Matt Laslo

Based on Capitol Hill, Matt Laslo has been covering campaigns and every aspect of federal policy since 2006. In addition to his reporting for Raw Story, Matt has been a contributor at WIRED, VICE News, VICE News Tonight, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. He also contributes reports to NPR and more than 40 of its affiliates and numerous other publications, including The Atlantic and Billboard. He also has the The LCB — or Laslo Congressional Bureau — a Washington-based wire service. Since 2009, he’s sat on the board at the Regional Reporters Association, and in 2011, he graduated cum laude from The Johns Hopkins University MA in Government and Public Policy program. He now teaches there as an adjunct political communications professor, as well as teaching communications and/or journalism at George Washington University, Boston University and the University of Maryland.

We asked 10 Republican senators: ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ Things got weird fast.

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans weren’t ready for former President Donald Trump to wade into the realm of Vice President Kamala Harris’ race and ethnicity while speaking Wednesday to a room of Black journalists.

But Trump did. And now the GOP is dealing with the fallout.

In Chicago, Trump told attendees of a National Association of Black Journalists convention that Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was "Indian all the way" until “she became a Black person” in recent years. (Harris’ mother is Indian and originally from India, her father is Black and originally from Jamaica.)

Donald Trump at NABJ conference in Chicago Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump participates in a question and answers session at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention at the Hilton Hotel on July 31, 2024, in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

So Raw Story took Trump’s claim to 10 Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

‘What?’

“Is Kamala Harris Black?” Raw Story asked Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) about Harris, who served in the U.S. Senate from 2017 to 2021.

“What?” Tuberville exclaimed.

“That came up for debate yesterday by the head of your party,” Raw Story explained.

ALSO READ:'That's a lie': The 10 quotes Trump said to Black journalists that led to outbursts

“I don’t get in those debates,” Tuberville said. “Is she an American — that's what I don’t know. Is Trump an American? If they’re both Americans, naturalized citizens, hey, they get an opportunity to run for president.”

“Are you convinced that she is?”

“A citizen?” Tuberville asked. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Some people are saying Trump's comments yesterday are a throwback to birtherism under Obama.”

“I don't get in that debate. Come on,” Tuberville said. “We need to talk about policies.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville at the Republican National Convention Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) poses for a photo ahead of the start of the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“Curious — is Kamala Harris Black?” Raw Story then asked Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) after he voted in the Capitol on Thursday.

“Yes, we know what her ancestry is. She's half Indian, half Jamaican,” Johnson replied.

“Do you need to educate the former president on that?” Raw Story asked of Trump. “Or do you think he knows that?”

“He's just pointing out that she's kind of claimed different heritages at different times in her political career. That's true, isn't it? He's pointing out the truth,” Johnson said. “You can question whether that was the smart thing to point out, but he's just pointing out what the truth is.”

Trump made GOP leaders — present and next gen — squirm

“Senator McConnell, is Kamala Harris Black?” Raw Story asked the Senate minority leader and he and his security detail made their way to the Senate floor. “It seems to be up for debate in your party.”

McConnell — who’s announced he’s stepping down as the Republican Senate leader after the November elections — smiled and, per the leader’s usual, said nothing as he walked onto the Senate floor.

The next generation of Republican leaders weren’t so stoic.

“Is Kamala Harris Black?” Raw Story asked McConnell’s former right hand man, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who’s vying to replace him.

Mitch McConnell at the U.S. Capitol U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks during a news conference following weekly party policy luncheons at the Capitol on July 30, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

“I can assume we're all a combination of different genetic gene pools, so I don't know,” Cornyn told Raw Story. “I think we're all sort of a mixture.”

McConnell’s current number two appeared annoyed by the question.

“As far as I know,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) — who’s also running to replace McConnell — told Raw Story. “I'm focused on the issues.”

The third Senate Republican running to replace McConnell came with a proverbial doctor’s note.

“Is Kamala Harris Black?” Raw Story asked as an elevator took Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) up to the Senate floor for a vote.

“I didn't hear the comments,” Scott told Raw Story.

“He said ‘she turned Black recently,’” Raw Story noted.

“I’m always talking about issues,” Scott said.

Another reporter interjected: “Do comments like that make you feel uncomfortable in any way?”

“I didn't see the comment,” Scott replied.

“Do you avoid TV and the paper just to not have to talk about Trump?” Raw Story pressed.

“Actually, I don’t watch enough TV,” Scott said as he laughed. “Actually at the time I was giving a speech on the Senate floor.”

“Yeah?”

“I really was,” Scott said.

“Saved by the bell.”

GOP war on Democrats’ identities

But Democrats fear this bell has only begun to ring as Harris and Trump — and their revved up bases — now sprint toward the election.

“I assume so. She says so,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story while walking to his office after voting. “I think she's Jamaican-American, right? And Indian.”

“What’d you make of that exchange yesterday?” Raw Story pressed.

“Here's what I think. My issue is not how she describes herself or her heritage — that’s totally up to her — my issue is what she says she’s going to do as president," Hawley said. “It's with her policies, which I think are insane.”

Josh Hawley walking through the U.S. Capitol Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) arrives to the U.S. Capitol Building on September 26, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“Some people say it’s Trump stoking Charlottesville — ‘they will replace us’?” Raw Story said, referencing the racist Unite the Right demonstrations of 2017 that left one woman dead.

“Well, you will never convince me that Donald Trump is racist,” Hawley — who infamously revved protestors up by raising his clenched fist on Jan. 6, 2021 — said. “I don't think he's racist at all.”

Hawley continued: “I thought he was needling her a little bit and that racial identity politics are just inherently malleable. And, frankly, absurd. I mean, yes, she's an Indian-American. She's a Jamaican-American. Most Americans are multiple — something-American. And, you know, they've got ‘White Dudes for Kamala’ and ‘Asian Pacific Islanders for Kamala.’ I mean, the whole thing is just, most people look at this, like, ‘this is ridiculous.’”

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) — who views the entire exchange as “careless politics” — let out a squeak of laughter when asked, “Is Kamala Harris Black?”

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“Well, she's a woman of color,” Cramer replied. “And she said — and she's a — from what I know and what I read — she's a Black. Part Black. She's part Indian. And both are wonderful.”

Cramer continued by offering that “when identity politics play a role — or racial identity — plays a role in hiring practices or nominating, you can hardly complain about it if that's the credential that got you the job. In her case, I think what … President Trump's intent was, she's the one that wasn't Black in her own mind —- not in anybody else's — and then when it's convenient, she becomes Black. That's his point.”

Cramer added: “I've seen interviews of some other people of color that were really good, because what I think happens is … I think, it's already baked in to those people. To other people who don't want color to be the reason that people look at them as successful, they're offended by her,” Cramer said. “But again, it's not that he's necessarily wrong. As entertaining as it is, there's no need to do it.”

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) speaks to members of the media during a news conference following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon on June 12, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

As for Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), she, too, said she wasn’t that familiar with Trump’s take on Harris’ race.

“I didn't really see it. Obviously, it's been in the news,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told Raw Story. “I think sticking to the policies is the better strategy here. And so I'll leave it at that.”

Outside the Senate chambers Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) trashed Harris’ record as vice president and highlighted her connection with Biden.

“She and Joe Biden have spent four years undermining our friends and allies and showing weakness and appeasement to our enemies, which has led to endless wars and chaos abroad,” Cruz said.

“Is she Black?” Raw Story asked Cruz of Harris.

Cruz didn’t reply as he walked away onto the Senate floor to vote.

Boebert, MTG and far-right friends derail Speaker Mike Johnson’s summer plans

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans have all but given up on governing this year.

So they’re off to go campaign the rest of the summer despite — in the recent estimation of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — the nation being mired in “crisis” and “decline” over issues squarely in Congress’ purview, ranging from immigration to inflation to international relations.

After Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other Republican leaders embarrassingly had to pull four funding bills from the House floor this summer over internal party disagreements, this week GOP leaders just decided to pull the plug on legislating and start their summer recess early.

ALSO READ: How much access did $50,000 buy someone at the Republican National Convention?

“They're the party of chaos and dysfunction,” Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) — the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus — told Raw Story. “They don't know how to govern. They're not here to put the American people first. They focus more on political games and brinksmanship — pitting communities against each other — than they are solving problems and moving our country forward.”

Republican-on-Republican brawls

It’s not just Democrats.

As frustrations grow, Republicans are also pointing the finger at other Republicans.

“Oh, I totally and completely agree,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Raw Story. “I mean, as the majority, we can't pass bills, because of the different arguing.”

