An anti-impeachment rally held in Utah this week massively backfired after Trump supporters were vastly outnumbered by opponents of the president.
The Salt Lake Tribune's Lee Davidson reports that the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee this week held a rally outside the offices of Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT) to get him to back off his support of impeaching President Donald Trump.
However, writes Davidson, the rally blew up in the Trump campaign's faces when "the freshman congressman’s supporters and Trump critics showed up with about three times as many people to outshout them."
The Trump critics chanted "Thank you Ben!" and praised the congressman's willingness to come out in favor of an impeachment inquiry. They also had words of praise for Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), the Republican senator who has been most critical of the president's behavior.
Trump supporters fumed to local news station KSL that they were badly outgunned at their own rally.
“Liberals are a little better at organizing, I can tell you that,” said Trump supporter Cynthia Hardy. “Part of it is we are just so used to being intimidated by the left that we’re afraid to speak up. Anywhere. In Utah, even. I mean, I have a MAGA hat, but I don’t dare wear it. I don’t put a bumper sticker on my car because I’m afraid it will get keyed.”
House Republicans will attempt to hold a procedural vote on Monday on the eve of the first hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
"House Republicans will offer a privileged resolution this evening on the floor to demand [Speaker Nancy Pelosi] seat all of [GOP leader Kevin McCarthy's] selections to the Jan. 6 committee," Punchbowl News correspondent Jake Sherman reports.
"Democrats will defeat [it], of course," his colleague John Bresnahan added.
Pelosi denied McCarthy's recommendation of Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) to join the committee, but accepted his recommendations of Reps. Rodney Davis (R-IL), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Troy Nehls (R-TX). In response, McCarthy withdrew all of his recommendations and Pelosi subsequently appointed Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). Pelosi had previously appointed Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).
@JakeSherman @SpeakerPelosi @GOPLeader Democrats will defeat, of course. We’ll see if/how @RepLizCheney & @RepKinzinger vote— John Bresnahan (@John Bresnahan) 1627338252.0
Washington Post columnist Henry Olsen penned a prediction that the Texas Sixth Congressional District special election GOP runoff will say a lot about the power of former President Donald Trump.
Writing Monday, Olsen explained that Trump issued a huge endorsement of Susan Wright, the widow of Rep. Ron Wright, who died from COVID-19. It could determine whether Republicans continue to invest in the power of Donald Trump's coattails if the endorsement manages to mobilize GOP voters for his candidates.
"The fact that she did much better after Trump's blessing than she did in early voting was touted as evidence that his word still carried weight," wrote Olsen. "That weight wasn't all that heavy, however, as she received only 19 percent of the vote. More tellingly, she received about 31 percent of all votes cast for Republicans. That's not a strong showing, considering that, in addition to Trump's backing, she had some residual name identification from being the former incumbent's widow. Her poor fundraising — she raised a paltry $740,000 for the whole election as of July 7 — also indicates weakness."
Meanwhile, state Rep. Jake Ellzey has raised $1.7 million for the cycle, outspending Wright by buckets, particularly in targeted digital ads. The Club for Growth has tried to help and Trump will host an online rally for Wright the night before the election. None of it has really spurred much inspiration. As of Friday, only 20,534 people cast ballots. The first primary vote had 45,000 early votes.
Former Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton even goes so far as to tell Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel that Trump might regret endorsing Wright, whom he says has "run a terrible campaign."
On Monday's edition of CNN's "The Lead," anchor Jake Tapper grilled Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), a nominee for the January 6 Capitol riot commission that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pulled after two of his other picks were rejected.
Armstrong went on the defensive quickly when Tapper pointed out that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) saw to it that two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), will be on the committee — two people that McCarthy disdained as "Pelosi Republicans."
"The problem isn't that there's Republicans serving on the committee," said Armstrong. "The problem is who picked the Republicans and the Republicans that are picked. If they think this is going to get any credibility with 50 percent of the country, I would actually argue that those two are probably — there's a special level of disdain across the country, even more so than for Democrats."
"Why is there disdain for them?" asked Tapper. "They say, Cheney and Kinzinger, that they want to get to the bottom of what happened. Liz Cheney is more conservative than Kevin McCarthy when it comes to voting records. What's wrong with them wanting to get to the bottom of what happened?"
"Because when you serve on the committee at the call of the speaker and the minority members aren't allowed to put their own members on the committee, you just completely make this thing partisan and move it forward in a way that, I'm just telling you, 50 percent of the country is not going to take anything going on with it with any credibility whatsoever," said Armstrong.
"Jim Jordan and Jim Banks ... not just according to Speaker Pelosi but according to Liz Cheney, had said things to make it clear that they didn't believe with the goals of the committee," said Tapper. "Obviously I'm not talking about you, but there are things that they had said about, first of all, they had been putting forward the election lie that Donald Trump actually won the election, something that you have not done. That was the reason. But, beyond that, Pelosi wanted to keep you on the committee... don't you think just in terms of what's best for the nation, don't you think you could do more good on this committee than off this committee?"
Armstrong declined to answer directly, deflecting with, "I think absolutely what's best for the nation, best for this institution in the short term and best for this institution in the long-term is for the minority members to be able to put their members on the committee ... I mean, we can come on here and be all solemn, but this is a partisan town, all committees are partisan and the members should get to put who they want on there, and that's how it always should be."
Watch below:
Jake Tapper and Kelly Armstrong clash over Capitol riot commission www.youtube.com
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