Matt Laslo

Based on Capitol Hill, Matt Laslo has been covering campaigns and every aspect of federal policy since 2006. In addition to his reporting for Raw Story, Matt has been a contributor at WIRED, VICE News, VICE News Tonight, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. He also contributes reports to NPR and more than 40 of its affiliates and numerous other publications, including The Atlantic and Billboard. He also has the The LCB — or Laslo Congressional Bureau — a Washington-based wire service. Since 2009, he’s sat on the board at the Regional Reporters Association, and in 2011, he graduated cum laude from The Johns Hopkins University MA in Government and Public Policy program. He now teaches there as an adjunct political communications professor, as well as teaching communications and/or journalism at George Washington University, Boston University and the University of Maryland.

Republicans play dumb over Jared Kushner while decrying Bob Menendez corruption

MILWAUKEE — Senate Republicans gathered at the Republican National Convention are predictably pressuring Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to resign his office after a federal jury found him guilty on 16 counts, including accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and acting as a foreign agent.

But those same Senate Republicans shrug off concerns about Jared Kushner — President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a former senior adviser — who many Democrats accuse of corruption involving his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, and its $2 billion business deal with the Saudi crown prince.

Kushner, unlike Menendez, has not been criminally charged and maintains he’s done nothing wrong.

“I agree with [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer that Menendez should resign,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Raw Story from the Fiserv Forum, where the Republican National Convention is being conducted. “And I’ve stayed quiet on this case up until this point, but now that the jury has returned a verdict — a jury of his peers have found him guilty of blatant bribery. The facts are appalling and I think Chuck Schumer is right that it’s time for him to resign.”

ALSO READ: Associated Press issues warning about iconic Trump assassination attempt photo

“Some people say that Kushner’s corrupt too — with his $2 billion Saudi fund — what do you make of that?” Raw Story pressed.

Cruz’s face soured before he turned around and was swept away by his entourage, including three big, elbow throwing security guards.

Menendez has “gotta leave,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told Raw Story after addressing delegates at the Republican National Convention Tuesday.

Former lawmakers using 'slush funds' to lobby members of Congress for foreign nations U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, seen here in 2015. (AFP)

“Do you think the Senate should vote on booting him?” Raw Story asked.

“The best thing for him is to go ahead and leave,” Scott said.

“When it comes to corruption, do you remember the charges against Jared Kushner getting $2 billion from the Saudis for his fund?” Raw Story asked. “What do you make of those charges?”

“I don’t know much about it,” Scott said. “No, you know, it’s my understanding that for a lot of people these sovereign funds invest in a lot of different things. I don’t know enough about it.”

On the convention floor, the cheerful, celebratory mood of Republicans changed whenever Menedez was mentioned.

“At this point he’s a convicted felon,” Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) told Raw Story. “My message has been, let’s wait and see what happens, which I think is perfectly right. And now that he’s been convicted, I think he should go.”

For senators, the Menendez matter is personal. When one senator is found with gold bars and a free Mercedes-Benz, voters might suspect that other senators in the “world’s greatest deliberative body” are on the take, too.

Menendez has “gotten himself in this position. It’s sad for him and his family. It’s also sad for the institution,” Boozman said. “And that reflects on all of us and, so many people, that’s the view that they have of us. One of the big problems of governing this country is that Americans have lost faith in their institutions, and so this is just another blow to that.”

“What do you think, cause when it comes to corruption, some people point to Jared Kushner and that family thing — the $2 billion from the Saudis?” Raw Story pressed.

“I don’t know anything about that,” Boozman said. “I think just apples and oranges.”

Meanwhile, the matter of Trump’s own legal issues — particularly a Manhattan jury finding him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in service of keeping former porn actress Stormy Daniels quiet about a sexual affair before the 2016 election — are almost never mentioned here in Milwaukee.

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in September. Far from asking Trump to step down from the Republican ticket, almost all Republican leaders have decried the Trump verdict as a miscarriage of justice and maintain Trump is innocent, particularly in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.

Eerie assassination reference greets delegates picking up RNC credentials

MILWAUKEE — Assassination was in the air at the Republican National Convention, even before news of another possible Donald Trump assassination plot — this one hatched in Iran — broke Tuesday.

“Fight, fight, fight,” delegates chanted as former President Donald Trump greeted attendees Monday evening after surviving a would-be assassin's bullet at a campaign event Saturday in Pennsylvania.

But Trump is not the first populist former president to defy death before leaving an indelible mark on this Midwestern city. Historical plaques reminded convention-goers of a dramatic event from more than a century ago as they picked up their credentials at the Milwaukee Hyatt Place Downtown — just a nine-minute stroll from the Fiserv Forum, where the convention is being conducted.

Back in 1912, outside the hotel, a mentally unstable saloonkeeper shot former President Teddy Roosevelt when he was seeking a third presidential term in the newly formed — and short lived — Bull Moose Party.

The .32 caliber bullet ripped into Roosevelt’s chest. But Roosevelt didn’t yield. With the slug still in him, Roosevelt greeted a room full of politicos on the 3rd floor of the hotel, even pulling out and showing the crowd the bloody copy of his speech that helped save his life by slowing the bullet down.

“You see, it takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose,” Roosevelt told attendees.

That 1912 assassination attempt is an integral part of Milwaukee’s history.

“Yes. Yes. Absolutely,” Gerald Randall, 70, a Wisconsin delegate and member of Milwaukee’s Spectacle Club for businessmen, told Raw Story. “I participate every year in a commemoration dinner for Teddy Roosevelt, and we talk about the story of how he came and was shot and continued to give a 90-minute speech after he announces to the audience that, you know, ‘I've been shot, so I'll have to cut my remarks short.’”

Milwaukee is adding a new chapter to its political history this week, and parallels are being drawn between Roosevelt and Trump.

Both are New Yorkers, populists and one-time presidents.

Roosevelt was a trust buster who took on the monopolies of his day, which is reminiscent of how Trump — and his new vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) — have advocated for the break up of some of Silicon Valley’s largest tech behemoths.

But Roosevelt was a progressive former “Rough Rider” who fearlessly stormed Cuba and engaged in strenuous pastimes throughout his life. Trump infamously avoided serving in the Vietnam War after getting a “bone spur” diagnosis and mostly sticks to golf.

While Trump is bombastic, he never struck Randall as tough — until Trump thrust his clenched fist in the air as blood dripped onto his flushed face.

“Not until this past weekend. This past weekend I think the parallels were there, but prior to that, you know, a populist? Yes. A populist with grit? Now. And all of the images that have been flashed so far, they reflect that. I didn't think so until this weekend,” Randall said.

“National security — ‘speak softly, but carry a big stick’ —- today, what's our place in the world in terms of leadership and making the world safer?’” he added.

“Some people say Trump speaks loudly and carries a big stick,” Raw Story pressed.

“Yeah,” Randall said. “Maybe that's the new doctrine.”

With the addition of Vance on the ticket — who Randall calls “full blown MAGA” — the GOP is presenting itself as a more populist party heading into November.

Even as the progressive wing of the Democratic Party refuses to surrender the title of populism to the GOP, Randall says Democrats like President Joe Biden are failing to define today’s GOP.

“They’ve attempted to make MAGA a bad word, and honestly, it hasn't been a successful effort on their part,” Randall said. “If anything, you know, two things may have galvanized Trump's supporters: that debate and the incident over the weekend.”

Exclusive: Failed VP pick Rubio and angsty GOPers nervous Trump will mess up convention

Editor's note: Marco Rubio has been taken out of the running as Trump's VP pick, per news reports.

MILWAUKEE — Even before the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Republicans gathering here this week at the Republican National Convention were bullish about the party’s chances in November.

Outwardly, at least.

Dig a little deeper and many Republicans are nervous.

At least one of Trump’s potential vice presidential picks is publicly praying for a boring convention here in Milwaukee, particularly amid Democratic infighting over whether President Joe Biden should quit the race and yield to Vice President Kamala Harris — or someone else.

“With the other party being dysfunctional, that’s probably the ideal convention,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told Raw Story after voting Thursday at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

ALSO READ: Rumors swirl as 'three black trucks with U.S. government plates' show up at J.D. Vance house

The thinking is, if recent polls are correct, it’s the GOP’s presidential election to lose. And now, after the shooting in Pennsylvania, many are saying images of his defiant clenched fist and sacrificially blood-stained face all but guarantee a Trump win in November.

But there’s an X factor: Trump himself. The populist appeal of the former president comes coupled with his unpolished political style, marked more by bluster and bombast than bringing people together.

“Some people say Trump's a little dysfunctional sometimes — what do you think he needs to do?” Raw Story asked Rubio.

“That’s not been my experience. He just doesn't work like other people around here,” Rubio said. “He comes from a background in real estate and business, and it's just a different language. And so it may seem alien to people around here, but I watched firsthand how it works, certainly, on the world stage.”

Ahead of Saturday’s attempted assassination attempt of Trump, Raw Story asked 10 congressional Republicans what they were hoping to get out of this week’s convention.

The consensus: Don’t mess this up.

“The platform pretty well lays out what we need to do in general enough terms that where there are slight disagreements you can smooth the corners of that,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story.

ALSO READ: Donald Trump starts fundraising off his own assassination attempt

With Trump’s base fired up and all in, the lingering question is whether Trump and the GOP can broaden their tent and appeal to Independents.

“Do you think Trump needs to focus more on the middle?” Raw Story asked Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), another lawmaker mentioned for vice presidential consideration.

“He's already doing that,” Donalds told Raw Story on the Capitol steps.

Donald Trump and Byron Donalds Former U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Iowa Pork Producers Tent with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 12, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“In what ways?”

“He's focusing on everybody,” Donalds said. "You know, his entire view is bringing common sense policy to the country. Focusing on issues, whether it's securing our border or getting our economy rolling again, that's what everybody wants. He's already there.”

Other Republicans wonder where Donalds gets his news, because they know how alienating Trump can be to many Americans. That’s why many are praying for an unexciting gathering of the party faithful.

“Stability. Simple message. Lack of drama,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told Raw Story. “You know people want stability. They're tired of chaos and the loud noises on both sides. So if our side and President Trump can communicate stability and a moderating theme, that's what we want. Let these other guys blow it.”

In a presidential contest that’s projected to be razor thin, Bacon’s Omaha, Neb., district is especially important this cycle because the state — along with Maine — are not winner-take-all states for the purpose of the Electoral College. Nebraska awards two statewide electoral college votes, then three based on how each of the state’s three congressional districts vote in November.

Bottom line: Biden and Trump could split Nebraska’s electoral votes.

“I always try to recommend it, at the least in our area in Omaha, the Midwest — we're called Nebraska nice for a reason,” Bacon said. “I just say in our district, people want governance, conservative governance but decency. And that's what we want to communicate.”

But Bacon has gotten pushback from team Trump for calling for calm before. But “stability” and turning down the volume on “chaos” are notions that team Trump have rejected in the past.

“I remember saying that during his administration, and [Trump’s] chief of staff told me to shut up,” Bacon said.

While Bacon wouldn’t say which Trump chief of staff told him off, Bacon said it was pre-Mark Meadows, who was Trump’s fourth and final chief — coming after Reince Priebus, John Kelly and Mick Mulvaney.

Much as powerful people in Trump’s orbit may want him to “shut up,” Bacon’s calling for calm, once again.

“Let the other side implode. Nobody can deny what they saw [in the first debate],” Bacon said, referring to Biden’s disastrous performance. “I still think it's gonna be a tough fight.”

Tough fight indeed, but at least one more Republican is already praising Trump for forcing the entire Republican Party — on paper, at the least — to take a symbolic step toward the middle. That came when Trump effectively overruled the party’s previous calls for a nationwide abortion ban.

“I've got a lot to say about that,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Raw Story on the Capitol steps. “I mean, I think I've been pretty vocal about going after independent voters, suburban women, and I’ve tried to be a really strong voice for the party but he's doing a remarkable job on his own. He put IVF and birth control and contraception into the Republican Party platform for the first time ever in history.”

While Democrats remain dubious after Trump’s three additions to the Supreme Court played decisive roles in overturning Roe v. Wade, Mace is cheering because Trump, who once declared himself the most “pro-life president ever,” did not go nearly as far on abortion as the GOP’s loud and powerful evangelical members wanted.

“He's doing things no one has ever done. It's pretty remarkable,” Mace said as her face lit up with a tangible smile. “This wouldn't be done under anybody else. Like, he's literally doing things that I think will really appeal to suburban women.”

Like most Republicans, Mace is quick to pivot away from talk of her party’s platform and attempt to keep the conversation focused on Biden’s woes.

“It's gonna be a hard fight for the middle, for sure,” Mace said. “But, I mean, Biden’s the best gift to the Republican Party right now.”

Nancy Mace Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

It’s not just the independent middle — Trump still has moderate Republicans to win over, particularly in critical swing states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Team Trump seems to be realizing that. After initially seeming to dis her at this year’s convention, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who was racking up double-digit percentages in GOP primaries even after it was clear Trump locked up the nomination —- is now slated to address this Trump-centric convention hall.

“He’s gonna need all support. It's not gonna be an easy election,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story.

While Haley is not on Trump’s short list for vice president, Norman is holding out hope he taps her as his VP.

“Look, everything is fluid now. I hope he picks her for VP,” Norman said. “Who beat 12 other candidates? Who attracts young, old, female? Nikki Haley.”

Norman knows that’s a long shot whim, because he knows Trump hates sharing the spotlight, which is something Haley proved herself good at capturing, even in a losing primary cause.

That’s why respected Republicans keep reminding team Trump — and the former president himself — to stay focused.

“You keep it simple,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told Raw Story. “Focus on the massive failures and immigration and border security, inflation, etcetera. And it's not rocket science, per se.”

Simple is one thing. Appealing to the middle — especially when you’re Donald Trump — is an entirely different thing altogether.

The tension in the GOP is undeniable (just ask former Speaker Kevin McCarthy if you have any doubts), which is why many Republicans are urging their party’s standard bearer to focus on anything but divisions this week in Milwaukee.

“The more we can communicate civility and no chaos, the better,” Bacon, of Omaha, told Raw Story. “Americans are tired. We're tired of all that noise out there.”

And even though Rubio would prefer a tranquil convention, he’s 100 percent behind his former nemesis — remember “little Marco”? — during a week when Trump could very well team with Rubio on the Republican ticket.

“This is a two-choice election,” Rubio said. “The choice is pretty clear.”

'Going to be like The Purge tonight': Milwaukee reacts to Trump shooting

MILWAUKEE — In the hour after former President Donald Trump was apparently struck in the ear with a projectile at a rally in Pennsylvania, people preparing for the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin met the news with a mixture of shock, bewilderment and vigilance.

Michelle Altherr, a Republican National Convention delegate from Arizona, stood outside Fiserv Forum and raged: “When you think about it, you’re like, no, this just ramped up to another level. If you thought we were MAGA and extreme before, we went to another level now. When you see on the video Trump is mouthing 'fight, fight' — oh, no, he didn’t have to say it. We’re at another level.”

“Get ready, it’s going to be like 'The Purge' tonight,” a late 20-to-early-30-year-old server said as the former journalism student exited the bar and raised a loosely clenched fist.

A woman in Milwaukee stands in silence as she watches coverage of the shooting at a Trump rally. (Matt Laslo / Raw Story)

“They didn’t have an excuse,” the local server said. “Now they do.”

Trump is scheduled to be in Milwaukee this week to name his vice presidential running mate and formally accept the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Milwaukee is — and has been — braced for violence ahead of the Republican National Convention.

“Oh, Trump just got shot here?” a local in a summer sleeveless tee and jean shorts asked.

“No,” a bartender in the empty bar chimed in. “Pennsylvania.”

“Oh,” she said as she took her complimentary ice water to go.

Another woman — possibly a local, rocking lots of country club Republican red — inquired.

“Oh, that was Pennsylvania?” she replied, never looking at the bartender as her eyes stayed transfixed to the screen. “WOW.”

“Trump got shot in the ear. They don’t think it’s bad. But f—. I don’t know. This is still bad,” a young man in a blue sportcoat yelled into his phone as he hustled down 2nd Street near the Fiserv Forum, where the GOP convention is being conducted.

The streets in downtown Milwaukee were lightly populated on Saturday when news of the shooting took place. Full security protocols and street shutdowns near convention venues aren’t set to go into effect until Sunday, with the convention itself beginning Monday.

But near the Fiserv Forum, along Kilbourn Avenue, 20 police officers patrolled up and down on bicycles at one point. Several cruisers, with lights on and sirens off, slowly rolled down perimeter roads.

A large, unmarked helicopter circled low overhead with two people, on tethers, hanging out the open side door.

In the restaurants along King Drive, TV screens flipped to Fox News and CNN, and patrons watched on loop the scene where Trump apparently was hit in the ear with a projectile, his face streaked with blood as seen in an Associated Press close-up photo.

Secret Service tend to Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump onstage at a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Angie Prowell from Kentucky had just come from a boat ride and was walking toward Fiserv Forum to take a picture.

“My daughter screamed, 'Oh my God, Trump just got shot,'" Prowell said. “My stomach hurt. My next reaction was, 'I’m not shocked. I expected this.' That’s what I expect from my country anymore. It’s sad. That’s what we’ve become.”