Earlier this week, Republican leaders unexpectedly pulled the party’s annual energy and water funding bill after internal GOP disputes over its price tag. Unresolved amendments further imperiled the typically uncontroversial measure.

“Why can’t you guys pass spending bills?” Raw Story asked.

“Talk to the speaker about that,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) told Raw Story.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump ‘secretary of retribution’ won't discuss his ‘target list’ at RNC

While these holdouts from the far-right wing of the Republican Party are making it look like the GOP can’t govern, they don’t care.

“Well, we’re over funding the government, in my opinion,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) — one of the eight Republicans who dethroned former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — told Raw Story.

This week, conservative complaints over the funding levels and that abortion restrictions were stripped out derailed the Agriculture and Financial Services funding measures. And last month, Republicans pulled their funding measure for themselves, the legislative branch, because some members were upset that it blocked a scheduled pay raise for lawmakers. (Most members of Congress have earned $174,000 annually since 2009.)

GOP leaders cancel floor fireworks

Next week seemed destined to feature political fireworks.

The Republican Party was scheduled to tackle the House’s Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, which already included nearly $1 billion in cuts to the Department of Justice (think action against the “Deep State”).

It also cuts 11 percent from the budgets of U.S. attorneys’ offices, while also cutting salaries and expenses in the Department of Justice by 20 percent.

But that wasn’t good enough for former President Donald Trump’s fiercest allies in the House.

Party leaders rejected additional cuts demanded by the far-right: defunding special counsel Jack Smith, for example.

For her part, Greene was one of at least three Republicans who were prepared to offer amendments defunding special counsels.

Even though Senate Democrats and the Biden White House were all but certain to strip any of those measures from the final spending bill, Greene says the amendments are more than mere politics.

“They’re incredibly important, because people need to be fired,” Greene told Raw Story. “And that's one of the problems in the federal government, that doesn't happen. Private industry, private companies are successful all the time, because not only do they produce the budgets that produce a profit but they also fire people when they're not doing a good job. I mean, we can go through the list, but I don't think these people deserve their paychecks.”

Earlier this month, two days after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Boebert dropped a measure to “prohibit the use of Federal funds for the salary of the Director of the United States Secret Service.”

She’s been claiming a win since Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned earlier this week. But Boebert and other Republicans still want to exact a few pounds of flesh from another law enforcement agency — the FBI.

“I don't offer amendments or legislation that I don't feel is important,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) told Raw Story. “This is something that I want to get to the bottom of. And also, you know, this FBI who has failed us on just about every level and is now responsible for the investigation of the assassination attempt on President Trump and I don't trust it.”

Speaker Johnson only has three votes to spare in his party, given the tiny majority Republicans hold over Democrats. Efforts such as slashing funding for the FBI make these spending measures unserious to Democrats, who won’t vote for them across the board.

But Boebert — no friend of Greene but allied on these issues — says they’re vital.

“Our FBI has been weaponized and should not have increased funding. It should not even be funded at the level that it is. It shouldn't be staffed at the level that it is,” Boebert said. “And, you know, I think that we could have done a better job throughout this Congress in getting to the bottom of the weaponization of our federal government.”

Democrats complain their GOP counterparts are weaponizing something themselves — the legislative process.

“This is crazy,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) — a “Squad” member who recently lost his primary bid to a more moderate Democrat — told Raw Story. “The people who support them support the chaos. The destruction of the federal government and the defunding of the federal government and all of that, that's what it seems like, you know, their base, you know, gut Roe v. Wade, get rid of DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] stuff, like, ‘Trump is our champion.’”

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) Jeenah Moon/Getty Images

Veteran Republicans bemoan infighting

Some veteran congressional Republicans admit it’s crazy, too — at least when they’re not being quoted, by name and for the record, for Raw Story news stories..

Otherwise, they’re claiming mini-victories for moving all the annual spending measures out of committee and passing five of the 12 on the House floor.

They’ve put on happy-enough faces now that Republicans have derailed Republicans’ plans to do what they ran on when they recaptured the House in 2022 and pass the nation’s 12 spending bills.

But failing to pass the other seven spending measures weakens the GOP ahead of inevitable negotiations with Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden.

“It does help in the negotiations if you can pass the bill on the floor. When there's a small number of Republicans that don't want to vote for other Republicans’ bills, it weakens Republican’s position in negotiations,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) — an 11-term lawmaker who’s a senior member of the spending, or appropriations, committee — told Raw Story. “But ultimately, we're still going to have to negotiate.”

As for House Republicans failing to live up to what they promised voters?

Like GOP leaders, Diaz-Balart is banking on the American people not paying attention to the party’s high-stakes stumbles as Democrats and Republicans fight for control of Congress during the November election.

“It's inside baseball. This is inside baseball,” Diaz-Balart said. “It's always frustrating when you can't get Republicans to support Republican bills, but your average voter doesn’t look at this process.”

Other Republicans from the party’s far-right are using the spending battles and party’s inability to even defund the government as another chance to sell a second Trump administration to voters, because they see House Speaker Johnson and retiring Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as a part of the problem.

“A lot of that will go away when we have real leadership,” Greene told Raw Story. “And we just don't have it right now.”

WATCH: Netanyahu protesters descend on U.S. Capitol

WASHINGTON — As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress inside the U.S. Capitol, demonstrators both inside the chamber — including Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) who held up a sign reading “war criminal” — and outside the chamber protested his high-profile visit.

Inside the Capitol, Raw Story witnessed Capitol Police arrest five protestors for defiantly wearing yellow pro-Palestine tees during Netanyahu’s address.

Nearby, outside the Capitol's perimeter, protestors marched around the building decrying the prime minister as a war criminal and President Joe Biden as his enabler. The marchers were mostly peaceful, but police at times clashed with some protesters, with law enforcement overheard saying they used pepper spray.

Here are some of the scenes from this afternoon:

Thousands of people protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu march near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 24, 2024. (Video: Matt Laslo / Raw Story)roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms

An anti-Netanyahu protester moves toward the U.S. Capitol on July 24, 2024. (Matt Laslo / Raw Story)

Police stand watch outside the U.S. Capitol and anti-Netanyahu protesters march on July 24, 2024. (Matt Laslo / Raw Story)

Law enforcement officials, including New York Police Department officers, form a security perimeter near the U.S. Capitol on July 24, 2024. (Matt Laslo / Raw Story)

‘Winning’: Republican lawyers justify lawbreaking stars of ‘law and order’ GOP convention

MILWAUKEE — Donald Trump and a fraternity of fellow felons played starring roles at this week’s Republican National Convention.

There was former Trump adviser Peter Navarro, fresh out of federal prison, delivering a prime-time speech.

There was former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, prowling the Fiserv Forum convention floor with official credentials.

Paul Manafort attends the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

More than a dozen Republican convention delegates are indicted “fake electors” charged with attempting to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

And even Kid Rock — who performed a pro-Trump anthem minutes before the former president delivered his lengthy nomination acceptance speech Thursday — has been charged with several crimes over the years stemming from physical altercations.

Musician Kid Rock performs on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 18, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wis. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Republicans, who used the convention to fashion themselves the party of law and order and rule of law, largely dismissed their GOP brethren’s legal troubles as witch hunts, abuse of federal power and the Democrat-driven product of conservatives’ new favorite term — “lawfare.”

But unlike most unelected delegates at the Republican National Convention, some veteran Republican lawyers admitted to Raw Story that Trump and his top advisors actually stepped over the legal line.

“I mean, when you don’t reply to a subpoena, you don’t reply to a subpoena,” former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) — who has a law degree from Penn State Dickinson Law — told Raw Story on the convention floor Thursday.

Rick Santorum at the Republican National Convention in 2024 Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (L) speaks with Ohio governor Mike DeWine at the Fiserv Forum during preparations for the Republican National Convention (RNC) on July 14, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wis. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Other Republican lawyers turned lawmakers are surprised the Supreme Court recently granted Trump — along with other presidents — sweeping immunity from being prosecuted for anything they claim as an ‘official duty, such as commanding Department of Justice officials to overturn the will of the American people.

“He’s the luckiest man I've ever met,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) told Raw Story as he was entering the convention Thursday. “And he was very lucky on Saturday. Thank God.”

Before coming to Congress, McCaul served as both deputy attorney general of Texas and a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice. He’s still mystified by some recent rulings, including Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision — which is being appealed — that Special Counsel Jack Smith is illegitimate.

“I didn't see some of these recent legal wins coming,” McCaul said. “I'm a federal prosecutor, I was worried about some of these [cases].”

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Smith is prosecuting Trump for retaining boxes and boxes of sensitive classified documents after leaving the White House

“Do you think a president should still take classified documents with him?” Raw Story asked former Rep. John Duncan Jr. (R-TN).

