She represents her state badly and her country even worse. I do not know where other people will be next year, but I know where I will be — in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad Senator.”

Murkowski, who has held her seat since 2002, has been a longtime critic of the former president and was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict him in last month’s impeachment trial. She is the only one of the seven to face reelection in 2022.

A Murkowski spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s statement comes just days after Murkowski advanced the nomination of Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) to serve as interior secretary, which Trump called “yet another example of Murkowski not standing up for Alaska.”

Volkonski wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 6:24 pm Just to whom does Murkowski owe loyalty?

Josh Dawsey
@jdawsey1
RNC has sent a letter to Trump PAC responding to their cease-and-desist. In response letter, RNC says Trump affirmed to chair Ronna McDaniel over the weekend that he "approves of the RNC's current use of his name in fundraising and other materials," per copy reviewed by Post.

Volkonski wrote: ↑Mon Mar 08, 2021 4:59 pm
Left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

What Is Happening to the Republicans?
In becoming the party of Trump, the G.O.P. confronts the kind of existential crisis that has destroyed American parties in the past.
By Jelani Cobb March 8, 2021

*** About Goldwater v Rockefeller ***

In the contemporary Republican Party, the resonance is obvious. Mitch McConnell, the Party’s leader in the Senate, has long played this game, despising Donald Trump but knuckling under to the reality of his immense popularity among Republican voters. At Trump’s second impeachment trial, McConnell voted to acquit but, after the vote, delivered an excoriating speech about Trump’s incitement of the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol and the effort that day to reverse the results of the 2020 election. Days later, when asked whether he would support Trump if he was nominated by the G.O.P. in 2024, McConnell responded, “Absolutely.”

The most widely debated political question of the moment is: What is happening to the Republicans? One answer is that the Party’s predicament might fairly be called the revenge of “the kooks.” In just four years, the G.O.P., a powerful, hundred-and-sixty-seven-year-old institution, has become the party of Donald Trump. He began his 2016 campaign by issuing racist and misogynistic salvos, and during his Presidency he gave cover to white supremacists, reactionary militia groups, and QAnon followers. Trump’s seizure of the Party’s leadership seemed a stunning achievement at first, but with time it seems more reasonable to ponder how he could possibly have failed. There were many preëxisting conditions, and Trump took advantage of them. The combination of a base stoked by a sensationalist right-wing media and the emergence of kook-adjacent figures in the so-called Gingrich Revolution, of 1994, and the Tea Party, have redefined the Party’s temper and its ideological boundaries. It is worth remembering that the first candidate to defeat Trump in a Republican primary in 2016 was Ted Cruz, who, by 2020, had long set aside his reservations about Trump, and was implicated in spurring the mob that attacked the Capitol.

One of the most telling developments of the 2020 contest was rarely discussed: in August, the Republican National Convention convened without presenting a new Party platform. The Convention was centered almost solely on Trump; the events, all of which took place at the White House, validated an increasing suspicion that Trump himself was the Republican platform. Practically speaking, the refusal to articulate concrete positions spared the Party the embarrassment of watching the President contradict them. In 2016, religious conservatives succeeded in getting an anti-pornography plank into the platform, only to be confronted by news of Trump’s extramarital affair with the adult-film performer Stormy Daniels. Now there would be no distinction between the Republican Party and the mendacity, bigotry, belligerence, misogyny, and narcissism of its singular representative.

Or consider the events of the past six months alone: during a Presidential debate, a sitting Commander-in-Chief gave a knowing shout-out to the Proud Boys, a far-right hate group; he also refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, and subsequently attempted to strong-arm the Georgia secretary of state into falsifying election returns; he and other Republican officials filed more than sixty lawsuits in an effort to overturn the results of the election; he incited the insurrectionists who overran the Capitol and demanded the lynching of, among others, the Republican Vice-President; and he was impeached, for the second time, then acquitted by Senate Republicans fearful of a base that remains in his thrall. The fact that behavior is commonplace does not mean it should be mistaken for behavior that is normal.

In a Monday letter to Trump attorney Alex Cannon, RNC chief counsel J. Justin Riemer said the committee “has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech" and said "it will continue to do so in pursuit of these common goals.”

But he maintained that Trump had also “reaffirmed” to the chair of the RNC, Ronna McDaniel, over the weekend "that he approves of the RNC’s current use of his name in fundraising and other materials, including for our upcoming donor retreat event at Palm Beach at which we look forward to him participating.”

Trump responded to the letter with a statement that put that agreement in doubt.

“No more money for RINOS," or Republican in name only, he stated. “They do nothing but hurt the Republican Party and our great voting base — they will never lead us to Greatness.”

Volkonski wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 2:50 pm Trump, RNC clash over using his name in fundraising
The RNC's counsel said it “has every right to refer to public figures" while engaging in political speech. Trump responded, “No more money for RINOS."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald ... d_nn_tw_ma

In a Monday letter to Trump attorney Alex Cannon, RNC chief counsel J. Justin Riemer said the committee “has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech" and said "it will continue to do so in pursuit of these common goals.”

But he maintained that Trump had also “reaffirmed” to the chair of the RNC, Ronna McDaniel, over the weekend "that he approves of the RNC’s current use of his name in fundraising and other materials, including for our upcoming donor retreat event at Palm Beach at which we look forward to him participating.”

Trump responded to the letter with a statement that put that agreement in doubt.

“No more money for RINOS," or Republican in name only, he stated. “They do nothing but hurt the Republican Party and our great voting base — they will never lead us to Greatness.”

So Trump admits he failed to make America great again.