Year: 2023

The Republican Party Is Now Full-Blown Authoritarian and Racist

Buck Banks

It is quite a thing to see leading Republicans—including a former president—in mugshots for their assault on our democracy and to know that party leadership supports their actions. Indeed, it is unprecedented, and for those who remember what a grand party the Republicans have been at times in their history—Lincoln, after all, was a Republican, and so were Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower—it is a sad end. But an end it is. The authoritarians who have taken over the party have abandoned their history and are now building something altogether different.

— Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American.

Everyone Hates Vivek

Buck Banks

“Everyone hates Vivek. That was the biggest takeaway from the Fox News debate on Wednesday night. And who can blame them?” … “Out of the gate, he looked pompous and oleaginous, with what can only be described as a smarmy, shit-eating grin that belied his sharp elbows. Regarding the slickness, Christie observed that he sounded ‘like ChatGPT.’ And regarding the elbows, at one point, even Sen. Tim Scott—you know, the optimistic guy who has a reputation for being too nice—even accused him of ‘being childish.’”

— Matt Lewis

Most Iowa Caucus Voters Think Trump Won in 2020

Buck Banks

51%

A majority of voters likely to attend the Iowa Republican caucuses believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election over Joe Biden, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows. Asked whether “you believe or not believe Donald Trump’s claims he won the 2020 presidential election,” 51% of likely Republican caucusgoers say they believe them, 41% do not and 8% are unsure.

DeSantis’ Vote-Suppression Tactics Are Working in Florida

Pensito Editors


In May 2021 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 90, which effectively cleared the voter rolls of Florida citizens who had requested mail-in ballots. Previously, Florida voters could file one request for mail-in ballots and would receive one for any and all elections.

No more.

Although a federal judge removed several of the most egregious provisions of the law, it nonetheless is still suppressing mail-in voting, according to the Florida Reporter:

Studies show that voters who are registered to vote by mail are more likely to cast a vote.The impact on voting by mail from this new law is already coming into sharp focus: last year, Miami-Dade County had 438,000 mail ballot voters, but as of July 1st of this year, a mere 92,000 voters were enrolled in vote by mail. In Hillsborough County, only 70,000 voters are signed up to vote by mail as of July 1st, down from 320,000 before the new law went into effect. In Broward County, it’s even more dramatic: a recent review confirmed just 35,000 vote by mail sign-ups, compared to 428,000 last year. In Orange County, only 23,000 voters have requested mail-in ballots for the upcoming cycle after 140,000 voters used them in 2021.