“No. I don't think he should,” Duncan, who previously served as a criminal court judge, said.

‘Yeah?” Raw Story pressed. “But not illegal?”

“Yeah. Yeah,” Duncan — who recently argued in an op-ed that roughly 90% of classified documents are ‘too much’ — told Raw Story. “Technology moves so fast, I can tell you any files that Trump had for three and a half years, it's out of date. So I think it's a bunch of hullabaloo over nothing.”

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Indeed, the Republican lawyers Raw Story talked to at the GOP convention wouldn’t have necessarily prosecuted Trump and his former team — including Navarro, Steve Bannon and Roger Stone — had it been up to them. But they indicated the various cases are far from baseless.

They’re outliers in an arena that gave recently released convict Navarro a standing ovation Wednesday evening..

“Donald Trump's gonna be our next president. Joe Biden's gonna be out of the White House. Peter Navarro's outta jail,” Connecticut delegate Jeff Santopietro told Raw Story after having Navarro sign a copy of his book Thursday. “Listen, first of all, I'm buying it to support him, but I understand it's a good read. And I think that he deserves to get a break in life, because Joe Biden and the government really screwed the guy.”

Former director of the U.S. Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro speaks on stage on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wis. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“Lawfare” may feel like new rhetoric on the right, but it’s become a deeply held conviction to many Republicans.

“It smells like there's two sets of rules and there's not in the world,” Santopietro said. “There's a set of rules for the Bidens and there set of rules for everybody else. If you have an ‘R’ behind the end of your name, or you’re associated with Donald Trump, you end up getting federal officers after you.”

“What’d you make of the New York case against Trump?” Raw Story asked, referring to the case that led to Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, stemming from Trump’s hush money payment to former porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 president election. Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for September.

“It’s bulls–t,” Santopietro said. “In plain English it was all bulls–t. Matter of fact … that’s a persecution. That wasn't a legal case at all.”

“They should throw that whole case out and say they're sorry and move on. Cause when he's in the White House, January 21st,” Santopietro started before stopping himself. “There’s no payback. But you know what? They deserve everything they get.”

New York Republicans agree.

“Shame on us for basically having a prior president of the United States from your home state, you disown him the day he becomes president, not the day he no longer is president, from your own home state. Who does that? Foolishness,” Tommy — who declined to offer his last name — told Raw Story through his thick Brooklyn accent. “You disown the guy the day he has the authority to make your lives better in your home state out of the other 50 states? Something's not mentally right.”

Republican lawyers see the line Trump and his advisers crossed, but that doesn’t mean they disagree with the party’s unelected base.

“The problem is, [former Obama administration Attorney General] Eric Holder didn’t reply to a subpoena and he’s walking around a free man. He was never prosecuted. Again, it’s the old double standard,” Santorum said. “I think Americans are hopefully getting tired of it and they’d like to have both parties play by the same rules.”

“What do you make of these court cases coming down in Trump's favor?” Raw Story asked.

“The Democrats found a bunch of spurious claims against him. I mean the New York case, he’ll win that on appeal, because it was a bogus charge,” Santorum said. “They have frivolous charges. This is lawfare…they don’t care about winning, they care about damaging politically.”

When asked about the substance of the cases against Trump and his team, McCaul demurred.

“For this crowd, it just validates what they've been thinking, ‘It's all rigged,’” McCaul told Raw Story.

“But what about your crowd of legal scholars?” Raw Story pressed.

“Hey man,” McCaul said. “I know he's winning.”

Republican hit with $2.9K taxi fare after tech outage leaves him stranded at RNC

MILWAUKEE — Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) is about to take the ride of his life.

Well, at $2,900, it will at least be the most expensive taxi ride of his life.

In the wake of this week’s Republican National Convention, Fleischmann and his wife found themselves stranded in Milwaukee Friday, ensnared in the CrowdStrike outage that’s grounded more than 2,000 flights nationwide.

After Delta Air Lines canceled the flight they were scheduled to take home to Tennessee, Fleischmann was told he couldn't rebook for today — or even in the coming days.

“It is no more,” Fleischmann told Raw Story at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. “It disappeared.”

Like others stranded here in Wisconsin, the congressman couldn’t get a rental car as thousands of Republican National Convention attendees scrambled to depart.

“They’re all booked,” he said, tieless and wearing a blue sports coat with his shiny congressional pin gleaming on his lapel as he sat in the airport food court.

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All Fleischmann could find is a taxi willing to drive them for $2,900.

With no other option, the fiscal conservative is resigned to an overnight cab ride back to Chattanooga, TN.

“Wow,” Raw Story responded. “And the cabby has to then drive back alone?”

“Yeah,” Fleischmann said. “But they’re making out all right.”

‘She’s got balls’: Republican delegates gush over Marjorie Taylor Greene’s extremism

MILWAUKEE — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-GA) say-anything, trash-anyone style has earned her a dedicated fanclub here at the Republican National Convention.

And while Republican attendees from across the United States can’t vote for the bombastic second-term congresswoman, they can donate to her and buy her book, which was on display Wednesday as more than 100 attendees lined up at her convention-endorsed book signing.

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“I love her. She's the future of this country,” Jamie Ricci of Rhode Island told Raw Story after showing the congresswoman the MAGA tattoo on his shoulder when he went through the book line. “She's got balls.”

Ricci wanted to get that MAGA tat done when he was in Washington, D.C., for then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021.

MAGA Jamie Ricci of Rhode Island shows of his MAGA tattoo while attending a book event headlined by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). (Matt Laslo / Raw Story)

But, like much of that trip, things didn’t pan out as planned. He ended up not being able to get a slot in one of D.C.’s tattoo parlors before the rally he attended descended into a takeover of the U.S. Capitol, which he and his friend stopped just short of joining on Trump’s behalf.

“I said, ‘I'm not going in there. We don't belong,’ and I told him, and he's a lawyer, he's a smart guy. So God was with us, because we'd be in jail,” Ricci remembered.

As for Greene, she’s one of his contemporary political heroes, even if he recognizes she’s over the top sometimes.

“I mean, sometimes she goes a little extreme, but I don't blame any of these people for what they’ve seen on the other side, what they're doing or the way they're handling things. When she brought a hat at the State of the Union, I was like, ‘if they're breaking every rule, we can break the rules,” Ricci said. “Her ad with the targets with the guns was sick.”

Republican National Committee-appointed handlers tried to keep the media away from Greene at her public book signing.

“No interviews,” a man with an “operations” credential told reporters. “No interviews.”

But Greene, being Greene, ignored the memo and answered a couple questions.

“What’s the message of your book?” Raw Story asked.

“It’s about the policies for America First, and, basically, more about my story,” Greene replied.

While many in the line didn’t know what the book was about, they were eager to meet the bomb thrower from Northern Georgia.

“Here’s my business card. Contact me for a donation!” Shelly Garofalo, an alternate delegate from Tacoma, Wash., told the congresswoman.

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“I love her toughness,” Garofalo told Raw Story. “It's refreshing, because there's [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)] on the other side, and it sounds like there's so many talking points from AOC. We need somebody to balance and say, ‘Wait a minute, if you're calling us out on this, we're calling you out on this.’”

Still, Garafalo blushes while watching MTG’s antics sometimes.

“She calls people out, like she called Dr. [Anthony] Fauci out on some stuff. And she called him ‘Mr. Fauci’ instead of ‘doctor’ — I’m like, I don’t know if I’d go to that extreme, but she’s tough,” Garofalo said. “I love her toughness. I love her strength. I love the fact that she is calling the top leadership in our government, when there's corruption, she's calling them out. So that's what I like, because the top government officials should be working for the people and they're not working for the people.”

Cecilia Calabrese, a Region 3 Director for Massechuttes for Trump, arrived 40 minutes early to be one of the first in line.

“Thank you so much congresswoman for all you do,” Calabrese told Greene.

“We need her in the Congress so badly. I was very excited to get to meet her,” Calabrese told Raw Story. “I'm from Massachusetts, so I have no one in my congressional delegation that represents me.”

Republicans play dumb over Jared Kushner while decrying Bob Menendez corruption

MILWAUKEE — Senate Republicans gathered at the Republican National Convention are predictably pressuring Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to resign his office after a federal jury found him guilty on 16 counts, including accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and acting as a foreign agent.

But those same Senate Republicans shrug off concerns about Jared Kushner — President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a former senior adviser — who many Democrats accuse of corruption involving his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, and its $2 billion business deal with the Saudi crown prince.

