Michigan GOP Faces Division During Presidential Primary

Voter

Days before Tuesday’s primary election, more than 700,000 Michiganders have already cast a ballot thanks to new voting laws.

More than 18,000 votes were cast in the first three days of in-person early voting statewide over the holiday weekend.

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DeSantis Super PAC Loses Top Strategist Jeff Roe: ‘I Cannot in Good Conscience Stay Affiliated’

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign strategist Jeff Roe departed the governor’s super PAC following multiple other departures from the organization.

“I cannot in good conscience stay affiliated with Never Back Down (NBD) given the statements in the Washington Post today. They are not true and an unwanted distraction at a critical time for Governor DeSantis. I am resigning my position effective immediately,” Roe posted late Saturday evening on X, formerly Twitter.

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Commentary: RFK Jr. as Independent Would Propel Trump to Deliver Crushing Blow

by Roger Kimball   So it looks as if Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is just about to turn up the volume. It was bad enough for the Democratic establishment when he announced he was going to run for President on the Democratic ticket. Didn’t he know that The Committee already…

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Commentary: America’s Moms Saw a True Leader on the GOP Debate Stage

Donald Trump’s decision to skip the first Republican primary debate left a huge vacuum on the stage in Milwaukee. That vacuum was filled by Vivek Ramaswamy, who showed poise, conviction, and grace under fire – in the process making most of his opponents look like the career politicians they are.

Like Trump, Ramaswamy is a businessman who feels called to run for office because he sees that the country is facing dark times and needs to be saved from the political establishment, which prioritizes self-interest and the status quo over patriotism and the sort of decisive action that our country needs.

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DeSantis Donor Says He May Pull the Plug on Supporting Campaign

The largest individual donor to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign effort has said he will stop donating to DeSantis unless changes are made to the campaign, according to a report by Reuters.

Robert Bigelow, a multimillionaire and owner of the Budget Suites of America, has donated over $20 million to the Never Back Down PAC, the principal super PAC supporting DeSantis’ campaign — accounting for two-thirds of the PAC’s fundraising in the first half of 2023. On Friday, Bigelow said that he would stop funding DeSantis’ campaign until it exhibited a more moderate policy platform, according to comments made to Reuters.

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Commentary: ‘Vivek on Track to Eclipse DeSantis,’ Donor Memo Admits

An internal memo circulated by the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign, and obtained by RealClearPolitics, outlines his pitch to donors ahead of the first GOP primary debate: The 37-year-old first-time candidate is surging as others stumble, going farther with fewer resources, and will soon “eclipse DeSantis.”

Until recently, those claims could be dismissed as so much bravado from an overeager, unknown biotech investor without any political experience whatsoever.

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Amid Flurry of Indictments, Trump Leads DeSantis by Whopping 37 Percent: Poll

Former President Donald Trump is leading his closest challenger, Ron DeSantis, in the 2024 Republican presidential primary by 37 points, even after indictments in New York and Florida, according to a new poll released on Monday.

Trump was indicted by Manhattan’s Democratic District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, and the Department of Justice’s Special Counsel Jack Smith in March and June, respectively, on state and federal charges. Despite the indictments, Trump is still supported by 54 percent of Republican voters, who say they will back him in the 2024 presidential primary, according to a new poll by Siena College for The New York Times.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: The Biden Presidency Is Unsustainable

Imagine if Gavin Newsom was currently Vice President amid the final meltdown of the Biden family consortium.

Does anyone doubt that Biden would then either be forced to resign by Democratic politicos (for reasons in addition to his escalating dementia), or would be impeached and perhaps abdicate Nixon-style?

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DeSantis Calls for US-Led Military Alliance in Pacific, ‘Economic Independence’ from China

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and 2024 presidential candidate, is calling for the United States to create a stronger military alliance in the Pacific to counter China’s rising aggression, as well as wage a strategic decoupling of the American economy from Beijing.

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Commentary: Trump’s Coyness on Debate Participation All Part of His Grand Strategy

Donald Trump

The first Republican primary debate of the 2024 presidential nominating cycle is set for one month from yesterday – on August 23, 2023. On that day, presumably, all major candidates for the GOP presidential nomination will assemble in Wisconsin to present their campaign pitches to the American public.

There isn’t an incumbent president in this year’s extravaganza, so it’s only natural that several hopefuls have expressed interest in a campaign. Deference is usually afforded a party president during his reelection run (as Democrats have announced there will be no debates on their side with senile Joe Biden currently in office), yet this year is different.

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Haley Says She Would Support Trump If He is 2024 GOP Nominee

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Monday said she would support former President Donald Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee for the 2024 presidential election.

However, Haley also said she does not think Trump is capable of winning the general election.

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Vivek Ramaswamy on His Rise in the Polls: ‘The Secret Sauce Is, Speak the Truth and Do It Without Apology’

The Star News Network’s national political editor Matt Kittle sat in Tuesday to guest host The Simon Conway Show, broadcast live from WHO Des Moines, an iHeart radio station at KDRB 100.3HZ, where he interviewed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

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DeSantis Campaign Memo Reveals New Strategy to Catch Donald Trump

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign has a new strategy to bolster the governor’s movement in the 2024 GOP primaries and catch up to former President Donald Trump, according to a July 6 campaign memo obtained by NBC News.

