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Breaking news! (No, not really.)

It's just a little more than 100 days before the midterm elections, and the Republicans are outwardly giddy and chittering like rabid field mice.

Conventional wisdom a questionable term has the Republicans taking back the House in the midterm elections this fall. The idea has risen like cheap champagne in the putrescent bowels of the Republicans. Hell, they're so light-headed with their possible success they'll even tolerate Matt Gaetz publicly and historically embarrassing himself yet again.

That is, unless you're Marc Short, the former staffer to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison who became Mike Pence's chief of staff. On CNN this week, Short flayed Gaetz into small morsels with an honest and sardonic description of the Florida congressman as Donald Trump's latest favorite fool. CNN aired a soundbite of Gaetz speaking to a youthful crowd, where he dismissed Pence as a nice guy who will never be president because he's no leader. Then Short got his shot live.

He quickly slowed the congressman's roll, reminding everyone that Gaetz has more serious problems to worry about. "I don't think Matt Gaetz will have an impact" on the 2024 election," Short said. "In fact, I'd be surprised if he was still voting. It's more likely he'll be in prison for child sex trafficking by 2024, and frankly I'm surprised law enforcement lets him speak to teenage conferences like that."

For those who are unsure: Yes, that was a mic drop.

Those who are even casually acquainted with Short know him to be something sorely lacking in the rest of the Republican Party. He's an adult. A professional. He makes sense, and he's immune to Trump as well as the groans and mutterings of Trump's latest flailing acolytes. In fact, he made it quite clear that, at least in Gaetz's case, he just doesn't give a shit what the future federal prisoner has to say.

If the GOP had more men like Short, there'd be far fewer like Trump. And such a revelation would frighten the Democrats that is, if the Democrats were seen by a larger number of Americans as being in serious contention to hang on to the House.

Those who think the Democrats will win are a little busy right now eating their own, once again. Let's move along.

* * *

I went to one great Christmas party on the South Lawn during the last days of the Clinton administration. That's the highlight of my time covering presidents, presidential campaigns, traveling with candidates and listening to endless recitations of mostly horrible stump speeches while eating fast food of questionable quality and origin. I swallowed my fair share of insects, I'm sure, on some of the campaign stops on pig farms in Iowa. Saw some strange things too. I remember Jesse Jackson sitting in a stall with an Iowa pig farmer. It was a cold winter's day, but the pungent smell of the farm was thick and on everybody's mind as dozens of us in the press watched Jesse sit and talk with the farmer. I believe both men were wearing overalls. But the farmer, who sat talking for several long minutes about political issues (remember those?) was wearing a Confederate flag baseball hat. Jackson, a veteran of the civil rights movement and good friend of Martin Luther King Jr., got along with him just fine. That sticks in my mind.

So does watching Gary Hart stumble badly at his first public appearance after he turned himself into a political pariah. He showed up at a pig farm, wrestled with a few swine, fell into the muck and grabbed a piglet, which gave off some piercing squeals. It was embarrassing, and he knew it. There were maybe half a dozen reporters and photographers in attendance. A month previously, Hart had been the 1988 Democratic frontrunner, followed around by dozens if not hundreds of reporters. Now he was an also-ran. Why? Here it is, boys and girls: Don't issue the "Gary Hart" challenge to the press corps no matter how incompetent you think we are especially if you're a liar.

Hart fell from grace after being photographed with a paramour. Today Trump would call him an amateur, but the deliciously salacious irony of finding the 1988 Democratic presidential frontrunner with a woman who wasn't his wife on his arm was too much to pass up. That happened because of what Hart told the press. Rumors had circulated for weeks that he had ongoing affairs outside of his marriage. His response to the press when asked about them? He challenged reporters to follow him. "They'll be very bored," he said publicly.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

A few days later, NBC anchor John Chancellor answered that on the air, "We did. We weren't."

Thus ended Gary Hart's political ambitions.

Democrats eating their own is an old and repetitious story. A frontrunner taking himself down with one sentence? Priceless.

The Democrats claim to have moved on, but former Sen. Al Franken was forced to resign over a sexual accusation that seems like a preschool watery nose compared to the warped shit people like Gaetz and his demented mentor, Donald Trump have been accused of.