Kushner, unlike Menendez, has not been criminally charged and maintains he’s done nothing wrong.

“I agree with [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer that Menendez should resign,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Raw Story from the Fiserv Forum, where the Republican National Convention is being conducted. “And I’ve stayed quiet on this case up until this point, but now that the jury has returned a verdict — a jury of his peers have found him guilty of blatant bribery. The facts are appalling and I think Chuck Schumer is right that it’s time for him to resign.”

ALSO READ: Associated Press issues warning about iconic Trump assassination attempt photo

“Some people say that Kushner’s corrupt too — with his $2 billion Saudi fund — what do you make of that?” Raw Story pressed.

Cruz’s face soured before he turned around and was swept away by his entourage, including three big, elbow throwing security guards.

Menendez has “gotta leave,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told Raw Story after addressing delegates at the Republican National Convention Tuesday.

Former lawmakers using 'slush funds' to lobby members of Congress for foreign nations U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, seen here in 2015. (AFP)

“Do you think the Senate should vote on booting him?” Raw Story asked.

“The best thing for him is to go ahead and leave,” Scott said.

“When it comes to corruption, do you remember the charges against Jared Kushner getting $2 billion from the Saudis for his fund?” Raw Story asked. “What do you make of those charges?”

“I don’t know much about it,” Scott said. “No, you know, it’s my understanding that for a lot of people these sovereign funds invest in a lot of different things. I don’t know enough about it.”

On the convention floor, the cheerful, celebratory mood of Republicans changed whenever Menedez was mentioned.

“At this point he’s a convicted felon,” Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) told Raw Story. “My message has been, let’s wait and see what happens, which I think is perfectly right. And now that he’s been convicted, I think he should go.”

For senators, the Menendez matter is personal. When one senator is found with gold bars and a free Mercedes-Benz, voters might suspect that other senators in the “world’s greatest deliberative body” are on the take, too.

Menendez has “gotten himself in this position. It’s sad for him and his family. It’s also sad for the institution,” Boozman said. “And that reflects on all of us and, so many people, that’s the view that they have of us. One of the big problems of governing this country is that Americans have lost faith in their institutions, and so this is just another blow to that.”

“What do you think, cause when it comes to corruption, some people point to Jared Kushner and that family thing — the $2 billion from the Saudis?” Raw Story pressed.

“I don’t know anything about that,” Boozman said. “I think just apples and oranges.”

Meanwhile, the matter of Trump’s own legal issues — particularly a Manhattan jury finding him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in service of keeping former porn actress Stormy Daniels quiet about a sexual affair before the 2016 election — are almost never mentioned here in Milwaukee.

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in September. Far from asking Trump to step down from the Republican ticket, almost all Republican leaders have decried the Trump verdict as a miscarriage of justice and maintain Trump is innocent, particularly in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.

Eerie assassination reference greets delegates picking up RNC credentials

MILWAUKEE — Assassination was in the air at the Republican National Convention, even before news of another possible Donald Trump assassination plot — this one hatched in Iran — broke Tuesday.

“Fight, fight, fight,” delegates chanted as former President Donald Trump greeted attendees Monday evening after surviving a would-be assassin's bullet at a campaign event Saturday in Pennsylvania.

But Trump is not the first populist former president to defy death before leaving an indelible mark on this Midwestern city. Historical plaques reminded convention-goers of a dramatic event from more than a century ago as they picked up their credentials at the Milwaukee Hyatt Place Downtown — just a nine-minute stroll from the Fiserv Forum, where the convention is being conducted.

Back in 1912, outside the hotel, a mentally unstable saloonkeeper shot former President Teddy Roosevelt when he was seeking a third presidential term in the newly formed — and short lived — Bull Moose Party.

The .32 caliber bullet ripped into Roosevelt’s chest. But Roosevelt didn’t yield. With the slug still in him, Roosevelt greeted a room full of politicos on the 3rd floor of the hotel, even pulling out and showing the crowd the bloody copy of his speech that helped save his life by slowing the bullet down.

“You see, it takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose,” Roosevelt told attendees.

That 1912 assassination attempt is an integral part of Milwaukee’s history.

“Yes. Yes. Absolutely,” Gerald Randall, 70, a Wisconsin delegate and member of Milwaukee’s Spectacle Club for businessmen, told Raw Story. “I participate every year in a commemoration dinner for Teddy Roosevelt, and we talk about the story of how he came and was shot and continued to give a 90-minute speech after he announces to the audience that, you know, ‘I've been shot, so I'll have to cut my remarks short.’”

Milwaukee is adding a new chapter to its political history this week, and parallels are being drawn between Roosevelt and Trump.

Both are New Yorkers, populists and one-time presidents.

Roosevelt was a trust buster who took on the monopolies of his day, which is reminiscent of how Trump — and his new vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) — have advocated for the break up of some of Silicon Valley’s largest tech behemoths.

But Roosevelt was a progressive former “Rough Rider” who fearlessly stormed Cuba and engaged in strenuous pastimes throughout his life. Trump infamously avoided serving in the Vietnam War after getting a “bone spur” diagnosis and mostly sticks to golf.

While Trump is bombastic, he never struck Randall as tough — until Trump thrust his clenched fist in the air as blood dripped onto his flushed face.

“Not until this past weekend. This past weekend I think the parallels were there, but prior to that, you know, a populist? Yes. A populist with grit? Now. And all of the images that have been flashed so far, they reflect that. I didn't think so until this weekend,” Randall said.

“National security — ‘speak softly, but carry a big stick’ —- today, what's our place in the world in terms of leadership and making the world safer?’” he added.

“Some people say Trump speaks loudly and carries a big stick,” Raw Story pressed.

“Yeah,” Randall said. “Maybe that's the new doctrine.”

With the addition of Vance on the ticket — who Randall calls “full blown MAGA” — the GOP is presenting itself as a more populist party heading into November.

Even as the progressive wing of the Democratic Party refuses to surrender the title of populism to the GOP, Randall says Democrats like President Joe Biden are failing to define today’s GOP.

“They’ve attempted to make MAGA a bad word, and honestly, it hasn't been a successful effort on their part,” Randall said. “If anything, you know, two things may have galvanized Trump's supporters: that debate and the incident over the weekend.”

Exclusive: Failed VP pick Rubio and angsty GOPers nervous Trump will mess up convention

Editor's note: Marco Rubio has been taken out of the running as Trump's VP pick, per news reports.

MILWAUKEE — Even before the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Republicans gathering here this week at the Republican National Convention were bullish about the party’s chances in November.

Outwardly, at least.

Dig a little deeper and many Republicans are nervous.

At least one of Trump’s potential vice presidential picks is publicly praying for a boring convention here in Milwaukee, particularly amid Democratic infighting over whether President Joe Biden should quit the race and yield to Vice President Kamala Harris — or someone else.

“With the other party being dysfunctional, that’s probably the ideal convention,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told Raw Story after voting Thursday at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

ALSO READ: Rumors swirl as 'three black trucks with U.S. government plates' show up at J.D. Vance house

The thinking is, if recent polls are correct, it’s the GOP’s presidential election to lose. And now, after the shooting in Pennsylvania, many are saying images of his defiant clenched fist and sacrificially blood-stained face all but guarantee a Trump win in November.

But there’s an X factor: Trump himself. The populist appeal of the former president comes coupled with his unpolished political style, marked more by bluster and bombast than bringing people together.

“Some people say Trump's a little dysfunctional sometimes — what do you think he needs to do?” Raw Story asked Rubio.

“That’s not been my experience. He just doesn't work like other people around here,” Rubio said. “He comes from a background in real estate and business, and it's just a different language. And so it may seem alien to people around here, but I watched firsthand how it works, certainly, on the world stage.”

Ahead of Saturday’s attempted assassination attempt of Trump, Raw Story asked 10 congressional Republicans what they were hoping to get out of this week’s convention.

The consensus: Don’t mess this up.

“The platform pretty well lays out what we need to do in general enough terms that where there are slight disagreements you can smooth the corners of that,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story.

ALSO READ: Donald Trump starts fundraising off his own assassination attempt

With Trump’s base fired up and all in, the lingering question is whether Trump and the GOP can broaden their tent and appeal to Independents.

“Do you think Trump needs to focus more on the middle?” Raw Story asked Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), another lawmaker mentioned for vice presidential consideration.

“He's already doing that,” Donalds told Raw Story on the Capitol steps.

Donald Trump and Byron Donalds Former U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Iowa Pork Producers Tent with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 12, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“In what ways?”

“He's focusing on everybody,” Donalds said. "You know, his entire view is bringing common sense policy to the country. Focusing on issues, whether it's securing our border or getting our economy rolling again, that's what everybody wants. He's already there.”

