Morning Briefing: Former President Makes Announcement
Morning Briefing: Former President Makes Announcement
Donald Trump, the former President who incited an insurrection and is under multiple investigations, announced that he would again be a Republican candidate for President.
Morning Briefing: Former President Donald Trump, “announced his 2024 presidential campaign at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.”
writes about the rhetoric used by the former President, and how “it’s hard to imagine a message that negative resonating with an electorate that has rejected Trumpism for three straight election cycles. But it boggles the mind that a conman like Trump ever won elected office in the first place.”With the defeat of every election denier candidate for secretaries of state, “the possibility of a 2024 election in which state-level officials did the opposite of what Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger did in 2020 — and gave in to Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election — becomes less likely.”
Also, QAnon candidates lost.
Response from the Right to Trump’s Announcement:
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Must Reads
David Gilbert and Tess Owen report that a “growing national religious political movement called the Black Robe Regiment, a modern-day group inspired by a myth of a group of militant pastors during the American Revolution who took up arms to lead their flock into battle against the British. The movement, imbued with support from far-right political activists like Michael Flynn, wants pastors to play a central role in not only preaching politics from the pulpit but also actively getting their congregations to rise up and claim election fraud by weaving myths about the American Revolution together with modern-day conspiracy theories and hard-line Christianity. These pastors believe they’re saving democracy, though what they’re really doing is encouraging supporters to undermine the democratic process.” [Vice]
Vera Bergengruen writes that “as Americans’ acceptance of violence as a political tool has jumped, previously unremarkable events and bureaucratic decisions have increasingly triggered threats and harassment, officials tell TIME. A significant number are fueled by social-media outrage that has fanned ongoing anger at America’s election infrastructure, which supporters of former President Trump falsely claim cost him the 2020 election due to widespread voter fraud. The fear and anxiety that fueled COVID-19 conspiracies has led to attacks on healthcare workers. Local school officials have increasingly come under threat for allegedly pushing ‘critical race theory’ or inappropriate books, as well as issues related to transgender equity.” [Time]
Christopher Mathias reports from Doug Mastriano's election night party that “the crowd cheered and amen-ed before a Christian rock band headed by Danny Gokey — a third-place finalist on the eighth season of ‘American Idol’ who believes COVID vaccination mandates might be the biblical ‘mark of the beast’ as stated in the Book of Revelations — took to the stage. The band played a mix of worship songs and covers — including Huey Lewis and The News’ ‘Power of Love’ — before Mastriano and his wife, Rebbie, came on stage briefly to say hello. ‘We’re gonna change American history right here right now, this day, it’s gonna be fantastic,’ he told the crowd. ‘We love you guys too. This movement is unstoppable.’ He and Rebbie retreated to a private room to watch the results. It wasn’t looking good.” [Huffington Post]
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