与...的关系里克·克莱因
距离中期选举还有四个月，几乎所有的事情都在破坏共和党的道路——从民调到议题集，甚至是让民主党人相互争论而不是与寻求将他们赶下台的政党争论的内斗。
唐纳德·特朗普再次出场。这位前总统即将迎来另一个或三个时刻——有些是他选择的方式，有些是他无法控制的方式。
周五将是特朗普为青睐的候选人竞选的第一个背靠背的日子，首先是在内华达州，然后是周六在阿拉斯加州。就在几个小时前，特朗普的前白宫法律顾问帕特·西波尔隆(Pat Cipollone)将于1月6日在众议院委员会面前宣誓，并在下周举行的下一轮公开听证会之前公开。
这可能是全年最重要的一系列初选之前发生的，特朗普希望在一系列竞选中消灭共和党的抵抗余烬。这场竞选的高潮将是努力在8月16日的初选中击败1月6日委员会副主席、怀俄明州共和党众议员利兹·切尼。
尽管新的头条新闻质疑特朗普在佐治亚州和宾夕法尼亚州认可的候选人的当选资格，但他正在亚利桑那州加入新的战斗，与亚利桑那州州长道格·杜西(Doug Ducey)认可的候选人进行竞争。
关于这位前总统将尽快宣布再次竞选计划的猜测持续升温。但不管这种情况是否会发生，特朗普现在运行的方式——除了他的团队运行的方式——对共和党来说挥之不去。
佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯对阳光之州11月选举的影响将超越他在选票上的名字。
正在竞选连任的德桑蒂斯宣布了他的人选，来管理他的旨在调查投票犯罪的机构。前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在2020年大选中失利后，包括德桑蒂斯在内的共和党人提出了虚假的欺诈指控，促使该机构成立。没有证据表明2020年的选举存在大范围的舞弊。
德桑蒂斯已经任命前州检察官和布劳沃德县选举监督员皮特·安东纳奇担任这一职务。他将执掌选举犯罪和安全办公室，该办公室将雇用30多名员工，预算为350万美元，尽管德桑蒂斯此前承认，2020年佛罗里达州几乎没有选民欺诈事件。
一些人认为德桑蒂斯此举不合常规，他正在参与学校董事会的竞争。
6月，他推出了一波学校董事会的支持。这些支持是在候选人填写了一份关于州长有争议的教育议程的调查后做出的。调查结束时，候选人承诺“与罗恩·德桑蒂斯站在一起”，除其他外，“将觉醒的性别意识形态排除在学校之外”，“拒绝使用批判性种族理论”，“教育，而不是灌输。”
“我们需要强有力的当地学校董事会成员，他们致力于推进我们把学生放在第一位和保护家长权利的议程，”德桑蒂斯在推特上说。
巩固这种影响力不仅对德桑蒂斯的中期选举至关重要，而且对他可能走向2024年总统竞选也很重要。
在宾夕法尼亚州备受瞩目的初选近两个月之后，在美国最热门的竞选之一中，参议院候选人基本上已经将他们的竞选活动从小道上转移到了网上。
在整个夏季的政治平静期，民主党候选人副州长约翰·费特曼(John Fetterman)和共和党候选人穆罕默德·奥兹(Mehmet Oz)博士(Dr. Mehmet Oz)通过缩小各自的政策重点，同时在社交媒体上相互攻击，度过了大选的初始阶段。
虽然还不清楚费特曼在5月份中风后何时会重返竞选活动，但他仍然在推特上保持活跃，不断有模因和回归抨击奥兹的居留身份。
最新的举措是在周三回应奥兹在推特上发布的一段视频，他在视频中批评费城市长吉姆·肯尼(Jim Kenney)在该州首府周末发生枪击事件后的新闻发布会上说，当他不再是市长时，他会“很高兴”。
不久之后，肯尼在一份声明中收回了这句话当地新闻采访并将其归因于表达对暴力事件的不满。
在呼吁肯尼辞职的同时，奥兹还抨击了他的对手，称“肯尼、[地方检察官]克拉斯纳和约翰·费特曼的极左意识形态将罪犯置于社区、受害者和我们所有人的安全之上。”Oz没有提到民主党州长候选人Josh Shapiro，他最近赢得了几位宾夕法尼亚州共和党人对共和党候选人Doug Mastriano的支持。
“专业提示:不要在你新泽西州的豪宅里为你的PA参议院竞选拍摄广告，”费特曼在一条推文中回击道，旁边是2020年杂志专题新泽西州Cliffside Park医生巡回演出的照片。
27.这是有信心的美国人的百分比在盖洛普经常询问的14个机构中这是自1979年盖洛普开始调查以来，公众对公共机构信任度的最低水平。作为“五·三八”的阿米莉亚·汤姆森·德沃和佐哈·卡马尔写道对于民主来说，这可能是一个真正的问题，因为对政府机构缺乏信任会滋生一系列问题，从对选举和民选官员的不信任到暴力。
GOP braces for more Trumpy moments ahead: The Note
The TAKE with Rick Klein
Four months to the day from the midterms, close to everything is breaking Republicans' way -- from polling to the issue set, and even the infighting that leaves Democrats arguing with each other instead of with the party looking to oust them from power.
