#lee zeldin

[nodynasty4us]

Who will Trump choose for VP? (final round)

I had to delete the first version of this because I accidentally set it for only one day and I misspelled a name.

This does not necessarily mean who you would prefer, just who you think is most likely to get the nod.

These choices are the high scorers in the preliminary round of polls, names leaked by the Trump campaign to several news outlets earlier this week, and a couple of people mentioned by one columnist after the preliminary polls began.

As always, please reblog this poll so that more people have the opportunity to vote in it.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Daniel Marans at HuffPost:

Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, summed up the Republican pitch to Jewish voters succinctly in his speech to the Republican national convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday evening. “My message today to the Jewish community is clear: There is only one pro-Israel party, and it’s the Republican Party,” Brooks declared, as Jewish convention attendees waved yellow signs with the words, “We are Jews for Trump.” In keeping with their historically Democratic leanings, in 2020, the overwhelming majority of Jewish voters opted for President Joe Biden over former President Donald Trump.

And Trump, whose daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism before marrying Jared Kushner, has even disparaged Jewish Democrats, claiming they “hate Israel.” But Trump’s allies apparently see an opening following Hamas’ deadly terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Democrats remain divided on support for the ferocious invasion of Gaza Israel launched in response, which has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are civilians. Brooks’ message got greater amplification on Wednesday — the theme of the day’s programming was “Make America Strong Again,” and it focused heavily on foreign relations and the military. The lineup of primetime speakers included, in quick succession, Orthodox Jewish campus activist Shabbos Kestenbaum; Orna and Ronen Neutra, the parents of an American citizen, Omer, captured by Hamas while serving in the Israeli military; and former Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Jewish Republican who ran an unexpectedly spirited race to unseat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022.

Kestenbaum, a recent graduate of Harvard University, has already made national waves with his criticism of pro-Palestinian campus activism, which he has said veers into antisemitism. He is now suing Harvard for allegedly violating his and other Jewish students’ civil rights. [...] Kestenbaum, a registered Democrat who was so progressive in 2020 he posed with then-congressional candidate Jamaal Bowman, told the Forward earlier this week he still supports many domestic progressive policies, such as raising the minimum wage and the Green New Deal, but said progressives’ abandonment of Israel and refusal to take antisemitism seriously had pushed him to accept Republicans’ invitation to speak at their convention. In his remarks on Wednesday, Kestenbaum sounded every bit the true believer in Trump’s second term, listing the ways in which he believed Trump would stand up for pro-Israel Jewish students and what he sees as the anti-American streak in higher education.

[...] In fact, Biden, who has expressed pro-Israel views dating back to the 1970s, has angered many on the left, as well as Arab American and Muslim voters, with his refusal to impose material consequences for what many human rights groups and Western governments have determined are Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Biden showed his dedication to Israel by shepherding a foreign aid bill through Congress in April that included $26 billion in military and economic assistance to Israel, along with $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Palestinians. Like other recent presidents from both parties, Biden has instead mostly expressed his disapproval of Israeli decisions in conversations with Netanyahu. He won some progressive praise in May for pausing a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, on the grounds that those munitions pose unnecessary danger to civilians in dense areas, but he has yet to follow through on promises of a broader weapons cutoff in the event of a massive Israeli invasion of Rafah.

[...] Brooks might have been overstating the case. But given how divided rank-and-file Democrats are on the topic of Israel, many national party leaders would just as soon avoid the topic. It is hard to imagine a speaker making a similar request of the crowd at the Democratic national convention in Chicago this August, let alone getting that kind of positive response.

With Jewish speakers (including lifelong Dems) being featured at the RNC, the GOP sees a play to win over Jewish voters incensed at the fairly still pro-Israel Democratic Party’s increasingly pro-Palestinian turn, especially after October 7th.

[jessica-marie-baumgartner]

2024 can't come soon enough

[purezionist]

🎼 isn't it ironic 🎶🎶

All kinds of bullshit on the news regarding"Election Deniers" and the END OF DEMOCRACY....Yet, not even a whisper about #hillaryclinton - the G-DMOTHER of election denier. This woman is STILL CRYING, SIX YEARS LATER. Her supporters spent four years claiming that Trump was NOT THEIR POTUS. Can ANYONE, ANYWHERE EXPLAIN this insanity to me. We're literally living in some kind of warped, off the rails surrealistic type of reality. Apparently it's better to vote for a completely inept, unwell candidate for the UNITED STATES SENATE, than a guy that has full use of his brain...but you may not like him. There's no way that even ten years ago would anyone BELIEVE THIS. We're totally FU(KED.

