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Tag: Allout

  • GOP goes all-out to avoid another Senate primary mess

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    All told, the NRSC under Daines has now endorsed four candidates, including Rep. Jim Banks in Indiana. It’s a strategy not seen since the GOP took the Senate from Democrats in 2014 after poor showings in 2010 and 2012. Even then, the party focused on ousting unelectable candidates, rather than officially boosting its preferred picks as Daines is this year.

    “It’s been a great decision on his part. Clearly, we need quality candidates to win, we learned that in ‘22, 2010, 2012. Steve’s doing a great job getting us the most electable nominees, because that’s the way you win in November,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview.

    Those tactics come at the expense of Senate hopefuls like Rep. Alex Mooney in West Virginia, Jim Marchant in Nevada and potential candidate Rep. Matt Rosendale in Montana — contenders who enjoy more support from the party’s conservative ranks. Leadership’s heavy hand is stirring consternation within that sizable wing of the party.

    Yet many in the GOP see it as a bet worth making. Because if Republicans don’t get it right this time, when they have one of their best maps in years, they may not have another chance to flip the Senate until 2028.

    “You can play to win or you can play not to piss people off — you can’t do both,” said Josh Holmes, an adviser to McConnell.

    The party brass’ most urgent task is keeping Rosendale out of a race against Sheehy in Montana, where the GOP fears that Rosendale would win a primary but suffer another general election loss to Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). Rosendale has told colleagues he plans to run and has attacked Sheehy for being backed by McConnell. Sheehy, meanwhile, already has endorsements from Gov. Greg Gianforte and Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) — as well as nine senators, including Daines.

    “After last cycle, there’s evidence that we’ve got to get the electable candidates on the field,” said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) on Monday afternoon. He’s backing Sheehy as well: “It would be nice if we could clear the field there.”

    Daines has also endorsed Trump’s presidential campaign to help preempt any disruptions to the intraparty playing field. And GOP leaders are intent on recruiting Dave McCormick for another run in Pennsylvania; Trump backed Mehmet Oz over McCormick in the 2022 primary. Oz won the primary but lost the general election.

    Already, Mooney is making hay of Justice’s strong Washington backing as the governor leads the primary handily in recent polls — even as his coal empire faces legal scrutiny. Mooney’s campaign manager, John Findlay, said that “Jim Justice is one of the all-time worst recruits by the GOP establishment.”

    In response, Justice’s campaign manager Roman Stauffer said the governor is achieving widespread buy-in from supporters in D.C. and West Virginia because they know he “is the strongest candidate to win the U.S. Senate race.”

    But not every senator in the conference is eager to see the NRSC pick favorites in crowded fields.

    “I wish they weren’t, but I’m not in charge,” said one Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly about party strategy. “Not everybody agrees” on which candidates are the most electable, this senator added.

    And Democrats say the aggressive GOP efforts will backfire come next November, dividing the GOP well into the summer of next year.

    “Across the Senate map, Republicans are brawling in vicious primaries and putting forward flawed candidates with disqualifying baggage. That’s a toxic combination that will lead their campaigns to defeat in 2024,” said David Bergstein, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

    In Wisconsin, the NRSC launched a concerted effort to woo Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), a telegenic military veteran, by commissioning polling and publicly touting his strengths as a candidate. But the congressmember ultimately passed on a run against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, sending recruiters back to the drawing board just as polarizing former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke began to taunt them with a potential bid of his own.

    He tweeted a Democratic poll of a possible Wisconsin Senate primary field that showed him leading by 20 points.

    Now, GOP recruiters are refocusing efforts on candidates with the resources to block Clarke and tie up Baldwin, who just reported raising $3.2 million last quarter. Eric Hovde, a wealthy businessman who lost a primary bid for the seat in 2012, is still seriously considering another run but does not have a timeline for a decision, according to a person familiar with his thinking.

    “We will continue working to recruit candidates who can win both a primary and a general election,” Daines said.

    In Nevada, the NRSC eagerly recruited Brown, a decorated Army veteran who survived an IED attack in Afghanistan, to take on Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen. Their interest in him became more urgent once other candidates moved toward running.

    One less establishment-friendly potential candidate, Jeffrey Gunter, had a controversial tenure as Trump’s ambassador to Iceland. And Marchant, a former state lawmaker who ran unsuccessfully for Nevada Secretary of State, is already in the race. A prominent member of a group of Trump supporters who baselessly deny the validity of the 2020 election, Marchant is readying for a primary brawl.

    “Jim Marchant has never lost a primary, outspent every time. Sam Brown has never won a primary despite his attempts in multiple states,” said Rory McShane, a spokesperson for Marchant’s campaign.

