MoJo Wire

Quick hits from the Mother Jones newsroom

  • “Parents’ Rights”—Especially Moms for Liberty—Lost Big in Elections Last Night

    November 8, 2023

    FILE - Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin addresses the crowd during an early voting rally Sept. 21, 2023, in Petersburg, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)Associated Press

    In 2021, the so-called “parents’ rights” conservative movement was ascendant. Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin ran on a platform based almost entirely on opposing the teaching of anti-racism and LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum in schools, marshaling the support of a group of self-proclaimed “Mama Bears” to propel him to victory. But last night, Democrat Schuyler VanValkenburg defeated Youngkin’s hopeful successor, Republican state Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, who appeared eager to continue Youngkin’s parents’ rights crusade. In campaign ads, VanValkenberg positioned himself squarely against the parents’ rights crowd, decrying book bans and talking up “the difference one book can make for a child.”

    Parents rights crusaders lost many other key races last night. The most influential force in the movement has been, without a doubt, Moms for Liberty, a national group founded in 2021 by two conservative Florida moms. In just two years, the group has amassed 115,000 members in 285 chapters across 45 states. Though Moms for Liberty claims to be a grassroots coalition of parents, as I have reported, it has strong ties to conservative powerhouse groups, including the Heritage Foundation and the Leadership Institute.

    Moms for Liberty crows about its success in helping its chosen candidates win their elections; of the 500 right-wing candidates the group endorsed for school board last year, three-quarters of whom had never before run, 275 won their races.

    But this year, Moms for Liberty’s luck appears to be running out—last night, many of the group’s favored candidates lost. Here is a non-exhaustive list of results, as of Wednesday morning, in a few places where there were candidates endorsed or recommended by Moms for Liberty:

    • In Pennsylvania, the group recommended (but didn’t officially endorse) candidates in five districts. In Central Bucks, five parents’ rights candidates lost their seats to Democrats, as did another five in the Pennridge
    • In Iowa, the group endorsed 13 candidates. Just one won.

    • In Virginia’s Loudoun County, so far, it appeared that three Moms for Liberty-backed candidates had lost their races.
    • In North Carolina’s Mooresville Graded School District Board of Education, a Moms for Liberty-backed candidate lost to a Democrat.
    • In Minnesota’s Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District all four of the Moms for Liberty candidates were defeated.

    On social media, Moms for Liberty supporters are bemoaning last night’s results. Here’s anti-trans activist and Moms for Liberty conference speaker January Littlejohn on an Ohio referendum that would have barred gender-affirming care:

    Meanwhile, Moms for Liberty’s critics are cheering—this one references that one time a Moms for Liberty chapter leader quoted Hitler in a newsletter:

  • Another Reason to Quit Twitter/X: More Tucker Carlson

    November 5, 2023

    Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson speaks at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2022.Brian Cahn/ZUMA Press Wire

    Since getting fired from Fox News in April, Tucker Carlson has been slowly rebuilding his media empire. Last month, the conservative talk show host reportedly signed a revenue-sharing deal with X (formerly Twitter) that will mean a whole lot more Carlson content on Elon Musk’s dying platform. Then, in late October, Carlson signed his first advertising deal since leaving Fox with Public Square, an online marketplace company backed by Donald Trump Jr. that claims to promote “patriotic small businesses” as an alternative to “woke” corporations with socially conscious investment policies or diversity and inclusion policies.

    Starting this month, Public Square will be advertising on Carlson’s website, and his X show will include product placements for Public Square and its products. As Carlson turns his media company into a right-wing home shopping network, I wondered what sorts of ads viewers might expect while watching his show.

    Naturally, I first checked to see whether Public Square offers any red-light equipment for consumers interested in tanning their balls, given Carlson’s promotion of the practice in his documentary End of Men. Alas, that gear must be made in China, as the only patriotic tanning products I found were high-waisted bikinis and self-tanning lotions. A search for “testicle” did turn up an expensive supplement that promised “enhanced libido” and the potential of bigger balls. The website claims that rats fed the stuff show an increase in testicle size of as much as 15 percent! 

    Other Public Square offerings Carlson might soon be plugging include pro-life baby products; “Carnivore Snax” and various meat products (no soy boys here!); tactical gear for “moms who carry,” plus body armor, ammo, and laser sights for concealed weapons. But Carlson will be able to cover all the bases: Not only does Public Square feature a wide variety of mass-shooter accessories, it also offers a range of triage and medical equipment marketed to people who are either wounded in a mass shooting or responding to one.

    For $1,599, TacMed™ offers its “Critical Event Response System,” which includes tourniquets, occlusive dressings for chest wounds, and of course, more body armor. I was reminded that Kyle Rittenhouse was carrying a medical kit like this when he shot three people during the racial justice protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020. Rittenhouse went on Carlson’s Fox show as soon as he was acquitted of murder charges. Perhaps he will make a repeat visit to help Carlson peddle tourniquets on his X program.