[thenewsinfo]

Lee Zeldin is leaving the campaign treasurer he shared with the lying George Santos

Former MP Lee Zeldin announced Monday that he is forming a new political action committee without Nancy Marks, the longtime treasurer he shares with disgraced MP George Santos. “We will be announcing a new federal PAC that is in the process of being set up using a different Treasurer,” Zeldin (R-NY) said at the New York State Conservative Party’s Political Action Conference in Albany, New…

[theusviral]

Lee Zeldin on why he has ‘zero regret’ after losing to Gov. Kathy Hochul

Lee Zeldin on why he has ‘zero regret’ after losing to Gov. Kathy Hochul

He may not have secured his own personal victory, but Republican Lee Zeldin insisted to The Post Wednesday he had “zero regret” over the race he ran — as records show he notched the best total-vote performance of any GOP candidate since Nelson Rockefeller 52 years ago. In his first interview since conceding to Gov. Kathy Hochul, Zeldin said his surprisingly strong campaign wasn’t in vain because…

[tomorrowusa]

Most of us know about the extremist radical Trump Republicans running for US Senate. But there is a horde of them running for state offices across the US. The New Republic looked at what may be the five worst ones.

Mark Finchem  - running for secretary of state in Arizona

Finchem, who is polling slightly ahead of his Democratic opponent, is a self-proclaimed member of the far-right Oath Keepers, an anti-government militia of former and active military and law enforcement. The group provided security for the January 6 insurrectionists, and 11 members, including their leader, have been charged by the Justice Department with “seditious conspiracy.”

Fittingly, Finchem is a fan of conspiracy theories.

Finchem is the worst of the worst. He’s running for secretary of state – a position which would put him in charge of elections in a crucial swing state for the 2024 presidential election.

Support Democrat Adrian Fontes to keep a QAnon nut from turning Arizona into an electoral hellhole.

Tudor Dixon – running for governor of Michigan

The Trump-endorsed Dixon spent years working in a disreputable steel foundry owned by her father before a brief stint as a conservative media commentator for Real America’s Voice. As a “news anchor,” she advanced a conspiracy theory that Covid-19 and the George Floyd protests were planned by Democrats to topple the government as revenge for losing the Civil War, and that they planned to enslave “people of all colors.” 

It only gets worse from there. She’s a true believer in The Big Lie and enthusiastically endorses whatever bizarre conspiracy theory that emerges from the far right. She’s essentially a self-parody.

Support Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for re-election.

Jim Marchant  – running for secretary of state in Nevada

"I would not want Jim to be secretary of a preschool," a former employee of Republican Jim Marchant told Mother Jones.

[ ... ]

Last year, Marchant founded the America First Secretary of State Coalition, a group of ultra-MAGA, election-denying candidates working “behind the scenes to try to fix 2020 like President Trump said,” as Marchant put it on Steve Bannon’s podcast.

With the help of prominent Republican donors like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, six coalition members were able to secure Republican nominations in key battleground states, including Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Marchant is part of a MAGA movement designed to steal elections. He’s probably financing his campaign illegally.

Support Democrat Cisco Aguilar for Nevada Secy. of State.

Scott Jensen – running for governor of Minnesota

Dr. Scott Jensen is a small-town family physician who, when elected to the Minnesota state Senate in 2016, had a reputation as a moderate Republican. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit. He has since been accused of using his medical credentials to spread misinformation about the virus and vaccines, resulting in several (now dropped) investigations from the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice and alleged bans from TikTok and Facebook. Naturally, the state’s Republicans decided earlier this year that Jensen would make a great governor.

Dr. Jensen is also known as a prolific prescriber of opioids. He is fond of spreading the “litter box” conspiracy theory about schools.

Support Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz for re-election.

Lee Zeldin – running for governor of New York

You can’t become governor of a solid blue state like New York by spouting off conspiracy theories about China using Nest thermostats to rig the 2020 election. Republican nominee Lee Zeldin understands this, and the Long Island congressman has attempted to brand himself as a run-of-the-mill tough-on-crime candidate not unlike New York City’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams. There are indications that that message is resonating with voters. But Zeldin can’t hide the fact that throughout his eight-year tenure in the House, he’s been one of Donald Trump’s staunchest allies and a vocal promoter of his stolen election lie.

