The Alaska delegation is on the floor of the Republican National Convention, which opened this afternoon in Milwaukee, Wisc.
In the photo above, sent to Must Read Alaska by congressional candidate Nick Begich, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy can be seen next to Alaska Republican Party Chairwoman Carmela Warfield. Also spotted in the photo are Cheryl Markwood, Patty Wisel, and Rep. Jamie Allard.
The first order of business for the day has been adopting rules for convention, determining the convention’s chair, and adopting the platform for the party. And the big news is that Donald Trump told Fox News he will announce his vice presidential pick today.
Fox News is reporting it is not Gov. Doug Burgum or Sen. Marco Rubio. Rumors are swirling that it may be J.D. Vance, and a motorcade was seen leaving his home this morning. Trump is supposedly meeting with Robert Kennedy Jr. this morning, according to Benny Johnson.
President Joe Biden read lines on a teleprompter on Sunday, imploring Americans to cool the political rhetoric. But on his own campaign website, he is still calling for people to “stop Trump before it’s too late.” And he is raising campaign money by using that slogan.
His surrogates are using the same inflammatory language.
Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez called Trump a “fascist” on Monday. Her comment came in response to Jake Tapper pointing out that staffers in the White House are resigned to the fact that there will be another Trump presidency.
“If you’re a ‘senior Democrat’ that feels this way, you should absolutely retire and make space for true leadership that refuses to resign themselves to fascism. This kind of leadership is functionally useless to the American people. Retire,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
Matt Walsh, author and podcaster, said the unity being called for by Biden and Donald Trump isn’t realistic.
“There are calls for unity, but unity is not possible. The forces that at a minimum set the stage for Trump’s assassination — the same ones that have been trying to destroy him, and you, for years — are still at work. The only unity is in their defeat. The only way out is through,” he said.
A federal judge in Florida dismissed the classified documents-related criminal case against former President Donald Trump on Monday, saying the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution.
The case could be appealed and go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Many legal experts considered the classified documents case to be Trump’s most difficult legal hurdle, and its removal comes on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and two days after the former president survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa.
“As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts — The January 6th Hoax in Washington, D.C., the Manhattan D.A.’s Zombie Case, the New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (a decades old photo in a line with her then husband does not count), and the Georgia ‘Perfect’ Phone Call charges,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday morning. “The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System, and Make America Great Again!”
“As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts — The January 6th Hoax in Washington, D.C., the Manhattan D.A.’s Zombie Case, the New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (a decades old photo in a line with her then husband does not count), and the Georgia ‘Perfect’ Phone Call charges,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday morning. “The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System, and Make America Great Again!”
Cannon said the process for prosecuting Trump violated the separation of powers by kicking Congress out of the equation.
“The bottom line is this: The Appointments Clause is a critical constitutional restriction stemming from the separation of powers, and it gives to Congress a considered role in determining the propriety of vesting appointment power for inferior officers,” the ruling said. “The Special Counsel’s position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a Head of Department, and in the process threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers.”
The ruling suggests that Trump could still be prosecuted, but this delay will almost certainly push the case beyond the election and may kill it altogether.
“If the political branches wish to grant the Attorney General power to appoint Special Counsel Smith to investigate and prosecute this action with the full powers of a United States Attorney, there is a valid means by which to do so,” the ruling said. “He can be appointed and confirmed through the default method prescribed in the Appointments Clause, as Congress has directed for United States Attorneys throughout American history … or Congress can authorize his appointment through enactment of positive statutory law consistent with the Appointments Clause.”
While appointing special counsels has become more common, Cannon argues the practice does not have solid legal footing.
“In the end, it seems the Executive’s growing comfort in appointing ‘regulatory’ special counsels in the more recent era has followed an ad hoc pattern with little judicial scrutiny,” the ruling said.
The case began when federal authorities raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 because he allegedly held on to classified documents and stored them there after leaving the White House.
Notably, President Joe Biden also held on to classified documents after leaving the White House but was not prosecuted. Trump’s critics point out that Biden was quick to hand the documents over when authorities requested them, whereas Trump delayed in complying with the same request.
One-quarter inch. That is how close we came this weekend to an unfathomable future.
One-quarter inch. That was the distance separating two antipodal histories –- one, potentially calamitous.
The actions of an evil, would-be assassin reminded us that our republic is fragile. But the response of an indomitable leader, President Donald Trump, reminded us that our nation is resilient.
While millions of good-hearted Americans on both sides of the political aisle are rightly rejoicing President Trump survived the attempted assassination, and appropriately grieving the fatality and casualties that resulted, we must remember the cancerous hatred that led to last weekend’s tragic turn continues to metastasize.
For years, many of us have voiced our concerns that the vitriolic and hyperbolic rhetoric of Leftist leaders and media talking heads would lead to an attempt on President Trump’s life, especially when many of them indulged in demented fantasies of his demise. Consider:
President Biden’sassertion that “Trump’s assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past … It’s what he is promising for the future” and his call last week “to put Trump in a bullseye”;
Vice President Kamala Harris’ irresponsible claim, last Tuesday, that “Donald Trump wants to turn our democracy into a dictatorship”;
Congresswoman Maxine Waters’statement at an event in New York City in October 2017 that she would “go and take Trump out tonight”;
Comedienne Kathy Griffin’sreposting of her infamous picture of a beheaded President Trump, after he questioned the 2020 election results;
The Washington Post article in December 2023 entitled, “Yes, it’s okay to compare Trump to Hitler. Don’t let me stop you”;
The New Republic, in June 2024, merging President Trump’s face with Hitler’s and using the title “American Fascism: What It would Look Like”; and
The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson stating on MSNBC that “[t]hey’re still gonna have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump. And that’s a fact.”
Those, of course, are just a smattering of thousands of such examples we all have seen and heard over the last 7+ years. It would be fatal and foolish for us to presume that such deep hatred of President Trump and his supporters was defeated last weekend. Indeed, while the overwhelming response of President Trump’s opponents last weekend reflected genuine concern and humble introspection, the reactions of others indicate the attempt on his life has only temporarily slowed, not stopped, the destructive vitriol.
Colorado State House Representative Steven Woodrow’s statement that, “[t]he last thing America needed was sympathy for the devil but here we are”;
The New York Post’scataloguing of the fury of some Leftists that President Trump survived; and
The unseemly and indecorous New York Times’ Sunday Opinion page, one day after the assassination attempt, with these words: “He failed the tests of leadership and betrayed America.”
Although we were spared a national tragedy on Saturday, a beautiful family was not –- a daughter lost her father, a wife her husband. Former fire chief, Corey Comperatore, heroically sacrificed his life shielding his family from an assassin’s bullet. His death and the wounding of two others, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, are tragic reminders that the attack on President Trump was also an assault on those who support him – we are, and have been, in the crossfire, too.
A quarter inch. That is how close we are, and how close we came, to what could have been a dark descent into civil unrest our country has not experienced since, perhaps, the Civil War. We must not miss this moment, this opportunity to change course permanently – not just for a few days or weeks.
While we are understandably enraged by the attempt on President Trump’s life, and by the reckless rhetoric that inspired it, the only way we will defeat the hatred that is eroding our republic one heart at a time is through a resolute and relentless love of our neighbor and our nation. No one has described the winning strategy more beautifully than First Lady Melania Trump did in her July 14 letter to America:
“Let us not forget that differing opinions, policy, and political games are inferior to love. … Dawn is here again. Let us reunite. Now.”
This morning, ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence. We all want a world where respect is paramount, family is first, and love transcends. We can realize this world again. Each of us must demand to get it back.
This week, President Trump’s challenge will be to remind us, as President Abraham Lincoln once did, that “[w]e are not enemies, but friends” and that “[t]hough passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” I believe he will more than rise to the challenge and will show our nation he can be more than a great commander-in-chief, but also a great healer-in-chief and uniter-in-chief.
Let us pray he succeeds. Because if he does not, the distance between the success and failure of the American Experiment may remain just a quarter inch.
Niki Tshibaka is an ordained minister, attorney, and co-host of the podcast, TV, and radio show STAND.
The political season has been chaotic in America. History itself descended upon the race for the presidency and shattered all hyperbole into superficial squawking.
It is hard to overstate what has taken place in the past five weeks. The sitting leader of the free world, President Joe Biden, before billions of people and without any ability to mitigate otherwise, exposed his clear unfitness to run the most powerful country and military force in the history of humanity.
For nearly a month, the representatives of Biden’s party have been engaged in a kabuki theater, trying to first convince Americans to disbelieve, then finally disregard what they saw on a national debate.
The ruse has not worked. A Democratic Party Convention in Chicago beckons. Until Saturday, the only question on the minds of inside-ball political viewers was which Chicago would show up: 1944 or 1968?
The ’44 convention, in the throws of World War II, had Democratic Party bosses facing a massive dilemma: Their president was dying, and not interested in stepping down. Who would be vice president went from being a backup to a ramp-up to the near certainty of the Oval Office, and the smoke-filled rooms knew it.
That’s how America got Harry Truman, over a rancorous floor fight, as the bottom of the ticket in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s fourth, and final, run for the White House.
It was a prescient move. FDR did not last a year, dying in Warm Springs, Georgia at the age of 63. Truman had to step up to wind down the war effort, ramp up the Cold War posture, throw Communist China back out of South Korea, and keep Europe from descending into anarchy.