    Indeed, Carlson will need to find a special sort synergy to work such things as body armor and testosterone into a show about politics. But perhaps Public Square does at least offer him a bigger range of advertising products than what he had at the end of his tenure at Fox. After years of promoting white nationalists and attacking immigrants and generally alienating most mainstream businesses, by 2021, Carlson’s biggest advertiser was Mike Lindell’s MyPillow, which doesn’t seem to sell on Public Square. The rest of the ads on his show were from a variety of obscure companies touting ear wax removal or toenail fungus abatement products, the sort of things found in popup spam at the end of a New York Post story.

    With his new deals with X and Public Square, Carlson has a chance to reboot. And Musk clearly hopes he will also revive the ailing social media site as he does so. But the promise of a lot more Tucker content on X, larded with product plugs for dodgy supplements and American flag socks, may also be the last straw for millions of users who were already leaning toward quitting the platform altogether.

  • Bernie Sanders on the Israel-Hamas War: “We Have Got to Stop the Bombing Now”

    November 5, 2023

    Courtesy CNN

    In an interview Sunday morning on CNN’s State of the Union, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that while “Israel has a right to defend itself,” its bombing campaign in the Gaza needs to come to an end immediately.

    As he told host Dana Bash:

    I think it’s clear to most people what Hamas did—and Hamas is an awful terrorist organization—is they slaughtered 1,400 people in cold blood. Israel has a right to defend itself. What Israel does not, in my view, have a right to do is to kill thousands and thousands of innocent men, women, and children who had nothing to do with that attack. So the immediate concern, Dana, to my mind is we’ve got to stop the bombing now.

    Sanders said the United States should use military aid as a leverage to force the Israel’s hand. “If you want this money,” he said when asked about a potential Israeli aid package that could come before the Senate, “you’ve got to change your military strategy.”

    When asked about the video Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) released on Friday criticizing President Joe Biden for “supporting the genocide of the Palestinian people,” Sanders turned his focus to the Republican response. “What’s happening right now is a horror show—we don’t have to quibble about words,” he said. “One of the things that concerns me, Dana, is there’s not been enough talk about what right-wing Republicans are doing right now. They don’t want any aid to go to the Palestinians. Somebody should be talking about that. Somebody should be talking about how Trump wants to expel Palestinians from this country.

    “You can disagree with Joe Biden, but on his worst day he’ll be a hundred times better than where Trump and right-wing Republicans are coming from.”

  • Dick Durbin Is the First Senator to Demand a Ceasefire in Gaza

    November 2, 2023

    Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Committee Chair, during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on the Bureau of Prisons, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.

    Graeme Sloan/ AP

    Nearly a month into a non-stop airstrike campaign by Israeli forces on the Gaza Strip, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has officially become the first member of the Senate to call for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Since the October 7 attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel, the nation’s military has reportedly killed more than 9,000 Palestinian people in the territory. In an interview with CNN, Durbin urged the immediate release of Hamas’ hundreds of hostages and the expansion of conversations between Israeli and Palestinian officials.

    “Let’s face it, this has gone on for decades,” said Durbin. “Whatever the rationale for the beginning, it has now reached an intolerable level. We need to have a resolution in the Middle East that gives some promise for the future.” 

    Many other politicians, while offering flimsy calls for peace, have avoided the term “ceasefire”—including President Joe Biden, who recently called for a “pause” for the first time since the war began. Durbin is the first senator to use direct language objecting to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies, a stance he’s reportedly held for several years.

    Other legislators, primarily Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), have also called for a ceasefire. Last week, Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) attempted to censure Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, for engaging in “antisemitic activity” after she expressed concern over the United States’ role in supplying Israel with weapons. Greene also falsely accused Tlaib of “leading an insurrection” for reportedly attending a pro-Palestine demonstration organized by a Jewish advocacy group. The House rejected the censure on Wednesday.

    “Achieving a just and lasting peace where Israelis and Palestinians have equal rights and freedoms,” Tlaib said in a statement, “and where no person lives in fear for their safety, requires ending the blockade, occupation, and dehumanizing system of apartheid.”

  • Obama Jumps Into Virginia’s High-Stakes Elections With Robocalls

    November 2, 2023

    President Barack Obama waves as he returns to the the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012

    Susan Walsh/ AP

    Live in a key battleground district in Virginia? Then look out for a call from Barack Obama—or at least his pre-recorded voice. Politico reports the former president has taped two robocalls reminding voters to head to the polls ahead of the state’s critical legislative elections next week.

