Just saying. She's been quite silent on the item. As if it didn't exist. Or she has no opinion.
Likes it? Thinks it's cute?
It is one of the most grotesque things Trump has done.
And Sideline Susie missed the play.
Maybe thinking about Colin Kapernick's business decisions instead?
It is likely that Paxton might slip among Hispanic voters, given ICE shooting a retreating man in Austin.
Guns in ignorant and impetuous hands are a menace.
https://www.newsweek.com/james-talarico-chances-beating-ken-paxton-flip-poll-texas-senate-rate-midterms-12438285 - re polling before the Austin shooting.
Dems should be encouraged because of the Texas record of not recently electing Dems to statewide office.
This contest seems GOTV will be a major factor, and it is unclear if there is any backlash against Trump's effort to tamper with voting (Newsweek's item does not address that specific question).
Old farts seem to be the strongest bloc identified by Newsweek as favoring Paxton. Trump favors Paxton, and he is an old fart, so he fits the Texas polling pattern. Trump endorxed Paxton before the primary where the Republican incumbent then lost to Paxton.
Nothing in the report mentioned early voting as a present practice or trending thing, in Texas.
Questions at present stand unresolved, but Talarico does not seem to be losing ground. Gaining, if anything, but given poll error ranges, at present it is a reported toss-up.
Quoting -
Tafoya, who is married to Mark Vandersall, a private wealth advisor, reported that she and her husband’s assets were valued at between about $17 million and a little more than $33 million.
The couple’s assets, which do not include the value of a personal residence, included mutual funds — many of them invested in aggressive growth stocks — exchange traded funds (ETFs), cryptocurrency and individual stocks that favored the tech sector, including Nvidia, Alphabet (Google), Apple and Tesla.
All that high tech. And has she been definitive in laying out a policy on AI. its dangers, its potential? From here:
Michele Tafoya’s policy on taxing ai and robots
These issues below are sorted in descending order based on how important the average American voter ranked them on the quiz.
Should the government tax companies that replace human workers with artificial intelligence or robots?
ChatGPT Party Research - No, taxing efficiency is economic suicide that will immediately offshore our AI innovation to China
Personal answer
This candidate has not responded to our request to answer this question yet. Help us get it faster by telling them to answer the iSideWith quiz.
So, only someone's Chat GPT query to show anything, a generic likely GOP position; while invested up in AI/high tech. Crabgrass found no concrete online Tafoya position on crypto, the tariff war, or the Iran war. She is against boys in girls locker rooms. Talking at length, repeating herself. Short of that, fluff.
$9 billion baseless "fraud" assertions. Tariffs, not her issue. War, not her issue. AI? Not her issue. Back to MinnPost's report -
Tafoya’s financial disclosure report also shows that her husband invested between $5,000 and $50,000 in the U.S. Oil Fund, a mutual fund based on West Texas crude futures that has boomed since the start of the war in Iran and the subsequent disruption of global petroleum shipments.
A pecuniary stake in the Iran war dragging on. But not her issue?
MinnPost ending paragraph on Tafoya wealth -
Tafoya’s report only listed one liability: a 4% interest loan from RiverSource Life Insurance Company valued at between $250,000 and $500,000.
[...]Americans have soured on both GOP, Dems
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released this week confirmed what many people already knew – Americans don’t like either political party.
In answers to open-ended questions, Americans offered wide-ranging complaints about the Democratic Party. The two most common criticized the party as too liberal in general or on a range of issues (12%) or said Democrats were weak and don’t stand up enough to President Donald Trump (10%).
Other respondents said the Democratic Party was corrupt and favored corporations or was too lax on immigration, among other complaints.
The GOP did not fare any better. Twelve percent of the respondents specifically cited Trump or loyalty to Trump when asked what they dislike most about the Republican Party, though 4% criticized the party for not supporting Trump enough.
Others cited “dishonesty, hypocrisy and immorality,” including a lack of transparency over information about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, for their dislike of the GOP. Lack of concern for ordinary people and “cruelty” was also at the top of the list.
“The scattered criticisms of both parties in the poll suggests there’s no silver bullet to rebuilding their popularity,” the pollsters concluded.
The poll was conducted online April 24-28 among 1,267 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. The sample was weighed to match population demographics, 2024 turnout/vote choice and political partisanship.
A poll saying voters dislike both parties, is that news, given how both have acted?
BOTTOM LINE: A Machelle Tafoya dilettante candidate whose life's work was as a Sideline Susie. whatever that earned, while the husband ran or still runs a finance business, and the outcome, a multimillionaire family, liking Republicanism and Trump. Loyal to Turmp, who endorsed Tafoya over the candidate who won the local MN Republican convention endorsement. (Tafoya subsequently winning the Republican primary voting.) Does that seemingly effective Trump favoritism mean she owes Trump a rubbsestamp support performance, if elected? She's not said so. She's not said no. Not really. Crabgrass is fearful that rubberstamp will prove real and problematic. That she's basicly a ditz who'd go along to get along, and welcome the paycheck and benefits plan the Senate offers. Lightweight. Speaks cleanly. Good teeth.
A 2022 item suggested latent racism or cluelessness via her denial racism in our country still exists.
There's a feeling of repugnance, seeing Tafoya's recent comments contrasted with the fact that for years she was smiling in the faces of Black coaches and players to mine them for nuggets of information to make sure she looked good in her job, but we'll set that aside for now.
There's also a familiar feeling of disgust, as in some cases she is turning to lies – or at minimum a painfully thin understanding of American history – to prop up her statements. Saying Colin Kaepernick made "business decisions" in protesting the extrajudicial killings of Black citizens by agents of the state, as she told one radio show, is flat out untrue. Kaepernick didn't sit and then kneel with the aim of leaving his job.
The NFL made a business decision by excising him from its league, listening to a loud minority of people, including the former president of the United States, who called Kaepernick and others "sons of bitches" for daring to silently protest and completely ignoring the Black fans and others who understood his message and at minimum supported his method.
(And if we're talking about business decisions, let the record reflect that Kaepernick stood on his principles while he was still playing and had his career taken from him. Tafoya waited until she knew she was leaving NBC before she started spewing her venom, lest she face any backlash.)
"Business decision" wording? For Kapernick? How much to make of that? You decide.
Title:
Tom Emmer is running cover for Don Jr.
In part -
On Wednesday, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer dismissed a proposed Senate investigation of the president’s eldest son.
“Some senators want to waste time creating a new Russia hoax and attacking Don Jr.,” Emmer wrote. “Don Jr. is a private citizen and businessman so this unwarranted attack will go nowhere. This partisan distraction is NOT what the American people voted for!”
The request came from Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah. This week he asked Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, to investigate “the use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit.”
Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, both on the committee, said they would support an inquiry, and Durbin joined them in calling for an investigation. Grassley said he needed more facts.
Curtis asked for subpoenas of both Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden. Emmer’s post mentions only Trump Jr., even though he has frequently called for investigations into Hunter Biden.
What prompted it?
On Sept. 14, ProPublica reported that Umar Kremlev, a Russian businessman close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars toward Trump Jr.’s May wedding celebrations in the Bahamas, including a private island rental and fireworks. Trump Jr. and his wife, Bettina, confirmed it and called it a gift from a friend. President Trump said his son had paid Kremlev back.
Curtis summed up his case on X: “A toaster is a wedding gift.”
[...] What triggered this coverage was Emmer (as linked, first paragraph of quote) gratuitously made a total fool of himself; showing his real nature. Emmer's tweet:
[UPDATE: Images as posted do not expand on clicking to readable form. An error in posting. After each limage a caption - original link is given, so readers can read. Sorry about that. A minor inconvenience.]
 |
| https://x.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/2102819200918036919 |
Dumb as a brick? Arguably, but then would an apology be due the brick?
