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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1480538
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1480538
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As far as the cult’s putin love goes, when was the last time you heard a republican state that they love democracy?
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Election today NY snowstorm in progress, Whatever you do GOP, Do not vote early
Also Yea Florida
Florida Insurance Companies Plan Over 50 Percent Rate Rises (msn.com)
T wo private home insurance companies operating in Florida are proposing to raise their rates by over 50 percent, a move that could bring even higher premiums for homeowners in the state, who are already paying for the most expensive coverage in the entire country.
The two insurers are Castle Key—a subsidiary of Allstate—and Amica Mutual Insurance, which are trying to increase their rates by 53 percent or 54 percent, as reported by local broadcaster Bay News 9. Newsweek contacted Amica’s and Allstate’s media teams for comment by email on Tuesday morning, outside normal business hours.
If approved by regulators, the hikes could be disastrous for Floridians, who are paying $4,218 a year on average in home insurance costs, according to Insurance.com. The national average is $2,777. Others, including CNN and Fox 13, have reported Florida’s home premiums to be even higher, for an average of $6,000 a year.
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Rmoney ends up being one of the few to stand up to tfg. Maybe he can be forgiven for driving with a dog on the roof of his car.
In the secret lives of dog dept…this is neighborhood dog Chena. She’s a hitchhiking dog, who gets around town. Driving her home after a play date with our shi tzu…
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New RNC Chair Can’t Raise Money But Cheats Like A Trumper | Crooks and Liars
How Whatley is supposed to improve that situation isn’t quite clear. A former Senate staffer and energy lobbyist, he might be expected to have some contacts in his old industry, but those guys have already laid out the money for Trump. It’s not a coincidence that Trump says when he becomes dictator “on Day One,” he will declare, “Drill, baby, drill.”
Whatley may not give the party a cash infusion, but he does offer one thing that Trump finds irresistible: full support of the Big Lie.
By Mark Sumner — February 13, 2024
Ronna McDaniel’s position as chair of the Republican National Committee has been on life support for some time. The Republican Party took in only $87.2 million in donations during 2023, compared with $176.6 million in 2022, ending the year with a scant $8 million in the bank. That’s barely enough to run one 30-second Super Bowl ad, much less power Donald Trump through his 2024 election. It certainly won’t cover his legal bills.
Trump’s heavy-handed hints finally drove McDaniel to call it quits at the end of the Republicans’ no good, very bad day on Tuesday. That leaves the party with the top seat sitting empty at a time when primaries are already underway and the general election is rapidly approaching. This is not the best time for a round of musical chairs in the party hierarchy.
Trump reportedly has a new pick in mind. His choice is Michael Whatley, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and also head of “elections integrity” efforts at the RNC. Whatley has repeated many of the “Big Lie” top 10, including claiming that there was “massive fraud” around the county, even if Trump could produce no evidence.
And Whatley already has an election to inspect over possible issues of fraud: The election of Michael Whatley.
That Republicans are running way behind in 2023 could be related to how they canned their best fundraiser last year. Ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy raised more than $40 million for the RNC in the last election cycle. More than $20 million out of that anemic total for 2023 came from McCarthy. Now he’s not only been sidelined, he’s gone from the House.
The Associated Press reports that McCarthy spent years flying around the country, raising cash, and building political relationships. It wouldn’t be surprising to find that those brought into the fold by McCarthy were less excited about donating to a party that forced him into early retirement.
As Trump has made “MAGA” and “Republican” synonymous, he’s raked in massive donations. That doesn’t just include small-money donors, but industries like oil and gas that might have previously donated to the party rather than a single candidate. Trump and his PACs raised just under $200 million in the past year. That would be good … except that they spent $210 million.
In a year when more than $10 billion could be spent on campaigns, Republicans are off to a very slow start in gathering funds. Trump is hoovering up the cash, the party’s well is dry, and what other candidates are going to do is anyone’s guess.
How Whatley is supposed to improve that situation isn’t quite clear. A former Senate staffer and energy lobbyist, he might be expected to have some contacts in his old industry, but those guys have already laid out the money for Trump. It’s not a coincidence that Trump says when he becomes dictator “on Day One,” he will declare, “Drill, baby, drill.”
