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☆ DeSantis Relied Heavily on Big Donors in Initial Money Haul
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Shane Goldmacher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Tim Tagaris, a Democratic digital strategist who oversaw the Sanders fund-raising operation in 2020, called the number of DeSantis donors surprisingly small. She raised $1.5 million that day — which indicates just how many bigger checks Mr. DeSantis received. The $8.2 million opening total that Mr. DeSantis has claimed remains impressive. That figure was never expected to be a problem for Mr. DeSantis. The DeSantis team made no secret that it was soliciting big money to coincide with his kickoff.

Persons: Tim Tagaris, Sanders, Tagaris, Eric Wilson, ”, Wilson, Kamala Harris, DeSantis, Biden, DeSantis can’t, Trump, Donald J Organizations: Democratic, Republican, Trump, Center for Campaign, PAC, Mr, Republican National Committee Locations: Miami, Florida

[1/2] Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus speaks to the audience before the start of the Republican U.S. presidential candidates debate sponsored by CNN at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, March 10, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo AllegriWASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - The Republican National Committee on Friday announced relatively stringent limits on who can participate in the first 2024 presidential primary debate, posing a potential challenge for several long-shot contenders. The RNC, the Republican Party's governing body, will also require all attendees to support the eventual Republican nominee, the body said on Friday. The rules are almost certain to limit the number of candidates on the debate stage relative to previous election cycles. During the 2016 Republican presidential nominating process, for instance, some 17 candidates participated in the first debate.

Persons: Reince Priebus, Carlo Allegri WASHINGTON, Donald Trump, Doug Burgum, Perry Johnson, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Gram Slattery, Nathan Layne, Colleen Jenkins, Marguerita Choy Organizations: Republican National, Republican U.S, CNN, University of Miami, REUTERS, Republican National Committee, RNC, Republican, North Dakota, South Carolina, Trump, Thomson Locations: Miami , Florida, Milwaukee, Iowa , New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, North, Trump , Florida

☆ R.N.C. Rules for First Debate Pose Challenge for Underfunded Candidates
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Katie Glueck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Republican National Committee on Friday laid out its criteria for candidates to qualify for the first Republican presidential primary debate, establishing a key fund-raising threshold and requiring candidates to pledge to support the eventual party nominee. A second debate could be held on Aug. 24 if enough candidates qualify, the R.N.C. The candidates must also have a minimum of 40,000 unique donors to their campaign, with at least 200 unique donors per state or territory, in 20 states and territories, according to the committee. The 40,000-donor debate threshold is likely to prove a consequential and costly barrier to some underfunded candidates. Republican campaigns had already been told informally about the criteria, and some were racing to ensure they had enough donors.

Organizations: Republican National Committee, Republican Locations: Milwaukee

☆ Trump plans 2024 fundraising swing from Georgia to his N.J. golf course as he calls on his bundlers to raise up to $1 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis entered the primary and managed to raise just over $8 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign, according to his team. The Trump campaign is asking bundlers to raise up to $1 million, according to a sign-up form that allows fundraisers to choose a bundler program. A campaign bundler voluntarily helps raise money for their desired candidate running for office through phone calls or other forms of outreach. The invite asks donors to give $23,200, with the funds going toward the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee. The June 13 fundraiser calls to raise or give $100,000 for the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee.

Persons: Donald Trump, LIV, Ron DeSantis, Trump, bundlers, Ultra MAGA, bundler, Steve Schwarzman, president's, DeSantis, Donald J Organizations: Trump National Golf Club, CNBC, Trump, Florida Gov, Ultra, Team Trump, Blackstone, Capitol, Republican Party, Republican, Trump Save America, Save, Republican National Committee Locations: Sterling , Virginia, Georgia, New Jersey, Miami, Save America, Michigan, Bedminster , New Jersey

loadingWhile major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have made efforts to prohibit and remove deepfakes, their effectiveness at policing such content varies. In total, about 500,000 video and voice deepfakes will be shared on social media sites globally in 2023, DeepMedia estimates. Jon Smith, Republican chair for Michigan's 5th Congressional district, is holding several educational meetings so his allies can learn to use AI for social media and ad generation. Political consultancies are also seeking to harness AI, further muddying the line between real and unreal. Democratic polling and strategy group Honan Strategy Group is meanwhile trying to develop an AI survey bot.

