gop

Top red state Republican in hot-seat after 'profane tirade' against the GOP

A candidate for Republican House speaker in Alabama is facing ouster after his “profane tirade” about the Republican Party got leaked to the press.

AL.com reports Stan Cooke, a candidate for chairmanship of the Alabama Republican Party, announced on Facebook that he would move to expel House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter from the party if he wins the chairmanship because of a comment Ledbetter let fly during a closed GOP House caucus meeting.

The shadow of an unpopular National Republican Party brand may be crashing against Alabama Republicans appeal among their constituents, and affecting the party’s chances of maintaining its comfortable majority in the House and Senate.

“My concern is you. We need to do what’s best for this body, period,” Ledbetter raged during the course of the meeting. I could give a s--- about the Republican Party.”

Cooke, who is also a pastor, said the comment could not stand.

“When Elected, I will place a measure before the Steering Committee and the Executive Committee to Immediately CENSURE Nathanel (sic) Ledbetter for his profane tirade against the Republican Party and ask the Steering Committee and the Executive Committee to EXPEL Nathanel (sic) Ledbetter from the Republican Party,” Cooke wrote, according to AL.com.

Ledbetter later issued a statement saying: “My priority has been and continues to be getting every Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives reelected and growing the party’s supermajority.”

The audio only consists of about a minute, and Republican representatives in the room all declined to discuss the comment except to say that it was taken out of context, said AL.com.

“The quotes were clearly taken out of context,” assured Republican Rep. David Faulkner. “And our speaker cares deeply about all of us. And that’s the point that he was making. … He’s done an amazing job as speaker, and somebody shouldn’t be making comments like that against him. That’s unfounded and unwarranted, in my opinion.”

But the Republican dominated Alabama legislature is under stress this legislative session after discovering a new $200 million annual bill courtesy of President Donald Trump and Congressional Republican’s Big Beautiful Bill, which cut federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program serving about 750,000 Alabamians.

“It’s a matter of what can we do or should we do — or is there anything that can be (done) to prevent running into that $200 million wall?” said state Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, chairman of the Alabama Senate’s general fund committee, when speaking o the new cuts. “And right now I think that train’s got the light on headed straight for us.”

Prior to Trump and Republicans passing the Big Beautiful Bill, the federal government paid the full cost of SNAP benefits and 50 percent of administrative costs. But to fund the permanent extension of the Trump tax cuts, states will pay 75 percent of administrative costs starting in 2027. And the biggest change comes in 2028, when fficials say states will also have to pay a portion of SNAP benefits for the first time.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Another GOP lawmaker enters race with Trump's knife 'firmly in his back'

Bulwark Congressional reporter Joe Perticone reports that Republican elected officials, GOP operatives and staffers, military officers, and chiefs of staff “seem to never learn” that handing over their loyalty to Trump meaning nothing.

“Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy is the latest to realize this only after the president’s knife has been embedded firmly in his back,” Perticone wrote.

On Saturday, Trump followed his grudge and endorsed MAGA-aligned Louisiana state representative Julia Letlow to unseat Cassidy in the Republican primary.

“Should she decide to enter this Race, Julia Letlow has my Complete and Total Endorsement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!”

Perticone reports Cassidy had been telling colleagues that White House staff had assured that Trump would remain neutral in the race. Perticone added that other Republican senators, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), tried to talk Trump out of endorsing Letlow and keeping his finger off the scale in Louisiana's elections.

“But Trump couldn’t resist. And Cassidy now finds himself stuck in a race that looks nearly impossible to win,” Perticone reports.

“It’s not as though Cassidy didn’t put in the work,” Perticone said. “The senator voted to confirm the president’s most deranged Cabinet nominations, backed his signature piece of legislation, posted fawning messages about him online and introduced a resolution nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Cassidy also took the lead on an attempt to pass a major health care reform on Trump’s behalf ... Cassidy even swallowed his pride when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s anti-vaccine HHS secretary, began reneging on commitments he’d made in exchange for Cassidy’s vote for confirmation.”

But Cassidy had voted to convict Trump in the January 6th impeachment trial years ago.

“[O]nce he did that, it became clear that he was never going to get free of the president’s bad side,” Perticone said.

Cassidy is probably doomed, said Perticone. It’s not unheard of for Republican voters to ignore Trump’s interventions and elevate seasoned politicians over MAGA challengers in GOP primaries, but Perticone says this is rare.

