When you’re at the mercy of a president whose brain is cottage cheese, you end up doing a lot of things that end up hurting you. Let’s look at Republicans walking into rakes.
It makes sense to start with the latest on Max Miller because he inadvertently gave away the whole game. While Mike Johnson and the rest of the GOP clown car leadership mewl about “private matter” or “only allegations” or “give the family space”, Miller just ripped down their façade on Wednesday:
TAPPER: Hold on — hold on, 'cause I'm not done with the list of women who have accused you of violence. Are all three of them lying?REP. MAX MILLER: Yes. And I'm not getting out of the race because in 2016, President Donald J Trump faced the most extreme allegations in the world …
You absolutely cannot fault his logic. Rape culture recognizes rape culture game.
On Tuesday we saw the other side of this coin:
Cornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"
Trump is unequivocally the alpha and the omega of the GOP. He is both all of the limits on their behavior and also the permission they have to trample mores.
But don’t worry, there’s plenty of stupidity and short-sightedness by regular Republicans to fuck up their plans, too. Like this story from Michigan:
A GOP candidate who dropped out of a mid-Michigan congressional primary defeated President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate, Amir Hassan of Flint, on Wednesday in an upset that disrupts the Republican Party’s plan for how to win a competitive U.S. House seat.
Thomas J. Smith won with 50% of the vote to Hassan’s 33% and 16% for Al Lemmo, the candidate that Smith endorsed in mid-July when he withdrew from the campaign, according to incomplete returns compiled by The Detroit News. The Associated Press called the race for Smith, who remained on the ballot because his withdrawal came after the deadline to get his name removed.
[deletia]
Smith, whom some Republican operatives acknowledged never meeting before, made a brief appearance Wednesday at a Republican unity event in Warren, where he spoke for about 13 seconds.
How did this happen? I have an idea:
LOMBARDO: So I know the pastor spoke about Officer Abdelnabi–TRUMP RALLY CROWD: *Boooooo*LOMBARDO: No. We're not booing him. He's the officer that passed away here recently
Yep, they booed someone simply based on his name. And yes they also refused to vote for the candidate Trump endorsed because of his name:
President Donald Trump drew a racist backlash from his supporters on his own social media platform for endorsing a congressional candidate in Michigan.
“It is my Great Honor to endorse Amir Hassan, who is running to represent the fantastic people of Michigan’s 8th Congressional District!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday night. “From bravely fighting for our incredible U.S. Navy, to protecting his Community as a Federal Law Enforcement Officer, Amir has served our Nation with distinction, and will bring that same Fighting Spirit to the U.S. Congress.”
To Trump’s MAGA base, though, it was an egregious error by the president to endorse someone with a seemingly Muslim name, even though, per his campaign website, Hassan “recently reaffirmed his commitment to Christ, stating ‘Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior.’”
[Deletia]
Honestly??? Why????” posted kimberlee2922, who describes herself as a “Proud Conservative.” “Do you think there are already too many foreigners in congress??? Don’t you think enough is enough at this point????”
Hassan was actually born and raised in Flint, Michigan, his campaign website states. But that’s not local enough for some Trump supporters.
“YOU ARE BEING MISLED, President Trump! This guy is a snake in the grass. Muslim and never voted for a republican in his whole life. Moved to Michigan last summer and immediately filed to run for office. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!” wrote JoniMarieForLiberty.
Hassan is a Navy veteran who was stationed at Guantanamo Bay and a former federal law enforcement officer who calls himself an America First Republican. He claims to have “zero tolerance for extremists who pervert Islam into something evil,” and “believes Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East.” But apparently that’s not enough for Trump supporters.
You cannot fix stupid. But you can laugh at it.
I mentioned last week that there was a WV statehouse member who was arrested on charges of enticing a minor and that he had resigned from the House of Delegates. Earlier this week, after intense pressure from the WV GOP, he also formally withdrew his name from the November ballot. The WV GOP was thwarted though when they tried to name a replacement candidate.
See, WV law states that that type of vacancy cannot be filled once the candidate formally withdraws. And who is behind that law? The current GOP supermajority in the WV statehouse.
It’s delicious.
I’ll leave you with this: