Fox News host Tucker Carlson acknowledged on Tuesday night that his show had made a factual error when it put up a chyron attributing allegedly swollen testicles to the wrong person in rap star Nicki Minaj’s orbit.
Newsom Romps, Elder Concedes: Going Trumpy In California Falls Way Short
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
A Flop For The GOP
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) fended off the GOP’s attempt to get him kicked out of office in a recall election that was called barely after the polls closed, and it wasn’t even close.
- Newsom’s victory was largely due to his emphasis on California Republicans’ attacks on COVID-19 safety measures and how his top GOP rival, radio host Larry Elder, was a far-right Republican who was out of step with staunchly blue California, per the Sacramento Bee’s analysis.
- In fact, the governor barely pointed to his own achievements in his fight against the recall, the L.A. Times notes.
- Gavin’s tactic of focusing on COVID-19 seems to have paid off:
Some preliminary exit poll findings — while specific numbers may shift as more data arrives, some clear stories emerging#CARecall voters still concerned about coronavirus, view vaccination as public health responsibility, and support requiring masks for students in schools
1/2 pic.twitter.com/6ZejdMNW2J
— Kabir Khanna (@kabir_here) September 14, 2021
- Elder seemed to give up his Trumpian attempt to sow doubt about the election results almost immediately on Tuesday night, telling his supporters, “Let’s be gracious in defeat.”
WATCH: Republican recall challenger Larry Elder said he and his base would be gracious in defeat, but vowed to "win the war" after losing the recall battle. https://t.co/EVSpqCki0O pic.twitter.com/tmbGrgzE5X
— NBC 7 San Diego (@nbcsandiego) September 15, 2021
- Elder doesn’t really get a cookie for not committing to his gambit to undermine American democracy. It’s just fascinating that he went through the trouble of promoting a form to “report” voter fraud, that Trump and the right-wing media worked to preemptively paint the election as “rigged,” only for the GOP candidate to actually concede despite refusing to commit to accepting the election results the day before:
“The leading Republican candidate would not commit to accepting the results of the election” pic.twitter.com/qyMGyqoKD8
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 13, 2021
Trump Loses His Mind Over Milley Bombshells
The ex-president railed against Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on Tuesday night after Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa revealed in their book that Milley had gone behind Trump’s back to circumvent a potential attack on China and got involved in the U.S.’s nuclear chain of command in the days following the Capitol insurrection.
- Trump attacked Milley as a “dumbass” and a “failed leader” in a deranged statement on Tuesday, asserting that “actions should be taken immediately against” the general.
- The ex-president also denied ever thinking about attacking China. “The people that fabricated the story are sick and demented, and the people who print it are just as bad,” he ranted.
- Read what military experts had to say about Milley’s actions in interviews with TPM reporter Josh Kovensky considering that the general is not part of the chain of command.
Dems Play Hardball In NY Redistricting
Even though New York will lose a House seat, New York Democrats, who enjoy supermajorities in both chambers of their state’s legislature, have an opportunity to wipe out five Republican House seats as they draw the new congressional district map.
- House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) could potentially be affected if Democrats target the more red areas in upstate New York, where her district lies.
Arizona Attorney General Sues Over Biden’s Vaccine Mandate
Mark Brnovich, Arizona’s Republican attorney general, is suing the Biden administration after the President put in a mandate ordering all workplaces with 100 or more employees to ensure the employees either get the COVID-19 vaccine or get tested weekly.
- Brnovich accused the administration of making an “unprecedented and unconstitutional power grab” with the mandate as he was announcing his lawsuit.
I promised Arizonans that we would not stand for the Biden Administration's egregious federal overreach on vaccine mandates.
Today, we have filed the first lawsuit in the nation against the unconstitutional mandates. Arizona will not tolerate this assault on our sovereignty. pic.twitter.com/1eHAUX8GYs
— Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) September 14, 2021
U.S. Poverty Fell In 2020 Thanks To COVID Aid
Poverty dropped to 9.1 percent last year after the federal government provided emergency relief for COVID-19.
- Compare that figure to 2019, when poverty was at 11.8 percent.
