The Republican Party Has Flat Out Lost Its Mind

[LFC]

The MAGAts are coming out with their latest conspiracy theory as the "lumber truthers" find fraud everywhere!

Amateur sleuths are racking up page views by staking out hardware stores and filming stacks of lumber in the latest online conspiracy theory.

Lumber prices have tripled as demand for housing has jumped and the pandemic throttled production, but lumber-shortage truthers are recording videos of wood just as coronavirus skeptics filmed half-full hospital parking lots last year in an effort to prove the pandemic was a hoax, reported The Daily Beast.

"I'm just astounded at how much lumber is here, and I'm wondering why there's such a problem at the lumber yard," says the owner of a YouTube account called "Ken's Karpentry" in a widely viewed video. "We're still seeing the prices increase at the lumber yards, so I'm not sure why."

That video, with the blaring title "TRAIN LOADS OF LUMBER JUST STACKED UP !!!! Why," has been viewed nearly 500,000 times and was cited by the pro-Donald Trump blog Zero Hedge as proof that lumber prices were being artificially inflated.

"Could the lumber industry, controlled just by a few players, be pulling the playbook straight out of the diamond industry to limit supply to drive up prices?" wrote pseudonymous ZeroHedge writer "Tyler Durden."

The spike in lumber prices, which has increased the average cost of new home construction by $36,000, has been driven by increased demand for new housing and home improvement projects, which are both related to the same pandemic that limited production last year in anticipation of an economic crash -- but conspiracy theorists instead see sinister actors at work.

"There are a LOT of these type vids showing the BS narrative of Lumber shortages," wrote one person on a popular QAnon forum. "Nothing short of market manipulation to drive up prices, most notably homes. Why Homes? Part of the American dream is to buy a house."

TikTok has been flooded with viral lumber truther content.

[LFC]

Oh the irony. It's like something out of The Onion. Factions of the Arizona Republican Party are at odds with each other over [ready for this?] ... GOP leadership election fraud! The less crazy wing (they say moderate but that ship sailed years ago) sued the more crazy wing over what they say were unfair elections. "Where every accusation is a confession", amiright?

On Monday, The Arizona Republic reported that a superior court judge in Maricopa County has dismissed a lawsuit trying to force the Arizona GOP to redo its party leadership elections — a victory for far-right party chair Kelli Ward and a blow to GOP opponents who have alleged voter fraud in the process.

"Judge Michael Kemp agreed with the state party's attorney that the dispute is limited to internal political party elections — not public elections — and cannot be decided in a court of law," reported Yvonne Wingett Sanchez. "The ruling is a victory for state party officials who have downplayed problems in the election and have cast the activists as the disgruntled opponents of state GOP Chair Kelli Ward and her brand of politics."

The GOP chair election was decided by a razor-thin margin, with the incumbent Ward — an osteopathic physician and former senatorial candidate who presided over the GOP losing key statewide races in 2020 — winning by 42 votes over former Trump campaign Latino adviser Sergio Arellano.

Arellano demanded a recount of the results, something that the state party has been unwilling to do.

[LFC]

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texass) comes out against replacing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) with total Trumpsucker Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as conference chair because ... [wait for it] ... of her past moderate record. Sorry, Elise, but Chip just called you out on failing your past purity tests.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) on Tuesday bashed Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), after the New York Republican gained endorsements from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) to replace Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as conference chair.

Roy, who is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, sent a memo to his House GOP colleagues on Tuesday that knocked the idea of Stefanik serving in leadership. The memo was first obtained by Politico.

The Texas Republican, however, did not come to Cheney’s defense, saying that the third-ranking Republican “has been looking backwards” for criticizing former President Trump after she voted to impeach the former president for “incitement of insurrection.”

After declaring that he will vote to “recall” Cheney during the House Republican Conference’s vote on Wednesday to oust Cheney as its chair, Roy took aim at Stefanik for her past moderate record.

“Let us contemplate the message Republican leadership is about to send by rushing to coronate a spokesperson whose voting record embodies much of what led to the 2018 ass-kicking we received by Democrats,” Roy wrote.

[LFC]

Cheney was just ousted. I'm waiting to see the vote tally. TPM mentioned yesterday that it's a secret ballot so there's no performative voting. The count will tell us just how far gone the party really is. My guess is almost completely.

EDIT: I just saw that she was removed by a voice vote rather than a secret ballot so totally performative voting.

[indy]

The vote was obvious when the entire GOP caucus walked out on her speech last night.

[indy]

I see 100 prominent Republicans are threatening to start a new party unless the GOP makes some changes, like dumping Trump. There are apparently 100 prominent Republicans less in touch with the GOP base than...anyone else?

[goldenvalley]

May 12, 2021 14:15:36 GMT indy said:

I see 100 prominent Republicans are threatening to start a new party unless the GOP makes some changes, like dumping Trump. There are apparently 100 prominent Republicans less in touch with the GOP base than...anyone else?

Threatening?  Have they not figured out that they are being purged or have already self purged from the party?  


The Lincoln Project people had a slight opportunity to launch a new party with like minded former Republicans but somehow didn't bother to try. They perhaps thought people would come to their senses if they saw the videos?

[LFC]

I caught a snippet of Bill Maher yesterday and he had on Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). She said that many Republicans have turned to the politics of "no facts, no truth, and no shame." She then talked about the power of having no shame and how being publicly caught in spreading lies has no impact. It truly is where our roughly 1/3 of our nation has landed at this point and gleefully so.

[goldenvalley]

May 12, 2021 15:23:56 GMT LFC said:

I caught a snippet of Bill Maher yesterday and he had on Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). She said that many Republicans have turned to the politics of "no facts, no truth, and no shame." She then talked about the power of having no shame and how being publicly caught in spreading lies has no impact. It truly is where our roughly 1/3 of our nation has landed at this point and gleefully so.

And apparently Slotkin is one of them.  Her voting record is said to be to the left of Cheney's.  But her ambition says join the insurrection so she did.

[LFC]

May 12, 2021 15:44:10 GMT goldenvalley said:

May 12, 2021 15:23:56 GMT LFC said:

I caught a snippet of Bill Maher yesterday and he had on Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). She said that many Republicans have turned to the politics of "no facts, no truth, and no shame." She then talked about the power of having no shame and how being publicly caught in spreading lies has no impact. It truly is where our roughly 1/3 of our nation has landed at this point and gleefully so.

And apparently Slotkin is one of them.  Her voting record is said to be to the left of Cheney's.  But her ambition says join the insurrection so she did.

Huh? Democrat Elissa Slotkin joined the insurrection? Are you sure you have the right person in mind?

[goldenvalley]

May 12, 2021 16:42:57 GMT LFC said:

May 12, 2021 15:44:10 GMT goldenvalley said:

And apparently Slotkin is one of them.  Her voting record is said to be to the left of Cheney's.  But her ambition says join the insurrection so she did.

Huh? Democrat Elissa Slotkin joined the insurrection? Are you sure you have the right person in mind?

Oh sorry I was thinking of Elise Stefanik, not Elissa Slotkin.  Thanks for pointing that out.  Apologies to Congress member Slotkin. 

[LFC]

Kevin McCarthy pulls a 180 and lies about the Republicans' claiming the election is invalid. He's trying to say that at this moment The Big Lie, which is pushing pushed all over the nation 70% of Republicans believe, isn't really being pushed or believed. There really are no longer any guardrails on reality.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who initially condemned former President Trump for inciting the deadly Capitol insurrection before ultimately pushing for Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) ouster from leadership, acted as though the Republican Party has moved on from false claims of a stolen election just because he met with President Biden earlier today.

