* According to Politico, the GOP’s biggest donor of the election cycle so far is hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, who has already contributed more than $28 million to Republican groups. On the other GOP hand, Griffin says he wouldn’t back Donald Trump if he ran for president in 2024.
“It’s time for America to move on,” stated Griffin. “The four years under President Trump were so pointlessly divisive, it was not constructive for our country.”
* Word is Trump’s advisers have been urging him to hold off officially announcing if he will run in 2024 in order to avoid any blame if Republicans fail to win back the House and Senate in the midterms. That would explain the winking and nodding—just shy of an official Trump commitment.
* The RNC’s take on the deadly Capitol siege: “Legitimate political discourse.”
* Sen. Marco Rubio’s take on the House Committee investigating said siege: “Partisan scam.”
* The RNC voted to censure GOPRepresentatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their country-before-party service on the House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. It also criticized the Committee, as noted earlier, for its “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” Yes, the Republican Party, knowing there’s still a likely Trump sequel, is still whoring out for the MAGA cult leader.
* “Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election.” That was former VP Mike Pence speaking at a conference hosted by the Federalist Society. He added that Donald Trump was “wrong” to claim that he could have overturned the results of the 2020 election as he presided over the counting of electoral college votes by Congress. “The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone,” underscored Pence.
As for the ex-president, he disparagingly noted that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”
Pence hypocritically sold out and brought a bunch of evangelicals on board for Trump. He still wants to be a player–hence the Federalist Society appearance–for a party too spineless to disassociate itself from Trump. Too bad. Call it political karma.
* “Lindsey (Graham) is a nice guy, but he’s a RINO (Republican In Name Only).” That was PINO (Patriot In Name Only) Donald Trump criticizing the South Carolina senator for not favoring pardons for convicted Jan. 6 insurrectionists. Graham called such a prospective Trump move “inappropriate”–if not unpardonable.
* It’s no surprise that House GOPsters who voted against certifying Electoral College results for President Joe Biden haven’t paid a price. In fact, those Republican electoral objectors have benefited from their seditious behavior. According to a CQ Roll Call analysis, they hauled in some $140 million to their campaign accounts—a gobsmacking 50 percent increase from the same point in the last cycle.
* It’s hardly stop-the-presses news that Trumpian legal scenarios keep coming. The latest: Retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman is suing allies of Trump, charging that they intimidated and retaliated against him while he was a key witness during Trump’s first impeachment. Among the lawsuit defendants: Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani.