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GOP rolls out Maine campaign strategy tying Troy Jackson to Platner

5 hours agoCenter Right

Maine Republicans are hitting newly anointed Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson as Graham Platner’s “biggest supporter” in their latest strategy to hold the Pine Tree State’s contested upper chamber seat. Maine Democrats nominated Jackson on Saturday as the party’s pick to take on incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in the state’s 2026 Senate election, attempting […]

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CNN anchor 'tongue-tied' by surprising new polls on Trump's war

Raw Story

2 hours ago

CNN anchor 'tongue-tied' by surprising new polls on Trump's war

CNN's John Berman was left momentarily speechless by new polling data on President Donald Trump's war in Iran.New polling data presented by the network's Harry Enten suggests Democrats have failed to capitalize on public unease over the 80-year-old president's handling of the Iran conflict, and Berman expressed surprise by the findings."The president's approval rating is sagging, the war in Iran is widely unpopular, so you'd think that Democrats, you might think that Democrats in Congress could see some kind of boost in the polls on this subject," Berman said. "You might think that, but you'd be wrong ... Man, I'm tongue-tied because actually these numbers surprise me. I was looking at them, and I am surprised that they are like this."Two separate polls released this month found Republicans holding a narrow edge over Democrats on the question of who is more trusted to handle Iran policy, Enten said. A CNBC poll found Republicans ahead by two points, and a CBS News poll released just a day later showed the identical two-point advantage."Now, one poll is one thing, but you put the two of them together, and you can see that the American people, simply put, are not buying what Democrats are selling on Iran," Enten said. "They still trust Republicans more. Even if you look at President Trump's approval ratings on the subject, and they're negative, too, but yet Republicans and Trump still more trusted than Democrats are."More striking, Enten said, is the direction of movement over time. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll from April had shown Democrats slightly ahead on Iran trust, by two points. Since then, the numbers have flipped in Republicans' favor — suggesting that as the war has dragged on, public trust has shifted toward the GOP rather than eroded, defying expectations that prolonged conflict would benefit the opposition party."The Democratic Party in the minds of the American public are weak, weak, weak," Enten said.Net approval ratings for Democrats in Congress hovered around negative 40 points in late February, among the lowest levels ever recorded for the party. That unpopularity, Enten suggested, may be undercutting Democrats' ability to convert dissatisfaction with Trump into political trust for themselves, even among some Democratic-leaning voters who remain unhappy with their own party's direction heading into the fall elections. - YouTube youtu.be

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Stampede of GOP blunders has achieved the unimaginable — given Dems a grasp on Alabama

Raw Story

2 hours ago

Stampede of GOP blunders has achieved the unimaginable — given Dems a grasp on Alabama