Zeldin is trying to hide his previously stated extremist views and his unswerving loyalty to Donald Trump – who naturally strongly endorses Zeldin. He tries to pump up the crime issue; but NYC currently has a lower violent crime rate than deep red Oklahoma.

He was one of the US House Trump Republicans who filed a brief in support of the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Support pro-choice New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul for re-election.

Sadly, there are a lot of Trump-endorsed candidates like these. But the five above would probably do the most damage to democracy in America.

[worshiptheglitch]

Even the New York Daily News knows Lee Zeldin is full of shit.

[nodynasty4us]

Just yesterday I posted a series of polls about 33 people that Trump might choose as his running mate. I thought it was very comprehensive and included all the long-shots. 

But today (June 18, 2024), The Hill writer Julia Manchester finds two more:

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (NY)

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (FL)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Gabe Fleisher at Wake Up To Politics:

Historically, the closest parallel to what happened last night is probably the assassination attempt of Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. Like Donald Trump — who was shot in the ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday — Roosevelt was a former president when he survived a gunman’s fire. Also like Trump, Roosevelt at the time was running to reclaim the White House, in the midst of a campaign speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Finally, and most importantly, the attempts on both men’s lives will likely be best remembered for their defiance in the face of a would-be assassin. In his case, Roosevelt continued delivering his speech, even as a bullet was lodged in his chest. “It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose,” he famously declared, going on to speak for another 50 minutes before seeking medical attention. Secret Service protocols would not allow such a display today; still, the attack on Trump will forever be defined by this instantly iconic image, of Trump’s face streaked with blood, his fist raised in the air, the American flag waving behind him. It has been 44 years since a federal elected official (Allard Lowenstein, a New York congressman) was successfully assassinated in the United States, a streak that often masks the fact that political violence has been steadily increasing over the last decade.

This is not the 1960s — when a president, a presidential candidate, and several civil rights leaders were killed in a five-year period — but more from a lack of successes than a lack of trying. It has not been an era, thank God, of murdered politicians, but it has been one of dangerously close shaves. On January 6, 2021, rioters came within 40 feet of then-Vice President Mike Pence, as Trump supporters chanted for his hanging and searched for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), among others. Less than two years later, Pelosi’s husband sustained an attack by hammer; if a police dispatcher had not understood his coded messaging, he may have ended up with worse than just a skull fracture. In 2017, doctors told Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) that he had been “within a minute of death” after being shot at a congressional baseball practice. Then-Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) also survived gunfire, but she has never fully regained the ability of speech after a 9-millimeter bullet cut through her brain in 2011.

A man made it just outside of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house in 2022, armed with a pistol, knife, hammer, crow bar, and zip ties, but his assassination plot was foiled when he called the police himself, his second thoughts having taken over. Someone made it even closer to then-Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) one month later, climbing on stage during a gubernatorial campaign rally; thankfully, the attacker was armed only with a keychain. Quantifiably, according to a University of Maryland database, political violence since 2016 has been at its highest levels in the U.S. since the 1970s. Before 2016, the U.S. Capitol Police had never opened more than 1,000 threat investigations in a single year; last year, more than 8,000 threats against members of Congress were investigated. Similarly, “investigated threats against federal judges have risen every year since 2018,” according to the U.S. Marshals Service, while election officials are also facing an unprecedented level of menace.

The threats were all able to be foiled, but several — like the bullet that whizzed just inches away from Trump on Saturday — came horrifyingly close to fruition. And oftentimes, even as the politicians live, others become collateral damage of our toxic politics. Yesterday, at least one American was killed simply for attending a political rally of their preferred presidential candidate. [...] Rarely do Democratic or Republican officials stop to acknowledge that their own side might have a role to play in our divisive politics. Instead, when horrors like last night’s unfold, each side reliably finds a way to blame the other party, which only serves to exacerbate further the cycle of hatred and violence that brought us to this point. Even in their responses to tragedy, more toxicity flows loose.

Gabe Fleisher details in his Wake Up To Politics newsletter the history of close calls that would have resulted in the death of various politicians over the past decade and a half or so, such as Gabby Giffords, Paul Pelosi, Steve Scalise, Mike Pence, and most recently, Donald Trump.

[mr-michael-kyle]

Two teenagers had been shot this weekend outside the house of Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), the Republican candidate for governor of New York.