    It’s not yet clear how the party will handle Ohio, where Secretary of State Frank LaRose is looking at joining a field including state Sen. Matt Dolan and businessman Bernie Moreno. That state could be a free-for-all exception to the GOP’s approach, as it looks for a candidate to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

    There are more headaches in Arizona, where Kari Lake could mount another statewide bid. And in Michigan’s open seat, Republicans have yet to secure a top-tier candidate, although they hope to land NYSE vice chair John Tuttle as former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers also mulls a bid.

    Even with some questions still unanswered, there’s still a new sense of normalcy in the party’s upper ranks. Senate Republicans’ top super PAC is back on the same page with the campaign arm after a high-profile break in strategy last year.

    “Aggressively recruiting quality candidates is the only way Republicans will retake the Senate majority. Every one of these top-tier races will be very tough, and sub-par candidates only help Democrats,” said Senate Leadership Fund President Steven Law.

    Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.



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    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • ‘Doesn’t know what is Hindutva’: Uddhav Thackeray makes all-out attack on BJP

    ‘Doesn’t know what is Hindutva’: Uddhav Thackeray makes all-out attack on BJP

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    Jalgaon: In a strong, no-holds-barred attack, Shiv Sena-UBT President Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that ruling Bharatiya Janata Party “doesn’t know what is Hindutva”.

    “Hindutva is not a matter of selfishness, but a nationalist. The BJP doesn’t understand what Hindutva is. Their Hindutva is centred around cow and gomutra (cow-urine). Cow slaughter is banned in one state but not in others… This is their Hindutva,” said Thackeray, as the BJP fights the Karnataka elections on its pet-theme.

    Addressing a massive rally in Pachora, Jalgaon this evening, Thackeray denied the charge that he had left Hindutva, saying that after he took the oath as Chief Minister in November 2019, all religions were treated equally.

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    “I have gone with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)… I have not left Hindutva and will never leave it… show me one instance which made you feel that I had discarded Hindutva,” he asked.

    Targetting the BJP, he said that “crushing other people and parties” with the support of central investigating agencies or letting loose goons to attack women leaders of opposing political parties “is not our Hindutva”.

    “People ask me – is the BJP a challenge before us? I say the BJP is not a challenge. The real challenge before us is how shall we undo the damage that the BJP is inflicting on the country,” he asserted.

    He questioned “how is it possible that all corrupt people who join your party (BJP) suddenly become clean”, and said that the BJP hounds anybody opposing or daring them.

    Training guns on the Shiv Sena of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Thackeray said that “seeing this massive gathering, even Pakistan would have said which is the real Shiv Sena… only the Modi-appointed Election Commission of India (ECI) could not realise it”.

    “Some traitors and thieves (Shinde) believed that they are the Shiv Sena. ‘Arre hatt..!’ Look at this sea of humanity… Your throng will burn down soon… There were natural disasters and even coronavirus in Maharashtra which we tackled effectively, but now this government itself is a calamity for the state,” declared Thackeray amid loud cheers and applause.

    He reiterated that the BJP must declare now whether they going to fight the next elections under Shinde’s leadership, and if not then whether the reports are true, that all 48 Lok Sabha seats will be contested by only the BJP.

    “The stole the party, they took away the bow and arrow symbol and are trying to steal my father (the late Balasaheb Thackeray). Those who have nothing resort to thieving like this… First you (the voters) elected and put them on the horse, now they deserve to be yanked off their high horse,” thundered Thackeray.

    He lauded former Jammu & Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik’s statements on corruption and the Pulwama attacks and how he was asked to keep shut in the matter by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was in the Corbett National Park at that time.

    Thackeray also heaped praises on several “brave, mardana Shiv Sainiks” like Sanjay Raut, Rajan Salvi, Nitin Deshmukh and others for not succumbing to the BJP’s pressures through the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax or Central Bureau of Investigation and chose to remain with him, and even spent time in jail.

    The Sena-UBT chief threw the gauntlet at the ruling Shiv Sena saying he will be addressing more such rallies all over the state, plus joint public meetings of the MVA.

    “You can come with Modi and your stolen bow and arrow. I will confront you with my name… Hold the elections now… we are ready to fight and burn your throne with our flaming torch,” warned Thackeray.

    The mammoth rally which got underway around dusk was addressed by other leaders like Leader of Opposition in the Council Ambadas Danve, MP Arvind Sawant, Deputy Leader Sushma Andhare, Vaishali Patil and others.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • New York Republicans go to all-out war against Santos

    New York Republicans go to all-out war against Santos

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    But their public criticisms haven’t insulated them from daily questions about his record, particularly as Democrats look to tie them to him. Their frustration, simmering for two months as negative Santos headlines build up, is close to boiling over.