- Nearly 8.5 million people were rescued from poverty thanks to the stimulus checks.
Delete Your Account
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) posted–and has yet to delete–a fake article claiming that Biden ordered the Veteran Affairs department to withhold health benefits from veterans who hadn’t received the COVID-19 vaccine.
- “If true, this is insane!” the Republican tweeted.
- The website that published the article, Delaware Ohio News, literally says at the bottom of the page that “everything on this website is made up” and “Do not rely on anything said here.”
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Milley ‘Eroded’ Civilian Control Of Military With Trump-Era Crisis Actions
In the days after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley reportedly became “involved” in the country’s nuclear chain of command, and also assured his Chinese military counterpart that an attack from the U.S. was not forthcoming.
Continue reading “Milley ‘Eroded’ Civilian Control Of Military With Trump-Era Crisis Actions”
Where Things Stand: TPM EVENT STARTS AT 6 P.M. ET
Tonight, TPM is hosting a live virtual discussion on redistricting and the perhaps inevitable shift in House control post-midterms.
We’ve got an impressive lineup of panelist who will dig into, among other things:
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: TPM EVENT STARTS AT 6 P.M. ET”
The 5 Biggest Bombshells In The Woodward-Costa Book
The initial reports on the contents of the new book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa came trickling in this afternoon. Continue reading “The 5 Biggest Bombshells In The Woodward-Costa Book”
Did Milley Think Trump Would Go Berserk?
We’ve got another Bob Woodward book that has exclusives that read as a bit too good to check. This has always been the thing with Woodward. Since his access has always been purported to be unlike anyone else’s he can have scoops that really no one else can confirm. And … well, that’s okay, apparently. This new book is – interestingly – coauthored by Bob Costa, also of The Washington Post.
The big revelations, at least in the early accounts, are tied to the action of Joint Chiefs Chair, Mark Milley. Milley was apparently afraid China and the US might stumble into a war around the 2020 election, with exercises around Taiwan and increasingly belligerent statements from then-President Trump. To defuse tensions, Milley allegedly twice called his Chinese counterpart to assure him the US was not planning and would not attack China. He did this once just ahead of the election and then again just after the January 6th.
Fifth Conservative Anti-Vax Radio Host Dies Of COVID Within Six Weeks
Bob Enyart, a conservative Colorado radio host who called for a boycott of COVID-19 vaccines, has died from COVID-19 amid a grim pattern of anti-vaccine radio personalities ultimately succumbing to the virus.
Continue reading “Fifth Conservative Anti-Vax Radio Host Dies Of COVID Within Six Weeks”
Are We Going to Have a Vax Mandate Uprising?
I went a few rounds with TPM Reader EG over the last couple days over whether President Biden’s vaccine and test mandate will be the precipitating event leading to the breakdown of civil order in the US which now seems perpetually just around the bend. That’s not at all what I see coming. I’m all for the mandate. If anything I think Biden should be more aggressive. But I was curious that EG did see it unfolding this way.
In his view, the reports of an upstate New York hospital having to shutter its maternity ward because a group of health care workers had quit their jobs rather than be vaccinated is the leading edge of a coming wave. He sees hospitals having to reduce capacity just as COVID is filling ICUs in the fall. Then there are police, one of the least vaccinated of professions. He sees waves of police quitting their jobs, putting more pressure on efforts to tamp down on COVID-era crime surges and creating a pool of out of work LEOs ready to provide the muscle for future insurrections.
Continue reading “Are We Going to Have a Vax Mandate Uprising?”
Biden Warns Californians They’ll Get A ‘Trump Clone’ If Newsom Loses Recall: ‘It’s Not A Joke’
President Joe Biden had a stark warning for overwhelmingly blue California on the eve of the state’s gubernatorial recall election.
Larry Elder Campaign Touts Website Already Saying Newsom Won Via Voter Fraud
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Jumping The Gun Just A Tad
The campaign of Larry Elder, the hard-right radio host who’s been leading the pack of Republicans working to unseat California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in today’s recall election, is promoting a website that curiously already states the results of the election even though it, uh, hasn’t started yet!
- The campaign’s website has a “Stop Fraud” link leading to “StopCAfraud.com,” which has a petition that demands the California state legislature “investigate and ameliorate” the “twisted results” of the election.
- The linked website claims that unspecified “statistical analysis used to detect fraud in elections held in 3rd-world nations” have detected fraud “resulting in Governor Gavin Newsom being reinstated as governor.”
- On the linked website site is a disclaimer that it was paid for by the “Larry Elder Ballot Measure Committee Recall Newsom,” and indicates that group received major funding from … wait for it … the Elder campaign.
- What’s incredible is that the site is still up even after the Elder campaign was asked about it by news outlets. Elder spokesperson Ying Ma acknowledged in a statement that the campaign has “provided a link to an outside website that is providing an avenue for voters to document irregularities they encounter in this election” but “we believe that Larry will win.”
- Elder refused to commit to accepting today’s election results yesterday, saying instead that “we all need to be looking at election integrity”:
“The leading Republican candidate would not commit to accepting the results of the election” pic.twitter.com/qyMGyqoKD8
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 13, 2021
- Trump also put out a rant baselessly claiming (again) that the recall election is “rigged” and that the mail-in ballots “will make this just another giant Election Scam.”
- Biden warned Californians that Elder was “the closest thing to a Trump clone that I have ever seen” during his stump speech for Newsom yesterday in Long Beach, California.
Capitol Police Prep For Potential Violence At The Insurrectionist Cheerleading Rally
The U.S Capitol Police is “aware” of “concerning online chatter” about the upcoming rally in support of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists this Saturday, the agency said yesterday.
- Fencing will be reinstalled around the Capitol building ahead of the “Justice for J6” rally, according to the USCP’s press release.
- USCP Chief Tom Manger warned that his department “will enforce the law and not tolerate violence.” “I urge anyone who is thinking about causing trouble to stay home,” he said.
- The USCP has been holding “planning meetings” for the rally throughout the last month, the department said.
In Case You Missed It
The House Jan. 6 select committee included ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in its record preservation request to telecommunications companies, according to the Guardian.
Senate Democrats Come To An Agreement On Voting Rights
Democratic senators involved in crafting voting rights reform, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), have settled on a deal on the legislation, Senate Rules Committee chair Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced.
- Of course, that hardly matters unless Democrats can get 10 Republicans on board with it (unlikely) or conservative Democrats like Manchin agree to get rid of or at least reform the filibuster to pass the legislation.
An Eyebrow-Raising Pattern Lurking Behind The Critical Race Theory Hysteria
Many of the school districts dealing with outrage over what conservatives have claimed to be “critical race theory” have seen major increases in diversity in recent years, an NBC News analysis found.
A Congressional Hearing Gets Spicy And Sort Of Weird
During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing with Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday, Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA) swiped at Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) – aka the infamous “you lie!” heckler at Obama’s 2009 State of the Union address – after the Republican falsely claimed Biden was allowing “identified terrorists” to enter the country at the southern border.
- A chilly Connolly told Wilson after the GOP lawmaker yielded the floor: “If I were the member of Congress who committed one of the most grievous acts in a State of the Union address, when the President of the United States, Mr. Obama, was our guest, to shout out ‘you lie,’ I might take more care about enumerating other alleged lies in a hearing with the Secretary of State.”
Connelly responds to Wilson by bringing up his “you lie” outburst from Obama’s SOTU address pic.twitter.com/0mNa74ROOz
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 13, 2021
Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ) somberly asked Blinken about Taliban rule in Afghanistan while sitting inside a bedroom closet:
Tucker Carlson Discusses Nicki Minaj’s Cousin’s Friend’s Large Testicles
Fox News host Tucker Carlson flagged rapper Nicki Minaj’s, uh, “warning” against taking the COVID-19 vaccine that claimed her cousin’s friend’s “testicles became swollen” after getting the shot and had to call off his wedding as a result.
- “Big reaction to this,” Carlson said solemnly. “We’ll report on that tomorrow.”
Bet you thought I was kidding, didn’t you?
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