Today, at every conceivable turn, from Steve Bannon being found guilty of ignoring a congressional subpoena to the revelations of the Jan. 6 committee hearings, the Republicans are taking it on the chin. The pain is real. So with all the bad press the Republicans have received, you'd think the Democrats could run a flatlining squid for office and still retain control of the House.

But as it turns out, only the Republicans have that bizarre ability. That is the only way to explain the likes of Lindsey Graham, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. Five squid spineless, thoughtless, ignorant and brain-dead. Some question whether they were ever sentient. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt: the critics, I mean. It's true: Republicans can run dead squid for office and still win.

Democrats are protesting against themselves and then yelling at themselves for protesting themselves. They can't stay focused, but are pissed at the media for not staying focused.

The Democrats, meanwhile, remain true to form. They are protesting against themselves, and then yelling at themselves for protesting themselves. They're unable to remain focused, yet remain pissed at the media for not staying focused. They have a point there. We have trouble these days recognizing facts in some quarters, let alone distributing them. Lately, a day in the White House press briefing room is as intellectually stimulating as a day in high school study hall.

Should the Republicans prevail in the fall, many voters (and not just Democrats) won't necessarily like the people they've just elected. That sentiment is common, and a lot of people rationalize it by hoping newly elected members of Congress will "grow into the role." But that's a fool's paradise. The stunted emotional growth of the Republican Party leaves anyone who's still in it not only incapable of growing into anything other than a pair of pants with a much wider waistband, but incapable of seeing how bloated, distended, cancerous and distasteful their party has become. Did Donald Trump "grow into his role"? There's your reality. He only grew more effective at abusing the system. Gaetz and the rest are merely appendages of the Trump hydra.

There is no GOP any more. Just Trump and those modeled after him, many of whom are ready to fight for control of the party once Trump leaves. To them the party is everything. Yet it stands for nothing.

You can thank Ronald Reagan for that a former B-movie actor cast in the role of a lifetime. Reagan was the first reality-show president. Donald Trump and the current GOP are merely his bastard offspring. I mean politically, of course. I have no proof of anything else.

Reagan embraced the free market and trickle-down economics. The result of 40 years of those policies? Well, it isn't a good look for the United States. It's becoming too Third World. But Reagan and those who followed him were never about helping people unless you mean rich, powerful people. In a move labeled by historian Joseph McCartin "The Strike That Busted Unions," Reagan destroyed the air traffic controllers' union in 1981, undermining the whole labor movement. Reagan's actions while in office enabled the re-emergence of robber barons, drooling with a lustful and narcissistic longing for every dollar they could make at the expense of everyone else.

It turns out Marc Short recently testified before a grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. So maybe Merrick Garland is methodically and quietly gunning for Trump after all.

Most former Republicans view the Reagan years as the good old days. Before the dark times. Those left today in the Republican Party certainly don't care about Reagan, whom they view as too liberal. Most of the oafs left in the Republican Party think they're the real-life version of Billy Batts, the mobster played by Frank Vincent in "Goodfellas." They are faux bullies with no heart, only a head for the fight and no care for anything but the shallowest of victories. They love "owning the libs" and telling them, "Now go get your shine box." That's a great line, but the Republicans never see past that line and neither do most Americans. Billy Batts ended up in the trunk of Henry Hill's car after being beaten, shot and stabbed. It wasn't a good look. Neither is the Republican Party.

But never fear. The Donner Party had a better chance of survival than the current Republicans. Why? Because Marc Short did a lot more than just call out Matt Gaetz on CNN this week.

Short became one of the highest-ranking former members of the Trump administration to testify before a grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Other revelations this week suggest that Attorney General Merrick Garland is methodically and quietly gunning for Donald Trump.

The noose is tightening. This isn't going down easy.

As it turns out, Donald Trump may have accomplished something Gary Hart couldn't. Trump did to the Republican Party what Hart only did to himself.

This would be the part of the story, if you were writing a Hollywood ending, where truth, justice and Captain America (played by Merrick Garland) would prevail. But we are talking about Donald Trump and the Republicans. They're hoping this is a dark comedy or a horror story, and that Soldier Boy and Homelander will prevail.