    “The people we elect in the state Senate and House of Delegates will make decisions that affect your everyday life,” Obama reportedly says in one call, “Now is the time to make our voices heard.”

    The former president’s involvement, which will come as a much-needed boost to the state’s Democratic candidates, underscores the major stakes at play in Virginia’s elections, where all 140 legislative seats are up for grabs. Critical issues, including abortion and voting rights, are also on the ballot. My colleague Ari Berman recently looked into the fight for control of state government: 

    Divided government has prevented Youngkin, who won a surprise victory in 2021 by emphasizing culture war issues like attacking Critical Race Theory, from enacting a sweeping conservative agenda. But if Republicans capture the legislature and take full control of state government for the first time since 2013, they will be able to put in place harsh limits on ballot access and other measures to limit democracy, following the blueprint adopted by Republicans in other states.

    While Obama reportedly does not mention any of the issues on Virginians’ ballots in his calls, it’s still notable that he’s dipping his toe into this state election, especially one that’s been mired with chaos during the voting process. As I wrote earlier this week, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration recently admitted to wrongfully removing more than 3,000 Virginians from the state’s voter rolls. The state’s Department of Elections claims to have restored rights to those mistakenly removed. But voting rights advocates report that the damage has already been done.

    “It’s a chilling effect on voting,” Joan Porte, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia, told Mother Jones. “It’s a disenfranchisement that should never have been even considered. And it’s just another sad piece of Virginia’s already terrible history.” 

  • House GOP’s Israel Bill, With IRS Cuts, Would Add $27 Billion to the Deficit

    November 1, 2023

    Francis Chung/AP

    A bill introduced by House Republicans on Monday would provide $14 billion in funding for Israel, but do it in a way that helps the rich avoid taxes. As a result, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office now predicts the proposal would add nearly $27 billion to the national debt. 

    As my colleague Julianne McShane wrote, House Republicans are proposing to pay for the Israel aid by clawing back the same amount from the IRS. Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act had provided the tax agency with $80 billion over 10 years—money intended to restore its ability to audit wealthy individuals and corporate partnerships, and to pursue wealthy deadbeats. (Even some Republican lawmakers are critical of tying foreign aid to IRS funding.)  

    McShane writes:

    The thought of—as my colleague David Corn put it in Mother Jones‘ internal Slack channel—”letting billionaires cheat to pay for bombs to drop on civilians” is jarring, particularly given the more than 3,500 children that Gaza health authorities say have been killed by the Israeli airstrikes; heartbreaking photos and videos have shown kids covered in blood and dust and collapsing while coping with living through the trauma of war and losing loved ones. 

    The CBO specifically calculated that the Israel proposal will result in a ten-year, $26.8 billion revenue decline, of which nearly half comes come from the GOP’s hit on the taxman’s collection capabilities. Read the full report here.

  • Mike Pence Becomes the First Major Republican Candidate To Drop Out of 2024 Race

    October 28, 2023

    Former Vice President Mike Pence delivered remarks at the Pray Vote Stand Summit in Washington last month. Shawn Thew/Zuma

    Former Vice President Mike Pence announced on Saturday that he is dropping his bid to become president after difficulty fundraising and not catching momentum in polls.

    “After much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today,” Pence said at the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering in Las Vegas, according to the Associated Press. “We always knew this would be an uphill battle, but I have no regrets,” he said.

    Pence is the first major Republican candidate to drop out of the race. Nine other candidates remain in the race, though none have been able to overtake former President Trump’s substantial lead in the polls. Florida Gov. Ron Desantis is the only other candidate to consistently reach double digit support in GOP primary polls, and his numbers, which hover around 11, are still much lower than Trump’s.

    In dropping out, Pence implored his fellow party members to resist the “siren song of populism”, according to the New York Times. “It’s become clear to me that this is not my time.”

  • The Bush Boys Are Back

    October 19, 2023

    Bush listens to Benjamin Netanyahu as he speaks at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Thursday, May 15, 2008.Susan Walsh/AP

    The Bush boys are back to argue, once more, for war.

    President Biden visited Israel this week to reaffirm his unwavering support while cautioning against a military response “consumed by rage.” Though far from the ceasefire many progressives had hoped Biden would publicly urge for during the visit, the warning was a tacit acknowledgment of the horrific conditions in Gaza wrought by Israel’s airstrikes. But even the mere act of calling for cooler heads as a ground invasion draws closer has brought back the old architects and explainers of the Iraq war.

    Here’s Ari Fleischer, on Fox News:

    When he said that Israelis should not be consumed by rage. Who the hell does he think he is? I sat in on every single summit meeting with foreign leaders when they came to the United States after September 11th and met with President Bush. Not a one of them, not one said to President Bush, the Americans shouldn’t be consumed with rage. Instead, they just came to support us. So President Biden, who said some good things, never should lecture Israel about how to react like that.

