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GOP
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Do you know about Mike Davis? No, not the urban theorist, the California politician or the jazz trombonist. The right-wing lawyer and activist. If you don't know him, let's let him introduce himself, via his Federalist Society Page:
Mike Davis, the former Chief Counsel for Nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, is the founder and president of the Article III Project (A3P). A3P defends constitutionalist judges and the rule of law. Davis also leads the Internet Accountability Project (IAP), an advocacy organization fighting to rein in Big Tech, along with the Unsilenced Majority, an organization dedicated to opposing Cancel Culture and fighting back against the woke mob and their enablers...
Davis has served in all three branches of the federal government, including for President George W. Bush, the Justice Department, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and current Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. Davis also led the outside support team for Justice Gorsuch's successful confirmation to the Supreme Court.
We think that tells you pretty much everything you need to know.
There's a pretty good chance you're going to be hearing Davis' name a bit next year, since he is currently the favorite to serve as AG in a second Trump administration. Not only does the Federalist Society like him, but so too do many people in Donald Trump's inner circle, including Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller and Don Jr.
That means that when Davis talks about what he'd do as AG, it's not just the idle ramblings of a lunatic (it might ALSO be that, but it's not JUST that). And the wannabe top law enforcement official has not been shy about his ideas. For example, he wants to encourage Americans to "arm up" against "the violent Black underclass." Davis also has big plans for pretty much everything else, which he shared in a recent interview with far-right commentator (and well-known plagiarist) Benny Johnson:
I've never been called sweet, and you called me sweet ginger. So, I think I am, Ben. But during my three week reign of terror as Trump acting attorney general before I get chased out of town with my Trump pardon, I will rain hell on Washington, D.C. We've talked about this, Ben. I have five lists, ready to go and they're growing. List number one, we're gonna fire. We're gonna fire a lot of people in the executive branch, in the deep state. Number two, we're gonna indict. We're gonna indict Joe Biden and Hunter Biden and James Biden and every other scumball, sleazeball, Biden, except for the five-year-old granddaughter who they refused to acknowledge for 5 years until the political pressure got to Joe Biden.
Number three, we're gonna deport. We're gonna deport a lot of people, 10 million people and growing—anchor babies, their parents, their grandparents. We're gonna put kids in cages. It's gonna be glorious. We're gonna detain a lot of people in the D.C. gulag and Gitmo. And list number five, I'm gonna recommend a lot of pardons. Every January 6th defendant is gonna get a pardon, especially my hero horn man. He is definitely at the top of the pardon list.
And yesterday, when MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan reported unfavorably on such rhetoric, Davis decreed that Hasan was now on the deportation list, although first Hasan would spend some time in a women's prison/gulag with former RNC spokesman Tim Miller. Miller is gay, so this is apparently meant as a homophobic slur, though one that is virtually incomprehensible. Like, the train of thought is something along the lines of "let's put straight journalist and gay RINO in women's prison together because... HOMOS!"
We suspect we'll have to write a fair number of stories along these lines this cycle. As NYU journalism prof Jay Rosen advised: "Not the odds, but the stakes." Well, Mike Davis is part of the stakes. (Z)