Red Wine & Blue

IDK if the tag on this is true or not - whether the NC Republicans deleted this file. But would it surprise anyone if they did?

GOP Fuckery

The question is, Why?

Social Darwinism is one answer, but again - Why?

If they're counting on AI to take up the slack created by horrendously shitty economic policy that puts millions out of work, I think they're in for a rude surprise.

First because AI is not all it's cracked up to be. It's already beginning to eat itself, as we get more and more stories about how it's "learning" from the material it puts out, and that has caused it to "hallucinate", often churning out product that's way off the mark, if not pure fantasy.

Plus it's a resource hog - especially where water is concerned. Gee, I wonder if that could be a limiting factor in light of a pending global shortage of fresh water due to pollution, and drought driven by climate change.

Second, people - Americans in particular - aren't historically shown to just hang out down on the street corner while their government fucks them with their pants on. No Kings isn't just a bunch of loonies in frog costumes, and purple-haired baristas, and nostalgic Boomers larking about on random Saturdays.

Even the kind of unprecedented Money-n-Power these wannabe plutocrats have doesn't make them bulletproof - metaphorically or otherwise.

I prefer the Gandhi approach, but there's a bit of Luigi in all of us.

Anyway, Republicans are ignorantly fucking with things better left to people who actually know what the fuck they're doing.

Today's Robert

"... and if the lights go out for a while, fuck it. So be it. The truth shines brightest in the dark anyway."

Jon Stewart

Tried-n-true. Like one of their favorite J6 myths about how the Dems attacked the Capitol in order to prevent the certification of an election their guy won.

Daft motherfuckers.

Stalling

It's Trump's favorite play. Use every trick in the book to push your responsibilities out - to buy time, hoping people will stop thinking about it, or that somebody will come up with some bullshit that gets you off the hook.

Today's Belle

Call now

202-224-3121

Keep your grubby little fingers

off my Social Security

Overheard

For literally decades, Republicans have blocked legislation for:

• Paid sick leave
• Paid family and medical leave
• Universal childcare
• Universal pre-K
• Expanded child tax credit
• Programs to support prenatal, maternal, and reproductive health

Stop wondering why so many people want fewer children.

Thru The Back Door

Trump's fuckery is unlimited.

Every time we think it can't get worse,

he makes it worse.

There is no bottom.

But anyway -

Project 2025 is basically a plan to re-jigger the executive branch, in service of pushing hard for The Unitary Executive - which the wingnuts have been slavering over for decades.

Two things come to mind whenever I look at what President Musk and his frontman Trump have been doing the last 7 weeks.

First, it seems clear to me that the DOGE nonsense is at least partly about bringing the Line Item Veto back into play. This has been a major hobby horse for "conservatives" as far back as US Grant. Then Nixon's impoundment antics prompted legislation to outlaw that shit, and it popped up big in the Reagan years. They got Clinton to sign on for it in the mid-90s, but it got knocked down by SCOTUS in just a few years.

So it looks a lot like DOGE is an attempt to bring it in thru the back door.

Second, another bit they're trying to sneak in on us is the whole Schedule F thing - where they fire a huge number of career federal workers, and then hire (ie: appoint) people who are sufficiently loyal to Project 2025's ideology and objectives - where the ideological loyalty is disguised as loyalty to Trump.

All this shit is classic Republican fuckery on steroids.

1. Fuck something up
2. Wait for people to feel the pain, and start to push back
3. Bring in the changes you wanted to make all along, "per the mandate of the people"

Granted, government needs to work better - nobody disputes that. But only a very few obscenely wealthy assholes want to remake the whole thing so it fits the standard Animal Instincts Business Model.

The Rundown

The Republican freakazoids are busy busy busy.

Rhyming History

In the Upside Down

Dateline Washington, 1940:

Speaker of The House Sam Rayburn today called on Winston Churchill to resign, demanded the UK cede Scotland to Germany, and the US halt Lend Lease immediately - in the noble pursuit of a lasting peace with Mr Hitler.

Johnson says Zelenskyy may need to resign

Speaker Mike Johnson said Zelenskyy either needs to “come to his senses” or step down to end the war in Ukraine.

Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy might need to resign to bring peace to his country following a contentious meeting between Zelenskyy, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Friday.

“Something has to change,” Johnson said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, echoing comments made Friday by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “Either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that.”

Johnson’s comments on Sunday come on the heels of a heated exchange between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vance in the Oval Office on Friday, where Zelenskyy was accused of not sharing enough gratitude for U.S.’s role in trying to end the war and not wanting to come to a peace agreement.

“The fact that he acted as he did, I think, was a great disappointment,” Johnson said of Zelenskyy’s behavior in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

The meeting was supposed to be followed by the signing of a minerals deal aimed to provide future security guarantees for Ukraine. However, the rest of Zelenskyy’s visit was canceled after the Oval Office argument, with Trump posting to the social media platform Truth Social that Zelenskyy “disrespected the United States in its cherished Oval Office” and can only “come back when he is ready for Peace.”

Zelenskyy was subsequently ejected from the White House, leading to additional criticism of Trump for his rhetoric and behavior that day.

On Saturday, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski — a sometimes critic of Trump since he returned to office — disparaged Trump’s behavior toward Zelenskyy on Friday in a post to X, saying the U.S. is “walking away from our allies and embracing Putin.”

On CNN, Johnson said the Alaska Republican is “plainly wrong,” adding that “the person who walked away from the table yesterday was President Zelenskyy.”

While Johnson offered support for Trump on blaming Zelenskyy for Friday’s failed meeting, he did criticize Russia and Putin in both interviews — something Trump has shied away from doing, particularly since returning to office.

“I’d like to see Putin defeated, frankly,” Johnson said on NBC. “He is an adversary of the United States. But in this conflict, we’ve got to bring it into this war. It’s in everybody’s interest.”

“Putin is the aggressor,” Johnson said on CNN. “It is an unjust war. We have been crystal clear about that.”

Today's Keith

If this isn't Peak Daddy State, then my suspicions are validated - there's no bottom they can't get under, and no top they won't tear down to get over.

ie: Voters don't believe Trump will do the shitty things he's said he'll do because they don't believe he has the core principles he needs to make good on his promises.

So, it's his untrustworthiness that makes him trustworthy.

And don't say things like "Make it make sense", and then shrug and go back to watching your shows.

Stop that shit.

It doesn't make sense because it's not supposed to make sense.

These Prison Stocks Soar Again On Trump's Hardline Border Move

Geo Group (GEO) and CoreCivic (CXW) surged again on Monday after a huge rally last week spurred by earnings and elections. CoreCivic stock and Geo stock extended gains after President-elect Donald Trump picked immigration hardliner Tom Homan as his top border official.

Border Pick Homan A Hardline Immigration Official

Homan previously was head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Trump's first term. Trump said Sunday that Homan would lead the "deportation of illegal aliens" in his new administration starting Jan. 20, after vowing a mass deportation of undocumented migrants on the campaign trail.

"I've known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our borders," Trump said on the Trump Media majority-owned social media platform TruthSocial.

Geo stock and CoreCivic also surged after Trump's first U.S. presidential election win. They broke out to highs last week after his second victory, scoring one of their best weekly gains since November 2016.

Investors seemed to bet — again – that a Trump-led White House would detain more undocumented migrants in the company's facilities.

Solid earnings last week also helped the prison operators.

Shares of Geo Group and CoreCivic surged 8% and 10%, respectively, in Monday's stock market action.

CoreCivic stock scored a 29% election and earnings breakaway gap last Wednesday. It jumped above a 16.54 buy point in the biggest volume since shares began to consolidate in June, MarketSurge shows. The prison stock soared nearly 88% last week before paring the weekly gain to 69%.

Last Wednesday, Geo shares broke out in sympathy. Geo stock extended gains from the 16.47 cup-with-handle entry amid its own earnings report on Thursday. It skyrocketed almost 76% last week.

Geo Group Earnings, CoreCivic Earnings

Last week, prison and detention operators GEO Group and CoreCivic diverged on outlook after reporting strong third-quarter earnings.

CoreCivic revealed last Wednesday that it earned 19 cents per share, more than double estimates for 9 cents. The company hiked its full-year 2024 guidance for adjusted funds from operations for 2024 to $1.59-$1.65 per share — from $1.48-$1.56 — after Q3 occupancy grew from 72% to 75%. Analysts expected adjusted funds from operations of $1.49 a share, according to FactSet.

Geo Group last Thursday posted its first earnings gain after eight quarters of declines, FactSet shows. But the company missed views. Geo said it is now targeting full-year 2024 adjusted EBITDA of $470 million-$480 million, down from $485 million-$505 million previously. Analysts expect $488.2 million.

Prison Stocks Soared After 2016 Trump Win

In 2016, private prison stocks galloped ahead after Trump's first presidential election win.

Geo Group, which owns, leases and manages correctional facilities, advanced 107% in the three months after the election. Rival CoreCivic rose 149% in the same three-month period.

Many investors credited Trump's win for the initial rally in the prison stocks. Trump vowed to crack down on crime and illegal immigration, and private prisons and detention centers were seemingly one answer to overcrowding.

This was a sharp reversal from former President Barack Obama's order to phase out private prisons. In February 2017, then Attorney General Jeff Sessions turned the green light back on for private prisons.

Much has changed since then. The two main prison stocks quickly saw gains from the first Trump victory evaporate.

Both Geo stock and CoreCivic languished for much of the past year before breaking out to highs this week amid the elections and earnings.

Here's Johnny

Coach D Speaks

How do we hide our bigotry and make white supremacy seem OK?

Put a brown face on it.

Coach D explains:

The Next Step

Daddy State Awareness Guide, Rule 1 (this time with a slight variation):

Every accusation is a confession.

By excessively bitching about how "the election was rigged", they believe they've inoculated themselves, and now they can proceed to actively trying to rig the election.

In 2020, Trump complained the election was rigged. This time, he’s doing the rigging.

Everyone knows that you don’t change the rules in the middle of the game just because you don’t like the way the game is going — everyone, that is, except Donald Trump and his MAGA allies.

Four years ago, they complained bitterly that states were not following long established rules in the conduct of the presidential election. Today, Trump and his friends have changed their tune, with a well-developed strategy designed to make sure that the rules of the 2024 election will rebound to their advantage.

It has already produced results.

The Brennan Center for Justice reports that “between January 1 and December 31, 2023, at least 14 states enacted 17 restrictive voting laws, all of which will be in place for the 2024 election.” Backed by the former president, those changes will mean voters “now face additional hurdles to reach the ballot box.”

The report goes to on specify: “Most of the restrictions limit mail voting, such as requiring additional information on a mail ballot application, shortening the window to request a mail ballot, or banning drop boxes.” In addition, “at least six states enacted seven election interference laws….Many create criminal penalties for election workers for minor mistakes such as not allowing a poll watcher to stand close enough to voters.”

Such efforts did not end last year. They are continuing even as voters in several states have already started casting their ballots.

Last week, we saw new evidence of these efforts in Nebraska and Georgia. Those efforts are nakedly partisan and threaten to throw a wrench into the campaign as it enters the home stretch.

State legislators and election officials in those and other states must remember that their duty is to ensure the fairness and integrity of the electoral process, not follow the MAGA playbook. They should be guided by the wisdom of the “Purcell Principle,” which, as SCOTUSblog explains, holds that “courts should not change election rules during the period of time just prior to an election because doing so could confuse voters and create problems for officials administering the election.”

That principle derives from the 2006 Supreme Court case Purcell v. Gonzalez, which dealt with an Arizona law (Proposition 200) “requiring voters to present proof of citizenship when they register to vote and to present identification when they vote on election day.”

A lower court had barred Arizona from enforcing Proposition 200 a mere four weeks before the 2006 midterm elections. The Supreme Court was troubled by such a change in election procedures “just weeks before an election.”

“Court orders affecting elections,” the justices wrote, “can themselves result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls. As an election draws closer, that risk will increase.”

Strictly speaking, the Purcell Principle applies only to courts. But its concerns about voter confusion, and the possibility that late rules changes might have a deleterious effect on voting, should be the concern of legislators, election officials and even candidates for office, not just judges.

Trump and his allies care less about the possibility of voter confusion and keeping voters away from the polls than they do about changing the rules to gain electoral advantage.

