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Hey Guys, Trump OWNS the Republican Party
There has been a growing call from some members of the audience to ignore Donald Trump, even as he tries to stay relevant in the political realm by making public appearances, as he did over the weekend at CPAC. People will write into the show with messages like “Trump is done” and “Trump isn’t president anymore” and “why are you still covering Trump?” The truth is, that as a show about news and politics particularly from a progressive standpoint, there is no way to do an honest assessment of American politics today without mentioning the guy. Trump received 74 million votes in 2020 and has signaled that he is not going away anytime soon. All indicators point to him staging a third presidential run in 2024. To ignore the former president at this point would not only be giving an inaccurate representation of the state of the union, it would also be dangerous to the progressive movement and perhaps provide Trump with the breathing room to successfully stage a comeback and get his highly-coveted second term.
A straw poll was done at CPAC asking attendees who they want to be the Republican nominee for president in 2024. The results were not even close. Donald Trump received 70% of the vote. The only other prospective candidate who even really registered in the poll was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who received 21% of the vote. Folks like Rand Paul, Nikki Haley, Ted Cruz, and Tucker Carlson each got 1% of the vote. Barring any significant changes over these next few years, the GOP nomination is Trump’s for the taking if he wants it. Many of us certainly wish Trump was irrelevant at this point and we could just forget about him, but to do so would be denying the reality we live in. Underestimating the ex-POTUS and his ability to win is what got Democrats in trouble back in 2016. It’s going to take a constant pressure campaign leading up to 2024 to make sure his legacy isn’t whitewashed and that includes assessing his political strategy and debunking his nonsense claims.
LOL: Fox News Runs DISCLAIMER During Trump's Election Lie Speech
On Sunday, Donald Trump spoke at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas. The former president played his greatest hits during the speech, including bragging about how well he did on a test that screens for dementia and unleashing a ruthless attack on wind turbines. But no Trump speech in 2021 would be complete without baseless accusations of voter fraud altering the results of the 2020 presidential election. This presented an issue for right-wing propaganda outlet Fox News, which was broadcasting the speech in full. Fox is currently facing defamation lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic for $1.6 billion and $2.7 billion respectively. The voting machine companies allege that Fox hosts have tarnished their reputations by repeating Trump campaign lies about votes being flipped to help Joe Biden. Eager to avoid paying out more money than is necessary, Fox had to get clever about how they chose to broadcast the former president’s speech when he started going off the rails about supposed voter fraud.
The second Trump broached the topic of the 2020 election, even when he wasn’t referencing voting machines specifically, Fox put up a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen. It read “the voting system companies have denied the various allegations made by President Trump and his counsel regarding the 2020 election.” It makes sense that Fox executives feel the need to put the disclaimer up, but if anything, the statement they chose was too weak. It should have disputed Trump’s bogus claims, maybe by saying something to the effect that there have been 60 lawsuits into election irregularities and all of them have gone nowhere. Maybe it could have referenced how the Trump Justice Department and a number of US intelligence agencies have disputed the ex-president’s claims. At any rate, the disclaimer is quite embarrassing for Trump and Fox as it suggests to the audience that they’ve been telling lies about the outcome of the 2020 race the entire time.
From yesterday’s show:
Donald Trump Jr Loses Ability to Speak Coherently During CPAC Speech
Donald Trump, Jr. gave a speech at CPAC over the weekend and it was painfully incoherent. The former president’s eldest son rambled on and on about unimportant topics like Hunter Biden’s struggle with drug addiction. He said, “I totally understand addiction. It’s terrible. We all know people that have suffered from it. It doesn’t absolve from being a total piece of garbage in every other aspect of your life . . . It doesn’t absolve you from selling out your country.” It’s bizarre how the right’s obsession with Hunter Biden continues even though Hunter has played no role in Joe’s campaign or administration. Don Jr. also had issues appealing to the crowd, appearing at one point to bash the state of Texas, which was hosting the conference. He said, “Texas has always led the charge — well, until like about a couple of months ago and then Austin sort of took over . . . you’re still top 25.” The audience didn’t entirely understand what he meant by that, and even we’re still trying to figure it out days after the event.
--More on the show:
--Protests in the streets of Cuba explode as COVID rages and the economy collapses, causing political opportunism in the United States, as countries scramble to put in place measures to stop the spread
--Republicans suddenly care about discrimination when it comes to the unvaccinated population of the United States
--Donald Trump's former election fraud lawyer Jenna Ellis quits the Republican Party on live television, but it's all radical and pathetic
--COVID re-surges globally and in the United States, where cases are now up 69%,
--Voicemail caller appears to have angrily misunderstood what was previously explained about Haiti and the Dominican Republic
--On the Bonus Show: WHO warns against mix & match vaccines, CA Gov Gavin Newsom can't label himself Democrat on recall ballot, 60% of millennials earning $100k+ living paycheck to paycheck, much more...
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Thank you, David. You make good points concerning Donald Trump owning the Republican Party. I must share with you that if there was any way the Republicans could "lick the cream" left behind by Trump, they would gladly do so. However, I have three points: First, what was proven during the 2020 election was, Donald Trump will stop at nothing to be reinstated as President. No matter how hard they beg, each and every time he is campaigning for the Republicans, he will continue to repeat that he won, "by a landslide". Oh, how the Republicans would love not having to "buy into this". But they will be forced to, and more. Perhaps he will require them to ,"jump off the Brooklyn Bridge" - there will come a breaking point for them.. Secondly, Mitch McConnell, and all he stands for within the Party. Trump won't share! He senses the power of Mitch McConnell, and knows full well how McConnell will not stand up and "pledge allegiance to the "big lie". Donald Trump is going to take direct aim at McConnell over and over again, causing a hostile rift right down the middle of the Party. Finally, 2024 is coming. Those within the Party that want to run for President will have to step away from Trump. They now want to be President - not Trump ... again. They will have to tear him down to elevate themselves. Time is up, Donald. Thank you, David, Susan Lashbrook Morris