"A man without principles is commonly a man without character."
William H. Seward (1801 - 1872)
U.S. Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869
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Ex-federal judge and prominent conservative: ‘There is no Republican Party’
“American democracy simply cannot function without two equally healthy and equally strong political parties. So today, in my view, there is no Republican Party to counter the Democratic Party in the country,” Luttig, who advised Pence on how to handle the January 6, 2021, election certification vote, told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on “CNN This Morning.” “And for that reason, American democracy is in grave peril.”
CNN
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Republican AG Hon. Alberto Gonzales | No, fellow Republicans, the Justice Department is not biased against us
The reaction to Trump's indictments is more worrying than the indictments themselves.
The Washington Post
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CBS News poll finds after latest Trump indictment, many Americans see implications for democracy. For some, it's personal
America's response to this week's indictment of Donald Trump is providing a window into more than just how Americans view his alleged actions per se — but also into what they think it means for democracy itself.
CBS News
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Are G.O.P. Voters Tiring of the War on ‘Wokeness’?
New polling shows national Republicans and Iowa Republican caucusgoers were more interested in “law and order” than battling “woke” schools, media and corporations.
The New York Times
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Exclusive: Barr obliterates Trump’s defense: ‘He knew well that he had lost the election’
Former Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday undermined a key pillar of his old boss’ defense in the special counsel’s probe into 2020 election interference, telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that Donald Trump “knew well he lost the election.”
CNN
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Chris Christie meets with Zelenskyy in unannounced trip to Ukraine
The long-shot Republican presidential candidate visited the country's capital, Kyiv, and the once-Russian-occupied town of Bucha.
NBC News
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Jeffrey Clark is GOP star after trying to use DOJ to overturn election
After trying to use the Justice Department to delegitimize the 2020 vote, Clark has become a rising legal star for Republicans
The Washington Post
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Opinion | Here’s the Intelligence Assessment of Donald Trump that the Government Can’t Write
Federal intelligence and national security agencies — from the FBI to DHS — are in universal agreement that domestic extremism and terrorism is the leading threat to the U.S. homeland. But homeland security officials are also trained to be apolitical, so here’s what they can’t tell you: Donald J. Trump poses a significant threat to homeland security.
Politico
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DeSantis Camp Hit by Gloom as Aides Worry Race Is Slipping Away
Aides frustrated and disappointed by campaign’s inner workings. DeSantis continues resetting bid as Trump holds primary lead
Bloomberg
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Joe Rogan Irresponsibly Suggests Kari Lake Has a Point About Election Fraud
Joe Rogan quickly veered into conspiracy territory in his most recent podcast.
Daily Beast
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House GOP worries that hardliners actually want a shutdown
Speaker Kevin McCarthy insists Congress will avoid a government shutdown in the fall. But some members of his right flank seem to be embracing that outcome.
Politico
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Key Witness Doesn’t Back Up G.O.P.’s Biggest Allegations on Bidens
The testimony of Devon Archer, a Hunter Biden associate, paints an unflattering portrait of Hunter’s business dealings, but contradicts reports of bribes or material involvement by the president.
The New York Times
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Eastman Reiterates Support For Full Insurrection
'Co-Conspirator 2' cited the Declaration of Independence in saying that the people have a right to "alter or abolish" their government.
Talking Points Memo
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Arizona Republicans wanted to hand-count ballots. Then they saw the price tag — and the errors.
Election workers spent three days counting 850 ballots in Mohave County. They made errors in 46 races.
NBC News
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Trump’s indictment for Jan. 6 turns Mike Pence into a litmus test
The former vice president stood by his criticism of Trump on Wednesday, and called his former boss’ one-time lawyers “crackpots.”
Politico
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DeSantis Dismisses Trump’s 2020 Election Theories as False
The Florida governor went further than he has before in acknowledging that the election was not stolen as a major donor pressured him to appeal to moderates.
The New York Times
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The Republican Party’s Split on Economics
Why an argument over economic policy is roiling the party.
The New York Times
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G.O.P. Contenders Feed Voter Distrust in Courts, Schools and Military
As Donald J. Trump has escalated his attacks on the justice system and other core institutions, his competitors for the Republican nomination have followed his lead.
The New York Times
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DeSantis Replaces Campaign Manager with Florida Chief of Staff As He ‘Reloads’
In his third staff shakeup in less than a month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced his embattled presidential campaign manager with one of his most trusted, and most conservative, advisers: his gubernatorial office’s chief of staff, James Uthmeier.
