Former President Trump on Tuesday tried to pump some energy into former Sen. David Perdue’s (R-GA) campaign amid the Trump endorsee’s poor performance in polls heading into the Georgia gubernatorial Republican primary race against incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (R).
Continue reading “Trump Reminds Everyone That He Supports Perdue As Ex-GOP Senator Tanks In Polls”Charges Filed In Gaetz-Linked Florida Ghost Candidate Scheme
Three Floridians were charged Tuesday in relation to an alleged 2020 scheme to run sham candidates in local elections, part of a convoluted plot with murky links to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Continue reading “Charges Filed In Gaetz-Linked Florida Ghost Candidate Scheme”GOP Tries To Shut Down McCormick’s Lawsuit Over Ballots In Razor-Thin Senate Race
The GOP really needs Pennsylvania Republican Senate hopeful David McCormick, who’s currently locked in a near dead heat with Trump-backed rival Dr. Mehmet Oz, to knock it off with the whole “count the mail-in ballots” thing and just stick to the damn script, please.
Continue reading “GOP Tries To Shut Down McCormick’s Lawsuit Over Ballots In Razor-Thin Senate Race”Looking Under the Hood of the Michigan Election Forgery Scandal
The practical impact of this signature forgery scandal in Michigan is that it may significantly reshape this year’s gubernatorial campaign in the state. One or both of the leading candidates to challenge incumbent Democrat Gretchen Whitmer may not even appear on the ballot. This may open a path to the nomination for Tudor Dixon, a down-the-line Trumper who just yesterday received the endorsement of the powerful DeVos family. She’s also been praised by Trump himself, though as yet Trump hasn’t endorsed anyone in the race. For whatever reason, she was the only GOP contender who submitted a petition list with very few forged signatures.
Continue reading “Looking Under the Hood of the Michigan Election Forgery Scandal”Perdue Concludes Anemic Campaign With Some Desperate Old-Fashioned Racism
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
The Final Sales Pitch
On the eve of Georgia’s primaries, GOP gubernatorial candidate and Trump stooge David Perdue–who looks like he’s about to get absolutely destroyed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R) in today’s election–accused Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who is Black, of “demeaning her own race” because she had said in 2018 that people (not Black people specifically, by the way) shouldn’t have to go into agriculture or hospitality to make a living in Georgia.
- Perdue also said yesterday that Abrams should “go back where she came from” (she’s been living in Georgia since high school). In fact, he said it twice (during an interview on a conservative radio show and during his final rally).
- We’re talking same guy who pretended he couldn’t pronounce fellow Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-CA) last name during his failed Senate reelection bid.
- Also, Trump didn’t bother showing up at Perdue’s final rally last night. Instead, he just called into the event as Perdue thanked the ex-president and told him, “You’re the best, boss.”
GOP Still Nailing Cawthorn’s Coffin
That popping sound you just heard was the sound of whatever hope Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC)/”Dark MAGA” warrior had that his primary defeat would mean the end of the scandal flood: The House Ethics Committee announced on Monday that it was opening a bipartisan investigation into the GOP lawmaker to determine whether he “improperly promoted a cryptocurrency in which he may have had an undisclosed financial interest” and had an “improper relationship” with a member of his staff.
- The cryptocurrency at the heart of the probe is likely the “Let’s Go Brandon” coin that Cawthorn promoted … as did Trump and his eldest son, Don Jr. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who was fighting tooth and nail to get Cawthorn booted from office, had called on the other chamber to investigate the fellow North Carolina Republican over the cryptocurrency venture.
- But hey, at least Cawthorn isn’t the only one who’s landed in trouble with the Ethics committee, which also announced on Monday that it was investigating Reps. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) and Alex Mooney (R-WV) over various alleged ethics violations.
Primaries To Watch Today
Lotta big primaries (or runoffs, in Texas’ case) happening today! Here’s what to keep on your radar in….
- Georgia:
- The GOP gubernatorial primary between Gov. Brian Kemp (R) v. Trump-backed Perdue.
- The GOP secretary of state primary with incumbent Brad Raffensperger (R) and three challengers, including 2020 election denier Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA).
- The GOP Senate primary for Sen. Raphael Warnock’s (D-GA) seat with ex-NFL star/Trump endorsee/evolution skeptic/snake oil salesman/election conspiracy theorist Herschel Walker.
- Alabama:
- Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) is vying for outgoing Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R-AL) seat after Trump ripped away his endorsement for not Big Lying hard enough.