Other Republicans wonder where Donalds gets his news, because they know how alienating Trump can be to many Americans. That’s why many are praying for an unexciting gathering of the party faithful.

“Stability. Simple message. Lack of drama,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told Raw Story. “You know people want stability. They're tired of chaos and the loud noises on both sides. So if our side and President Trump can communicate stability and a moderating theme, that's what we want. Let these other guys blow it.”

In a presidential contest that’s projected to be razor thin, Bacon’s Omaha, Neb., district is especially important this cycle because the state — along with Maine — are not winner-take-all states for the purpose of the Electoral College. Nebraska awards two statewide electoral college votes, then three based on how each of the state’s three congressional districts vote in November.

Bottom line: Biden and Trump could split Nebraska’s electoral votes.

“I always try to recommend it, at the least in our area in Omaha, the Midwest — we're called Nebraska nice for a reason,” Bacon said. “I just say in our district, people want governance, conservative governance but decency. And that's what we want to communicate.”

But Bacon has gotten pushback from team Trump for calling for calm before. But “stability” and turning down the volume on “chaos” are notions that team Trump have rejected in the past.

“I remember saying that during his administration, and [Trump’s] chief of staff told me to shut up,” Bacon said.

While Bacon wouldn’t say which Trump chief of staff told him off, Bacon said it was pre-Mark Meadows, who was Trump’s fourth and final chief — coming after Reince Priebus, John Kelly and Mick Mulvaney.

Much as powerful people in Trump’s orbit may want him to “shut up,” Bacon’s calling for calm, once again.

“Let the other side implode. Nobody can deny what they saw [in the first debate],” Bacon said, referring to Biden’s disastrous performance. “I still think it's gonna be a tough fight.”

Tough fight indeed, but at least one more Republican is already praising Trump for forcing the entire Republican Party — on paper, at the least — to take a symbolic step toward the middle. That came when Trump effectively overruled the party’s previous calls for a nationwide abortion ban.

“I've got a lot to say about that,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Raw Story on the Capitol steps. “I mean, I think I've been pretty vocal about going after independent voters, suburban women, and I’ve tried to be a really strong voice for the party but he's doing a remarkable job on his own. He put IVF and birth control and contraception into the Republican Party platform for the first time ever in history.”

While Democrats remain dubious after Trump’s three additions to the Supreme Court played decisive roles in overturning Roe v. Wade, Mace is cheering because Trump, who once declared himself the most “pro-life president ever,” did not go nearly as far on abortion as the GOP’s loud and powerful evangelical members wanted.

“He's doing things no one has ever done. It's pretty remarkable,” Mace said as her face lit up with a tangible smile. “This wouldn't be done under anybody else. Like, he's literally doing things that I think will really appeal to suburban women.”

Like most Republicans, Mace is quick to pivot away from talk of her party’s platform and attempt to keep the conversation focused on Biden’s woes.

“It's gonna be a hard fight for the middle, for sure,” Mace said. “But, I mean, Biden’s the best gift to the Republican Party right now.”

Nancy Mace Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

It’s not just the independent middle — Trump still has moderate Republicans to win over, particularly in critical swing states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Team Trump seems to be realizing that. After initially seeming to dis her at this year’s convention, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who was racking up double-digit percentages in GOP primaries even after it was clear Trump locked up the nomination —- is now slated to address this Trump-centric convention hall.

“He’s gonna need all support. It's not gonna be an easy election,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story.

While Haley is not on Trump’s short list for vice president, Norman is holding out hope he taps her as his VP.

“Look, everything is fluid now. I hope he picks her for VP,” Norman said. “Who beat 12 other candidates? Who attracts young, old, female? Nikki Haley.”

Norman knows that’s a long shot whim, because he knows Trump hates sharing the spotlight, which is something Haley proved herself good at capturing, even in a losing primary cause.

That’s why respected Republicans keep reminding team Trump — and the former president himself — to stay focused.

“You keep it simple,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told Raw Story. “Focus on the massive failures and immigration and border security, inflation, etcetera. And it's not rocket science, per se.”

Simple is one thing. Appealing to the middle — especially when you’re Donald Trump — is an entirely different thing altogether.

The tension in the GOP is undeniable (just ask former Speaker Kevin McCarthy if you have any doubts), which is why many Republicans are urging their party’s standard bearer to focus on anything but divisions this week in Milwaukee.

“The more we can communicate civility and no chaos, the better,” Bacon, of Omaha, told Raw Story. “Americans are tired. We're tired of all that noise out there.”

And even though Rubio would prefer a tranquil convention, he’s 100 percent behind his former nemesis — remember “little Marco”? — during a week when Trump could very well team with Rubio on the Republican ticket.

“This is a two-choice election,” Rubio said. “The choice is pretty clear.”

'Going to be like The Purge tonight': Milwaukee reacts to Trump shooting

MILWAUKEE — In the hour after former President Donald Trump was apparently struck in the ear with a projectile at a rally in Pennsylvania, people preparing for the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin met the news with a mixture of shock, bewilderment and vigilance.

Michelle Altherr, a Republican National Convention delegate from Arizona, stood outside Fiserv Forum and raged: “When you think about it, you’re like, no, this just ramped up to another level. If you thought we were MAGA and extreme before, we went to another level now. When you see on the video Trump is mouthing 'fight, fight' — oh, no, he didn’t have to say it. We’re at another level.”

“Get ready, it’s going to be like 'The Purge' tonight,” a late 20-to-early-30-year-old server said as the former journalism student exited the bar and raised a loosely clenched fist.

A woman in Milwaukee stands in silence as she watches coverage of the shooting at a Trump rally. (Matt Laslo / Raw Story)

“They didn’t have an excuse,” the local server said. “Now they do.”

Trump is scheduled to be in Milwaukee this week to name his vice presidential running mate and formally accept the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Milwaukee is — and has been — braced for violence ahead of the Republican National Convention.

“Oh, Trump just got shot here?” a local in a summer sleeveless tee and jean shorts asked.

“No,” a bartender in the empty bar chimed in. “Pennsylvania.”

“Oh,” she said as she took her complimentary ice water to go.

Another woman — possibly a local, rocking lots of country club Republican red — inquired.

“Oh, that was Pennsylvania?” she replied, never looking at the bartender as her eyes stayed transfixed to the screen. “WOW.”

“Trump got shot in the ear. They don’t think it’s bad. But f—. I don’t know. This is still bad,” a young man in a blue sportcoat yelled into his phone as he hustled down 2nd Street near the Fiserv Forum, where the GOP convention is being conducted.

The streets in downtown Milwaukee were lightly populated on Saturday when news of the shooting took place. Full security protocols and street shutdowns near convention venues aren’t set to go into effect until Sunday, with the convention itself beginning Monday.

But near the Fiserv Forum, along Kilbourn Avenue, 20 police officers patrolled up and down on bicycles at one point. Several cruisers, with lights on and sirens off, slowly rolled down perimeter roads.

A large, unmarked helicopter circled low overhead with two people, on tethers, hanging out the open side door.

In the restaurants along King Drive, TV screens flipped to Fox News and CNN, and patrons watched on loop the scene where Trump apparently was hit in the ear with a projectile, his face streaked with blood as seen in an Associated Press close-up photo.

Secret Service tend to Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump onstage at a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Angie Prowell from Kentucky had just come from a boat ride and was walking toward Fiserv Forum to take a picture.

“My daughter screamed, 'Oh my God, Trump just got shot,'" Prowell said. “My stomach hurt. My next reaction was, 'I’m not shocked. I expected this.' That’s what I expect from my country anymore. It’s sad. That’s what we’ve become.”

Coleman O’Donovan of Lake Forest, Ill. and Jeanine Sweeney of Milwaukee, said they were walking in a plaza outside Fiserv Forum when they heard the news.

“We were just talking about where the security snipers would be,” O’Donovan said.

They got updates on Trump’s situation in the most direct of ways — by standing near where ABC’s Jonathan Karl was reporting in the plaza.

“It’s horrifying,” Sweeney said. “It was terrifying. It should be a happy time — democracy in action. People need to take a breath. This is just crazy.”

Altherr, the Arizona delegate, compared the presumed attempted assassination of Trump to the "shot heard ‘round the world."

"The enemy has just overplayed his hand because it’s just taking a whole lot more people to another level," Altherr said. "Now is not the time to be cowering and being afraid and ashamed to say that you support President Trump."

Altherr encouraged Trump supporters to start "taking to the streets."

"We are the majority. Start coming out of the closet and start supporting President Trump. He’s willing to put his life on the line. You better start putting your ego on the line for him," Altherr said.

