A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Something Fishy’s Going On
Someone’s sending anonymous texts to Kansas voters urging them to vote “yes” on a constitutional amendment on abortion rights on today’s ballot in the state, which the text falsely claims “will give women a choice.”
- “Vote YES to protect women’s health,” the anonymous text says, per the Kansas City Star.
- Yeah, that’s a straight-up lie: Voting “yes” means adding language to the state’s constitution stating that it does not guarantee Kansans’ right to an abortion and allows the issue to go to the legislature, where the GOP majority will be empowered to pass an abortion ban. A “no” vote leaves the Kansas constitution as it is.
US Strike Kills al-Qaeda Leader
Biden announced yesterday that he had ordered an airstrike killing al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, on Saturday in Kabul, Afghanistan.
- Key analysis: “What Ayman al-Zawahiri’s killing means for al-Qaeda” – The Washington Post
- Here’s a list of other al-Qaeda and ISIS leaders who’ve been killed in U.S. raids or airstrikes.
Today’s Conspiracy Theory-Infected Races
There’s a very real chance that Arizona and Michigan, two key swing states, will end up with MAGA election deniers as GOP nominees for governor and secretary of state. Keep an eye on:
- Arizona:
- Kari Lake (governor)
- Mark Finchem (secretary of state)
- Michigan:
- Tudor Dixon (governor)
- Kristina Karamo (secretary of state)
Moment Of Reckoning For More Pro-Impeachment GOPers
Three House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack are on the ballot in today’s primaries: Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) and Peter Meijer (R-MI).
- Then it’ll be House Jan. 6 Committee chair Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) turn on Aug. 16 in the final GOP primary with a pro-impeachment Republican.
- Two other pro-impeachment GOP lawmakers have already had their primaries: South Carolina’s Tom Rice (who lost) and California’s David Valadao (who survived).
- The rest of the 10 Republicans who voted for impeachment decided to ditch Congress instead of running again: Ohio’s Anthony Gonzalez, New York’s John Katko, Michigan’s Fred Upton and Illinois’ Adam Kinzinger, the only other Republican on the House Jan. 6 Committee besides Cheney.
- And Arizona state House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) has his primary for the state Senate. (Even though he obviously wasn’t involved in the impeachment vote, Bowers gets a mention here as a Republican whose fate is uncertain after royally pissing off the ex-president by holding him accountable to Jan. 6 in some capacity.)
Trump Endorses ‘ERIC’ To The Delight Of Two Different Erics
Last night, the ex-president put out a baffling endorsement in the GOP Missouri Senate primary, declaring, “ERIC has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” and no one knows if he’s talking about disgraced ex-governor Eric Greitens (whose wife has accused him of domestic abuse) or state Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
- The endorsement: “I trust the Great People of Missouri, on this one, to make up their own minds, much as they did when they gave me landslide victories in the 2016 and 2020 Elections, and I am therefore proud to announce that ERIC has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
- Greitens and Schmitt are, of course, very confident that the endorsement was for Greitens/Schmitt and are graciously thanking Trump for the endorsement he personally gave Greitens/Schmitt:
- And now the bizarre endorsement is at the center of a tug-o-war between the two Erics:
Greitens’ victory lap up there prompted Schmitt to retweet Fox News contributor Dan Bongino’s post calling out the ex-governor as a big fat liar:
Ex-Top Jan. 6 Panel Investigator Reaches Petition Signatures Needed To Launch Senate Bid
John Wood, who served as a senior investigator on the House Jan. 6 Committee, announced on Monday that he reached the 20,000 signature threshold to get his Missouri Senate bid as an independent on the ballot in November.
Graham Challenges Georgia Election Probe Subpoena
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has filed his challenge against the subpoena issued to him by the special grand jury in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ Trump election probe in Georgia.
Biden Still Testing Positive For COVID
The President continues to test positive for COVID-19 in a “rebound” case but “continues to feel well,” White House physician Kevin O’Connor reported on Monday.
Insurrectionist Who Threatened Own Kids Gets Longest Sentence Of Jan. 6 Defendants
Guy Reffitt, a Texas man who tried to break into the Capitol on Jan. 6 while carrying a gun and later threatened to shoot his kids if they turned him in, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on Monday. It’s the longest prison sentence any Jan. 6 defendant has gotten so far.
WTF Read Of The Day
“How Devin Nunes and Kash Patel appealed to QAnon extremists to build Truth Social’s user base” – Media Matters
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