Representative Nancy Mace Faces GOP Primary Challenge from Ex-chief of Staff by Andrew Solender
January 26, 2024
Introduction:
(Axios) The former chief of staff to Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) on Friday filed to run as a Republican primary challenger against his onetime boss.
Why it matters: It sets up what could be a high-profile primary after Mace angered and perplexed some in her party by voting to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last October.
Driving the news: Daniel Hanlon filed to challenge Mace in the state's June congressional primary on Friday, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.
• Hanlon worked as a senior staffer for Mace from when she first entered Congress in 2021 until last December, including as chief of staff for nearly two years, according to LegiStorm.
• He previously worked for former Rep. Mick Mulvaney, another South Carolinian, as well as former Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi.
• Mace declined to comment on Hanlon's entry into the race. Hanlon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
caltrek’s comment: This one ought to be fun to watch in that South Carolina will also see a significant face off between Trump and Nikki Haley. Both the presidential and the congressional district primary described above will thus be an insurgent moderate versus far-right establishment figure face-off. So, Haley may have more allies in the state than many suppose, despite the endorsements of Trump by establishment party figures.
Illinois election board hears objection to Trump candidacy based on January 6 insurrection
Source: CNN Politics
Published 3:14 PM EST, Fri January 26, 2024
CNN — A retired judge hired by the Illinois State Board of Elections held a hearing Friday on whether the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” applies to former President Donald Trump.
Several voters filed the challenge against Trump, arguing that Illinois should join Colorado and Maine in removing him from their 2024 presidential ballots based on his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. The decisions in those states were paused pending the outcome of Trump’s appeal of the Colorado case to the US Supreme Court.
Retired Illinois judge Clark Erickson presided over the roughly two-hour hearing in Chicago on Friday. His recommendation is expected to be announced on Tuesday when the full election board meets. The panel will then vote on the recommendation.
An attorney for the challengers, Matthew Piers, asserted that Trump filed “false” paperwork with Illinois election officials when he certified that he was “fully qualified to serve as president.” As a result, Piers argued, Trump “may not be placed on the ballot.”
Haley Responds to $83 Million Trump Verdict: “I Absolutely Trust the Jury” by Inae Oh
January 28, 2024
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) After appearing to shrug off E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation lawsuits against Donald Trump, Nikki Haley is now suddenly paying attention.
On Sunday, the former South Carolina governor said that she “absolutely” trusted the jury’s decision last week to order Trump to pay $83.3 million for defaming Carroll after Carroll accused Trump of having raped her in 1996. Last year, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse but not for rape under New York state law. The federal judge hearing the case, however, has gone to great lengths to make clear the gravity of that verdict, writing:
The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was “raped” within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump “raped” her as many people commonly understand the word “rape.” Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.
“I absolutely trust the jury and I think that they made their decision based on the evidence,” Haley told NBC News’ Kristen Welker on Sunday, in response to the recent $83 million defamation verdict. However, Haley declined to say that the verdict should disqualify Trump from being her party’s presidential nominee, insisting that voters would eventually reject his ambitions to return to the White House.
The remarks—which follow a Friday tweet in which Haley said America “could do better” than nominating a man in constant legal peril—come as she sharpens her attacks against Trump. Those jabs include Haley questioning Trump’s mental competency and calling him “totally unhinged” during a recent appearance on Fox News.
caltrek’s comment: A lot have folks have criticized Haley for not going on the offensive much sooner. Yet, she is following a typical pattern: the closer it comes to votes actually being cast, the more the negative rhetoric is escalated. She is also now the recipient of a lot of Trump’s wrath, making her counter attacks more a matter of responding in kind. As she has said “If he starts telling lies about me, I will start telling the truth about him.” (Or something to that effect).
Joe Biden Speech Blasts 'Loser' Donald Trump on Economy
Source: Newsweek
Jan 28, 2024 at 5:11 AM EST
President Joe Biden called his Republican rival Donald Trump a "loser" during a campaign speech in South Carolina. Biden visited the Republican stronghold on Saturday, which has not backed a Democrat for president since 1976, as he kicked of his reelection campaign ahead of the 2024 general election.
During his speech, which took place at a Democratic Party dinner in Columbia, Biden criticized Trump, the GOP frontrunner and former president and called him a "loser," while he also slammed his handling of the economy.
"I look at veterans very differently from Donald Trump," he said. He said Trump refused to visit a U.S. cemetery outside Paris and called them "suckers and losers," referring to a 2020 report in The Atlantic that claimed the then president referred to members at the Aisne-Marne cemetery in these terms during a November 2018 trip to France to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Trump has denied the reports.
"How dare he say that?" Biden said. "I call them patriots and heroes. The only loser I see is Donald Trump," he added, as the audience applauded.
caltrek wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 6:03 pm Haley Responds to $83 Million Trump Verdict: “I Absolutely Trust the Jury” by Inae Oh
January 28, 2024
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) After appearing to shrug off E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation lawsuits against Donald Trump, Nikki Haley is now suddenly paying attention.
On Sunday, the former South Carolina governor said that she “absolutely” trusted the jury’s decision last week to order Trump to pay $83.3 million for defaming Carroll after Carroll accused Trump of having raped her in 1996. Last year, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse but not for rape under New York state law. The federal judge hearing the case, however, has gone to great lengths to make clear the gravity of that verdict, writing:
The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was “raped” within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump “raped” her as many people commonly understand the word “rape.” Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.
“I absolutely trust the jury and I think that they made their decision based on the evidence,” Haley told NBC News’ Kristen Welker on Sunday, in response to the recent $83 million defamation verdict. However, Haley declined to say that the verdict should disqualify Trump from being her party’s presidential nominee, insisting that voters would eventually reject his ambitions to return to the White House.
The remarks—which follow a Friday tweet in which Haley said America “could do better” than nominating a man in constant legal peril—come as she sharpens her attacks against Trump. Those jabs include Haley questioning Trump’s mental competency and calling him “totally unhinged” during a recent appearance on Fox News.
caltrek’s comment: A lot have folks have criticized Haley for not going on the offensive much sooner. Yet, she is following a typical pattern: the closer it comes to votes actually being cast, the more the negative rhetoric is escalated. She is also now the recipient of a lot of Trump’s wrath, making her counter attacks more a matter of responding in kind. As she has said “If he starts telling lies about me, I will start telling the truth about him.” (Or something to that effect).
If Haiey believes in the jury then she needs to call Trump what he is...A rapist monster that needs to be kept away from any and all power.
how the hell is this liar, con man, narcissist man child still a feckin option for presidential election. How the hell are so many americans so feckin stupid as to desperately want him, after all the things he has been exposed for, after doing worse with the confidential documents he had than his election opposition was accused of and the outrage over which he rode to victory the last time. After he dismantled the pandemic preparedness plan because he was so insecure about anything with obamas name on it, and then used the pandemic as bargaining chips for political compliance from cities around the country, and lied to the population about it going away, and then pitched a fake cure that his son in law owned shares in the production of... while using tax payer money to pay for the secret service to stay at the resort he owned, enriching himself on public money.
If the country hadn't worked so damn hard to recover from his presidency, and was still on the precipice of the economic collapse, I'd say let the morons have it. let it crumble under their touch.
Why didn't Cornell West run for the nomination of the Democratic party? Why does he insist on siphoning votes needed to beet Trump away from the only candidate who stands a chance to do so?
If West had tried to secure the Democratic nomination, I would have seriously considered voting for him in the primary. I am truly not happy with Biden as the only choice (excluding two other very week alternatives). As it is, I will reluctantly stand by Biden as being demonstrably and dramatically better than Trump. Philosophical platitudes are nice, but somebody willing to make the hard decisions is better.