“When Trump decides he wants to wade into a Republican primary, it is awfully difficult for more level-headed people in his party to stop him. Cassidy will probably become the latest victim of this swamp monster of presidential resentment, but he certainly won’t be the last,” said Perticone “Even so, most Republicans behave as if it could never happen to them.”

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Republicans worry Trump's fundraising will 'siphon money from' midterm efforts: report

The New York Times reports President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC raised more than $100 million in the second half of 2025, with much of the money coming from wealthy donors looking for political favors. But the sheer size of Trump’s apparent pay-to-play scheme may be draining GOP coffers.

“The haul by MAGA Inc., detailed in a campaign finance report filed on Thursday night, reveals how aggressive fundraising has continued for a political operation that revolves around Mr. Trump, giving the organization over $300 million ahead of this year’s midterms,” reports the Times. “… The biggest donations were $12.5 million each from Greg Brockman, a co-founder of the artificial intelligence firm OpenAI, and his wife, Anna Brockman; and contributions totaling $20 million from the parent company of Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency trading platform that has lobbied the administration. Leaders of the fast-growing A.I. and crypto industries have courted Mr. Trump and gotten favorable treatment.”

Other donors, said the Times, included a nursing home magnate seeking an ambassadorship, a vape-maker and a woman whose father was begging a deal from federal prosecutors to settle charges that he bribed Puerto Rico’s governor.

In addition to MAGA Inc., Trump is making money for political nonprofit group Securing American Greatness and funding the construction of an new White House ballroom whose expense keeps growing larger with each month.

But the Times is reporting that some Republicans are expressing concern that “Trump’s continued fundraising will siphon money from party campaign spending vehicles and give his allies too much sway.”

And while White House spokeswoman Liz Huston rejects any suggestion that Trump’s decisions are shaped by donations, donors whose contributions to MAGA Inc. “have benefited from actions of either Trump or his administration” or are in industries that have benefitted.

The New York Times reports many donors have received invitations to exclusive events and meetings with Trump, including official White House functions. Several have also donated to the inauguration or to Trump’s ever-growing ballroom.

The e-cigarette company Juul, for example, donated $1 million to MAGA Inc. in early November, “less than four months after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the company’s vapes for the U.S. market,” reports the Times. “The move ended a lengthy standoff with regulators and lawmakers who accused the company of spurring an epidemic of e-cigarette use among youths.”

Read the New York Times report at this link.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Republicans will lose House 'by significant margin' thanks to Trump: former GOP governor

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) told MS NOW that Republicans are likely doomed to lose the House in 2026 thanks to President Donald Trump.

[Trump] still commands a lot in the party, but I think as time goes on, as the economy doesn't recover, as we see healthcare costs increase, … I think there are Republicans who are beginning to say ‘enough,’ Kasich told NYU law professor and MS NOW legal analyst Melissa Murray. “And, remember, everybody who runs for reelection, they can't run on Trump.”

Kasich said he actually thought the Democrats were going to win the House “a long time ago,” but the state of the economy was now a driving factor, as well as heartless, very visible ICE raids and arrests of people “who have broken no U.S. law.”

“When you take a look at these two ladies who won the governor's races, [in New Jersey and Virginia] they were talking about affordability. These were not fringe issues,” Kasich added, warning Democrats that they “have a challenge … to stick to things like health care and the economy,” without getting lost on fringe issues.

But for Republicans, Kasich said the problem is a considerably more sticky.

“For the Republicans, you know, they're sort of stuck with this MAGA thing,” Kasich added. “And I've been a Republican all my life, an American first, a Republican second. But I have to tell you, I don't quite know what it's all about. I don't know what's the positive message there? It seems as though it's a message about tearing things down rather than building things up. And that is never a successful way to get elected.

“So, I think the Democrats are going to win the House, maybe by a significant margin, but don't screw this thing up if you want to win,” Kasich said.

Watch the segment below:

- YouTube youtu.be

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'That was brutal': Wisconsin GOP lawmaker flounders at 'hostile' townhall

A recent town hall revealed public speaking engagements have gotten no less calm for Republican lawmakers since they passed President Donald Turmp Big Beautiful budget bill this year.

“I haven't seen a negative reaction like that since we ran those focus groups on your early hosting,” said ‘Morning Joe’ political analyst Sam Stein to show host Jonathan Lemire. “It was brutal.”

As Wisconsin Public Radio reports, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) faced a "hostile" crowd that shouted him down Thursday evening during his first town hall gathering since the passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Amid catcalls and complaints over the new budget, several attendees expressed disappointment with the congressman, including one person who asked why he was not stopping ICE raids by masked agents targeting Wisconsin residents.