Beyond those existential questions, Sorensen reposted the entire item with a lead-in few paragraphs which included a link here, and stating, "I deeply appreciate this commentary by Chad Maschke, a Blaine resident who runs MN-06 Watch, an independent accountability publication covering U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer," leading to Crabgrass discovery of: https://mn06watch.com/articles/where-they-stand/
The questions were reasonable, and things voters should consider before having a ballot in hand. Emmer's campaign declined to respond, apparently, so Maschke supplied information about Emmer on the questioned issues, it being his summary comment and not Emmer's direct facing of the issues and responding. In effect, fair questions - Emmer ducked. Go figure. Emmer speaks or posts on his own terms, and ducks actual questions -- or that's how Crabgrass sees things.
Maschke details his methology on Emmer positions with Emmer declining the questions, i.e., how he justifies the fairness of constructing the presentation in a separate post: https://mn06watch.substack.com/p/where-they-stand
search =tom emmer commentary don jr. wedding financing
That returned a RawStory: https://www.rawstory.com/tom-emmer-trump-jr-wedding/
and apart from the Emmer spin, about the wedding situation itself: https://www.salon.com/2026/09/17/don-jr-had-a-big-wedding-reporters-started-following-the-money/
Emmer could have left such coverage alone, for others to respond, but appears to have had the urge to lick the Trump hand, which feeds in a measure his reelection chances. He joins others in showing rubberstamp loyalty to the king. Others in the Republican Party. Tafoya for example. Per -
search = tafoya rubberstamp for all trump policies and actions
Readerss might get a range of returned items on that search. One Crabgrass obtained per the search dated days ago -
https://punchbowl.news/article/campaigns/michele-tafoya-supported-jan-6-rioters/
Another, dated January 21, 2026 -
“I Support Trump” Former NFL Employee Runs For US Senate, Republican Ties Exposed Immediately
Like a marriage of "minds," from the outset. Finally, for amusement value FOX shading truth -
DAVID MARCUS: Minnesota GOP candidates keep Trump at arm's length as they eye a post-Trump party future
As the once-long shot Minnesota GOP Senate nominee Michele Tafoya has closed in on Democratic opponent Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the issue of President Donald Trump — who is not particularly popular in the Gopher State — has taken a unique turn.
For Tafoya, as well as gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth and others down ballot for the GOP — not to mention their potential voters — the general attitude toward Trump is that while they support much of what he has done, they also represent what a post-Donald Trump Republican Party could look like.
[...]
The upshot of those two items, trust a waffle, and you'll get a less healthy breakfast than scrambled eggs. Especially it it's loaded up with syrup.
And Wow. Rats can smell a sinking ship? I'd not known that. Trust FOX about the distancing and if deemed helpful, abandonment, but be the FOX skeptic on almost all else. These people doing their distancing act are only acting. They will rubberstamp Trump's shooting war, tariff war, and will duly frown upon Carney and Canada for not caving in and licking the hand they lick.
Or, buy the lie. It's your vote. Mine's already been cast - early voting.
_________________UPDATE_____________
MinnReformer has a parallel item about how Lisa Demuth has a puppet string operator - a never elected but deep inner Republican party operative/lobbyist named Ben Golnik.
The strings are pulled, the puppet dances. This Golnik's idea of pro bono, perhaps, with a cash flow from those who'd influence federal policy, legislation, and other actions. Who'd curry favor, early and often. Offering reliance services at one point, seeking at another.
https://golnikstrategies.com/our-approach/
If you click the image link, you can see how Crabgrass highlights the ending words of the marketing pitch.
" * * * crafting a plan that fits your needs and budget."
It makes you think, is the Demuth budget so hurting that the needs to be pseudo pro bono?
Or is it that it just looks better, any campaign can be endorsed and assisted by any willing volunteer, and this volunteer has others paying the food and utilities. And it is all the American Way?
And of course, there is no admission by Golnik or Demuth about a puppet - puppeteer relationship. It is a circumstantial guess of Crabgrass and others might guess otherwise. (But who'd expect a confession if there are strings attached?) Differentiating between a guru-acolyte relationship, and a puppeteer -puppet one is a guess, from the outside, and do the insiders know for certain?
