Ex-GOP insider claims party rotting from the inside out: ‘We rewarded compliance!’
The Republican Party's takeover by the MAGA movement was decades in the making, former GOP strategist Stuart Stephens told MS NOW on Thursday, and the decisions that led to it have left the party with elected leaders who are incapable of taking a stand for themselves or the country as a whole.
This comes as the president made repeated threats to wipe Iran off the face of the earth — and though he hasn't followed through on it for the time being, only a small smattering of Republicans went out of their way to condemn his genocidal rhetoric.
"Stuart, I'll start with you," said anchor Antonia Hylton. "Republicans have repeatedly made this claim since the start of this administration that they have a mandate. I want to know how they can continue to make that case right now, as the president just keeps doubling down on the very things his voters said they did not want."
"Yeah. You know, that's a really great question," said Stevens. "I don't think we had a mandate to have gas prices go through the roof, or mandate to threaten to destroy an entire country, civilization, the Persian Empire. I don't think we had a mandate to keep hiding Epstein files."
"Look, I think what's happened here is something that we did inside the Republican Party, and we didn't realize it. At least I didn't realize it was happening when I was working in the party," said Stevens. "And that as we evolved a system that rewarded compliance, that you got ahead by going along and we punish those that were more individual, who spoke out, who were willing to break with the party. And if you do that decade after decade, I think it's like a genetic experiment. You end up with this extraordinary, highly compliant, weak group of senators and congressmen."
Years ago, he said, "had you said to them that Donald Trump is going to threaten to annihilate another civilization, they would have laughed and said, of course that's never going to happen. But now it's happening or us, the way that we're supporting Russia in this war. We have the vice president over there supporting Putin's candidate in Hungary, and 90 percent of Republicans are against this, but they won't say anything. And I think it's just a collapse of a party unlike anything that we've seen in modern political history."
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Trump and Hegseth assault allegations featured prominently in pro-Iran ‘trolling’ campaign
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been featured recently in a series of videos that have “flooded the internet” since the United States attacked Iran in late February, videos from pro-Iran groups that prominently feature the sexual assault allegations leveled against the current president and his top Defense official.
“Trump is globally known for sex crimes and, like Hegseth, charges of sex crimes – and the Iranian videos depict the two men explicitly as rapists,” reads a report published Wednesday in The New Republic.
“In one video, [a] Lego Trump has doll-like girl figures on his bed and lap, and Hegseth is shown in military garb, repeatedly committing rape. Assaults on girls are the modus vivendi of these videos’ versions of Trump and Hegseth.”
Trump has faced sexual misconduct allegations from at least two dozen women dating back to the 1970s, and was found liable for sexual abuse by a jury in civil court in 2023. Hegseth has also faced an allegation of sexual assault, though both Trump and Hegseth have denied any wrongdoing.
While not produced by the Iranian government, the video campaign – described by The New Republic as "not idle trolling" – has been heavily promoted by Tehran.
Pro-Iran groups, particularly the anonymous student activist group Explosive News, have seized on the allegations against Trump and Hegseth, depicting Trump as a sexual abuser in a series of Lego-inspired videos generated with generative artificial intelligence, videos that have gone on to be watched by millions on social media. Hegseth has also been featured prominently in the video campaign.
As to the campaign’s core message as it relates to Trump – that the president had “the ideology of the rapist” – The New Republic’s Virginia Heffernan argued it was hard to disagree.
“In Trump, the ideology of the rapist was unmistakable a decade ago, when he crowed about the joy he takes in humiliating human beings by mauling their crotches,” Heffernan wrote. “With this war, he’s trying, as usual, for highly aestheticized spectacles of humiliation, and he’s getting them – but not for Iran. For himself, and for the United States.”Conservative Supreme Court Justices could face impeachment as Dems plan next move
Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, running against Republican Susan Collins in Maine, called for Democrats to exercise ethics oversight of the Supreme Court and pursue impeachment of justices if they retake the Senate.
Platner argued in front of a crowed, if Supreme Court justices faced the same ethical standards as lower court judges, "there is a compelling case for the impeachment and removal of at least two," likely referencing Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
According to a ProPublica report, Thomas accepted undisclosed luxury gifts from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, while Alito took luxury trips with hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer tied to entities opposing Biden's student loan forgiveness. Alito also faced scrutiny over a Christian nationalism flag displayed at his residence.
Platner additionally supports expanding the Court's size with a simple majority vote if Democrats control the White House and Senate, arguing Democrats must elect senators willing to "wield power" effectively.
Democrats are projected to retake the House of Representatives and have gained popularity in the Senate, where Platner's win could impact the Supreme Court.
Watch the video below.
Senate Republican vows to defy Trump appointment
TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall vowed to be on the Kansas general election ballot in November and to decline administrative appointment from President Donald Trump during the next two years.
Marshall, a Kansas Republican seeking reelection to a second term in the U.S. Senate, made the declaration Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I will be on the ballot on Election Day (and) will be honored to represent the people of Kansas for the next six years going forward. It’s been the honor of my lifetime,” Marshall said before shifting the conversation to Trump’s economic performance.
“Meet the Press” host Ryan Nobles brought Marshall back to the potential he could resign from the Senate: “So, that means you’re ruling out any sort of an appointment in the Trump administration, just to button it up.”
“I am ruling out any appointment in the Trump administration at least through the next two or two or three years,” the GOP senator said. “Who knows what would happen four years from now, OK?”
Marshall’s status as a candidate in the 2026 election and as a possible Trump appointee have been the source of controversy after questions were raised about implementation of a 2025 Kansas law that guarantees a Republican would replace Marshall if he resigned. In addition, the state law says filling a U.S. Senate vacancy in Kansas because of a resignation after May 1 and before Oct. 2 in an election year would allow the replacement to avoid a Senate election for two years.
“I got so much more work to do as a United States senator,” Marshall said. “But, America is back. And I’m just proud to keep serving in this position.”
Adam Hamilton, among 11 candidates for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, has sought to propel his candidacy ahead of the Aug. 4 primary election by questioning potential reliance on the state law by the Kansas Republican Party.
“Kansans know Rev. Adam Hamilton is the best candidate to take on Roger Marshall and win,” said Tyson Brody, spokesman for the Hamilton campaign. “The Kansas GOP is so worried they’re trying to jettison Marshall, cancel the election and even talking about taking away Kansans’ right to elect senators.”
In the television interview, Nobles asked Marshall about the Save America Act advocated by Trump and passed by the U.S. House. The bill, which is tied up in the U.S. Senate, includes a provision requiring people to show a passport or birth certificate to register to vote. In addition, the legislation would require people to present a photo ID to vote.
“Federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting. There’s no evidence that fraudulent votes have changed any election outcomes. Are you trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist?” Nobles asked Marshall.
“The issue right now is again that Americans don’t feel that the elections are trustworthy. No one wants their vote canceled … by an ‘illegal alien’ or by a dead person,” Marshall said.
In response, Nobles said the Heritage Foundation conducted a study that found 100 instances of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections since the 1980s. He said Trump’s claim of sweeping election fraud didn’t hold up to scrutiny.
“I guess we just look at this differently,” Marshall said. “What are Democrats running from? Why are they afraid? If what you’re saying is true, then why are you worried about this? Why not have voter ID? Why not have some type of proof of citizenship.”
In 2018, a federal judge struck down a Kansas law that required new voters to prove their citizenship. The law had prevented more than 30,000 lawful voters from registering, and then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is now the attorney general, failed to prove his claims of widespread voter fraud.