Levinthal · Dave Levinthal of Raw Story on ABC Radio

Trump's campaign issued a brief statement Saturday afternoon saying Trump, who was observed with blood on his face and, is “fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility. More details will follow."

Later Saturday evening, the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee issued a joint statement saying: President Trump looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47th President of the United States. As our party's nominee, President Trump will continue to share his vision to Make America Great Again."

Said MKE 2024 Host Committee Chairman Reince Priebus: "Guests have already begun to arrive in Wisconsin, and we look forward to working with the Republican National Committee to welcome everyone to Milwaukee this week."

AOC slams Democratic colleagues for self-made problem much bigger than Biden's age

WASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) says congressional Democrats’ public complaints about President Joe Biden’s age have become a bigger problem for the party than the age itself.

“I think that the way that our party conducts itself in public contributes just as much to our political challenges as any facts on the ground,” Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story on her way to vote at the Capitol Thursday. “And so, to me, that is something that I encourage my colleagues to think about, because these things don't happen out of thin air.”

Instead, Ocasio-Cortez said, the party needs to focus on recent sweeping Supreme Court decisions, especially former President Donald Trump’s immunity case.

“The Supreme Court just issued rulings recently that have transformed the legal landscape in this country, and set the stage to, basically, crown Donald Trump the king,” Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive phenom who’s amassed a larger social media following than her party’s congressional leaders, said.

On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez introduced articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. While that move is expected to go nowhere in the GOP-controlled lower chamber, Ocasio-Cortez argues it should be the focus of the Democratic Party right now.

“That has created — it is a horrific and destabilizing development — that has also created a window for us, and instead that is being used and that window is being forfeited in a disorganized public response,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

The third-term progressive says Biden and his administration continue failing the far left, but added any issue she has with Biden's demerits have nothing on Trump’s desire for unfettered power.

“I think it is completely legitimate for a progressive person, a young person, etc. to have objections, reservations, concerns about President Biden,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “What I'm focused on, truly — and ... I also think a lot of progressive and young people are — is that many of us are prepared to join a Popular Front strategy in order to defeat the fascist threat that is Donald Trump.”

Ocasio-Cortez argues now is no time for party — or progressive — purity.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’ has a ‘target list’ of 350 people he wants arrested

“It doesn't mean that we approve of the president's policy in Gaza. It doesn't mean that we've approved of any number or any one of the decisions, even if we find them completely and morally objectionable,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “What we also see is putting that choice in the context of the larger threat that Donald Trump is to American democracy.”

While Ocasio-Cortez prides herself in pushing the party, including President Biden, further to the left on measures like the Green New Deal, she says November’s election needs to stay focused on the presidency, not perfection.

“So I think, really, it's a question of scale. I think as a progressive, there are moments we’re on the offense and there are moments where we have to mitigate challenging times,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And I think my strategy has always been being as honest with people as possible. I'm not here to delude anyone or anything like that. What I am here to say is we got to work with what we're working with.”

That’s why Ocasio-Cortez is cautioning calm in her party’s ranks in the wake of Biden’s disastrous first presidential debate this cycle.

“It's not to delegitimize anyone’s stances on this current situation or moment,” Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story. “But how we express that and how we conduct ourselves in turbulent times is a big part of what determines our strength.”

'Extremely painful': Republicans blast Kevin McCarthy’s 'pathetic' revenge tour

WASHINGTON — Kevin McCarthy’s 2024 revenge tour is far from over.

Next stop: Arizona, where McCarthy, the former House speaker, hopes to exact 10 pounds of flesh from one of the eight Republicans who orchestrated his inglorious ouster last year.

That fellow GOPer is first-term Rep. Eli Crane, a retired Navy SEAL who currently holds Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District.

ALSO READ: How The Onion’s founding editor finds humor in the dismal age of Trump

Crane confirmed to Raw Story that McCarthy is gunning for him. But he says he’s ready for the onslaught of politics as usual from the Californian who’s come to represent the worst of the Washington establishment to many MAGA-minded conservatives.

“The Kevin revenge tour is pretty pathetic, but at the end of the day, I expect it and I'm not gonna cry about it. I'm just gonna beat the s— out of whatever he sends after me. And that’s what I’m doing,” Crane told Raw Story.

McCarthy’s got a list and is checking it once

Crane pursued McCarthy’s ouster because he and his seven other insurgents didn’t like the way McCarthy was running the House. They took particular exception to McCarthy’s passage of continuing resolutions — or CRs — to fund the government at previous years’ levels, as opposed to going to the mats fighting Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden for smaller government.

While he’s got a fight on his hands, Crane was ready for it when he took on the GOP status quo as embodied by McCarthy.

“A lot of you were sent here with a mandate to shake up that status quo?” Raw Story inquired.

“Damn straight. It's why I've had, you know, a primary challenger handpicked to get rid of me,” Crane said.

Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona speaks U.S. Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) speaks alongside fellow Freedom Caucus members during a press conference on the government funding bill at the U.S. Capitol on March 22, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

A McCarthy-backed challenger has almost become a badge of courage for Crane, especially on the stump when he’s highlighting his differences with his opponent, former Yavapai County Supervisor Jack Smith — and the centrist Republicans funding the intramural challenge.

“It's unfortunate. But what I say to people is, if you come to this place and you just say, ‘I’m gonna shake this place up,’ it's only a matter of time before the machine comes after you,” Crane said. “The strength at which they come after you, I think, you know, depends on many different things. But at the end of the day, I don't take it personally. It's just how it works.”

McCarthy has been sending a lot of targeted ill will in many directions this primary season.

ALSO READ: How to survive Supreme Court stupidity without losing your mind

While the former speaker and the super PACs that do his bidding have mostly missed their marks thus far, they also seem bullish after claiming a big victory against Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good (R-VA).

Virginia’s elections board last week certified the Republican primary victory of state Sen. John McGuire over Good. But Good has demanded a recount, citing Trump-like “irregularities,” he’s down by just some 300 votes to McGuire.

With a ghostlike assist from McCarthy — who never campaigned in the state, in spite of Good goading him to stump in Virginia’s sprawling 5th District — that primary earned the infamous rank as the second most expensive primary so far this election cycle.

“Seven million is painful,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Raw Story. “I mean, it is intense, and it is extremely painful.”

Nancy Mace does TV interview Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) does a TV interview at her event on the night of the South Carolina's GOP primary election on June 14, 2022 in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

Mace should know. She destroyed her McCarthy backed opponent by 27 points, but it wasn’t an easy path to victory.

“Have you got any advice for some of your colleagues who are getting primaried by McCarthy?” Raw Story inquired.

“I was my own campaign manager. I ran my own race,” Mace told Raw Story. “I did my own data. I did it all.”

McCarthy’s allies in the House

While the eight conservatives being hunted by McCarthy have each other’s backs, the former speaker still maintains a deep bench of Republican politicians in Washington. They’ve been cheering since declaring victory over Good.

“Good for Kevin McCarthy,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told Raw Story.

In May, Bacon beat back a challenge from Omaha businessman and conservative hardliner Dan Frei. Good backed his opponent, which Bacon’s still smarting over.

“I contributed to his opponent. Bob Good made a mistake coming after people like me. I normally stay out of people's races, but you couldn't give us the green light to respond,” Bacon said. “Bob Good is not good for the district or good for the House.”

Crane hasn’t poked around in his GOP colleugue’s primaries like Good did, so he gets a pass from Bacon and others.

“I have not. But Eli Crane stayed out of my race,” Bacon, who’s running for his fifth term, said.

While McCarthy and the more centrist wing of the GOP he represents in Congress have been at war with the far-right Freedom Caucus for years now, the group’s members laugh off the bitter challenges from the center-right.

“Look, Freedom Caucus is growing. We got members that are coming in that, you know, agree with what we're doing,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story. “Politics is fluid. Every day is a new day.”

Still, Norman and other members are upset that the Freedom Caucus chair seems to be heading for the exits in January.

“I hate what happened [to Good], but it is what it is. They tried to get people against me, because I'd gone against McCarthy,” Norman said. “But look, everybody — we’re all free agents. I don't mind. I don't think this is personal.”

Other Republicans have been trying to avoid getting involved with McCarthy and his revenge tour.

“Honestly, I haven’t been paying attention. I'm focused on beating the Democrats,” Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) — chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee this cycle — told Raw Story. “So honestly, I couldn’t tell you what he's been up to. I want more Republicans in Congress. I wake up every morning thinking about beating Democrats.”

Rep. Richard Hudson speaks in Congress Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) on May 14, 2020. in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

“But some of your incumbents are losing and it's harder in a general election without an incumbent?” Raw Story pushed.

“Think we’re gonna lose Virginia’s 5th District?” Hudson said of the district that’s rated “Solid Republican” by the Cook Political Report.

While Hudson was a part of McCarthy’s leadership team, he says he hasn’t seen McCarthy in a while and when he last did, GOP primaries didn’t come up.

“I haven’t had one strategy conversation with him,” Hudson said.

“He was a moneymaker,” Raw Story pressed. “Honestly, you don't need McCarthy bucks anymore?”

“Well, we need all the bucks we can get to beat Democrats,” Hudson admitted to Raw Story.

Next up: Matt Gaetz

The last stop for McCarthy’s revenge tour is slated for Florida, where Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) faces McCarthy-backed Republican Aaron Dimmock, a former Navy pilot, in the Sunshine State’s primary on Aug. 19.

Before that knock down, drag out contest, Crane faces Arizona voters in the state’s July 30 primary.

Rep. Matt Gaetz speaks in Congress U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) speaks during a business meeting prior to a hearing on U.S. southern border security on Capitol Hill, Feb. 1, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

While McCarthy’s been a quiet force punching from the proverbial political graveyard, Crane laughs off the former speaker.

He especially mocks McCarthy for showing his true cards and retiring from the House once it was clear he wouldn’t be getting the speaker’s gavel back.

“The fact that he bailed and left because he couldn’t be speaker — look, as a man I can look at Kevin McCarthy, the guy worked really hard to get where he's at, even though him and I don't have the same worldview. But when, ‘Oh, I can’t become speaker, so I'm gonna take my ball and go home,’” Crane told Raw Story. “It's pretty pathetic.”

How Trump and Senate Republicans are circling the wagons to save Clarence Thomas

WASHINGTON — The cycle continues: Clarence Thomas has former President Donald Trump’s back, Trump has Senate Republicans in his back pocket and Senate Republicans, in turn, have Thomas’ back.

No matter how much financial dirt journalists and watchdog groups dig up on Thomas, and no matter how much Democrats single Thomas out for what they consider his shameful jurisprudence, his legend only continues to grow within conservative circles.

And those conservatives are striking back.

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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and other Republicans on Capitol Hill say they have no plan to drop their blockade of Democrat’s proposed ethics reform package for the Supreme Court as long as Thomas’ gaggle of prominent detractors continue lambasting his for what reform organization Fix the Court tallies is more than $4 million in gifts from wealthy benefactors.

Last July, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the SCERT Act —Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2023 — which would force the court to adopt an ethics code, establish an enforcement mechanism and increase transparency. Just last month, Senate Republicans brought their blockade to the Senate floor where the GOP quashed the measure.

Supreme Court 2022, Image via Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

“There's like a Clarence Thomas story every week. I'm sure next week it'll be something else. I mean, they're just hounding the poor guy. They want to hound him off the court,” Hawley told Raw Story before the Senate left town for senators' two-week long July Fourth recess.

“But none of them have been good headlines,” Raw Story pushed. “He admitted to... ”

“Well, of course not,” Hawley replied. “They’re like oppo research for the campaign. I mean, of course, they're not good headlines. They’ve been trying to discredit him. They tried to do this from the moment he got on the court.”

‘OK with felons’

Democrats aren’t surprised.

“Well, I think you have to understand that the little billionaire elite that put these people on the court is also heavily, heavily, heavily funding the Republican Senate political operation. So they have strings everywhere to pull,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) told Raw Story. “Do the math.”

Democrats are increasingly frustrated, though. And they don’t get the GOP’s blanket immunity from every unseemly accusation flying Thomas’ way, including that the upward of $4 million in gifts he accepted is “nearly 10 times the value of all gifts received by his fellow justices during the same time,” according to the Democratic majority on the Judiciary Committee.

“I think it's unacceptable. I’m stunned that he did not think this would undermine not just the view of his impartiality but will undermine the institution itself,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told Raw Story.

But Booker says Democrats aren’t merely singling Thomas out, particularly with a Supreme Court that has regularly ruled in Trump’s interests. One such ruling dropped Monday, when the conservative majority led a 6-3 ruling that gave Trump (and future presidents) significant, if not absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.

“There's no way to objectively look at this other than showing that the highest court in the land is descending into some of the lowest examples of, I think, unethical behavior that points to horrendous influence of people who have issues, matters and, frankly, strong beliefs about which direction the court should go in,” Booker said.

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Other Democrats say the problem is the ethical standards — and lack thereof — on the right have been upended in this Trump-era.

“You have a Republican Party now that their presumptive nominee is a felon, so I guess that's, you know, where Republicans are now. They're OK with felons running for high public office,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) told Raw Story.

While Raw Story tried to press Peters — who is chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — on the politics of the court ahead of November, Peters refused to go there.

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) at the U.S. Capitol on September 28, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“We have to have a court that is respected by the American people, and when things like this happen, people start losing respect for the court,” Peters said. “And the court’s power is based on the respect of the rule of law and the integrity of the justices. If you damage that, you damage the court.”

Some Republicans won’t go there, either.

Many point to the code of conduct Chief Justice John Roberts announced last fall. While it laid out some specific instances when justices need to recuse themselves — like, say, if a justice or their relative is tied to a case — it falls short of requiring recusal. And there’s no enforcement mechanism.

Still, that’s good enough for many of today’s Republicans.

“The Supreme Court has developed its own code of ethics, and I have not reviewed that,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told Raw Story.

“Did you see that Clarence Thomas got $4 million in gifts?” Raw Story asked. “What do you make of that number?”

“I really haven't been focused on it,” Collins said as a “Senators Only” elevator closed on Raw Story.

‘Getting pressured’

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have been focused on it, yet they’re whistling a similar tune.

“I’m all for getting the Article III branch to update, modernize their disclosure requirements and ethics rules, but please spare me this,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told Raw Story. “I’m trying not to call out the individual members, but believe me we’ve got a rap sheet on every single one, both sides. And they should really come together.”

For one, Tillis is thinking of the disclosure that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson accepted four tickets to see Beyoncé, an estimated $3,700 value.

While $4,000 and $4 million are worlds apart, it’s still unseemly to Tillis and others. That’s why he’s hoping the court just adopts its own stout ethics standards already.

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“They’re vulnerable,” Tillis said. “And, quite frankly, I’d like for the new ethics standards to get done when we have a majority conservative Supreme Court, and they can’t say it’s just because they’re getting pressured.”

Other Senate Republicans seem to have also outsourced their thinking on the Supreme Court to the court.

“Look, I trust the chief justice,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) — who is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee — told Raw Story.

The American people generally don’t.

Back in 2009, 61 percent of Americans approved of a then divided Supreme Court, according to Gallup. These days, Gallup shows a mere 41 percent approval rating for the nation’s high court.

This is nothing new.

A decade ago, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) introduced the Supreme Court Ethics Act of 2013, which would “require the Supreme Court of the United States to promulgate a code of ethics.”

“It's extraordinary that there's not more outrage. This seems to be a pretty simple grift,” Murphy told Raw Story. “Maybe we have to wait until there's some scandal with a Democratic appointed judge before anybody on the right cares about it.”

Most Republicans raise constitutional doubts about Congress’ power to write ethics rules for a separate branch of government. Still, some, like Hawley of Missouri, agree with the thrust of Democrat’s ethics proposal.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). (Nash Greg/TNS)

“Don't get me wrong, it would be helpful to everybody, if they had firm rules that they don’t accept gifts,” Hawley said. “They shouldn’t take gifts. I’m opposed to the gifts. They shouldn't take tickets, cruises, planes — they shouldn't do it. That's my view. They haven't asked for my opinion, but that's my view.”

“We don't have power over them. They’ve got to do it, but I think they should. I think it'd be helpful if they would just say, ‘we're not gonna do that,’” Hawley told Raw Story. “I don't think they should own stock either. Just like I don’t think members of Congress should. It’d just be cleaner. Like, ‘we don’t own stock. We don't take gifts.’ That'd be better for everybody.”

Overall, Hawley remains dubious of Democrats.

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“I just think that they should just adopt their own ethics code and it ought to mirror, as much as possible, what Congress and the executive branch do,” Hawley said. “And honestly, if that were to happen, they'd still be attacking Justice Thomas.”

As of now, the left is promising to continue highlighting the lavish life Thomas lives at the expense of the wealthy donors who’ve taken him under their private wings, and they are showing no signs of letting up.

Progressives in the House of Representatives have been frustrated with their Senate counterparts for not doing more, like deploying filibuster reform to expand the size of the court.

And now, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), for one, is angling to impeach Thomas and potentially his fellow conservative justices as soon as the U.S. House returns from recess.

Still, over in the Senate, most Democrats are resisting those calls from the party’s left wing. Instead, they’re promising to remain steady in their effort to expose this Supreme Court, so voters know the true choice facing the nation this November.

“You continue the investigation,” Whitehouse told Raw Story. “You continue the persistent pressure. Continue working with the judicial conference, which has been quite productive.”

‘This was awful’: Congressional Dems deflated after Biden debate disaster

WASHINGTON — If you’re embarrassed or queasy after President Joe Biden’s performance in last night’s presidential debate, you’re in good company.

Dems are deflated. Of the 27 mostly current and a few former Democratic members of Congress Raw Story texted for reaction — all typically responsive — only three readily replied with thoughts on Biden’s performance.

That’s abnormal. Consider that after a jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts in his Manhattan fraud trial, the same lot of Democrats quickly responded to Raw Story’s inquiries with giddy — if sanctimonious — texts, even responded to questions from halfway around the globe or promptly called us back. They all had lots to say.

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Not Thursday night. The Democratic Party is now debating how to right the listing SS Biden — or consider its scuttling.

Reached late Thursday, one powerful congressional Democrat demanded, “ON BACKGROUND ONLY,” so they — a duly elected public official who’s slated to net a key committee chairmanship if Democrats recapture the House in November — could speak openly, if anonymously.

“This was awful,” the lawmaker replied. “While Biden got better as the debate went on, the horrible start is what people will remember.”

Biden looked feeble. His hand tremors are visible. He froze, or lost his train of thought, or stumbled over his words time after time during the 90-minute debate.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump participate in the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Ga. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The debate should have been a bad night for Trump — the former president antagonized anti-abortion supporters, lied about his presidential record and grossly rewrote the history of Jan. 6, 2021 — except Biden’s debate doldrums overshadowed matters.

Based on Raw Story’s unrequited texts to a smattering of key area codes — including 313 (Michigan), 330 (Ohio), 804 (Virginia), 305 (Florida) and even progressive 925 (California) — the painful performance is rippling through Democratic circles coast to coast.

And now, with national polls effectively tied, and Trump enjoying a slight overall edge in key swing states, the Democratic side of the great political divide is disheartened. Dispirited. Dismayed. They’re also flummoxed by their arch enemy — a man they once defeated at the polls and impeached twice, because they truly believe he’s the embodiment of anti-American ideals.

On Thursday night, Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA) didn’t want to talk much about Biden. He focused his comments on Trump.

“I can’t believe how good Trump is at misstating and making it up as he goes,” Correa texted Raw Story. “Biden started slow and then picked up … We got straight talk from Biden. We got very little straight talk from Trump. Need to fact check Trump.”

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When Democratic members of Congress see Trump, they also see doom. And they want the public to see what they see.

“I was here Jan 6th., Trump really sidestepped this,” Correa said of Trump’s debate answers to Jan. 6-related questions from moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. “And Trump did not say if he’d accept the election results for 2024.”

Democrats still love Biden the man. Some just wish he’d convalesce away from the national stage, it seems.

One Democratic lawmaker provided a motherly-to-scholarly scolding for Raw Story interrupting her personal debate viewing party.

“I’m not answering questions,” Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) from the all-important Philadelphia suburbs texted Raw Story just over an hour into the slow moving debacle of a debate. “I’m listening.”

Raw Story circled back after the debate for a comment. Dean did not reply.

Right at midnight, one last Democrat replied to two Raw Story questions:

Screengrab of Raw Story’s texts with former Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) on Thursday night after the debate.

1.) Do you still trust Biden as your party’s standard bearer?

2.) Are you more nervous-to-worried now than you were this morning?

“No,” former Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) replied. “And yes.”

‘Fight of crazy against crazy’: Wounded Rep. Bob Good confronts ‘forces of evil’

WASHINGTON — If Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) is on a mission from God, as he maintains, someone might want to tell God already.

Since Virginia voters cast their Republican primary ballots on June 18, the two-term incumbent who chairs the far-right Freedom Caucus has been trailing his opponent, state Sen. John McGuire, by upward of 300 votes out of just over 62,000 ballots cast.

Good’s demanding a recount. He’s also trying to pray away “the forces of evil” conspiring against him.

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“I think it’s owed to the 31,000 people in the district who voted for me, and there's those true conservatives in Virginia and across the country that are outraged at the forces of evil that tried to influence this race — that did influence this race — and we owe it to them to make sure that it's right,” Good told Raw Story after voting in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

By “forces of evil,” Good doesn’t mean former President Donald Trump or even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — both of whom backed McGuire.

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To Good, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is evil incarnate. That feeling has seemed mutual since Good and seven other House Republicans ingloriously, if historically, ousted McCarthy last year.

Good is a graduate of and former fundraiser for Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. Arguably, his biggest critic contends he’s blinded by his own light.

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“He can't win a real primary, because he's insane,” former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA), who Good defeated in 2020, told Raw Story. “There's no such thing as ‘forces of evil.’ Listen, stupidity and evil look very similar. And I think that's where he gets confused, because he's stupid.”

As is easily surmised, Riggleman — an ex-intelligence official who worked as a data analyst for the select Jan. 6 committee — is no fan of Good.

Good ended Riggleman’s time in Congress in part because he made an issue out of Riggleman officiating a same-sex marriage for a former staffer the year earlier. Good and officials in Virginia’s Republican Party also forced an in-person convention — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic — of the party faithful, instead of conducting a Republican congressional primary.

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA). JLauer/Shutterstock

In the wake of this year’s primary, Good is calling for changes to the rules. He’s especially bemoaning the commonwealth's open primary system that allows independents and Democrats to vote in GOP primaries (as well as allowing Republicans to weigh in on Democratic ones.)

“That absolutely should be changed. We should have party registration in VIrginia. We should have closed primaries, or we need to go back to conventions and not allow Democrats to choose our nominee in primaries,” Good said. “There’s no question we would have won a convention.”

Good contends he won the hearts and minds of his party.

“I know we got the majority of Republican votes. The other side had to reach out and did reach out to Democrats crossover votes. It's an unfortunate reality in Virginia that our system allows Democrats to vote in Republican primaries, and we are certain that there were certainly more than 300 or 400 people who voted in this election for my opponent,” Good said.

A request for comment from the campaign of McGuire, a former Navy SEAL, wasn’t returned.

Riggleman dismissed Good’s griping.

“‘Forces of evil’ — so you're telling me that a primary that's actually fair, rather than a convention where they could limit the number of voters to beat me means that the people are the forces of evil?” Riggleman said. “That's somebody who's mentally unstable.”

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Riggleman added: “Yes, he said he could win in a convention. Because the convention is anti-American. A convention is for those who can't win a primary, which we just saw with Bob Good.”

The Virginia Board of Elections has yet to call the race, even as the chair of Virginia’s Republican Party, Richard Anderson, congratulated McGuire for winning earlier this week.

Good currently trails by 0.6 percentage points,, which means he can call for a recount according to state law, though he’s got to come up with a way to pay for it.

Regardless, he says he’s all in.

“There's some things that are concerning and that need to be reviewed, and we're going to do that. And I'm not going to be particular about that process,” Good said. “I’d rather be 300 votes ahead than 300 votes behind.”

But he’s currently behind: Something for which Good blames McCarthy.

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“It’s money that was wasted. It should have been spent in November to defeat Democrats. It's a race that never should have happened,” Good said. “It was a challenge based on lies by a dishonest opponent and funded by the former speaker whose mission in life seems to be to get revenge on those he holds responsible for him not being speaker.”

But Good says it’s not about payback.

“I'm not really concerned about that. We're just gonna do our best to win this recount,” Good said.

To Riggleman, there’s no pleasure watching these two Republicans digitally knife each other over his former seat.

“McGuire’s crazier than Bob Good. Think about that,” Riggleman said. “You're seeing a fight of crazy against crazy. Nobody's the good guy. No, nobody’s the good guy here. This is just people who want power and payback. It has nothing to do with the American people. It's about their own personal self-aggrandizement and power trips.”

Riggleman, in noting he wasn’t conservative enough for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, mused that Good — one of the nation’s most conservative lawmakers — might also not be conservative enough.

“That's what's crazy about this election,” Riggleman said. “I think Bob represents Christian nationalism. He represents a decision making methodology that's not based in facts; it's based in fantasy. And I think that really is a lure to a lot of GOP voters, that there's this good against evil battle going on out there and they're on the good side, regardless of facts.”