Just look at what they tried to do in Nebraska. According to a state law adopted in 1991, the state does not “use the winner-take-all approach to awarding electoral votes. The winner of the popular vote gets two electoral votes, while one is assigned to the winner of each of the state’s three congressional districts.”

It is one of only two states, the other being Maine, that awards its electoral votes in this manner. Nebraska Public Media notes that bills recently “have been introduced in Wisconsin, Michigan, and New Hampshire to go to a split electoral system, but they’ve stalled in legislatures.”

Nebraska is a reliably Republican state. The last time it voted for a Democratic presidential candidate was 1964.

But twice — in 2008 and in 2020 — its Second Congressional District, which includes Omaha, cast its one electoral vote for the Democratic presidential candidate. The first time, it went to Barack Obama; the second time was to Joe Biden.

With the 2024 election being a toss-up, Team Trump launched a full-court press to get the state’s Republican-dominated unicameral legislature to change its election laws. As ABC News reports, he wants “to reapportion the three electors awarded to the winner of each of the state’s three congressional districts, instead awarding all five of them to the overall victor of the state.”

All five members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation have vocally supported Trump’s desire to change the rules. On Sept. 18, they wrote a letter to their state legislative colleagues saying that “the state should speak with a united voice in presidential elections….After all, we are Nebraskans first, not members of Nebraska’s three congressional districts.”

Trump himself has intervened, speaking to at least one Nebraska legislator about the need for the change.

Leaving no stone unturned, he dispatched the ever-loyal Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to go to Nebraska and lobby on his behalf. Between now and Election Day, Nebraska officials can expect more calls from Trump and visits from MAGA luminaries.

While it appears the move has been thwarted in Nebraska, thanks to Gov. Jim Pillen’s failure to call a special legislative session, the Trump strategy of changing the rules in middle of the game has been more successful in Georgia.

Last Friday, less than a month before early voting begins in that state, the Georgia State Election Board approved a rule change “requiring counties in the critical presidential battleground to hand-count the total number of ballots this year.”

The Washington Post explains that “the move was spearheaded by a pro-Trump majority that has enacted a series of changes to the state’s election rules in recent weeks and approved the hand-count requirement despite a string of public commenters who begged board members not to.”

The new rule “requires the hand count to take place the night of the November election or the next day.” Election officials from across the state said that doing so “would be physically impossible in all but the smallest counties,” and Chris Carr, the state’s Republican attorney general, said “that state law does not permit hand-counting ballots at the precinct level.”

But to no avail.

If Trump does not win Georgia, the new rule seems likely, as the New York Times put it, to “significantly delay the reporting of results in the battleground state” and inject the kind of chaos into the 2024 election that the Supreme Court has warned would accompany late changes in election rules and procedures.

If Trump loses, Americans need to buckle up and ready themselves for a post-election period every bit as difficult and damaging to democracy as what happened after the 2020 election.

Today's Belle

Sick to fucking death of GOP fuckery.

Today's Crystal Gazer

The key here is to figure out ways to hijack Trump's attempts to send his gang against the democratic institutions that protect us from thugs like him, and redirect his efforts inwards on MAGA itself. (I hope that makes more sense than it sounds when I read it back to myself)

Anyway, I dunno how exactly that's to be accomplished, but I think there must be folks out there who do know.

from Myra Adams

If Trump loses, expect a Republican civil war

Vice President Kamala Harris has one extraordinary campaign advantage — she is neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump.

Before President Biden dropped his reelection bid on July 21, voters were unenthusiastic about a rematch between these two men, both born before the television age. Americans desperately wanted an alternative, and party affiliation was secondary.

Thus, factors such as Biden’s element of surprise, the switch/change effect, Trump’s inability to deal with the change, rapid Democratic unification, dominant support from the media and the potential rekindling of Obama’s 2008 coalition — sprinkled with his political fairy dust of hope, joy, and “Yes, She Can” — generated considerable political momentum for Harris that might just carry her across the Nov. 5 finish line.

Based on national and battleground state polling trends, she could win in a squeaker — which means Trump could lose.

But Trump can never lose! So, if he does, expect a 2020 post-election replay with much ranting, raving and contrived evidence. Team Trump will launch accusations of a corrupt, stolen election, cheating, judicial weaponization, illegal voters, foreign interference and rigged voting machines, resulting in legal challenges perhaps all the way to the Supreme Court. Our enemies will be watching for signs of electoral instability, democratic unrest and perhaps even a national security crisis.

That aside, a Trump loss inevitably means an internal civil war within the Republican Party. I believe a “war” is inevitable between the all-powerful Trump forces and those who want to move on from the Trump era and win the White House in 2028 without any Trump family members on the ticket.

Like all civil wars, this one could be brutal, because the GOP opposition forces see in Trumpism a political dead-end with a shrinking voter base. I publicly left the Republican Party Jan. 2021 thanks to Trump’s toxic brand. Today, identifying as a Republican is not about conservative governing principles but automatic loyalty to Trump, with his MAGA troops in control of the party machinery from top to bottom.

In 2016, the “Trumplican Party” was born (some would say “hijacked.”) After Trump’s unexpected victory, Republican Party leaders and activists who initially supported someone other than Trump were purged, resigned in disgust or else acquiesced to him.

After Trump’s loss in 2020, it became an act of disloyalty for Republicans to deny that Trump actually won reelection. So did the failure to defend or excuse his actions on Jan. 6 or his legal problems. So did the act of backing an alternative 2024 candidate.

To have one family in complete control of a major national political party is an aberration in our country. Daughter-in-law Lara Trump, installed as co-chair of the Republican National Committee in March, naively spoke the truth in February when she said of its fundraising, “Every single penny will go to the number one and the only job of the RNC — that is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States…”

Naturally, down-ballot candidates, officeholders and lowly party officials did not appreciate her honesty about the family mission.

If Harris defeats Trump, will he step down as party leader? Probably not. Unlike Biden, Trump will not be pushed aside. Biden never was and did not represent himself as the Democratic Party. Trump and family, in contrast, are the Republican Party. Hence, moving beyond the Trump era without someone named Trump would take a tectonic shift.

Who would lead the GOP through the hazardous terrain of a non-MAGA future? It probably wouldn’t be Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who in this scenario would just be a losing also-ran.

So who would it be? Some names are familiar and obvious: Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who each look in the mirror and see a future president. Add a new name with popular Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who has had a contentious history with Trump — haven’t they all, though? That experience will embolden these leaders to forge a new path for the party, maybe led by one of them, or else a new leader will emerge.

Speaking of new leaders, a post-Trump era will need rising stars to combat entrenched MAGA warriors such as Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). How about a real warrior? A Lt. colonel in the Air National Guard who piloted missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. His name is Adam Kinzinger — once widely considered a GOP rising star — the former Illinois congressman who served from 2011 to 2023.

After the 2020 election, then-Rep. Kinzinger rejected Trump’s claims of a stolen election. He was appalled by the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and subsequently voted to impeach. Kinzinger then served on the House Select Committee to investigate the Capitol attack. Trump placed a target on his back, and Kinzinger did not run for reelection in 2022.

Then, on August 15, Kinzinger fearlessly spoke the truth about Trump to more than 20 million primetime viewers who watched the Democratic National Convention. His message delighted former Republicans like me who want a party to come home to. Kinzinger said, “Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong; he is a small man pretending to be big. He’s a faithless man pretending to be righteous. He’s a perpetrator who can’t stop playing the victim.”

Kinzinger dared to say what many in the Republican Party (including elected officials) only think: “The Republican Party is no longer conservative. It has switched its allegiance from the principles that gave it purpose to a man whose only purpose is himself.”

Shockingly, Fox News cut away from Kinzinger’s speech. Were they shielding their viewers from the truth? If Trump loses, those viewers and voters must hear the truth to set the Republican Party free from Trump’s control. But first, the party is destined to wage a war for the future.

Post Mortem

Rick Wilson looks at that weird-ass "convention speech", and breaks it down.

Twofer Tuesday

Today's Ad

It's hard for me to go along with "We need the GOP". Have you seen what's been going on with those guys for the last 35 years?

I think maybe the Democrats have a major faction or two they could split off to form a new opposition party. Let's try that instead.

