(The Atlantic) The views of Nikki Haley Republicans—pro-Ukraine, pro-Israel, pro-market—reflect all those things that Republicans used to think in that bygone era when Reagans and Bushes and Romneys roamed the earth. But few feel any emotional bond to Haley. If she gives a Ted Kennedy style “dream shall never die” speech at the Republican convention in Milwaukee this summer, they won’t tear up. They’ll wonder what the hell she imagines she’s talking about. Most of her supporters voted for Haley as a way to stop Trump. Haley’s announcement today that she intends to vote for Trump won’t raise their opinion of him, it will only lower their opinion of her.

(Raw Story) A furious former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) Wednesday slammed House Republicans for "blindly" following former President Donald Trump after he spread a debunked conspiracy theory she warned could provoke violence. Cheney took to X Wednesday afternoon to condemn Trump for spreading the conspiracy theory that President Joe Biden had planned to assassinate him — a claim repeatedly debunked by political experts and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials. "Donald Trump is unstable and dangerous," Cheney wrote. "He knows this is a lie that could again provoke violence from those who blindly follow him." "You know Trump is unfit," Cheney wrote. "When will you put aside your cowardice and stand up for what you know is right?"

(Political Wire) “Senate Republicans are vowing to block a bipartisan border security deal from moving forward on the floor, three months after Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell hailed it as a ‘huge success,’ reflecting the rising partisan tensions of an election year,” The Hill reports.g the rising partisan tensions of an election year,” The Hill reports.

(NY Times) The Ohio General Assembly adjourned on Wednesday without addressing an issue that the state’s top elections official said would prevent President Biden from being placed on the ballot there, escalating a partisan clash that could result in the president not being on the ballot in all 50 states in November. Frank LaRose, the Republican secretary of state, has said that he plans to exclude Mr. Biden from the ballot because he will be officially nominated after a deadline for certifying presidential nominees on the ballot.

(Salon) If he's elected president, Donald Trump will try to take away your birth control. We know this because he spent his first term in office attacking contraception access from many angles and, in many cases, successfully cutting people off from this necessary health care. His efforts were so dogged, it likely contributed to the alarming national outbreak of syphilis the country is experiencing. The plain facts need to be stated up front because right now there's a "controversy" over whether Trump has designs on taking away birth control. Trump, in his usual manner, is fueling this dispute with his favorite tactic: lying.

(The Guardian) A powerful, rightwing lobbying group is promoting a hard-right policy agenda and cementing ties between the Republican party and the far right at at least 21 events involving senators, members of Congress, and both junior and senior political aides, documents obtained by the Guardian show. The documents offer previously unreported details of Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) trainings and “bootcamps” for congressional staff at CPI’s sprawling Maryland ranch, and lavish, star-studded retreats for members of Congress – mostly members of the far-right Freedom caucus – at a string of Florida resorts.

(Popular Info) Last Saturday, the Minnesota Republican Party formally endorsed Royce White, a former NBA basketball player, to be the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. White was introduced at the Minnesota GOP convention by Steve Bannon, the far-right polemicist and former Trump advisor. White defended Ye (formerly Kanye West) after the rapper praised Hitler in 2022. At the time, White criticized Jews for focusing on the Holocaust "to provide a victimhood cover for their own corrupt practices." White later praised Ye for speaking out against "the Jewish lobby." White also asserted that "[t]here is a group of Jewish elite, that tends to be secular in belief and corrupt in political practice." White has described Israel as "the lynchpin of the New World Order," a conspiracy theory that posits that elites are conspiring to create a global totalitarian government.

(The American Prospect) Daniel Perry, who strongly opposed the nationwide protest movement against racism and police violence, and posted violent fantasies about murdering leftists and minorities on social media, ran a red light and drove into a crowd of protesters in Austin in July 2020. He shot and killed Foster, a white Army veteran who was legally carrying an assault rifle, after Foster approached his car. Abbott overturned a jury verdict that determined Perry had not fired his gun legally, even under Texas’s shoot-first self-defense regime, and without any new findings of fact nor new analysis that calls that verdict into question. Indeed, the evidence against Foster was clear-cut, and showed that he was a disturbed person who openly planned the killing beforehand, motivated by his racism and violent rhetoric against peaceful protesters by Republicans and former president Donald Trump.

(MSNBC) The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, America’s premier “anti-woke warrior,” seems to have set its sights on a new target: color displays on Florida’s bridges. As part of DeSantis’ “Freedom Summer” initiative, the state’s transportation secretary, Jared W. Perdue, announced earlier this month that bridges in the state will have no choice but to be illuminated in red, white and blue from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Florida’s Department of Transportation, which has purview over the state’s bridges, issued the order mandating the strict color display after the chair of the Manatee County Commission objected to changing the lights to honor Pride Month and Gun Violence Awareness Day, the Tampa Bay Times reported.