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    GOP Governor Stops Short of Endorsing Donald Trump

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    6
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Despite Donald Trump’s early entrance to the 2024 presidential campaign, some Republicans are dedicated to taking the “wait and see” approach to the next election.

    Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who also previously served as Trump’s press secretary, told Fox News’s Shannon Bream that she isn’t focused on 2024 yet and declined to endorse her old boss publicly.

    According to The Daily Wire, Bream asked the newly sworn-in governor, “Your bio, on your official page as Governor, describes you as a ‘trusted confidant of President Trump. Have you talked to him about his ’24 run? Will you endorse him in that?”

    “I love the president, have a great relationship with him,” Sanders responded. “I know our country would be infinitely better off if he was in office right now instead of Joe Biden. But right now, my focus isn’t 2024. It’s focusing here in Arkansas and doing what we can to empower the people of this state, and make sure that I’m delivering on the promises that I laid out over the course of the last two years.”

    “My focus isn’t on 2024,” Sanders answered. “It’s on what we can deliver in this legislative session. I’m not going to set an arbitrary timeline. I’m not really focused on that at all.”

    Bream also pressed Sanders on her own ambitions.

    “I feel the pressure of delivering this legislative session,” Sanders said. “That’s the only thing that our team, and that I am focused on, is delivering on what we laid out to do.”

    Sander’s refusal to outwardly endorse Trump underscores speculation that Republicans are preparing to steer away from the former president and support another candidate in the 2024 election. Numerous polls have reported Trump trailing behind other potential contenders such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

    Yes, a Trump-DeSantis Ticket Could Actually Happen

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    10
    Former President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. [Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons]

    Despite this year’s midterms only being weeks away plenty of Americans are already looking forward to the next presidential election and the idea of a potential Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis ticket has most Republicans thrilled.

    It’s no secret that the 45th President is seriously considering running in 2024, he’s all but confirmed the fact. However, another rising star has captured the hearts of many conservatives in recent years that could derail Trump’s plans. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is widely regarded as the favorite to receive the Republican nomination if Trump doesn’t run, and some analysts say he stands a solid chance of beating out Trump for the nomination if the two became competitors.

    Some Republicans have begun to wonder if Trump ultimately does run for president who his choice for vice president would be, but one fact is for certain it won’t be Mike Pence. Conservatives have pointed to DeSantis as being a potential VP pick, a move that could avoid a divisive primary that could cost the GOP the White House.

    Some experts have cautioned against a Trump-DeSantis ticket over concerns that the 12th Amendment might stand in the way since it seems to suggest that two candidates from the same state cannot run on the presidential ticket. Trump and DeSantis are each currently Florida residents.

    The language of the amendment reads: “[t]he Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.”

    However, based on historic precedent, there’s nothing standing in Trump’s way to selecting DeSantis as his running mate. During the 2000 election concerns arose when Governor George W. Bush of Texas selected former congressman Dick Cheney as his running mate because he maintained residency in Texas during his business career.

    RealClearFlorida reports:

    Cheney moved to Wyoming four days before Bush selected him as his running mate, and Bush/Cheney went on to victory. Liberals attempted a legal challenge on the residency issue, but courts and the legal community soundly rejected it. Cheney’s move to Wyoming put an end to the issue. The courts reasoned that Cheney had fulfilled the residency requirements by doing so.

    The Bush/Cheney ticket is arguably a reverse version of a Trump/DeSantis ticket: Bush and DeSantis were both sitting governors, and thus ineligible to move. Cheney and Trump are businessmen with deep ties to other states. Some would say that Cheney had a major advantage that Trump does not. Cheney’s previous state of residence, Wyoming, loved him. Trump’s previous state, New York, is vigorously pursuing legal charges against him.

    But there is no reason Trump would need to move to New York. He could move to Tennessee, Nebraska, Wyoming, or any other state that would react favorably to his residency. It does not matter that Trump has no previous affiliation with those states.

    It’s worth noting that U.S. case law has opposed extraneous residency requirements for people running for Congress. This flexibility has allowed people like Alan Keyes and Hillary Clinton to move to new states to run for office. True, this case law has concerned states creating extra laws, as opposed to interpreting the 12th Amendment; but given that the judiciary has used the Constitution to strike down these laws, it is unlikely that the same judiciary would hold for extensive residency requirements to prevent someone from getting elected president or vice president.

    Does this mean Trump will ultimately pick DeSantis as his running mate? Not by any means but it does mean he has the opportunity to build a ticket the conservative base is already energized to vote for. But first, Trump has to reveal if he plans to run for president…and now we wait.

    Stacey Abrams Claims Trump Will Turn US Into Autocracy

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    5
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Failed gubernatorial hopeful Stacey Abrams recently claimed President Trump is attempting to shift the United States from a democracy to an autocracy.

    Abrams appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” where guest host Anthony Anderson asked her to explain the “10 steps to autocracy.”

    Abrams said her 10 steps apply to “every nation that has become an autocracy having been a democracy,” specifically referencing Brazil India, Russia, and the Philippines.

    “Start with winning an election,” Abrams said. “Usually the last one you’ll get to have for real.”

    Office of U.S. House Speaker, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Abrams’ next steps included expanding executive power and weakening Congress and the judicial branch.

    “Like, I don’t know, the Supreme Court is giving you unfettered power and saying we don’t have the ability to stop things,” Abrams said, presumably referencing the recent Supreme Court ruling limiting nationwide injunctions.

    Abrams then conveniently avoided mentioning former President Joe Biden, who notably ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down his student loan forgiveness plan.

    Abrams then said autocracies then “gut the civil service” to “break democracy” and put loyalists in the FBI “so they go after your enemies.”

    She again failed to mention that under the Biden administration, Trump was charged in four criminal cases that were widely viewed as political prosecutions.

    Abrams said that Trump “[going] after DEI” was evidence that he was looking for someone to blame, which she said was another hallmark of autocracies.

    She then suggested Trump’s mobilization of the National Guard and the U.S. Marines in Los Angeles was one step away from a full autocracy.

    Watch:

    “You send the U.S. Marines into spaces where they should not be, you send the National Guard in, you kidnap people off of the streets and pretend that’s normal,” Abrams said.

    “Once you’ve done those nine steps, step 10 is easy,” Abrams said. “That’s when you decide there won’t be new elections because everyone’s either afraid, poor, broken, or complicit.”

    Abrams has claimed dozens of times that the 2018 gubernatorial election was stolen from her. In 2019, she said, “I didn’t lose. I got the votes. But we won’t know exactly how many because of how they cheated.”

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    DeSantis Makes Endorsement In Kentucky Governor’s Race, Teeing Up Potential Trump Feud

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0

    Ron DeSantis (R) is rocking the boat.

    The Florida Governor issued a last-minute endorsement in Kentucky’s contentious Republican gubernatorial primary on Monday, throwing his support behind former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft.

    “Hello, this is Governor Ron DeSantis, coming to you from the free state of Florida. You’ve had a woke, liberal governor who’s put a radical agenda ahead of Kentuckians. The stakes couldn’t be higher. I know what it takes to stand up for what’s right, and Kelly Craft’s got it. She’s proven it,” DeSantis said in a recorded statement shared with Fox News Digital. 

    “I’m strongly encouraging you to go out and vote for my friend, Kelly Craft. Kelly shares the same vision we do in Florida. She will stand up to the left as they try to indoctrinate our children with their woke ideology. Kelly will fight against crazy ESG policies that are trying to end the coal industry in Kentucky. And Kelly’s going to do everything in her power to end the fentanyl crisis that is hurting Kentucky families,” he said.

    In a statement to Fox News, Craft said she was “honored and grateful” to have DeSantis’ support, and praised his leadership of Florida.

    “He sets the example for Republican leaders around the nation because he delivers bold, conservative results. Kentucky needs to look more like Florida instead of California, and I look forward to ushering in a new generation of conservative leadership as Governor of Kentucky,” she said.

    However, Donald Trump backed Craft’s opponent, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, early on in the race.

