Prominent evangelicals are directing Trump’s sinking ship. That feeds doubts about religion.

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President Trump’s naked attempt to overturn a fair election — with key elements of Joe Biden’s victory vouchsafed by Republican state officials, Republican-appointed judges and even the Justice Department — has driven some Trump evangelicals to the edge of blasphemous lunacy.

“I’d be happy to die in this fight,” radio talk-show host Eric Metaxas assured Trump during a recent interview. “This is a fight for everything. God is with us. Jesus is with us in this fight for liberty.”

Elsewhere Metaxas predicted, “Trump will be inaugurated. For the high crimes of trying to throw a U.S. presidential election, many will go to jail. The swamp will be drained. And Lincoln’s prophetic words of ‘a new birth of freedom’ will be fulfilled. Pray.” Continue reading.

Scoop: West Wing fears COVID spread after Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis attends WH party

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President Trump’s lawyer Jenna Ellis has informed associates she tested positive for the coronavirus, multiple sources tell Axios, stirring West Wing fears after she attended a senior staff Christmas party on Friday.

Driving the news: There are concerns about the potential for another White House superspreader event, though it was unclear whether Ellis posed a risk when she attended. Ellis declined to confirm the diagnosis to Axios.

  • “People brought their families,” said one senior White House official who attended the party and has since been informed of Ellis’ diagnosis.
  • The revelation follows Sunday’s news that Ellis’ legal sidekick Rudy Giuliani was hospitalized after testing positive. Continue reading.

COVID whistleblower blames Ron DeSantis after cops raid her home: ‘They pointed guns at my kids’

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Former Florida Department of Health (DOH) data scientist Rebekah Jones, who was fired by Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration after refusing to manipulate coronavirus information, says “state police came into my house and took all my hardware and tech. They were serving a warrant on my computer after DOH filed a complaint. They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids.”

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued a statement confirming the seizure of computer equipment, a report in the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper says.

“FDLE began an investigation November 10, 2020 after receiving a complaint from the Department of Health regarding unauthorized access to a Department of Health messaging system which is part of an emergency alert system, to be used for emergencies only,” FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said. Continue reading.

Bipartisan group seizes spotlight, and more clout

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The clout of a bipartisan group of lawmakers aimed at forging consensus is on the rise. 

With the House expected to have its most narrow Democratic margin of control in decades, members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus see the group’s influence growing exponentially in the next Congress. And its members are looking to flex their strength in pushing for policies that can pass both chambers. 

The bipartisan group of roughly 50 members, which is co-chaired by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), has played a leading role in moving the needle on COVID-19 relief negotiations after a months-long stalemate. Continue reading.

Conservative law professor slams Ted Cruz’s push to throw our out 6.9 million Pennsylvania votes

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Pennsylvania is among the battleground states where President Donald Trump and his Republican supporters have been trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election. So far, Republican lawsuits in Pennsylvania — where President-elect Joe Biden won 20 electoral votes — have been unsuccessful. But Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is saying that if one of those lawsuits makes it to the U.S. Supreme Court, he would make the oral arguments in favor of it. And one of the people on the right who is slamming Cruz for making that offer is Kimberly Wehle, a conservative law professor.

On Monday, December 7, Cruz told Fox News, ” (The) petitioner’s legal team has asked me whether I would be willing to argue the case before the Supreme Court, if the Court grants certiorari. I have agreed, and told them that, if the Court takes the appeal, I will stand ready to present the oral argument.”

The two-term Texas senator added, “As I said last week, the bitter division and acrimony we see across the Nation needs resolution. I believe the Supreme Court has a responsibility to the American people to ensure, within its powers, that we are following the law and following the Constitution.” Continue reading.

Court System in U.S. Is No ‘Lapdog’ to Trump, Minnesota AG Says

President Donald Trump’s wild claim of a vast conspiracy to deprive him of a second term has created an unprecedented stress test on the U.S. election system and the courts, according to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. And so far, they’re passing, he said.

Lawsuits filed by Trump and his GOP allies have fizzled, while election officials — including Republicans — have stood by the results and rejected the president’s unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud, Ellison said an interview Friday, hours after the Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed a Republican-led suit that aimed to decertify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state.

“This shows the courts are still an independent institution,” said Ellison, a Democrat who was elected in 2018. “One of the hallmarks of an authoritarian state is having no press freedom and the courts are lapdogs for whoever is in power. We can say that’s not true here.” Continue reading.

Private money helped pay to conduct Minnesota’s election

Minnesota’s election directors say private money fueled by donations from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg helped them successfully execute an election threatened by safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic, an avalanche of early arriving ballots, and President Donald Trump’s repeated attempts to undermine the legitimacy of voting by mail.

The Chicago-based nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life delivered grants to election offices in more than 2,500 jurisdictions across the country — including 28 Minnesota cities and counties. View the post and listen here.

Governor and Lawmakers continue to work on COVID Relief Package

Governor Tim Walz and lawmakers continue negotiations on a relief package for bars and restaurants that remain closed due to the governor’s COVID emergency order.   Walz said Friday he thinks they’re getting close to a deal:

“Us starting out and saying, this is where we think we should go and these are the principles. Then there’s of course the House Democratic version, the House Republican version, the Senate Republican version, the Senate Democratic version.   And now we’re at the point right now where those kind of four corners are working out.”

If Walz and lawmakers are able to agree on a relief package, it doesn’t look like the legislature would pass it until mid-December, when legislators are back in Saint Paul anyway to vote on the governor’s emergency powers. View the post here.

A Black Michigan lawmaker criticized Giuliani’s voter fraud claims. Now she’s getting racist, lynching threats.

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Hours after Michigan state Rep. Cynthia A. Johnson blasted Republicans for inviting President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to hold a hearing last week with supposed witnesses of voter fraud, the Democratic lawmaker’s phone began ringing nonstop.

Over two days, Johnson, who is Black, received nearly 100 calls from angry Trump supporters, according to a Facebook post with 10 screenshots of the incoming calls, which she called “a sampling.” She had been doxed, she said, and now her harshest critics had a direct line to aim their racist threats.

“You should be swinging from a f—— rope, you Democrat,” one woman said in a voice mail laced with racial slurs, according to Johnson’s Facebook post linking to a recording of the message. Continue reading.