* Steve Bannon’s GOPster priority: “Taking over the Republican Party through the precinct committee strategy. … It’s about winning elections with the right people—MAGA people. We will have our people in at every level.”
* Twenty-seven states will choose a secretary of state this fall, and in more than half at least one of the Republicans actively denies that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.
* “Trump’s real goal isn’t to expand the Republican Party but to solidify his control over it.”–Jonah Goldberg, Tribune Content Agency.
* The Russian Foreign Ministry has officially banned 963 Americans—an eclectic mix ranging from President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton to Mark Zuckerberg and the actor Morgan Freeman—from entering Russia. Chances are, they all took it well. But, no, Donald Trump is not on that banned list.
* “The extent to which election denialism and pro-insurrectionism are now litmus tests for Republican politicians is clearly attributable to Trump’s huge influence over the Republican Party.”–Jamelle Bouie, NYT.
* Talk about awkward. George P. Bush, 46, the son of Jeb Bush, nephew of George W. Bush and grandson of George H.W. Bush, is running for attorney general of Texas—and has aligned himself with Trump and his followers.
* “It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to.”–Lesley Gore. “It’s my party, and I’ll lie if I want to.”–Donald Trump.