“Why are they wearing masks and why are they unidentified?” the audience member asked.

“We'll probably agree to disagree on some of my answer here but what I view is the moral hazard created by the Biden administration by allowing the U.S. border to remain unsecur—” Steil began.

At that point the Elkhorn High School auditorium erupted in a wash of boos as roughly 200 people, some carrying signs with slogans like “Resist,” “God is King no Others” and “Hands off SSI and Medicare” buried Steil in disapproval.

“It's completely fine that we disagree,” Steil told the crowd, looking shaken.

Morning Joe contributor Jen Palmieri said the scene was a positive for Democrats.

“There's one of two things happening in that town hall,” said Palmieri. “Either it was organized. by Democrats, and that shows that Democrats in Wisconsin are organized, and that's positive news for Democrats, or it was not organized and that is organic anger—and that is also positive news for Democrats.”

Wisconsin news reports some supporters left early and called Steil’s presentation “disgusting,” while others said Steil “got what he deserved” for being a Trump rubber stamp. The town hall remained raucous as the audience overpowered the microphone. Steil paused frequently to urge the crowd to stay civil and allow him to answer questions.

“We are a long way from November 2026, but any Republican looking to hold on to his or her job then has to look at that last night and feel a little bit antsy,” said Lemire.

“Here's the thing,” said Stein. “These Republicans have been instructed to not hold these town halls for a reason, because they're going to produce spectacles like that. The electorate, at least the electorate that is willing to get up and go to a physical town hall and express their opinions, is deeply angry with Republicans.”

Stein added that Trump’s numbers on many facets of immigration policy is underwater. “And if you combine that with the Big Beautiful bill, with Medicaid, with the possibility that there's going to be premium increases because of the Obamacare subsidies going away along with the issue of the cost of goods — that is a bad brew for Republicans,” Stein said.

Watch the video below, or by clicking here.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'Traitors to the principles of the party': GOP in disarray as centrists flee far-right purity test

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports a far-right splinter group of the Georgia Republican Party appears to be further splintering.

Dozens of prominent Republican activists formally quit the far-right Georgia Republican Assembly with Georgia GOP chair Josh McKoon joining the revolt.

The group, which labels itself the “Republican wing of the Republican Party”, is hotly anti-establishment and powerful, says AJC. It even successfully blocked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger from running as a Republican in 2026.

With tendrils in the old Tea Party movement that blossomed during the Obama administration, the GRA was the faction to appease when a GOP primary candidate needed to broadcast his or her conservative bonafides. But now AJC says the organization is backing a revived purity test lawsuit seeking to block candidates "who are insufficiently conservative — or, as one activist put it, 'traitors to the principles of the party' — from qualifying on the GOP ticket."

“Frankly, I do not know how I can continue to maintain membership in an organization that is contemplating or planning to file a civil action against the organization that I am responsible for running,” wrote McKoon, the Georgia GOP voluntary chair. “Therefore, it is with regret I resign my lifetime membership in the Georgia Republican Assembly that I served as a Charter Member of when it was organized over a decade ago in this state.”

McKoon added he remained “hopeful” the organization would “steer away from a course of action” that undermines the state GOP’s past success.

AJC reports GRA Chair Alex Johnson is dismissing the backlash, saying the GRA remains committed to “unify the party and uphold accountable, authentic Republican governance.” However, former Georgia GOP chair John Watson slammed the GRA’s cultlike dedication to purity tests.

“This is what happens when an organization takes its leadership cues from the legacy of David Koresh and Jim Jones,” Jones told AJC.

AJC reports that it’s unclear how the infighting will shape next year’s election, but it “underscores the ongoing challenges facing more pragmatic GOP figures like Raffensperger, who enjoy high name recognition and centrist support but face pushback with the party’s activist base.”

Read the full Atlanta Journal-Constitution report at this link.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'Disappointed': Republicans say they can't trust Mike Johnson — here's why

The Wall Street Journal reports mistrust is growing among House Republicans who say they don’t know if they can trust Speaker Mike Johnson’s word in budget talks.

“I’ve seen that on more than one occasion where the speaker will come in, have a conversation, and the group believes there is some sort of consensus and then finds out later that there really wasn’t,” said Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus.

Among others, skepticism appears to haunt the party’s wing of deficit hawks, who insist on major budget cuts to fund an extension of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, to avoid blowing up the nation’s debt. That ideology bangs against blue state and many moderate Republicans who prefer not to rankle constituents by gutting the nation’s Medicaid program to sustain the tax cuts.

