Republicans

Newsweek reports: Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has vowed to nominate former President Donald Trump to be the next Speaker of the House. “After the next election cycle when we take back the House of Representatives, when we send Nancy Pelosi back to the filth of San Francisco, my commitment to you is that my vote for Speaker of the U.S. …

Snopes reports: On July 4, 2021, Hobby Lobby began to trend on Twitter after the company placed an ad in multiple newspapers across the country that promoted Christian ideals. The top of the ad read: “One Nation Under God.” The company uploaded a PDF of the ad to its website, tweeted about it, and posted it on the Hobby Lobby …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas GOP Chairman Allen West announced Sunday he is running for governor, challenging fellow Republican Greg Abbott. The announcement was made during at appearance by West at Sojourn Church in Carrollton, where the former Florida congressman played a video launching his campaign. West’s campaign launch comes about a month after he announced his resignation as state …

Two weeks ago in his speech to the right wing Faith & Freedom conference, Sen. Marco Rubio claimed that Democrats want to silence dissent. Marxists don’t tolerate dissent. They do not tolerate dissent. If you speak out in Marxist societies, you go to jail, you go into exile, some were executed. In new Marxism, if you speak out, you get …

The Hill reports: Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said Sunday said that sending a state’s National Guard to the U.S-Mexico border using money from a private donor sets a “bad precedent.” In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” anchor Dana Bash cited South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s (R) use of funding from Tennessee billionaire Willis Johnson to send …

“The red states probably have a lot of people that, you know, are very, very conservative in their thinking and they think, ‘Well, I don’t have to do that.’ “But they’re not thinking right. When it really boils right down to it, they’re in a lottery to themselves. You know, we have a lottery that basically says, if you’re vaccinated, …

ABC News reports: Nine percent of those surveyed say they either definitely or probably will get vaccinated at some point in the future. But nearly 3 in 10 (29 percent) say they are not likely to get vaccinated, including 20 percent saying they will definitely not do so. The 29 percent who say they are not likely to take a …

USA Today reports: Donald Trump’s campaign-style rally in Florida Saturday comes at a fraught time for the former president: While the organization bearing his name in New York was indicted this week, he is also facing a potential rivalry with Florida governor and protege Ron DeSantis. Trump revisits Florida, a state he won twice, with some Republicans already talking about …

The Insider reports: Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said on Friday that the economy regained 850,000 jobs due to the 2017 Republican tax law. Grassley is a key Republican and is ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He played a major role in pushing through the 2017 tax law, which slashed the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% …

Talking Points Memo reports: No cancel culture or censorship to see here! Just a state official bragging about having a book event cancelled because the work in question challenged his beliefs about history. Well, okay, maybe a little censorship: Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) on Friday openly bragged about ordering the cancellation of a book talk at a state …

The Associated Press reports: Sen. Doug Mastriano, a rising force in Pennsylvania’s ultra-conservative circles who has talked of his desire to bring an Arizona-style audit to Pennsylvania, led a private briefing Wednesday for Republican senators on his plan. Mastriano also solicited legal advice from a Philadelphia-based law firm about the Senate Republican caucus using private money to finance consultants and …

Phoenix’s CBS News affiliate reports: Women who worked at the Arizona Election Audit endured sexual harassment for weeks, even after submitting written accounts of what was taking place. That is according to a former employee who spoke to Arizona’s Family Investigates. Arizona’s Family agreed to conceal the employee’s identity because she says she was a victim of the sexual harassment …

Politico reports: Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and a handful of other Republicans have invited pop star Britney Spears to testify before Congress about her conservatorship. “You have been mistreated by America’s legal system. We want to help,” Gaetz wrote in a letter to Spears dated Wednesday. “The United States Congress should hear your story and be inspired to bipartisan …

Politico reports: Ohio’s blockbuster Republican Senate primary just got even bigger. J.D. Vance, the venture capitalist and best-selling author of “Hillbilly Elegy” officially launched his campaign Thursday, joining the crowded race to replace retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman. Other candidates have already been off and running for months, raising money and angling for former President Donald Trump’s backing in the …

Mediaite reports: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) appeared on Newsmax on Thursday to bash President Joe Biden over his handling of the border crisis. The broadsides were boilerplate, but the most interesting part of his appearance came when he was asked about the 2024 presidential election. “Are you considering a 2024 presidential run?” Cruz responded with nervous laughter and replied, “Well, …

The New York Post reports: A Washington state lawmaker apologized Thursday after he wore a yellow Star of David at an event to make a statement against COVID restrictions. “This gesture went too far,” state Rep. Jim Walsh, a Republican, said during a radio interview with host Jason Rantz. “It was inappropriate and offensive and I’m terribly sorry that it …

Little Rock’s ABC News affiliate reports: At a press conference, Governor Asa Hutchinson gave some staggering statistics regarding a resurgence in COVID-19 cases in the state as the Delta variant spreads and affects, statistics show, those who are unvaccinated. On Thursday, July 1, Hutchinson announced a spike of 700 positive cases in a single day, a number that hasn’t been …

CNN reports: Nearly 40 House Democrats are demanding House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy take what they call “immediate action” to address the behavior of GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, whose actions, they say in a Thursday letter obtained by CNN, “could lead to violence against members of Congress.” The group chose to take this step after Greene spoke …

The Washington Post reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Thursday that Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) will chair the select committee that will probe the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) will serve as a member. Cheney has been outspoken in her criticism of former president Donald Trump and was …

ABC News reports: Overturning a landmark $1.5 million jury verdict, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that former Gov. Terry Branstad [photo] did not illegally discriminate or retaliate against a gay state official. The court found no evidence that Branstad had knowledge that then-Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Chris Godfrey was gay when his administration tried to push Godfrey out of …