Trump continues to lead DeSantis in both state and national polls, and the campaign memo labeled “Confidential Friends and Family Update” details the governor’s plans to shore up support in key early primary states, insisting a large swath of the electorate is still up for grabs. As DeSantis remains particularly focused on New Hampshire, the campaign intends to delay efforts in Super Tuesday states to the fall.

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Analysis: Kennedy’s Polling Numbers Trump Biden’s in New Poll

A recent Economist/YouGov poll shows Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with a significantly higher favorability rating than President Joe Biden. The survey found 49 percent of respondents expressed a positive view of Kennedy, while 30 percent held an unfavorable opinion of him, giving Kennedy a net favorable rating of 19 points. Biden on the other hand holds a favorability rating of -11 points.

This comes on top of a recent Emerson Poll showing Kennedy at 15 percent among Democratic Primary voters, up from 10 percent two months ago in another poll.

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Tech Mogul Ramaswamy Closing in on DeSantis for Second Place in GOP Primary

Tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy is closing in on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary, placing just 6 points behind him in a recent poll. Ramaswamy claimed the support of 10 percent of likely voters in an Echelon Insights poll conducted June 26-29. DeSantis, meanwhile, claimed 16 percent support to former President Donald Trump’s 49 percent.

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Asa Hutchinson: GOP Should ‘Back Off’ Accusations of DOJ ‘Weaponization’

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is running in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, said Republicans should “back off” of “accusations” of the “weaponization of the Justice Department.”

Hutchinson told ABC on Sunday that while he disagrees with some of the DOJ’s decisions, he believes Republicans are incorrect to label the department’s indictment of former president Donald Trump as “weaponization.”

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Commentary: Chris Christie Needs a Wide Lane to Run in 2024

I must admit, when former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie removed himself from the 2016 Republican presidential primary race very early in the contest, I thought we’d seen the last of his oversized run as a major influencer in the Grand Old Party.

Like with other Republican comers and goers in recent memory, Christie had, at one point at least, been considered the future of the post-Bush GOP, a semi-common man who wasn’t the least bit afraid to stand on a stage, look liberals in the eye, and tell it like it is. To make the newcomer’s phenomenon even more enticing, Christie appeared to enjoy the resistance. Unlike most Republicans who were more than content to take a verbal beating from the much more aggressive Democrats, Christie punched back, and for a few political moments, appeared to be a great possible candidate for president. It seemed like a “when” not “if” proposition.

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Scott, Haley’s South Carolina Roots Aren’t Enough to Secure Victory in the State’s Early Primary, GOP Operatives Say

South Carolina has two natives in the 2024 presidential race, with former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, but Republican operatives from the state don’t believe it’s enough to secure them a victory in the early state primary, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Although the two Republicans have served their state for years, former President Donald Trump still has a stronghold in South Carolina and would likely win the state’s primary if it were held today, several GOP political experts told the DCNF. For either Scott or Haley to be competitive in South Carolina’s primary, which is critical in determining the eventual Republican nominee, the experts said they would need to show a strong performance in key early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

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South Carolina Moves to Take the Top Spot in Democratic Presidential Politics

The Democratic National Committee has approved a calendar that makes South Carolina the party’s first primary for the 2024 election.

The move follows an endorsement from President Joe Biden, whose win in the state’s 2020 Democratic primary was integral to his securing the Democratic nomination.

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Commentary: Media Begins Its Meddling in the 2024 Primary

Paul Ryan wearing a red shirt and waving

In March 2018, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) took to the lectern to announce he had received “assurances” that President Trump was not considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller. “We have a system based upon the rule of law in this country.” A month later, Ryan announced his retirement from Congress. 

In July 2018, Ryan refused to permit an effort to impeach then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for obstructing congressional inquiries into the Russian collusion hoax. Ryan’s protection of Mueller and his untimely retirement helped tip the 2018 midterm elections against his party and Nancy Pelosi has held the speaker’s gavel ever since then. 

Mueller should have been fired and Ryan should have urged Trump to do it. Mueller proved himself to be a fumbling and doddering fool unable to grasp the basics of the investigation he supposedly led. The real directors of the witch hunt, Trump haters led by Andrew Weissman, abused the powers of the special counsel to leak, smear, and harass the sitting president. It was, from the very start, a political operation intended to deny Trump the full freedom and powers an elected president normally would enjoy. It wasn’t quite a coup because power didn’t change hands. But it added to the continuing loss of confidence Americans have in achieving political change through elections. 

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Biden, Sanders Square Off in Next Round of Democratic Presidential Voting on Super Tuesday

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, the easy winner of the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary, faces an immediate new challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders when 14 states vote Tuesday in party contests across the country.

Biden, in three runs for the presidency, had never won a state primary nominating election until Saturday. But pre-election surveys show that Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, is handily leading in California, where the most delegates to the party’s mid-summer national presidential nominating convention are at stake in the next round of voting. The polling shows Biden ahead in seven of the states with Tuesday contests, Sanders in six and Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the lead in her home state of Minnesota.

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NAACP, Black Lives Matter Activists Call on Klobuchar to Drop Out Because of Record as State Prosecutor

Activists from the NAACP and Black Lives Matter called on Sen. Amy Klobuchar to end her presidential campaign Wednesday after a report exposed her involvement in the conviction of a black teen who maintains his innocence.

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