Raw Story

A bipartisan group of former government officials in Georgia condemned the state's Trump-backed election board's new mandate that ballots be hand-counted.

The board voted 3-2 to require that county election boards count ballots by hand and compare their results to electronic voting machine tallies. Critics argued Friday the change was designed to deliver the state to former President Donald Trump on Nov. 5.

On Friday evening, four former elected government leaders — including two former governors — blasted the board's decision in a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"We are incredibly disappointed that members of the State Election Board, who are not elected and lack the authority to pass legislation, decided to put personal politics ahead of principled leadership," the statement said.

ALSO READ: Inside Trump's new front in the Haitian hysteria push: Charleroi

The co-signers: former Govs. Nathan Deal (R) and Roy Barnes (D), as well as former Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) and former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

The group said no matter who is in power or who appears on the ballot, election-related rules "should be made in advance and in direct coordination with the local officials who administer our elections."

"There is no doubt that these new directives will generate delays on Election Day, spur baseless conspiracy theories, and attract a litany of lawsuits," the group said. "Even worse, this decision will threaten citizen engagement by undermining confidence in our Democratic process."

A Republican strategist swatted away any notion that it was "inappropriate" for former President Donald Trump to call into a meeting with officials in Nebraska and encourage them to change election rules to a winner-take-all system.

Nebraska is one of two states that award some electoral votes by congressional district. While the state is overwhelmingly and reliably Republican-leaning, Democrats could win an electoral vote from the Omaha area. In what's expected to be a razor-thin election, one vote could boost Kamala Harris' chances to defeat Trump if she secures the battleground states Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to a Washington Post analysis.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked a panel including Democratic and Republican strategists David Axelrod and Scott Jennings.

Axelrod said Trump would have an "edge if this thing gets kicked into the House."

ALSO READ: Something broke Trump’s brain

"You can imagine the turmoil that that would create," he said, with Blitzer's agreement.

But Jennings scoffed when asked if he thought it was appropriate for Trump to encourage rule changes so late in the election cycle.

"I don't know, is it as appropriate as the Democrats changing their nominee?" He said with a laugh. "This late in the game? That's probably what Trump would say."

Jennings acknowledged that whether the move will happen is up in the air, but agreed with his Democratic counterpart that one vote "could make the difference."

"They're trying to scratch out every possible advantage they can get. And I'm sure the Republicans feel like that's exactly how the Democrats have played it this year and they're willing to play hardball to do the same thing," said Jennings.

Axelrod gently disagreed with Jennings and questioned the equivalency of one party having a candidate resign and subsequently replaced, as the other tries to change the "rules of the game in the middle" of an election.

Watch the clip below or at this link.

Political troublemakers at the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project trolled the former president again Friday, this time in an ad targeting Donald Trump's white nationalist and conspiracy-theorizing adviser Laura Loomer.

The far-right firebrand has been noticeably at the side of the former president for weeks and long-time Trump loyalists are begging him to reject her.

The ad states, "No one is more loyal than Laura Loomer. You won the debate that Laura Loomer prepped you for!"

Read also: Notorious conspiracy theorist rolled out by RNC to train election overseers in Michigan

It then shows a woman's hands massaging a man's feet.

"She made you proud at the 9/11 memorial," the ad goes on. Loomer drew questions because she has commented that the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were an "inside job."

The commercial then showed a video of Loomer in Trump's arms as she leans in to kiss his cheek.

"She's your good luck charm," the narrator continues.

It claims that she's smarter than Trump's existing campaign managers and that Loomer is "yours."

"Totally yours. For anything you want," the Lincoln Project ad trolls.

Speculation abounded as Loomer and Trump "cozied up at Mar-a-Lago," though Loomer has denied any lurid rumors.

"And that's why they're trying to get rid of her," the ad continues, showing clips of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Meanwhile, reports are that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and other GOP insiders have expressed concern that Loomer is close to Trump and advising him.

The Lincoln Project sardonically cast doubt on those questioning Loomer — "they're trying to stop her, which means they're trying to stop you."

See the clip of the video below or at the link here.

— (@)

This week, a Christian podcaster offered up what might be seen as a permission slip – or a "get out of jail free card" – for Republicans who have been lying to the American people: "enjoy it."

"It’s okay to use deception in service of defeating the left. It’s not sinning in order to do good. It’s being righteously shrewd in order to do good. It’s also okay to enjoy it. Lighten up."

It’s okay to use deception in service of defeating the left. It’s not sinning in order to do good. It’s being righteously shrewd in order to do good. It’s also okay to enjoy it. Lighten up.
— Josh Daws (@JoshDaws) September 17, 2024

Those are the words of Josh Daws, whose bio at Founders Ministries says he is "dedicated to helping Christians navigate the complex and rapidly changing cultural landscape through his biblically-based cultural analysis."

Daws "strives to provide insightful and thought-provoking commentary on current events and cultural trends on his podcast and Twitter. He hopes to be a valuable resource for those looking to engage with culture in a meaningful and informed way."

