<In the wake of the recent launch of his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump has shared his plan to “shatter the deep state and restore government that is controlled by the people.” But in an op-ed for the conservative Washington Examiner this Wednesday, columnist Zachary Faria asks why Trump didn't do that during his first term as president.

Faria acknowledges that some of the issues Trump cites in his plan need to be addressed by the next Republican president. "And yet, whether or not Trump’s plan is good or bad is irrelevant. It is late," he writes.

"Trump was president for four years. Trump and his allies were talking about the 'deep state' as early as March 2017, not even two months after he was inaugurated," Faria writes. "He was the head of the executive branch and could have come up with and implemented a plan to 'shatter the deep state' whenever he wished. And yet, it is only now, more than two years removed from office, that he wants to take up the fight."

As Faria points out, Trump's most loyal supporters will likely say that his plans to dismantle the deep state were obstructed by his opposing forces, but "if Trump was so weak that he couldn’t pull it off the first time, what is stopping them from obstructing him again?"

"If the excuse is that 'RINO Republicans didn’t stand with him,' has anything happened to change that? Most of Trump’s chosen MAGA candidates lost, in case anyone has forgotten," Faria noted.

Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this month that Americans were "in an epic struggle to rescue our country from the people who hate it and want to absolutely destroy it."

American voters, Trump said, were tired of "entrenched political dynasties in both parties, rotten special interests, China-loving politicians" and supporters of "endless foreign wars."

"In 2016, I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution," Trump said.

"I will totally obliterate the deep state. I will fire the unelected bureaucrats and shadow forces who have weaponized our justice system. And I will put the people back in charge of this country again.">

<The Republican Party of Michigan is facing bipartisan backlash after social media posts connecting new proposed gun legislation to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, reported The Detroit News on Wednesday.

"Democrats are advancing bills in the state Legislature this month to expand background check requirements for firearm purchases and to mandate the safe storage of guns in homes where children are present," said the report. "The package of proposed laws also would allow for 'extreme risk' protection orders, permitting a court to temporarily remove weapons from someone's home if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others."

These measures come after a series of high-profile shootings in Michigan, including a 2021 massacre at Oxford High School by a 15-year-old whose parents bought him a gun despite mental health episodes, and a shooting last month on the campus of Michigan State University.

One GOP tweet in question showed a 1945 photograph of a bin of wedding rings the Nazis stole from prisoners murdered in the death camps, with the caption, "Before they collected all these wedding rings ... They collected all the guns." It was accompanied by the text, "#History has shown us that the first thing a government does when it wants total control over its people is to disarm them."

The false narrative that the Nazis enacted their reign of terror through gun control has cropped up routinely. In reality, it was the pre-Nazi Weimar Republic that imposed tough limits on civilian gun ownership in Germany. The Nazis actually relaxed those gun laws in 1938 to make it easier for German citizens to own guns, as part of a broader campaign to militarize their society.

One of the earliest origins of the myth of gun control as a Nazi strategy appears to have been in 1983, when gun-rights activists in Chicago sought to defeat a handgun ban by putting up posters depicting Hitler endorsing gun control in Skokie, a heavily Jewish suburb that was home to a large community of Holocaust survivors.

The post drew immediate condemnation from Michigan officials in both parties.

"Haven't the victims of the Holocaust suffered enough than to be shamefully exploited in death by this vile post? Anti-semitism thrives when these grotesque distortions of history diminish it," said state Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Jewish Democrat. "This tweet by @MIGOP is absolutely inappropriate and offensive and should be taken down immediately," tweeted Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks. "It's operating out of ignorance. And that's one of the great threats to our democracy today," said former Congressman Dave Trott, a Republican who supports the new gun safety legislation.

Kristina Karamo, the newly elected Michigan GOP chairwoman known for a history of QAnon conspiracy theories and election denial, refused to retract the post.

"My ancestors were enslaved and my great-great grandfather was lynched by a white mob in front of his entire family," stated Karamo. "We will not be silent as the Democratic Party, the party who fought to enslave Black Americans, and currently fights to murder unborn children, attempt (sic) to disarm us.">

Figures that the evil Kristina Karamo would be in on the action.....

<Whatever you think of Kari Lake’s claims of election fraud that have been deemed to be baseless by the courts, a newspaper columnist critical of the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate believes he’s found a role that he believes would suits the former news anchor.

The Arizona Republic’s EJ Montini notes that a Christian group that recognized Lake for her propensity to predict the future, and whiff nearly every time.

“Kari Lake made the group’s list of ‘false prophets,’” Montini wrote in a scathing piece on the far-right figure’s demagoguery as it was described by Faithful America, a Christian organization behind the "False Prophets Don’t Speak for Me" initiative.

“Unlike Arizona governor, it is a position for which she appears to have the qualifications.”

Montini’s piece, which ran under the headline “Kari Lake still expects God (and the state Supreme Court) to make her governor” followed a gathering Lake held Tuesday at a Mesa church she described as a “prayer event,” and which the columnist described as her “latest prank.”

“We told you we'd bring our election case to the AZ Supreme court and we did,” Lake wrote in a tweet advancing the event. “Now, it's time to pray together for the Supreme Court & praise God with great expectations!”

But if recent history is any indication, Lake’s supporters probably shouldn’t expect much.

Montini notes that an Arizona appeals court judge described Lake’s assertions of election fraud to be “quite simply, sheer speculation.”

“Lake’s arguments highlight election day difficulties, but her request for relief fails because the evidence presented to the superior court ultimately supports the court’s conclusion that voters were able to cast their ballots, that votes were counted correctly, and that no other basis justifies setting aside the election results,” the ruling said.

Lake proceeded to take her case to the Arizona Supreme Court, Montini writes, tweeting at the time: “Pray for our Attorneys. Pray for the Judges. Pray for Justice. Pray for America.”

Lake’s efforts to tap into some form of divine intervention have included a march around Maricopa County’s election, horns blaring, with the expectation of a biblical battle of Jericho-style event where the walls crumble. They didn’t.

“I am not an expert in the ways of the Almighty, but it seems likely that her prayers already have been answered. Just not with the reply she’d hoped to receive,” Montini writes.>

<A radio host at Boston's WEEI is under fire after the usage of an ethnic slur.

Chris Curtis, a WEEI host since 2013, and his co-hosts, Greg Hill and Courtney Cox, were discussing Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo's plan to formally present a proposal to outlaw small alcohol bottles known as nips.

But the term is also a racial slur against the Japanese (shortened from Nippon) that gained prominence during World War II.

Cox then said the trio should discuss their "top five nips," in which she mentioned several alcoholic brands.

However, Curtis replied, "I'd probably go [ESPN NFL analyst] Mina Kimes."

Kimes is of Korean descent on her mother's side – the name-drop did not garner a response from any of the hosts but did get a laugh from producer Chris Scheim.

When the Boston Globe reached out for comment to WEEI, the station had the chance to save any wrongdoing but whiffed.

The station did not say anything regarding the slur other than claiming that the host mistook Kimes for actress Mila Kunis, who is Ukranian-Jewish.

After the confusion, Kimes changed her Twitter profile picture to a photo of Kunis.>

<We all know who is COMPLETELY OBSESSED with FTB and Donnie T....

....Taking into account this page and pe's personal forum, there's little doubt that perhidious has posted 500+ times a year of either person (daily, often thrice daily), much of it deliberate mischaracterizations, insults, very little actual fact. It's a constant pervicious smear campaign to make the closed brain of a narcissist feel better, like a daily dose of sunshine and fresh air for the normal person.

You're a sick sad psycho stalker perfidious. You should be banned from chessgames.

Now go spread some more lies.>

Whatsamatter, <fredpinchecabron>? Get rejected last night? It hurts, but you'll get over it--or not--idgaf.

<“Never underestimate Hillary Clinton’s ability to make this harder than it has to be,” one top Clinton aide says of the boss. She never takes the easy route. “If the path is from New York to Washington, D.C., it’s even odds that her trip will go through Utah.”>

<Now Ike is to blame. Hater would've preferred the Nazis win.>

And you make claims of how others lie about you....

<Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday launched an attack on TV hosts who tell “lies” in order to “keep their stupid TV jobs.”

And critics say it sounds a lot like he could be talking about himself.

Carlson, who has admitted to lying, attacked a new United Nations report on climate change that finds the world is rapidly approaching a dangerous temperature threshold.

He suggested the fight against climate change is in reality a “coordinated effort by the government of China to hobble the U.S. and the West and take its place as the leader of the world.”

Carlson accused U.S. TV reporters of playing into China’s hands.

“You take a collection of dumb, desperate people in middle age hoping to keep on to their stupid TV jobs, you add scripts and some hairspray, and they repeat the lies for you,” he said:

Carlson has been one of Donald Trump’s most loyal defenders on television ― but behind the scenes, he admitted to harboring some very different feelings.

“I hate him passionately,” he said in a text message uncovered in the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News, adding that he “can’t wait” for a time when he can ignore Trump.

Carlson has been roasted by Democrats and Republicans alike for a report in which he claimed the Jan. 6 rioters, who assaulted the U.S. Capitol in a failed effort to block the certification of the election and keep Trump in power, were actually just “sightseers.”

He’s parroted white nationalist talking points, and has been one of U.S. television’s biggest defenders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Carlson’s critics couldn’t help but point out the irony and lack of self-awareness.>

<<MissScarlett: https://www.chessgames.com/nodejs/g... Were the two deleted games resubmitted?>

Dunno, you should get back abusing your privileges, that you mastered in the past.>

<This @#$% should have been delted [sic]. Diagrams don't make the words right.>

Neither do your constant morality plays, whingeing and stalking.

<saffuna: As a public service, Art Buchwald's Nixon excuses. There's a corresponding Trump excuse for every one.

1. Everyone does it.

2. What about Chappaquiddick?

3. A President can’t keep track of everything his staff does.

4. The press is blowing the whole thing up.

5. Whatever Nixon did was for national security.

6. The Democrats are sore because they lost the election.

7. Are you going to believe a rat like John Dean or the president of the United States?

8. Wait till all the facts come out.

9. What about Chappaquiddick?

10. If you impeach Nixon, you get Agnew.

11. The only thing wrong with Watergate is they got caught.

12. What about Daniel Ellsberg stealing the Pentagon Papers?

13. It happens in Europe all the time.

14. People would be against Nixon no matter what he did.

15. I’d rather have a crook in the White House than a fool.

16. LBJ used to read FBI reports every night.

17. What’s the big deal about finding out what your opposition is up to?

18. The president was too busy running the country to know what was going on.

19. What about Chappaquiddick?

20. People that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

21. McGovern would have lost anyway.

22. Maybe the Committee for the Re-Election of the President when a little too far, but they were just a bunch of eager kids.

23. I’m not for breaking the law, but sometimes you have to do it to save the country.

24. Nixon made a mistake. He’s only human.

25. Do you realize what Watergate is doing to the dollar abroad?

26. What about Harry Truman and the deep freeze scandal?

27. Franklin D. Roosevelt did a lot of worse things.

28. I’m sick and tired of hearing about Watergate and so is everyone else.

29. This thing should be tried in the courts and not on TV.

30. When Nixon gives his explanation of what happened there are going to be a lot of people in this country with egg on their faces.

31. My country right or wrong.

32. What about Chappaquiddick?

33. I think the people who make all this fuss about Watergate should be shot.

34. If the Democrats had the money they would have done the same thing.

35. I never did trust Haldeman and Ehrlichman.

36. If you say one more word about Watergate I’ll punch you in the nose.

A. If the person is bigger than you: “If you say one more word about Watergate I’m leaving this house.”

<<Over the mountains I fly

And no-one can take my freedom away>

Off-topic, reported.

-- CG Liberation Front -->

<Former President Donald Trump broke out in an all-caps rant to lash out at Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump posted last week that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, but that never came to fruition. He did, however, send out an email blast seeking donations.

"WHY WON'T BRAGG DROP THIS CASE? EVERYBODY SAYS THERE IS NO CRIME HERE. I DID NOTHING WRONG! IT WAS ALL MADE UP BY A CONVICTED NUT JOB WITH ZERO CREDIBILITY, WHO HAS BEEN DISPUTED BY HIGHLY RESPECTED PROFESSIONALS AT EVERY TURN. BRAGG REFUSES TO STOP DESPITE OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY. HE IS A SOROS BACKED ANIMAL WHO JUST DOESN'T CARE ABOUT RIGHT OR WRONG NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE HURT. THIS IS NO LEGAL SYSTEM, THIS IS THE GESTAPO, THIS IS RUSSIA AND CHINA, BUT WORSE. DISGRACEFUL!

