I Am The Leader Of The Republican Party, And So Can You!
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â |
Â
Â
There seems to be a huge identity crisis over at the GOP. It’s not really clear who anyone is!
Take Rush Limbaugh. (Please!) Rush Limbaugh is a conservative political commentator. He is a radio talk show host. He is not, contrary to what Keith Olbermann says, a comedian. How do we know? Because Rush Limbaugh said so: “Here I am. Who — who am I? I am a radio talk show host. I am a kid from Missouri who wanted to be on the radio.”
Yet, lots of folks think Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party!Â
Take Michael Steele. Michael Steele is the chairman of the Republican National Committee. (You’ll have to take my word for it. The GOP’s web site is a little out of date.)Â
Saturday, talking to D.L. Hughley, Michael Steele said he thinks Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. (Some may find Limbaugh entertaining, but he is not an entertainer.) Well, then today, Michael Steele took it back!
Meanwhile, Rush said:
“I’m not in charge of the Republican Party, and I don’t want to be. I would be embarrassed to say that I’m in charge of the Republican Party in the sad-sack state that it’s in. If I were chairman of the Republican Party, given the state that it’s in, I would quit. I might get out the hari-kari knife because I would have presided over a failure that is embarrassing to the Republicans and conservatives who have supported it and invested in it all these years.â€
Excellent!
It’s not really clear who anyone is! After all, wasn’t Sarah Palin in charge just a few months ago? And up until his response to Obama’s address last Tuesday, some thought Bobby Jundal was in charge. (BTW, over the weekend they voted to have Mitt Romney – you remember Mitt? – be the frontrunner in 2012. Sarah Palin tied for fourth place. That’s change I can believe in.)
What is especially clear is that no one knows who the leader of the Republican Party is. (Lots of folks think it should still be John McCain.) (No one thinks it should be George W. Bush.)
Now, what better time to start a coup than when there’s mass confusion! After all, no one in the GOP knows who’s in charge, what they want, what they stand for. The timing is perfect!
Just look at Michael Steele. (Remember, he’s the chairman of  the Republican Party, the GOP.) Just days after taking office Steele said his party must do a better job of courting candidates and voters who support gay marriage and are pro-choice.Â
Them just three weeks later, Steele, when asked about civil unions for gays, said,
“No, no no. What would we do that for? What are you, crazy? No. Why would we backslide on a core, founding value of this country? I mean this isn’t something that you just kind of like, “Oh well, today I feel, you know, loosey-goosey on marriage.”
See? Confusion! Even the supposed head of the party doesn’t know where it stands!Â
And Steele, in a desperate attempt to remind people who’s in charge, had this little chat with CNN’s D.L. Hughley Saturday:
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/9KL46KE51BY&hl=en&fs=1
I’m telling you, now is the time to grab the reins and become the leader of the GOP. Everyone’s doing it! (I’m still laughing at that Michael “I’m the leader of the Republican Party” Steele!)Â
Now look at Rush. He’s really throwing us for a loop. Why, just Saturday, he gave the “keynote address” at CPAC – The Conservative Political Action Convention. Let’s take a listen. (And, just ignore that stuff about Rush comparing himself to God.)
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/CGBTJNkdkws&hl=en&fs=1
Pretty cool, huh? Rush isn’t the leader of the Republican Party. He’s God! We know ’cause he said so. And that means that the leadership IS up for grabs. I’m telling you, I’m gong for it.
Now, I know what you’re saying. “David, you’re a Democrat. You’re a Progressive. You’re a Liberal. You’re gay.” Well, that’s what’s really great! Because, according to Rush, none of that matters anymore! The GOP is embracing me! Listen to God, um, I mean Rush, some more:
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/A5iOnLQH1ao&hl=en&fs=1
“Let me tell you who we conservatives are:Â We love people. [Applause] When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don’t see groups. We don’t see victims. We don’t see people we want to exploit. What we see — what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don’t think that person doesn’t have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government.”
That cinches it right there! The Republicans aren’t going to exploit gays! We’re human beings! We’re not a group, we’re potential! As a matter of fact, even gays would be better if there were less taxes! (Maybe if there were less taxes, gays could get married!)
Here are some more quotes from Rush’s speech:
“We recognize that we are all individuals.” (And gays are really individuals – who, I guess can get married!)
“We don’t want to tell anybody how to live.” (So, if you’re gay, that’s now OK!)
“We love the people of this country.” (Including gays!)
See how great this is? Now, this for me is the statement that is making me switch parties and grab the leadership:
“We don’t hate anybody. We don’t — I mean, the racism in this country, if you ask me, I know many people in this audience — let me deal with this head on. You know what the cliche is, a conservative: racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe. Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen of America, if you were paying attention, I know you were, the racism in our culture was exclusively and fully on display in the Democrat primary last year.”
Perfect! They don’t hate anyone. Conservatives aren’t homophobes or bigots. So, I guess then gays can get married! After all, Conservatives don’t want to tell us how to live. As a matter of fact, at the very end of his speech, God, whoops, I mean Rush, says,Â
“Don’t measure your success by how many people like you. Just worry about how they vote. And then at the end of the day how they live, but that’s really none of your business once they close the doors.”
And there you have it folks. It’s no body’s business what happens behind closed doors. Rush said so.
Before he gets back from telling another ‘Larry King dies’ joke, I’m going to step up, grab the reins, and become the leader of the Republican Party. Why not? Everyone’s doing it!
I’m the leader of the Republican Party, and so can you.
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
|
Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