There’s a hypothesis I can’t shake after years of observations.Alabama Republicans are getting bad at politics.So far, that hasn’t threatened their hegemony. The party controls all state offices; holds seven of the state’s nine congressional seats and enjoys supermajorities in the Alabama Legislature.For that, the GOP can thank an opposition that for the better part of 16 years has been weak, underfunded and divided. It’s like watching a high school baseball team take the field against a sixth-grade rec squad whose coaches are screaming at each other.No need for brilliant skill. Swing the bat and jog the bases while the ball rolls past the fielders and toward the outfield fence.But playing weak opponents can weaken your grasp of the fundamentals. And two developments this month felt like unforced errors.A pair of Republican congressmen — Gary Palmer of Hoover and Robert Aderholt of Haleyville — went out of their way to announce their support of a federal bill that would ban transgender women from joining the Daughters of the American Revolution.If your reaction to that sentence was “huh?” well, it was mine too. I hate to describe what’s happening, because it implies there’s a good-faith disagreement that requires the mediation of Congress. There isn’t. It’s just another instance of bigots demanding the imposition of bigotry.Here’s a summary. Leaders of the Daughters of the American Revolution said in 2023 that they would welcome transgender people who meet their membership requirements. As is the now-tedious inevitability, a few gonad obsessives lost their minds. Earlier this month, about 60% of the delegates at a DAR conference (called a “Continental Congress”) voted to keep the policy. The people who lost now want Congress to intervene.Good for the DAR for preserving common decency. There is zero issue with transgender people being in the organization. A responsible official might turn away from the hate and toward issues like grocery prices, healthcare costs and the quality of education.Yet Palmer and Aderholt consider this issue just as important as those, if not more so. They think this niche obsession is a winner. Maybe with Alabama’s identity-obsessed, lickspittle conservative media. The rest of us may properly scratch our heads.Then there’s Tommy Tuberville’s stampede toward data centers.The Republican gubernatorial nominee told Alabama sheriffs that he opposed statewide moratoriums on data centers; that concerns about their community impacts were “bullcrap” and that China drove opposition to them. He stuck with this argument (and the ludicrous Chinese connection) in later comments to a Huntsville TV station.Tuberville was taking his cues from President Donald Trump, who attacked New York for creating a statewide moratorium on data centers. The U.S. senator has always played Smithers to Trump’s Burns, so that’s not surprising.But it’s one thing for Tuberville to make the case for data centers in his read-the-assignment-minutes-before-class kind of way. Politics 101 demands that you acknowledge the widespread concerns the projects are sparking in Alabama, over power consumption and environmental effects.Here’s a non-exhaustive list of Alabama communities that have seen strong local opposition to data centers or moved to ban them: Bessemer. Pinson. Wilsonville. Cullman. Birmingham. Mobile. Leeds. Homewood. Fairfield. Nationwide, more Americans oppose having data centers in their neighborhoods than support them.This is not manipulation by a foreign government. These are citizens in an ostensible democracy voicing their concerns. A sensible politician would not antagonize people packing town halls and organizing against data centers.Yet Tuberville feels comfortable not only dismissing the critics, but impugning their motives. Even in a place like Cullman, not known for green politics or liberal ideas. If the Republican gubernatorial nominee thinks data centers are the future, he has to acknowledge the concerns. You won’t make data center opponents more comfortable with the facilities by calling them stooges.In the DAR example, we have a willful ignorance of Alabama’s needs. In data centers, we have an open opposition to them. And in both, there’s a seeming disconnect between the politicians and the voters.But this isn’t the only example from Team Red. There was the odd move to rename the Gulf of Mexico 15 months after Trump likely forgot that he ever raised the issue. Or responding to outrage over Alabama’s high power bills by kneecapping the state’s electric regulatory commission. Or the all-Republican Supreme Court confidently ending IVF treatments in the state without considering the political consequences. In each case, you see a party paying more attention to donors or its weird obsessions than what’s happening beyond them.I doubt this will lead to any profound change in November. The Republicans’ institutional advantages are significant.

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Panicking Trump issues dark warning to GOP: ‘Stupidity brings losing and death!’

Raw Story

2 hours ago

Panicking Trump issues dark warning to GOP: ‘Stupidity brings losing and death!’

President Donald Trump issued a panicked plea Monday to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) as the clock ticks on his controversial voter ID bill known as the SAVE Act, warning the South Dakota Republican that “stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH.”“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of, including a full and deep throated SAVE AMERICA ACT, the Budget, and the ever looming Debt Ceiling disaster, 1929!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “The Dumocrats will do it on day one, and can’t believe how lucky they got with this Senate leadership. Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH!”The SAVE Act has stalled in the Senate, with Thune repeatedly claiming he lacks the votes to advance the bill. As a means to force through the SAVE Act, Trump has pressed Thune to eliminate the filibuster, a Senate rule that effectively blocks legislation from advancing in Congress’ upper chamber without 60 votes. Thune has consistently resisted pressure to do so.Described by some critics as a form of “voter suppression,” The SAVE Act would require voters to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote, something experts say could pose hurdles for the 52% of voters who don’t possess a passport and the 11% who don’t have access to their birth certificate. The bill would also disproportionately affect voters with lower incomes, who make up a significant share of Democratic Party voters.

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Trump, 3 GOP senators tell John Thune to keep Senate open until SAVE Act is passed

BizPac Review

4 hours ago

Trump, 3 GOP senators tell John Thune to keep Senate open until SAVE Act is passed

President Donald Trump and three Republicans senators called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to cancel the chamber’s summer recess until the Safeguard America Voter Eligibility (SAVE) […]

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'We may not make it' if we don't stop Trump: Ex-astronauts launch campaign

Alternet.org

4 hours ago

'We may not make it' if we don't stop Trump: Ex-astronauts launch campaign

More than 100 retired NASA astronauts just launched a voting campaign that boils down to this: they've seen America from space, and they're scared as hell about what's happening down here.The group, called Astronauts for America, kicked off their "Vote for Freedom" push on July 20 with a blunt message aimed straight at young voters: democracy is under attack, and you need to show up at the polls in November or we're done.Charles Bolden, who ran NASA under President Obama and flew four shuttle missions, didn't mince words. "We may not make it if we don't do something now," he said, pointing directly at what he called Trump's "assault on democratic norms."Bolden warned there's no time left to waste. "We may not have another presidential term to try to make a difference," he said bluntly.So why are a bunch of former space explorers suddenly getting political? Because they've seen something most of us haven't: what America actually looks like from 250 miles up.Astronaut Cady Coleman, who spent six months floating above Earth on the International Space Station, says she didn't see red states or blue states—no borders, no divisions, just one country. That perspective apparently changed everything for her and her colleagues."During my spaceflights, I literally didn't know and never asked about their politics," Coleman said. "But now we're all together, and what we're fighting for is something that's common to all of us—we're fighting for our country, for our democracy."Here's their game plan: hit up about 60 college campuses in swing states and get young people fired up about voting. They're not running as Democrats or Republicans—they're just saying: vote, or democracy dies.Linda Godwin, another veteran astronaut, put it simply: "Right now, we think our country is the mission."They're also planning to grade congressional candidates on whether they actually care about the Constitution. In other words, they're calling out the phonies.Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina in space, nailed it: "A democracy depends on people actually participating. Voting is the single most important thing you can do."The astronauts summed up their entire mission in one line—and yes, it's a callback to Neil Armstrong: "Going to the polls is one small step for you, and one giant leap for our country."With 100 days until the election, the astronauts' message is clear: this isn't politics as usual. It's a fight for the survival of democracy itself.

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

Raw Story

4 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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Trump tariffs come back to haunt GOP as elections near

NewsNation

4 hours ago

Trump tariffs come back to haunt GOP as elections near

The Trump administration announced Thursday it will impose double-digit tariffs on imports from 60 trading partners over forced labor violations.

Center

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Trump Poll Collapse Hits New Milestone as Leaks Reveal Fresh GOP Panic

The New Republic

5 hours ago

Trump Poll Collapse Hits New Milestone as Leaks Reveal Fresh GOP Panic

Donald Trump has hit a trifecta, throwing away the traditional GOP edge on the economy, immigration, and national security. The latest polls show Democrats are leading Republicans on the economy by a comfortable nine points, have hit near-parity with the GOP on immigration, and lead on foreign policy, even as Trump has sunk into the 20s on the Iran war, all shockers. These polls show it’s all driven by Trump’s collapsing approval on all three. Yet Trump just unleashed a huge new wave of tariffs. His GOP allies are leaking their deep dismay to Politico: One suggests this worsens the affordability problem and cannot be spun favorably by GOP candidates. Another says this is a “bad conversation for Republicans.” We talked to Democratic strategist Andrew Bates. He explains what all this looks like on the ground in difficult House races, what obstacles still remain, and why it remains hard for Democrats to win rural voters who are unhappy with Trump. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.

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GOP rolls out Maine campaign strategy tying Troy Jackson to Platner

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GOP rolls out Maine campaign strategy tying Troy Jackson to Platner

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