Reuters:
Just 1/3 of Americans back Republican migrant flights, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows
Only a third of Americans - including half of Republicans and one in six Democrats - say it's OK for state officials to fly or bus migrants to other states, a sign the push by Republican Southern governors to ship foreigners north could backfire with some voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Half the part prefers someone else. They haven’t rejected Trumpism though.
Daily Beast:
GOP Is Now Crowd-Sourcing Supporters for Next Destination to ‘Ship’ Migrants
If you thought Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s migrant stunts couldn’t get any crueler, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has shown otherwise. In an email blast, the committee, which is chaired by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and works to elect Republican senators, asked supporters to submit suggestions for where the GOP should “ship” migrants next. The NRSC’s “Polling Team” solicited votes for locations like Barack Obama’s house. Abbott has dumped busloads of migrants on Vice President Kamala Harris’ doorstep in Washington, D.C., as well as cities like New York and Chicago. DeSantis has followed suit, flying 48 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, a location first floated by Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Contrary to the NRSC’s claim that they were “illegal immigrants,” the group left in Martha’s Vineyard had been processed when they arrived at the border, and are awaiting court hearings to adjudicate their asylum claims. The NRSC did not respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
WaPo:
Voters divided amid intense fight for control of Congress, poll finds
With six weeks to go, Republicans hold a firm lead on the economy, inflation and crime, but Democrats have the advantage on abortion and climate change
With control of the House and Senate possibly shifting from Democrats to Republicans in November and the country deeply divided, 2 in 3 registered voters see this election as more important than past midterm campaigns. That’s the same percentage that said this in 2018 when turnout surged to the highest in a century.
Michigan Advance:
Dixon spends the day ridiculing Whitmer over 2020 far-right kidnapping plot
‘Gretchen will tie your hands, put a gun to your head and ask if you’re ready to talk’
While Dixon’s line on Friday was met with laughter and applause from the GOP crowd, it did not amuse Maeve Coyle, Whitmer’s campaign spokesperson.
“Threats of violence and dangerous rhetoric undermine our democracy and discourage good people on both sides of the aisle at every level from entering public service,” said Coyle in a statement. “Governor Whitmer has faced serious threats to her safety and her life, and she is grateful to the law enforcement and prosecutors for their tireless work. Threats of violence whether to Governor Whitmer or to candidates and elected officials on the other side of the aisle – are no laughing matter, and the fact that Tudor Dixon thinks it’s a joke shows that she is absolutely unfit to serve in public office.”
Dixon was roundly condemned by Democratic officials, while Republicans remained silent. Her remarks also were greeted by surprise by political observers and netted national attention.
“I remain stunned that this line was thought of, written, vetted, uploaded to a teleprompter and read aloud,” tweeted Zack Stanton, a Macomb County native and Politico editor.
NBC:
The American right’s future involves waging a 'religious battle' against the left, leaders say at a conservative conference
“Insofar as conservatism as a movement has a future, it is a future that is going to be increasingly tied to explicit theological claims,” one speaker said in closing the National Conservatism Conference.
Again and again throughout the three-day National Conservatism Conference, or NatCon, these right-wing thinkers argued for putting an end to the era of small-government conservatism while promoting religion at the center of public life
Closing the conference, Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, argued the divide in the country was one between Christian theology and a “woke religion that is raising itself up as the official state ideology,” adding that “insofar as conservatism as a movement has a future, it is a future that is going to be increasingly tied to explicit theological claims.”
John Nichols/Nation:
Republicans Are Ready to Declare the United States a Christian Nation
Sixty-one percent of the party’s base now favors ending the separation of church and state, as do a growing number of prominent Republicans.
“Most Republicans in every age group favor designating the U.S. a Christian nation, but even more so in older generations,” noted the academics who conducted the survey, professors Stella Rouse and Shibley Telhami, in a review of their research for Politico.
What this means is that, in a party where leaders have bent again and again toward the most extremist positions of their electoral base, there is a growing movement that is prepared to tear down the wall of separation between church and state and declare the United States to be a nation in which one religion—their own—reigns supreme.
Wichita Eagle:
Kobach lays out plan to remove abortion rights in Kansas after failed amendment
[Kris] Kobach, former Kansas Secretary of State, is calling on the GOP-dominated Legislature to put forward another ballot question that would amend the state’s constitution. This time, it would not address abortion rights directly. Instead, it would ask voters whether Kansas Supreme Court justices should be selected by direct election. The change, Kobach said, would clear a path for the state to “slowly and quietly” place anti-abortion judges on the state’s high court with the ultimate goal of overturning the Kansas Supreme Court’s 2019 Hodes decision that found the state constitution includes the right to an abortion. Kobach said the Hodes decision threw “a huge wrench into the works” of the anti-abortion movement in Kansas.
Molly Olmstead/Slate:
Why Christian Nationalists Are Into “Jumbo-Sized” Shofars
It has to do with the biblical tale of the siege of Jericho.
If you pay attention to the religious symbolism evoked by MAGA crowds during rallies, protests, and campaign events during—and since—the Jan. 6 insurrection, you’ll notice a few common themes: Donald Trump is a messianic figure, Jesus Christ is a Trump supporter, and the Bible inspires violence in the name of fighting agents of Satan.
But you can also find symbolic items that, in a realm of American politics that can veer dangerously near (and often, directly into) white supremacy and antisemitism, may seem strangely non-Christian. For example, the shofar.
The shofar, a ritualistic musical horn most often made from a ram’s horn, has been used in Jewish ceremonies and festivals for centuries. Today, they are blown during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. They are instruments that belong in a synagogue—not household items meant for personal use.
But starting in the 1960s and ’70s, Pentecostal Christians and other charismatic Christian groups began to use shofars to punctuate worship services and pro-Israel rallies, inspired in part by the Zionist movement and the charismatic Jesus movement. That appropriation may have irked many Jews, but at the time, the instrument was at least used to call on angels and plead for divine healing and inspire the gift of tongues, and not for anything more political. In the past couple of years, that has changed.
Rolling Stone:
‘F–k If I Know’: Trump’s Embrace of QAnon Baffles Allies
The former president has been using Truth Social to tip his cap to the movement that believes America is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles
“Fuck if I know,” one Trump ally replied to Rolling Stone when asked this month why the most powerful figure in the Republican Party has been so publicly promoting Q symbols and messages, particularly on his own social media app, Truth Social. Others close to the ex-president (most of whom just like to pretend this isn’t happening) say that conversations with Trump that have touched on this topic in recent months paint a clearer picture — one of a Boomer internet troll who just loves to be liked. And one thing that QAnon adherents really, really like is their supposed god-emperor Trump.
It may be as simple as that (and damn the consequences).