Political Heat

Maine has now joined with Colorado to deny former President Donald Trump access to the ballot in the 2024 presidential primary elections, likely affecting his ability to appear on the general election ballot in those two states, too, if he's named the GOP nominee. This action is entirely justified, and more states, where they're able to do so, should take it. Trump engaged in an insurrection against the United States and the Constitution when, on January 6, 2021, he used incendiary rhetoric and encouraged a mob of his loyalists to go to the U.S. Capitol building, to protest in person the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to now-President Joe Biden — that action resulted in the violent breach of the building, threatening the lives of lawmakers inside. For several hours after the attack, rather than encourage his mob to halt their actions or to order the National Guard to stop them, Trump reportedly watched the situation with glee , while also calling law...

I've been working as a professional journalist for quite a few years now, so I feel I can say with some authenticity that a peculiar thing happens this time of year: the news "slows down." That isn't to say that newsworthy stories aren't happening, but rather that there are fewer printings of these stories, or less attention given to them, than in other parts of the year. This is due to several reasons, including the fact that many journalists (like other workers) take off time during this part of the year. There is also less demand for the types of stories that are more popular at other times of the year, particularly political stories, which I believe happens because we have a desire to be less political overall when we're with family or loved ones during the holidays. So when a presidential candidate, indeed the likely nominee for the Republican Party in the 2024 election, delivers a Christmas message in which he tells his political opponents to "ro...

Ron Johnson, appearing on CNN this week, falsely claimed that Democrats "repeatedly" used fake electors, just like Republicans did in 2020, in previous presidential elections. Just don't ask him any follow-up questions on his assertion, because he's got nothing . Like so many internet trolls do, Johnson, when asked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins to provide evidence of his claim, told her to do her own research . Which, of course, isn't how real discourse works — if you make a claim within a debate, you have to be able to back it up . Ron Johnson doesn't abide by these rules. He merely makes a claim, and if you don't believe him, well, that's YOUR fault, I guess? Johnson stated that the 10 fake electors in Wisconsin — who recently admitted their actions were being used to further a scheme to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential race  to help Donald Trump — "did nothing different than what many Democrats have done in many stat...