The Recount
@therecount
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, hours after ousting Rep. Liz Cheney from leadership: "I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. That's all over with. We are sitting here with the president today."

[AnBr]

Dan Rather's News & Guts take.

www.newsandguts.com/100-prominent-republicans-threaten-to-form-new-party-if-gop-yields-to-trump-domination/

[LFC]

Another shrill, bug-eyed, screech comes from the mouth of moron Kevin McCarthy. He really is the right guy to lead House Republicans.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Wednesday wasted no time bashing President Joe Biden shortly after attending a bipartisan White House meeting about a proposed infrastructure deal.

As noted by Newsweek White House reporter Elizabeth Crisp, McCarthy's campaign sent out an auto text message to supporters after the bipartisan infrastructure meeting ended in which he accuse Biden of pursuing a "radical Socialist agenda."

"I just met with Corrupt Joe Biden and he's STILL planning to push his radical Socialist agenda onto the American people," McCarthy wrote. "I need EVERY single patriot to step up... Fight back."

Crisp contrasted McCarthy's text to a White House readout of the meeting that stated Biden "enjoyed hosting" congressional leaders including McCarthy and "spent nearly two hours working with them to identify areas where they could collaborate."

[pnwguy]

May 12, 2021 21:04:50 GMT LFC said:

Another shrill, bug-eyed, screech comes from the mouth of moron Kevin McCarthy. He really is the right guy to lead House Republicans.

I'm not so sure.  The GOP needs a modern day Joseph Goebbels, and McCarthy isn't at that level.  If he avoids prosecution, Matt Gaetz is the spear thrower they need, who can lie without shame ALMOST as good as his mentor and Dear Leader.

[LFC]

So we have a group of 100 prominent Republicans calling for a new conservative party. Now we have Liz Cheney saying she'll do anything to prevent Trump from getting back into the White House. That apparently includes running for president.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who was ousted as Republican Conference Chair on Wednesday, apparently hasn’t ruled out a 2024 presidential bid in her effort to stop Donald Trump from setting foot in the White House again as commander-in-chief.

When asked during a TODAY Show interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie that aired Thursday, if she had ruled out a presidential bid, Cheney said she believed stopping Trump was “the most important issue that we are facing right now as a country.”

“He must not ever again be anywhere close to the Oval Office,” she said.

When asked if she would run for president in an effort to prevent Trump from winning a future presidential bid, she said she was “going to do everything that I can,” to make sure that never happens.

Cheney said that a key focus of hers will be ensuring that the Republican Party “gets back to substance and policy.”

Pressed again about whether she would consider filing to run in a bid against Trump, Cheney said: “Right now I am very focused on making sure that our party becomes again a party that stands for truth and stands for fundamental principles that are conservative and mostly stands for the Constitution.

“I won’t let a former president or anybody else unravel the democracy,” she said.

If a strong group of not completely insane Republicans pull together they could create real spoiler candidacies by siphoning off just a bit of the vote. It sounds like they're frightened enough of what they're seeing to burn the party's majority chances to the ground rather than to allow it to goose step forward. The threat of taking back the GOP isn't remotely realistic but the threat of dragging them down just enough to push them into near permanent minority status might be.

[pnwguy]

It could be like the demise of the Whig party, when the newly formed Republican party siphoned off their voters. But I'll totally accept a fractured right. Trouble is, they have enough levers of power to cheat and enough gun nuts to create more insurrections.

I'm putting the odds of Civil War 2.0 at 50-50.

[Deleted]

May 13, 2021 15:50:55 GMT pnwguy said:

It could be like the demise of the Whig party, when the newly formed Republican party siphoned off their voters. But I'll totally accept a fractured right. Trouble is, they have enough levers of power to cheat and enough gun nuts to create more insurrections.

I'm putting the odds of Civil War 2.0 at 50-50.