I do see their point - we need to get the plutocrats and the crazies and the MAGAdicks outa there - but there's a very high probability that's it too late to fix it, so my default setting still has to be:

We have to stomp on the Republican party until

there's nothing left but a greasy spot on the rug.

But yeah, if we could get a GOP that was more Eisenhower and Teddy Roosevelt, and a lot less Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, maybe I'd be a little more amenable to the idea.

A Battle Royale

The battle rages on. It's become clearer that it's time for the True Believers (the Cult45 devotees), to duke it out with the dead-eyed soulless Plutocrats who have long believed they can whip the mob into a rich creamy lather, and still control it in order to serve their purpose of a top-down take over of the government, while continuing to pretend they can have it both ways - that the rubes will never get wise to their game.

We are in grave danger, as there are 70 or 80 million Americans who're willing to buy this crap either way it gets sliced.

Trump campaign seeks to head off convention revolt from its right flank

Aides scrambled to foil a plot to throw the nominating process into chaos as suspicions abound about potentially disloyal delegates.

PHOENIX — Arizona delegates to the Republican National Convention gathered this month in a Phoenix suburb, showing up to get to know each other and learn about their duties.

Part of the presentation included a secret plan to throw the party’s nomination of Donald Trump for president into chaos.

Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.
The instructions did not come from “Never Trumpers” hoping to stop the party from nominating a felon when delegates gather in Milwaukee next month. They instead came from avowed “America First” believers hatching a challenge from the far right — a plot to release the delegates from their pledge to support Trump, according to people present and briefed on the meeting, slides from the presentation and private messages obtained by The Washington Post.

The delegates said the gambit would require support from several other state delegations, and it wasn’t clear whether those allies had been lined up. One idea, discussed as attendees ate finger foods, was for co-conspirators to signal their allegiance to one another by wearing matching black jackets.

The exact purpose of the maneuver was not clear — and left some delegates puzzled and alarmed. People familiar with the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said perhaps the intent was to block an undesirable running mate. Most of the dozen GOP officials or activists interviewed by The Post even ventured that the aim may have been to substitute former national security adviser Michael Flynn for Trump if the former president is sentenced to prison time. Among some on the far right, suspicions have intensified that the former president has surrounded himself with too many advisers beholden to the “deep state.”

Whatever the goal, the Trump campaign rushed to head off the stunt and replace the delegates. One campaign staffer involved in the cleanup described it to at least two Republicans as an “existential threat” to Trump’s nomination next month, two people familiar with conversations told The Post. To another Republican, the staffer described the scenario discussed by the Arizona delegates, however unlikely, as being “the only process that would prevent Trump from being the nominee.”

The episode in Arizona — a swing state where Republicans have been gripped by especially strong doubts about the integrity of elections — unfolded mostly out of sight.

The campaign and the Arizona delegates reached an agreement that there would be no disruptions at the convention. Still, suspicions lingered about other state delegations, according to a campaign official who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. He declined to elaborate.

The fracas exposed the challenges of choreographing next month’s convention in Milwaukee, where some 5,000 delegates and alternates will participate — many of them inclined toward the falsehoods and baseless accusations that animate many of Trump’s supporters.

“See this is what happens in a war between Good and Evil,” Chris Hamlet, one of the Arizona delegates involved in the plan, told other delegates in a private messaging chat. “We’re never going to get along and hold hands and sing kumbaya, that’s just not how it works.”

The 2016 Republican convention briefly descended into a shouting match during a short-lived bid by Trump’s Republican opponents to derail his nomination. This time, the Trump campaign has worked quietly and steadily to line up delegates who are unswervingly loyal Trump fans, just in case any of his defeated primary opponents try to disrupt the proceedings.

Delegates this year include at least one organizer of the rally that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as individuals who are being prosecuted for participating in a strategy that falsely declared Trump had won their states in 2020.

Even so, suspicions have circulated among Trump’s supporters that covert saboteurs have somehow infiltrated their ranks. At the Georgia GOP convention in May, one would-be delegate withdrew after being accused of having lobbied for Dominion Voting Systems, a frequent target for false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.

“I have had to spend far too much time dealing with intra party power struggles, and local intra party animosities,” Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy said in a resignation letter this month. “We have Republicans who would rather fight other Republicans than engage in the harder work of defeating incumbent Democrats by convincing swing voters to vote Republican.”

Next month’s convention is supposed to be a pro forma affair, a made-for-television event where the delegates put their stamp on a decision already made by Republican primary voters, who overwhelmingly backed Trump this year.

That’s what has made the presentation in Arizona about changing the rules so baffling, according to GOP officials and activists who were interviewed for this story.

“Suspending of the rules would then allow an open forum to consider alternate candidates to Trump,” one person involved in the state’s delegate drama said.

Several other Republicans involved in the discussions suggested motives that revolved around the same idea: money.

“I suspect that they really don’t want us to win. … They’re making money on the election integrity stuff,” a Republican said of efforts by activists aligned with some of the most far-fetched, unfounded claims of fraudulent balloting. “They make money when we lose.”

The group of delegates that caused alarm with the Trump campaign was led by Shelby Busch, chair of the Arizona delegation and leader of a political action committee she helped create in 2020.

The group, the We the People AZ Alliance, has raised nearly $1 million, according to state campaign finance records. The group is closely aligned with Senate candidate Kari Lake (R) and is funded largely by entities linked to prominent election deniers such as Flynn and Patrick Byrne, a former Overstock.com executive who is no longer affiliated with the company.

On Tuesday, Byrne wrote in a post on X that Trump, based on some of his endorsements, “is still surrounded by DEEP STATE nobodies” who tell the former president to choose a vice president that won’t overshadow him. “In two weeks Trump is going to be either in jail or under house arrest,” Byrne wrote. “His VP needs to be a General.” The post tagged Flynn’s social media profile.

Busch convened the June meeting where another delegate and party activist, Joe Neglia, gave a presentation that included information on a maneuver to suspend the convention’s rules and take over the proceedings from the floor, according to those present or briefed on the meeting. Neglia declined to comment.

When the Trump campaign heard about the meeting, a staffer started working with local party officials and activists to recruit new delegates to replace the six who had gathered.

“The leaders of this group, Shelby Busch and Joe Neglia, are engaged in a multi-state conspiracy to suspend the rules at the national convention,” the campaign said in a memo outlining the plan to recruit new delegates and swear them in instead of the six.

Busch’s bloc responded by accusing those challenging their status of being part of “an anti-Trump establishment group,” seeking to sabotage Trump from within his own campaign and the RNC.

“This is an orchestrated effort by our political adversaries using the same vile Democrat tactics on display against our beloved President Trump,” her group said in a statement this week. “The Arizona grassroots Patriots that love our President Donald Trump overwhelmingly voted for our delegation because they know us and our work in Arizona to save our state and our country, our unwavering support for Trump, and they know they can trust us to vote for Trump even if he is incarcerated.”

(Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in New York on 34 felony convictions on July 11, a few days before the convention starts.)

On Thursday, Busch reached an agreement with the campaign that Neglia would step aside, the other delegates could remain, and there would be no revolt on the floor, according to people familiar with the conversations. That resolution defused the threat, but it left some of the volunteer replacements feeling jilted for having stepped up to help the campaign and taken heat — only to then be cast off.

“It was campaign- and RNC-driven,” said one of the recruited replacements. “There was no reason for any of us to do this other than to help the campaign.”

Another volunteer said in a private chatroom message obtained by The Post that the “juvenile rhetoric used toward fellow delegation members” was disappointing to him. “These actions were done at the request of the candidate we are all legally bound and proud to nominate in a few weeks.”

Campaign political director James Blair moved to smooth things over with a public statement thanking them for their service and praising their loyalty to Trump, while also announcing Busch’s commitment to cooperate with the campaign.

“It’s not just a question of loyal Trump support, it’s willingness to not do anything that could distract from the historic nomination and celebration of President Trump, which is a four-day commercial,” the campaign official said. “There’s Trump supporters on all sides. Sometimes people want to use that forum to fight about little things, and we don’t want that. We don’t want anything that could distract.”

Meanwhile, the Arizona Republican Party chair wrote to fellow conservatives that the delegation’s private chat had become its own distraction.

“I’m closing the thread,” the post said. “It’s hurting the ability to function as a team.”