Republicans Have 99 Problems In Ohio, And Only One Is That Dirty Accused Wife-Beater
Sherrod Brown is winning and did y'all realize Vivek Ramaswamy is Republicans' great hope in the governor's race? Hahahahahahahaha.
If there were any Republicans out there who got excited when things went all squirrely in the Maine Senate race, with the original candidate being credibly accused of rape and then dropping out, if they were praying without ceasing that it would cause DEMOCRATS IN DISARRAY! and dash their hopes for beating Susan Collins once and for all, those prayers don’t appear to have been answered in the way they wanted.
We don’t have a lot of fresh new polling on the race between Susan Collins and new Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, but he’s shot out the gate and hit the ground running, and there’s still three months until the election. Look, here’s a Troy Jackson ad!
In Ohio, though, oof. It’s almost like Republicans are being personally punished for their shitty prayers and for being such shitty human beings. For a good few cycles now, Ohio has been a red state, its swingy “bellwether” status having long ago passed. This year, though? Well, it’s not going to become the bellwether again, but Republicans might get completely humiliated there, and they might deserve it.
One sign has been in the US Senate race, where Democrat Sherrod Brown is hoping to get back into the Senate in JD Vance’s old seat, after having lost the other Ohio seat (where he served three terms) to verified piece of shit Bernie Moreno in 2024. The polls there have looked pretty neck-and-neck, if anything giving Brown a slight edge over his opponent, current appointed Senator Jon Husted. There was one Fox News poll that had Brown up eight. Axios notes that Sherrod has outraised Husted three-to-one, and cites Sherrod’s success at branding him the “face of data centers in Ohio.”
But let’s dwell on verified piece of shit Bernie Moreno for a moment, and what the dirty men in his family are doing to Ohio politics, specifically his former son-in-law, the one who stands credibly accused of abusing Moreno’s daughter. Moreno couldn’t bring himself to say anything about that until just recently, because the accused abuser in question is Republican Rep. Max Miller, and we guess Republican men gotta stick together. Now, though, Moreno suddenly thinks it’s time for Miller to resign from the United States House of Representatives and GTFO.
You can refresh yourself on all the characters in this scandal at that link, but remember that Moreno is the MAGA weirdo who yelled “Who the fuck do you think you are!” at Dr. Anthony Fauci last week, because these goobers like to blame every problem in their shitty, unaccomplished lives on Dr. Fauci. Meanwhile, Miller is the one who recently said if he had abused his wife, then “would she have offered to cook me dinner six days later?” Yes, he really defended himself by saying if he’s such an abuser, then why is that bitch in the kitchen making him a sandwich right now.
All that has led to this headline from Axios this morning: “Reliably red Ohio suddenly a red-hot mess for GOP.” It’s about Miller’s race and the Brown-Husted race, obviously, but it’s not just those two they’re freaked about, as Axios bullet points:
Ohio’s GOP is scrambling under the weight of domestic abuse allegations, sluggish campaigns and a working-class rebellion.
It’s so bad there that Republicans are planning on spending “tens of millions of dollars” in races that were supposed to be easy for them. Indeed, it is so bad that as this bullet point notes, Ohio is now “ground zero” for these midterms. A bellwether, if you will.
“Ohio is ground zero of the environment this cycle,” a national Republican strategist tells Axios. “Take a GOP voter depression, mix it with the war in Iran, and now sprinkle with some Max Miller abuse [allegations], and you’ve got the recipe for a very dicey outcome in November.”
Y’all, Ohio is a damn red state.
Republican senators are clearly suddenly feeling the pressure to pretend they care about domestic violence and condemn Max Miller, with Rick Scott saying Miller “shouldn’t be in office.” Roger Marshall says Miller should step down, not because he believes the woman but because he believes the man named Bernie Moreno. “Have I heard his side of the story? No, I have not, but I certainly trust Bernie and his family. [They’re] such a good family, I’ve met quite a few of them. They have such high values.”
Senator Shelley Moore-Capito agrees that we should listen to the patriarch of the Moreno family: “[I]f [Moreno] thinks he ought to resign, I’m supportive of that.”
Amazing, right?
But lots of Republicans don’t care. Ohio Republicans like Mike Turner and Jim Jordan? Don’t appear to care. Jon Husted? REALLY doesn’t care.
Donald Trump obviously doesn’t care:
President Trump, whom Miller worked for during his first administration, called the congressman “a good person” on Monday and said he is “going to let the families” resolve the situation.
“It’s a very sad thing, especially when you know somebody so well, to be going through that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “But it’s accusations.”
He reportedly called Miller on Monday, though, not with fatherly advice about how to refrain from beating women, but rather to say that he hears Miller is going to lose. “It’s not looking good for you,” he said on the phone call, according to sources. “I’m hearing from people you’re not going to win.” (Trump is also hearing from people that nobody vandalized the Reflecting Pool, so PFFFFFT what do “people” know.)
For his part, Miller insists Trump was supportive of him in their call.
If Miller quits the race by close of business Tuesday — today — the secretary of state can call a new primary to choose a replacement candidate. (This is the same as the Wednesday deadline you may have heard about, some outlets are wording it differently from others.) If he misses that deadline but does it before the end of next Monday, the party chairs in the counties in the district can choose a new candidate.
But he so far has been defiant. And why shouldn’t he be? Republicans love domestic abusers and rapists and kid-touchers and submissive conservative men with anger and masculinity issues. It’s, like, their base. Miller says he told Trump about a poll he has that says he’ll still beat his opponent Poindexter by nine.
This afternoon, Miller declared his intent to file the papers to start a House Ethics investigation into himself, to clear his holy name. Or in essence, he’s offered to ask himself when he stopped beating his wife. We’re sure that’ll fix the problem.
He may be the only one so optimistic about it, though. Axios says Republican and Democratic insiders both agree that the Miller situation is currently helping Brian Poindexter run “neck-and-neck” with Miller in this R+5 district. Axios also says Republicans are now worried Democrats are going to try to tie Miller to other Republican candidates, how terribly unfair!
One more big problem for Republicans in Ohio: Do y’all realize who is the Republican running for governor there? Hahahahahahaha, it is Vivek Ramaswamy. Everybody hates that guy. Here is a video of him getting booed out of the room by a bunch of wee libertarians last week:
Polling between Ramaswamy and his Democratic opponent Amy Acton is also basically tied.
Ramaswamy, says Axios, is the one that Republican insiders are most confident about. Notably, he’s also the guy who said of his opponent in April that she has no plan for Ohio “other than to complain about what someone else did to her.” She had recently disclosed the sexual abuse she suffered as a child.
Oh boy, what a “choose your fighter” situation that is, when Vivek Ramaswamy is your only fuckin’ hope.
Also Axios says Republicans are worried that if things are this garbage in Ohio for them, what must it really be like under the covers in actual swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin?
Oh boy, guess we’ll find out, because again, Ohio is a fuckin’ red state.
Spend those millions, Republicans!
OPEN THREAD.
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A Peck's skipper on an ironweed plant.
This tiny burnt orange colored butterfly really made me work to get this photo, but the orange against the bright purple of the ironweed was worth it!
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Its head popped up and it was a groundhog.
Rodent kitty!