- Texas:
- Incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is facing off against Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush. (Other things Paxton’s facing: an indictment on securities fraud charges, an FBI anti-corruption investigation and a lawsuit from the Texas State Bar.)
- Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), the last anti-choice Democrat left in the House, is facing off against progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros, who’s been endorsed by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).
- Arkansas:
- Ex-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is running for governor with her old boss’s blessing.
A Massive Forged Signature Scandal In Michigan
Not one, not two, but five GOP gubernatorial candidates in Michigan (including the two leading candidates) now face potential disqualification after the state’s Bureau of Elections uncovered a huge forgery scandal involving fraudulent signatures on the candidates’ petition sheets.
- There were at least 68,000 invalid signatures across nomination petitions for 10 candidates, the bureau reported on Monday.
- The five candidates fell short of the required number of signatures once the fraudulent ones were taken out.
How Russia’s Ukraine Attack Is Shriveling
The New York Times has this interactive map showing just how poorly Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is going for the Kremlin right now.
The Right-Wing Cesspit
Amid the firestorm over his repeated regurgitation of the racist “great replacement” theory that allegedly inspired the deadly Buffalo shooting, Fox News host Tucker Carlson went with the troll route on Monday night:
NY Dem Rep. To Be Sworn In As Lt. Guv. This Week
Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-NY) will be sworn in as New York lieutenant governor on Wednesday, replacing ex-Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin (D), who resigned in April after he was indicted on corruption charges.
- The special election to fill Delgado’s seat will be on Aug. 23, the same day New York will hold its primaries.
- Delgado is also running for lieutenant governor in the New York primaries as incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) running mate.
TERF Wars
Prominent trans-exclusionary feminists (TERFs) like podcaster Katie Herzog who’ve been helpfully fueling conservatives’ war on trans people are finding out the hard way that those conservatives aren’t the kindred spirits they thought they were:
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Leading GOP Candidates For Michigan Guv Could Be Disqualified Over Wave of Fraudulent Signatures
A signature forgery scandal has turned the race for the GOP nomination to be Michigan’s next governor on its head: Two leading Republican candidates did not collect enough signatures to qualify for the primary ballot after invalid signatures were excluded, according to a report from the state’s Bureau of Elections.
Continue reading “Leading GOP Candidates For Michigan Guv Could Be Disqualified Over Wave of Fraudulent Signatures”Where Things Stand: Post-Roe, Trans Issues May Be GOP’s Next Evangelical Energizing Vehicle
For weeks we’ve been watching Republicans squirm to find a messaging balance.
The party as a whole is attempting to walk a bizarre tightrope as leaders try to downplay Republicans’ unadulterated joy at the defeat of Roe, a social issue the GOP’s been using as a policy placeholder for decades, in the face of our evidence-backed reality: support for abortion access is at a record high among Americans across the political spectrum.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Post-Roe, Trans Issues May Be GOP’s Next Evangelical Energizing Vehicle”Cawthorn Now Faces House Ethics Probe Into Allegations That Angered GOP Colleagues
Troubles keep piling up for the freshly-primaried Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), even in the waning months of his short-lived congressional career.
Continue reading “Cawthorn Now Faces House Ethics Probe Into Allegations That Angered GOP Colleagues”TPM Associate Editor Nicole Lafond: 5 Books That Inspired Me To Become A Writer (Or Forced Me To Stick With It)
We’re asking our fellow TPMers to share their own personal reading recommendations: books they love or that have shaped their lives.
Comment below with some of your favorites! Also, you can always purchase any of the books by visiting our TPM Bookshop profile page.
Associate Editor Nicole Lafond is up this month. Check out her list of five books that inspired her to become a writer.
Being a writer generally sucks.
Continue reading “TPM Associate Editor Nicole Lafond: 5 Books That Inspired Me To Become A Writer (Or Forced Me To Stick With It)”What’s Up with Tesla?
As I’ve argued, I don’t think we should care that much about whether Elon Musk purchases Twitter. Having a mercurial scofflaw purchase the company should simply remind us that it’s a private company, not the 21st-century public square or anything like it. Social media companies have a deep interest in convincing us of these things and then luring the public into a faux corporatized speech jurisprudence in which they of course are always in charge. So while it seems increasingly unlikely that Musk’s purchase of Twitter will go through, let it burn is probably the best policy response. But as Musk has been all over the news and increasingly associating himself with the far-right, I’ve been increasingly interested in his main company, Tesla.
Continue reading “What’s Up with Tesla?”