EVERYBODY KNOWS I'M 100% INNOCENT, INCLUDING BRAGG, BUT HE DOESN'T CARE. HE IS JUST CARRYING OUT THE PLANS OF THE RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED, AS THEY TELL US TO BE PEACEFUL!"

It sounds like Trump Is trying to incite violence again with that last line. So, not "peacefully and patriotically," eh?

Donald is under investigation on several fronts. He's being investigated for allegedly falsifying financial records to cover up a hush money payment made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election.

And then there's Georgia, where he (allegedly!) tried to overturn the state's results. And then there's his handling of classified documents. And then there is his role in the Jan. 6th insurrection.

Lumpy should keep calling his investigators animals. I'm sure that will help!>

<Georgia taxpayers can now list embryos as dependents on their tax returns.

In a news release on Monday, Georgia’s department of revenue said it would begin to “recognize any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat … as eligible for [an] individual income tax dependent exemption”.

The announcement follows the supreme court’s ruling on 24 June that overturned the landmark Roe v Wade ruling that established the nationwide right to an abortion nearly 50 years earlier. A lower federal appellate court had also decided on 20 July to let the Georgia law banning most abortions in the state take effect.

Officials added that taxpayers filing returns from 20 July onward can claim a deduction of up to $3,000 for any fetus whose heartbeat could be detected. That “may occur as early as six weeks’ gestation”, before most women even know they are pregnant, the statement said.

Taxpayers must be ready to provide “relevant medical records or other supporting documentation … if requested by the [revenue] department”.

Legal analysts and advocates for abortion rights greeted the announcement with dismay and skepticism.

Anthony Michael Kreis, a Georgia State University law professor and political scientist, tweeted that some pregnancies detected within six weeks of gestation “result in natural miscarriages”, which could leave the Georgia’s treasury “handing out a lot of cash for pregnancies that would never come to term”.

Lauren Groh-Wargo, manager of Stacey Abrams’s campaign for Georgia governor, tweeted: “So what happens when you claim your fetus as a dependent and then miscarry later in the pregnancy, you get investigated both for [possible] tax fraud and an illegal abortion?”

The Georgia revenue department’s announcement Monday came less than a month after a pregnant woman in Texas memorably argued to police that her unborn child should count as an additional passenger upon receiving a traffic ticket for driving alone in a high-occupancy – or HOV – lane. The woman didn’t talk her way out of the ticket but has said she plans to go to court to try out her argument there.

<The ESPN analyst responded via Twitter to the provocateur’s bizarre opinion about her.

ESPN analyst Mina Kimes found herself at the center of attention on social media Wednesday after a Boston radio host made an inappropriate remark about her.

During a segment on The Greg Hill Show on WEEI-FM, Chris Curtis invoked Kimes’s name during a discussion about a proposal to ban mini liquor bottles in Boston. Cohost Courtney Cox asked her peers to rank their top five nips, which is a nickname for the tiny bottles. However, the word “nip” also carries a pejorative connotation toward people of Japanese descent.

As the show’s personalities were naming brands of booze, Curtis interjected, “Uh, I’d probably go Mina Kimes.”

ESPN issued a statement denouncing the comment about Kimes, who is of Korean descent, later Wednesday. Curtis apologized for the comment Thursday and was handed a week-long suspension.

But before Curtis apologized, a spokesperson from WEEI’s parent company, Audacy, told Chad Finn of The Boston Globe that Curtis meant to invoke the name of actress Mila Kunis, not Kimes. That seemed to imply a joke based on sexism, as opposed to racism.

Kimes appeared to take the high road by avoiding a direct comment on the situation and instead humorously changed her Twitter avatar to a photo of Kunis.

That’s where Whitlock, a Blaze Media personality who was twice employed by ESPN, joined the fray. On Wednesday evening, presumably reacting to the revised avatar, Whitlock opined on Twitter that Kimes had made herself a victim in the situation.

“Raise your hand if you knew ’Nip’ was an ethnic slur? I did not. Tell me how Mina Kimes’ life was impacted by this?” Whitlock wrote. “Other than nailing herself to a cross, I don’t see the damage. She will dance to rap music calling black people N-words repeatedly without uttering a complaint.”