    Shaking off mass death might be easy for the former White House press secretary under George W. Bush. But it’s Fleischer’s desire to peacock his front-row seat to one of the most tragic chapters of US foreign policy as a badge of expertise that, once again, underscores his persistent shamelessness. How ironic, obscene in fact, it is that the man who helped the Bush administration lie its way to war, is now hawking on national TV to justify acts of blind vengeance, when there is no clear path of what happens after.

    It would be one thing if this was an aberration. But Fleischer’s comments only echo those made by George W. Bush himself last week. The former president’s remarks, as reported by Axios.

    “It’s not going to take long for people [to say]: ‘It’s gone on too long. Surely, there’s a way to settle this through negotiations. Both sides are guilty,'” Bush, 77, said on Tuesday at a private event near Santa Barbara, Calif.

    “My view is: One side is guilty. And it’s not Israel.”

    It’s no surprise that the former president who launched us into unending immoral wars is still very much a bad person. But with these remarks, Bush has once again permanently secured his footing as a blood-thirsty warmonger who, in the clearest terms, cannot comprehend arguments against mass death. In fact, for Bush, in the same crude fashion of abusive men, it appears that more bloodshed is demonstrative of one’s power.

    “We’ll find out what he’s made out of,” the former president said of Netanyahu at the same event.

    Is this what it boils down to? Behind all the fancy talk, do people like Bush believe that a simplistic, pseudo-heroic faith in brute power, and by extension, manly power, will overcome complex geopolitics? Perhaps one of the better examples of how this rationale played out in the lead-up to Iraq comes from Netanyahu himself, a former Bush boy too. Here he was in 2002 appearing before Congress to explain why an Iraq invasion would be worthwhile.

    “I think the choice of Iraq is a good choice, it’s the right choice,” Netanyahu, as a private citizen, said.

    “If you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region,” he continued. “And I think that people sitting right next door in Iran, young people, and many others, will say the time of such regimes, of such despots is gone.”

    It’s far from coincidence that the same ghoulish cast, newly dusted as they often are, has returned to make the case for war. But it strikes as especially vile that men who have shown the world the precise dangers of acting out of sheer vengeance feel comfortable mouthing off in public as scenes of catastrophe play to no end. That they feel comfortable pointing to September 11th as a point of reference is even more galling.

    Once again they clamor for revenge, whatever the long-term consequences.

  • Here Are Some Amazing Images of the “Ring of Fire” Solar Eclipse

    October 14, 2023

    Thousands of spectators viewed the "ring of fire" at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.Katie Oyan/AP

    A solar eclipse formed a “ring of fire” on Saturday on a trail from Oregon to Texas before moving down to Mexico, Central America, Colombia, and Brazil. 

    Crowds gathered along a 125-mile wide path to watch the “moment of annularity,” when the moon was directly in front of the sun, leaving a halo of light. Annular eclipses happen when the moon is at its farthest point from the earth. During these moments—which lasted more than four minutes in some places—the light dims and the air cools.

    Unfortunately, some parts of the country were overcast when the eclipse took place, but nonetheless, here are some of our favorite photos and videos:

  • RFK Jr. Is Officially Running as an Independent—Prompting Siblings to Once Again Disavow Him

    October 9, 2023

    Jessica Kourkounis/Getty

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the prominent conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer, is officially running as an independent. On Monday, the Kennedy scion, who has been politically disowned by much of his family, announced that he was ditching his longshot efforts to defeat Joe Biden in the Democratic primary.

    The announcement prompted more family disavowal. Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, posted a message to social media:

    The move follows a presidential campaign that has been mired in controversy, particularly after Kennedy was caught airing anti-semitic conspiracy theories. And of course, as the founder of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, Kennedy has been widely condemned for promoting anti-vaccine views on the campaign trail. As my colleague David Corn reported, GOP and Trump PAC donors have actively supported Kennedy’s White House ambitions.

    Kennedy’s announcement on Monday comes as Democrats become increasingly concerned that third-party candidates could throw the 2024 election to Donald Trump.

  • Who Is Laphonza Butler?

    October 2, 2023

    Chip Somodevilla/Getty

    Two days after Dianne Feinstein’s death, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) has chosen her replacement. On Sunday, Newsom announced that Laphonza Butler, president of the pro-choice political action committee EMILY’s List, will fill the seat of the late California senator. Butler will be the second Black woman and the first openly LGBTQ member to serve as California’s senator.