Enter, again, Donald Trump. The former president is about to have another moment or three -- some in ways he is choosing, others in ways he can't control.
Friday will bring the first of back-to-back days where Trump will be campaigning for favored candidates, first in Nevada and then Saturday in Alaska. Just hours earlier, Trump's former White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, will be under oath and on camera in front of the House Jan. 6 committee, ahead of the next round of public hearings next week.
That plays out ahead of what might be the most consequential series of primary contests all year, where Trump is looking to stamp out embers of Republican resistance across a range of races. The stretch of races will culminate in efforts to defeat Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. -- the vice chairman of the Jan. 6 committee -- in her Aug. 16 primary.
Even as new headlines call into question the electability of Trump's endorsed candidates in Georgia and Pennsylvania, he's joining new fights in Arizona that pit him against the endorsed candidate of Gov. Doug Ducey, R-Ariz.
Speculation continues to run strong that the former president will announce plans to run again sooner rather than later. But whether that happens or not, the ways that Trump is running now -- in addition to what his team is running from -- linger for the Republican Party.
The influence of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on November's elections in the Sunshine State will extend beyond his name on the ballot.
DeSantis, who is running for reelection, announced his pick to run his agency designed to investigate voting crimes. The agency's creation was spurred by false claims of fraud espoused by Republicans, including DeSantis, following former President Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 election. There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
DeSantis has tapped former state prosecutor and Broward County elections supervisor Pete Antonacci for the job. He'll helm the Office of Election Crimes and Security, which will employ more than 30 people and have a budget of $3.5 million, despite DeSantis' previous acknowledgment that there were few instances of voter fraud in Florida in 2020.
In a move some consider unorthodox, DeSantis is weighing in on school board races.
In June, he rolled out a wave of school board endorsements. Those endorsements came after candidates filled out a survey about the governor's controversial agenda on education. The survey concluded with a pledge for candidates to "stand with Ron DeSantis" and among other things, "keep woke gender ideology out of schools," "reject the use of critical race theory" and "educate, not indoctrinate."
"We need strong local school board members who are committed to advancing our agenda to put students first and protect parents' rights," DeSantis said on Twitter.
Cementing that influence will not only be important for DeSantis through the midterms but also as he potentially charts his course toward a 2024 presidential run.
Nearly two months after Pennsylvania's high-profile primary elections, Senate candidates in one of the nation's top-billed contests have largely taken their campaigning off the trail and online.
Throughout the summer political lull, Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz have navigated the initial stages of the general election by narrowing their respective policy focuses while trading jabs on social media.
Although it remains unclear when Fetterman will physically return to the campaign trail after suffering a stroke in May, he's remained active on Twitter with a steady stream of memes and comebacks blasting Oz over his residency status.
The latest move came on Wednesday in response to a video Oz tweeted, in which he criticized Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney for saying he will "be happy" when he is no longer mayor during a press conference following a shooting in the state's capital over the holiday weekend.
Soon after, Kenney walked back the statement in a local news interview and attributed it to expressing frustration at the violent event.
While calling for Kenney's resignation, Oz also took a swipe at his opponent, saying, "The far-left ideology of Kenney, [District Attorney] Krasner and John Fetterman, put criminals ahead of the community, victims and all of our safety." Oz did not mention Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro, who recently earned the backing of several Pennsylvania Republicans over GOP candidate Doug Mastriano.
"Pro tip: don't film an ad for your PA senate campaign from your mansion in New Jersey," Fetterman fired back in a tweet posted alongside photos from a 2020 magazine feature of the doctor's Cliffside Park, N.J., home tour.
27. That's the percentage of Americans who have confidence in the 14 institutions that Gallup regularly asks about -- the lowest level of reported trust in institutions since Gallup began the survey in 1979. And as FiveThirtyEight's Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Zoha Qamar write, this could be a real problem for democracy, as a lack of trust in government institutions can breed a whole host of problems, ranging from distrust in our elections and elected officials, to violence.
