Category: Republican Reality

QAnon hasn’t gone away – it’s alive and kicking in states across the country

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By this point, almost everyone has heard of QAnon, the conspiracy spawned by an anonymous online poster of enigmatic prophecies. Starting with an initial promise in 2017 that Hillary Rodham Clinton would be imminently arrested, a broad group of interpreters divined a conspiracy that saw President Donald Trump’s Democratic opponents as a global cabal of Satanic pedophiles.

Perhaps the greatest success of the conspiracy is its ability to create a shared alternate reality, a reality that can dismiss everything from a decisive election to a deadly pandemic. The QAnon universe lives on – now largely through involvement in local, not national, Republican politics. 

Moving on from contesting the election, the movement’s new focus is vaccines. The influence of QAnon on pandemic denialism is significant, though the spread of Q in local politics is a source of conflict in many states. Continue reading.

Apples to apples, the Senate GOP infrastructure proposal is smaller than it appears

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“These figures are what you would consider regular appropriations-plus. So it’s baseline-plus.”

—Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), remarks at a news conference, April 22

The headlines were almost all universally the same — some variation of “GOP Counters Biden With $568 Billion Infrastructure Plan.” Just about every news report suggested that the headline-number offered for the Senate Republican plan was comparable to President Biden’s $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan.

But toward the end of the news conference announcing the Republican counteroffer, Capito made the comment above. She added, “When you hear the $115 billion [Biden is] dedicating to roads, that’s in addition. So we are going to have to square the figures for you better.”

Long ago, The Fact Checker used to be a federal budget reporter. From experience, we learned that the numbers announced at news conferences often needed to be scrubbed carefully. Capito’s reference to “baseline-plus” made our ears perk up a bit. Continue reading.

‘Beware of false prophets’: Here’s why QAnon is thriving as a ‘false religion’ among evangelicals

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A certain type of evangelical Christian is more susceptible to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which mimics revivalist sermons.

Those immersed in televangelist or charismatic Christian culture are easily led astray by the false prophecy that places Donald Trump against a satanic global conspiracy, and conservative Matt Lewis examined those links in a new column for The Daily Beast.

“Even those of us who believe in miracles would concede that charlatans exist and often prey on vulnerable people,” Lewis wrote. “Someone who is desperate for physical healing or money to pay the mortgage might be easily exploited. As politics play a more central role in our lives, our vulnerabilities have shifted. Many Americans were so utterly desperate for Trump to be re-elected that they were willing to believe anything. And so they did.” Continue reading.

Biden’s climate plan doesn’t ban meat. But baseless claims left Republicans fuming: ‘Stay out of my kitchen.’

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This past weekend, a cadre of Republican critics raised the alarm that President Biden would take hamburgers and steaks off the menu as part of his new plan to combat climate change.

“To meet the Biden Green New Deal targets, America has to, get this, America has to stop eating meat,” Larry Kudlow, a former White House economic adviser to Donald Trump, said on Fox Business on Friday. “No burger on July 4. No steaks on the barbecue.”

But Biden’s plan doesn’t include any call to limit meat-eating. Instead, conservative ire was sparked by a Daily Mail article that baselessly speculated about measures that could accomplish Biden’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Continue reading.

Capitol riot probes home in on Oath Keepers

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Federal prosecutors appear to be zeroing in on the Oath Keepers following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, making the paramilitary group a priority among the more than 400 people facing criminal charges over the rampage.

A dozen co-defendants reportedly affiliated with the right-wing militia organization are facing conspiracy and other charges over their alleged roles in the storming of the Capitol.

Last week, another member of the Oath Keepers, Jon Ryan Schaffer, became the first defendant following Jan. 6 to plead guilty and agree to cooperatewith law enforcement. Continue reading.