    “As we mourn the enormous loss of Senator Feinstein, the very freedoms she fought for—reproductive freedom, equal protection, and safety from gun violence—have never been under greater assault,” wrote Newsom in a statement. “Laphonza will carry the baton left by Senator Feinstein, continue to break glass ceilings, and fight for all Californians in Washington DC.”

    As my colleague, Abby Vesoulis, wrote ahead of Newsom’s announcement, the selection of Butler makes good on his 2021 promise to appoint a Black woman to replace Feinstein should she leave the Senate early.

    In September 2021, Butler became the first Black president of EMILY’s List. Her political roots are thoroughly in California, having served as a member of the University of California Board of Regents and Democratic strategist for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2020 election. Newsom credited Butler’s work fighting for labor rights with playing a key role in his decision to appoint her. Some have criticized Butler’s history of working for tech giants, specifically as Airbnb’s director for public policy, and her work representing Uber.

    Vice President Harris is expected to perform the swearing-in.

  • Biden Flips the Script on Republicans in New Pro-Union Ad

    September 22, 2023

    Kyle Mazza/AP

    In an effort to tout his support for unions, President Biden doesn’t appear to have to do much talking. In fact, a new campaign ad is relying on the real words of his Republican opponents to do just that.

    “When you have a president that’s constantly saying, ‘Go union, go union,’ this is what you get,” Nikki Haley says in one of the clips featured in Biden’s latest campaign video. Also included is Tim Scott complaining about Biden’s push to include $86 million in the American Rescue Plan in order to help troubled union pensions.

    As my colleague Noah Lanard noted, Haley and Scott have been on an anti-labor streak in recent days. It’s a strange position considering that 2023 has seen the launch of several historic strikes, many of which are widely supported among Americans. That includes auto workers at the Big Three and Hollywood writers and actors. Biden, who frequently claims to be the “most pro-union president” in US history, has openly supported the ongoing strikes, prompting Republicans to pounce.

    Of course, Biden’s union record isn’t without scrutiny either. Some speculate that Biden’s loyalty and repeated claims of being the “most pro-union president” in US history will be tested once the economic effects of the UAW strike become more pressing. Still, it’s pretty striking to see the glaring dissonance between Democrats and Republicans. In the case of Haley and Scott, all Biden really had to do was flip the script on them.

  • Pennsylvania Is Making it Easier to Register to Vote

    September 20, 2023

    Markus Schreiber/AP

    On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) announced that the state will join more than 20 others and adopt automatic voter registration. It is a small change that could have a big impact.

    Now, those eligible will be automatically prompted to enroll to vote when they fill out their personal information for other government bodies, like the Department of Motor Vehicles. Before, voters were asked by DMV computers whether or not they wanted to register. The new program will instead immediately take them to a form to sign up.

    Shapiro hopes the change will “break down barriers” for Pennsylvanians. “Now more than ever, we need an engaged citizenry to move our country and our Commonwealth forward,” the governor said in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

    While most states have their own unique form of automatic voter registration, studies show that introducing automatic registration does lead to an overall growth in registered voters. A 2019 report from the Brennan Center for Justice found that eight states that adopted the method had an increase in the number of registrants, regardless of state size or political affiliation. Georgia had the highest jump with a 93.7 percent uptick in voters compared to three years prior after adopting automatic registration.

    Beyond increasing voter participation, Shapiro hopes this can lead to more integrity in the state’s elections. Pennsylvania has been overrun with conspiracists who believe that former president Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. According to reporting from Spotlight PA, at least 18 people election deniers are slated to oversee local elections in November. 

    Shapiro stated that streamlining the registration process is a “key step” to securing elections and strengthening the country’s democracy, according to ABC. Still, many conservatives have railed against Pennsylvania’s decision. 

    “If you want to increase the likelihood of fraud, multiple or duplicate registrations, and participation of ineligible voters—such as non-citizens and illegal aliens, temporary residents, and convicted felons—look no further than the process of dumping government data onto the voter rolls,” said Ken Cuccinelli, the founder of DeSantis Super PAC, “Never Back Down,” to Roll Call. (We’ve written plenty about Cuccinelli in the past and his role in changing immigration rules during the Trump admin.)

    “Residents of our Commonwealth already provide proof of identity, residency, age, and citizenship at the DMV—all the information required to register to vote—so it makes good sense to streamline that process with voter registration,” Shapiro said in a statement.

  • Mike Pence Is Really Bad at Comebacks

    September 17, 2023

    Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    In a recent interview in The Atlantic, retiring Sen. Mitt Romney unloaded on former Vice President Mike Pence, who has attempted to distance himself from Donald Trump since the January 6 insurrection.

    No one has been “more loyal, more willing to smile when he saw absurdities, more willing to ascribe God’s will to things that were ungodly than Mike Pence,” Romney said.

    Pence responded to Romney in a decidedly Penceian way during an interview with CNN on Sunday.

