USA 2024 Elections Thread

[grarpamp]

Where are the Libertarians?
Have they no organization yet to take on the two-party game?


Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie
Thank you to @RepDanBishop for cosponsoring my bill to eliminate
the Federal Department of Education (HR 899). The bill is one sentence:
“The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2022.”


Yang and Forward never said FreeAssange.


Polling, no one announced...
Democrat lineup so lame that without Biden, Kamala
is beating them all in primary with middling 23%,
with BernedOut and ButtSex next up at 8%.
DeSantis +15% sends Pence packing.
Pathetic puppetshow if BraindeadBiden win.
Potential bear market on Trump aging, and 14th.
Any Republican slight win in the General.



FBI Raid Has Solidified Trump's Clout In GOP Ahead Of Expected 2024
Run, Conservative Observers Say

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fbi-raid-has-solidified-trumps-clout-in-gop-ahead-of-expected-2024-run-observers-say_4666287.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM5mnTJStTE
https://salemnewschannel.com/host/sebastian-gorka/
https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=D94A1E69-86D8-45AB-8B34-B837980CE9CC
https://twitter.com/rondesantisfl/status/1556803433939755010

The recent raid by the FBI on former President Donald Trump’s
residence has solidified Trump’s hold on the 2024 GOP presidential
nomination, according to conservatives and analysts.
Former President Donald Trump raises his fist while walking to a
vehicle outside of Trump Tower in New York on Aug. 10, 2022.
(Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)

The raid of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s house in Palm Beach, Florida, was
aimed at preventing the former president from gaining office again,
they told The Epoch Times.

If anything, however, the raid has had the opposite effect, they said,
as the belief grows that Trump will announce a new presidential run
sooner rather than later.

Far from providing a smoking gun that opponents of Trump may have
sought to bar the former president from office, the raid has
demonstrated that Trump can never be reconciled to partisan special
interests in Washington that have a lock on government, thus ensuring
that Trump most certainly will run, said some.

In the end, either Trump or the “deep state”—a group of powerful
bureaucrats who Trump and others say really control the shots in
Washington—will prevail: That’s the message conservatives should take
from the raid, said two people interviewed who are the most familiar
with Trump’s thinking, Ken Blackwell and Sebastian Gorka, although
neither men claimed to represent the views of the former president.
Local law enforcement officers in front of the home of former U.S.
President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9,
2022. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)
Raid Has Made Trump More Powerful

“Without doubt, President Trump is more powerful now after the illegal
Mar-a-Lago raid than he has ever been politically,” former deputy
presidential assistant under Trump, Sebastian Gorka, who is one of the
former president’s fiercest allies, told The Epoch Times.

Gorka, 51, who hosts a syndicated radio show distributed by the Salem
Network, estimated that Trump’s base of voters has grown from 75
million voters to over 100 million voters since the billionaire
developer’s departure from the White House, just a year and a half
ago.

“The real issue is how the perception of Trump has changed in the eyes
of millions and millions of people,” added Gorka, who said that the
FBI raid has hastened Trump’s popularity, not diminished it.

Similarly, Ken Blackwell, who served on the transition team for Trump
in 2016 and is involved in the Center for Election Integrity at the
America First Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank founded
by former Trump officials, noted that Trump’s popularity has always
tracked higher each year, in part, because of the people who oppose
him.

Trump, Blackwell noted, added to GOP presidential vote totals in 2020,
gaining a net of just over 20 million more votes since 2012 for the
Republicans, calling the growth “extraordinary.”

“When you look at the number of battleground states that Trump won
over the years, it’s a clear indication that there’s a lot left in the
tank for Trump,” Blackwell said.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks during a Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and
Related Agencies hearing on Capitol Hill on May 17, 2022. (Anna Rose
Layden/Pool/Getty Images)
GOP Hits Back

The echo of the FBI banging on the front door of Mar-a-Lago, the
Trump-owned resort that served as the second White House for Trump
while president, had not yet died before politicos not known for
defending Trump, were, in fact, defending the former president over
the raid.

The staff for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) promptly responded to an
inquiry by The Epoch Times for comment on the raid with a copy of a
letter to FBI director Christopher Wray demanding answers about the
raid, in one such closing of ranks amongst conservatives.

“Senator Rubio began the oversight process yesterday with a letter to
FBI Director Wray demanding answers and an in-person meeting,” Dan
Holler, Rubio’s deputy chief of staff, told The Epoch Times in an
email on Aug. 11.

Holler said that such action was the “beginning of a long process,”
adding that Rubio will head up the Senate Intelligence Committee next
year if the GOP takes the majority in the 2022 Senate elections.

Rubio’s prompt rejection of the raid, said Blackwell and Gorka, was
indicative of the widespread rejection by conservatives and
Republicans of the several pretexts which Department of Justice (DOJ)
sources put forward anonymously for the raid via media outlets like
the Washington Post, before the warrant was unsealed on Aug. 12. The
warrant showed that Trump was being investigated over potential
breaches to three U.S. laws relating to the handling of official
records, including of defense information and records used in federal
investigations.