We live in a world built by that convention.
Then there was the spring and summer of 1968. President Lyndon Johnson abdicated his privilege to run for re-election as the Democratic Party’s standard bearer, convulsing the national election into chaos. Rev. Martin Luther King was felled by bullets in Memphis. In the middle of a contentious primary, the new Democratic front-runner, Robert Kennedy, was also assassinated by a gunman, just like King, and like his brother, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, had been assassinated nearly five years earlier.
Chicago in 1968 became a warzone, with protesters objecting to Vietnam on one end, and police of Mayor Daley battling them on the other side of the streets. While the city was up for grabs outside the convention, the Democratic Party tore itself apart over its contradictions in policy and pursuit of holding onto power. The convention ended, and its nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, was considered a safe bet to take on Republican nominee Richard Nixon. Nixon told America to look at Chicago, and asked what it preferred: hippies in the parks, riots on the roads, disrespect abroad, or law and order?
We know how the story ended.
The Democratic Party of 2024 seemed, until this week, to be see-sawing between these two historic reference points. Would the nation see President Joe Biden give up his party’s throne, deign to appoint a successor, or would he, crackled, misspoken and broken as he is, limp to the ballot box, hoping disdain for the alternative was enough to give him and his allies four more years of power.
That was going to be the story of the summer, answering what would happen on the shores of Lake Michigan in August.
Until Butler, Pennsylvania.
Popping sounds that gun owners know very well rang out. A former president and current leading presidential contender went to the ground in front of thousands of supporters and millions of viewers around the world, almost instantaneously followed by Secret Service agents.
Donald Trump emerged from that throng, defiant, blood smeared, and still managing to calm a crowd that elsewhere in America might have descended into chaos. He made a fist and spoke to the crowd, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
To be very clear, since many in the press corps have a problem for some reason doing so, it is important to state the obvious: Donald Trump, a past President of the United States who could very well return to running the country, evaded an assassin’s bullets by fractions of an inch. A deliberate attempt was made to kill someone who has and may continue to lead America. This has not happened in generations.
History also trails President Trump to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week. Another former president, also from New York, also running to regain the office, also considered a dangerous populist by the elites yet beloved by the common people, was struck by a bullet intended to silence him. Like President Trump, Theodore Roosevelt, the older cousin to FDR, in 1912 responded with élan, continuing to speak even after being hit, and nearly dying. His courage was such that even his most hated opponents had to acknowledge President Theodore Roosevelt’s energy.
Republicans are now gathered to formally nominate their choice for November. Butler has changed everything. The contrast was sharpened by the frailty and confusion of Biden and dissonance of the Democratic Party. Now, the Republican Party is not just an alternative to weakness, it is a party with a leader who has survived attempted assassination and is roaring.
Every, single, election in living memory has been categorized as “historic.” There may be truth in each one of those labels. But this year takes the cake. Americans, as members of the oldest and most continuous democratic republic on earth, do not get to sit on the sidelines. In Asia, in Latin America, in Africa, and even in Europe, billions of people and their leaders, many of whom would love to do us harm, are waiting to see what happens next. We cannot afford to ignore that reality.
The hippies in Chicago said one thing right in 1968: The whole world is watching. And it’s watching us. Don’t forget it.
Suzanne Downing founded Must Read Alaska in 2015 and is the current editor.
Donald Trump said he will stay on his schedule and be in Milwaukee, Wisc. for the Republican National Convention.
On his social media site TruthSocial.com, he wrote: Based on yesterday’s terrible events, I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else. Therefore, I will be leaving for Milwaukee, as scheduled, at 3:30 P.M. TODAY. Thank you! DJT”
Alaska Republican delegates have headed to Milwaukee, with most of them already in place on Sunday, with the convention beginning Monday morning.
“It is an honor and a privilege to represent our great state of Alaska, and lead our delegation of dedicated Republicans here in Milwaukee at our National Convention! Every day, Donald Trump shows how much he loves our country. Now more than ever, we look forward to welcoming President Donald J Trump to our Convention, nominating him as our candidate, and thanking him for working every day to Make America Great Again,” said Carmela Warfield, chairwoman of the Alaska Republican Party.
The leadership of the Alaska Republican Party, which is in Milwaukee in preparation for Monday’s start of the Republican National Convention, issued a statement Saturday night, after former President Donald Trump had survived an assassin’s bullet in Pennsylvania.
“The assassination attempt on President Donald Trump is an abomination. Violence has absolutely no place in the politics of our country — it should be condemned by everyone regardless of their political beliefs, and the terrible and irresponsible rhetoric that incited it must stop immediately.