We have a little more than 100 days left to find out. There's just that much time before the most important election of our lifetime.

Don't look at the miserable miscreants in the Republican Party. Ignore the Democrats eating their own, as usual. Give Garland a chance to do his job.

Right now the question is: What are you going to do about it?

Read more

from Brian Karem on the current state of politics

Link:
With 100 days to go, Republicans are flatlining yet somehow still poised to win - Salon

House Republicans unveiled election legislation likely to serve as the leading response to concerns about the 2020 elections in a GOP majority, taking aim at Zuckerbucks and ballot harvesting while promoting preferred election administration in states.

Titled theAmerican Confidence in Elections Act, the bill announced by House Administration Committee ranking member Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) is largely crafted around the principle that states have the primary role in elections.

That draws contrast to Democrats main election reform bill, H.R. 1, or the For the People Act, that has a long list of sweeping voter reforms and requirements.

The GOP bill establishes a standards board to serve as a best-practices forum, including on mail ballots, signature verification procedures, timely ballot counting and post-election audits.

We dont want to be H.R. 1 2.0. We want something thats going to work, Davis said at a roundtable Wednesday. Weve been able to craft a bill thats reflective of ideas from a very large and diverse set of stakeholders and that has a clear path to passing in the House of Representatives next Congress when Republicans take over the majority.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will be an original co-sponsor of the legislation, Davis said.

The bill imposes a number of requirements to ensure only eligible American citizens vote, including penalizing states ability to receive federal funds for election systems if they allow noncitizen voting in state or local elections. A federal judge last month struck down a New York City law that would have allowed noncitizen residents to vote in city elections, though Republicans have repeatedly pointed to noncitizen voting risks.

A section first introduced by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), co-chair of the Election Integrity Caucus, would prohibit 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations from directly funding election boards.

The provision is a response to GOP uproar about Zuckerbucks, a reference to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pouring millions into a nonprofit that sent money to election boards in 2020. Republicans allege that the money was used for voter communication efforts without ordinary oversight, benefited overwhelmingly Democratic precincts and funded activities that Republicans oppose like ballot drop boxes.

Taking aim at so-called ballot harvesting, the practice of allowing individuals to collect and deliver absentee ballots on behalf of other voters, the bill also prohibits states to use funds on election administration for federal offices unless it includes certain restrictions on who can collect ballots. Only postal employees, family members, household members, caregivers and authorized election officials could collect and transmit ballots for others.

Republican Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab offered an analogy when talking about the need for voter ID during the roundtable: If theres no cops watching the speed on the highway, then theres people breaking the law.

Also at the roundtable was conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell, who participated in a phone call between former President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) in which Trump asked Raffensperger to find enough votes so he could win the state.

Link:
House Republicans reveal election legislation likely to be a priority in a GOP majority - The Hill

Sarah Matthews, a former Trump White House press aide, had plenty of important insights to share during her Jan. 6 committee hearing testimony. Consider, for example, her comments about the then-presidents tweet targeting then-Vice President Mike Pence.

At a time when Pences life was in danger, that tweet was potentially giving the green light to these people, Matthews said. Telling them that what they were doing by entering the Capitol was OK and that they were justified in their anger. He shouldnt have been doing that. He should have told people to go home and condemned the violence that we were seeing.

The Republican staffer also explained that, after seeing Donald Trumps mid-riot anti-Pence tweet, she spoke to then-White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, making the case that the then-president should condemn the violence and disperse the crowd.

As NBC News reported, McEnany agreed and went into the dining room to see Trump, only to return soon after and say that he didnt want to include any mention of peace in a tweet.

CNBC reported that Matthews quickly faced partisan pushback from House Republicans.

The official House Republicans Twitter account called GOP congressional employee Sarah Matthews just another liar and pawn in [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosis witch-hunt during the hearing, where she was testifying. That tweet about Matthews, who had worked as a Trump White House press aide, was soon deleted. So was another House Republicans tweet referring to hearing: This is all heresy.

So, a few things.