Trump, for his part, argues that all the records were declassified,
adding that he and his team had been fully cooperating with
investigators, making such an extraordinary search unnecessary. Others
agree.

“The President of the United States has the power to declassify any
record he wants, so it’s pretextual legal nonsense for the Biden
Justice Department to pretend President Trump broke any criminal
statute by taking 15 boxes of his records with him when he left,” Mike
Davis of the Article III Project (A3P), which promotes
constitutionalist judges and the rule of law, told The Epoch Times.

“Former presidents have government-paid staff and offices, Secret
Service protection, security clearances, and secure facilities to
store classified records, so there’s no legitimate concern that
President Trump’s records could have gotten into the wrong hands,”
Davis said in rejecting the official justification for the raid.

Likewise, Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis, who has thus far
been mentioned as one of the likeliest Trump opponents for the GOP
nomination in 2024, was quick to denounce the FBI raid.

Responding to The Epoch Times without delay via email, Delanie Bomar,
press secretary to DeSantis, pointed to a previous statement made by
DeSantis via Twitter very shortly after the raid.

“The raid of Mar-a-Lago is another escalation in the weaponization of
federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while
people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves,” said DeSantis
on Aug. 8.

Even Vice President Mike Pence, who has been at loggerheads with Trump
since just after the 2020 election, took to Twitter on Aug. 9 to
publicly ask high government officials in the Biden administration to
immediately “give a full accounting to the American people,” about why
they conducted an “unprecedented search of the personal residence” of
the former president.

The totality of the actions has been to solidify Trump amongst voters
and activists as a reformer determined to take on entrenched special
interests within government on behalf of the GOP, said those
interviewed by The Epoch Times.

“Attorney General Merrick Garland may just have succeeded in unifying
the Republican Party behind Donald Trump,” Davis at A3P told The Epoch
Times of the 2024 presidential nomination.

Worries That the GOP Will Be a ‘Nothing Burger’ on the Raid

However, some conservatives have warned that in the end, the GOP in
Congress will never act against the FBI raiders if they gain the majority
in either house of Congress, even if they do investigate, as Republican
lawmakers have pledged in the wake of the raid.

One such critic points out that the GOP never really took action against
the government during any of the Obama-era scandals like “Fast and
Furious” or Benghazi, when in the majority despite
highly-publicized investigations.

Nor are they eager to take on the current Biden scandals in any meaningful
way, such as those revealed by Hunter Biden’s laptop, the critic said.

“In an ideal world, the GOP would be fighting fire with fire but
Republicans don't have it in them,” Breanna Morello, a former Fox News
and Newsmax producer, who now hosts the “Flyover Conservative”
podcast based in Palm Beach County, Florida, very near Trump’s oceanside
mansion, told The Epoch Times

“Even House minority leader Kevin McCarthy's statement was a
nothing burger,” added Morello about the GOP House leader’s promise to
investigate the DOJ if the GOP takes back the House.

Morello said that the GOP, given time, will abandon the defense of Trump,
once elections are in hand, because that’s what they have always done.

Ironically, it’s that diffidence by the GOP that adds to Trump’s power
amongst conservative voters, because Trump himself is seen by ordinary
voters as one of the few people with the courage to stand up to the
liberals and the bureaucrats who make up the administrative opposition to
Trump and others who wish to expose the so-called deep state, said
Blackwell.

This is especially true after this latest political prosecution under the
guise of an FBI raid, added Blackwell, who at one time was Ohio’s top
election official serving as Secretary of State for the Buckeye state.

This Time It’s Different

Blackwell said that in the first Trump administration there was consistent
opposition to Trump’s placement of appointees who challenged “the
status quo” inside of the “administrative state” or deep state.

As the bitterness between Trump and the bureaucrats has grown through two
impeachment crises, multiple investigations of Trump, and the targeting of
Trump officials by the administrative state, such as retired Gen. Michael
Flynn, it’s clear that a second Trump term would be a
“take-no-prisoners” affair, said Blackwell.

“A second Trump administration would be a take-no-prisoners attempt at
dislodging the people who have burrowed themselves deep in the bowels of
the deep state or, as I say, the administrative state,” said Blackwell.

According to both Blackwell and Gorka, the policy missteps of the Biden
administration, including its approach towards COVID-19 and policies that
have contributed to historic inflation, have added to the impetus coming
from voters to dislodge those bureaucrats who they perceive as having
authored those policies.

Gorka believes that Democrats are worried by this change in sentiment from
voters, and therefore hope to use the raid on Trump to distract from the
current administration’s failures.