“Our prayers are with the loved ones of the innocent bystander who was brutally murdered at the rally, and with the other attendees who were badly injured. We are grateful to the brave men and women in law enforcement that moved quickly to protect President Trump and others at the rally. We are grateful that he is safe. We are praying for President Trump and his family, as well as for our nation.
“In the first moments after the attempt on his life, President Trump‘s first thoughts were not of his own safety, but to reassure Americans that were watching in shock and horror. He showed the courage, strength of character, and leadership that he is known for, and that our country needs — now more than ever.
“The Alaska Republican Party stands resolute in our support of President Trump. We look forward to nominating President Trump this week at our Convention and to his victory in November.”
The statement was signed by Carmela Warfield, chairwoman; Cynthia Henry, national committeewoman; and Craig Campbell, national committeeman.
The Alaska Democratic Party issued the following statement:
There was no statement from the Alaska Democratic Party, as of Sunday morning.
The national Democratic Party issued four press releases on Saturday, but did not issue any statement about the assassination attempt on Trump. No statement was issued by Sunday morning. Here’s what the party issued:
“DNC Releases 2024 Party Platform Draft, Outlining Historic Record and Bold Agenda for President Biden and Vice President Harris to Finish the Job“
“MAGA Malarkey: The Extremism You Missed From Republicans This Week”
“IN THE STATES: Nationwide, Democrats Hammer Trump for Dangerous Project 2025 Agenda”
“ICYMI: The RNC Circus Is Coming to Town But the Clown Show Has Already Begun”
Former President Donald Trump said Sunday morning that it was “God alone who prevented” his death after he survived a Saturday evening assassination attempt at a campaign rally north of Pittsburgh.
Writing on his Truth Social media account, Trump said that the country should “stand united” and not allow evil to win.
“Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” Trump wrote. “We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness.”
One person was killed and another seriously wounded in the attack, in which a bullet from the attempted assassin grazed Trump’s right ear.
“Our love goes out to the other victims and their families,” Trump wrote. “We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed.”
Trump said despite the attack, he plans to attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week, where he will formally accept the GOP nomination to run for president against President Joe Biden.
“In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win,” he wrote. “I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.”
Members of the U.S. Secret Service killed the shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Crooks was staged on a nearby rooftop outside of the event.
After the attempted assassination, U.S. House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said he would call the U.S. Secret Service director to appear for a hearing before Congress to determine how the shooter was able to fire shots that could have killed the former president.
Robert Kennedy Jr., who’s running for president as an independent, and who’s uncle, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963, said, “Now is the time for every American who loves our country to step back from the division, renounce all violence, and unite in prayer for President Trump and his family.”
Dan McCaleb is the executive editor of The Center Square. He welcomes your comments. Contact Dan at [email protected].
For years, the Left has referred to Donald Trump as a fascist and a dictator. President Joe Biden has referred to him as being like Hitler. Last week, Biden told supporters to stop talking about Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump, and put a bullseye on Trump.
“So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” he told supporters last week, according to POLITICO.
When Gov. Sarah Palin once published in 2011 an image of a bullseye on the district of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the media and the Left blamed Palin for the attempted assassination of Giffords during a constituent meeting in Arizona.
But the media has fought the idea that the president and his followers who spout “fascist” and “Hitler” rhetoric are responsible for the gunman’s actions on July 13, when a bullet grazed the ear of the former president as he was speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“You cannot repeatedly and endlessly label a major party candidate and former president Actual Hitler, a full-scale threat to democracy, without radically increasing the danger of violence in America. This danger has been obvious for years — and engaged in by nearly everyone on the Left, up to and including the current president. We are in a hideously ugly new era,” commented conservative Ben Shapiro.
Every American should watch this video, especially those on the left who are about to start preaching about "lowering the temperature."
This was the President of the United States dehumanizing and vilifying 35% of the country on primetime TV.
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, said what many Republicans have been thinking — that Biden’s campaign taking points have “led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat, commented, “The assassination attempt on President Trump is a logical consequence of repeatedly comparing him to Adolf Hitler. After all, if Trump truly was another Hitler, wouldn’t it be their moral duty to assassinate him?”
Meanwhile, in an early morning press conference, Federal Bureau of Investigation officials from the Pittsburgh field office referred most questions about security to the Secret Service, which was not at the press conference.
The FBI has been put in charge of the investigation, a condition that may give conservatives little confidence, as it’s the same agency that had to be forced to admit that the Hunter Biden laptop was real and not a Russian disinformation operation.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced Saturday that he has contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and is also calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing. He is opening up an investigation into the shooting.
The FBI early Sunday morning identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa. Crooks crawled along the roof of a manufacturing plant more than 130 yards from the rally stage at Butler Farm Show grounds.