Kimes responded to Whitlock’s criticism Thursday afternoon with a not-so-subtle dig at the longtime sportswriter.

“Nailing myself to a cross?” Kimes wrote in a quote tweet. “I made one joke and went back to work…because unlike you, I still talk about sports for a living. Have a great day.”>

<Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on Thursday presented photos of human fetuses at a hearing on endangered species.

During Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee hearing, Boebert was recognized to present her bill to remove the Gray Wolf from the list of endangered species.

"I appreciate this time today and thank you so much for everyone who's attending here and traveling so far to be here," Boebert began. "I do want to say before my opening remarks, you know, since we're talking about the Endangered Species Act, I'm just wondering if my colleagues on the other side would put babies on the endangered species list."

The lawmaker held up photos of fetuses as she spoke.

"These babies were born in Washington, D.C. full term," she added. "I don't know, maybe that's a way we can save some children here in the United States."

Boebert then launched into her presentation on the gray wolf.

"For far too long, the Endangered Species Act has been weaponized by extremists, extremist environmentalists, to obstruct common sense multiple-use activities that they disagree with," she said.>

Oh, what might not have been, had her mother kept her legs crossed one fateful night, so very long ago....

<Legendary ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith has suggested his time with the network could come to an end as the company falls under the Disney-owned umbrella, which is bracing itself for over 7,000 employee layoffs.

In February, ESPN’s parent company Disney announced plans for some massive cost-cutting measures to come in the next few months. CEO Bob Iger revealed that the company planned to slash over $5billion (£4bn) in costs during a major restructuring of the company.

The major restructuring includes laying off north of 7,000 employees from its workforce of over 220,000, and ESPN is likely to be hit. And despite being one of ESPN’s prized assets, Smith says he may not be safe from the cost-cutting measures, with the analyst among some of the company's highest earners.

Smith picks up $13 million a year, the second highest at ESPN behind NFL broadcaster Troy Aikman’s $18m (£14.7m) salary. On a new edition of his “K[no]w Mercy” podcast, the 55-year-old, who offers box office commentary on a range of US sports including basketball and football, spoke in-depth on the reports.

He said: “Have you all been paying attention to the business landscape? Disney itself announced that over 7,000 employees are going to be let go. ESPN is under the Disney umbrella.

“They’re going to have cuts coming. Hell, for all I know, I might be one of them. Now, I doubt that. But it’s possible. No one knows.”

Despite Smith getting the axe being unlikely, shifting his $13m wage bill would save the network a huge sum of many and many jobs. This would not be the first round of cuts for the network in recent years after laying off 300 employees in 2015 and 2021 respectively.

In 2017, former president John Skipper laid off roughly 100 anchors, reporters, and analysts, including big names like Trent Dilfer, Danny Kanell, Jerome Bettis, Marc Stein, and Len Elmore. However, sources told Front Office Sports that they don’t expect it to be as bad this time.

“I don’t think it will be as bad as 2017. But it might be bad,” said one source.>

Hope the entitled ignoramus has stashed some of that cash which his employer has so liberally bestowed upon him--maybe then he will have a care for those less well off than himself.

<Bed Bath & Beyond is closing 43 stores, two warehouses, and one fulfillment center in New Jersey.

The company is also slashing 377 jobs at its Union, NJ, corporate headquarters, effective April 9.

New layoff rules go into effect on April 10 in the state, which could have cost the company millions.

As embattled housewares giant Bed Bath & Beyond drastically shrinks its retail operation, the timing of store closures and layoffs in its home state of New Jersey is likely helping the company avoid millions of dollars in liabilities it might otherwise face.

On the morning of Tuesday, January 10, Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Sue Gove offered a rosy update about the company's turnaround strategy during its third-quarter earnings call.

"Our entire organization is laser-focused on maximizing the value of our company by reconnecting with our customers and positioning Bed Bath & Beyond, buybuy BABY, and Harmon for long-term success," she said.

Later that day, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill setting April 10 as the effective date of sweeping new rules that companies must follow when they lay off workers.

Current federal and state laws require 60-days' public notice of job cuts affecting 50 or more full-time workers at one location, and only require severance payments in the event that an employer does not give full notice.