“When the disgraced Democrat former governor of New York, Andrew
Cuomo, who despises Trump, tweets out if there is no real proof, if there
isn’t a smoking gun, then this will be seen as political persecution,
you know the Democrats are in trouble,” Gorka said referring to
Cuomo’s response to the raid on Aug. 9.

The Raid Rakes in Money

Blackwell said that one way of determining people’s interest in the raid
is by looking at whether the interest is bankable by candidates in terms
of fundraising.

Several media outlets have played up efforts by candidates and potential
candidates on the right, including Trump, to use the raid to raise
money.

“People don’t just vote their comfort, they vote their concerns,”
said Blackwell about fundraising in general.

“The Biden administration has given people plenty to be concerned about,
surely enough that I think people will be persuaded to give up some of
their treasure to address those concerns,” in light of the FBI raid,
Blackwell added.

To that extent, the raid seems bankable with conservative voters judging
by attempts to raise money from it.

Sen. Rubio’s prompt rejection of the explanations for the raid by the
DOJ was followed up with an email fundraising appeal by Rubio less than 24
hours later using the raid as a subject line.

“I’ll say it plain and simple,” Rubio said in the fundraising email,
“using government power to persecute political opponents is something we
have seen many times from Marxist dictatorships, but now, we’re seeing
it from the Biden administration.”

Trump’s political action committee, Save America PAC, has also sent out
emails, one of which shared the subject line: “These are dark times for
our Nation.”

Likewise, House Republicans and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), have
sent out fundraising appeals on the raid.

Trump to Declare Early?

None of those interviewed knew whether Trump now intended to move up a
timeline for announcing a run for a second term, assuming the former
president has already decided to run in 2024, which Trump has previously
confirmed was the case.

“I think he should declare early, but I don’t think it has anything to
do with preventing other people from running against him,” said Gorka
about the timing for announcing a second run, dismissing the notion that
Trump might have effective opposition inside the GOP.

“It will perhaps give him a modicum of protection against the
Gestapo-like tactics of the current administration, the FBI, the DOJ, and
the CIA,” Gorka added.

Once he’s officially a presidential candidate, Trump will perhaps get a
little bit of political protection from those who wish to destroy him,
said Gorka.

Blackwell said he doesn’t think it makes much difference if Trump
announces his candidacy in September, or waits and does it in December or
later.

In either event, one can be sure that Trump, who is a master at getting
and keeping attention, will do something to outrage the Democrats, said
Blackwell, who doubts an announcement of a presidential run by Trump would
provide any political cover.

“He such a teaser, and he knows how to tease to the point that he’s
optimizing energy and excitement,” Blackwell said of Trump’s ability
to hold the attention of the country.

“I have so much confidence in his ability to know when to pull the
trigger,” said Blackwell, that he is content to let the decision come
from Trump when he’s ready.

Trump's Popularity Boosted

Recent polls have shown that despite attempts over the summer to implicate
Trump in criminal wrongdoing over the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, Trump remains
the favorite of both conservative activists and Republican primary voters,
two constituencies often at odds with each other over candidates.

And these polls buttress the arguments of Gorka, Blackwell, and others who
say that Trump is more popular than ever—at least inside the GOP.

A recent straw poll at a Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC)
gathering in Texas showed Trump as the top preference for the GOP
presidential nomination in 2024 of the attendees who represent the
grassroots conservative activists—those who get-out-the-vote for the
GOP.

The CPAC results gave Trump 69 percent of the vote versus second
place for DeSantis with 28 percent of the vote.

Additionally, 99 percent of attendees now approve of Trump’s first term,
as opposed to an 86 percent approval rating that CPAC attendees gave the
former president just a few months ago in February.

Perhaps even more noteworthy, a new poll by Politico/Morning Consult
conducted after the raid showed that support for Trump amongst GOP
primary voters has risen to a post-presidential high.

Currently, 58 percent of Republican primary voters favor Trump as the
Republican nominee in 2024, and 71 percent said that Trump should run for
president, both of which are high-water marks since the Manhattan
developer left the White House.

Meanwhile, DeSantis’s share of the GOP vote for 2024 has slumped from 21
percent in July to 16 percent said the survey conducted Aug. 10, with a
sample size of 2,004 registered voters.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Taken together, the results mark a ten-point swing for Trump over his
nearest competitor, and seem to solidify what conservative analysts have
told The Epoch Times—that the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago has made Trump more
powerful in the GOP as voters become clearer with what’s at stake in
2024.

What Victory Means

For Blackwell, the raid is galvanizing Republicans into action.

“I think people smell what victory for the GOP means,” said Blackwell
referring to the 2022 elections as well as 2024.

What it means, he said, is an attempt to take the House, the Senate, and
the presidency for a president in Trump who has a bonafide track record as
a conservative.

The raid is a reminder of all that is at stake, not just for Donald Trump,
but for the country as well.

“I see candidates and donors and voters not just bound by their
optimism, but fueled by their concerns as well,” concluded Blackwell.