    “Look, Mitt Romney has no idea what I was doing in the administration,” Pence said. “I haven’t talked to Mitt Romney for years. He can go off into retirement.”

    As The Daily Beast notes, Pence didn’t always feel that way about Romney. He praised him in a book last year as “good, public-spirited man with a servant’s heart.”

    Pence has attempted a difficult balancing act with Trump, criticizing his boss for pressuring him to overturn the 2020 election while saying he was “incredibly proud” of the Trump administration’s record. That strategy hasn’t been successful so far. Pence is currently polling at 7 percent in the GOP race for president.

  • Dog Culture Must End

    September 1, 2023

    Mother Jones illustration; Ospan Ali/Unsplash; Ruby Schmank/Unsplash

    When I say that I hate dogs, I don’t mean that I hate your dog. I mean that I dislike ill-behaved dogs. I mean that I’m actually a little bit scared of them, and they can sense my nervousness, and so we tend not to get along. I mean that I hate dog culture—the relentless prioritization of dogs’ needs over humans’, and the suggestion that anyone who doesn’t want their face licked by some oversized mutt is a monster.

    This issue of our societal permissiveness toward dangerous dogs recently came up at work. During his tenure, President Joe Biden has brought two violent dogs into the White House, where thousands of people go to work every day. Last month, a conservative watchdog group released records showing that Biden’s German shepherd Commander attacked Secret Service members 10 times between October 2022 and January. And in 2021, Major Biden, another German shepherd, was exiled to Delaware after his own biting spree. When my colleague Inae Oh surveyed Mother Jones readers about how the Bidens should handle the situation, I was baffled by the responses.

    Several respondents suggested that Commander must be able to sniff out Trump allies, as if those people deserve to be savaged by an untrained dog. The notion that a dog is a reliable judge of character is symptomatic of a dog-obsessed society; a subset of our population genuinely believes that the dog is always right.

    I think the president should take a stand against this. Biden should set an example for the rest of the country by getting his animals under control or getting them out of the White House, away from an active workplace where they’ve been known to hurt people. He should make it clear that no one needs to tolerate an unruly dog. He should give a grand speech—I’ll write it, don’t worry—on how this country’s canine-first attitude is, although not a top legislative issue, extremely annoying.

    I am allowing Biden to take the moderate position here, as usual. He does not need to say he hates dogs. He can simply state the obvious: It’s a dog’s world, and we’re just living in it, no matter how dangerous, dirty, or disrespectful it may be. (Hating dogs, by the way, is just another thing Trump ruined.)

    Some will read this and pretend they don’t know what I’m talking about. Come on. You’ve experienced dogs’ indiscretions. You’ve stepped on their shit in the street. And it’s not their fault: Behind every misbehaving dog is a human victim of dog culture, an individual whose mind is too warped by dog-love to consider the well-being of their fellow humans or the dog itself. In a world of doggy day care, dog parades, and dog spas, can you really blame some people for starting to believe that dogs are a little better than the rest of us?

    Some of us act like dogs rule the world. Often, when I’m out with a friend, strolling down the street or sitting down at a restaurant, a dog walks by, and the friend interrupts our conversation to freak out about the dog. They might exclaim what a cute dog it is, or go up to the owner asking to pet it, initiating a protracted conversation about the animal’s age, sex, weight, breed, temperament, and grooming requirements. What I want to say to my friend, but never manage to spit out, is, “Have you never seen a fucking dog before?” Calm down. Why are you so excited? It’s a dog.

    I think, if I were a dog owner, that I would be annoyed by people stopping me every two blocks to fawn over my pet. But I’m not a dog owner, so I’m unable to comprehend the sense of superiority and entitlement that governs their day-to-day. Imagine going through a life with a rambunctious dog and insisting to every stranger she attacks that “She’s really sweet!” Imagine dragging your dog into restaurants with a fake “service animal” vest, thereby making it harder for people who actually do need service animals to prove that they’re not just pets. Imagine bringing your dog into a wilderness area, ignoring the leash requirements, and acting surprised when your dog won’t stop chasing birds or digging up plants.

    We allow dogs to act like assholes. Enough. End dog culture now.

    (This is my last day after many years of blogging at Mother Jones. I’ll miss you all. And if you disagree with this post, you and your dog can bite me.)

  • In the News this Week: Our Legislators Are Old

    August 31, 2023

    Drew Angerer/ Getty

    It happened again. For the second time in about a month, Mitch McConnell suddenly froze in public on Wednesday, appearing to stare blankly and motionless for 30 seconds during a news conference. The 81-year-old senate minority leader, who suffered a concussion after a fall last year, had been attempting to answer a question from a reporter about his reelection plans.

    McConnell’s spokesman told CNN that the Kentucky Republican had been feeling “momentarily lightheaded and paused during the press conference.” They added that McConnell “will be consulting a physician” before his next event. 

    McConnell is just one of several high-profile aging lawmakers who have made a new round of headlines this week. NPR on Thursday reported that President Biden, the country’s first octogenarian-in-chief, is regularly taking the shorter staircase of Air Force One in order not to repeat stumbles he’s made while climbing the 18-foot staircase at the front of the plane. And the unflattering stories continue for Dianne Feinstein, now the oldest serving member of the Senate, with Politico reporting more on the intense legal disputes between Feinstein’s daughter and her stepsisters over Feinstein’s estate. Since returning to the Senate after a nearly three-month-long medical leave in May, during which several of Biden’s judicial nominations were stalled because of Feinstein’s absence, Feinstein has appeared confused on numerous occasions, including last month’s vote on a defense appropriations bill. “Just say aye,” committee chair Patty Murray was seen telling Feinstein after she launched into a speech instead of saying “aye” or “nay.”  

    These stories renew a now familiar question: How old is too old for someone to stay in office? The issue is especially confounding considering Feinstein’s saga reflects a wider, deeply American crisis. As my colleague Stephanie Mencimer wrote:

    The Feinstein saga is a very public example of innumerable private crises currently taking place in millions of American households. With their pathological obsession with personal freedom, Americans are both collectively and individually failing to address the growing problem of impaired elderly people. Consider how hard it is to take away someone’s driver’s license or move a senior who’s become a hoarder into a safer living situation. It’s only going to get worse. There are millions of baby boomers who are about to join Feinstein in the ranks of dementia patients. 

    These very public episodes from McConnell, Feinstein, and Biden, all of which have acutely underscored just how old our government is, have played a key role in the growing push for term limits and even mental competency tests. But the problems of gerontocracy extend beyond physical and mental capacity. As many have argued, lawmakers who have stuck around for decades threaten to keep in place outdated ideologies out of touch with the wider electorate. 

  • Why Ron DeSantis Was Booed at a Vigil for Jacksonville Shooting Victims

    August 29, 2023

    John Raoux/AP

    “Black history matters!” “Your policies caused this!” “These deaths are on your hands!”

    These were just some of the remarks that were shouted at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when he appeared at a Sunday vigil dedicated to the three victims of the racist shooting at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida. As my colleague Julia Lurie wrote, the white gunman, who killed himself after the attack, had been armed with a handgun and an assault-style rifle with swastika markings when he opened fire, fatally shooting three Black people: Angela Michelle Carr, Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr., and Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion. It was later revealed that on the same day, the shooter had also driven to Edward Waters University, a historically Black university near the Dollar General, where campus security asked him to leave. 

    In a statement on Saturday, DeSantis condemned the shooter, calling him a “scumbag” who “took the coward’s way out.” He also directed $1.1 million to help EWU ramp up security on campus. But many in the Black community have rejected DeSantis’ overtures, pointing to his near-obsessive work as governor to eliminate diversity and inclusion efforts from Florida’s public school system, something he frequently brags about as he attempts to win the Republican presidential nomination. Those efforts include implementing policies to defund DEI efforts at Florida’s state colleges, and defending the state’s new Board of Education provision that implied Black people benefitted from slavery. The racist shooting has also renewed scrutiny of DeSantis’ push to loosen gun restrictions in the state, which includes signing a bill into law that allows gun owners to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. 

    It’s this record that prompted the NAACP in May, alongside several other social justice organizations, to issue a formal travel advisory warning Black people against traveling to Florida because of what they blasted as the DeSantis administration’s “all-out attack on Black Americans.” 

    “We cannot sit idly by as our history is being erased, as our lives are being devalued, as wokeness is being attacked,” said Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon at a separate vigil. “Because let’s be clear: that is red meat to a base of voters. That is a dog whistle. That wokeness that they want to die is Black people and it was evident yesterday by what happened.”

  • Trump Trial Set to Begin Day Before Super Tuesday

    August 28, 2023

    Alex Brandon/AP

    Former President Donald Trump’s trial for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election is set to begin the day before voters in more than a dozen states will decide whether he should have another shot at the White House.

    Depending on how Trump plays it, this could either be a catastrophic scheduling conflict or a major boon to the former president’s campaign. But Trump had requested that the trial begin in April 2026, suggesting that he isn’t pleased about having to juggle his legal obligations with his professional ones. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors, led by special counsel Jack Smith, had requested that the trial begin in January 2024.

    Trump has already set the expectation that he’ll take on the 2024 campaign from the sidelines. Last week, he chose not to attend the first Republican presidential debate. Instead, he spoke with Tucker Carlson in an interview broadcast on Twitter. In spite of everything, he remains the GOP presidential frontrunner.