Management-side employment lawyer Mark Diana, of the firm Ogletree Deakins, told Insider that starting April 10 in New Jersey, employers will be required to give 90 days' notice, include all part-time and full-time workers across all locations in the state, and pay mandatory severance of one week's earnings per year of service, with no cap on the number of weeks.

"What makes it kind of a kick in the teeth is you're often dealing with companies that are in some financial distress," Diana said. "That's why they're laying off a lot of employees."

Insider roughly estimates the newly required severance payments might have represented a liability to the company of several million dollars, based on median worker earnings reported in Bed Bath & Beyond's most recent proxy filing, layoff numbers reported to the state, and typical store staffing levels and tenure.

On February 7, less than a month after the bill signing, Bed Bath & Beyond updated its list of closing stores to include all 49 locations of its Harmon subsidiary — 30 of which are in New Jersey — as well as 13 flagship-brand stores in the state, up from three locations that were previously announced.

Representatives for Bed Bath & Beyond did not respond to Insider's question about whether the law influenced the timing of its New Jersey closures.

Filings with the New Jersey Department of Labor also show that the company notified the state in January and February that it would cut nearly 1,300 jobs across four locations: 262 at a Harmon warehouse, 84 at a Bed Bath & Beyond warehouse, 572 at an e-commerce fulfillment center, and 377 at its corporate headquarters.

All four layoff notices have effective dates of April 9 or earlier, and a New Jersey store manager told Insider that his store and all others scheduled to close in the state are set to be fully vacated before the April 10 law kicks in. The manager asked to remain anonymous until his position is terminated, but his identity is known to Insider.

The company has not mentioned any connection between the new rules and the layoff timing in communications to stores, the manager said, but he noted that store closures in other states will occur after April 10.

Unlike prior cuts in which as many as 12 weeks of severance pay were given, Bed Bath & Beyond workers in several states affected by this round of layoffs tell Insider they will receive nothing. The company has previously declined to comment regarding severance payments.

Management teams at stores are slated to receive a retention bonus equal to about one week's earnings if they stay until the last day of their employment: $2,000 in the case of store managers, $1,500 for assistant managers, and $750 for supervisors, multiple store managers told Insider. The figures are consistent with reports from other media outlets.

It's not clear how the new regulations would apply to "straddle" cases in which notification happens before April 10 but layoffs occur after, Ogletree Deakins' Diana said, but completing the whole process before the deadline eliminates that uncertainty for Bed Bath & Beyond.

"I don't think this law came as any surprise to large New Jersey-based employers," he said. "It was just a matter of when, not whether.">

Full stop.

One would imagine all the top players--as always in these corporate hijinks--will be looked after handsomely, whilst those who made them their fortunes are cast aside as so much ballast.

A line from Anton Myrer follows which sums up that age-old gulf between capital and labour:

While you are correct that the poster in question forgot to use the apostrophe, 'cant' is also something of which you are much enamoured--as in, dare I say, liberally dispensing it as a substitute for knowledge and wisdom. Your love is for pumping out Far Right, racist cant.

<The chairman of the Senate GOP's campaign arm said this week that Republicans could end up stuck in the minority in the chamber for the next several years if the party isn't able to flip the chamber in 2024.

In an appearance on the conservative "Ruthless" podcast, Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said that it was crucial for Republicans to win Senate elections next year in Montana, Ohio, and West Virginia, which he described as "red states" with Democratic senators.

He noted that there were no "red states" with Democratic senators up for re-election in 2026 or 2028, making this year a particularly ripe opportunity for the party.

"We either deliver a majority in '24, or we are in the minority as Republican Senate for the rest of the decade," said Daines. "That has profound consequences."

In 2024, a series of Democratic senators — including Jon Tester of Montana, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia — are facing re-election in states that former President Donald Trump won handily in 2016 and 2020.

"It is a generational moment," Daines later added.

In addition to those states, the GOP has potential pick-up opportunities in swing states like Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Democrats currently hold a 51-49 majority, meaning Republicans must pick up at least 2 seats to regain the majority.

Yet despite a general geographical advantage in the Senate, Republicans have struggled to attain a lasting majority. In 2022, despite political headwinds, Democrats managed to expand their majority due to what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell famously described as "candidate quality" issues among GOP candidates.

This year, Daines has vowed to take a more interventionist approach in GOP primaries in order to avoid a repeat.