First, Sarah Matthews currently works for House Republicans. When the House GOP conference, during the hearing, described her just another liar and pawn, the party was referring to one of their own staffers. (A spokesperson later told Politico the tweet was sent out at the staff level and was not authorized, though Im not sure how much that helps.)

Second, Im going to hope the House GOP meant hearsay, not heresy.

Third, Republicans have been a bit too cavalier in throwing around hearsay in response to the hearings in ways that are legally dubious.

But even putting all of these relevant details aside, these unfortunate and deleted missives from last night served as a timely reminder that (a) House Republicans are still desperate to defend Trump amidst devastating Jan. 6 revelations; and (b) theyre not exactly coming up with grade-A material.

Indeed, it appears House Republicans have been reduced to telling the public not to trust the sworn testimony of other Republicans who worked for Donald Trump some of whom currently work for them.

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."

Go here to see the original:
During Jan. 6 hearing, House Republicans target one of their own - MSNBC

At the session observed by The Atlanta Journal Constitution, trainer Jonny Moseley walked observers through a presentation that included no mention of voting fraud claims but provided detailed instructions on how to handle perceived problems.

A few dozen people attended a training workshop on poll watching that a Republican National Committee staffer conducted recently in Cumming. (Arvin Temkar / arvin.temkar@ajc.com)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

A few dozen people attended a training workshop on poll watching that a Republican National Committee staffer conducted recently in Cumming. (Arvin Temkar / arvin.temkar@ajc.com)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Moseley explicitly instructed the would-be poll watchers not to interact with voters inside or outside the polling site and to avoid confrontations. Instead, they were urged to call a GOP hotline staffed by election lawyers who are trained to intervene.

Do not ever talk to a voter, said Moseley, the RNCs Georgia election integrity director. We dont want any sort of appearance that anyone is trying to influence anyone to vote.

The effort coincides with ongoing turmoil over false claims of election fraud promoted by Trump and his allies. An AJC poll in April found about 40% of GOP voters said they lacked confidence the November elections will be conducted fairly and accurately.

The 2020 presidential election wasnt stolen. Three separate tallies of the roughly 5 million ballots upheld Democrat Joe Bidens narrow victory in Georgia, court challenges by Trump allies were quashed, and bipartisan election officials have vouched for the results.

Republican officials say their effort is already yielding results. The RNC held in-person sessions in more than 30 Georgia counties, and it has trained more than 1,500 poll watchers in the state, Moseley said. About 350 voting-related issues were resolved during the May 24 primary through a party hotline.

Poll watching has long played a crucial role in the voting process. Both parties and their allies have monitored polls in Georgia for decades to ensure workers follow rules and flag attorneys if issues arent resolved.

And the Democratic Party of Georgia, which has been engaged in observer training for decades, has expanded its voting rights initiatives after Republicans adopted a sweeping rewrite of election laws that includes new voter ID requirements and new limitations on ballot drop boxes.

But this is also somewhat new ground for the RNC, which has been blocked from training poll observers since 1982, when a consent decree essentially forced the party to rely on state parties and conservative-leaning groups to train volunteers to monitor voting sites.

After the restriction was lifted in 2018, the RNC recruited thousands of poll observers for the 2020 vote. They drew more attention following the election, however, with unsubstantiated allegations of fraud at polling sites in Georgia.

Johnny Moseley, the Georgia director for election integrity for the Republican National Committee, leads a voter integrity training workshop in Cumming. (Arvin Temkar / arvin.temkar@ajc.com)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Johnny Moseley, the Georgia director for election integrity for the Republican National Committee, leads a voter integrity training workshop in Cumming. (Arvin Temkar / arvin.temkar@ajc.com)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

For example, Republican poll watchers claimed they were told to leave State Farm Arena on election night in 2020, but state investigators found they departed on their own when they saw some election staffers leave the room. A poll watchers claim that he saw a staffer handling ballots incorrectly in Chatham County led to a lawsuit that was quickly dismissed.

At the training session, Moseley focused on how observers can work to ensure election laws are followed without interfering in the process.

They were told to arm themselves with a pen and paper to record any problems they might see because its better to have a short pencil than a long memory.

And they were urged to watch for violations of state law, such as obstructions at the polls or examples of electioneering, which prohibits people from handing out T-shirts or freebies within 150 feet of voting sites and 25 feet of a line of people waiting to cast ballots.

State and local officials see the expanded poll watching efforts as part of a system thats already under the microscope.

Secretary of State Brad Raffenspergers office said the Republican is justifiably proud of Georgias election system.

Anyone who wants to see the nuts and bolts of our voting process is welcome to watch it in action, spokesman Mike Hassinger said.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office is happy to let poll watchers check on Georgia's election system. Anyone who wants to see the nuts and bolts of our voting process is welcome to watch it in action, spokesman Mike Hassinger said. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS)

Credit: TNS

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office is happy to let poll watchers check on Georgia's election system. Anyone who wants to see the nuts and bolts of our voting process is welcome to watch it in action, spokesman Mike Hassinger said. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS)

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

Nancy Boren, the director of elections and voter registration in Muscogee County, said her county boasts a planned, coordinated effort to train poll watchers from both parties after receiving input from elections staff and election board members.

I view it simply as additional eyes and ears on the ground with poll watchers from both major parties participating, she said.

The training session in Cumming attracted both veteran Republican volunteers and newer faces. Among them was John Longshore, a Kennesaw State University student from Cherokee County.

Theres been a lot of finger-pointing and accusations, but Im looking ahead at 2022 and 2024, he said. I wanted to learn more about the legislative changes. This is my way of doing something about it to familiarize myself with whats happening in Georgia.

Kennesaw State University student John Longshore attended a recent training workshop for poll watchers that a Republican National Committee staffer led in Cumming. Theres been a lot of finger-pointing and accusations, but Im looking ahead at 2022 and 2024, Longshore said. I wanted to learn more about the legislative changes. This is my way of doing something about it to familiarize myself with whats happening in Georgia. (Arvin Temkar / arvin.temkar@ajc.com)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Kennesaw State University student John Longshore attended a recent training workshop for poll watchers that a Republican National Committee staffer led in Cumming. Theres been a lot of finger-pointing and accusations, but Im looking ahead at 2022 and 2024, Longshore said. I wanted to learn more about the legislative changes. This is my way of doing something about it to familiarize myself with whats happening in Georgia. (Arvin Temkar / arvin.temkar@ajc.com)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

The Republican National Committee reports that it has trained more than 1,500 poll watchers in Georgia and that its held in-person sessions in more than 30 counties.

Read the rest here:
Inside the RNC's effort to train thousands of poll watchers in Georgia - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) The polls were closed in Iowa for less than 48 hours when South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott was shaking hands and posing for pictures with eastern Iowa Republicans at a Cedar Rapids country club last week.

Scott, one of the many Republicans testing their presidential ambitions, hardly has the state to himself.

At least a half-dozen GOP presidential prospects are planning Iowa visits this summer, forays that are advertised as promoting candidates and the state Republican organization ahead of the fall midterm elections. But in reality, the trips are about building relationships and learning the political geography in the state scheduled to launch the campaign for the party's 2024 nomination.

While potential presidential candidates have dipped into Iowa for more than a year, the next round of visits marks a new phase of the ritual. With Iowa's June 7 primary out of the way, Republicans eyeing the White House can step up their travel and not worry about stepping into the state's intraparty rivalries.

Now that its done, its full-bore," state GOP Chairman Jeff Kauffman said. "Its unfettered.

Beyond Scott, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is expected to visit late this month, and plans to campaign with as many Iowa congressional Republican candidates as she can in a little more than two days.

Haley, who is also the former governor of South Carolina, another early-voting state in the presidential calendar, plans to begin her trip in eastern Iowa on June 29 with first-term Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. She'll also headline a state GOP fundraiser in Dubuque.