Whatley may not give the party a cash infusion, but he does offer one thing that Trump finds irresistible: full support of the Big Lie.
He repeated false claims that Republican observers in Michigan and Pennsylvania were shut out of polling stations. Whatley claimed there was widespread voter fraud in Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia. And he accused Democrats of going to court to overturn recounts—when all those recounts actually upheld Joe Biden’s victory. It was Trump who took the results to court.
Following Jan. 6, Whatley also made false claims that those arrested ”were not necessarily Republican voters” or Trump supporters.
Though Whatley complained about the possibility of the elections being settled in the courts in 2020, he had changed his mind a few months later, telling fellow Republicans that lawsuits (or at least threats of lawsuits) are the “key to fair elections.”
But it may have been something else that endeared Whatley to Trump. Because if you Google “Michael Whatley election fraud,” something more than his current role at the RNC pops up. That something is that Whatley himself cheated to win the top position in the North Carolina RNC.
Like many state parties, North Carolina Republicans elect their officers at a convention. To cast a vote at that convention, delegates have to be on the floor of the convention center when the vote is cast. But in 2023, Republicans built a mobile app allowing delegates to cast their votes electronically rather than dealing with paper ballots or a hand count. Whatley’s opponent for the state chairmanship says the use of the app “violated several rules blatantly.”
The three delegates suing Whatley claim that the app was built so that delegates not on the floor could still slip in a vote. And, taking Whatley’s advice, they launched a lawsuit last June saying that Whatley was not duly elected and shouldn’t be in the role.
All of this may make Whatley more valuable to Trump. McDaniel’s replacement may not know how to raise cash, but he knows how to cheat. In 2024, Trump may believe that’s more important.
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They don’t care about policy, the candidate’s temperament, propriety or suitability and their effects on the public They only want to win to be in charge.
Despite everything, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is backing Kari Lake ®.
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Jon Stewart was pretty awful. Disappointing that he’s a both siders fellow now. As for Haley and Trump, why is she not asking where Melania is? That’s the perfect secondary response.
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The NYTimes batted an eye.
So did the WaPo.
And commentators all over cable and the internet are batting their eyes.
Your title just isn’t true.
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I first heard TDFG bad mouth NATO in 2016 and immediately concluded that he’s a Russian agent.
Still haven’t changed my conclusion.
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Hasn’t he always been? That was my impression when he was a fixture.
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Everyone should be scared as hell. Anybody who cares about American leadership, anyone who cares about protecting democracy, anybody who wants to take on authoritarians around the world should be scared to death by the fact that Donald Trump is telling us that if he was reelected president, he would throw our NATO allies to Putin.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
The Media will not acknowledge the open betrayal and its deeply wounding effects. Don’t they get it?
Don’t they know there’s no return from this betrayal?
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I"m sure the Florida GOP will find a way to embrace socialism and socialize their state’s insurance costs nationally. And that no one in the media will bat an eye because Republicans “as everyone knows” are so good with money issues.
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2 of 3 wives were from Eastern Bloc countries, loves Putin, hates NATO. If this were a Democrat they couldn’t make it in US politics
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It’s almost as though Florida will no longer exist by the end of this century due to sea levels rising.
Mass migration of crackers out of Florida to places like Alabama and Mississippi to start in 5, 4, 3… (and if you don’t know who they’ll be displacing, you haven’t been paying attention).
It’s going to be an ugly century.
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We need Angry Biden at the state of the union. He needs to follow the word “Republicans” with “fascist,” “cheapskate,” “coward,” and “Neville Chamberlain.” Call them out as supporters of Putin’s rape of Ukraine. Then ask the third of Republicans who care about maintaining the post war order to make a damn choice already.
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Going to be?
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No Rand, they didn’t flip the bird to America, just you and Putin
Twitter/X ^ | Feb 12 | Sen. Rand Paul
@RandPaul On the Senate Floor I told the Ukraine-first Senators they should put the criminal migrant who assaulted the policeman and flipped off America on the cover of their terrible bill!
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Both-sides is the media business model.
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