The tweet has been viewed well over a half-million times in just 48 hours, and it seems to sum up where the right and the far-right are at this moment in time – ethics be damned, the ends justify the means.

When a reporter for Politico on Wednesday confronted Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, the U.S. Senator for Ohio who has been spreading racist and dangerous lies about his own constituents – immigrants from Haiti legally living and working in the city of Springfield – falsely claiming they are stealing pets and eating them, he dug in his heels.

Donald Trump during the debate had lied, saying infamously off the Haitian immigrants, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating, the pets of the people that live there.”

The reporter reminded Vance that the Haitian immigrants, whom he has been calling "illegal migrants," are in the United States under a 1990 law signed by President George H.W. Bush, "so they are here legally."

The freshman junior senator made clear he did not care.

"Well, if Kamala Harris waves the wand illegally and says these people are now here legally, I’m still going to call them an illegal alien. An illegal action from Kamala Harris does not make an alien legal. That is not how this works,” declared the defiant Vance, who holds a law degree from Yale and knows that they are, in fact, here legally and the Biden Administration's decision to grant them protection means they are not, as he claimed, "illegal."

In short, Senator Vance was lying, and lying to a crowd, however small, who ate it up, cheering, applauding, and at times nodding in agreement.

RELATED: ‘Straight Up Fascist Project’: Vance Slammed for Vowing to Call Legal Immigrants ‘Illegal’

“This is just shocking,” declared former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, now a professor of political science. “Mr. Vance is blatantly calling a legal action illegal. I’ve studied my whole life how democracies break down. This is how it happens folks. I hope he really doesn’t believe this. Politicians say a lot of crazy things during elections. I fear he might.”

Senator Vance has been lying since Monday of last week, when he first promoted the racist "pet-eating" lie.

"Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar?" Vance asked on social media, referring of course to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for President, who has never been the "border czar."

Vance, or his staff, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday, knew he was lying, or at least knew after his remarks were posted. They remain up to this day, never corrected or removed.

Over the weekend, Senator Vance, now infamously, told CNN, effectively, that he is willing to lie to promote his agenda.

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Vance told host Dana Bash.

“You just said that you’re ‘creating’ a story,” Bash responded, as The New Republic reported. “You just said that this is a story that you created.”

“Yes!” Vance replied, before twisting his own words in a nonsensical defense.

“We are creat—we are creating … Dana,” Vance said. “It comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we’re ‘creating a story’ meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it.”

The New Republic's Greg Sergeant added, "JD Vance is also claiming that because of Haitians, communicable diseases in Springfield have 'skyrocketed.' I talked to the health commissioner in Clark County, where Springfield is located. Vance's claim is nonsense."

READ MORE: GOP Furious Trump-Appointed Fed Chair Cut Interest Rates ‘This Close to an Election’

Republicans outright lying have making headlines of late.

"The Real Reason Trump and Vance Are Spreading Lies About Haitians" (The Atlantic)

"How J.D. Vance Became Trump’s Pet Liar" (New York Magazine's Intelligencer)

"How the Trump Campaign Ran With Rumors About Pet-Eating Migrants—After Being Told They Weren’t True" (Wall Street Journal)

"One of the Republican Convention’s Weirdest Lies" (New York Times)

"The Grand Old Party of Liars" (The Nation)

There is, 0f course, Donald Trump, who lies so often the media stopped bothering to keep up. Questions have been flowing about his lies of late that are so off-the-wall and so provably-false, his grasp of reality is being called into question.

Wednesday night, in a rare on-camera, in-studio Fox News interview, Trump, (still talking about last week's debate,) falsely claimed the ABC News moderators corrected him, "I think nine times, or eleven times."

The right-wing New York Post reported Trump was fact-checked five times, not nine, not eleven.

CNN reported Trump made 33 false statements during the debate, Harris just one.

But it was Trump's next remark, also false, that has many calling into question not just his moral character, but his mental health.

"And the audience was, they went crazy."

There was no audience at that debate.

Trump on the debate: They didn’t correct her once and they corrected me, everything I said practically.. and the audience went absolutely crazy pic.twitter.com/H2SEsIDUg2
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 19, 2024

The Atlantic's Tom Nichols remarked: "How is it that Trump hallucinated an audience being present during the debate and we've just moved on as if this isn't a sign of a serious mental problem? Biden - wisely - agreed to step aside for far less than that."

On Wednesday, journalist and SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile wrote at Substack, "Why MAGA views blatant lying as a righteous and important act."

Signorile highlighted this recent lie by Donald Trump: "Think of it. Your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides what’s going to happen with your child. And many of these childs 15 years later say, 'What the hell happened? Who did this to me?'"

“But uh the transgender thing is an incredible thing… your kid goes to school & comes home a few days later with an operation the school decides what’s going to happen with your child & you many of these childs 15 years later say “what the hell happened who did this to me?”
🤦🏻♀️ pic.twitter.com/BNyNscBgUB — Jennifer Jenkins Brevard (@JenkinsBrevard) August 31, 2024

Signorile noted Trump's claims were "so deranged and kooky—as if there are hospitals in schools or kids are being transferred to hospitals in the middle of the day from their classrooms—that many of us thought it was a clear example of Trump’s continued cognitive decline. He did, after all, say 'many of these childs' instead of 'children,' and that was more evidence of his faltering mental acuity."

