Kristi Noem Suggests Biden’s Dog Should Have Been Killed, Too
The South Dakota governor, defending her tale of shooting and killing her family’s dog, suggested that President Biden’s German shepherd, Commander, had merited a similar fate.
The South Dakota governor, who had been widely seen as a contender to be former President Donald J. Trump’s running mate, wrote in the book about a female wire-haired pointer named Cricket that she had hoped to use to hunt pheasant on her ranch. She said that the dog proved “untrainable,” “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless” as a hunting dog — so she shot her in a gravel pit.
“I hated that dog,” Ms. Noem wrote.
Oh, but she’s got competition for worst candidate.
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina on Sunday refused to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election, and claimed that asking him to do so showed Democratic bias on the part of his NBC interviewer.
A few channels away, on CNN, Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota defended former President Donald J. Trump’s comments comparing the Biden administration to the Gestapo and suggested that he was unbothered by Mr. Trump’s refusal to rule out political violence if he loses.
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Mr. Scott then refused to answer when asked directly six times whether he would commit to accepting the election results, and said that the questioning was an example of “why so many Americans believe that NBC is an extension of the Democratic Party.”
Mr. Burgum described Mr. Trump’s speech at a Republican donor retreat on Saturday, in which he compared the Biden administration to the Nazis, as “largely very upbeat.”
Clyburn hits out at Trump over Gestapo comment: ‘Incredible but not surprising’
Democrat says country is going off track after Trump compares Biden administration to Germany’s fascist secret police
According to CNN, Trump singled out [Rep. Elise] Stefanik, who he described as “an amazing talent”, as well as Marco Rubio. NBC reported that Trump brought all the guests on stage – except Noem – including House speaker Mike Johnson.
But during an address that lasted over an hour, Trump likened the Biden administration to Hitler’s feared secret police. “These people are running a Gestapo administration,” Trump said, according to NBC News. “It’s the only thing they have. And it’s the only way they’re going to win in their opinion.”
The Republican governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota, appearing Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, essentially confirmed Trump’s statement, but tried to diminish its importance.
“This was a short comment deep into the thing that wasn’t really central to what he was talking about,” said Burgum, who is among the contenders to be Trump’s running mate.
Greg Sargent/The New Republic:
Mike Johnson’s Ugly New Lie About Campus Protests Hands Dems a Weapon
The speaker’s invocation of the name of George Soros bursts a tactical door open for Democrats—if they have the guts to walk through it.
This week, Mike Johnson floated a wild-eyed theory about the pro-Palestinian protests that have been rocking college campuses. The House speaker called on the FBI to get involved, adding: “I think they need to look at the root causes and find out if some of this was funded by, I don’t know, George Soros or overseas entities.”
Because such talk has become routine, Johnson’s claim didn’t garner much media attention. But Democrats can and should act to compel media attention to it. And they have a big opportunity to do so: Johnson is planning high-profile hearings about the protests in coming weeks, which will include grilling university officials about whether administrators are doing enough to combat antisemitism on campuses.
John Curtice/The Spectator:
Things look bleak for the Tories
In truth, despite the variety of contests and circumstances, the message for the Tories is much the same across the various and varied contests that took place on Thursday. On average, in the BBC’s sample of wards where detailed voting figures were collected, Conservative support was down by just over 11 points when compared with the local elections in 2021. In the mayoral contests outside London the average fall was 10.5 points. And in in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England, Conservative support was also down on average by 10.5 points.
Only in London was the fall in support less marked. The party’s vote was down by nearly five points in both the London Assembly votes, while in the mayoral contest the drop was just over two and a half points. Even so, this was still enough to ensure that the party’s share of the London constituency vote fell to a record low.
Simon Rosenberg/“Hopium Chronicles” on Substack:
Biden Leads 49%-45% in New ABC Poll, 2nd Poll This Week W/Large Biden Lead NPR/Marist Had Biden up 52%-47% This Week With Likely Voters
In both polls Biden does significantly better with likely voters than the broader electorate of registered voters.
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We are seeing a pattern emerge in recent polling that Biden does better, and Trump worse, as you move from adult to registered voter to likely voter. In my post and presentation from Thursday, (do watch and read!) I explained why this dynamic is an encouraging development for Joe Biden and Democrats more broadly. Here’s an excerpt:
As you often hear me say we’ve had a repeating electoral dynamic since Dobbs - Dems overperform, Republicans struggle. My explanation for this dynamic is that Dobbs broke the GOP, and for many non-MAGA Rs the party had at that moment just become too extreme, too dangerous. Since Dobbs Republican candidates have had performance problems because a chunk of their coalition just isn’t enthusiastic about following MAGA candidates and the escalating extremism of the GOP. And where this reticence manifests is when Republicans vote and have to make an actual decision on whether to support MAGA. While they may want to vote R in a poll, when voters have to pull the trigger and actually vote Republicans repeatedly perform worse than expected.
We’ve seen this dynamic - Republicans repeatedly struggling - show up in 2024 now too. We saw it in the Tom Keen January special election in Orlando; in the Suozzi win in February; in Alabama a few weeks ago; in NY-26 Tuesday; and most importantly we’ve seen it again and again in Trump’s Presidential primary performances, where he has repeatedly underperformed public polling and Haley repeatedly performed far better than anyone expected, even after she dropped out of the race. Remember in 2024 Trump has been repeatedly *underperforming* public polling.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Was Bleeding Cash. Then She Went After Mike Johnson.
The Georgia Republican’s campaign had about $700,000 at the end of 2023. Since introducing a motion to vacate, she’s brought in six figures, according to a source familiar with the campaign.
Greene promised to force a vote this week. But it is expected to fail. After weeks of holding the motion to vacate like an anvil over Johnson’s head, Democrat leadership swatted the suspense by announcing they would vote to save him — this time, at least.
Greene’s highly publicized antagonism of Johnson is complicated. She hasn’t publicly stated who she wants to replace him, preferring to let her colleagues — most of whom wish she’d drop her crusade — decide the next House leader. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, who is close with Greene, stood alongside Johnson at his Mar-a-Lago resort and called for her to stand down.
But one thing is simple: The threat is good for fundraising, and its use in campaign ads comes as Greene works to restock her funds during an election year.
Cliff Schecter with the latest on Lauren Boebert:
Greg Dworkin May 06, 2024 at 12:00PM From Daily Kos
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