☆ Opinion: The ultimate ‘Succession’ lesson
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Walt Handlesman/Tribune Content AgencyIn a much more ominous vein, the theme of survival dominates the HBO show “Succession,” which is coming to an end Sunday. She’s so caught up in beating her brothers at the succession game that she can’t see this baby as anything but an obstacle.”“Ultimately, this storyline is a perfect encapsulation of the larger tragedy that is ‘Succession,’” Bodenheimer added. The contest for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination heated up last week with the official entry of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former President Donald Trump’s strongest challenger in the polls.

☆ Opinion: Trump allies change 2024 GOP primary rules to help the former president
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( John | Opinion John Avlon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

John Avlon CNNRepublicans could try to stop Trump from seizing their presidential nomination with one simple reform – increasing proportional representation in the primary process. In fact, the number of GOP primary states that are winner take all increased from seven to 17 between the 2016 and 2020 election, according to an analysis by Gregory Korte at Bloomberg. Let’s say Trump wins 35% of the primary vote in South Carolina – with home staters Scott and former Gov. A supermajority of South Carolina Republican primary voters in this scenario would have voted for someone other than Trump to be their party’s nominee. Months before the first primary vote is cast, polls show that 44% of Republicans don’t even want the former president to run again.

Persons: John Avlon, “, South Carolina Sen, Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, Trump, Gregory Korte, staters Scott, Nikki Haley, –, don’t, Louisiana Sen, Bill Cassidy, aren’t Organizations: CNN, Republican, South, Florida Gov, Republican Party, Republican National Committee, John Avlon CNN Republicans, Bloomberg, Trump, South Carolina –, South Carolina Republican, GOP, CNN Sunday, Twitter, Facebook Locations: “ Lincoln, South Carolina, Cleveland, Louisiana

☆ Ron DeSantis lines up business leaders to raise money for 2024 presidential run
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

They'll receive briefings from campaign staff and call around to raise money for the campaign, NBC News reported. Ron DeSantis has assembled a team of wealthy business leaders to help raise money for his presidential campaign, according to a partial list of fundraisers provided by a senior political official with the Florida Republican. Lambert served on Trump's Inaugural Committee and was a national finance chair for Trump's successful 2016 campaign for president, according to his website. Records show that Lambert has also donated to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC and Trump's campaign. Jay Zeidman, a managing partner at health care investment firm Altitude Ventures, is also listed as a DeSantis campaign fundraiser.

Persons: They'll, DeSantis, Donald Trump's, David Horowitz, Horowitz, Elon Musk, Ron DeSantis, Trump's, Hal Lambert, Lambert, Trump, Jay Zeidman, Zeidman, Jeb Bush's, Bush's, George P, Bush, Frank Mermoud, Orpheus, Mermoud Organizations: NBC News, GOP, Horowitz Group, CNBC, Florida Republican, White, Republican National Committee, MAGA, Ron DeSantis PAC, Ventures, Florida Gov, New York Times, Records Locations: Miami, California, Florida

But he'll stay home on Election Day should Trump win his party's nomination to take on Joe Biden in 2024. In Pennsylvania and Michigan, the size of the Ukrainian-American community outstrips Trump's margin of victory in 2016, according to the analysis. During a CNN town hall last week, Trump refused to say if he wanted Ukraine to win its war with Russia, when questioned about the conflict. Neither politician responded to requests for comments about the Ukraine war, nor did the Republican National Committee. Democratic U.S. Representative Susan Wild, who won Stawnyczyj's district by less than 5,000 votes in 2022, said that courting the Ukrainian-American vote would be crucial.

