Here are this week’s SWAJ Research Links, compiled by SWAJ Team Member Mark Kurth.
National Inquiries
Trump shares cryptic ‘dictatorship’ word cloud on Truth Social
In a cryptic post on Truth Social, Trump shared a word cloud with the results of a Daily Mail survey released Tuesday that prominently displayed the words “corruption,” “revenge,” “dictatorship” and “power,” indicating that those answers were provided by a large number of participants asked about Trump’s plans for a second term in office.
There was no caption or comment attached to the post. The Trump campaign also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s not the first time Trump has called himself a dictator or hinted at his authoritarian desires, but it’s the first time he’s embraced the label via word cloud. Earlier this month, the Republican frontrunner told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he would not be a dictator “except for day one.”
Trump-fueled threats against Colorado justices are a chilling preview of what’s to come
In just the first 24 hours since the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday disqualifying former President Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s Republican primary ballot, social media platforms were awash in violent threats to the justices from the Rocky Mountain state.
Those disturbing posts by Trump’s followers included justice’s office addresses, emails and phone numbers. These posts offer not only a glimpse of the current threat picture, but a foretelling of threats to come as this historic ruling inevitably rises to the U.S. Supreme Court for review. “This ends when we kill these f---ers,” said one post on a pro-Trump forum known to have been frequented by multiple Jan. 6 Capitol offenders.
In Trump’s unfolding legal drama, ‘the campaign will be conducted in a courtroom’
The Supreme Court’s decision not to immediately consider whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for his effort to subvert the 2020 election may prove to be a short-term legal victory.
The decision capped an extraordinary 48 hours that underscored just how the courts may be more pivotal to the campaign than debates and diners, and how the Justices, who find themselves with a jammed docket full of Trump-related cases, seem poised to affect the trajectory of the campaign as much as the candidates themselves.
‘You better pray’: Christian nationalist groups are mobilizing before the 2024 elections
Now, with the 2024 presidential election less than a year away, Wisconsin’s patriot movement and its allies are fighting for legislation that they believe will protect the state’s electoral process from fraud, and mobilizing supporters to work the polls, observe polling places and spread the word about their concerns – pushing the GOP further to the right and threatening more challenges to the voting process come election day.
“With the 2020 election and Covid tyranny, that all opened my eyes,” he told the crowd of mostly older couples at the November event. “The silent majority was killing us. It was killing our country, killing our community. And we needed to learn how to no longer be silent.”
By “we”, Rishel meant conservative Christians. “Jesus Christ is my savior, my lord. It’s amazing how some people didn’t have the courage to say that – they think it’ll make people uncomfortable.”
‘They will be refused care’: Inside an American ally’s decision to warn citizens about the US
The travel advisory that went viral was 71 days in the making. Correspondence shared with POLITICO through a freedom-of-information request reveals the change started with a concern raised by federal health department officials about Canadian travelers’ access to emergency care in an era of backsliding U.S. abortion rights.
The internal emails reveal Canada was aware it was an “outlier” among “most-like-minded” countries because its official U.S. travel advice was lacking “some languages on 2SLGBTQI+ issues.”
The U.K. issued an advisory against travel to southern U.S. states in April 2016 over anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Australia updated its advisory with tougher language last year.
Canada, officials believed, had some catching up to do.
The Supreme Court’s Big Trump Test Is Here
On Friday, the court turned down the special counsel Jack Smith’s request for fast-track review of Donald Trump’s claim that former presidents have “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for their conduct while in office. But that critical question will almost certainly return to the Supreme Court soon: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is hearing the case on Jan. 9 and will probably rule shortly thereafter.
The court has agreed to hear a case asking whether Jan. 6 rioters can be charged with obstructing an official proceeding, another key part of Mr. Smith’s Jan. 6 case against Mr. Trump. And most dramatically, the former president will surely ask the justices to reverse a ruling of the Colorado Supreme Court that, if affirmed, could pave the way for an untold number of states to erase his name from the ballot.
House GOP traps itself in impeachment box
Now that House Republicans have formalized the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, anything less than voting to remove him could look like failure.
Right now, though, they don’t have the votes to do that — putting them in a bind of their own making.
Haley declines to say slavery was cause of Civil War
“I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are,” Haley replied. “And I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people. Government doesn’t need to tell you how to live your life. They don’t need to tell you what you can and can’t do. They don’t need to be a part of your life. They need to make sure that you have freedom. We need to have capitalism. We need to have economic freedom. We need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals have the liberties so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be anything they want to be without government getting in the way.”
Haley blames a ‘Democratic plant’ for Civil War question that tripped her up
“Well, two things on this track. I mean, of course, the Civil War was about slavery. We know that, that’s the easy part of it,” the former South Carolina governor told The Pulse of NH — News Talk Radio Network. “What I was saying was, what does it mean to us today? What it means to us today is about freedom. That’s what that was all about. It was about individual freedom. It was about economic freedom. It was about individual rights. Our goal is to make sure, no, we never go back to the stain of slavery.”
“It was definitely a Democrat plant,” said Haley. “That’s why I said, what does it mean to you? And if you notice, he didn’t answer anything. The same reason he didn’t tell the reporters what his name was.”
‘She’s toast': Republicans of color disappointed by Haley’s slavery misstep
Black Republicans like Shermichael Singleton, who has worked on previous Republican presidential campaigns including Mitt Romney and Ben Carson, remained disenchanted. Singleton said he believed Haley was right that her questioner was a plant. But he didn’t think that was an excuse for fumbling the answer.
“She should’ve been able to answer the damn question and move on,” he said.
He added that her comments likely alienated moderate Republicans and swing voters she desperately needed to mount a successful challenge for the nomination.
States Fights
Wisconsin Supreme Court, now under liberal control, overturns Republican-favored legislative maps
The 4-3 decision overturning the current maps in a key battleground state carries major implications for the 2024 election and comes after liberals won control of the court this spring.
The Wisconsin case is among a slew of redistricting fights across the country that could determine control of governing bodies from local governing boards to state legislatures and the US House of Representatives.
Under the current Wisconsin maps, Republicans enjoy a supermajority in the state Senate and a strong majority in the state Assembly, despite the Badger State being relatively evenly divided politically.
Nevada school district sued after student has swastika carved into his back in antisemitic attack
The family of a Jewish student with autism in Las Vegas is suing the city’s school district after the then-17-year-old returned home with a swastika etched into his back.
The lawsuit was announced on Thursday by The Lawfare Project, a non-profit working to defend the civil and human rights of Jewish people. The attorneys argue that the student, now 18, suffered federal and state civil rights violations.
Classroom searched by police after anonymous complaint about an “obscene” LGBTQ+ book
An anonymous complaint about a frequently banned LGBTQ+ book reportedly led local police to search a Massachusetts classroom for “obscene” and “pornographic” material. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has blasted the incident.
Police notified Berkshire Hills Regional School District Superintendent Peter Dillon of the investigation, and after school let out on December 8, Principal Miles Wheat escorted a plainclothes officer to the classroom to search for the book. The English teacher was reportedly present during the search but had not been told that an officer would be coming to search their classroom. The officer recorded the search using a body camera but did not find the book.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoes bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors
Signing the bill would “be saying that the state, the government” knows what’s better for youth than their parents, Gov. Mike DeWine said.
State lawmakers passed House Bill 68 just before the holiday break.
The legislation would have prohibited gender-affirming care for trans and nonbinary youth, including hormone blockers, hormone replacement therapy, medical or surgical procedures and some mental health services.
The bill also sought to prohibit transgender athletes from taking part in female sports.
Public Christian schools? Leonard Leo’s allies advance a new cause
At issue is the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma’s push to create the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which would be the nation’s first religious school entirely funded by taxpayers. The school received preliminary approval from the state’s charter school board in June. If it survives legal challenges, it would open the door for state legislatures across the country to direct taxpayer funding to the creation of Christian or other sectarian schools.
A bill could require future rest stop Chick-fil-A’s to stay open on Sundays. The GOP calls that ‘insanity’
The bill does not apply to all Chick-fil-A locations in New York, or even impact the seven that are currently operating along the state thruway. While Chick-fil-A’s rest stop locations may have been the impetus, the bill instead would instead affect all future contracts for food concessions at transportation facilities owned by the state and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
But it has become a cultural flashpoint. Some Republicans have seized on it to claim Democrats are targeting Chick-fil-A, a brand long associated with Christian conservatism.
Maine’s top election official removes Trump from 2024 primary ballot
The decision makes Maine the second state to disqualify Trump from office, after the Colorado Supreme Court handed down its own stunning ruling that removed him from the ballot earlier this month. The development is a significant victory for Trump’s critics, who, citing the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, say they’re trying to enforce a constitutional provision that was designed to protect the country from anti-democratic insurrectionists.