Coleman O’Donovan of Lake Forest, Ill. and Jeanine Sweeney of Milwaukee, said they were walking in a plaza outside Fiserv Forum when they heard the news.

“We were just talking about where the security snipers would be,” O’Donovan said.

They got updates on Trump’s situation in the most direct of ways — by standing near where ABC’s Jonathan Karl was reporting in the plaza.

“It’s horrifying,” Sweeney said. “It was terrifying. It should be a happy time — democracy in action. People need to take a breath. This is just crazy.”

Altherr, the Arizona delegate, compared the presumed attempted assassination of Trump to the "shot heard ‘round the world."

"The enemy has just overplayed his hand because it’s just taking a whole lot more people to another level," Altherr said. "Now is not the time to be cowering and being afraid and ashamed to say that you support President Trump."

Altherr encouraged Trump supporters to start "taking to the streets."

"We are the majority. Start coming out of the closet and start supporting President Trump. He’s willing to put his life on the line. You better start putting your ego on the line for him," Altherr said.

Levinthal · Dave Levinthal of Raw Story on ABC Radio

Trump's campaign issued a brief statement Saturday afternoon saying Trump, who was observed with blood on his face and, is “fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility. More details will follow."

Later Saturday evening, the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee issued a joint statement saying: President Trump looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47th President of the United States. As our party's nominee, President Trump will continue to share his vision to Make America Great Again."

Said MKE 2024 Host Committee Chairman Reince Priebus: "Guests have already begun to arrive in Wisconsin, and we look forward to working with the Republican National Committee to welcome everyone to Milwaukee this week."

AOC slams Democratic colleagues for self-made problem much bigger than Biden's age

WASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) says congressional Democrats’ public complaints about President Joe Biden’s age have become a bigger problem for the party than the age itself.

“I think that the way that our party conducts itself in public contributes just as much to our political challenges as any facts on the ground,” Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story on her way to vote at the Capitol Thursday. “And so, to me, that is something that I encourage my colleagues to think about, because these things don't happen out of thin air.”

Instead, Ocasio-Cortez said, the party needs to focus on recent sweeping Supreme Court decisions, especially former President Donald Trump’s immunity case.

“The Supreme Court just issued rulings recently that have transformed the legal landscape in this country, and set the stage to, basically, crown Donald Trump the king,” Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive phenom who’s amassed a larger social media following than her party’s congressional leaders, said.

On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez introduced articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. While that move is expected to go nowhere in the GOP-controlled lower chamber, Ocasio-Cortez argues it should be the focus of the Democratic Party right now.

“That has created — it is a horrific and destabilizing development — that has also created a window for us, and instead that is being used and that window is being forfeited in a disorganized public response,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

The third-term progressive says Biden and his administration continue failing the far left, but added any issue she has with Biden's demerits have nothing on Trump’s desire for unfettered power.

“I think it is completely legitimate for a progressive person, a young person, etc. to have objections, reservations, concerns about President Biden,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “What I'm focused on, truly — and ... I also think a lot of progressive and young people are — is that many of us are prepared to join a Popular Front strategy in order to defeat the fascist threat that is Donald Trump.”

Ocasio-Cortez argues now is no time for party — or progressive — purity.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’ has a ‘target list’ of 350 people he wants arrested

“It doesn't mean that we approve of the president's policy in Gaza. It doesn't mean that we've approved of any number or any one of the decisions, even if we find them completely and morally objectionable,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “What we also see is putting that choice in the context of the larger threat that Donald Trump is to American democracy.”

While Ocasio-Cortez prides herself in pushing the party, including President Biden, further to the left on measures like the Green New Deal, she says November’s election needs to stay focused on the presidency, not perfection.

“So I think, really, it's a question of scale. I think as a progressive, there are moments we’re on the offense and there are moments where we have to mitigate challenging times,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And I think my strategy has always been being as honest with people as possible. I'm not here to delude anyone or anything like that. What I am here to say is we got to work with what we're working with.”

That’s why Ocasio-Cortez is cautioning calm in her party’s ranks in the wake of Biden’s disastrous first presidential debate this cycle.

“It's not to delegitimize anyone’s stances on this current situation or moment,” Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story. “But how we express that and how we conduct ourselves in turbulent times is a big part of what determines our strength.”

'Extremely painful': Republicans blast Kevin McCarthy’s 'pathetic' revenge tour

WASHINGTON — Kevin McCarthy’s 2024 revenge tour is far from over.

Next stop: Arizona, where McCarthy, the former House speaker, hopes to exact 10 pounds of flesh from one of the eight Republicans who orchestrated his inglorious ouster last year.

That fellow GOPer is first-term Rep. Eli Crane, a retired Navy SEAL who currently holds Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District.

ALSO READ: How The Onion’s founding editor finds humor in the dismal age of Trump

Crane confirmed to Raw Story that McCarthy is gunning for him. But he says he’s ready for the onslaught of politics as usual from the Californian who’s come to represent the worst of the Washington establishment to many MAGA-minded conservatives.

“The Kevin revenge tour is pretty pathetic, but at the end of the day, I expect it and I'm not gonna cry about it. I'm just gonna beat the s— out of whatever he sends after me. And that’s what I’m doing,” Crane told Raw Story.

McCarthy’s got a list and is checking it once

Crane pursued McCarthy’s ouster because he and his seven other insurgents didn’t like the way McCarthy was running the House. They took particular exception to McCarthy’s passage of continuing resolutions — or CRs — to fund the government at previous years’ levels, as opposed to going to the mats fighting Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden for smaller government.

While he’s got a fight on his hands, Crane was ready for it when he took on the GOP status quo as embodied by McCarthy.

“A lot of you were sent here with a mandate to shake up that status quo?” Raw Story inquired.

“Damn straight. It's why I've had, you know, a primary challenger handpicked to get rid of me,” Crane said.

Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona speaks U.S. Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) speaks alongside fellow Freedom Caucus members during a press conference on the government funding bill at the U.S. Capitol on March 22, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

A McCarthy-backed challenger has almost become a badge of courage for Crane, especially on the stump when he’s highlighting his differences with his opponent, former Yavapai County Supervisor Jack Smith — and the centrist Republicans funding the intramural challenge.

“It's unfortunate. But what I say to people is, if you come to this place and you just say, ‘I’m gonna shake this place up,’ it's only a matter of time before the machine comes after you,” Crane said. “The strength at which they come after you, I think, you know, depends on many different things. But at the end of the day, I don't take it personally. It's just how it works.”

McCarthy has been sending a lot of targeted ill will in many directions this primary season.

ALSO READ: How to survive Supreme Court stupidity without losing your mind

While the former speaker and the super PACs that do his bidding have mostly missed their marks thus far, they also seem bullish after claiming a big victory against Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good (R-VA).

Virginia’s elections board last week certified the Republican primary victory of state Sen. John McGuire over Good. But Good has demanded a recount, citing Trump-like “irregularities,” he’s down by just some 300 votes to McGuire.

With a ghostlike assist from McCarthy — who never campaigned in the state, in spite of Good goading him to stump in Virginia’s sprawling 5th District — that primary earned the infamous rank as the second most expensive primary so far this election cycle.

“Seven million is painful,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Raw Story. “I mean, it is intense, and it is extremely painful.”

Nancy Mace does TV interview Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) does a TV interview at her event on the night of the South Carolina's GOP primary election on June 14, 2022 in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

Mace should know. She destroyed her McCarthy backed opponent by 27 points, but it wasn’t an easy path to victory.

“Have you got any advice for some of your colleagues who are getting primaried by McCarthy?” Raw Story inquired.

“I was my own campaign manager. I ran my own race,” Mace told Raw Story. “I did my own data. I did it all.”

McCarthy’s allies in the House

While the eight conservatives being hunted by McCarthy have each other’s backs, the former speaker still maintains a deep bench of Republican politicians in Washington. They’ve been cheering since declaring victory over Good.

“Good for Kevin McCarthy,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told Raw Story.

In May, Bacon beat back a challenge from Omaha businessman and conservative hardliner Dan Frei. Good backed his opponent, which Bacon’s still smarting over.

“I contributed to his opponent. Bob Good made a mistake coming after people like me. I normally stay out of people's races, but you couldn't give us the green light to respond,” Bacon said. “Bob Good is not good for the district or good for the House.”

Crane hasn’t poked around in his GOP colleugue’s primaries like Good did, so he gets a pass from Bacon and others.

“I have not. But Eli Crane stayed out of my race,” Bacon, who’s running for his fifth term, said.

While McCarthy and the more centrist wing of the GOP he represents in Congress have been at war with the far-right Freedom Caucus for years now, the group’s members laugh off the bitter challenges from the center-right.

“Look, Freedom Caucus is growing. We got members that are coming in that, you know, agree with what we're doing,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story. “Politics is fluid. Every day is a new day.”

Still, Norman and other members are upset that the Freedom Caucus chair seems to be heading for the exits in January.

“I hate what happened [to Good], but it is what it is. They tried to get people against me, because I'd gone against McCarthy,” Norman said. “But look, everybody — we’re all free agents. I don't mind. I don't think this is personal.”

Other Republicans have been trying to avoid getting involved with McCarthy and his revenge tour.

“Honestly, I haven’t been paying attention. I'm focused on beating the Democrats,” Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) — chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee this cycle — told Raw Story. “So honestly, I couldn’t tell you what he's been up to. I want more Republicans in Congress. I wake up every morning thinking about beating Democrats.”

Rep. Richard Hudson speaks in Congress Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) on May 14, 2020. in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

“But some of your incumbents are losing and it's harder in a general election without an incumbent?” Raw Story pushed.

“Think we’re gonna lose Virginia’s 5th District?” Hudson said of the district that’s rated “Solid Republican” by the Cook Political Report.

While Hudson was a part of McCarthy’s leadership team, he says he hasn’t seen McCarthy in a while and when he last did, GOP primaries didn’t come up.

“I haven’t had one strategy conversation with him,” Hudson said.

“He was a moneymaker,” Raw Story pressed. “Honestly, you don't need McCarthy bucks anymore?”

“Well, we need all the bucks we can get to beat Democrats,” Hudson admitted to Raw Story.

Next up: Matt Gaetz

The last stop for McCarthy’s revenge tour is slated for Florida, where Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) faces McCarthy-backed Republican Aaron Dimmock, a former Navy pilot, in the Sunshine State’s primary on Aug. 19.

Before that knock down, drag out contest, Crane faces Arizona voters in the state’s July 30 primary.

Rep. Matt Gaetz speaks in Congress U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) speaks during a business meeting prior to a hearing on U.S. southern border security on Capitol Hill, Feb. 1, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

While McCarthy’s been a quiet force punching from the proverbial political graveyard, Crane laughs off the former speaker.

He especially mocks McCarthy for showing his true cards and retiring from the House once it was clear he wouldn’t be getting the speaker’s gavel back.

“The fact that he bailed and left because he couldn’t be speaker — look, as a man I can look at Kevin McCarthy, the guy worked really hard to get where he's at, even though him and I don't have the same worldview. But when, ‘Oh, I can’t become speaker, so I'm gonna take my ball and go home,’” Crane told Raw Story. “It's pretty pathetic.”

How Trump and Senate Republicans are circling the wagons to save Clarence Thomas

WASHINGTON — The cycle continues: Clarence Thomas has former President Donald Trump’s back, Trump has Senate Republicans in his back pocket and Senate Republicans, in turn, have Thomas’ back.

No matter how much financial dirt journalists and watchdog groups dig up on Thomas, and no matter how much Democrats single Thomas out for what they consider his shameful jurisprudence, his legend only continues to grow within conservative circles.

And those conservatives are striking back.

ALSO READ: How to survive Supreme Court stupidity without losing your mind

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and other Republicans on Capitol Hill say they have no plan to drop their blockade of Democrat’s proposed ethics reform package for the Supreme Court as long as Thomas’ gaggle of prominent detractors continue lambasting his for what reform organization Fix the Court tallies is more than $4 million in gifts from wealthy benefactors.

Last July, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the SCERT Act —Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2023 — which would force the court to adopt an ethics code, establish an enforcement mechanism and increase transparency. Just last month, Senate Republicans brought their blockade to the Senate floor where the GOP quashed the measure.

Supreme Court 2022, Image via Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

“There's like a Clarence Thomas story every week. I'm sure next week it'll be something else. I mean, they're just hounding the poor guy. They want to hound him off the court,” Hawley told Raw Story before the Senate left town for senators' two-week long July Fourth recess.

“But none of them have been good headlines,” Raw Story pushed. “He admitted to... ”

“Well, of course not,” Hawley replied. “They’re like oppo research for the campaign. I mean, of course, they're not good headlines. They’ve been trying to discredit him. They tried to do this from the moment he got on the court.”

‘OK with felons’

Democrats aren’t surprised.

“Well, I think you have to understand that the little billionaire elite that put these people on the court is also heavily, heavily, heavily funding the Republican Senate political operation. So they have strings everywhere to pull,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) told Raw Story. “Do the math.”

Democrats are increasingly frustrated, though. And they don’t get the GOP’s blanket immunity from every unseemly accusation flying Thomas’ way, including that the upward of $4 million in gifts he accepted is “nearly 10 times the value of all gifts received by his fellow justices during the same time,” according to the Democratic majority on the Judiciary Committee.

“I think it's unacceptable. I’m stunned that he did not think this would undermine not just the view of his impartiality but will undermine the institution itself,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told Raw Story.

But Booker says Democrats aren’t merely singling Thomas out, particularly with a Supreme Court that has regularly ruled in Trump’s interests. One such ruling dropped Monday, when the conservative majority led a 6-3 ruling that gave Trump (and future presidents) significant, if not absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.

“There's no way to objectively look at this other than showing that the highest court in the land is descending into some of the lowest examples of, I think, unethical behavior that points to horrendous influence of people who have issues, matters and, frankly, strong beliefs about which direction the court should go in,” Booker said.

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Other Democrats say the problem is the ethical standards — and lack thereof — on the right have been upended in this Trump-era.

“You have a Republican Party now that their presumptive nominee is a felon, so I guess that's, you know, where Republicans are now. They're OK with felons running for high public office,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) told Raw Story.

While Raw Story tried to press Peters — who is chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — on the politics of the court ahead of November, Peters refused to go there.

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) at the U.S. Capitol on September 28, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“We have to have a court that is respected by the American people, and when things like this happen, people start losing respect for the court,” Peters said. “And the court’s power is based on the respect of the rule of law and the integrity of the justices. If you damage that, you damage the court.”

Some Republicans won’t go there, either.

Many point to the code of conduct Chief Justice John Roberts announced last fall. While it laid out some specific instances when justices need to recuse themselves — like, say, if a justice or their relative is tied to a case — it falls short of requiring recusal. And there’s no enforcement mechanism.

Still, that’s good enough for many of today’s Republicans.

“The Supreme Court has developed its own code of ethics, and I have not reviewed that,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told Raw Story.

“Did you see that Clarence Thomas got $4 million in gifts?” Raw Story asked. “What do you make of that number?”

“I really haven't been focused on it,” Collins said as a “Senators Only” elevator closed on Raw Story.

‘Getting pressured’

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have been focused on it, yet they’re whistling a similar tune.

“I’m all for getting the Article III branch to update, modernize their disclosure requirements and ethics rules, but please spare me this,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told Raw Story. “I’m trying not to call out the individual members, but believe me we’ve got a rap sheet on every single one, both sides. And they should really come together.”

For one, Tillis is thinking of the disclosure that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson accepted four tickets to see Beyoncé, an estimated $3,700 value.

While $4,000 and $4 million are worlds apart, it’s still unseemly to Tillis and others. That’s why he’s hoping the court just adopts its own stout ethics standards already.

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“They’re vulnerable,” Tillis said. “And, quite frankly, I’d like for the new ethics standards to get done when we have a majority conservative Supreme Court, and they can’t say it’s just because they’re getting pressured.”

Other Senate Republicans seem to have also outsourced their thinking on the Supreme Court to the court.

“Look, I trust the chief justice,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) — who is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee — told Raw Story.

The American people generally don’t.

Back in 2009, 61 percent of Americans approved of a then divided Supreme Court, according to Gallup. These days, Gallup shows a mere 41 percent approval rating for the nation’s high court.

This is nothing new.

A decade ago, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) introduced the Supreme Court Ethics Act of 2013, which would “require the Supreme Court of the United States to promulgate a code of ethics.”

“It's extraordinary that there's not more outrage. This seems to be a pretty simple grift,” Murphy told Raw Story. “Maybe we have to wait until there's some scandal with a Democratic appointed judge before anybody on the right cares about it.”

Most Republicans raise constitutional doubts about Congress’ power to write ethics rules for a separate branch of government. Still, some, like Hawley of Missouri, agree with the thrust of Democrat’s ethics proposal.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). (Nash Greg/TNS)

“Don't get me wrong, it would be helpful to everybody, if they had firm rules that they don’t accept gifts,” Hawley said. “They shouldn’t take gifts. I’m opposed to the gifts. They shouldn't take tickets, cruises, planes — they shouldn't do it. That's my view. They haven't asked for my opinion, but that's my view.”

“We don't have power over them. They’ve got to do it, but I think they should. I think it'd be helpful if they would just say, ‘we're not gonna do that,’” Hawley told Raw Story. “I don't think they should own stock either. Just like I don’t think members of Congress should. It’d just be cleaner. Like, ‘we don’t own stock. We don't take gifts.’ That'd be better for everybody.”

Overall, Hawley remains dubious of Democrats.

ALSO READ: Neuroscientist explains how Trump and Biden's cognitive impairments are different

“I just think that they should just adopt their own ethics code and it ought to mirror, as much as possible, what Congress and the executive branch do,” Hawley said. “And honestly, if that were to happen, they'd still be attacking Justice Thomas.”

As of now, the left is promising to continue highlighting the lavish life Thomas lives at the expense of the wealthy donors who’ve taken him under their private wings, and they are showing no signs of letting up.

Progressives in the House of Representatives have been frustrated with their Senate counterparts for not doing more, like deploying filibuster reform to expand the size of the court.

And now, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), for one, is angling to impeach Thomas and potentially his fellow conservative justices as soon as the U.S. House returns from recess.

Still, over in the Senate, most Democrats are resisting those calls from the party’s left wing. Instead, they’re promising to remain steady in their effort to expose this Supreme Court, so voters know the true choice facing the nation this November.

“You continue the investigation,” Whitehouse told Raw Story. “You continue the persistent pressure. Continue working with the judicial conference, which has been quite productive.”

‘This was awful’: Congressional Dems deflated after Biden debate disaster

WASHINGTON — If you’re embarrassed or queasy after President Joe Biden’s performance in last night’s presidential debate, you’re in good company.

Dems are deflated. Of the 27 mostly current and a few former Democratic members of Congress Raw Story texted for reaction — all typically responsive — only three readily replied with thoughts on Biden’s performance.

That’s abnormal. Consider that after a jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts in his Manhattan fraud trial, the same lot of Democrats quickly responded to Raw Story’s inquiries with giddy — if sanctimonious — texts, even responded to questions from halfway around the globe or promptly called us back. They all had lots to say.

ALSO READ: Marjorie Taylor Greene buys condo in 'crime ridden hell hole'

Not Thursday night. The Democratic Party is now debating how to right the listing SS Biden — or consider its scuttling.

Reached late Thursday, one powerful congressional Democrat demanded, “ON BACKGROUND ONLY,” so they — a duly elected public official who’s slated to net a key committee chairmanship if Democrats recapture the House in November — could speak openly, if anonymously.

“This was awful,” the lawmaker replied. “While Biden got better as the debate went on, the horrible start is what people will remember.”

Biden looked feeble. His hand tremors are visible. He froze, or lost his train of thought, or stumbled over his words time after time during the 90-minute debate.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump participate in the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Ga. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The debate should have been a bad night for Trump — the former president antagonized anti-abortion supporters, lied about his presidential record and grossly rewrote the history of Jan. 6, 2021 — except Biden’s debate doldrums overshadowed matters.

Based on Raw Story’s unrequited texts to a smattering of key area codes — including 313 (Michigan), 330 (Ohio), 804 (Virginia), 305 (Florida) and even progressive 925 (California) — the painful performance is rippling through Democratic circles coast to coast.

And now, with national polls effectively tied, and Trump enjoying a slight overall edge in key swing states, the Democratic side of the great political divide is disheartened. Dispirited. Dismayed. They’re also flummoxed by their arch enemy — a man they once defeated at the polls and impeached twice, because they truly believe he’s the embodiment of anti-American ideals.

On Thursday night, Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA) didn’t want to talk much about Biden. He focused his comments on Trump.

“I can’t believe how good Trump is at misstating and making it up as he goes,” Correa texted Raw Story. “Biden started slow and then picked up … We got straight talk from Biden. We got very little straight talk from Trump. Need to fact check Trump.”

ALSO READ: Neuroscientist explains how Trump and Biden's cognitive impairments are different

When Democratic members of Congress see Trump, they also see doom. And they want the public to see what they see.

“I was here Jan 6th., Trump really sidestepped this,” Correa said of Trump’s debate answers to Jan. 6-related questions from moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. “And Trump did not say if he’d accept the election results for 2024.”

Democrats still love Biden the man. Some just wish he’d convalesce away from the national stage, it seems.

One Democratic lawmaker provided a motherly-to-scholarly scolding for Raw Story interrupting her personal debate viewing party.

“I’m not answering questions,” Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) from the all-important Philadelphia suburbs texted Raw Story just over an hour into the slow moving debacle of a debate. “I’m listening.”

Raw Story circled back after the debate for a comment. Dean did not reply.

Right at midnight, one last Democrat replied to two Raw Story questions:

Screengrab of Raw Story’s texts with former Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) on Thursday night after the debate.

1.) Do you still trust Biden as your party’s standard bearer?

2.) Are you more nervous-to-worried now than you were this morning?

“No,” former Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) replied. “And yes.”

‘Fight of crazy against crazy’: Wounded Rep. Bob Good confronts ‘forces of evil’

WASHINGTON — If Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) is on a mission from God, as he maintains, someone might want to tell God already.

Since Virginia voters cast their Republican primary ballots on June 18, the two-term incumbent who chairs the far-right Freedom Caucus has been trailing his opponent, state Sen. John McGuire, by upward of 300 votes out of just over 62,000 ballots cast.

Good’s demanding a recount. He’s also trying to pray away “the forces of evil” conspiring against him.

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“I think it’s owed to the 31,000 people in the district who voted for me, and there's those true conservatives in Virginia and across the country that are outraged at the forces of evil that tried to influence this race — that did influence this race — and we owe it to them to make sure that it's right,” Good told Raw Story after voting in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

By “forces of evil,” Good doesn’t mean former President Donald Trump or even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — both of whom backed McGuire.

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A post shared by Marjorie Taylor Greene (@realmarjoriegreene)

To Good, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is evil incarnate. That feeling has seemed mutual since Good and seven other House Republicans ingloriously, if historically, ousted McCarthy last year.

Good is a graduate of and former fundraiser for Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. Arguably, his biggest critic contends he’s blinded by his own light.

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“He can't win a real primary, because he's insane,” former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA), who Good defeated in 2020, told Raw Story. “There's no such thing as ‘forces of evil.’ Listen, stupidity and evil look very similar. And I think that's where he gets confused, because he's stupid.”

As is easily surmised, Riggleman — an ex-intelligence official who worked as a data analyst for the select Jan. 6 committee — is no fan of Good.

Good ended Riggleman’s time in Congress in part because he made an issue out of Riggleman officiating a same-sex marriage for a former staffer the year earlier. Good and officials in Virginia’s Republican Party also forced an in-person convention — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic — of the party faithful, instead of conducting a Republican congressional primary.

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA). JLauer/Shutterstock

In the wake of this year’s primary, Good is calling for changes to the rules. He’s especially bemoaning the commonwealth's open primary system that allows independents and Democrats to vote in GOP primaries (as well as allowing Republicans to weigh in on Democratic ones.)

“That absolutely should be changed. We should have party registration in VIrginia. We should have closed primaries, or we need to go back to conventions and not allow Democrats to choose our nominee in primaries,” Good said. “There’s no question we would have won a convention.”

Good contends he won the hearts and minds of his party.

“I know we got the majority of Republican votes. The other side had to reach out and did reach out to Democrats crossover votes. It's an unfortunate reality in Virginia that our system allows Democrats to vote in Republican primaries, and we are certain that there were certainly more than 300 or 400 people who voted in this election for my opponent,” Good said.

A request for comment from the campaign of McGuire, a former Navy SEAL, wasn’t returned.

Riggleman dismissed Good’s griping.

“‘Forces of evil’ — so you're telling me that a primary that's actually fair, rather than a convention where they could limit the number of voters to beat me means that the people are the forces of evil?” Riggleman said. “That's somebody who's mentally unstable.”

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Riggleman added: “Yes, he said he could win in a convention. Because the convention is anti-American. A convention is for those who can't win a primary, which we just saw with Bob Good.”

The Virginia Board of Elections has yet to call the race, even as the chair of Virginia’s Republican Party, Richard Anderson, congratulated McGuire for winning earlier this week.

Good currently trails by 0.6 percentage points,, which means he can call for a recount according to state law, though he’s got to come up with a way to pay for it.

Regardless, he says he’s all in.

“There's some things that are concerning and that need to be reviewed, and we're going to do that. And I'm not going to be particular about that process,” Good said. “I’d rather be 300 votes ahead than 300 votes behind.”

But he’s currently behind: Something for which Good blames McCarthy.

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“It’s money that was wasted. It should have been spent in November to defeat Democrats. It's a race that never should have happened,” Good said. “It was a challenge based on lies by a dishonest opponent and funded by the former speaker whose mission in life seems to be to get revenge on those he holds responsible for him not being speaker.”

But Good says it’s not about payback.

“I'm not really concerned about that. We're just gonna do our best to win this recount,” Good said.

To Riggleman, there’s no pleasure watching these two Republicans digitally knife each other over his former seat.

“McGuire’s crazier than Bob Good. Think about that,” Riggleman said. “You're seeing a fight of crazy against crazy. Nobody's the good guy. No, nobody’s the good guy here. This is just people who want power and payback. It has nothing to do with the American people. It's about their own personal self-aggrandizement and power trips.”

Riggleman, in noting he wasn’t conservative enough for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, mused that Good — one of the nation’s most conservative lawmakers — might also not be conservative enough.

“That's what's crazy about this election,” Riggleman said. “I think Bob represents Christian nationalism. He represents a decision making methodology that's not based in facts; it's based in fantasy. And I think that really is a lure to a lot of GOP voters, that there's this good against evil battle going on out there and they're on the good side, regardless of facts.”

‘Creepy weirdos’: Senator fears Trump WH staff would destroy government from ‘inside’

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) is raising alarms over the quality of staffers the Republican Party is vetting in preparation for a second Donald Trump administration.

“He's just going to have a bunch of creepy weirdos working in the White House that are intent on destroying government from the inside and pursuing their super creepy, weird political agendas,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told Raw Story.

Murphy’s not alone. In response to the far-right Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — a sweeping blueprint for a future Republican president to upend the federal workforce as we know it — a handful of House Democrats have formed a working group to combat the sweeping changes for which conservatives are calling.

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Murphy sees things a tad differently.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on January 23, 2024, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

“I'm not worried about Project 2025. I'm worried about Donald Trump being the president of the United States,” Murphy said. “It’s gonna be a disaster, and Project 2025 is part of the book of evidence.”

Besides policy proposals, Project 2025 also includes a long list of conservatives eager to join a second Trump administration in order to unwind the federal government from within.

In his first administration, some conservatives within his cabinet stood up to Trump — from then-Vice President Mike Pence to former Attorney General Bill Barr.

Democrats such as Murphy are worried that many of those principled conservative voices have been ostracized by Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

“So he's not gonna have anybody to protect the country, and the White House is just going to have a bunch of really off-the-wall radicals working for him,” Murphy said.

ALSO READ: Neuroscientist explains how Trump and Biden's cognitive impairments are different

Democrats need to wake up, Murphy says. He’s predicting a second Trump administration would be marked by the political vengeance and retribution Trump is promising on the campaign trail.

“One of the first things he would do is clear out anybody who stands in the way of his desire to persecute political opponents,” Murphy said. “So if he wins, it's very possible this could become a banana republic within weeks. So like, I think everyone is vastly under estimating how serious this is going to get very quickly.”

At present, President Joe Biden and Trump are statistically tied in most national polls, as well as statistically tied in most polls taken within key swing states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. As president, Trump enjoys a slight edge in Nevada, Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina.

Biden and Trump are scheduled to square off Thursday in their first presidential debate.

The debate comes two weeks ahead of Trump’s scheduled sentencing after a Manhattan jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and three weeks ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump is slated to officially become the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee.

A law to protect kids online? It might just happen now.

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer seems to have overcome a major roadblock in his own party who’s holding up legislation designed to protect children from online harm.

“The majority leader and I have exchanged new text that looks like an improvement to me,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) exclusively told Raw Story at the U.S. Capitol. “I need to make sure that it protects LGBTQ teens, and, at this point, it looks like we're moving in the right direction.”

ALSO READ:‘They could have killed me’: Spycraft, ballots and a Trumped-up plot gone haywire

While some GOP dissension remains, Wyden’s support is seen as a huge step forward, because he’s had a hold on the broadly bipartisan measure for months now.

Since February, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has enjoyed the support of a rare, filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate, yet it’s gone nowhere, in part, because of opposition from progressives such as Wyden.

Chuck Schumer U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) on June 18, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The Oregon Democrat — who chairs the Senate Finance Committee — has been the leading voice in the Senate pushing a more law enforcement-centric response to online harms facing children, which is the centerpiece of the Invest in Child Safety Act that allocates $5 billion to help law enforcement officials combat online threats facing the nation’s children.

KOSA, on the other hand, attempts to put the burden for protecting children on tech companies by limiting things like infinite scrolling, auto play and other subliminal features that keep young and old alike glued to our screens.

What’s changed?

People are regularly talking about online harms lurking in the digital shadows, for one.

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, for another, turned heads all week after penning an op-ed for the New York Times calling on Congress to slap warning labels on the social media apps America’s children love most — from TikTok to YouTube.

Long road to protecting kids online

An earlier draft of KOSA was panned widely for erecting a new duty of care — a legal obligation — on state attorneys general that many outside groups feared would allow Republican AGs to target vulnerable communities, such as LGBTQ teens.

In KOSA, that duty of care now rests with the Federal Trade Commission, not partisan state AGs.

But Wyden wants to go further. And Schumer seems to agree.

“After weeks of work, we have made real progress in removing objections to this bill,” Leader Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon.

Back in 1996, Wyden was a lead author of the Communications Decency Act, which is now infamous for its Section 230 that acts as the shield protecting social media companies from being sued for content people post on their sites.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) talks with reporters as he leaves the U.S. Capitol following the first vote of the week on June 17, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

While the new KOSA bill text is still a work in progress, it makes “changes to better protect users’ speech as opposed to harmful platform design,” according to Wyden and his team.

In other words, Wyden doesn’t want KOSA to trump Section 230 and its digital speech protections.

“Part of what I've tried to do in tech policy is to be fair to everybody. There are serious issues here,” Wyden said. “My wife and I are older parents. We have twins that are 16. We have a little one that's 11. And it's my job to be fair to everyone. And it’s certainly important to be fair to minorities, you know, LGBTQ teens is an example.”

It’s still unclear if these new tweaks go far enough to win over groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Electronic Frontier Foundation and Fight for the Future, which have opposed KOSA.

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Those groups have remained opposed to the measure even after its lead authors — Sen. Richard Bluemnthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) — unveiled an updated version at the start of this year that attempted to address their censorship concerns.

“After pushing and cajoling, we are much closer to ultimate success,” Blumenthal told Schumer in a colloquy on the Senate floor Thursday. “This bill, which has nearly 70 cosponsors, is a set of safeguards and accountability measures to protect kids from the clear and horrific harms created by social media and other online platforms.”

While Schumer won over Wyden from his progressive left flank, there’s still opposition from his conservative right flank on the other side of the proverbial aisle.

“Sadly, objectors remain. I hope that progress can continue over the coming days,” Schumer said. “If the objectors refuse to come to a resolution, we must pursue a different legislative path to get this done.”

‘Let people sue’

The surgeon general’s calls for new social media warning labels is being embraced by lawmakers across the political spectrum.

But critics say the warning label proposal and Wyden’s tweaks to KOSA still fall short.

Republican senator Josh Hawley. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

“Good,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story just off the Senate floor Thursday. “Yeah, good. You know what would be even better though? I mean, the warning label’s fine, but let people sue. You want to change the behavior of these companies, let parents sue them. That would drive change.”

The rank-and-file in both parties are itching to deliver online protections for the nation’s children during the current congressional session.

“Watching governors act in California, New York and Utah, it's clear that this is a priority issue for parents, and I just don't think we're doing our job if we don't act on online safety bills by the end of the year,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told Raw Story.

While red and blue states alike have acted to protect children online, the broadly bipartisan measures have all withered on the vine in the U.S. Capitol in recent years.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) says he hopes Congress can piggyback on the surgeon general’s new social media warning for the nation’s kids.

ALSO READ: Neuroscientist explains how Trump and Biden's cognitive impairments are different

“It's a good vehicle for us to take up this issue. The announcement of the surgeon general makes it timely,” Durbin told Raw Story.

“Do you think because there’s so much broad, bipartisan support we might see this before the election?” Raw Story asked of the filibuster-proof support in the Senate for KOSA.

“I certainly hope so,” Durbin replied. “I'd move on this topic as quickly as possible. American families really care.”

Still, Republicans like Hawley are dubious that Democratic leaders like Durbin and Schumer care.

“The corporations don't want it — tech companies don't want it,” Hawley told Raw Story just feet away from the Senate floor. “So as I've said before, you know, just post the ‘owned by big tech’ sign right there on the Senate doors, because that's the truth. They don't want us to move.”

“Listen, we voted out — unanimously — out of this Judiciary Committee a bill to stop child pornography. And Durbin and I are the co-sponsors — it’s ‘Durbin-Hawley,’ you know. Unanimous support,” Hawley complained of his bipartisan measure to end Section 230 protections specifically for child pornography — a measure that’s never the Senate floor.

For now, even as generative artificial intelligence (AI) continues remaking the internet as we knew it, the Senate continues to work at Senate speed.

“We've exchanged new text,” Wyden told Raw Story. “And I believe we're making some progress.”

Kevin McCarthy can’t stop losing. Nancy Mace can’t stop loving it.

WASHINGTON — In the territory Kevin McCarthy once ruled with a wooden, if limp, gavel, Republicans in the House of Representatives spent the week laughing off the former House speaker for meddling in GOP primaries — then getting walloped.

McCarthy and his allies were dealt a stunning defeat in the Palmetto State when Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) turned heads for destroying her Republican primary opponent by some 27 points.

McCarthy’s rarely at the Capitol, but this week, he found his name transformed into a punchline (again).

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“Anybody that maintains that level of bitterness for that long, I feel sorry for ya,” Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) — one of the eight who last year helped end McCarthy’s speakership — told Raw Story at the Capitol this week.

McCarthy and his allies dropped more than $2 million on Mace’s race. But from day one, Mace told Raw Story, she wasn’t afraid of Team McCathy’s effort to get behind her opponent, Catherine Templeton, who served in former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s cabinet.

“She's a puppet to Kevin McCarthy,” Mace told Raw Story this spring. “Like, that doesn't sell in my district. My district wants someone who's going to be conservative but an independent voice.”

Even with millions of dollars in outside spending flooding her opponent from McCarthy-allied super PAC American Prosperity Alliance, Mace still demolished Templeton on Tuesday.

Even Republicans who like McCarthy weren’t impressed with his poor primary showing.

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“I don't think it’s personal — well, with McCarthy, it probably was personal,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) — a friend of Mace — told Raw Story. “She stuck in there and had a message.”

Other members of the so-called “Gaetz Eight” say McCarthy miscalculated when crossing Mace at home.

“Not surprising. She's a great candidate,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told Raw Story.

Her win was never guaranteed. Mace has had a complicated history with GOP leaders, namely, former President Donald Trump, who called her “crazy” and “a terrible person” during the 2022 midterms.

This time around, Mace netted Trump’s endorsement. Burchett says Mace’s independent streak makes her formidable.

“She's fiery, and everybody alway says things like, ‘Oh, I can't believe that person did this or did that’ — I mean, from their perspective, but she represents her people and her people apparently like her,” Burchett said.

McCarthy may net a win in Virginia this week

The saga’s far from over. McCarthy and his allies are still gunning to oust members of the gang of eight who ended his speakership. Next on the list: Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-VA).

On June 18, Republicans in Virginia’s 5th District will decide Good’s fate when they cast their primary ballots either for him or state Sen. John McGuire.

After Good backed Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in this year’s Republican presidential primary — before declaring his allegiance to Trump once DeSantis threw in the proverbial towel — McGuire netted Trump’s endorsement.

Then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks during a weekly news conference May 28, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The race has attracted a staggering $20 million in outside spending, with McGuire slightly edging out Good in fundraising — $1.2 million to $1.1 million as of the end of May. Pundits are closely watching the race to see if McCarthy and company can knock out one of the Republicans who ingloriously retired him.

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Still, Good says, bring it on.

“I don't think the people of the 5th District are gonna let their seat be bought by D.C.-California swamp interests, but that's clearly who's funding my opponent’s campaign,” Good told Raw Story earlier this year.

In Florida, the former speaker’s aides vetted Aaron Dimmock before the Navy veteran announced a late challenge to McCarthy’s forever foe, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

Florida’s primary for its congressional delegation is Aug. 20. While Gaetz now has to beat back a challenge, he was this week laughing McCarthy off after the former speaker and his allies got “smoked in the low country of South Carolina.”

Still, Gaetz feels the challenge in his own backyard, though he says he’s undeterred.

“We’ve been outspent four, five, nine-to-one,” Gaetz said. “The people are coming. My movement is coming. We’re hot on their heels.”

'Bring your felon to work day': Dems slam Trump-D.C. visit as GOP enjoys 'mandatory fun'

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump visited Capitol Hill on Thursday for a "unity" meeting with Republican lawmakers, some of whom did not support him in the primary election.

Speaking to Raw Story outside of the meeting, several lawmakers including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Florida Republican Reps. Byron Donalds and Matt Gaetz called the president "energetic" or described the event as filled with "energy."

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) told Raw Story the event was "mandatory fun for everybody" in the Republican Party. If it was, that message didn't make it to Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), both of whom told CNN they had a scheduling conflict.

Meanwhile, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) exited the event, telling Raw Story that Trump tried to bury the hatchet with some of his close allies who went on the attack against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

"I was very disappointed in Mike because I expected more," Gosar said. "And then — but I also wanted to be part of the solution. And I don't think [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)] gave him enough time before she took his legs out from under him."

Trump is dedicated to taking back the House and the Senate, he said, and he thinks it could happen.

"I can tell you, there is somethin' brewing big time," Gosar told Raw Story. "I think it is more about getting back to our founding principles and equal obligation of the law. A return to that. And a return to God."

He went on to say that he thinks Trump "raising $400 million" after being found guilty "tells you" all that is necessary on the topic.

Democrats were more hostile to the Trump visit, with some calling it "insulting."

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) asked for a show of hands in the House Judiciary Committee from those who met with a convicted felon Thursday.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) posted on X that it was "bring your felon to work day" at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump also attacked Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the Republican convention is being held. This attack prompted an uproar of support for the city, sometimes referred to as the "The Good Land," "Motorcycle Mecca," and even the "Culinary Capitol of the Midwest."

Wisconsin Republicans scrambled to clean up the gaffe.

‘Getting Jeffrey Dahmer for littering’: Gaetz, MTG want more Biden family pain

WASHINGTON — House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden all but unraveled, but you wouldn’t know that from talking to House Republicans this week.

They’re out for Biden family blood more than ever.

The GOP’s cheering of a damning verdict for presidential son Hunter Biden — found guilty of lying on a federal firearm form and illegally owning a gun — have proven short-lived.

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On Capitol Hill, the mood amongst Republicans is mostly anger as the party overflows with complaints about “a two-tiered” system of justice — even after the president’s son was successfully prosecuted by the same Department of Justice they decry for its pursuit of former President Donald Trump.

“No one's taking it seriously, because the Department of Justice, if they were actually a real justice system, they would have charged him for FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act]. They would be charging him for human sex trafficking,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Raw Story while walking to the Capitol to vote Wednesday.

MTG’s far from alone.

On Wednesday, three powerful Republican committee chairs sent the Department of Justice criminal referrals for Hunter and James Biden, the president’s brother.

ALSO READ: 8 ways convicted felon Donald Trump doesn't become president

The two Bidens made false statements to their committees that "implicate Joe Biden’s knowledge and role in his family’s influence peddling schemes and appear to be a calculated effort to shield Joe Biden from the impeachment inquiry," wrote Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO).

Those criminal referrals were sent to Special Counsel David Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland on the same day House Republicans voted to hold Garland in contempt for turning over a transcript of President Biden’s interview with the special prosecutor while withholding audio of it.

In the wake of the Hunter Biden guilty verdict, Republicans now say Department of Justice lawyers are complicit in a cover up.

First lady Jill Biden and Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, joined by his wife Melissa Cohen Biden, leave the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 11, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware. A federal jury has convicted Hunter Biden on all three federal felony gun charges he faced. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“I think it's just an attempt to try to say, ‘Oh, we're not a two-tier justice system,’” Greene said. “And they [don’t] want to prosecute BLM rioters, Antifa and all these other people that caused $2 billion in damage.”

It’s more than just a different system of justice: the “deep state” is now in the driver’s seat at the DOJ, according to many in the GOP.

“The Hunter Biden trial was a veneer. There wasn't a sincere prosecution,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told Raw Story.

While House Republicans voted along party lines to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden at the end of last year, the effort has gone nowhere in the GOP-controlled House.

That’s in part because their star witness, retired Russian figure skater Alexander Smirnov, went from being an FBI informant to being charged with lying and creating false documents about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

While on a private fundraising call last year, Gaetz dismissed the Biden impeachment effort — “I don’t believe that we are endeavoring upon a legitimate impeachment of Joe Biden” — since then he’s been raising alarms about bribes the Oversight Committee has failed to link to the president.

ALSO READ: ‘MIA MTG’: Why Marjorie Taylor Greene has no publicly listed district offices

Even though his committee has failed to make the case that Biden corruption is a family affair leading all the way to the White House, Gaetz dismisses the Hunter Biden gun case as “dumb.” He says DOJ lawyers need to do more — and broaden their investigation.

“I identify strongly with the statement from the Trump campaign that it was a distraction from the real Biden crimes. These guys are moving around millions of dollars in Chinese bribe money, and what we got him on was lying on a gun form? It’d be like getting Jeffrey Dahmer for littering,” Gaetz said, referencing the convicted serial killer.

Dumb or not, many Republicans are now watching to see whether Hunter Biden gets any jail time for his first time, non-violent felony conviction.

“Well, I think they considered the facts and found him guilty. It’ll be interesting to see what his consequences are,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story. “If you’re on drugs, should you really have a gun? It’s either a law or it’s not a law. If they don’t believe in it, it’s like anything else, you gotta change it.”

While Norman’s closely watching the case against the first son, he, too, accuses the Department of Justice of playing politics even after the special prosecutor won a conviction this week.

“I do think it's a smokescreen,” Norman said. “I mean, look at what Hunter Biden’s gotten by with. $8 million in art sales. I don’t think he’s an artist.”

U.S. President Joe Biden attends a roundtable session entitled "Africa, climate change and development" on day one of the 50th G7 summit at Borgo Egnazia on June 13, 2024 in Fasano, Italy. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

President Biden has said he will not pardon Hunter Biden.

“I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal," President Biden said. "Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today. So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery."

President Biden also reaffirmed his loyalty to his family.

"Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support,” Biden said. “Nothing will ever change that."

‘Harm Democrats’: Republican lawmakers practically giddy about Trump prison silver lining

WASHINGTON — Many Republicans on Capitol Hill are all but daring New York Judge Juan Merchan to lock Donald Trump up ahead of November.

After former President Donald Trump and Republican campaign committees saw a windfall of donations after the guilty verdict came down, the GOP base is enlivened and that’s only emboldening rank-and-file Republicans who are feeling bullish.

“I think it’s bulls—,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Raw Story of the guilty verdict. “It’d be seen as election interference on steroids.”

ALSO READ: How Donald Trump could run for president — and lead the nation — from prison

Others are predicting political retribution to come for Democrats if Trump’s locked up, as one rumored GOP vice presidential contender told Raw Story.

“I think it would blow up the country,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) told Raw Story at the Capitol this week.

In these unprecedented, post-verdict times — mere days after the former president was found guilty on 34 felony counts by a jury of his New York neighbors — some on the formerly fringe-right are calling for the GOP to officially coronate Trump the Republican presidential nominee prior to the party’s scheduled national convention in mid-July, before the earliest time Trump could be sentenced to time in the slammer or otherwise placed in detention.

But of the 10 Republican lawmakers Raw Story exclusively interviewed this week, most are practically giddy about Trump’s post-conviction prospects regardless of whether the would-be leader of the free world himself remains a free man.

That’s a lot of money

Much of this enthusiasm revolves around money: The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee said they raised a combined $141 million in May — a figure that must formally be reported to the Federal Election Commission later this month.

It’s a staggering figure that nearly doubles Team Trump’s previous high fundraising mark this cycle. While some Republicans are nervous about the prospects of what’s just over the horizon, most Republicans are confident publicly and say Trump would be an effective GOP standard bearer whether behind bars or, say, on house arrest.

To Republicans, the entire trial was tainted from its inception, thus any sentence handed down is also necessarily tainted.

“Just further confirms the level of corruption,” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) told Raw Story of the trial.

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“But do you think he'd be effective as the GOP nominee?” Raw Story asked.

“Yes,” Wilson said. “It shouldn't occur. And people really need to focus: If it can happen to a former president, every American citizen — regardless of party — is at risk.”

Talking points aside, even as Trump’s lawyers appeal the verdict, the reality TV star-turned-politician is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. If the judge decides to lock Trump up, Graham thinks Trump’s base will erupt, again.

“I don't know how much more of a boon they can get. I talked to ‘em this morning,” Graham told Raw Story at the Capitol. “They can't count the money fast enough. The reaction in terms of financial support has been beyond anybody's imagination. I think if they continue to trend in the eyes of millions of Americans using the New York case to interfere with the election, you know, it only gets more support for Donald Trump.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) arrives to speak at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton on June 23, 2023 in Washington, D.C., where former President Donald Trump was also speaking. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), has seen a massive spike in donations since the verdict. He predicts a similar response if Trump’s jailed in New York, because he says it would turn Trump into a martyr for the MAGA cause.

“His fundraising will explode, even more so. And I think they'll see this as a political prisoner,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) told Raw Story. “It's awful. Trump probably had a better chance getting a fair trial in Honduras.”

Nevermind that Honduras’ former president, Juan Orlando Hernández, was convicted in Manhattan Federal Court this March — on cocaine smuggling and weapons charges.

Desperate times, desperate convention?

Shortly after the guilty verdict reverberated across the globe last Thursday, the MAGA wing of Trump’s base started calling — some say, conspiratorially so — for the GOP to move the party’s scheduled convention up. The convention is scheduled for July 15 to July 18 in Milwaukee, Wis.,, afterall, and the sentencing is scheduled for July 11.

Coincidence? Never.

New conspiracy? Always.

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Republicans in Congress were quick to follow their followers, even if altering the convention’s timing would be a logistical nightmare.

“Consider moving the convention. Don't let that get messed up by virtue of that,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told Raw Story. “Like, move it up. And whether that's in Milwaukee or whether you do a sort of an informal — or a different kind of convention — to get the nomination knocked out before that occurs.”

Roy says it would send an important message.

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— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) May 31, 2024

“It sends a signal that the party’s resolved,” Roy said. “Look, I've been very public in my differences with the [former] president on different things. This is a republic. This is where we are. He's the nominee of the Republican Party for president of the United States. He's been targeted in a ridiculous politically motivated personal prosecution.”

The Republican drumbeat is deafening. Nobody knows what Merchan will do. In fact, because Trump’s never been convicted before and because he’s not charged with a violent crime, some prominent legal minds don’t expect any jail time — perhaps probation, a fine, community service, even nothing at all. Trump has also vowed to appeal his conviction, and the appeals process could take months.

You wouldn’t know that from talking to rank-and-file Republicans, though.

“They are gonna do it, and he will get the biggest, have another big fundraising haul,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story. “American people sense what's going on, and they're furious. And it'll just incite them more to take up for Trump, and you're seeing it already.”

One of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s top lieutenants, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), agrees.

“I think people are awake,” Cornyn — who’s running to replace McConnell as GOP leader —- told Raw Story. “There's been so many abuses — that would just be the icing on the cake.”

Those GOP talking points have now, seemingly, become a part of the party’s DNA.

Republican retribution on horizon?

Republicans aren’t going to forget that Trump was convicted in a blue state, regardless of whether it’s the former president’s home state — a state Trump recently said he could win in 2024. If the GOP standard-bearer is jailed, then we should all brace for a new low in today’s gutter politics.

“It would be next level, man,” Vance of Ohio told Raw Story. “This is going to come back around, right? Eventually Republicans are going to have power, and I guarantee there are going to be really strong pressures to use this new precedent in a way that's going to harm Democrats.”

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) looks on as former President Donald Trump speaks to the as he arrives for court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 13, 2024, in New York City. A jury would later convict Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. (Photo by Sarah Yenesel-Pool/Getty Images)

Republican rhetoric leaves no wiggle room: If Trump is jailed, the conservative messaging machine is going to unleash an unrelenting barrage of accusations that the prosecutions are all politics — jurors and their independent verdicts be damned.

“If there were, of course, a house arrest, it would be very transparently taken as a way to keep former President Trump off the campaign trail and a way to try to get Biden reelected through election interference as opposed to through our legitimate processes,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told Raw Story. “The same would be true with a jail sentence. Most people can't even figure out what crime former President Trump was convicted of. So it just looks like such a sham.”

‘Let's not be distracted’

While Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) agrees that a Trump imprisonment would mean the former president would “raise more money and more likely win the election,” he’s also cautioning his fellow party members against focusing on the trials, tribulations and tumults of Trump.

“We should not take the bait and shift their focus away from the failure of [the Biden administration] on the economy, on the border, on global leadership,” Tillis told Raw Story at the Capitol this week. “Let's not be distracted and say, ‘poor me.’”

July 11 is just about a month away, but Tillis says it should be just another day to the GOP.

“I don't think he will be sentenced anytime — because that would, I just think, it's already mind blowing what he's going through — but if he is, let’s keep focusing on the thing that's gonna win November,” Tillis said.

Still other Republicans — even those who usually have an answer for everything — are mum.

“I don't want to answer hypotheticals,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story. “I mean, this whole thing is just a travesty.”

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