GOP

mickeyrat

https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-major-sign-of-trouble-in-nancy-maces-office-total-staff-turnover?ref=home?ref=home

 

Add another ignoble credential to Rep. Nancy Mace’s résumé.

As of Monday, according to three sources familiar with the matter, Mace’s entire D.C. staff has turned over since Nov. 1, 2023.

That’s nine staffers in the span of a few short months—with all but one of those employees leaving on their own accord.

The lone exception to those eight staffers who left Mace’s office on their own accord is now-former chief of staff Dan Hanlon, who was fired on Dec. 1. Hanlon has subsequently filed to run against Mace in her South Carolina district.

• Nancy Mace’s Bizarre Jan. 6 Plan: ‘Get Punched in the Face’

  RIGHT JAB

  Jake Lahut,

  Brett Bachman

  

As for the rest of her former staff, they all quit. That includes her deputy chief of staff Richard Chalkey, her legislative director Randal Meyer, communications director Will Hampson, a financial adviser, a staff assistant, two legislative assistants, and her military legislative assistant. And from what the departed staffers told The Daily Beast, there was good reason to leave.

Former Mace employees described a “toxic” work environment.

But in response to questions about the dramatic turnover, Mace’s new chief of staff, Lori Khatod, presented the complete turnover as a “non-issue.”

“​​New coach, new team in the DC office,” Khatod said in a text message.

Former staffers who spoke with The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity, however, told a very different story.

“The member was abusive,” one former senior staffer told The Daily Beast, specifically pointing to the frequency with which Mace would communicate with her staff, either over text, Signal, or Monday.com—an unauthorized software system Mace uses in her office.

This former staffer said Mace uses the software to “micromanage the office all day and into the night and early morning.”

“It was constant,” this person said.

Another senior staffer recalled how Mace called them close to midnight on Christmas Eve and demanded to know why she wasn’t getting on TV more during the holiday week.

“If she needed us, we had to answer within eight minutes,” this staffer said, clarifying that the eight minute timeframe was actually a “rule.”

“Nancy is delusional as a boss,” the former staffer continued. “She says nothing publicly without her consultants or senior staffers telling her to, but takes credit for everything. She’s a walking teleprompter.”

The former staffer added that Mace “has no idea what it actually means to be a member of Congress and is too scared and self-conscious to deal with other people, so she accomplished nothing.”

“All this is why pretty much every staffer and fellow member on the Hill thinks she’s a joke,” this ex-employee said. “Also a big reason why she’s only able to hire former George Santos staffers right now.”

(Mace recently hired Santos’ former communications director to serve her office in that role.)

• Nancy Mace’s Staff Guide Shows Her True Priority: Nancy Mace

  ‘NATIONAL NANCY’

  Jake Lahut

  

More broadly, these staffers described Mace’s office as grueling and thankless. She created a “demoralizing environment for staff,” as one of her other former senior employees put it.

Multiple former employees specifically complained about Mace’s propensity to ensure everyone was working all the time. Even on Good Friday, when some staff just wanted to take an hour off to go to Mass in the late afternoon, Mace wouldn’t have it, two former senior staffers said. (The House was adjourned at the time.)

“For Mace it was all about control,” one of the previously mentioned former staffers said. “She didn’t see the staff as people but as property.”

A more recent demoralizing incident was when the new chief of staff, Khatod, tried to send the D.C. employees home early one day in early December. For the staff that hung back, they were treated to a bizarre show.

It turns out that Khatod had called the Capitol Police on Hanlon, who had been fired just days before. Politico, which first wrote on the incident, reported that Hanlon had been in the office earlier to return his keys, but it wasn’t clear to these staffers who talked to The Daily Beast whether Hanlon was actually on Capitol Hill at the time of the call.

When Khatod came back to the office and realized not all the staff had left as she instructed, she didn’t hide her displeasure, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Staffers had no idea why Khatod had called Capitol Police on Hanlon—it could have been over Hanlon taking an office popcorn machine on his way out—but many former employees were disturbed by the incident.

“At that moment, I felt the most unsafe I ever had on the Hill, when I realized she was using the Capitol Police to intimidate staff,” one witness to the event told The Daily Beast.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) speaks with the media as Republicans work towards electing a new Speaker of the House

Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

The incident quickly spread within the office and left many other staffers feeling rattled and uncomfortable, two sources said. It was that moment which cemented in some of their minds that they were going to quit.

Mace’s office would not delve into specifics about the Capitol Police incident or the intense work demands.

“Like most offices, we do not discuss internal processes,” Khatod said in a statement in response to these specific allegations. “We adhere and accommodate employees whose sincerely held religious beliefs, practices or observances conflict with regular work requirements.”

This, of course, isn’t the first time Mace has faced criticism from ex-employees. One of her former staffers, who previously served as her communications director, has been on a crusade to detail Mace’s self-serving ways. And one woman who ran into Mace in the airport recently reportedly overheard her screaming at a staff member, telling this person to clean up press reports that her office was “toxic.”

While Mace’s new office can dispute her former staff’s characterizations of the work culture, what the congresswoman can’t dispute is the numbers.

Professor Casey Burgat, the legislative affairs program director at George Washington University, told The Daily Beast that “disproportionately high turnover signals that staff are incredibly unhappy.”

“It's a ridiculously high number, just out of the ordinary,” said Burgat, who has studied congressional staff turnover patterns and has testified before Congress on some of his findings. “I would be shocked if you found any other Representative or senator with even close to that high of a turnover in such a short amount of time.”

A Mace staff handbook previously obtained by The Daily Beast detailed how her staff was required to book her on a national TV outlet between one and three times per day, and how each staffer had to come up with draft tweets for the congresswoman.

According to the handbook, Mace also held her staff to the standard of passing 10 bills on the House floor every year—which would be an incredible clip for a backbench member—and filing 25 new bills.

During her three years in office, Mace has had one bill signed into law: a measure renaming a post office on Hilton Head Island.

Reese Gorman

Politics Reporter

@reesejgormanreese.gorman@thedailybeast.com

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.

mickeyrat

https://twitter.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1754545463007551657?t=uhIYRhx9RDyMZdpTZVaTgg&s=19

mickeyrat

shit show falls way short of what this will be

https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1754682083832672375?t=rddqjFTRzKrTKY1UUUILOA&s=19

Halifax2TheMax

mickeyrat said:

shit show falls way short of what this will be

https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1754682083832672375?t=rddqjFTRzKrTKY1UUUILOA&s=19

I look forward to the indickments and the subpenises of witlessnesses, not to mention being kept abreasts of developments in real time.

mickeyrat

https://apnews.com/article/nikki-haley-secret-service-7286d1811f2d7422416c81bb6000884f   Nikki Haley requests Secret Service protection after growing threats on campaign, report says

Nikki Haley requests Secret Service protection after growing threats on campaign, report says

27 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has requested Secret Service protection after receiving a growing number of threats during her 2024 presidential campaign, according to a report published Monday.

Haley told The Wall Street Journal while campaigning in South Carolina that she had made the request.

“We’ve had multiple issues,” she said. “It’s not going to stop me from doing what I need to do.”

Neither Haley's campaign nor the Secret Service responded to requests for comment.

Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump receive Secret Service protection. The Secret Service protects the president and vice president as well as their families along with some senior government officials. It is also authorized to provide protection to major party presidential candidates, an authority granted after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

Haley is the last major challenger to Trump in the Republican primary race. She is focusing on South Carolina's Feb. 24 primary as an opportunity to demonstrate momentum against Trump, though she is also traveling the country to attend fundraisers and is scheduled to appear at a rally in California on Wednesday.

mickeyrat

https://twitter.com/SawyerHackett/status/1754583187286630822?t=72L7AMWckYoX_6BqG71Psw&s=19

gimmesometruth27

mickeyrat said:

https://apnews.com/article/nikki-haley-secret-service-7286d1811f2d7422416c81bb6000884f   Nikki Haley requests Secret Service protection after growing threats on campaign, report says

Nikki Haley requests Secret Service protection after growing threats on campaign, report says

27 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has requested Secret Service protection after receiving a growing number of threats during her 2024 presidential campaign, according to a report published Monday.

Haley told The Wall Street Journal while campaigning in South Carolina that she had made the request.

“We’ve had multiple issues,” she said. “It’s not going to stop me from doing what I need to do.”

Neither Haley's campaign nor the Secret Service responded to requests for comment.

Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump receive Secret Service protection. The Secret Service protects the president and vice president as well as their families along with some senior government officials. It is also authorized to provide protection to major party presidential candidates, an authority granted after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

Haley is the last major challenger to Trump in the Republican primary race. She is focusing on South Carolina's Feb. 24 primary as an opportunity to demonstrate momentum against Trump, though she is also traveling the country to attend fundraisers and is scheduled to appear at a rally in California on Wednesday.

great. she probably needs the protection for going against the orange god.

mickeyrat

in other news. .

https://apnews.com/article/house-republicans-impeach-homeland-security-secretary-mayorkas-8209736501ed4fe12e4b164443d6a8a9   House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas fails, thwarted by Republican defections

House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas fails, thwarted by Republican defections

By LISA MASCARO

28 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a dramatic setback, House Republicans failed Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, forced to shelve a high-profile priority — for now — after a few GOP lawmakers refused to go along with the party’s plan.

The stunning roll call fell just a single vote short of impeaching Mayorkas, stalling the Republicans’ drive to punish the Biden administration over its handling of the U.S-Mexico border. With Democrats united against the charges, the Republicans needed almost every vote from their slim majority to approve the articles of impeachment.

A noisy, rowdy scene erupted on the House floor as the vote was tied for several tense minutes, 215-215. Several Republican lawmakers — led by the impeachment's chief sponsor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — surrounded one of the holdouts, Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher, who refused to change his vote.

With the tally stuck, Democrats shouted for the gavel to close out the vote.

---

POLITICS

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Border security and Ukraine aid collapses despite Biden's plea for Congress to 'show some spine'

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RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel has discussed stepping down, AP sources say. But no decision has been made

“Frustrated,” said Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, "but we’ll see it back again.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson's spokesman Raj Shah said they “fully intend” to reconsider the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas “when we have the votes for passage.”

But next steps are uncertain. In the end, three Republicans opposed the impeachment, and a fourth Republican switched his vote so the measure could be revisited. The final tally was 214-216.

The outcome was another dismal result for the House Republicans who have repeatedly been unable to use their majority power to accomplish political goals, or even to keep up with the basics of governing.

Johnson, who could afford only a few defections from his ranks, had said earlier he had personally spoken to Gallagher and another GOP holdout, acknowledging the “heavy, heavy” vote as he sought their support.

“It’s an extreme measure,” said Johnson, R-La. “But extreme times call for extreme measures.”

Not since 1876 has a Cabinet secretary faced impeachment charges and it’s the first time a sitting secretary is being impeached — 148 years ago, Secretary of War William Belknap resigned just before the vote.

The impeachment charges against Mayorkas come as border security is fast becoming a top political issue in the 2024 election, a particularly potent line of attack being leveled at President Joe Biden by Republicans, led by the party's front-runner for the presidential nomination, Donald Trump.

Record numbers of people have been arriving at the southern border, many fleeing countries around the world, in what Mayorkas calls an era of global migration. Many migrants are claiming asylum and being conditionally released into the U.S., arriving in cities that are underequipped to provide housing and other aid while they await judicial proceedings which can take years to determine whether they may remain.

The House Democrats united against the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, calling the proceedings a sham designed to please Trump, charges that do not rise to the Constitution's bar of treason, bribery or “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

“A bunch of garbage,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. He called Mayorkas “a good man, a decent man,” who is simply trying to do his job.

Even if Republicans are able to impeach Mayorkas, he is not expected to be convicted in a Senate trial since Republican senators have been cool to the effort. The Senate could simply refer the matter to a committee for its own investigation, delaying immediate action.

“This baseless impeachment should never have moved forward," said Mia Ehrenberg, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security.

If House Republicans are “serious about border security, they should abandon these political games,” she said.

The impeachment of Mayorkas landed quickly onto the House agenda after Republican efforts to impeach Biden over the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, hit a lull, and the investigation into the Biden family dragged.

The Committee on Homeland Security under Chairman Green had been investigating the secretary for much of the past year, including probing the flow of deadly fentanyl into the U.S. But a resolution from Georgia Rep. Greene pushed it to the fore. The panel swiftly held a pair of hearings in January before announcing the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.

Unlike other moments in impeachment history, the afternoon's debate played out to an almost empty chamber, without the fervor or solemnity of past proceedings.

Greene, who was named to be one of the impeachment managers if there is a Senate trial, rose to blame Mayorkas for the “invasion” of migrants coming to the U.S.

Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona said Mayorkas had committed a “dereliction of duty.”

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the Mayorkas impeachment vote was a stunt designed by Republicans to sow “chaos and confusion" and appease Trump — rather than to govern.

“No reasonable American can conclude that you're making life better for them by this sham impeachment,” Jeffries said.

It was only as the roll call came to a standstill that the chamber burst into an angry, boisterous scene as tempers flared and the vote failed.

The three Republicans opposing impeachment were Gallagher, Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado and Tom McClintock of California. Republican Rep. Blake Moore of Utah was the Republican who switched his vote on procedural grounds.

McClintock said the charges “fail to identify an impeachable crime that Mayorkas has committed.”

In a memo, he said the articles of impeachment from the committee explain the problems at the border under Biden’s watch. But, he said, “they stretch and distort the Constitution.”

Tuesday's vote arrived at a politically odd juncture for Mayorkas, who has been negotiating a bipartisan border security package in the Senate, earning high marks from a group of senators involved.

But that legislation, which emerged Sunday as one of the most ambitious immigration overhauls in years, collapsed Tuesday as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged that the deal was dead.. Trump had sharply criticized the bipartisan effort and Speaker Johnson said it was “dead on arrival.”

Impeachment, once rare in the U.S., has been used as both a constitutional check on the executive and increasingly as a political weapon.

Experts have argued that Mayorkas has simply been snared in a policy dispute with Republicans who disapprove of the Biden administration's approach to the border situation.

Three former secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson, said in a letter Tuesday that impeaching the Cabinet official over policy disputes would “jeopardize our national security.”

Trump as president was twice impeached — first in 2019 on abuse of power over his phone call with the Ukrainian president seeking a favor to dig up dirt on then-rival Biden, and later on the charge of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. He was acquitted on both impeachments in the Senate.

___

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Farnoush Amiri, Mary Clare Jalonick and Rebecca Santana contributed to this story.

mickeyrat

https://twitter.com/BettyBowers/status/1755054653547364673?t=8iMCwZ5ul8kzFuaJYjtJJQ&s=19

Halifax2TheMax

mickeyrat said:

in other news. .

https://apnews.com/article/house-republicans-impeach-homeland-security-secretary-mayorkas-8209736501ed4fe12e4b164443d6a8a9   House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas fails, thwarted by Republican defections

House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas fails, thwarted by Republican defections

By LISA MASCARO

28 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a dramatic setback, House Republicans failed Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, forced to shelve a high-profile priority — for now — after a few GOP lawmakers refused to go along with the party’s plan.

The stunning roll call fell just a single vote short of impeaching Mayorkas, stalling the Republicans’ drive to punish the Biden administration over its handling of the U.S-Mexico border. With Democrats united against the charges, the Republicans needed almost every vote from their slim majority to approve the articles of impeachment.

A noisy, rowdy scene erupted on the House floor as the vote was tied for several tense minutes, 215-215. Several Republican lawmakers — led by the impeachment's chief sponsor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — surrounded one of the holdouts, Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher, who refused to change his vote.

With the tally stuck, Democrats shouted for the gavel to close out the vote.

---

POLITICS

Aid package for Israel fails in the House, dealing another setback to GOP leaders

Border security and Ukraine aid collapses despite Biden's plea for Congress to 'show some spine'

Trump is not immune from prosecution in his 2020 election interference case, US appeals court says

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel has discussed stepping down, AP sources say. But no decision has been made

“Frustrated,” said Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, "but we’ll see it back again.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson's spokesman Raj Shah said they “fully intend” to reconsider the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas “when we have the votes for passage.”

But next steps are uncertain. In the end, three Republicans opposed the impeachment, and a fourth Republican switched his vote so the measure could be revisited. The final tally was 214-216.

The outcome was another dismal result for the House Republicans who have repeatedly been unable to use their majority power to accomplish political goals, or even to keep up with the basics of governing.

Johnson, who could afford only a few defections from his ranks, had said earlier he had personally spoken to Gallagher and another GOP holdout, acknowledging the “heavy, heavy” vote as he sought their support.

“It’s an extreme measure,” said Johnson, R-La. “But extreme times call for extreme measures.”

Not since 1876 has a Cabinet secretary faced impeachment charges and it’s the first time a sitting secretary is being impeached — 148 years ago, Secretary of War William Belknap resigned just before the vote.

The impeachment charges against Mayorkas come as border security is fast becoming a top political issue in the 2024 election, a particularly potent line of attack being leveled at President Joe Biden by Republicans, led by the party's front-runner for the presidential nomination, Donald Trump.

Record numbers of people have been arriving at the southern border, many fleeing countries around the world, in what Mayorkas calls an era of global migration. Many migrants are claiming asylum and being conditionally released into the U.S., arriving in cities that are underequipped to provide housing and other aid while they await judicial proceedings which can take years to determine whether they may remain.

The House Democrats united against the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, calling the proceedings a sham designed to please Trump, charges that do not rise to the Constitution's bar of treason, bribery or “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

“A bunch of garbage,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. He called Mayorkas “a good man, a decent man,” who is simply trying to do his job.

Even if Republicans are able to impeach Mayorkas, he is not expected to be convicted in a Senate trial since Republican senators have been cool to the effort. The Senate could simply refer the matter to a committee for its own investigation, delaying immediate action.

“This baseless impeachment should never have moved forward," said Mia Ehrenberg, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security.

If House Republicans are “serious about border security, they should abandon these political games,” she said.

The impeachment of Mayorkas landed quickly onto the House agenda after Republican efforts to impeach Biden over the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, hit a lull, and the investigation into the Biden family dragged.

The Committee on Homeland Security under Chairman Green had been investigating the secretary for much of the past year, including probing the flow of deadly fentanyl into the U.S. But a resolution from Georgia Rep. Greene pushed it to the fore. The panel swiftly held a pair of hearings in January before announcing the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.

Unlike other moments in impeachment history, the afternoon's debate played out to an almost empty chamber, without the fervor or solemnity of past proceedings.

Greene, who was named to be one of the impeachment managers if there is a Senate trial, rose to blame Mayorkas for the “invasion” of migrants coming to the U.S.

Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona said Mayorkas had committed a “dereliction of duty.”

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the Mayorkas impeachment vote was a stunt designed by Republicans to sow “chaos and confusion" and appease Trump — rather than to govern.

“No reasonable American can conclude that you're making life better for them by this sham impeachment,” Jeffries said.

It was only as the roll call came to a standstill that the chamber burst into an angry, boisterous scene as tempers flared and the vote failed.

The three Republicans opposing impeachment were Gallagher, Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado and Tom McClintock of California. Republican Rep. Blake Moore of Utah was the Republican who switched his vote on procedural grounds.

McClintock said the charges “fail to identify an impeachable crime that Mayorkas has committed.”

In a memo, he said the articles of impeachment from the committee explain the problems at the border under Biden’s watch. But, he said, “they stretch and distort the Constitution.”

Tuesday's vote arrived at a politically odd juncture for Mayorkas, who has been negotiating a bipartisan border security package in the Senate, earning high marks from a group of senators involved.

But that legislation, which emerged Sunday as one of the most ambitious immigration overhauls in years, collapsed Tuesday as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged that the deal was dead.. Trump had sharply criticized the bipartisan effort and Speaker Johnson said it was “dead on arrival.”

Impeachment, once rare in the U.S., has been used as both a constitutional check on the executive and increasingly as a political weapon.

Experts have argued that Mayorkas has simply been snared in a policy dispute with Republicans who disapprove of the Biden administration's approach to the border situation.

Three former secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson, said in a letter Tuesday that impeaching the Cabinet official over policy disputes would “jeopardize our national security.”

Trump as president was twice impeached — first in 2019 on abuse of power over his phone call with the Ukrainian president seeking a favor to dig up dirt on then-rival Biden, and later on the charge of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. He was acquitted on both impeachments in the Senate.

___

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Farnoush Amiri, Mary Clare Jalonick and Rebecca Santana contributed to this story.

Damn, those fucking chaos dems.

mickeyrat

awkward..... (in a singsong voice)

https://apnews.com/article/nevada-2024-presidential-primary-biden-trump-haley-d731bf8ab1e7d4a7379c07d3a37b581b   Nikki Haley is trounced by the 'none of these candidates' option in Nevada's Republican primary

Washington news NV State Wire

Nikki Haley is trounced by the 'none of these candidates' option in Nevada's Republican primary

By MICHELLE L. PRICE, JONATHAN J. COOPER and GABE STERN

23 mins ago

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nikki Haley was swamped Tuesday in Nevada's symbolic Republican presidential primary as GOP voters resoundingly picked the “none of these candidates” option on the ballot in a repudiation of the former U.N. ambassador who is the last remaining major rival to front-runner Donald Trump.

Trump didn’t compete in the primary, which doesn’t award any delegates needed to win the GOP nomination. The former president is instead focused on caucuses that will be held Thursday and will help him move closer to becoming the Republican standard-bearer.

That leaves the results Tuesday as technically meaningless in the Republican race. But they still amount to an embarrassment for Haley, who has sought to position herself as a candidate who can genuinely compete against Trump. Instead, she became the first presidential candidate from either party to lose a race to “none of these candidates” since that option was introduced in Nevada in 1975.

---

DONALD TRUMP

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Haley had said beforehand she was going to “focus on the states that are fair” and did not campaign in the western state in the weeks leading up to the caucuses, spending time instead in her home state, South Carolina, before its Feb. 24 primary. Her campaign wrote off the results with a reference to Nevada’s famous casino industry.

“Even Donald Trump knows that when you play penny slots the house wins,” spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said. “We didn’t bother to play a game rigged for Trump. We’re full steam ahead in South Carolina and beyond.”

Trump joked on his social media network, “Watch, she'll soon claim Victory!”

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, had announced beforehand that he would vote for “none of these candidates” on Tuesday. Several Republicans interviewed heading to the polls said they intended to do the same.

Washoe County Republican Party Chair Bruce Parks, who pushed for the GOP to hold caucuses, said that he told voters who called his office — and Trump supporters — to participate in the primary by voting for “none of these candidates” over Haley.

“They basically told us they don’t care about us,” Parks said in an interview after the race was called. “By marking ‘none of these candidates,’ we respond in kind — we don’t care about you either.”

Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, a Trump ally who faces state charges for serving as a so-called “fake elector” on the former president’s behalf, said he left it to each county GOP chairman to decide if they wanted to promote “none of these candidates.” He said Haley's seeming disrespect of Nevada voters was “reciprocated” with the results.

The Associated Press declared “none of these candidates” the winner at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday based on initial vote results that showed it with a significant lead over Haley in seven counties across the state, including in the two most populous counties.

There was also a Democratic primary on Tuesday that President Joe Biden easily won against author Marianne Williamson and a handful of less-known challengers. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota was not on the ballot.

Biden issued a statement thanking Nevada voters for their support and, with an eye toward an expected matchup in November, warned that Trump is trying to divide America.

“I want to thank the voters of Nevada for sending me and Kamala Harris to the White House four years ago, and for setting us one step further on that same path again tonight. We must organize, mobilize, and vote. Because one day, when we look back, we’ll be able to say, when American democracy was a risk, we saved it — together," Biden said.

Nevada lawmakers added “none of these candidates” as an option in all statewide races as a way post-Watergate for voters to participate but express dissatisfaction with their choices. “None” can’t win an elected office but it came in first in primary congressional contests in 1976 and 1978. It also finished ahead of both George Bush and Edward Kennedy in Nevada’s 1980 presidential primaries.

The caucuses on Thursday are the only Nevada contest that count toward the GOP’s presidential nomination. But they were seen as especially skewed in favor of Trump because of the intense grassroots support they require from candidates and new state party rules that benefitted him further.

Trump is expected to handily win the caucuses, which should deliver him all 26 of the state’s delegates. Delegates are party members, activists and elected officials who vote at the national party conventions to formally select the party’s nominee.

“If your goal is to win the Republican nomination for president, you go where the delegates are. And it baffles me that Nikki Haley chose not to participate,” Trump’s senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita said in an interview before the primary.

Nevada, the third state in the field after Iowa and New Hampshire, was set to hold a state-run primary election instead of party-run caucuses after Democrats controlling the Legislature changed the law to try to boost participation.

Caucuses typically require voters to show up for an in-person meeting at a certain day or time, while elections can offer more flexibility to participate, with polls open for most of the day on Election Day, along with absentee or early voting.

But Nevada Republicans chose to hold party-run caucuses instead, saying they wanted certain rules in place, like a requirement that participants show a government-issued ID.

The caucuses require a candidate to intensely organize supporters around the state in order to be competitive, a feat that Trump, the former president and prohibitive front-runner, was easily positioned to do.

The Nevada GOP also restricted the involvement of super PACs like the one Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was relying on to boost his now-suspended campaign. And the party barred candidates from appearing both on the primary ballot and in the caucuses.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott also signed up to compete in Nevada’s primary instead of the caucuses before ending their presidential campaigns.

Jeff Turner, 65, came to the Reno Town Mall with a ballot checked off for “none of these candidates" while also lamenting the increasingly likely November rematch between Biden and Trump.

“I think it’s my duty,” Turner said. “I think we all have the right to vote, we ought to vote. And even if it’s none of these candidates, it’s at least stating where I’m at. And I’m hoping others will see that.”

___

Price reported from Washington and Stern from Reno, Nevada.

 

Merkin Baller

It’s being reported that the GOP scheduled the Mayorkas impeachment vote for when Al Green was supposed to be in surgery, and then Green signed a waiver to get discharged so he could get there to vote. 

brianlux

Merkin Baller said:

It’s being reported that the GOP scheduled the Mayorkas impeachment vote for when Al Green was supposed to be in surgery, and then Green signed a waiver to get discharged so he could get there to vote. 

Mike Johnson: revealing yet again the true nature of his dirt-bag self.

gimmesometruth27

Merkin Baller said:

It’s being reported that the GOP scheduled the Mayorkas impeachment vote for when Al Green was supposed to be in surgery, and then Green signed a waiver to get discharged so he could get there to vote. 

mtg also said something similar. she blamed the democrats for hiding a member and then they showed up to vote.

i guess because the gop can't fucking count the votes they have, that is the democrats' fault as well.

Halifax2TheMax

gimmesometruth27 said:

Merkin Baller said:

It’s being reported that the GOP scheduled the Mayorkas impeachment vote for when Al Green was supposed to be in surgery, and then Green signed a waiver to get discharged so he could get there to vote. 

mtg also said something similar. she blamed the democrats for hiding a member and then they showed up to vote.

i guess because the gop can't fucking count the votes they have, that is the democrats' fault as well.

Dem chaos agents.

mickeyrat

https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1755303589004660982?t=1orcxhycedckWVjl77OOwA&s=19

Merkin Baller

GOP is the party of Putin. 

Halifax2TheMax

Merkin Baller said:

GOP is the party of Putin. 

Imagine Keith Olberman, Wolf Blitzer or Anderson Cooper posing like that with Saddam Hussein. Because “the ‘Murican people don’t ‘understand’ him.”

mickeyrat

https://twitter.com/JoaquinCastrotx/status/1755356654948733294?t=Db-eknBmp_7ctuj00amD4g&s=19

mickeyrat

Bye Navarro. Dont drop the soap!!!!

https://twitter.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/1755680346731937857?t=LCPDH6Z9Xrfx8cocJKnw8w&s=19