Republicans Battle to Elect Worst Possible Candidates - The Thursday AM Quickie 6/16/22
All rightey folks, as promised, a wrapup of the Republican primaries on Tuesday night, plus Ukraine aid, plus R e c e s s i o n M o d e. - Jack
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THE BIG NEWS
Look At These Freaks the GOP Just Elected
We skipped over a full slate of primary elections on Tuesday night, so let's go back and recap. The GOP elected a whole lot of crazies, so let's just put these ones out in a big murder's row.
The biggest race of the night was the special election in Texas's 34th, where Mayra Flores defeated Democrat Dan Sanchez after the incumbent Filemon Vela resigned early to work for a lobbying firm. I'm not kidding. If that's not the most corporate Democrat thing one can think of... man. Flores will have to run again in November to keep the seat past January, but seeing as she beat Sanchez by 7 points, it's not looking good. Flores, a Mexican immigrant who is married to a Border Patrol agent, weaponized every part of that identity in her pitch to voters, which, surprise, played up immigration fears. Oh, and she also has past ties to QAnon.
In South Carolina's 7th, Trump's revenge claimed a head: pro-impeachment Republican Tom Rice got crushed by Trump-backed challenger Russell Fry, a state Rep. Fry is possibly one of the more boring Republicans to win a primary Tuesday night, as he's running on a pretty basic MAGA agenda. Cookie cutter stuff.
However in the South Carolina 1st, Nancy Mace managed to pivot back to pro-Trump (from pro-impeachment) enough to successfully hold off a primary challenger. Score it 1/2 for Trump so far.
In Nevada, however, an outright election denier named Jim Marchant won the GOP primary for Secretary of State. If that position sounds dodgy, well, it's because they play a key role in certifying state elections. Fun! (Michigan also has an election denier running for SecState on the GOP ticket).
Also in Nevada, the GOP elected Mark Robertson, a"fiscal conservative" and former Army vet to take on 72-year-old incumbent Dana Titus in a newly redrawn and now hotly contested district that represents a potential weak point in November for the Dems.
Those are the highlights. We're sure to see some of these characters distinguishing themselves with various horrific antics on the general election campaign trail over the next few months.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
Fed Raises Interest Rates, Potentially Triggering Recession
Oh boy. The Fed official raised interest rates by .75 percent on Wednesday, in a move meant to counter inflation but that could also immediately trigger a recession. All of this is grounded in theories of economics that I don't fully understand, but the general thesis is that an aggressive Fed making lending harder and causing prices to fall could send the entire economy into a downward spiral, which it can sorely afford just after sort of bouncing back from the COVID trench. But many progressives and other economists say that the Fed just slapping higher interest rates on things treats symptoms of inflation but does nothing to change its underlying causes, which primarily lie in the global instability caused by the war in Ukraine and the predatory behavior of corporations pumping up prices for their own gains. Either way, it certainly sounds like I'm going to have to do a lot more econ research for this newsletter in the near future.
Biden OK's $1 Billion More in Military Aid to Ukraine
Biden announced a new military aid shipment to Ukraine on Wednesday, with a total pricetag of around $1 billion. That figure gets the besieged country 18 more M777 howitzers, HIMARS rocket launchers, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and more devices aimed at balancing the overwhelming Russian artillery advantage in the east of the country. Some additional money is also going to nonviolent aid as well – $225 million for water, food, medical supplies and other assistance.
Quickest Quickies
- FDA Advisors Recommend Moderna and Pfizer Jabs for Young Kids It's not official yet but soon, hopefully. via NYT.
- Massive Yellowstone Flood Could Close Park All Summer An absolute disaster for the height of tourist season. via WaPo.
- SCOTUS Tosses GOP's Attempt to Preserve Trump Immigration Policy A small relief. No Dobbs yet. The worst is yet to come next week most likely. via NYT.
- Treason Show Ep. 3 Primer Liz Cheney says today's hearings will focus on "President Trump's relentless effort on Jan. 6 and in the days beforehand to pressure Vice President Pence to refuse to count lawful electoral votes." via CBS News.
SOME NUMBER
36,000
Number of artillery rounds the new Ukraine aid package promises to deliver. That may sound like a lot, but at the rate both sides are firing at right now it's only enough for Ukraine's forces to fight with for about a week.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
6/16: Emma hosts Devon Carbado, professor at the UCLA School of Law, to discuss his recent book Unreasonable: Black Lives, Police Power, and the Fourth Amendment.
Don't Miss MR Clips
Charlie Kirk Teaches Young Conservative Women How To Score A Husband Thanks Charlie!
SCOTUS Roe Leak Clues Narrow Down Possible Suspects Another bit of insight from Slate's Mark Joseph Stern.
PARTING WORDS
“It’s super, super critical that if issues are identified, they’re identified real time,” Melissa Conway, the RNC’s election integrity state director in Texas, said in a virtual meeting last year, so that Republicans can “have a legal footing in addressing the election and if need be, doing any overturning of the election.”
Via this terrifying WaPo story, which outlines how the GOP is spending big on "election integrity," as a way to set up overturning the election in 2024 if they need to.
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