PeterSantilli.com

Category: Politics

  • Biden’s Incompetent Secretary of Interior Says She is Unaware China Controls Critical Minerals Needed for Electric Vehicles

    Biden’s Incompetent Secretary of Interior Says She is Unaware China Controls Critical Minerals Needed for Electric Vehicles

    May 2, 2023 at 04:29PM    Biden’s Incompetent Secretary of Interior Says She is Unaware China Controls Critical Minerals Needed for Electric Vehicles (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit

    Joe Biden’s incompetent Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland on Tuesday said she was completely unaware China controls the critical minerals needed for the electric vehicles.

    The Biden Regime is FORCING electric vehicles on the American people and China controls the critical minerals needed for the car batteries.

    Secretary Haaland is clueless.

    Deb Haaland was not chosen to be Biden’s Interior Secretary because she’s qualified for the job.

    She checked a box: First Native American cabinet secretary.

    And this is the result…

    Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Tuesday asked Secretary Haaland if she knew what nation was the largest producer of cobalt, lithium and natural graphite.

    “Now, can you tell me what nation is the largest producer of refined lithium in the world?” Hawley asked Haaland.

    “No, I can’t,” she replied.

    “It’s China,” Hawley said. “Can you tell me what nation is the largest producer of refined cobalt in the world?”

    “No, Senator,” she said.

    “It’s China!” Hawley said. “Do you know what nation is the largest exporter of natural graphite to the United States globally?”

    “No, Senator,” Haaland said again.

    “It’s China!” Hawley said.

    Hawley pointed at that the Biden Regime is simultaneously blocking the mining of critical minerals in the US and making us dependent on China.

    WATCH:

    via The Gateway Pundit https://ift.tt/XoSNu6M

  • Biden Announces Re-election Bid, Defying Trump and History

    Biden Announces Re-election Bid, Defying Trump and History

    Biden Announces Re-election Bid, Defying Trump and History

    While the president once pitched himself as “a bridge” to a new generation of Democratic leaders, he has decided that he is not ready to turn the torch over yet.

    WASHINGTON — President Biden formally announced on Tuesday that he would seek a second term, arguing that American democracy still faces a profound threat from former President Donald J. Trump as he set up the possibility of a climactic rematch between the two next year.

    In a video flashing images of a mob of Trump supporters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the president said that the “fight for our democracy” has “been the work of my first term” but is incomplete while his predecessor mounts a comeback campaign for his old office that Mr. Biden suggested would endanger fundamental rights.

    “Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms away,” Mr. Biden said, using Mr. Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan to describe the former president’s allies. “Cutting Social Security that you’ve paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy. Dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books and telling people who they can love. All while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote.

    “When I ran for president four years ago,” he added, “I said we were in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are.”

    The official declaration finally ended any lingering suspense over Mr. Biden’s intentions and effectively cleared the way to another nomination for the president, barring unforeseen developments. While he had repeatedly and consistently said he intended to run, Mr. Biden stoked renewed speculation by delaying his kickoff for months. Now his team can assemble the formal structure of a campaign organization and raise money to finance it.

    Mr. Biden tapped Julie Chavez Rodriguez, a senior White House adviser and granddaughter of the iconic labor leader Cesar Chavez, as his campaign manager. Quentin Fulks, a Democratic operative who most recently ran Senator Raphael Warnock’s 2022 re-election campaign in Georgia, will serve as her principal deputy. But the operation is expected to be overseen from the White House by top presidential aides.

    Although he described himself as “a bridge” to the next generation during his 2020 campaign, a comment that some interpreted as a hint that he would serve only one term, Mr. Biden concluded that he was not in fact ready to hand over the torch yet. His decision was fueled in part, aides said, by his antipathy for Mr. Trump and his belief that he is the Democrat best positioned to keep the criminally indicted and twice-impeached former president from recapturing the White House.

    The race begins. Four years after a historically large number of candidates ran for president, the field for the 2024 campaign is starting out small and is likely to be headlined by the same two men who ran last time: President Biden and Donald Trump. Here’s who has entered the race so far, and who else might run:

    President Biden. The president has cast himself as a protector of democracy and a stabilizing force after the upheaval of the Trump administration. Biden is running for re-election as the oldest person ever to hold the presidency, a subject of concern among many Democrats, though the party has publicly set aside those worries and rallied around him.

    Donald Trump. The former president is running to retake the office he lost in 2020. Though somewhat diminished in influence within the Republican Party — and facing several legal investigations — he retains a large and committed base of supporters, and he could be aided in the primary by multiple challengers splitting a limited anti-Trump vote.

    Nikki Haley. The former governor of South Carolina and U.N. ambassador under Trump has presented herself as a member of “a new generation of leadership” and emphasized her life experience as a daughter of Indian immigrants. She was long seen as a rising G.O.P. star but her allure in the party has declined amid her on-again, off-again embrace of Trump.

    Asa Hutchinson. The former governor of Arkansas is one of a relatively small number of Republicans who have been openly critical of Trump. Hutchinson has denounced the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and said Trump should drop out of the presidential race.

    Marianne Williamson. The self-help author and former spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey is running for a second time. In her 2020 campaign, the Democrat called for a federal Department of Peace, supported reparations for slavery and called Trumpism a symptom of an illness in the American psyche that could not be cured with political policies.

    Larry Elder. The conservative talk radio host, who was a breakout star for the right after running unsuccessfully in California’s recall election in 2021, announced on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News that he was running for president, saying that he had “a moral, religious and a patriotic duty to give back to a country that’s been so good to my family and me.”

    In offering himself as a candidate again, Mr. Biden is asking Americans to trust him with the powers of the commander in chief well into his ninth decade. At age 80, Mr. Biden is already the oldest president in American history, and, if he were to win, he would be 86 at the end of a second term, nearly nine years older than Ronald Reagan was when he left the White House in 1989. Mr. Trump, no youngster at 76, would himself outlast every president by age other than Mr. Biden if he were restored to the Oval Office and finished his new term at 82.

    As Mr. Biden formally kicked off his campaign, he appeared at this point to be a virtual lock to win his party’s nomination. While many Democrats had hoped he would cede to a younger candidate, no formidable challenger for the nomination has emerged. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a son of the iconic assassinated senator and a vocal critic of vaccines, and Marianne Williamson, the self-help author whose 2020 campaign fizzled before the first votes were cast, have announced long-shot bids but pose little evident threat to the incumbent president.

    If Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump square off again next year, it would be the first time that the same nominees faced each other in consecutive presidential elections since 1956, when Dwight D. Eisenhower beat Adlai Stevenson for the second time. It would also be the first time a president was challenged by his predecessor since Theodore Roosevelt attempted a comeback in 1912 against his handpicked successor, William Howard Taft, in a three-way campaign won by Woodrow Wilson.

    While Mr. Biden presides over a more unified party than his potential challenger does, many Democrats privately worry that the president may not be up to another campaign. His overall approval rating remains mired at just over 42 percent, according to an aggregation of polls by the political website FiveThirtyEight, lower than 10 of the last 13 presidents at this point in their terms.

    While polls show that most Democrats have favorable opinions about Mr. Biden, a majority of them would still rather he not run again. In a survey by NBC News released this week, 70 percent of Americans, including 51 percent of Democrats, said he should not seek a second term. Seven out of 10 of those who did not want him to serve four more years cited his age as a factor.

    Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump face a strikingly competitive race, with recent polls by Yahoo News, The Wall Street Journal and Morning Consult showing the president slightly ahead while surveys by The Economist and the Harvard University Center for American Political Studies find him trailing by several points. Mr. Biden faces similarly mixed results against Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, the strongest challenger to Mr. Trump for the Republican nomination.

    Mr. Biden’s announcement represented the latest improbable chapter in a long life in public office, the fourth time he has thrown his hat in the presidential ring and presumably the last campaign of a half-century-plus career that began with his election to the New Castle County Council in 1970.

    Over the course of 36 years in the Senate, eight years as vice president and campaigns for the White House in 1988, 2008 and 2020, Mr. Biden has become one of the most familiar faces in American life, known for his resilience in adversity as well as his habitual gaffes. And yet the avuncular, backslapping, work-across-the-aisle deal maker has struggled to translate decades of good will into the unifying presidency he promised.

    Working with the narrowest of partisan margins in Congress, Mr. Biden in his first two years scored some of the most ambitious legislative victories of any modern president, including a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package; a $1 trillion program to rebuild the nation’s roads, highways, airports and other infrastructure; and major investments to combat climate change, lower prescription drug costs for seniors, treat veterans exposed to toxic burn pits and build up the nation’s semiconductor industry. Some of those bills passed with Republican votes.

    Along the way, he has revitalized international alliances that had frayed under Mr. Trump, rallying NATO and other partners around the world to stand against Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. With bipartisan support, he has committed more than $100 billion to arm Ukraine’s military and help its government and people survive the Russian onslaught.

    Yet his decision to withdraw forces from Afghanistan after 20 years in keeping with an agreement with the Taliban struck by Mr. Trump led to a debacle in 2021 in which the radical militants took over the country, fleeing Afghans swarmed American airplanes taking off from Kabul and a suicide bomber killed 13 American troops and 170 Afghans during the withdrawal.

    Mr. Biden has also struggled to secure the southwestern U.S. border, where illegal migration has soared, and he has had mixed success in stabilizing the post-pandemic economy, which saw inflation rise to its highest level in four decades and gas prices shoot up to record levels. While both have begun to come back down and unemployment is near historic lows, many Americans remain unsettled by economic anxiety.

    Perhaps most frustrating to Mr. Biden, his hopes to heal the rifts that widened under Mr. Trump have so far been dashed, with American society still deeply polarized and his predecessor still a potent force in stirring the forces of division and emboldening white supremacists and anti-Semites.

    The president’s critics say that Mr. Biden is the one who is divisive because of his attacks on Mr. Trump’s “ultra-MAGA Republicans,” and they portray him as a socialist bent on destroying the country. Regardless of whom they nominate, Republicans expect to challenge Mr. Biden next year by linking him to the nation’s economic troubles and depicting him as a feckless leader held captive by his party’s activist left.

    Even as Mr. Biden put off a formal kickoff to his re-election bid, his team had been quietly making plans for the coming campaign. Top advisers such as Anita Dunn, Steven J. Ricchetti and Jennifer O’Malley Dillon will oversee the campaign from the White House even though the operation’s formal headquarters will almost certainly be in Wilmington, Del., under Ms. Chavez Rodriguez’s direction.

    But it will be much different than any campaign in which Mr. Biden has ever run. His first two bids for the White House each collapsed by the end of the first caucus, in an era long before the ubiquitous presence of social media and modern technological techniques, and his 2020 campaign was warped by the Covid-19 pandemic, which kept him largely isolated at his home in Delaware.

    This time aides said he planned a vigorous campaign travel schedule but would lean heavily on digital communications that bypass the traditional news media. The emerging contest will be complicated by the fact that his opponent is under criminal indictment by a local Democratic prosecutor in New York on charges of covering up hush money paid to a porn star and is being investigated by Mr. Biden’s own Justice Department for instigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and illegally refusing to turn over classified documents.

    Although Mr. Biden has remained publicly silent on Mr. Trump’s legal troubles, the former president has tried to blame the incumbent, accusing him of wielding the justice system against him out of partisan animus. No evidence of that has surfaced, but Mr. Biden’s own handling of classified documents is being investigated by a special counsel and his son Hunter Biden is being investigated by another federal prosecutor.

    Mr. Biden’s strategists recognize that he starts off the campaign with significant vulnerabilities but are banking on the idea that however ambivalent swing voters may be about him, they are dead set against putting Mr. Trump back in the White House. If they face another Republican, they plan to argue that anyone who wins that party’s nomination will have to adopt the same radical positions as Mr. Trump.

    via www.nytimes.com https://www.nytimes.com

    April 25, 2023 at 07:03AM

  • DeSantis says Trump should’ve given up power like George Washington

    DeSantis says Trump should’ve given up power like George Washington

    DeSantis says Trump should’ve given up power like George Washington

    https://ift.tt/F5T6pEv

    DeSantis says Trump should’ve given up power like George Washington after election loss and January 6: Florida Gov. takes a dig at rival for trying to overturn the election instead of acting like a Founding Father

    • DeSantis lauded Washington during interview where he trashed Trump’s chaos
    • The first U.S. president put the Republic over his ‘own personal interest’ and ‘surrendered his sword,’ said the Florida governor
    • Quoted King George III, saying the ‘greatest man in the world gives up power’

    By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor For Dailymail.com

    Published: | Updated:

    For the first time, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has criticized former President Donald Trump for refusing to concede power following the 2020 election – in a generalized comment referencing events more than 200 years ago.

    DeSantis, who condemned rioters inside the Capitol where he once served, but has said little about Trump’s push to have courts and allies toss out the results, made remarks during an interview with Piers Morgan, where he also blasted Trump administration chaos.

    He did so by invoking the nation’s most revered founder and first U.S. President, George Washington who Trump has frequently lionized (while once bragging he could probably beat the Virginian in an election).

    ‘So, somebody who really set the standard is George Washington because he always put the Republic over his own personal interest. When we won the American Revolution, Washington surrendered his sword,’ DeSantis said.

    ‘George III said he’s the greatest man in the world if he gives up power,’ said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in an interview where he stressed character, urged people to emulate the founders, and blasted ‘drama’ in the Trump White House

    DeSantis remarked on King George III’s possibly apocryphal remarks praising Washington for relinquishing power – drawing a sharp contrast with Trump.

    ‘George III said, “he’s the greatest man in the world, if he gives up power.” I think the person is more about how you handle your public duties and the kind of character you bring to that endeavor,’ he said.

    Morgan had asked him if personal conduct in a leader matters.

    ‘You really want to look to people like our Founding Fathers, like what type of character, it’s not saying that you don’t ever make a mistake in your personal life, but I think what type of character are you bringing?’ DeSantis said before referencing Washington and Britain’s king.

    DeSantis then contrasted his leadership style with the ‘daily drama’ of the Trump White House while poking at the former president’s character. He even doubled down on a Monday comment that he didn’t know ‘what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.’

    DeSantis, a former Navy lawyer, referenced Washington’s decision to resign from his military commission in 1783 after leading the Revolutionary War effort for eight years.

    The gesture, carried out before the Continental Congress gathered in the Maryland state capital in Annapolis, is heralded by historians as one of the nation’s greatest acts of statesmanship in the nation’s history.

    It is depicted in a huge oil painting inside the Capitol Rotunda, where rioters rampaged on January 6 hours after Trump urged them to ‘fight like hell’ and pressed then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to accept votes certified by states.

    Washington’s decision not to seek a third term, set a tradition that is now enshrined in the Constitution.

    Democratic opponent Charlie Crist tried to make an issue of DeSantis’ refusal to explicitly condemn Trump’s election to overturn effort during the 2022 governor’s race, where DeSantis prevailed by a wide margin, accusing him of ‘silence’ about January 6.

    DeSantis offered blistering criticism of Trump in the interview, where he said ‘when we won the American Revolution, Washington surrendered his sword’

    Trump spoke at a ‘stop the steal’ rally before the Capitol riot on January 6. He told the Washington Post he could probably beat George Washington in an election

    A huge oil painting of Washington resigning his commission is located in the Capitol Rotunda along with other historical artworks

    King George III may have said if Washington gave up power ‘he would be the greatest man in the world’

    DeSantis issued a statement on Jan. 6, 2021 saying ‘violence or rioting of any kind is unacceptable, and the perpetrators must face the full weight of the law.’

    He also called it ‘totally unacceptable, and those folks need to be held accountable,’ adding the following day that, ”It doesn’t matter what banner you’re flying under — the violence is wrong, the rioting and disorder is wrong.’

    On the first anniversary of January 6, he compared it to Christmas for the ‘D.C.-New York media,’ who he said were allowed to put forward negative narratives.

    ‘They are going to take this and milk this for anything they could to try to be able to smear anyone who ever supported Donald Trump,’ DeSantis said.

    By breaking with Trump with the subtle historical analogy, DeSantis joins former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in calling out what could be a vulnerability as the presidential race dire. Haley made direct appeals to Republicans ‘tired of losing.’

    Taking on Trump in his role in 2020 carries risks in the primary, with polls showing a majority of Republicans believe Trump’s claims of election fraud. He was already in Trump’s crosshairs with the ‘porn star’ comments.

    Trump advisor Jason Miller returned with a furious response at DeSantis Tuesday night. ‘Ron DeSantis has finally shown his true colors. An establishment Never Trumper who despised the MAGA base and was faking it the entire time,’ he tweeted.

    One area where DeSantis may have gone beyond the historical record is his King George quotation, which continues to get traction on official sites.

    The quote comes from American artist Benjamin West, who spent time in the King’s court and passed on what he heard to another artist. As a historian and early American specialist, Elizabeth Norvara wrote on a Library of Congress blog, it only got recorded years after the King allegedly said it. ‘The King said if He did He would be the greatest man in the world,’ artist Joseph Farrington wrote in his diary, a second-hand account of what he told West.

    In another version, West told Rufus King, Washington’s ambassador to Great Britain, after Washington had decided not to seek a third term was an act that ‘placed him in a light the most distinguished of any man living, and that he thought him the greatest character of the age.’

    But that happened all the way in 1797, after Washington had left office, not after he resigned his military command.

    In any event, the King wasn’t so quick to relinquish power himself. He kept his crown until the end of his life, even after his son stepped in as regent amid his mental illness.

    DeSantis says Trump should’ve given up power like George Washington after loss

    via Mail Online

    March 23, 2023 at 06:55AM

  • Matt Gaetz Calls McCarthy A “Squatter” For Prematurely Moving Into Speaker’s Office

    Matt Gaetz Calls McCarthy A “Squatter” For Prematurely Moving Into Speaker’s Office

    Matt Gaetz Calls McCarthy A “Squatter” For Prematurely Moving Into Speaker’s Office

    Update (2228ET): In a hilarious cap to today’s chaos surrounding the GOP House Speaker vote, anti-McCarthy Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida wrote to the Architect of the Capitol to ask how long McCarthy – who prematurely moved in to the Speaker’s office – would be able to occupy the room “before he is considered a squatter.”

    *  *  *

    Update (1836ET): The day ended without the election of a House Speaker, as support for Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) waned throughout the day.

    Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), meanwhile, saw his stock rise with each of Tuesday’s three votes.

    As The Epoch Times notes, in the first vote of a tumultuous first day of the 118th Congress, McCarthy, the California Republican who led the party to regain the majority in the November 2022 mid-term election, fell 15 votes short of the 218 he needed to become Speaker of the House.

    McCarthy received 203 votes from Republican colleagues, while 212 Democrats voted for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who will serve as House Minority Leader in 2023. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz), the leader of the anti-McCarthy members, received 10 votes. A handful of Republicans voted for candidates who were not nominated.

    Second Vote

    Incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) cited Saint Paul’s admonition about “finishing the race” as he nominated House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for Speaker of the House.

    In his floor speech, Jordan said the House must do three basic things in 2023, including getting the U.S. border with Mexico under control and restoring U.S. military strength, stopping profligate spending by Democrats, and conducting a comprehensive oversight effort of President Joe Biden’s administration.

    “We have to do the Oversight and Investigations that needs to be done. This idea that bureaucrats who never put their name on the ballot but think they run the country, who assaulted our constituents’ First Amendment liberties. they need to be held accountable,” Jordan said.

    “That has to happen, we need to do it. We need to do it in a way that’s consistent with the Constitution, but we need to do it vigorously and aggressively. That is part of our duty as members of this body,” Jordan continued.

    Jordan’s nomination of McCarthy followed the California Republican’s failure to marshall a majority of the 434 Members of the Representatives assembled earlier in the day for the first vote on a new Speaker.

    Jeffries was also nominated a second time. Then Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) nominated Jordan, despite the fact the Ohio Republican made clear he continued to support McCarthy. Then the second ballot roll call was called.

    All of the 19 Republicans who opposed McCarthy in the first ballot shifted their votes to Jordan, including Biggs. While McCarthy gained the same 203 votes he received in the first balloting, which again left him short of the needed majority of 218. All 212 Democrats again voted for Jeffries.

    One of those who voted for Jordan was House Freedom Caucus (HFC) Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who during the second ballot posted on Twitter his determination to fight McCarthy no matter how many ballots are required.

    “I stand firmly committed to changing the status quo no matter how many ballots this takes. If McCarthy had fought nearly as hard to defeat the failed, toxic policies of the Biden Administration as he has for himself, he would be Speaker of the House right now,” Perry wrote.

    Tension is building on the House floor among Republicans. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told Fox News that “If all they want is somebody other than Kevin, let’s be candid. Steve Scalise is supporting Kevin, Jim Jordan is supporting Kevin. As a matter of fact, every member of the leadership team, including every ranking member without becoming a chairman, is supporting Kevin. So we are in a situation in which the 19 have to explain what they want.”

    Democrats were quick to seize on the GOP confusion, with Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) issuing a statement following the first vote observing that “Hunter Thompson was right: ‘When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.’ This is what a Republican majority gets us: chaos.”

    “Democrats are here and ready to do our jobs for the country. Republican disarray is standing in the way.”

    Third Vote

    House Republicans remained deadlocked after voting for the third time Tuesday without giving enough votes to make McCarthy the new Speaker of the House.

    McCarthy lost one vote—Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)—on the third vote of the day for a total of 202 votes. Democrat Hakeem Jeffries of New York had the highest total with 212, with all of his Democratic colleagues but no Republicans voting for him.

    Incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) drew 20 votes, but his own ballot went to McCarthy for the third time. Jordan received 19 votes on the second ballot.

    The conservative rebels who have held firm against McCarthy and coalesced around Jordan on the third ballot remained steadfastly determined to keep their California colleague from succeeding Democrat Nancy Pelosi, also of California, as the new Speaker.

    In an impassioned speech nominating Jordan on the third ballot, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) put the issue between McCarthy and the dissidents as one of how best to stand up to President Joe Biden and the Senate Democratic majority.

    “How many times have we been down here giving speeches, and there’s not a soul in the chamber? Yet this is what it takes to get 435 People in the chamber and have an actual debate,” Roy told the chamber.

    “The American people are watching, and that’s a good thing. What we’re doing is exercising our rights to vote and have a debate and have a discussion about the future of this country through the decision of choosing a speaker.

    “This is not personal. It’s not. This is about the future of the country. This is about the direction of the country.”

    Republican Infighting

    That vote capped a frenzied two days of back-room bargaining and media posturing by McCarthy and his supporters and a small group of dissident populist conservatives who demanded and got a host of reform concessions, but still voted no on the first ballot.

    The bottom line for the dissidents was they just don’t trust McCarthy to be the agent of change they believe must lead the House in what they are determined to make the last two years of President Joe Biden’s tenure in the White House.

    “I came to a broken and dysfunctional Congress to change it. Advancing the long-standing pecking order one notch has no prospect of doing that. Many don’t want to change it,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) posted on Twitter just before the first vote.

    “Kevin McCarthy is not the right candidate to be Speaker. He has perpetuated the Washington status quo that makes this body one of the most unsuccessful and unpopular institutions in the country. This is not about personality or who has ‘earned’ the position, it is about serving the American people. I will not support the status quo,” Bishop continued.

    In the final minutes before the new House assembled for the speaker contest, a clearly exasperated and frustrated McCarthy told reporters: “I have the record for the longest speech ever on the floor. I don’t have a problem getting a record for the most votes for Speaker, too.”

    He was referring to his more than 90-minute December address to the House in opposition to Biden’s $1.8 trillion omnibus spending bill.

    Read the rest here…

    *  *  *

    Update (1455ET): Kevin McCarthy has lost the second tally for Speaker of the House.

    Of note, when this happened in 1923, it went to nine ballots.

    And look who’s gaining steam…

    *  *  *

    Update (1310ET): Not even a quarter of the way through roll call, and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has failed to secure enough votes to become Speaker of the House – which will push the contest into a multiple-ballot vote.

    According to the Washington Post‘s Paul Kane, the last time this happened was 1923.

    What’s next? As Politico reports:

    After McCarthy fails to get 218 votes on the first ballot, the Freedom Caucus antagonists have signaled that they will start backing another yet-unnamed candidate on the second ballot. The Daily Beast reported Monday night that that person is Ohio Rep. JIM JORDAN, the longtime McCarthy critic-turned-ally.

    The Ohio Republican, however, has no shot at being speaker — something that his adoring conservative colleagues know very well. But, per the Daily Beast story, that’s not the point: They’re hoping to peel off more Republicans to back Jordan, aiming to have McCarthy’s vote count decrease from the first ballot to the second.

    It’s an open question how long today will go until someone nominates a viable candidate for the gavel — someone like STEVE SCALISE (R-La.) or PATRICK McHENRY (R-N.C.). And there’s a fear that if one of these member’s names is called too early in the process, the conference will turn on them.

    Buckle up. It’s going to be a long day. 

    *  *  *

    Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave a Tuesday morning speech imploring fellow Republicans to elect him as Speaker of the House, as several notable members of the GOP have openly opposed McCarthy.

    According to Axios, McCarthy has given hardliners nearly everything they’ve asked for, however he still hasn’t secured enough votes for the position, meaning that for the first time in 100 years, the House will likely hold multiple ballots for the speaker.

    In his Tuesday speech, McCarthy listed all the concessions he’s made to the right, and pointed out that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) praised elements of his rules package. Gaetz, notably, has spearheaded the anti-McCarthy movement within the chamber.

    “I’ve earned this job,” said McCarthy, after running through everything he’s done to become speaker – to which Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) reportedly shook his head, according to Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman.

    “This is bullshit,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) in response to McCarthy’s speech.

    In December, Gaetz said he wouldn’t vote for McCarthy because he’s “just a shill of the establishment.”

    McCarthy also got into an argument with Rep. Perry, who accused McCarthy of having no track record on spending bills.

    McCarthy’s supporters chime in:

    In addition to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), McCarthy has the support of neocon Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), who has called McCarthy’s detractors “enemies” and “narcissists.”

    “They are enemies now. They have made it clear that they prefer a Democrat agenda than a Republican,” Crenshaw told CNN‘s Manu Raju.

    “This handful of members is very clearly looking for notoriety over principle. That’s what it is. And anyone who suggests differently is in some kind of make believe fantasy reality. It’s not, it’s not true,” he continued, adding “They lost those debates.”

    “That should have been the end of it because that’s how a team works, right? But if you’re a narcissist, … then you’ll keep going. And you’ll threaten to tear down the team for the benefit of the Democrats just because of your own sense of self importance.”

    Another McCarthy supporter, Mike Rogers (R-AL), said the GOP should bar McCarthy dissenters from getting committee slots – an idea Chip Roy didn’t like.

    Here’s Roy in December explaining the situation;

    According to Axios, this could become a war of attrition in which “[a] good number of pro-McCarthy House Republicans are hoping some of the holdouts are bluffing and looking for a show — and will ultimately get worn down enough during the process to cave for McCarthy.”

    The likely candidate to replace McCarthy, in the unlikely event he pulls out, is Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who said he won’t run against McCarthy but has been quietly preparing for this scenario.

    It doesn’t look like McCarthy is too worried…

    via www.zerohedge.com https://ift.tt/t2oI53J

    January 4, 2023 at 07:22AM

  • McConnell Trashes Trump: “Our Ability to Control the Primary Outcome Was Quite Limited in 2022 Because of Support of the Former President”

    McConnell Trashes Trump: “Our Ability to Control the Primary Outcome Was Quite Limited in 2022 Because of Support of the Former President”

    December 13, 2022 at 04:25PM McConnell Trashes Trump: “Our Ability to Control the Primary Outcome Was Quite Limited in 2022 Because of Support of the Former President” (VIDEO)

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday lashed out at President Trump and blamed 2022 losses on support of the former president.

    Recall, Mitch McConnell held up funds for Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters and other solid MAGA candidates.

    McConnell funded RINOs like Murkowski from Alaska and dissed Trump-endorsed candidates.

    McConnell on Tuesday told reporters that the GOP didn’t do well in 2022 because of Trump.

    Not a word about the brazen Democrat voter fraud and disenfranchisement in Maricopa County.

    The GOP just needs more RINO/establishment candidates, according to McConnell.

    “We ended up having a candidate quality test,” McConnell said. “Look at Arizona. Look at New Hampshire. And the challenging situation in Georgia as well.”

    “Our ability to control the primary outcome was quite limited in ‘22 because the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries. So my view was do the best you can with the cards you’re dealt. Now hopefully in the next cycle we’ll have quality candidates everywhere and a better outcome.”

    VIDEO:

    via The Gateway Pundit

  • Mike Lindell is Running for RNC Chair Position, Discusses Decision with Steve Bannon

    Mike Lindell is Running for RNC Chair Position, Discusses Decision with Steve Bannon

    November 28, 2022 at 04:48PM Mike Lindell is Running for RNC Chair Position, Discusses Decision with Steve Bannon

    CEO businessman Mike Lindell announced earlier today he is running for the position of Republican National Committee Chairman, a challenge to current RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel who has stated her intention to run for reelection to the position.

    Several current RNC members have announced their continued support for Mrs. McDaniel, including former RNC Chair Reince Priebus.  However, former republican congressman Lee Zeldin has also stated his interest in running for the position.

    Mike Lindell explains to Steve Bannon his intent and purpose for entering the very important race.  {Direct Rumble Link} WATCH:

    The election for the two-year RNC Chair will take place at the RNC winter meeting in California late January.

    The winter meeting of the RNC is taking place January 25-27th, in Dana Point California at the Waldorf Astoria – Monarch Beach Resort.  There are 168 members who will be in attendance (3 from every state) along with various RNC and national republican leadership.

    In addition to the RNC chair election, this RNC corporate meeting and the votes by the members, will determine the Republican Club rules for the 2024 election cycle.  Rules on primary dates, sequence, apportionment of delegates, distribution of delegates, state sequencing, qualifications and much more.

    The billionaire donor class and corporations who currently operate the financial mechanisms of the RNC have already expressed their intent moving forward is to remove the populist movement and realign the RNC with corporate objectives.  This chairmanship election is going to be pivotal for the future of the party.

    via The Last Refuge 

  • Pete Santilli Announces Platform For 2024 Presidential Run

    Pete Santilli Announces Platform For 2024 Presidential Run

    This morning I officially expressed my disgust in the corporation of the United States fraudulently representing itself as a Constitutional Republic. Additionally, I announce that I am filing for divorce citing irreconcilable differences with the people who have hijacked our government. I love what my country used to be, and I love my fellow Americans, but I can no longer continue to fight for a country that has become destructive towards our pursuit of life, liberty & happiness, and more importantly, I don’t feel right fighting for country that nobody else want to fight for themselves.

    Here are some of the primary tenets of my platform. Some of you might be “butt hurt” about the hard cold realities and facts affecting our lives, but so be it. Don’t vote for me.

    I will be one of the very first politicians to not pander for your vote by compromising my integrity.

    • COVID / MRNA: If elected, at the moment I raise my hand to be sworn in, all individuals who are involved in the mass genocide of millions of people around the world with COVID-19, and the subsequent MRNA injections will be rounded up, arrested, tried, convicted and executed swiftly for crimes against humanity.
    • OPERATION WARP SPEED: Throughout my campaign, I will insist that President Trump publicly acknowledge that “Operation Warp Speed” was not a good thing for humanity. I will also insist that his “freedom of choice” versus mandates montra has compounded his culpability and complicity in mass genocide, particularly because people cannot make an informed choice when half of the information they need is censored or prohibited as conspiracy taboo by the medical industrial complex. Operation Warp Speed is undoubtedly responsible for the deaths and injury of many hundreds of thousands but the continued denial of responsibility for those deaths must be placed squarely on the shoulders of President Trump.
    • U.S. CORPORATION: On day #1 of assuming office, I will begin the process of swiftly dissolving the U.S. Corporation. On day #2, the Corporation will be bankrupted and its charter sent to the shredder. Corporate CEO’s who remain in their positions will be held criminally liable for treason against the United States of America — our Constitutional Republic.
    • At the time of my inauguration and exact moment of swearing in, I will direct former Congressman Ron Paul to proceed to the Federal Reserve with a rental truck, repossess the U.S currency printing press, and immediately deliver the printing press to the U.S. Treasury. The U.S. will return to it’s constitutionally mandated “sound-money” by strictly adhering to asset-backed currency.
  • BREAKING: Arizona Election Results Delayed Until AFTER Weekend

    BREAKING: Arizona Election Results Delayed Until AFTER Weekend

    November 10, 2022 at 04:55PM BREAKING: Arizona Election Results Delayed Until AFTER Weekend

    The election results in Arizona won’t be completed until after the weekend, according to breaking reports coming out of the region.

    A Maricopa County spokesperson has just said the counting of the ballots will not be done Friday as originally expected, reportedly blaming a “historic” dump of 290k ballots on Election Day as the reason for the delay.

