Hassan Slams Bolduc For Repeatedly Boosting Big Lie

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Yeah, He Wasn’t Gonna Get Away With This One

During their debate last night, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) accused GOP rival and election denier Don Bolduc of fueling Trump’s election lies–and it’s unclear why he apparently thought he could avoid that charge after declaring in August that he stood by his claim that Trump won the 2020 election and that the GOP nominee was “not switching horses, baby.”

• Bolduc “has traveled around this state for over a year now, stoking the Big Lie that 2020 was stolen,” Hassan said.
• The Republican nominee still tried to sow doubt about election integrity via the ironclad “many-people-are-saying” argument during the debate, claiming that Granite Staters he’d met on the campaign trail told him they “can’t trust” the mail-in voting system and believe same-day voter registration “causes fraud” (it doesn’t).
• Bolduc also claimed without evidence that there were “school buses loaded with people” being taken to poll sites, a thing that he knows is happening because “that is what Granite Staters tell me.”

Murkowski Faces Off With Alaska GOP-Backed Rival

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) had a debate with MAGA challenger Kelly Tshibaka, who’s been endorsed by the Alaska Republican Party and Trump, and Democrat Pat Chesbro on Thursday night. Check out these highlights:

• The Associated Press: “Murkowski faces Tshibaka and Chesbro in Alaska Senate debate”
• The Hill: “Five takeaways from the Alaska Senate debate”

Gosar Attempting To Hold Peace Talks With Zelensky And Putin

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) sent a letter to the Ukrainian and Russian embassies in D.C. on Wednesday inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to Phoenix, Arizona to “​​engage in peace talks.”

• The Arizona Republican demanded “administrative and other support” from the U.N. to help him with his diplomat cosplay.
• Gosar also called himself a “non-combatant peace activist” in the letter. Last year, he posted an animated video of himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

Putin Says He’s Not Planning On Using Nuclear Weapons In Ukraine

In spite of the veiled threats the Kremlin’s made about potential nuclear strikes in its Ukraine invasion, Putin said during a conference in Moscow on Thursday that there’s “no point” politically nor militarily in using nuclear weapons. 

• But Putin also warned that the world is facing “the most dangerous” decade since the end of World War II.
• And Putin kept pushing his baseless claim that Ukraine was plotting a false flag operation to blow up a radioactive “dirty bomb” on its own soil and blame it on Russia. 

NY Post Blames Rogue Staffer For Racist, Violent Posts

Several hours after the New York Post’s Twitter account and website were suddenly flooded with horrific headlines and tweets on Thursday morning, the tabloid put out a statement saying an unnamed “employee” was responsible for the posts and has since been fired.

• The Post initially claimed it had been “hacked” and was “investigating the cause.” That claim is still up, for some reason.
• This is what got posted:

Elon Musk Now Officially Owns Twitter

Tesla CEO Elon Musk closed his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter on Thursday and immediately fired at least four of the social media giant’s top executives.

Must Read

“Kanye West Destroys Himself” – The Atlantic

“Hatred destroys the hater.” When it comes to anti-Semitism, the questionable cliché is sometimes literally true. That’s because societies that spend their time pursuing and persecuting Jewish bogeymen fail to address the real roots of their concerns, whether they are political, economic, or personal. In practice, this means that those who embrace the conspiratorial currents of anti-Semitism are frequently the authors of their own demise, flailing against phantoms instead of overcoming their challenges.

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