Among the stories covered on today’s post-Memorial Day weekend BradCast. [Audio link to show is posted below]…
First up, some accountability news. Missouri Governor Eric Greitens (R) finally announces his resignation, after two separate indictments (one related to allegedly blackmailing a woman he has admitted to having had an affair with, and the other for unlawfully using a veterans charity contact list during his 2016 run for Governor) and after the GOP-majority legislature convened an historic special session to consider his impeachment.
Also, hit ABC sitcom reboot Roseanne is cancelled just hours after its titular star tweeted a racist comment about a longtime friend and adviser to former President Obama.
Then, why at least some of Trump’s obnoxious, inaccurate, and sometimes dangerous tweets actually matter (as much as we try to avoid them). A new poll finds alarming numbers of Republicans (and, yes, Democrats!) actually buy the President’s evidence-free claims that as many as 5 million fraudulent votes were cast in the 2016 Presidential election, as his new — and similarly evidence-free — tweets targeting Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe now claim the investigation is “rigged” and is meant for “MEDDLING with the mid-term elections now that Republicans…are taking the lead in Polls”.
In fact, while there is no evidence that Mueller’s probe is “rigged” or that he is “meddling” in the mid-terms, Republicans are now said to be nearly tied or even taking the lead in some generic U.S. House polling on the heels of Trump’s increasingly strident and inaccurate Twitter torrent. (Here, however, is a more skeptical look at those numbers.)
Nonetheless, many Democrats still seem very confident that a “blue wave” is in the making to flip one or both chambers of Congress from GOP control this November in response to Trump, as suggested by a surge in Democratic turnout during the 2018 primaries. It should be noted, however, that there are also signs that GOP turnout is increasing as well.
All of that is before the usual GOP voter suppression kicks into high gear. To that end today, the lawsuits have begun already. Last week, a suit was filed by the League of Women Voters and others against Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott and his hand-picked Sec. of State Ken Detzner’s refusal to allow early voting centers at public universities.
And, in Ohio, the ACLU has now filed suit against the state’s Republican drawn U.S. House districts, charging that the maps, drawn up in secret by the national GOP after the 2010 Census, violate the U.S. Constitution as an extreme partisan gerrymander.
We’re joined by ACLU Ohio’s Legal Director FREDA LEVENSON, who explains the case, why it’s taken so long to be filed after resulting in 12 GOP U.S. House members to the Democrats’ 4 over each of the last three elections in the swing-state, and how related cases from other states, now pending decisions at the U.S. Supreme Court, may effect this one.
Levenson also updates us on another case awaiting a decision any day from SCOTUS, regarding Ohio Sec. of State Jon Husted (R)’s attempt to purge voters from the roles after failing to vote in two consecutive federal elections. She explains why the ACLU sees that as a violation of the National Voter Registration Act (NRVA) and how SCOTUS’ ultimate decision in this case could result in similar mass voter purges being carried out in states across the country.
Finally today, a new scientific study finds that some 5,000 Puerto Ricans may have been killed by Hurricane Maria, rather than the 64 officially attributed to it, and Desi Doyen joins us with troubling details on deadly storms and flooding in Maryland and North Carolina over the holiday weekend, as subtropical storm Alberto, the first named storm of the new Atlantic hurricane season, rolls ashore days before the new season even officially begins…
“A new poll finds alarming numbers of Republicans (and, yes, Democrats!) actually buy the President’s evidence-free claims that as many as 5 million fraudulent votes were cast in the 2016 Presidential election, as his new — and similarly evidence-free — tweets targeting Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe now claim the investigation is ‘rigged’ and is meant for ‘MEDDLING with the mid-term elections now that Republicans…are taking the lead in Polls.'”
Why is that possible? Reagan got rid of the fairness doctrine. And that is how something like Fox “News” can exist and support the NRA line and promote falsehoods about the need for Photo ID because of supposed massive voter fraud. In the old days, the FCC would have forced them to give response time to someone with an opposing point of view. One of the most famous examples of that happened when Jim Garrison, the then District Attorney of New Orleans, objected to something NBC News said in a WHITE PAPER about his investigation of the JFK assassination. He complained to the FCC, and they made NBC give him time to respond–in primetime. Now, just imagine if the same rule was in effect today. Fox “News” would ultimately lose its broadcast license due to the number of people that would be going to the FCC. And, after a tipping point, it would be determined that they were not acting “in the public interest.”