In a statement on Sunday,  Zeldin confirmed a shooting occurred outside his residence in Shirley, New York. His 16-year-old daughters had been at home doing homework at the time, whereas he and his wife had been in the car after leaving a Columbus Day parade, the congressman stated.

“After my daughters heard the gunshots and the screaming, they ran upstairs, locked themselves in the bathroom and immediately called 911,” Zeldin stated, adding that they’re “shaken, but ok.”

Zeldin, who is challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in New York’s gubernatorial race, continued that the 2 individuals who have been shot “were laying down under my front porch and the bushes in front of our porch” and have been transferred to the hospital. “My entire family is at home working with the investigators and providing the security footage from our home cameras,” he stated.

Police confirmed two teenagers have been shot from a moving automotive close to Zeldin’s house and that they tried to hide in the congressman’s yard, The Associated Press reports. The injuries had been reportedly not life-threatening, and the Suffolk County Police Department stated “investigators have no reason to believe there is any connection between the shooting and the residence.”

“Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door,” Zeldin stated.

Hochul said on Twitter she is “relieved to hear the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for law enforcement’s quick response.”

This comes after Zeldin was attacked by a man “brandishing a sharp object” while campaigning in July. President Biden at the time condemned the attack “in the strongest terms,” as “violence has absolutely no place in our society or our politics.”

Source: 2 people shot outside GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin’s home

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell wants more power within the Republican Party: he's officially running to chair the Republican National Committee.

Lindell announced his run on Monday morning during fellow Trump ally Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast.

"With all my due diligence and in prayer, I am 100% running for RNC chairman against Ronna McDaniel," Lindell said. "It's going to change real fast. We're going to get our country right, really quick."

Lindell said he has spoken to RNC donors and state officials, and obtained their support.

He added that he was looking to move the Republican Party toward backing candidates like Kari Lake and Mark Finchem — Trump-backed individuals who have consistently made baseless claims about the 2020 election.

"The RNC collects money and then they don't do anything with election crime," Lindell told Bannon, once again echoing false claims about widespread voter fraud.

Speaking to Insider after his announcement, Lindell said the first item on his to-do list is calling all 168 members of the RNC to find out what the biggest problem is with the organization.

It is unclear how successful Lindell's bid for the position will be. McDaniel, the current RNC chair, has been endorsed by a majority of the RNC's voting members — 101 in total — who signed on to a letter endorsing her re-election, The Hill reported.

Former President Donald Trump, Lindell's longtime ally, hasn't yet publicly supported his bid against McDaniel. Lindell told Insider that he hasn't spoken to Trump about the matter yet.

A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Lindell and McDaniel are not on the best of terms. Their feud goes back to November 2021, when Lindell accused McDaniel and the RNC of working to prevent him from filing a complaint to the Supreme Court. That complaint contained over 70 pages of unsupported accusations that widespread voter fraud in states including Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.

During his November 2021 live stream, Lindell accused the RNC of calling state attorneys general and pressuring them to not sign his complaint. He also slammed McDaniel for publicly admitting that month that President Joe Biden beat Trump. An RNC spokesperson told Insider that Lindell's allegations are completely false in response to a request for comment.

As for McDaniel, she has signaled that she plans to run for another term as RNC chair, per Politico. And the right-wing pillow CEO might not be her only challenger. New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, who lost his gubernatorial race this month, is considering a run too, Politico reported.

If Lindell were to win the RNC election during the committee's winter meeting in January 2023, that would mean control of a major political committee — one that, essentially, shapes the GOP's platform — will be under the control of a fringe MAGA figure.

Representatives for McDaniel did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Lindell's bid.

[ofpd]

another thing that visiting crown heights made me think about was the fact that so many charedim are politically conservative. in theory i knew that but come on why did i leave new york knowing the name of the republican candidate for governor but not the democratic one

[theusviral]

New Yorkers beg newly elected Gov. Hochul to ‘get crime under control’

New Yorkers beg newly elected Gov. Hochul to ‘get crime under control’

Fed-up New Yorkers begged Gov. Kathy Hochul to get crime under control after her surprisingly close win in an “uninspiring” gubernatorial election — where she routinely downplayed concerns about rising crime in the Big Apple. “People in New York complain about the high crime and crime in the subway, so why did they vote for Hochul?” Steve Bakali, 70, told The Post Wednesday morning outside of the…