Raw Story

Many powerful Republicans are horrified and frustrated by Donald Trump's choice of running mate in the upcoming presidential election, according to a new report.

Sen. J.D. Vance's isolationist views both alarm and infuriate hawkish Republicans who fear the 39-year-old will destroy the Republican Party's longtime foreign policy consensus, Politico reported Wednesday.

"Trump didn’t just select a running mate here – he doused political kerosene on the raging Republican fire over foreign policy," writes columnist Jonathan Martin. "While toeing the party line and praising Vance in their public comments, in private the interventionists ranged from horrified to merely alarmed that one of the loudest critics of aiding Ukraine could soon be first in line for the presidency."

One influential Republican member of Congress told Martin, “I’m scared to death.”

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chair, reportedly raised concerns about Russia's invasion, telling an associate, “The Ukrainians better hurry up and win.”

ALSO READ: Do presidents’ popularity increase after assassination attempts? History has an answer

Trump's decision, which represents a victory for his eldest son who lobbied hard for Vance, showcases the lack of influence Republican infighters such Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have on the former president, Martin writes.

"[McConnell] had little to say about the Vance pick, only raising an eyebrow when I asked him about it immediately after it became public and declining to speak any further," Martin writes.

"McConnell is a party man first and was unwilling to distract from the unity of the week."

Many Republicans presented a united front in public, but Martin reports a swift shift in mood behind closed doors.

Following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at his Pennsylvania rally last weekend, his allies at the Republican National Convention are downright elated over the turn of events, wrote Amanda Marcotte for Salon — and already making plans to use it as a political weapon.

"Trump is leaning into this with all the subtlety of a pro wrestler," wrote Marcotte. "In a video that leaked Tuesday, Trump is heard on speakerphone talking to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about his injury, which he described as like being bitten by 'the world’s largest mosquito.' But when Trump showed up at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Monday night, he was sporting a comically oversized bandage on his ear. The crowd responded by chanting, 'Fight, fight, fight!'"

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Trump's allies tried to blame the whole thing on President Joe Biden and Democrats, either through outright conspiracy theories they orchestrated it, or because their warnings the former president poses a danger to democracy supposedly incited it. There is no evidence to support this; the shooter appears if anything to have Republican roots.

Nonetheless, Marcotte wrote, Republicans are "eager" to use the shooting, and speculation about motive, to try to confuse one of the key issues voters still don't trust Trump on: the preservation of democracy and the rule of law.

ALSO READ: How Trump and Senate Republicans are circling the wagons to save Clarence Thomas

"People on the ground at the RNC are eager to use this shooting to deflect the entirely correct accusation that Republicans, by nominating the man who incited the January 6 insurrection, are the ones endorsing political violence," wrote Marcotte. "Instead, they used the shooting to level false accusations at President Joe Biden's administration. One delegate from North Carolina claimed, 'We don't really have a lot of trust in the agencies that are going to be doing an investigation.' She hoped for a private investigation because 'there's a lot of questions' about 'the FBI and who they really work for.'"

Ultimately, she wrote, Republicans care little about Trump as a human being, or about the man who died in that crowd. They just care about a rallying cry to vent their grievances about fellow Americans they hate. "That's why their response to Trump playing up his minor injury with a diaper-sized bandage was not to commiserate with his pain. Instead, the crowd chanted, 'Fight, fight, fight!'"

Former President Donald Trump's campaign is suing Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, arguing that their plan to let certain state agency workers register more voters is illegal.

According to the lawsuit filed on Monday and flagged by 12News, Whitmer and Benson do not have authority, under a 1995 law passed by the Michigan legislature, to designate the Michigan Department of Veterans Affairs and Small Business Administration to register voters, as these were not agencies included on that law as available for the governor to designate.

Whitmer issued an executive order last year that allows more state agencies to register voters, and Benson implemented the arrangement. The Trump campaign wants a federal judge to declare this unlawful and force state officials to seek approval from the legislature to give voter registration duties to these agencies.

This lawsuit is the latest in a years-long campaign by Trump and his Republican allies to try to block various policies designed to make it easier to vote.

READ: Behind Trump and the GOP's plan to use this opportunity to shut up Democrats

In another such case, Stephen Miller, a former Trump adviser and the head of the far-right group America First Legal, filed a lawsuit alleging that the state of Arizona set up too many voting centers in Black and Hispanic precincts, creating a voting disadvantage for white and indigenous voters. This lawsuit was dismissed in February.

Earlier this month, anti-voting elements in Wisconsin suffered a defeat after the recently-elected liberal Supreme Court majority restored ballot drop boxes for mail ballots throughout the state, reversing a previous court decision that had abolished their use. "Wisconsin voters should have more options, and drop boxes are a secure and easy way to increase civic participation and ensure voters have another safe, secure, and accessible way to cast their ballot," stated Sam Liebert, the head of a local voting rights group.

The live band at the Republican National Convention took over to fill an awkward moment when House Speaker Mike Johnson's teleprompter malfunctioned.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my honor to Introduce the Attorney General, and there goes the teleprompter," said Johnson (R-LA), who froze for a moment before the band took over, and the crowd laughed.

The playlist included "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad, "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick, "China Grove" and "Taking' It to the Streets" by The Doobie Brothers.

Another was "Roll with the Changes" by REO Speedwagon.

The band extended Cheap Trick's less than four-minute hit with numerous instrumental riffs to fill time for more than 10 minutes. The band performed for more than 30 minutes.

The live band at the Republican National Convention filled in when Speaker Mike Johnson's teleprompter malfunctioned. (Dave Levinthal/Raw Story)

Johnson had just announced that former President Donald J Trump "received a majority of the votes entitled to be cast at the convention, has been selected as the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States."

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blasted right-wing claims that women were not qualified for Secret Service work following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

At Monday's White House briefing, Jean-Pierre was asked about right-wing figures who blamed the shooting on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.

"There's been a lot of right-wing chatter about the female agents guarding the former President, specifically whether women are up to the job," a reporter told the press secretary. "People are noting that they're smaller, that they weren't able to cover the President, but, I mean, this is a talking point that is circulating."

"That's ridiculous," Jean-Pierre asserted. "I understand why you're asking the question. The sentiments coming from that about women and not being able to do the job, that's ridiculous."

"These men and women put their lives on the line," she continued. "What they're doing is brave. And we should not discount that. We should not discount that, if it's a man or if it's a woman. And to have that sentiment out there is unfair, and it's ridiculous."

EXCLUSIVE: Trump's 'secretary of retribution' has a 'target list' of 350 people he wants arrested

Jean-Pierre noted that President Joe Biden had ordered an independent review following the shooting.

"And so getting into these types of speculation is just ridiculous," she said.

On Sunday, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told Fox News that a "DEI initiative person" at the Secret Service was to blame for not protecting Trump.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Karine Jean-Pierre rips right-wing smear on women Secret Service agents www.youtube.com

Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Donald Trump's documents case on Monday morning ahead of the Republican convention, declaring that special counsel Jack Smith was not constitutionally appointed.

Legal analysts were quick to explain that no judge had ever done what Cannon had done and that the case had been litigated extensively, with considerable case law from Richard Nixon to, most recently, Hunter Biden's special counsel.

National security lawyer Bradley Moss, for one, fears that the case could go all the way to the Supreme Court, and they could rewrite the decades of precedent.

Former senior Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Weissmann also made note of the Supreme Court connection and lamented that the Cannon decision was "so predictable, after the Justice [Clarence] Thomas concurrence."

Read Also: A criminologist explains why Judge Cannon must step away from Trump trial immediately

Thomas was the lone dissenter who went further in the immunity case than other justices, saying that the documents case should be dismissed because of Smith's appointment.

“If there is no law establishing the office that the special counsel occupies, then he cannot proceed with this prosecution,” Thomas said. “A private citizen cannot criminally prosecute anyone, let alone a former president.”

Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, suggested, "This argument is unlikely to get five votes in the Supreme Court. But the delay will push any resolution of this case well past this year’s presidential election."

MSNBC legal analyst Adam Klasfeld explained that Cannon "noticed" Thomas' ruling, it appears.

"Justice Thomas all but invited Judge Cannon to find Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed as special counsel," he wrote. "Her ruling, doing so, cites that concurrence at least three times."

"To me, the only question is whether the Special Counsel also asks for the case to be reassigned on remand," said law school professor Steve Vladeck.

"Wow. She just (temporarily) immunized Trump from engaging in espionage," explained Andrew C. Laufer, a New York civil rights attorney. "I guess this is the price for a SCOTUS seat. If there's any doubt over what is at stake this November, doubt no more."

Law school professor Anthony Michal Kreis suggested, "If I'm Jack Smith and the DOJ, I might consider handing the Mar-A-Lago case to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, re-indict, and hope it gets assigned to a more competent judge than Cannon."

"Maybe the DOJ makes Smith an AUSA and says, 'have at it,'" he continued. "Might be quicker and long-term strategically sound. I'm not sure how feasible it is, but I can't see the downsides of trying to work around Judge Cannon than taking up an appeal on an order that is jurisprudential garbage."