Today on The BradCast: Election coverage for a change! Of tomorrow’s primary elections in four states and on the pretend “controversy” about several primary elections from last week that are still being tallied up. [Audio to show follows below this summary.]
FIRST UP… We get you caught up with the latest news on the U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday in Maine, where progressive oyster farmer and combat veteran Graham Platner appears to be on the cusp of winning the Democratic nomination to run against five-term Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins this fall. That, despite an avalanche of controversies — some real, some questionable — being front-loaded against him by opponents.
Voters in Maine will join those in Nevada, North Dakota and South Dakota holding statewide primaries tomorrow.
But last week’s primaries in six states are not over yet, especially here in California, where there were some big changes over the weekend in two key races receiving nationwide focus.
As counting of vote-by-mail ballots continues across the huge state where ballots postmarked by Election Day may be received and tallied for up to seven days after the election, the late wave of progressive leaning ballots — for reasons explained on today’s program — is beginning to add up. Over the weekend, progressive Democratic L.A. City Council member Nithya Raman overtook Trumpy Republican former reality TV star Spencer Pratt to take the second position in Los Angeles’ top-two mayoral primary. If Raman can retain that position, she would face off in November against fellow Democrat and former ally Mayor Karen Bass, who is seeking her second term in office after apparently winning the top slot in last week’s contest.
Also since we last spoke, former Congressman, state A.G. and Joe Biden’s HHS Director Xavier Beccera appears to have clinched the top spot in the top-two Gubernatorial primary in the Golden State, to go on to the November runoff. Trump-endorsed Republican Fox “News” host, Steve Hilton, is still holding on to the second spot, for now. But progressives have eyed Raman’s move into second place with late-arriving ballots in the Mayoral race and are hoping that billionaire activist Tom Steyer may be able to do the same in the race to replace termed-out Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Either way, with the call made for Beccera coming out on top, Democrats are breathing easier after their that, with 24 Dems on the ballot splitting the vote, two Republicans might come out on top in both of the top slots in the otherwise very “blue” state.
All of which appears to have driven Donald Trump even crazier than he is already. Over the weekend, he threw an angry fit during an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on Meet the Press and ended up storming out of the interview. He railed against California’s elections as “crooked” and “rigged”, without presenting any evidence in support of his never-ending allegations.
When Welker asked for evidence in support of his claim that the election in California was “crooked,” he sited his own failed 2020 election as being similarly rigged by Democrats. “The election was rigged, it was a dirty election, and it’s happening right now in California!” he shouted.
As his face turned from its usual burnt orange to deep, angry, bitter, beet red, Trump charged, “They’re crooked just like you’re crooked. Your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked,” he spat. “You’re either crooked or your stupid,” he told Welker, if she didn’t agree with his evidence-free claims of stolen elections.
After repeatedly being asked for evidence to support his claims, and clearly being unable to offer any, Trump escalated: “You’re a one-sided crooked network. Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough.” He condescendingly added a “Thank you, darling,” before storming off the set. We share a bit more of the insane exchange with our President of the United States on today’s program.
We also share a clip from Jacob Soboroff’s MS Now interview with Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan over the weekend, which helps explain — as we do as well — why it takes so long to count ballots in California, especially in L.A. County which, by itself, has more voters than each of 41 entire states!
Even before Trump’s embarrassing weekend rant, his U.S. Attorney here in Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, had announced on social media: “Without commenting on any specific investigation, my office,” wrote U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced on social media that he “has multiple election fraud investigations underway in coordination with @FBILosAngeles.” His post revealed that he was “working closely” with Main Justice in D.C., as we vowed to “follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent.”
Cool. I welcome his “investigations,” for reasons explained on today’s program.
THEN… We open the phones to callers here in Southern California who ring with thoughts on all of the above. Given that we believe in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) on The BradCast, we move a couple of the rightwing callers to the top of the list to discuss their own misguided and/or inaccurate claims of fraud in California’s elections. Sadly, none of that comes as a surprise given the Republican Party’s decade-long false claims of “voter fraud,” which are all happily now echoed by Trump to his easily hoaxed band of mislead followers…