☆ Fact Check-Derogatory chant digitally added to video of Biden at graduation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

(Warning: this article contains profanity that some readers may find offensive)A clip of U.S. President Joe Biden attending his granddaughter Maisy Biden’s May 15 graduation at the University of Pennsylvania is circulating with altered audio of anti-Biden chants. A tweet sharing the altered clip has been viewed 1.1 million times at the time of writing (here). The crowd in the edited clip can be heard chanting “fuck Joe Biden.” However, no such chant can be heard in the original raw pool video available to media outlets, including Reuters, and a Reuters witness present at the scene heard no such chanting. Similar clips of the raw video lacking the added chant can be viewed on Twitter, where they were published by the Voice of America’s Chinese-language account (here) and by RNC Research, a Twitter handle that describes itself as “managed by the Republican National Committee” (here) (here). Anti-Biden chants have been digitally added to raw footage of President Joe Biden attending his granddaughter’s graduation at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ambassador and South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has walked a long and windy road when it comes to her one-time boss, former President Donald Trump. DeSantis’ announcement nears: NBC News’ Dasha Burns reports that Florida Republican Gov. And the New York Times reports DeSantis has been telling donors that out of the three “credible” candidates for president (Trump, himself and President Biden), only he and Biden can win. Raising eyebrows: Virginia GOP Gov.

☆ Court tosses defamation lawsuit against the Daily Beast over an article that destroyed Gawker 2.0
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A defamation lawsuit against The Daily Beast was dismissed by a New York appeals court. A New York appeals court this week dismissed a defamation lawsuit against The Daily Beast over an article that led to the implosion of Gawker's short-lived second iteration. The Daily Beast article in question, written by Maxwell Tani, detailed Bustle Digital Group's failed attempt to revive Gawker, a gossipy media site. According to The Daily Beast report, the site's only two writers quit in frustration with Griffith's comments about diversity in the workplace. The litigation bounced around in court for years before landing in front of a New York state appeals court.

Leading AI developers, including Anthropic, Google, Hugging Face, NVIDIA Corp (NVDA.O), OpenAI, and Stability AI, will participate in a public evaluation of their AI systems. Shortly after Biden announced his reelection bid, the Republican National Committee produced a video featuring a dystopian future during a second Biden term, which was built entirely with AI imagery. Such political ads are expected to become more common as AI technology proliferates. In February, Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to eliminate bias in their AI use. The Biden administration has also released an AI Bill of Rights and a risk management framework.

☆ Trump's Senate backers are fine with him skipping 2024 primary debates: 'Most of it's for entertainment anyway'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Trump is threatening to skip 2024 primary debates, and his Senate backers are just fine with that. In brief interviews with Insider at the Capitol on Tuesday, some of the 11 Republican senators who've endorsed Trump backed him up on those arguments. He famously skipped a primary debate before the 2016 Iowa caucus, allowing other candidates to criticize him without him being able to respond. Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, announced in April that the first GOP primary debate would be held in August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On Sunday, when asked about Trump's threat to skip the debates, she said simply that it was "his choice."

☆ Top Republicans Balk at WinRed’s Plan to Charge More for Online Donations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Shane Goldmacher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A battle over a threatened price increase has exposed growing tensions between top Republican Party officials and the company with a virtual monopoly on processing Republican campaign contributions online. Party leaders have risen up in opposition to the plan to raise prices, which would siphon millions of dollars from G.O.P. campaigns less than 20 months after the company, WinRed, had said its finances were robust enough to forego an extra fee on every transaction. Mr. Lansing’s company, a private for-profit firm responsible for processing almost all online Republican political donations, charges 3.94 percent of almost every donation made online. But he said it wasn’t enough, citing an unforeseen slowdown in online G.O.P.

☆ Will Donald Trump Agree to Any Debates?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( John Mccormick | Alex Leary | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former President Donald Trump has a history of injecting chaos into the debate tradition. Photo: justin lane/ShutterstockDonald Trump is threatening to skip the first GOP primary debates, raising the prospects for messy negotiations and drama as the Republican National Committee seeks to tame internal divisions, treat a growing field of 2024 candidates equally and manage the demands of a man who helps drive the party’s grass-roots fundraising. The former president, who has a history of injecting chaos into the longtime tradition of candidate face-offs, asserted his front-runner status this week in objecting to the first two scheduled debates.

☆ Trump suggested he won't attend a GOP presidential debate because the venue's board chair publishes the Washington Post. But he took part in the same debate in 2015.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Donald Trump suggested he might not attend a GOP presidential debate at the Reagan Library. On Truth Social, Trump criticized the venue's board chair, who publishes the Washington Post. But, Trump participated in a debate at the same location, with the same board chair, back in 2015. But, despite his misgivings about Ryan's role on the board, Trump did participate in a previous GOP presidential debate at the Reagan Library in 2015. It's unclear if Trump actually plans to skip the Reagan Library debate, the date of which has not yet been announced.