Here are 4 reasons why GOP voter suppression bills ‘may backfire’ and hurt Republicans more than Democrats: conservative

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If Republicans have a majority in a state legislature in the U.S. — or even if they don’t — chances are they are proposing some type of voter suppression bill in 2021. The obvious goal is to make it more difficult for Democrats to vote in the 2022 and 2024 elections. But journalist David Frum, a Never Trump conservative, considers this terrible policy on the part of Republicans —and in an article published by The Atlantic, Frum lays out “four specific ways that their voter suppression measures may backfire” and hurt Republicans more than Democrats.

Reason #1, according to Frum: “Voter suppression can countermobilize its targets.”

Frum explains, “Requiring extra paperwork, imposing burdensome identification requirements and facilitating lengthy queues on Voting Day are effective ways of dissuading people who are only weakly committed to the political process; they are less effective against people strongly committed to the process. But in the 2010s, Republicans repeatedly used voter suppression to elect politicians — including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and President Donald Trump — who proceeded to convert their opponents’ weakly committed supporters into strongly committed voters.” Continue reading.

Rick Scott Ripped After Saying He Gave Trump ‘Freedom’ Trophy Because ‘He Worked Hard’

Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott was criticized on social media Sunday after he said he gave former President Donald Trump the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) Champion of Freedom award because he “worked hard.”

Scott, chairman of the NRSC, bestowed Trump with the inaugural award during a GOP donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach earlier this month. In a statement, the NRSC said the “award is presented to conservative leaders who have worked tirelessly to create good jobs, protect the values that make our country great, and stop the Democrats‘ socialist agenda.”

At the time, Democrats and critics of the divisive former president quickly took to Twitter to slam Republicans for giving Trump the award, with some calling it a “participation trophy.” Continue reading.

Watch: GOP leader McCarthy squirms as Chris Wallace grills him on Trump’s seditious Jan. 6 behavior

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Sunday disputed allegations that President Donald Trump reached out to him to coordinate an alibi after the Capitol was attacked by Trump-supporting insurrectionists on Jan. 6.

Fox News host Chris Wallace confronted McCarthy about a telephone call he had with Trump soon after the attack on the Capitol was underway.

“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump reportedly told McCarthy at the time, according to Rep. Herrera Beutler (R-WA). Continue reading.

Lindsey Graham ignores Trump to slam Joe Biden as a ‘fraud’ and a ‘very destabilizing president’

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Joe Biden, President Biden

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace challenged Graham, who had recently called Biden’s presidential campaign a “fraud.”

“You have said this week that you believe that Biden’s campaign was a fraud on the country,” Wallace pointed out, “because of how differently he is governing.”

Wallace went on to observe that Biden’s actions as president have mirrored his campaign rhetoric. Continue reading.

Gubernatorial Candidate Scott Jensen And Other GOP Legislators To Raise Money For Woman With Warrant For Her Arrest

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Jensen and other GOP Legislators will appear at a fundraiser this weekend to raise money for an Albert Lea woman who faced an active warrant for her arrest for violating COVID-19 restrictions. 

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA  – This weekend, gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen and other GOP legislators will speak at a fundraiser for Lisa Hanson, an Albert Lea wine bar owner who had an active warrant for her arrest and facesnine misdemeanor criminal counts, for violating COVID-19 restrictions. The fundraiser is to “support her legal fight”. 

Scott Jensen has made a name for himself as a COVID conspiracy theorist, has spread misinformation about COVID-19, posted anti-vaccine videos on social media, and was recently kicked off Tik-Tok for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. 

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement:

“Since long before he announced his campaign for governor, Scott Jensen has pushed dangerous conspiracy theories even going so far as accusing our frontline medical providers of inflating the COVID death rate for their financial gain – it is hardly a surprise that he is now fundraising to support someone whose claim to fame is refusing to recognize the danger of this pandemic. Republicans like Scott Jensen cannot claim to support law and order while encouraging Minnesotans to break the law and put their communities at risk.

Continue reading “Gubernatorial Candidate Scott Jensen And Other GOP Legislators To Raise Money For Woman With Warrant For Her Arrest”