"We've got to find candidates that can win not just primary elections but can win general elections," said Daines.

In 2026 and 2028, the GOP's best pick-up opportunities may be in states like Georgia and Arizona, which were once consistently Republican-leaning but have become increasingly fertile ground for Democrats since 2020.>

<Trump said that there's a "potential" for "death & destruction" if he's charged by NY prosecutors.

It's the third time Trump has alluded to the possibility of political unrest and violence in the last several days.

Earlier this week, he employed an anti-Semitic trope against the Manhattan DA and mocked calls for his supporters to stay "peaceful."

Former President Donald Trump made another allusion to violence in a late-night Truth Social post on Friday, writing that if he's charged in connection to a $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, it could result in "potential death & destruction."

It was Trump's latest effort to rile up his base and vilify Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg as he faces a potential indictment from Bragg's office related to the payment.

"What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?" Trump wrote on his Twitter-like website.

"Why & who would do such a thing?" he added. "Only a degenerate psychopath that truely hates the USA!"

Trump has hinted at the possibility of political unrest and violence several times in the last few days.

On Thursday morning, he accused Bragg of being a "Soros backed animal" — referring to a common anti-Semitic trope — and mocked calls for his supporters to remain peaceful in the face of an indictment.

Bragg, Trump wrote in the all-caps Truth Social post, "IS JUST CARRYING OUT THE PLANS OF THE RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED, AS THEY TELL US TO BE PEACEFUL!"

He also falsely predicted over the weekend that he would be arrested on Tuesday in connection to the Stormy Daniels investigation. He was not arrested that day, and as Insider's Laura Italiano reported, the Manhattan grand jury investigating the hush-money payment will not consider the case for the rest of this week.

Still, the former president called on his followers over the weekend to "protest" and "take our nation back," in what some described as an ominous echo of his rallying cries ahead of the deadly January 6 Capitol riot.

Steel barricades also went up around Trump Tower this week amid his calls for protest, and law enforcement officials have taken steps to secure the downtown Manhattan courthouse where Trump would be arraigned if he's indicted.

Joe Tacopina, a lawyer representing Trump in the district attorney's investigation, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment outside regular business hours.>

<Former President Donald Trump's fury at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg could land him in hot water, legal experts warned on Thursday.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Bragg, who is reportedly nearing a potential indictment in his investigation of the 2016 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, calling him an "animal" and calling for his supporters to "protest" his widely anticipated arrest. The former president early Friday morning warned of "potential death & destruction" if he is charged in the case, and pushed back on calls for his supporters to remain "peaceful."

Amid his relentless all-caps attacks on Bragg, Trump shared an article from the far-right outlet National File that included an image of Trump holding a baseball bat next to an image of Bragg's head.

Norm Eisen, a former Democratic special counsel during Trump's first impeachment, called the post a "sickening threat" and a "call for violence."

"Threatening a prosecutor is a crime in NY. In fact MULTIPLE crimes," he tweeted, listing several statutes that he thinks Trump may have violated.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who served on special counsel Bob Mueller's team, compared the post to a photo longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone posted of a judge overseeing his Mueller probe trial in crosshairs while he was on bail. Weissman tweeted that a judge may need to impose a similar gag order on Trump as the judge did in Stone's case after the post.

"Disgraceful," Weissmann wrote of Trump's post. "And meant to invite and incite violence. As on 1/6 and before."

Former conservative attorney George Conway, a frequent Trump critic, predicted that the post "could get his bail revoked" if he is charged in the Manhattan case.

"He lashes out because he feels he's being attacked. He feels he's being humiliated," Conway said on MSNBC. "But at the same time, he's going to put on a show to basically gin up his followers. That's what the danger is here — is that he will be doing this over a period of several months. A period over the next year and a half. I have to think he's going to get the Republican nomination, and he is going to try to foment violence, as he did on Jan. 6th. He's done a very good job of it this week. But if he keeps pounding on something for months, which he's going to be unless the judges put gag orders on him, you will see people starting to try to do things like they did two years ago, sadly."

The Manhattan grand jury investigating the hush-money payment had its Wednesday meeting abruptly scrapped and pivoted to a different case on Thursday, meaning a vote on whether to indict Trump will not come until Monday at the earliest.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, the former Manhattan chief assistant district attorney, suggested that security issues will play a big role in when Bragg might announce a potential indictment.

