[guest post by Dana]

Today is primary day in a number of states. Three of the races involve Republicans who voted to impeach the former president. Thus, Donald Trump took to social media to remind Americans that his own personal witch hunt of the three has absolutely nothing to do with their conservative bona fides but instead his endorsement of their opponents (who support the Big Lie) has everything to with his inability to accept defeat. Still. Loyalty to the Constitution, conservative voting records, and standing on long-held conservative principles continues to mean nothing to the titular head of the GOP. Only loyalty to him matters. A giant man-baby whose feelings got so spectacularly hurt that he continues to seek vengeance. Sadly, many Americans continue to be loyal to this man who doesn’t care about them nor about the governance of America. Instead, what he cares about is getting back at those who rightfully told him NO:

Regarding the Washington state primaries involving Herrera and Newhouse, CNN reports:

Two of Tuesday’s primaries in Washington state represent a key question for the Republican Party: 18 months removed from Donald Trump’s second impeachment, has the GOP anger at party lawmakers who backed the effort subsided?

Primary voters will answer that question for Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse, two of the 10 House Republicans who joined Democrats to impeach Trump after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. In the months since their votes, both have paid the price at home. They have been criticized by their state party, censured by local leaders and challenged by handfuls of Republican challengers.

[…]

Herrera Beutler is facing off against a series of opponents who have attacked her for the impeachment vote, including author Heidi St. John, state Rep. Vicki Kraft and retired special forces officer Joe Kent, whom Trump has backed.

Newhouse, likewise, faces a series of Republicans who have hammered him for his vote, including former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler, state Rep. Brad Klippert and vocal election denier Loren Culp, who has been endorsed by Trump.

Also, facing an uphill battle is Rep. Peter Meijer from Michigan’s District 3. He is running against Trump-backed election conspiracist John Gibbs. Meijer published a scathing piece yesterday at Common Sense, in which he lambasted Democrats for cynically subsidizing Gibbs’ campaign . This is Meijer’s description of Gibbs:

Gibbs, a former political appointee in the Trump administration, denies the results of the 2020 presidential election. (“I think when you look at the results of the 2020 election, there are anomalies in there, to put it very lightly, that are simply mathematically impossible,” he said last month in a televised debate.) Gibbs has accused Obama administration officials of taking part in bizarre Satanic rituals. He defended antisemites on his now-locked Twitter account, and has tweeted that Democrats are the party of “Islam, gender-bending, anti-police, ‘u racist!’”

Quite a candidate there, Michigan. More from Meijer:

At the same time, to some in my party, we were Bad Republicans—RINOs at best, traitors at worst. After the impeachment vote, I was immediately censured by two county parties in my old district. In my new district, the Republican Party of the largest county repudiated me a few weeks ago. The Michigan GOP Chair joked about my assassination. There have been too many online threats to count.

Watching this unraveling inside my party has been utterly bewildering. The only thing that has been more nauseating has been the capacity of my Democratic colleagues to sell out any pretense of principle for political expediency—at once decrying the downfall of democracy while rationalizing the use of their hard-raised dollars to prop up the supposed object of their fears.

You can find the voting record of each candidate here.

Also, the Wyoming primary will take place on Aug. 16. Running against Rep. Liz Cheney is Trump-backed Harriet Hageman. While Cheney is trailing Hageman at this point, she is at peace with the very real possibility of losing to her opponent:

“If I have to choose between maintaining a seat in the House of Representatives or protecting the constitutional republic and ensuring the American people know the truth about Donald Trump, I’m going to choose the Constitution and the truth every single day,” she said.

There are, of course, other important votes taking place today, including a post-Roe vote in Kansas, where a proposed amendment would add to the state constitution a declaration that there’s no right to abortion—a step that would free the Republican-controlled state Legislature to pass restrictions or an outright ban. Reports say that voter turnout has been very high:

Early voting was robust. As of Monday, 271,438 ballots had been cast. That’s far more than the last midterm primary in 2018, when advance mail-in and in-person ballots totaled 89,449, according to the Kansas Secretary of State’s office.

Unaffiliated voters—who’d generally have little reason to pay attention to a primary—delivered more than 40,000 of the early votes. Republicans cast 122,677; Democrats, 106,800; and Libertarians, 1,457, according to the state’s data.

You can follow all of the primaries here and see the results as they come in.

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

In a Washington Post op-ed, Nancy Pelosi offered her reasons for going to Taiwan, despite warnings from China:

Thirty years ago, I traveled in a bipartisan congressional delegation to China, where, in Tiananmen Square, we unfurled a black-and-white banner that read, “To those who died for democracy in China.” Uniformed police pursued us as we left the square. Since then, Beijing’s abysmal human rights record and disregard for the rule of law continue, as President Xi Jinping tightens his grip on power.

The CCP’s brutal crackdown against Hong Kong’s political freedoms and human rights — even arresting Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen — cast the promises of “one-country, two-systems” into the dustbin. In Tibet, the CCP has long led a campaign to erase the Tibetan people’s language, culture, religion and identity. In Xinjiang, Beijing is perpetrating genocide against Muslim Uyghurs and other minorities. And throughout the mainland, the CCP continues to target and arrest activists, religious-freedom leaders and others who dare to defy the regime.

We cannot stand by as the CCP proceeds to threaten Taiwan — and democracy itself.

As the Speaker arrived in Taiwan, China flexed :

Twenty-one Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s air defense zone on Tuesday, the day House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taipei, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense.

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force planes — which included ten of its newer J-16 fighters, eight J-11 fighter jets, one KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, one Y-9 electronic warfare plane, and one Y-8 transport aircraft — entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.

[…]

After her arrival late Tuesday night, China announced that the PLA will hold “targeted military operations” around the island in response. The Chinese military will hold hold live-fire drills in six areas surrounding Taiwan from August 4 to 7, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency and state-affiliated Global Times.

Chinese media indicated that the drills, which began Tuesday night, would not only involve air and maritime exercises, but also the firing of conventional missiles and long-range artillery.

Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Ministry continued to denounce Pelosi’s trip

…saying that it “seriously undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, seriously undermines the political foundation of Sino-U.S. relations and sends a seriously wrong signal to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces.”

A separate statement issued by the Chinese Communist Party’s Taiwan Affairs Office said any attempt to seek independence by Taiwan would be “shattered by the powerful force of the Chinese people.”

While President Biden has said that the U.S. would defend Taiwan if a conflict arose with China, the White House has repeatedly said, uh, no so fast there, Mr. President:

White House officials repeatedly say[ing] a longstanding policy of “strategic ambiguity” on the defense of Taiwan remains in place.

Publicly, senior White House officials have said that Ms. Pelosi’s visit does not indicate any change in official policy, and should be viewed by China as no different than any other visit to Taiwan by members of Congress.

“There is no reason for Beijing to turn a potential visit consistent with longstanding U.S. policy into some sort of crisis or conflict, or use it as a pretext to increase aggressive military activity in or around the Taiwan Strait,” John F. Kirby, a National Security Council spokesman, told reporters.

Taiwan’s tallest building and most iconic landmark, Taipei 101, lit up at 9pm tonight, welcoming @SpeakerPelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Words include “Speaker Pelosi”, “Welcome to TW”, “Thank you”, “TW ❤️ US” (1/2) pic.twitter.com/q0aFEjqGZl

— Tingting Liu 劉亭廷 (@tingtingliuTVBS) August 2, 2022

Good on Nancy Pelosi. Well done.

–Dana