Turning The Ballot Box Against Republicans

Resegg gets the good stuff.

Synonym: coldjoint with respect to trump." well you did tell me to look it up.

Republicans across the country are undermining voters, with lame duck legislatures aiming to strip power from incoming Democratic governors, threatening not to seat a state senator-elect in Pennsylvania, and refusing to implement a ballot initiative in Utah.

On Wednesday, lawmakers in Wisconsin passed a bill that would give the legislature control of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. board, make it easier for legislators to hire private attorneys, limit early voting to two weeks, and require Gov.-elect Tony Evers (D) to get permission from the legislature to ban guns in the state Capitol, among other measures.

Outgoing Gov. Scott Walker (R) has signaled that he plans to sign the bill into law. As part of their lame duck session, lawmakers also approved 82 Walker appointees in a single day, filling a seat that has been vacant for a year and putting a top Walker aide at the head of the state Public Service Commission.

Similarly, in Michigan, the Republican state legislature is working to undermine the authority of Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer (D), the state attorney general-elect, and the secretary of state-elect on campaign finance and other legal issues. As The Detroit Free Press and The Washington Post both noted, all three of the newly elected state officials are women.

These attempts have drawn numerous comparisons to what the North Carolina state legislature did two years ago, when Republicans used a lame duck session to strip then Gov.-elect Roy Cooper’s (D) power over cabinet appointments, gave the GOP power over the state board of elections, and worked to make the state’s judicial system more partisan. Cooper has been caught in legal fights over the legislation for nearly two years.

A little further east, in Pennsylvania, state Sen.-elect Lindsey Williams (D) was required to provide copies of her driver’s licenses, employment history, tax information, and home purchase or rental agreements, among any other documents she thinks are relevant, as Republicans claim she’s lying about meeting residency requirements.

Williams was given just one week, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently reported, to produce the paperwork, and Republicans are threatening not to seat her, despite the fact that she repeatedly has said that she has lived in the state for at least four years, a requirement for state senators outlined in the state constitution. Just weeks before the election, Republicans unsuccessfully tried to get her removed from the ballot.

And Republicans in Utah are facing some harsh words from voters after throwing out Proposition 2, a ballot initiative that passed with flying colors in the state, replacing it instead with the Utah Medical Cannabis Act.

The replacement bill, which was developed with the Mormon Church, more tightly restricts the drug than the already-restrictive Prop 2 would have, significantly reducing the number of dispensaries permitted and almost completely restricting edibles.

All the while, there is mounting evidence in North Carolina’s 9th congressional district that Republicans tried to steal the election for Mark Harris, hiring people to collect absentee and mail-in ballots. Though details are still fuzzy, one thing is for sure, as ThinkProgress’ Adam Peck wrote earlier this week: Harris narrowly won both the Republican primary and the general election thanks to nearly impossible margins from absentee voters.

By JASON SCHWARTZ and GABBY ORR 10/10/2018 07:54 PM EDT

The president hasn’t faulted the network so far for recent changes to its programming. At his Tuesday-night rally in Iowa — which wasn’t aired — he heaped praise on his “great friends” at Fox News.

“We got a lot of good people. Do we like Tucker?” he asked the crowd. “I like Tucker.”

Fox News' Tucker Carlson Loses Patience With Donald Trump: 'I Don't Think He's Capable'

"I don’t think he’s capable of sustained focus. I don’t think he understands the system," Carlson said in an interview with a Swiss magazine.

But in a new interview with conservative Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche, the “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host called out Trump himself for his boastfulness and for failing to keep his promises to voters.

“His chief promises were that he would build the wall, de-fund Planned Parenthood and repeal Obamacare, and he hasn’t done any of those things,” said Carlson, per The Washington Post.

Carlson said he’d “come to believe” Trump’s role was “not as a conventional president who promises to get certain things achieved to the Congress and then does.”

“I don’t think he’s capable,” Carlson explained. “I don’t think he’s capable of sustained focus. I don’t think he understands the system. I don’t think the Congress is on his side. I don’t think his own agencies support him. He’s not going to do that.”

Carlson said it was “mostly” Trump’s fault that he hadn’t been able to deliver on his pledges, because “you really have to understand how” the legislative process works and “be very focused on getting it done.”

Trump “knows very little about the legislative process, hasn’t learned anything, hasn’t surrounded himself with people that can get it done, hasn’t done all the things you need to do so. It’s mostly his fault that he hasn’t achieved those things. I’m not in charge of Trump,” he added.

Donald Trump, who is often seen as this world-changing figure is actually a symptom of something that precedes him that I sometimes wonder if he even understands which is this realignment. He served the purpose of bringing the middle class into the Republican Party, which had zero interest, no interest in representing them at all. Trump intuitive, he felt, he could smell that there was this large group of voters who had no one representing them and he brought them to the Republican side, but the realignment is still ongoing.

In other words, the Democratic Party used to represent the middle class, it no longer does, it now hates the middle class. The Republican Party which has never represented the middle class doesn't want to. That is the source of really all the confusion and the tension that you're seeing now. I do think, going forward the Republican Party will wake up and realize these are our voters and we're going to represent them whether we want it or not.

If you look at the polling on the subject, classically, traditionally, Americans had antique racial attitudes. If you say, “Would you be okay with your daughter marrying outside her race?” Most Americans, if they're being honest, would say, “no, I'm not okay with that. I'm not for that.” Now the polling shows people are much more comfortable with a child marrying someone of a different race than they are marrying someone of a different political persuasion.

“I'd rather my daughter married someone who's Hispanic than liberal”, someone might say. That is one measure. There are many measures, but that's one measure of how politically divided we are and I just think that over time, people will self-segregate. It's a continental country. It's a very large piece of land and you could see where certain states just become very, very different. Like if you're Conservative, are you really going to live in California in 10 years? Probably not.

Orange County is now purely Democrat.

That's exactly right. You're going to move and if you're very liberal, are you really going to want to live in Idaho? Probably not.

The country is getting redder and bluer.

Exactly.

Islamic 'gay' exorcisms sign of growing conservatism in Indonesia: rights groups

democrats aren't aligning with Islam.