  • Vivek Ramaswamy’s Campaign Slogan Is a Reverse “In This House, We Believe” Yard Sign

    August 24, 2023

    Mother Jones illustration; Win McNamee/Getty; Kirby Lee/AP

    In his closing statement at last night’s GOP presidential debate, Vivek Ramaswamy rattled off a list of his “10 campaign commandments”:

    1. God is real.
    2. There are two genders.
    3. Human flourishing requires fossil fuels.
    4. Reverse racism is racism.
    5. An open border is no border.
    6. Parents determine the education of their children.
    7. The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind.
    8. Capitalism lifts people up from poverty.
    9. There are three branches of the U.S. government, not four.
    10. The U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedoms in history.

    Sound familiar?

    It appears, at least to me, that Ramaswamy decided to proclaim the opposite of each of the statements that are displayed on the most common “In This House, We Believe” yard signs commonly found in Democratic neighborhoods. “I just wrote down things that are true,” Ramaswamy told the Atlantic. “It took me about 15 minutes.” Maybe. But I’m convinced that this was a deliberate mockery. (I tried calling Ramaswamy’s press secretary for comment, but her voicemail was full.)

    Some of these are stretches, but bear with me. In Ramaswamy’s world, “Science is real” becomes “God is real.” Commandment number 4 is the inverse of “Black Lives Matter”; number 5 is the response to “No human is illegal”; the supremacy of the nuclear family counters “Love is love”; “There are two genders” responds to “women’s rights are human rights”; “Human flourishing requires fossil fuels” answers “Water is life”; and the Constitution’s protection of freedoms negates the assertion that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Commandments 6, 8, and 9 round out the list to a healthy 10.

    Even if they don’t all fit perfectly, the overall tone matches too well to be a coincidence, right?

    Kirby Lee/AP

    The Biblical bent of Ramaswamy’s commandments is interesting, given that he is a monotheistic Hindu attempting to court Christian voters. But Ramaswamy’s make him seem less like Moses than like a suburban homeowner—and no less cringe. 

    For ease, here are the two lists beside one another, lined up to show the pairings:

    We Believe poster: Science is real. Ramaswamy commandment: God is real. 

     We Believe poster: Black Lives Matter. Ramaswamy commandment: Reverse racism is racism.

    We Believe poster: No human is illegal. Ramaswamy commandment: An open border is no border. 

    We Believe poster: Water is life. Ramaswamy commandment: Human flourishing requires fossil fuels.

    We Believe poster: Women’s rights are human rights. Ramaswamy commandment: There are two genders.

    We Believe poster: Love is love. Ramaswamy commandment: The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind. 

    We Believe poster: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Ramaswamy commandment: The U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedoms in history.

  • Trump’s Co-Defendants Kick Off the Surrender Parade in Georgia

    August 22, 2023

    Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP

    Another Trump arrest is upon us this week. For those just tuning in, here’s a rundown of some key updates.

    Two of Donald Trump’s 18 co-defendants kicked off the surrender parade on Tuesday, with Scott Hall and John Eastman appearing before Fulton County authorities to get booked on charges related to Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s results in the 2020 presidential election. The bail bondsman and former attorney for Trump, respectively, face a combined total of sixteen charges.

    “My legal team and I will vigorously contest every count of the indictment in which I am named, and also every count in which others are named, for which my knowledge of the relevant facts, law, and constitutional provisions may prove helpful,” Eastman wrote in a statement posted on his legal team’s website. “I am confident that, when the law is faithfully applied in this proceeding, all of my co-defendants and I will be fully vindicated.”

    Eastman, according to the indictment, was allegedly behind the plan to appoint fake Trump-supporting electors and faces racketeering and conspiracy charges. Eastman was also allegedly involved in the pressure campaign to convince former Vice President Mike Pence not to certify Georgia’s election results. Meanwhile, Fulton County prosecutors have accused Hall, an Atlanta-area bondsman, of participating in the Coffee County voting systems breach. Both men had their bails set at $100,000 and $10,000, respectively. 

    The remaining defendants are expected to surrender before noon on Friday, August 25. As for the main defendant, Donald J. Trump, the former president announced shortly before his bail was set to $200,000 that he would be turning himself in on Thursday. The bail terms include the provision prohibiting Trump from contacting the case’s witnesses and co-defendants, including on social media.

    Trump on Monday predictably took his complaints straight to the internet, attacking prosecutor Fani Willis as a part of the “radical left.” He then appeared to mock the seriousness of the bail terms by joking that he would flee for “Russia, Russia, Russia,” to hang out in a “gold domed suite” with Vladimir Putin.