But Crane says the speaker is increasingly desperate to pass the budget quickly, and could be looking to cut corners, particularly when it comes to the wishes of minority party enclaves like the Freedom Caucus.

“I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we have such a narrow majority and the speaker is just trying to bring everyone on the same page, and not everyone is going to get everything they want,” Crane told the Wall Street Journal.

Johnson told reporters last week: “I don’t make promises I can’t keep. This is a consensus-building operation, as you know, and it’s member-driven, bottom up.”

The WSJ also reports Johnson’s spokesperson saying Tuesday that the speaker “has been clear and transparent with members throughout the reconciliation process—that the savings in the House bill will meet or exceed the targets laid out by the House Republicans’ budget resolution passed back in February.”

But party critics say Johnson appears to tell different things to different groups depending on their priorities in private conversations.

“Lots of assurances were made when the [budget] framework passed, and now the chickens are coming home to roost, and the people who were given those assurances don’t feel like the assurances were kept,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told WSJ.

Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) said: “Overall, I am very disappointed in his leadership and his honesty.”

Read the full Wall Street Journal report here.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'You see falls in politics — but not like this': DeSantis’ star imploding amid fraud scandal

One of the few contenders combative enough to take on President Donald Trump in a Republican presidential primary, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is falling hard and fast, critics say.

DeSantis’ re-election was one of the few bright spots for Republicans who had predicted a “red wave” election in 2022 but saw GOP candidates get rejected up and down the ticket — with almost every Trump-endorsed candidate losing to a Democrat. In a blue map of victories that year, however, Florida remained solidly red with DeSantis carrying the state by 20 points despite a strong showing from Democratic challenger and former governor Charlie Crist.

But that was then, and this is now, reports Axios, which posted a rundown on DeSantis’ surprising plummet within roughly two years.

"Be careful how you treat people on the way up because you may encounter the same people on the way down," said Curt Anderson, veteran consultant and top adviser to DeSantis' predecessor, Rick Scott, reports Axios. "... You see falls in politics, but not like this. It's stark. It's fast. It's a made-for-TV movie. Let's not forget: He was ahead of Trump in polling in 2022 and would've run against [President Biden or Vice President Harris] and won."

But Axios reports DeSantis' stumble “began with his failed presidential primary bid against Donald Trump last year,” and his “vindictive and pugilistic style of politics left him further isolated in the Florida Capitol” at a time when he really needs allies.

Mere months ago, Desantis’ wife Casey DeSantis was considering a bid to succeed her husband as governor, but her state-backed charity, Hope Florida, is now enmeshed in a scandal after the charity received $10 million in secret settlement money from a Medicaid provider days before the charity sent that same amount to two DeSantis’-favored political groups.

In Mississippi, a Republican governor’s name can be on text messages involving the misuse of welfare money without that governor being charged or investigated. But in Florida, House Republicans and independent observers are openly alleging DeSantis’ arrangement amounted to an illegal siphoning of Medicaid funds.

Now with his lame-duck popularity crumbling amid party in-fighting, his wife possibly compromised by scandal and no presidential appointment obvious, DeSantis’ career in the Republican Party is unsure.

“Ron DeSantis went from Rupert Murdoch and every Republican billionaire telling him he could be president to sniping at hecklers at a fish shack in Destin," said former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz. “It's quite a fall."

Read the full Axios report here.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

GOP candidate rejects governor’s attempt to push him out of race over 'salacious' photos

John Reid, who is the Republican nominee in Virginia lieutenant governor's race this November, declined to drop out after Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin asked him to end his campaign over illicit photos Reid allegedly reposted.

Reid said the photos of men posted to a social media account are a fabricated to smear on him for being openly gay.

“The Governor did call me today and said there were salacious pictures on the internet reposted by an account that uses my Instagram handle,” Reid told the Washington Post. “I have now seen the supposed ‘evidence’ and it’s not my account, even though they’ve used a similar username to what I have on Instagram. As long as I have been in the public space, I have been a target for malicious and salacious lies. This is the second overt attempt to try to force me from the race.”

The Tumblr account in question dates to at least 2020 and shares the same handle as Reid’s other social media accounts, according to anonymous sources. The Washington Post’s internet archive Wayback Machine reveals the now-deleted account reposted pictures ranging from racy underwear to explicit photos of male models.

Reid is Virginia’s first openly gay candidate for statewide office. Rival GOP candidate Pat Herrity dropped out this week, clearing the way for his upcoming election.