"For security reasons and law enforcement reasons, you don't want too much time between an indictment and surrender because that information will leak largely from Donald Trump, and he will try to gin up his supporters into violence because that's what he does," she told MSNBC.

"That's what he did Jan. 6, that's what he will do here, that's why he said, 'I'm being arrested Tuesday,' even though he knew he wasn't," she added. "He was trying to get people to protest and put pressure on the DA's office not to indict him. And I think he was also baiting the DA's office, frankly, to tell him when it was going to happen by saying it's going to be Tuesday. So, that's what I think is happening this weekend, and I think for security reasons, they are waiting until a closer time to when he would surrender.>

<n Tuesday, it was reported by NBC News that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell continues to recover at a rehabilitation center after his fall at a restaurant in Washington, D.C. earlier this month. McConnell spoke with fellow Republican Senators over the phone from the facility and “sounded like Mitch,” according to Senate Minority Whip John Thune. . The news brought to mind McConnell’s exceptional instincts as a political calculator, and in particular his past cynical and perhaps prescient deliberations concerning his own health. In 2020, amid reports that McConnell had visited Johns Hopkins in Baltimore after concerning photos were published showing intense bruising on one of his hands, the Kentucky Republican began a campaign to pressure the GOP-controlled Kentucky legislature to change that state’s law to remove from the governor—who is a Democrat—the authority to select a candidate to fill the unexpired term of a departing U.S. senator. The ability of the governor to appoint a nominee to fill the unexpired term of a senator without restrictions is the law in 35 states.

But McConnell urged and the Kentucky legislature took the step of changing that state’s law—overriding the veto of the governor to do so—in a way that assured that Republicans would maintain control of McConnell’s seat should it become vacant.

This effort—to remove powers from elected representatives who are Democrats—has become the new method of disenfranchising voters and maintaining perpetual Republican political power. And it is being undertaken with alarming frequency and speed across the country. This may be the most dangerous and efficient structural attack on our democracy. Its threat, and pernicious ingenuity, lies in its ability to make voting itself irrelevant. Voters may turn out in high numbers and elect their candidates of choice, but if the official is not one whose views align with those of the Republican Party, they may find that their powers of office are removed by antagonistic GOP-controlled legislatures.

We have seen this phenomenon most readily applied to so-called “progressive prosecutors” who have run successfully on platforms of criminal justice reform across the country. Progressive prosecutors have refused to prosecute low-level marijuana possession crimes, have embraced diversion programs, opened conviction integrity units to review prior prosecutions for violations of law, and prosecuted police officers for brutality. For embracing these and other reforms, progressive prosecutors have been confronted with an array of efforts to remove their power. Prosecutors who prosecute or investigate the wrong kind of criminal suspects in the eyes of Republican legislators have also received this treatment.

Aramis Ayala became the first Black elected prosecutor in the state of Florida when she was elected in 2016 as State’s Attorney for Orange and Osceola Counties. One of her early announcements was that she would no longer pursue death sentences in capital cases. She argued that seeking the death penalty in homicide cases was draining the coffers of the county, in addition to many other flaws. Indeed, one study found that Osceola County had more prisoners on death row than over 99 percent of U.S. counties. The Republican attorney general of Florida and subsequently Republican Gov. Rick Scott and then Gov. Ron DeSantis removed from Ayala all first-degree murder cases, and transferred them to a prosecutor in a different circuit.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who won re-election with 70 percent of the vote in 2020, meanwhile, has faced down efforts by the Missouri attorney general, several judges, and the legislature to remove her power to prosecute felony crimes and to render ineffective her conviction integrity unit. She first entered the crosshairs of opponents when she aggressively sought to investigate and prosecute a Republican former governor for sexual misconduct, allegations which a bipartisan investigative committee found highly credible. Gardner has admitted to making errors in her investigation and was admonished by the bar. Then after doggedly and ultimately successfully investigating and then advocating for the release of an innocent man prosecuted by a prior circuit attorney, Gardner generated even greater opposition from the Republican attorney general. Now a bill in the Republican-dominated legislature would remove all serious criminal cases from Gardner’s authority, and the attorney general has filed a petition to remove her from office....>