Republican vileness of the last couple of years will be rewarded next year. No reason to think regaining both chambers of Congress, a few more governorships and state assemblies would lead to demise of the party anytime soon. Enough people in enough # of right places want this muck to froth.

[LFC]

MTG accosted AOC with shrill, crazy-eyed rants about her supporting terrorists (while she herself ACTUALLY supports right-wing terrorists). AOC ignored her. Today she had this to say.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) dismissed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) aggressive confrontation Thursday as on par with the obnoxious behavior of the unruly patrons she used to encounter as a bartender.

On Wednesday, Greene tried to confront Ocasio-Cortez as the two left the House floor, shouting after her that she supported “terrorist” organizations like “antifa” and Black Lives Matter.

“I used to work as a bartender and these are the kinds of people that I threw out of bars all the time,” Ocasio-Cortez quipped to reporters, naming Greene and former Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) who accosted her last year, reportedly calling her a “fucking bitch” as he walked away.

But, she added, she won’t be seen letting Greene intimidate her.

“This isn’t even about how I feel — it’s that I refuse to allow young women, people of color, people who are standing up for what they believe to see this kind of intimidation attempts by a person who supported white supremacists in our nation’s capital,” she said.

Child, you have been dismissed. Go throw your temper tantrums elsewhere.

[AnBr]

More on the 100 Republicans. ‘Rationals’ vs. ‘radicals’: Anti-Trump Republicans threaten third party

[AnBr]

And MSNBC: www.reuters.com/world/us/rationals-vs-radicals-anti-trump-republicans-threaten-third-party-2021-05-11/

[goldenvalley]

May 14, 2021 1:47:52 GMT AnBr said:

And MSNBC: www.reuters.com/world/us/rationals-vs-radicals-anti-trump-republicans-threaten-third-party-2021-05-11/

Where were these 100 people before the election?  Sitting back and hoping that a Trump loss would break the radicals.  How wrong they were.  

[LFC]

May 14, 2021 14:06:42 GMT goldenvalley said:

Where were these 100 people before the election?  Sitting back and hoping that a Trump loss would break the radicals.  How wrong they were.  

David Frum was late to the game. Bill Kristol after that. Rick Wilson, Steve Schmidt, and the rest of the Lincoln Project folks were later to the game. Liz Cheney was later even yet. Now we have 100 more who required not just a literal insurrection but near unanimous fealty of the Republican Party apparatus and officials to the insurrectionist in chief. For too many even that's not enough to budge them. These people are all cowards, simultaneously responsible for pushing the GOP to where it is today while ignoring what they wrought. Then there are those who are truly all in. They're just traitors and are not real Americans in my book.

I believe the word I'm looking to describe all of these people is "complicit." Sure there are different levels of being complicit but all that really matters now is how hard they'll fight to atone for their sins. "I once said I didn't agree with everything Donald Trump said" ain't gonna' cut it.

[LFC]

Stefanik is elected 134-46 to take Cheney's place. The Big Lie is even further cemented as a key part of what it means to be a Republican.

[LFC]

Stefanik's top opponent, Chip Roy (R-TX), legitimately pitched himself as having a clearly more conservative voting record. TPM notes that his record is missing one bigly glaring item: he hasn't pushed The Big Lie. Another in a long list of items proving that conservatism in the Republican Party is dead.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is widely expected to be elected House GOP conference chair, but Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) who announced a challenge on Thursday is highlighting his conservative voting record as among his qualifications for the role.

A color-coded graphic touting that record appeared on Roy’s Twitter account after he faced off with Stefanik as the opponents pitched their respective cases for filling the third-ranking spot to House GOP colleagues on Thursday night. It appears to illustrate ways that Stefanik had less consistently cast votes that supported Trump.

Missing from the graphic however, is what has appeared to become a core credential for the No. 3 role: support for Trump’s election lie.

Stefanik had objected to the final certification of Electoral College votes in some states challenged by Trump loyalists on Jan. 6, while Roy voted to certify the election.