Thursday, August 29, 2024
BY CROOKED MEDIA
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Lauren Boebert’s Democratic opponent has a plan to boot her out of Congress. It involves Beetlejuice.
- Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) may have switched districts, but she can’t run away from her scandalous past. The ultra-MAGA congresswoman jumped to a redder part of Colorado this year, following a close call in her last election. But now, her Democratic opponent is weaponizing one of Boebert’s most infamous gaffes, as part of a long-shot bid to take her down. That makes Boebert the latest MAGA member to get caught up in the Democrats’ national strategy to joyfully mock their opponents for being “weird.” Just check out the new ad by Boebert’s opponent, Trisha Calvarese, targeting Boebert’s most notorious caper: the time she got booted out of a performance of the “Beetlejuice” musical in Denver in a flurry of vaping, groping, flipping off staff, and generally causing a ruckus.
- “It's weird, who flips off workers [and] lies about it?” Calvarese told What A Day. “Laughter is its own rebellion. Every joke about them is our own kind of victory, a rebellion and a win, especially if it can be done tastefully — but a bit tongue in cheek.”
- A “little bit of trolling” is a key part of Calvarese’s strategy. And there are signs that the ad has already bolstered her campaign. Actor Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker, dropped an endorsement: “C'mon Colorado, vote for competence over clownishness!” he wrote on X.
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To be clear: Boebert starts out with a big advantage in this red district. But there are signs this race could be tight.
- Calvarese raised more than $750,000 from around the country in the first five weeks since gaining the Democratic nomination, reportedly rivaling the amount of cash Boebert has on hand. In May, a poll conducted for Calvarese’s team found that Boebert was ahead of her by 10 points — but the Democrat took the lead when respondents were told about “concerns about Boebert and positives for Calvarese.” Another poll found that Boebert is deeply unpopular within her home state.
- “She's in it for the attention. Out on the eastern plains, folks don't even know who she is, but they know the impacts of what she's doing in Washington, D.C.,” Calvarese said. “Regardless of the party, they want somebody who's going to run to represent the people.”
- Calvarese has grand plans if she makes her way to Washington. She wants to put guardrails on artificial intelligence and study how the tech could help average people, push through funding from the CHIPS and Science Act to improve America’s tech infrastructure, and work to keep the U.S. competitive with China on renewable energy tech, manufacturing, and cybersecurity (she also wants to join the House Select Committee on China). On reproductive rights, she said: “If I need access to fertility treatment, I don't think it's any of Lauren Boebert's darn business. That's my kind of freedom, making sure that we have access to birth control, to IVF, to abortion rights.”
Boebert has so far only agreed to a September 3rd debate in front of a live audience… that won’t be televised. Calvarese wants it on the air. “We need to debate on TV. That's a basic qualification for the job,” Calvarese said. She hasn’t heard back from Boebert’s team — and neither have we. |
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Ever since the Supreme Court declared presidents largely above criminal law, Democrats have been vowing to get “aggressive” about restoring consequences for criming in the White House. A prominent Maryland congressman just rolled out a new plan of action.
In an exclusive interview with What A Day, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said he’s planning to introduce legislation in the coming weeks designed to limit the scope of the Supreme Court’s decision.
Raskin’s legislation would, in a nutshell, clarify that immunity only applies when presidents are exercising powers derived from the Constitution, and not those handed up by Congress.
“In other words, when Congress gives a power to the president, that power does not arrive with a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card,” said Raskin, a member of the House Judiciary Committee. “That, to my mind, is going to be the best legislative attack on the problem.”
Raskin carries a lot of intellectual weight on this issue, having spent over two decades as a constitutional law professor before helping to lead the second impeachment of disgraced former President Donald Trump.
And as he put it, the stakes are high.
“Do I think it would be far-fetched for a president like Trump — God forbid — to try to use the American military to attack his perceived political adversaries? No, I don't,” he said. “We're talking about an utterly lawless and incorrigible, narcissistic megalomaniac.”
Word of Raskin’s plan arrives shortly after DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith introduced a revised indictment of Trump for his attempt to subvert the 2020 election, which is intended to get around the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. You can listen to more on that here on today’s episode of the What A Day podcast. |
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A brand new episode of Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams is out now! And this week Stacey talks Deepfakes, Lies and How to Fight Disinformation, which touches all of us more often than we think. With the help of Esosa Osa, founder of Onyx Impact, Stacey is breaking down the effects of disinformation and how to stop bad information from spreading—online and yes, even in your family’s group chat. New episodes drop Thursdays! Listen to Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams right now on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. |
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Israel’s military said it killed a top Palestinian militant commander during its ongoing raids in the occupied West Bank, one of its largest operations in the territory in years. Israeli troops carried out mass arrests and engaged in gunfire with the stated goal of rooting out militants on Wednesday and Thursday. It’s the largest military operation in the Palestinian territory since October 7, and in the intervening months, at least 622 Palestinians and 15 Israelis have been killed there, according to the U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs.
Meanwhile, a new poll found that the majority of Americans support providing military assistance to Israel until the hostages held by Hamas are released.
Kamala Harris insisted her “values have not changed” in her first major campaign interview, which airs tonight on CNN. She specifically mentioned climate change and securing the southern border, two areas where the right is attacking her. The VP also said she would name a Republican to her cabinet if elected. Gotta say, we hate the last one!
New polls are showing that Kamala Harris is leading Donald Trump by as much as 5 percentage points, underscoring her widening lead as she rides a wave of momentum. Some of the same pollsters previously had her up just 1 percentage point in July.
But don’t celebrate yet! New Fox News polls in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina don’t show a clear leader. Breathing into a paper bag till November!
Beloved Swedish superstar group ABBA is demanding that Donald Trump stop using their music at his rallies. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! A cease and desist order.
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Vance received a resounding “booooooo” when he said that his ticket with Donald Trump is the most pro-worker Republican ticket in history, while speaking to the International Association of Firefighters in Boston on Thursday. Boston firefighters…we were not familiar with your game.
Golden State lawmakers passed a historic bill on Wednesday that would allow some undocumented immigrants—only those with Social Security or Tax ID number—to use a state program that would provide low-cost loans to buy their first house. It’s now up to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) to sign off on the measure or not.
The U.S. economy grew at a healthy 3% annual pace last quarter, the Commerce Department announced Thursday, crediting strong consumer spending and business investment. That’s an increase from the 1.4% growth in the first three months of this year.
Dozens of South Korean children sued their government over poor climate change policies — arguing that their rights to live in a clean environment were violated — and won! A lesson to parents: It’s never too early to encourage your kids to get involved with activism, and kids: It’s never too early to start being a pain in the ass for a good cause! |
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