The Republican nominee expressed outrage that Gov. Youngkin made the request in the first place.

“Am I really expected to answer every twisted, intrusive question about my previous relationships, every person I ever had sex with, every dating app I was ever on?” he said. “Is anyone at the Richmond State Capitol or in D.C. planning on doing the same?”

Read the full Washington Post report here.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'Potheads all over this country': Trump supporter flees CNN interview when asked about Musk

A supporter of President Donald Trump walked out of an interview with CNN when he was pressed about Elon Musk in a segment that aired Tuesday. CNN’s Elle Reeve was visiting a pro-Trump Georgia county to ask residents about their satisfaction with the president. She sat down with three men at a restaurant to discuss.

“Do you trust Elon Musk?” Reeve asked. “He’s a government contractor, he’s got business interests, whether in defense, internet, that kind of thing. He’s also admitted to drug use, smoked pot on Joe Rogan’s show. Do you trust him as a stable, rational, and reasonable person to be doing this job?”

“Yes,” said Trump voter David Herrin.

Musk smoked cannabis on Joe Rogan's podcast in 2018.

“There’s potheads all over this country,” he continued. “Y’all sitting here trying to bash one man for what 99 percent of this country, Republican or Democrat [does]. This whole dadgum town smokes pot.”

He turned to Reeve. “You’re part of the Democratic party in my book,” he said.

“No, I’m not,” Reeve responded.

“The conversation devolved quickly,” Reeve said in a voiceover. “We had not anticipated the emotional connection we already felt with Musk.”

Herrin stood up from the table.

“This is over with,” he said.

Reeve asked if he wanted to see the video of Musk smoking cannabis.

“I don’t care. I’m saying it don’t matter that that makes him unqualified to do a job,” he said.

“She’s coming in here with ignorant arguments,” he continued. “I can prove you’re a Democrat by the level of ignorance that you portray.”

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk please drain the swamp. Why are you there? Get the job done. Please,” he said before he walked out the door.

“They’ll probably go down the drain with it,” another person who had been sitting at the table said.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Republican cites 2 states where Medicaid work requirements failed as examples of why they work

Editor's note: This headline has been updated.

As Republicans debate a way to cut spending in order to implement President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, they are considering adding work requirements to Medicaid. In order to support the idea, one GOP lawmaker cited two examples: However, those were instances in which Medicaid work requirements actually went wrong.

“There are already tens of millions of Americans who are subject to work requirements. This is not a new concept,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) told NOTUS in a piece published Monday. “[Work requirements] are fantastically effective in helping people… The evidence suggests that overwhelmingly, the impact, on average, is positive.”

He listed Maine and Arkansas as examples of where work requirements went well. But in Maine, NOTUS’ Emily Kennard pointed out the potential work requirements were actually rejected. Republican Governor Paul LePage had requested them, and then-President Trump approved them. Later, Democratic Governor Janet Mills, put a stop to the plan. And in Arkansas, a judge ended up blocking the program.

“Maine’s low unemployment rate, its widely dispersed population, and our lowest per capita income in New England make mandates – without appropriate supports like vocational training and specific exemptions for groups like people undergoing treatment – problematic,” Mills wrote a 2019 letter to U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “We believe that the likely result of this [requirement] would leave more Maine people uninsured without improving their participation in the workforce.”

In Arkansas, data “tells a much different story than the case Johnson made,” Kennard writes. The only state to implement such requirements, Medicaid recipients age 30 to 49 were notified in 2018 that they were required to work 80 hours per month. Almost 17,000 people lost their coverage as a result. However, a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine found that 97 percent of respondents were eligible under these new requirements.

“Studies found that beneficiaries were confused by the policy, and some lacked internet access to report their work hours,” Kennard adds.

By 2019, a federal judge had stopped the Arkansas program. An appeals court struck down the requirements in 2020. “Failure to consider whether the project will result in coverage loss is arbitrary and capricious,” the 2020 ruling said.

Kennard writes: “While it did not increase beneficiaries’ workforce participation, it did increase medical debt, and delay care for more than half of those disenrolled: 64% of people affected delayed taking medication because they couldn’t afford it. The CBO [Congressional Budget Office] concluded in 2023 that “the employment status of and hours worked by Medicaid recipients would be unchanged” by work requirements, but it would lead to more uninsured Americans. The CBO came to that conclusion in part thanks to data from Arkansas.”

But when presented with that information, Johnson said the CBO should not “draw conclusions on the basis of one state’s experience.”

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web