On Thursday, The Daily Beast reported that an Alaska state representative outed as a "lifetime member" of the Oath Keepers has been cleared as constitutionally eligible to run for re-election.
"The Alaska Division of Elections said Wednesday that after a review of 24 challenges to state Rep. David Eastman's candidacy, the 'preponderance of evidence supports his eligibility,' the Associated Press reported," according to Allison Quinn.
"Challenges against Eastman were filed in connection with a provision of the state’s constitution that bars from public office anyone who aids or belongs to any group that calls for 'the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States or of the State,'" said the report. "Eastman has admitted that he attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally in Washington, D.C. to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 win in the presidential election, but he said he didn’t take part in the violent riot at the Capitol that ensued."
The Oath Keepers are a far-right paramilitary group consisting mainly of current or retired military or law enforcement. They take an "oath" to never carry out any order from the government that would contradict the group's extreme interpretation of the Constitution. They have been cited as a group that is "radicalizing" military veterans.
READ MORE: GOP candidate's widely criticized 'RINO hunting' ad may have completely backfired: report
Many of them were present at the attack on the Capitol, and have subsequently been charged with seditious conspiracy, including leader Stewart Rhodes.
Reports have also indicated that the Oath Keepers provided security to Trump ally Roger Stone on the day of the Capitol insurrection.
The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Showtime pulled a special by Vice News that went into detail about Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and his time working as a JAG officer at Guantanamo Bay.
"The episode, the fourth in Vice’s fourth season, had been slated to air May 28. Showtime pulled the episode, however, and is now referring to the June 4 installment as episode four of the season. Repeat programming aired in place of the shelved episode on May 28," said the report.
The episode, titled “The Gitmo Candidate & Chipping Away,” has been "scrubbed from Showtime’s website and press portal. An email sent to press on May 24 noted that a screener of the episode was available; however, on May 30, a follow-up email noted a different installment, titled 'Detransitioners & Draining the DRC,' as episode four."
No information from the network or Vice has been given about why Showtime canceled the show. The description f the show "hinted at potentially explosive material about DeSantis." Very little information is available to the public about DeSantis' time at GitMo.
“Seb Walker investigates allegations from former Guantanamo Bay detainees that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis witnessed acts condemned by the United Nations as torture during his past service at the controversial detention camp as a Navy JAG officer," the description reads.
In April, a report revealed DeSantis' campaign is haunted by what could drop from the governor's role in the military prison. He has already exploded over questions about the subject.
One inmate said: "I will never forget his face, he was laughing and smiling watching me being tortured on the force-feeding chair."
Vice Media recently filed for bankruptcy protection but they announced a group of funders has agreed to purchase them for $225 million.
MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan began his show by reminding voters who RFK Jr. is and why they shouldn't be fooled by the far-right Republicans desperate to promote him.
He showed a clip of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talking about the wealth discrepancy that continues to increase and a candidate "willing to condemn the consolidation of corporate power, the evils of environmental racism, and ever-increasing income inequality."
He checked off three "worrying things" that he said any Kennedy fan should look at.
First, Kennedy made his name among the anti-vaccine crowd in 2005 using distorted data to allege a massive conspiracy theory about mercury-based preservatives. During the pandemic, he proposed the 5G vaccine conspiracy theories. Another was the conspiracy that Bill Gates, who didn't create the vaccine, somehow used tracking devices injected into people for unknown purposes. Then he started comparing vaccines to the Holocaust. He put out photos of Dr. Anthony Fauci in a Hitler mustache.
Up until April of 2022, COVID vaccines could have prevented at least 318,000 deaths from the disease, the Brown University School of Public Health calculated. Hasan said that it's proof people like Kennedy have blood on their hands.
Second, Kennedy is being backed by far-right organizers Steve Bannon and Roger Stone. Kennedy hasn't addressed why these two would be so supportive of his campaign when the man they support the most, Donald Trump, is also running. He almost got a job in the Trump administration.
Lastly, a big tell is that Kennedy doesn't have any support from his own family. The Democratic stalwarts have long supported the party and the members of their family that chose to run under its banner. RFK Jr. is the only one to be dismissed by his own family.
"Forgive me, but a Bannon-backed, Tucker-platformed, anti-vaxxer... is perhaps not the progressive, principled, anti-establishment, liberal Democratic Party champion that he might want you to think he is," said Hasan.
Kennedy also confessed that he has a lot of conversations with dead people.
See the clip below or at the link here.
\u201c"Forgive me, but a Bannon-backed, Tucker-platformed, anti-vaxxer... is perhaps not the progressive, principled, anti-establishment, liberal Democratic Party champion that he might want you to think he is."\n\nA reminder, from me, as to who RFK Jr. really is:\nhttps://t.co/WoU5vZwzGZ\u201d— Mehdi Hasan (@Mehdi Hasan) 1685919467
Speaking to former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen for his Sunday podcast, former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) discussed the difference between the dedicated Republican voters and the die-hard MAGA loyalists.
"There's a group of the base — there's a percentage of the base, 30, 35, 37 percent that is not pro-Trum, they're only Trump. Only Trump," said Walsh. "And these people, Michael, believe that the left has destroyed America. They believe the left is guided by the devil. They have told me this, and they believed that God picks, Michael, sometimes flawed dudes to be his warriors. They believe Trump is a flawed human being who God has anointed to destroy the left guided by the devil."
It isn't merely the most loyal Trump followers; it's officials that served the U.S. government who made such comments.
For example, in November 2019, then-Energy Secretary Rick Perry said that Trump is "here at this chosen time because God ordained it."
Billy Graham's son, Franklin Graham, proclaimed in June 2019, “God was behind the last election."
“Only God could deliver such a savior to our nation," said Trump's one-time campaign manager Brad Parscale, in April 2019.
"I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times, and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president, and that's why he's there," Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. "I think he has done a tremendous job in supporting a lot of the things that people of faith really care about."
Walsh explained that people like that don't want another candidate.
"Which is another reason if Trump doesn't get the nomination, DeSantis, whoever it is, good f--king luck. This percent will just leave. They won't vote for any other Republican," said Walsh.
He said that those Trump supporters believe they're in a holy war.
See the discussion below or at the link here.
\u201cSubscribe, listen, rate and share the next raw and unfiltered episode of the \u2066@MeaCulpaPodcast\u2069 featuring Joe Walsh \u2066@WalshFreedom\u2069. \u2066@ApplePodcasts\u2069 \u2066@Spotify\u2069 \u2066@Stitcher\u2069 \u2066@Audacy\u2069 \u2066@Audioboom\u2069 \u2066@audioupmedia\u2069 \u2066@MeidasTouch\u2069\u201d— Michael Cohen (@Michael Cohen) 1685920991
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