Working from the Mississippi Valley westward, she plans to keynote a fundraiser for Gov. Kim Reynolds. Haley will also campaign with Zach Nunn, chosen to face two-term Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne, who is among the most vulnerable House members this year. Haley's still-fluid schedule also includes attending Rep. Randy Feenstra's annual fundraiser in GOP-heavy western Iowa.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who visited several times in 2021, is expected the first week in July to speak at the county GOP dinner in Story County in central Iowa.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has visited Iowa more often than any GOP prospect, is working out details for a late summer return, aides said, likely timed to the Iowa State Fair in August, a storied draw for would-be candidates.

Pompeo did endorse Nunn before the primary, a nod to their shared military experience, Pompeo aides said.

The plans also come in light of the Republican National Committee's unanimous decision in April to open the 2024 presidential selection sequence in Iowa, a question still hanging over Iowa Democrats.

In 2020, a smartphone app designed to calculate and report the Democratic caucuses results failed, prompting a telephone backlog that prevented the party from reporting final results for nearly a week after the Feb. 3 contest. The Associated Press announced it was unable to declare a winner after irregularities and inconsistencies marred the results.

Stripped of their automatic special status in April, Iowa Democrats are trying to salvage their leadoff spot with a plan to allow early participation by mail and streamline the sometimes time-consuming process.

With Joe Biden in the White House, Democrats with White House ambitions have largely kept their distance from Iowa.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who won the 2016 caucuses and was the final candidate to drop from the 2020 Democratic contest, was in southeastern Iowa Friday to rally support for United Auto Workers striking at a CNH agricultural machinery plant. Sanders plans, which also included a stop in southeastern Wisconsin, sparked questions about whether the 80-year-old has a third White House bid in mind. He has said he wouldnt challenge Biden if the president sought reelection, and Sanders advisers said there had been no stated changes in his plans.

On the GOP side, Scott's return was not only timely. It reflected the dual aims of these early appearances, part introduction and part demonstration of support for the local party.

The 56-year-old sketched his childhood as one influenced by grandparents who helped raise him. Of his grandfather, Scott said, For a guy who picked cotton in the 1920s, he lived long enough to watch me pick out a seat in the United States Congress.

Sprinkled with lighthearted contrasts of his Southern home and Midwestern hosts, Scott also wasted no time noting he had contributed money from his campaign fundraising account to Iowa Republican candidates, including targeted eastern Iowa GOP House freshmen members Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson.

It's going to take us all pulling together," he told a table of about 10 eating barbecue sandwiches, as he worked the dining room before the event.

Even before Scott's arrival, former Vice President Mike Pence was on the phone that day to Chairman Kauffman and Steve Scheffler, Iowa's Republican National Committeeman, to talk about the primaries and the summer ahead, they said.

Pence was planning a summer trip to Iowa, though the date was not yet confirmed, a senior aide to the former vice president said.

Notably missing from the Iowa travel schedule is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, among the most often mentioned rising national Republican figures in conversations with Iowa party activists this year. DeSantis' priority is running for reelection this year, aides said.

I love DeSantis, said Emma Aquino-Nemecek, a Linn County Republican Central Committee member who attended the Tim Scott event. Can you imagine if he comes? He would pack the place."

DeSantis got within shouting distance of Iowa in September, when he helped headline a fundraiser for Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, but he did not cross the Missouri River to touch Iowa soil.

Even more notably missing from the summer schedule so far is former President Donald Trump, who staged a massive rally in Des Moines last year at the Iowa state fairgrounds, and has endorsed several Iowa Republicans.

Kauffman said he had not heard from Trumps team. Likewise, Iowa operatives for Trump did not return messages.

Still, Trump sent signals to Iowa Republicans by paying for print ads in the program circulated at the Iowa Republican Partys state convention Saturday, as did Scott, Pompeo and Florida Sen. Rick Scott.

Scheffler said non-Trump Republicans may feel emboldened in light of Georgia Republicans' resounding rejection in last month's primary elections of the former president's endorsed candidate for governor.

Gov. Brian Kemp won the GOP primary comfortably over David Perdue, whom the former president endorsed after Trump narrowly lost Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, claiming without evidence the results were invalid due to rampant voter fraud.

The speed bump for Trump's influence in the primary elections could signal to other 2024 prospects that the former president is not invincible, Scheffler said.

If Trump keeps making these endorsements and they go south, like he did in Georgia, who knows?" Scheffler said.

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