But.

"But Trump repeated the claim again days later at a rally, continuing to push something that was deemed false even by his staunchest supporters," Signorile continued. "And that is a real tell."

He explains, "the goal of the lying by Trump and his running mate JD Vance," is "to hijack discussion and redirect it to issues they want to talk about, even if it means they are exposed as having told a lie."

Signorile says, "the MAGA masses are perfectly fine with that strategy. They don’t care about the lies being exposed because the lies are a means to an end."

As for Daws' s defense of using "deception in service of defeating the left," attorney Andrew L. Seidel writes, "I often speak about Christian Nationalism as a permission structure. For instance, CN gave the insurrectionists the moral and mental license they needed for the treasonous assault on our democracy on January 6th. Here is that permission structure laid out explicitly."

SiriusXM host John Fugelsang remarked, "I have never read a purer distillation of MAGA Christianity than 'thou shalt bear false witness.'"

Others have remarked simply, "Romans 3:8."

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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Trump-backed North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson has reportedly canceled his campaign events for Thursday amid what could be an explosive story.

Independent journalist Bryan Anderson, a former North Carolina Statehouse reporter for the Associated Press, brings word that there is "major drama" brewing in the North Carolina gubernatorial race as his sources indicate that a CNN report about the candidate "is coming" in the near future.

"I have a strong sense of what the news will be, but until sources speak on record and/or on background, I can't share what it is," Anderson added.

ALSO READ: 'Come on!' CNN host leaves Trump ally speechless after fact-checking his lies in real time

Separately, the Carolina Journal reports that North Carolina Republicans are already putting pressure on Robinson to drop out before the story is even released.

"Sources with direct knowledge have spoken with Carolina Journal on the condition of anonymity and said that Robinson is under pressure from staff and members of the Trump campaign to withdraw from the governor’s race due to the nature of the story, which they say involves activity on adult websites in 2000s," the publication writes. "According to sources, Robinson has resisted withdrawing and privately denies the story."

Robinson has drawn controversy for his multiple inflammatory social media posts, including one where he accused Martin Luther King, Jr. of being a "communist" and another in which he accused pop star Beyoncé of being a "devil worshipper" who is sending her fans "on a fast track to hell."

Former President Donald Trump accused Vice President Kamala Harris of corruptly accepting campaign help from Iran in an all-caps message that included no evidence to back a questionable claim that the FBI rejects.

The Republican presidential nominee took to his social media site Truth Social Thursday morning to rant against the Democratic presidential nominee he claimed should face prosecution.

"WHEN DOES KAMALA AND HER CAMPAIGN GO BEFORE A GRAND JURY ON IRAN, IRAN, IRAN?" Trump wrote. "MY CAMPAIGN WHEN THROUGH HELL ON THE RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX. THE BIG DIFFERENCE IS THAT THE IRAN/KAMALA CAMPAIGN CORRUPTION CASE IS REAL!"

Trump referred to news that an Iranian group hacked his campaign in June and attempted to access Democrats' in an attempt to influence the U.S. election, as was confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in August.

On Wednesday, NBC News reported new evidence that Iranians sent stolen Trump campaign materials to people associated with President Joe Biden's campaign, but there was not evidence Biden's campaign responded.

A Harris spokesperson told NBC the campaign was unaware of receiving material but some people had received what looked like a phishing attempt on their person emails.

ALSO READ: Notorious conspiracy theorist rolled out by RNC to train election overseers in Michigan

Three federal law enforcement sources confirmed to NBC the recipients never responded and may not have even opened them.

This reporting did not stop Trump Wednesday night from accusing Harris of spying illegally on his campaign.

The Republican nominee responded to the news in a decidedly Trumpian way.

“TO BE KNOWN AS THE IRAN, IRAN, IRAN CASE!" Trump wrote. "WILL KAMALA RESIGN IN DISGRACE FROM POLITICS? WILL THE COMMUNIST LEFT PICK A NEW CANDIDATE TO REPLACE HER?”

ALSO READ: 'Not what happened': Journalist fact-checks Trump's claim Harris 'illegally' spied on him

This take earned Trump an eye-roll from MSNBC analyst Steven Benen Thursday morning who noted — as the former president did not — that Iran targeted both campaigns.

"While Russia continues to target American elections in the hopes of putting Trump back in power, Tehran was an equal-opportunity hacker," Benen wrote.

"Trump sees this as an example of the Harris campaign 'illegally spying on' him, which is so utterly bonkers that it’s hard not to wonder whether the Republican understands what 'spying' means in English."

Benen also rejected the comparison to one of the several scandals that rocked Trump's 2016 presidential election.

"Team Trump welcomed, received, benefited from, and lied about Russian assistance," Benen wrote. "Team Harris didn’t welcome, receive, benefit from, or lie about Iranian offers of assistance, so the idea that the two are similar is absurd."