The Messenger
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Previously Secret Memo Laid Out Strategy for Trump to Overturn Biden’s Win
The House Jan. 6 committee’s investigation did not uncover the memo, whose existence first came to light in last week’s indictment.
The New York Times
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The Judge Luttig Interviews
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Former federal judge J. Michael Luttig on Jan. 6 indictment and American democracy
August 9, 2023
J. Michael Luttig is one of the country’s best known conservative jurists who advised former vice president Mike Pence against overturning the electoral college vote after the 2020 election. The former federal judge joins The Post’s editorial page editor David Shipley to discuss the Jan. 6 indictment against former president Donald Trump and how he sees the future of American democracy.
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Judge Luttig: If Trump wins in 2024, “we would have little hope of saving American democracy”
Aug 6, 2023
Former Federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, whose advice helped to thwart Donald Trump’s coup attempt, finds something clever in how Special Counsel Jack Smith crafted the indictment and the charges he decided to file. “The former president does not have a First Amendment defense to any of these charges that have now been brought against him by the grand jury.”
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How Bronze Age Pervert Charmed the Far Right
An internet personality who espouses fascism, racism, and bodybuilding has won influential converts.
Graeme Wood a Politico
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Inside the Wagner Group’s Armed Uprising
How Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private military company went from fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine to staging a mutiny at home.
Joshua Yaffe at the New Yorker
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What Ohio Teaches Us About the Long-term Project of Democracy
The vote was billed as a referendum on abortion, but it’s also the latest chapter in the 2,500-year struggle to perfect popular government.
The Washington Post
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Are Democrats Tricking Republicans Into Nominating Trump?
Conservative elites driven to madness by DeSantis’s collapse.
Jonathan Chait at the New Yorker
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Richard Hanania, Rising Right-Wing Star, Wrote For White Supremacist Sites Under Pseudonym
Hanania is championed by tech moguls and a U.S. senator, but HuffPost found he used a pen name to become an important figure in the “alt-right.”
Christopher Mathias at the Huffington Post
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Washington Post Opinions - Please, go on: What if George Conway were Trump’s defense lawyer?
August 3, 2023
Post Opinions columnist Ruth Marcus and George Conway, one of Donald Trump’s leading conservative critics, sat down Thursday to talk about the Department of Justice’s latest indictment of Trump, what it means, and where the country goes from here.
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Acton Unwind - Is the New Right Fascist?
August 8, 2023
What is fascism, beyond the most common Orwellian definition “that which is not desirable”? How much of the radicalism of the New Right is driven by a lot of young members who are “very online”? How seriously should we take the arguments of these people, and how much should we engage with them?
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The Dispatch Podcast - Israel's Constitutional Moment
August 6, 2023
Israel is undergoing a sea change. The battle over a judicial overhaul hides much deeper national schisms. The Times of Israel Senior Political Analyst Haviv Rettig Gur tries to make sense of the mess. Will the reform fix or break Israeli democracy? Why doesn’t Israel have a constitution? Why are elite military volunteers joining the protest? Does Benjamin Netanyahu have a plan? Is the Israeli left dead? Is the Israeli right broken? And what does “right and left” even mean?
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🚨🚨 #PrinciplesFirst alerts:
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🚨🚨 #PrinciplesFirst alert:
Alberto Gonzales, US Attorney General under Bush 43: “No, fellow Republicans, the Justice Department is not biased against us.”
That makes 2 GOP AGs speaking up to debunk the “weaponization” claims. Thanks, Alberto. https://t.co/qXLH1QHvSf— Principles First (@Principles_1st) August 9, 2023
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🚨🚨 #PrinciplesFirst alert:
Judge Luttig: “For the two and a half years since Jan. 6, these false claims have corrupted American democracy. They corrupted American elections and they've corrupted the perception of the American people in America herself.” pic.twitter.com/94MHOlSqx5— Principles First (@Principles_1st) August 9, 2023
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🚨🚨 #PrinciplesFirst alert:
Thanks for speaking up, Jim. There are more principled Americans like you out here than you realize. It’s important that we stand up and stand together for principles instead of personalities. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/HcKUTJNi8B— Principles First (@Principles_1st) August 6, 2023
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🚨🚨 #PrinciplesFirst alert:
Historian Jon Meacham on the state of American democracy: “The American Right has become unmoored from reality because of their devotion to this singular figure—and that way, madness lies.”
It doesn’t have to be this way. pic.twitter.com/XMuWYHbAZI— Principles First (@Principles_1st) August 5, 2023
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