    “He is a bludgeoning tool the Democrats are using without regard for truth. They’re lying about us in relationship to him,” Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) said in an interview. “And he’s caused us every day to have to respond to his very existence in the House of Representatives, instead of giving 100 percent of our time to the important issues that Americans and the people who sent us to Washington care about.”

    “Every time that we’re having a conversation we seem to be talking about George Santos,” echoed Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.).

    The anti-Santos Republicans’ stand is a lonely one. Most others in their conference prefer to spurn Santos in more subtle ways that don’t call for forcing him out, which would tee up a special election in a battleground district that could chip at their four-vote majority. But New York’s newest House Republicans assumed war footing for a reason: Mere months after the Empire State gave the GOP its fattest gains of an otherwise lackluster midterms, they say Santos is making their own donors squeamish and their voters suspicious.

    “At a minimum, donors who gave to him want to spend time on the phone speaking about what’s the latest and how can we hold him accountable. And then others are scared off,” said first-term Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.).

    “I guess some of them are embarrassed that they are now associated with this scam,” LaLota added. “And they’re not so eager to pick up the phone when a politician is asking for their support again — because the last time they did it, their name lined up in a paper associated with probably the most terrible person in Long Island politics.”

    Santos, who’s now formally under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, has faced harsh scrutiny after revelations he lied about core components of his educational and professional background. In a Monday interview, he dismissed the idea that his problems might affect his colleagues.

    “I don’t believe it. I think that’s just platitudes. And they’re making stuff up as they go just to find excuses to do what they’re doing,” Santos said of his fellow New York Republicans’ attacks. “The reality is simple: I was never a part of the little boys’ club, and they hated me from the moment I got the nomination to the moment I got elected.”

    Adding to the House GOP’s woeful New York state of mind, House Democrats’ largest super PAC announced last month a $45 million program designed to claw back an advantage there next fall. The PAC is likely to spend part of that cash trying to link Santos to New York’s four most electorally vulnerable new House Republicans: Reps. Mike Lawler, Brandon Williams, D’Esposito and Molinaro.

    If that quartet is hoping Santos might embrace the standard practice for scandal-plagued members, avoiding the media and keeping his head down, they’re going to be disappointed.

    “They can’t control me,” Santos said of his fellow in-state Republicans. “So the party bosses stick their loyalists on me, and that’s what you’re seeing. And the problem is that the ones at the top of the mountain screaming for … righteousness and ethical morality are amongst some of the most corrupt people in politics.”

    After D’Esposito spearheaded a bill clearly aimed at Santos, designed to prevent members convicted of certain offenses from then profiting off their story in the form of book deals, paid speeches, or movie and TV contracts, the Long Islander pushed back on Twitter.

    “Coming from a man who lost his NYPD issued GUN while he was DJ’ing at a party! Then assaulted a 72 year old senior WOMEN,” Santos wrote last week about D’Esposito, before deleting his post. “You sir are the example of a bad cop who give cops a bad name. Spare me.”

    Santos appeared to be citing, in part, a New York Daily News report that found D’Esposito had been docked vacation days on two separate occasions, including once in 2015 for having his firearm stolen out of his vehicle and another time in 2007 after working as a DJ and serving alcohol “without authority or permission to do so.” Santos in his tweet conflated the two. Democrats also sought to use that story against D’Esposito during last year’s midterms.

    Asked if he saw any dramatic irony in the corruption allegations he shared, given his own record, Santos replied that he hasn’t been convicted of any offenses and has “never been punished or censured.” While he has admitted to lying about his education as well as other fabrications, Santos has danced around other questions about his past.

    What Santos has managed to do: generate more camaraderie among his fellow New York Republicans, particularly the first-term ones. LaLota quipped that that the group now operates like “NATO members” who make joint decisions.

    And Santos’ decision to punch back at D’Esposito sparked a fresh wave of backlash.

    “Anthony risked everything to serve the people of New York with honor and courage. He has more integrity in his pinky than George Santo has in his entire body,” Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.) said in a statement to POLITICO last week. “George disgraces the halls of Congress and is stain on the soul of our nation.”

    D’Esposito plans to hold a press conference about his anti-Santos bill on Tuesday morning.

    Meanwhile, as Santos vows to be “100 percent compliant, to clear my name” with the ethics committee, he’s also asking that “the same scrutiny” fall on his fellow Republicans — and clearly wants to use the media attention he’s getting to further that cause.

    But his GOP colleagues say that the more he talks, the bigger problems he generates.

    “He should focus on the investigations that are underway and at least show some remorse. And he’s not, and that is what is so troubling,” Molinaro said.

    As far as GOP leadership is concerned, New York infighting isn’t helping alleviate the constant headache that Santos has become.