BOTTOM LINE: Change always raises the question: What is real and lasting and what is for short-term show and convenience today, as a finger to the wind advises best?
The headlining is from here, about Ivanka Trump ostentatious display of what slanted capitalism means to her in several tone-deaf scenarios. Excerpt -
What began as a one-issue outcry has developed into an organized movement as thousands of Albanians demand their government resign over concerns of corruption in the hands of oligarchs.
Ivanka Trump sparked this “Flamingo Revolution” when she bragged, again on her social media, about how she dived off a friend’s boat, swam to what she claimed was the barely known Sazan Island, took a barefoot hike to its peak and decided to “realize its potential.”
“It’s not even a business for me, despite the scale of it,” Ivanka told interviewer David Senra in May. “For me, it feels more like a challenge than anything else… a lot of reflection on how I want to live.”
How she wants to live? How I'd want to live, how I do live, absent wealth, clashes with priviliged ones such as Ivanka and Jarad.
My fault? Know my place? Viewpoints such as these fell the Bastille.
The people of Paris have no bread to eat. * * *
A Salon item carried by MSN begins with an unequivocal opening sentence -
On Tuesday, Donald Trump stood before the United Nations General Assembly to give a speech in which he made it clear that the United States has now fully abandoned its last remaining fig leaf of decency and morality on the world stage, and has embarked on an imperialist model not seen since the 19th century. Since this was a Trump speech, filled with his usual bombast and braggadocio, it didn’t have quite the shock value it might have carried in the past. But there was a new atmosphere in the room. The world sees America as a threat now, and countries are making new arrangements.
The speech was the worst he’s given, and that’s saying something. Delivered with a bored, desultory tone, the obviously tired president spent 40 minutes rambling on and on with his usual litany of grievances and lies. He made it clear that he sees no limits on his power. Looking directly at the Iranian president, he mused aloud, “I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival, and no hope of future greatness for generations?” It was outrageously provocative and insulting, and on Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded in his own U.N. speech [...]
She did not think the speech appropriate, and included an image -
Face-palming on that speech likely was widespread, while it's hideousness got at least the Cuban and Iranian delegations to walk out. That level of speech, at the UN, is, euphemistically, "provocative." One might also say, "presumptive."
MSN carries a Reuters news item The headline quote is an early paragraph -
The Houthis have launched strikes on the Saudi-backed government in Yemen and repeatedly fired into Saudi Arabia, disrupting oil flows from the world's largest energy exporter, as part of a wider Middle East war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
The Houthis said they had fired dozens of missiles and drones at Saudi targets on Thursday, while authorities in Saudi Arabia said they had intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Houthi fighters.
Saudi Arabia had earlier issued emergency alerts for areas including the holy city of Mecca, as well as Jeddah and Yanbu, the main Saudi Red Sea oil port.
Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti, the kingdom's top religious authority, called on soldiers to be ready to lay down their lives to fight the Houthis until the group is ousted from power, according to a statement late on Thursday.
[...] "The ministers also discussed arrangements for holding an urgent meeting of the chiefs of staff of the three countries to discuss ways to support Saudi Arabia under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, which stipulates that an attack against any one of the parties constitutes an attack against all parties," a Saudi statement said.
The meeting was announced shortly after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sought to distance Iran from the Houthis in an American television interview on Thursday.
"The Houthis are responsible for their own actions," Pezeshkian told the Fox News program "Special Report with Bret Baier" a day after he appeared before the UN General Assembly in New York.
Turkey's defence ministry said Chief of General Staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu would travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday to meet his Saudi and Pakistani counterparts.
Ankara has previously said it could help meet Riyadh's military needs, especially on technical issues, but officials have said any support at this stage would be largely bilateral and in the spirit of their alliance, since the joint defence agreement has not yet been ratified by Turkey's parliament.
The item also discusses a current Iranian statement that negotiations could resume in seven days if the US agreed to talk under the terms of the earlier MOU. Crabgrass sees this as unlikely.