    “Arizona spokesperson for Maricopa County elections tells me the majority of ballots won’t be done being counted until after the weekend,” reports Ali Bradley of NewsNation. “They initially anticipated 95-99% of ballots to be completed by Friday.”

    “A historic 290k ballots were dropped off ElectionDay causing the delay.”

    Currently, conservatives are closely following Kari Lake’s gubernatorial saga against Democrat Katie Hobbs as well as Blake Masters’ race to unseat incumbent Mark Kelly in the Arizona senate.

    Already, critics are slamming Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for brazenly disregarding Masters’ tight struggle for Senate.

    “Mitch McConnell dumping $9 million into Alaska so pro-abortion RINO Lisa Murkowski could beat an America First Republican instead of spending it in Arizona for Blake Masters, whose race is going down to the wire, should be the nail in the coffin for his time as Leader,” said journalist Greg Price.

    Moreover, Steve Bannon celebrated Lake’s efforts to assist Masters in his fight for the Senate seat.

    “Blake was abandoned by Mitch McConnel,” said Bannon Thursday on The Charlie Kirk Show. “It took Kari Lake, who’s in a dog race herself, to say ‘no’ we’re going in as a team & we’re coming out as a team.”

    “How many people think like that? In politics, they don’t think like that. This is what leadership is.”

    via Infowars https://ift.tt/HDSuVYz

  • John Fetterman Opens only Senate Debate with “Hi, Goodnight Everybody”

    John Fetterman Opens only Senate Debate with “Hi, Goodnight Everybody”

    October 26, 2022 at 07:00AM John Fetterman Opens only Senate Debate with “Hi, Goodnight Everybody” (Video)

    John Fetterman opened his only debate tonight with, “Hi Goodnight everybody.”

    Moderator: Lt. Governor you’re running for a seat that could decide the balance of power in Washington. What qualifies you to be a US Senator? You have 30 seconds.

    Advertisement – story continues below

    John Fetterman: “Hi, goodnight everybody.”

    What a trainwreck.

    Advertisement – story continues below

    Here’s more on Fetterman’s mental health.

    via The Gateway Pundit https://ift.tt/Vjhs7tr

  • Biden Visit to Pittsburgh with John Fetterman a Total Disaster – Biden Struggles to Speak, Gets Lost Again

    Biden Visit to Pittsburgh with John Fetterman a Total Disaster – Biden Struggles to Speak, Gets Lost Again

    October 20, 2022 at 04:25PM Biden Visit to Pittsburgh with John Fetterman a Total Disaster – Biden Struggles to Speak, Gets Lost Again (VIDEO)

    Joe Biden on Thursday traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to deliver remarks on his admin’s plan to fix the nation’s infrastructure.

    Biden was greeted by Democrat US Senate candidate John Fetterman and his handler/wife Gisele Fetterman.

    John Fetterman actually wore a suit, but he still looked…off.

    Stroke victim John Fetterman and Dementia Joe together is quite the duo.

    Biden spoke at the Fern Hollow Bridge on Thursday.

    Recall, the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed in January hours before Biden made a visit to the bridge.

    Strange coincidence.

    As expected, the Fetterman/Biden event was a dumpster fire.

    Biden couldn’t even read his teleprompter.

    “Over a billion, 200, a trillion, 200 billion dollars!” Biden said.

    Fetterman didn’t speak at Biden’s stop in Pittsburgh.

    Biden will be traveling to Philadelphia to participate in a reception for John Fetterman.

    via The Gateway Pundit

    ‘That’s Not True! Count, Kid! Count!’ – Biden Snaps After Reporter Says Dems Aren’t Campaigning With Him

    ‘That’s Not True! Count, Kid! Count!’ – Biden Snaps After Reporter Says Dems Aren’t Campaigning With Him

    President Joe Biden snapped at a reporter outside the White House after being told there haven’t been “that many candidates campaigning” with him.

    Biden interrupted & advanced at the reporter mid-sentence to tout a number he’s apparently proud of.

    “That’s not true!” Said Biden on the South Lawn Thursday morning. “There have been 15!

    “Count, kid, count!”

    The encounter occurred while Biden was on his way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to stump with controversial US Senate candidate John Fetterman.

    Biden, choosing to celebrate such a paltry number out the hundreds of Democrats campaigning this season, indicates the Democrat Party is in a crisis.

    Recent polls are reflecting the energy, border, and economic woes Americans are having, so much so that even liberal operatives are lamenting they’ve effectively run out of momentum to finish the political fight on schedule.

    “I’m wishing the election were in August,” said Matt Bennett of the center-left group Third Way to Politico earlier this week. “I think we peaked a little early.”

    MUST SEE – Alex Jones Epic Captain Ahab Rant!

    via Infowars

    October 20, 2022 at 04:23PM