    When House Republican leaders started whipping support in January to boot Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee, a key promise of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the four first-term New York Republicans warned leadership that if Democrats proposed an amendment that stripped Santos from his committees, they would support it — likely giving the idea enough votes to pass, according to a Republican with knowledge of the discussion, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about sensitive conversations.

    Santos and McCarthy ultimately resolved the issue in private, meeting the day before the Omar vote. Hours later, Santos informed his colleagues he’d be stepping down from his committees while he faced investigations, making the Omar vote an easier lift.

    The New York tumult only compounds a disappointing start to this Congress for the state’s Republicans, who’d hoped to celebrate their success in helping deliver the GOP majority from a blue stronghold. And it’s clear that they blame Santos for dimming their shine.

    Constituents “want answers to troubling questions about why he is still in Congress,” LaLota added. “They deserve those answers.”



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    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • ‘All-out revolution’: Proud Boy describes group’s desperation as Jan. 6 approached

    ‘All-out revolution’: Proud Boy describes group’s desperation as Jan. 6 approached

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    Now, the group’s leaders — Tarrio and Joe Biggs of Florida, Ethan Nordean of Seattle, Zachary Rehl of Philadelphia and Dominic Pezzola of New York — are facing the gravest charges to emerge from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

    “Everyone felt very desperate,” Bertino said of the group’s increasingly militant rhetoric as Jan. 6 neared, particularly after the Supreme Court declined to take up Trump’s actions. As for Tarrio, Bertino added, “His tones were calculated, cold but very determined that he felt the exact same way that I did.”

    Bertino didn’t travel to Washington on Jan. 6, in part because he was nursing a stab wound from a skirmish during a Dec. 12, 2020, visit to Washington to protest Trump’s defeat. But he remained in contact with the group on Jan. 6, including Tarrio, who had been released from jail and traveled to a Baltimore hotel. Prosecutors showed jurors Bertino’s excited messages, urging the Proud Boys to push farther into the Capitol and help disrupt the counting of electoral votes intended to certify Biden’s victory.

    “I thought I was watching history,” Bertino recalled. “I thought it was historical. I thought it was a revolution starting.”

    When one member of the group informed others that then-Vice President Mike Pence had resisted Trump’s entreaties to overturn the election on his own, Bertino assured them: “Don’t worry, boys. America’s taking care of it right now.”

    Bertino’s jubilance turned into fury after Trump told rioters to go home and law enforcement cleared the Capitol.

    “We failed,” he told other Proud Boys in various Telegram chats, after Congress had returned to continue certifying Biden’s victory. He lamented that the rioters caused mayhem simply to “take selfies in Pelosi’s office.”

    That sentiment continued into Jan. 7.

    “I’m done fellas,” Bertino said in a voice message to the group. “In case you couldn’t fucking tell. I’m done. I didn’t take a knife in the fucking — in the lungs to watch the power be given right the fuck back to these evil cocksuckers. We need fucking war. We need to take it back. And we need to fucking get these motherfuckers. Judge, jury, executioner, we need to fucking hang traitors.”

    “You ready to go full fash?” asked Proud Boy leader John Stewart in response, referring to fascism. Later, Stewart blamed the “normies” — the Proud Boys’ term for nonmembers who align with them — for having “stopped 25% of the way in.”

    “That building should still be occupied right now. They should have cops stuck inside that building … They decided to run around and take a bunch of fucking selfies. And, you know, steal some fucking memorabilia to prove that they were in there so that their conviction is assured.”

    Throughout Bertino’s testimony — his second day on the stand — Prosecutors homed in on messages sent among Bertino and other Proud Boys leaders discussing the prospect of violence on Jan. 6, and noted repeatedly that Tarrio and other defendants never pushed back or suggested violence wasn’t the goal.

    The entire trial — perhaps the most crucial to emerge from the Jan. 6 attack — may hinge on whether jurors believe Bertino’s testimony. He was in frequent contact with Tarrio and other group leaders in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 and provided context for the group’s lengthy chats.

    Defense attorneys have yet to cross-examine him, but they’re likely to press him on the contours of his plea deal with the government, as well as his voluminous testimony to the Jan. 6 select committee, which omitted many of the key details he described to the jury on Wednesday.

    For example, Bertino described in court — but not to the select committee — an extensive Telegram chat with Tarrio on Jan. 6, while both men were watching the riot unfold from afar. Bertino described a feeling of pride at seeing the Proud Boys help lead the way into the Capitol and a pang of jealousy for being absent.

    “I wanted to be there to witness what I believed was the next American revolution,” Bertino told jurors.

    Bertino also clarified an odd text to Tarrio that read “They need to get peloton.” It was an autocorrect for Pelosi, Bertino said.

    “She was the target, as far as the one who had been pushing the information [about the election],” Bertino recalled thinking. “She was the talking head of the opposition. And they needed to remove her from power.”

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    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )