Raw Story

Ardent MAGA loyalist named by journalist as potential Lindsey Graham replacement

14 days agoFar Left

A veteran politics reporter on Monday suggested who he believes could be the next person to seek the Senate vacancy left by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Scott MacFarlane, chief Washington correspondent for MeidasTouch, told CNN anchor Brianna Keilar that since Graham was facing re-election in November, questions have surfaced over who could replace him — floating 78-year-old Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who has been loyal to President Donald Trump.In the interim, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday appointed Darline Graham Nordone, the senator's sister, to replace her brother after his unexpected death this weekend and serve the rest of his term through January 2027. The process will now include a special primary election on August 11, according to The New York Times. Candidates can file for the vacant seat as soon as July 21. MacFarlane suggested Wilson could be one of those potential candidates."I'm watching Joe Wilson, the 78-year-old Republican who has some of the same political alignments with the late Senator Graham," MacFarlane said. "He is also on the Armed Services Committee, known to be hawkish on military issues, he's a known quantity in South Carolina, been there a long time.""A lot of people might know Joe Wilson outside of South Carolina as the person who famously yelled 'you lie' at then President Obama during the State of the Union address in 2009," MacFarlane added. "He also may have an easier time getting the support of Trump because it was Joe Wilson, Brianna, who authored the bill last year to put Trump's face on a new $250 piece of U.S. currency. It didn't pass but he may have cornered the market on Trump's alignment."Scott MacFarlane says there’s a chance that Joe Wilson could be a possibility to replace Lindsey Graham: He also may have an easier time getting the support of Trump because it was Joe Wilson who authored the bill last year to put Trump's face on a new $250 piece of U.S. Currency pic.twitter.com/fA2UzHL2HJ— Acyn (@Acyn) July 13, 2026

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John Oliver returns with searing quip: 'Graham died and Mitch McConnell...maybe didn't?'

Raw Story

57 minutes ago

John Oliver returns with searing quip: 'Graham died and Mitch McConnell...maybe didn't?'

John Oliver returned from a weeks-long vacation Sunday night and opened his show with a brutal bit questioning whether Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is still alive.The "Last Week Tonight" host used the cold open to run through headlines he'd missed, sliding the Kentucky senator's monthlong hospitalization in between a parasitic outbreak and the death of a Senate colleague."We are back, and we missed a lot over the last few weeks. A parasitic infection has caused explosive diarrhea across the country. Lindsey Graham died, and Mitch McConnell...maybe didn't," Oliver quipped, displaying a hospital-room photo of the 84-year-old senator seated next to his wife, Elaine Chao.The dig comes after McConnell collapsed at his Washington, D.C. home on June 14, and an EMS dispatch recording that later became public showed responders had been called there for "cardiac arrest" and performed CPR before transporting him. His office withheld key details on the episode for weeks. On July 12, staffers finally released the hospital photograph alongside a written statement in which McConnell conspicuously ruled out a laundry list of diagnoses."I didn't have a heart attack or a stroke. I don't have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital," McConnell wrote. "While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I've also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia."A McConnell spokesperson later told The Washington Post that the senator "continues to improve in rehab."Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has said even he can't get information out of the senator's team. "I haven't heard a thing. Not an email, not a letter, not a call, not a video... absolutely nothing," the Democratic governor told SiriusXM earlier this month, adding that he'd received two calls from separate agencies suggesting McConnell had died.Beshear urged the senator's office to "call into a news station for 5 minutes or put out a short video" to end what he called concerning speculation.The stonewalling is being managed by McConnell's longtime chief of staff, Terry Carmack, whose taxpayer-funded salary rose to $226,849.94 in fiscal year 2026. Graham's funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at Washington National Cathedral. McConnell's office has not said whether he will attend.

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MAGA declares they were 'intentionally misled' by Trump

Alternet.org

1 hour ago

MAGA declares they were 'intentionally misled' by Trump

During the run-up to President Donald Trump’s election in 2024, he told his followers that “mass deportations” were on the way. Now, while the immigration crackdown has undoubtedly been one of his most visible policies, many in the MAGA movement are beginning to say they were “intentionally misled,” arguing that Trump isn’t doing enough to deliver on his xenophobic campaign promises. This is according to the conservative publication the Dispatch, which asserts that “a vocal part of his base is beginning to publicly break with the administration over immigration enforcement.”While the Trump administration has pursued “maximalist enforcement for more than a year — with deadly consequences — while also claiming the deportation campaign is prioritizing the ‘worst of the worst’ criminals” and that “its enforcement policies have resulted in a record-high number of deportations,” “the agency has stopped releasing the underlying data that would substantiate — or possibly undermine — its claims.” Now, says the Dispatch, “a vocal contingent of mass-deportation activists don’t believe the topline numbers coming from DHS and argue the administration is failing to honor Trump’s promise to deport millions of people.”“I’m confused, I’m frustrated, and quite frankly, I’m angry because I believe we’re being intentionally misled,” said Mark Morgan, a former Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acting commissioner and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director during Trump’s first term. Morgan is involved in the Oversight Project, “an activist group lobbying for mass deportations that recently sued the administration to get access to enforcement data DHS used to publish regularly.”Since Trump entered office, the White House has stopped releasing detailed immigrant arrest data via platforms like the ICE website, which used to be updated quarterly. Instead, DHS now puts out simple topline totals asserting hundreds of thousands of deportations along with millions of self-deportations. Currently the agency claims that more than 2 million undocumented immigrants have left the country. “Significantly,” notes the Dispatch, “this number was not based on actual records DHS has of millions of people leaving. DHS cited a Center for Immigration Studies researcher’s analysis as the source of the initial number, but has not explained how it has calculated the subsequent increases; the researcher, Steven Camarota, told The Dispatch last fall that how DHS has used the estimate doesn’t add up.”Deportation lobbyists accuse the White House of fudging the numbers by including removals that were not previously considered deportations, like those turned away at airports due to visa paperwork issues or those apprehended while attempting to cross the border. As a result, “Immigration hard-liners in the House sent a letter to DHS last month requesting detailed data releases, citing conflicting reports on the numbers of deportations and the lack of transparency in how the agency is calculating self-deportations.”While earlier in the month, DHS released data indicating that immigration arrest levels have reached the highest of the term, peaking at 1,400 per day in July, according to the Dispatch, “after more than a year of DHS circulating unsubstantiated and conflicting data, deportation hawks seem unimpressed and disinclined to believe the numbers.” As Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project and head of the Mass Deportation Coalition, pointed out last week, the 356,000 removals claimed by the administration in 2026 “includes exits and removals other than from interior deportations. ‘The numbers are also strikingly out of step with press releases claiming deportations cresting one million and self-deportations exceeding 2 million,’ he added.”Other MAGA figures have expressed similar disappointment. According to the Dispatch, “Tomi Lahren, a Fox commentator, dedicated her podcast show last week to criticizing DHS for fudging the numbers and producing underwhelming results. Deportation advocates like Lahren and Howell argued that even taking the latest 356,000 figure at face value ... it’s still a far cry from the expectations set by Trump during the 2024 campaign when he promised the largest deportation campaign in history that would remove millions and millions of people from the country.”

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MAGA voters will soon 'quit watching Fox' as gas soars and GOP excuses Trump: Republican

Raw Story

5 hours ago

MAGA voters will soon 'quit watching Fox' as gas soars and GOP excuses Trump: Republican

With gas prices back above $4 a gallon and the midterms approaching, Republicans are choosing to defend President Donald Trump's Iran policy rather than distance themselves from it — a bet that could backfire as voters feel the pinch at the pump.Some GOP lawmakers acknowledge the political risk, but few are willing to blame the 80-year-old president for the higher prices or criticize his decision to launch a war against Iran as they make their case to voters heading into the midterm elections, reported MS NOW.“It’s certainly something we’re concerned about,” said Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “President Trump did the right thing ... We need to support what he’s doing. If that means we have to go to the voters and explain it, so be it.”Hudson insisted the issue had not yet shown up in NRCC polling, but Republicans seem aware that voters are skeptical of the war and its impact on fuel costs.“We’ve got to explain to people that, you know, unfortunately until we get some new leadership in Iran, we’re going to continue to see conflict, which is going to see higher gas prices,” said Sen. Rick Scott, who previously chaired the Senate GOP’s campaign arm.That message may not hold. Some Republicans not seeking reelection were more candid about the risk. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) suggested voters would eventually stop trusting favorable media coverage and start reacting to what they're paying at the pump.“Eventually, I think people’s pocketbooks are going to impose reality on them, and they’re going to quit watching Fox and pay more attention to the gas prices,” Massie said. Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who like Massie was ousted by a Trump-endorsed primary challenger, was more measured, arguing that solving the affordability problem is good politics.Many rank-and-file Republicans dismissed the price increases as temporary, deflecting blame toward local regulations, alleged corporate price gouging, or the previous administration. Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) invoked Biden-era gas prices while defending the Iran strikes as necessary. Reps. Tim Moore (R-NC) and Tim Burchett (R-TN) both pointed fingers at oil companies rather than the war.Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) dismissed the entire issue as election-season noise. “The only reason you’re talking about gas prices is because we’re a few months away from a general election, and you’re just trying to get people irritated,” he told MS NOW. “That’s what you do.”“We knew it was going to go up," Nehls added, "but it is really temporary.”Vulnerable incumbents took a different tack. Reps. David Valadao (R-CA), Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) each tried to shift blame toward Democratic energy policy rather than directly defend the war's economic fallout.The polling suggests the political ground is shifting under them. Oil prices jumped roughly 10 percent last week as hostilities continued, and gains Trump had made in approval ratings after an earlier ceasefire have largely disappeared. A Gallup poll found two-thirds of Americans reporting financial hardship from rising gas prices, with majorities saying they're driving less or altering summer travel plans. A Politico poll found most Americans, including a majority of MAGA voters, blame the war for the price spike — and nearly half of those MAGA respondents said it could push them to vote outside their party.Democrats are moving quickly to capitalize. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has directly tied the price surge to the war, while Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) argued the administration has failed on both of its major promises — lowering costs and avoiding new wars.

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Netanyahu and Zelenskyy to arrive in Washington for Graham funeral – with hopes of winning Trump’s ear

US news | The Guardian

6 hours ago

Netanyahu and Zelenskyy to arrive in Washington for Graham funeral – with hopes of winning Trump’s ear

Both men scheduled to meet Trump at time where US policy towards wars in Iran and Ukraine in state of fluxBenjamin Netanyahu and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to arrive in Washington simultaneously with the goal of winning the ear of Donald Trump at pivotal moments in wars affecting their respective countries.Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, will attend Tuesday’s funeral of Lindsey Graham, the former Republican senator for South Carolina, who died suddenly on 11 July and was a close ally of both leaders. Continue reading...

Center Left

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The Dispatch

6 hours ago

Who Is Darline Graham?

Even those in South Carolina politics who know South Carolina’s new senator don’t really know her politics.

Center Right

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The Dispatch

6 hours ago

Maine Dems Replace Platner

Web: Plus: Trump pauses U.S. strikes on Iran, a terrorist attack kills one at Berlin’s Pride parade, and another politician reads out AI instructions.

Center Right

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