    The race is widely viewed as a bellwether for Republican chances at taking back the White House and Senate in 2024. DeSantis’ last-minute endorsement of Craft ahead of Tuesday’s Republican primary pits him squarely against former President Donald Trump as he seeks to test the strength of his own endorsement after being blamed by some Republicans for the GOP’s disappointing 2022 midterms results.

    Fellow Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has also endorsed Craft.

    Craft and Cameron are facing a crowded field of 10 other Republican candidates, including Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles.

    The winner of Tuesday’s contest will go on to face Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear in the November general election.

    Republican Senator Todd Young Declares He Will Not Vote For Trump In November

    By
    admin
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    12
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) has announced that he will not be voting for former President Donald Trump in the upcoming November election.

    “Principled conservatives need to incentivize our party to nominate somebody that principled conservatives can believe in. I’m tired of having my vote taken for granted,” the Indiana Republican announced on Wednesday night. 

    The Washington Examiner’s Emily Jacobs reports:

    Young split from the former president after he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, though he voted against impeachment. He pledged not to vote for Trump again in 2023 over his conciliatory tone toward Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine and has remained undeterred by the wave of endorsements from his GOP colleagues.

    …

    Young said it was fair for people to ask if abstaining from casting a vote in November would “reward one person at the expense of the other,” adding, “My response is, at some point, principled conservatives need to incentivize our party, the Republican Party, to nominate somebody that principled conservatives can actually believe in.”

    “Stated differently, I’m tired of having my vote taken for granted,” he explained. “I think a lot of Hoosiers are.”

    Young and his colleagues who don’t support Trump have faced increasing questions about their respective plans for November as the former president became their party’s nominee. 

    Former Vice President Mike Pence said last week that he could not endorse Trump “in this campaign,” citing his conscience. 

    “I won’t be voting for Biden. I also won’t be voting for Trump,” Young told an Indiana reporter, echoing Pence’s announcement to Fox News’ Martha MacCallum. “So, does that mean I leave it blank? Does that mean I identify another conservative who’s almost certain not to be the next president of the United States and write them in? I haven’t decided that, and I think that’s a largely unimportant point. I don’t know who goes in that line, if anyone.” 

    According to FiveThirtyEight, as of January 2021, Young supported the Trump administration’s legislative position 82.2% of the time.

    This article originally appeared on American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

    Mitch McConnell Will Not Seek Senate Re-election

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    4

    A stunning development…

    Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday will announce that he is not seeking reelection in 2026, bringing an end to the longest-serving Senate leader’s political career.

    “Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell will say, according to prepared remarks.

    “Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”

    This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

    Trump Holds 39-point Lead Over DeSantis In Florida Poll

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Ron DeSantis via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Trump is still the reigning favorite in the Sunshine State.

    The most recent University of North Florida (UNF) poll sided with Trump, compared to just 21 percent for DeSantis and 6 percent for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. In a head-to-head poll, Trump leads DeSantis 59-29.

    The Hill has more:

    “Despite historically high approval in the polls, Governor DeSantis losing steam in his home state doesn’t bode well for his national campaign,” UNF professor Michael Binder said in a statement. “Even if you wipe out the rest of the competition in a head-to-head, Trump leads DeSantis by 20 points.”

    DeSantis has struggled in Florida, losing key endorsements to Trump despite his leadershhip. A majority of Florida’s congressional delegation has supported Trump, including Sen. Rick Scott (R), who made his Trump endorsement clear last week.

    “I am optimistic that we can return America to its rightful position of economic and military strength and the undisputed moral leader of the free world, but only with strong leadership in the White House,” Scott said in a Newsweek op-ed last week.

    “That is why I support my friend President Donald J. Trump to be the 47th President of the United States and encourage every Republican to unite behind his efforts to win back the White House,” he added.

    Conservative Pundit Candace Owens Says She’s Embarrassed She Supported Trump

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    5
    Image via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The MAGA base is split over President Trump’s recent foreign policy moves…

    Popular conservative pundit Candace Owens said she’s “embarrassed” she supported Donald Trump in the 2024 election following his decision to bomb multiple nuclear facilities in Iran.

    “This is not the candidate that I voted for,” Owens told Morgan in a wide-ranging interview on his YouTube show Piers Morgan Uncensored.

    Owens has long been a supporter of the president and was among the many prominent media supporters that urged Trump to stay out of the conflict. This faction of the MAGA movement noted that Trump campaigned on extracting the United States from foreign conflicts, and clashed with pro-war supporters of the president like Laura Loomer, who recently dubbed Owens, “Tehran Candy.”

    “It’s all of the same rhetoric dating back to 9/11. All of the same tactic trying to smear people who are against this war as ‘jihadists,’” Owens told Morgan, arguing that conflict between Israel and Iran was “simply not our business.”

    “There was no imminent threat to the United States when Trump made this decision to do what Bibi wanted,” Owens said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This was not Trump’s decision it was Bibi Netanyahu’s decision. And that is the reason that he did it. We’re very aware that Israel is dictating our foreign policy, and we’d now like that to stop.”

    Owens, who first voiced opposition to the United States’ potential bombing last week, said she now sees her support of Trump in a different light.

    “He’s been a chronic disappointment,” said Owens. “And I feel embarrassed that I told people to go vote for him because this wasn’t going to happen and it is happening.”

    Owens said there was “no imminent threat” to the United States while slamming Trump’s Sunday strikes. However, Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and others have alleged that Iran was nowhere near obtaining nuclear weapon capability, which the president adamantly denied.

    “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Tuesday.

    Watch:

    Other well-known voices within the MAGA base have also criticized the President’s recent move against Iran.

    Republican firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) engaged in an explosive argument with Fox News host Mark Levin online which eventually spilled over to another interview on One America News.

    Speaking to OAN’s The Matt Gaetz Show, Greene stepped up the MAGA civil war by laying into Levin and questioning his support for President Donald Trump.

    The two conservatives have clashed over Levin’s support Trump’s bombing of Iranian nuclear sites, while Greene has opposed it. She told CNN on Monday: “I got elected on the exact same campaign promises that President Trump got elected on. We promised: no more foreign wars, no more regime change.”

    Earlier in the day, she wrote in a lengthy post on X that Trump’s decision to authorize US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend “feels like a complete bait and switch” on the MAGA agenda.

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    House Overwhelmingly Votes To Sink Trump Impeachment Effort

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    5
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to quash an effort by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to impeach President Trump over the U.S. strikes on Iran.

    The chamber voted 344-79 to table Green’s resolution, which charges Trump with abuse of power. One hundred-twenty eight Democrats voted with Republicans to table the measure.

    Green has sought for months to trigger a vote on impeaching Trump, slamming his handling of foreign and domestic policy issues.

    The congressman on Tuesday reupped that effort, filing a resolution accusing Trump of failing to seek authorization from Congress before striking three sites in Iran over the weekend, which Democrats have taken issue with.

    “In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, abused the powers of the presidency when he disregarded the doctrine of separation of powers by usurping Congress’s power to declare war and ordered the United States military to bomb another country without the constitutionally mandated congressional authorization or notice to Congress — cognizant of the fact that should another country’s military bomb a facility within the United States of America, it would be a de facto declaration of war against the United States of America,” the impeachment resolution reads.

    This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

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    Romney To Align With Dems To Quash Impeachment – But There’s A Catch

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    4
    Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Republican Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) is poised to betray the Republican Party yet again.

    The Anti-Trump Senator told Axios that he would be willing to dismiss articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. However, Romney included one stipulation for this vote, there must be a debate.

    In the report by Stef W. Kight and Stephen Neukam, Romney indicated that he could vote with his Democrat colleagues in the Senate to end the historic impeachment by House Republicans. However, while he was skeptical about whether the allegations rose to a constitutional standard, Romney did insist that there should be a debate, even a brief one, to address the charges:

    I don’t believe there’s a constitutional standard met. But at the same time, I think the Senate should give a chance for debate, even if it’s limited to two hours.

    He added:

    So if there’s a motion just to table without any discussion, that’s something I would oppose. If there’s a provision that allows debate, it’s something I’d be open to.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has publicly opposed the politically-motivated impeachment, but has not made clear what he plans to do. It takes a two-thirds majority to convict someone who has been impeached, and in the Democratic-led Senate, such a vote is highly unlikely. 

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