More Republican lawmakers are showing their support for President-elect Joe Biden. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Senator Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) both called for the Biden transition to begin. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) congratulated Biden, saying in a statement, "President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania."
Lincoln Project co-founder Jennifer Horn told Cheddar on Monday that these decisions, while important, should have happened two weeks ago. "Make no mistake there are no heroes in the Republican Party today."
"The Republican Party has unfortunately abandoned any sense of character or integrity when it comes to this election," Horn said.
The Lincoln Project is a PAC formed by current and former Republican heavyweights against President Donald Trump and the current direction of the GOP.
The group is now turning its attention to Georgia where two crucial Senate races are in runoffs that could tip the scale for the Senate majority. While Republican candidates may worry about doing anything to alienate Trump's supporters before those elections, Horn said, "We also have to remember that Georgia is a very high bar for Democrats to win. It's going to be an extremely difficult race. [That] does not mean at all that it's impossible."
Looking beyond Georgia or even the day Trump leaves office, Horn and the Lincoln Project's work will be far from over. Trump has fundamentally altered the Republican Party, she said, giving it a rock-solid foundation, despite the controversial platform that earned it. Under Trump, Horn noted that the GOP has become "a party that is as close to authoritarianism as we have ever seen in the history of our country." She expects a day of reckoning for the party and says eventually the party will have to make a choice.
"At some point, if the Republican Party wants to be a serious, influential, leading voice in American politics, they're going to have to eventually choose between Trumpism and democracy, Trumpism and America, Trumpism and the Constitution."
Horn is familiar with the inner workings of the GOP, having worked as the chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party in 2013 before she left and helped launch the Lincoln Project. She has repeatedly called for Republicans to stand up against the president but acknowledges that many are afraid to anger his powerful supporters.
"There is no path that I can see for the Republican Party going forward unless they are willing to fully denounce both the damage that Donald Trump has caused in this country and the role that they have played in allowing that to happen," Horn added. "I don't see them doing that anytime soon."
David Levine, elections integrity fellow with Alliance for Securing Democracy, joins Cheddar News to discuss Politico's bombshell finding revealing the RNC's plan to contest the elections.
A survey by the BMO Real Financial Progress Index found that 25 percent of Americans are pulling back on retirement contributions to offset the cost of inflation. This comes as market volatility reduced retirement savings with the S&P 500 shedding more than 12 percent this year alone.
As abortion rights take center stage in courts around the country, so do discussions about reproductive health. Signs and social media posts say things like "protect women's rights" and "her body, her choice," leaving others who need and receive abortions completely out of the picture. The potential end to Roe v. Wade would impact far more people and facilities than you may think. Cheddar News' Baker Machado breaks it all down.
Arkansas is planning to reshape itself by putting a strong emphasis on technology through computer science in the classroom. Governor Asa Hutchinson joined Cheddar News Buffa to discuss the state's efforts to promote itself as a future tech hub. “It gives young people such a huge opportunity for success," he noted. The term-limited governor also touched on the issue of gun ownership, offering up the idea of possibly raising the age limit to obtain rifles like the AR-15 to 21 instead of 18 as it currently stands.
The dating app Bumble has sponsored bills and pushed lawmakers to criminalize the online practice of sending unsolicited nudes or “cyberflashing." Payton Iheme, Bumble's head of public policy for the Americas, joined Cheddar News to discuss why the app was going after the harassing behavior beyond its own platform. "Now, while we went to work internally in the company, and we created something called private detector to automatically blur those images so the user can decide if they want to see them, there's nothing for the rest of the internet," she said. "And so that's why we went to work with these laws."
Constituent service platform Indigov recently raised $25 million in a Series B funding round. Indigov bills itself as a constituent relationship management tool that helps elected officials improve the way they organize, respond to, and engage those they serve. The startup's services are being used by federal, state, and local governments across the country, including the U.S. House of Representatives. Alex Kouts, founder & CEO of Indigov, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