☆ New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu says Trump is 'wimping out' by suggesting that he may skip GOP presidential primary debates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Chris Sununu suggested Trump was "wimping out" by possibly skipping debates. The former president suggested that he may not attend some or all of the GOP presidential debates. Chris Sununu blasted Donald Trump on Wednesday after the former president strongly suggested that he may skip GOP presidential primary debates. "I mean, we're having debates, but Trump says he ain't showing up," Sununu told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. It is true that Ryan leads the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, which operates the museum that will host the debate.

☆ Montana's House just voted to censure its first openly transgender lawmaker after protests and days of not letting her speak
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Montana House of Representatives voted to censure its first transgender legislator. State Rep. Zooey Zephyr was censured days after protestors interrupted the legislature because the House speaker wouldn't recognize her on the floor. In doing so, Zephyr will not be allowed on the House floor or gallery for the remainder of the legislative session. State Rep. SJ Howell, a Democratic legislator who is nonbinary, spoke in support of Zephyr on Wednesday and said the protests on Monday were unsurprising. Now, after Zephyr's censure, a similar problem could occur for Montana Republicans as Zephyr increasingly gets placed into the spotlight.

Closely watched for clues as to what shape Biden's 2024 presidential re-election campaign will take, the video released on Tuesday suggests he will warn Republicans are threatening "bedrock freedoms." "Freedom - personal freedom - is fundamental to who we are as Americans," Biden says in the three-minute video. Previewing their own likely campaign messaging, Republicans responded with a video that offered a dystopian vision of what a second Biden term would entail, and asks "What if the weakest president we ever had was reelected?" The Republican National Committee's "Beat Biden" video is presented as a fantasy newscast, one in which San Francisco is closed because of "escalating crime and fentanyl crisis." "The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer,” Biden says.

A series of upcoming challenges, from the ongoing war in Ukraine to a still-uncertain economy, could provide hurdles to Biden’s reelection. The Washington beltway event may be indicative of what’s to come for the Biden reelection campaign strategy. “Just like four years ago—I’m off to teach and Joe’s launched his (re-election) campaign! Obama held his first reelection campaign rally in May 2012, 13 months after announcing his bid for a second term. The wait for a Biden reelection rally could be just as long.

☆ Tucker Carlson's texts from the Dominion lawsuit reveal the real Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | Rebecca Zisser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Private texts reveal incredible detail about Fox News' inner workings. Among the messages is a thread where Tucker Carlson privately bashes Trump. Top Fox News hosts, including Tucker Carlson, privately insulted Chris Wallace and hatched a plot for a rebellion — November, 16, 2020. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues, including then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, were spared. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues such as then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace were spared.

☆ Abortion Surges to the Center of the 2024 Campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Katie Glueck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“In 2022, a lot of Republican candidates took their D.C. consultants’ bad advice to ignore the subject,” she said in a speech. Nicole McCleskey, a Republican pollster who worked for the successful re-election campaign of Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa last year, pointed to Ms. Reynolds, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia as examples of leaders who embraced tight abortion restrictions but were not defined by that issue alone. All three swept to comfortable victories in states that often lean right, but are not the nation’s most conservative states.

Republicans in conservative states have sought to balance pressure from their base to place more restrictions on abortion with broader support for the right to end a pregnancy. Public support for legal abortion has climbed to 65 percent this year from 55 percent in 2010, according to recent polling from the Public Religion Research Institute. Majorities of residents in 43 states say that abortion should be legal in most cases. Around 63 percent of Republicans said abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, according to the PRRI poll. “What Republicans need to do is get to a place where they talk less about the extremes.”

☆ Fox News settles Dominion's defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million over election conspiracy theories just as the trial is about to start
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Fox News settled Dominion's defamation lawsuit over election conspiracy theories for $787.5 million. WILMINGTON, Delaware — Fox News settled Dominion Voting Systems's blockbuster defamation lawsuit just as it was about to go to trial, agreeing to pay it $787.5 million. In a press conference after Davis announced the settlement, Dominion CEO John Poulos criticized Fox for broadcasting lies about the company. Dominion first filed its lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., in March 2021. Representatives of Fox News arrive at the justice center for the Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against Fox News, in Wilmington, Delaware.

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