The Indiana governor’s race should not, under normal circumstances, be remotely competitive. In 2020, Donald Trump won the state by 16 percentage points, and the current Republican governor, Eric Holcomb, won by more than 20. All the state’s leading officials are Republicans, and the party has supermajorities in both legislative chambers.
But after the Republican convention this weekend, the influential conservative lawyer James Bopp Jr. wrote, in a confidential memo obtained by Politico’s Adam Wren, that there’s a “serious threat” to the party’s nominee for governor, Senator Mike Braun.
That threat is Micah Beckwith, a Pentecostal pastor, podcaster and self-described Christian nationalist who was just chosen, despite Braun’s wishes, to be his running mate. Ordinarily, The Indianapolis Star reports, convention delegates rubber-stamp their candidate’s choice of lieutenant. But this year, they rebelled, rejecting Braun’s selection, a state representative named Julie McGuire, for Beckwith, who embodies the combative spiritual fervor ascendant among the party’s grass-roots. As a result, wrote Bopp, “Democrats have a real opportunity to launch a serious campaign in the fall because of Beckwith’s nomination, and it has already begun.”
That’s the top of Michelle Goldberg’s column in today’s NYT, and that sets up the problem nicely: Rather than allow their own nominee to choose his lieutenant, the delegates chose one who has basically promised to oppose him much of the time, who claims God speaks directly to him (and told him January 6 was part of His plan), who… well, you know.
Goldberg connects this to other hand grenades waiting to explode in races all over the country, but she might also have cited Michigan 2022, when the state GOP put up candidates for the three executive positions (governor, attorney general, Secretary of State) who were either ludicrously unqualified (governor) or just plain nuts (the other two). And then, after the rout they suffered, made one of the nuts head of the party. And why did they do that? She had integrity! The other nut conceded his loss after the election, but not her! She went down by 14 points, but with her flag nailed to the staff.
Great job, GOP. Long may your incompetence reign.
BTW, a certain commenting member of this community says Beckwith pings his gaydar, but of course Beckwith is married to a lovely blonde lady who is surely very very happy being married to a religious hysteric who has given her … checking … two children.
Hi from under the heat dome. Current temperature: 90, but the humidity is 55 percent, so: Feels way hotter. This morning it was in the high 70s, humidity at 90 percent, and it was a little difficult to breathe. But I swam anyway, because swimming is one exercise you can do in weather like this and not want to die. I’ve been watching the Olympic trials from Indianapolis and thinking how boring swimming can be to watch, especially from the arena seats. You need multiple camera angles and color commentary to get any sense of it. But I’m still watching, just to marvel at everyone’s upper-back muscles.
Nearly midweek. I’m looking forward to this ending.
Suzanne said on June 18, 2024 at 7:30 pm
Indiana’s GOP won’t implode like Michigan’s because a good portion of the Hoosier Republicans are already nuts and incompetent. They won’t see any problem with a Christian Nationalist incompetent boob wanting to be in charge. The only upside is watching Mike Braun squirm but that’s not much of an upside because for the foreseeable future, I have to live in this idiocracy.
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alex said on June 18, 2024 at 7:34 pm
When a John Bircher like Jim Bopp is worried about an even nuttier right-wing kook tanking the GOP ticket in Indiana, you know it’s serious.
As for my gaydar, I at first assumed they were talking about this sissy boy before I realized that the lieutenant governor candidate is someone else entirely.
In any event, Mike Braun made his bed with MAGA and now he’s gonna have to put out.
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alex said on June 18, 2024 at 7:55 pm
Mitch Daniels evidently penned this before the big brouhaha last weekend, but for once I have to commend him for his forthrightness about the dysfunction in our state and country:
https://wapo.st/3z7A6Vg
Gift article. Enjoy.
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Sherri said on June 18, 2024 at 8:28 pm
I see your Micah Beckwith, and raise you Mark Robinson, who is already the Lt. Governor of North Carolina and the GOP nominee to be governor: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/mark-robinson-who-is-north-carolina-republican
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Suzanne said on June 18, 2024 at 8:34 pm
Daniels calls the residents of his own state Indianians in the article. I have lived in the Hoosier state most of my life and have never heard this term used by any native.
I get what he is trying to say but fails to acknowledge that he laid the foundation for the present day Indiana GOP. My Man Mitch did great damage to education in the state and it has never recovered.
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Julie Robinson said on June 18, 2024 at 9:33 pm
Beckwith calls himself a pastor but hasn’t been to seminary. Harumph.
Mitch Daniels helped ruin Indiana as governor, and then helped ruin Purdue University as its president. So I’m thinking he’s part of the problem and doesn’t get to complain. Remember when he solved the problem of long waits at the BMV by taking out the clocks? Brilliant!
It’s 77° and 90% humidity here, at 9:30 pm, and you know what we call that? A cool down.
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Brandon said on June 18, 2024 at 9:40 pm
Heat index
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alex said on June 18, 2024 at 9:53 pm
Sherri, the establishment GOP is shitting itself over Robinson too, and Kari Lake, and other fringe freaks who aren’t general election material. We may have them to thank for saving democracy. In this election cycle at least.
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Mark P said on June 18, 2024 at 11:35 pm
The heat index, or feels-like temperature, is one of my pet peeves. A temperature of 95F with 50% relative humidity does not feel like 107F. I’ve been in both, and 107 is definitely hotter.
I understand what the weather people are trying to do. It is harder to rid your body of heat on a hot day when the humidity is high than when it is low. That means people exercising too strenuously, or elderly people, or babies, might be at risk unless some care is taken to make sure they do not overheat. So, why not just say that? I think the TV weather people are most to blame for pushing feels-like temperature. They can show a map with 100+ temperatures instead of a map with mid-90’s, and be dramatic about it.
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Sherri said on June 18, 2024 at 11:36 pm
Alex, the establishment GOP may be clutching their pearls in public, but at the same time in North Carolina, they’re trying to change campaign finance laws so they can send more dark money to campaigns. They may not want to be publicly associated with Mark Robinson, but they’ll still do all they can to help him win, they’d just prefer not be visible doing it. So, no sympathy for them!
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David C said on June 19, 2024 at 6:07 am
I don’t think I ever heard of heat index until 20 years ago or so. They probably needed a summertime equivalent to wind chill, which is nonsense too. As Mark P says, it’s to make weather maps look more dramatic. Wet bulb temperature is a better measure of how heat affects living creatures. Above a certain point a body stops dumping heat into the air and starts absorbing heat. I don’t know why they don’t use it. Maybe it’s too hard to explain?
https://earthsky.org/earth/wet-bulb-temperature-explained-dangers/
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Jeff Gill said on June 19, 2024 at 7:46 am
He and his family can be seen here – https://lifechurchin.com/locationstimes/noblesville-campus
The Fishers/Noblesville area is filled with church plants like this. Their mission statement is to “Father sons and daughters into the Kingdom of God” which is pushing that male headship theme pretty dang hard.
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Suzanne said on June 19, 2024 at 9:03 am
Beckwith (who does set off my gaydar) talks to god he says, and as is usual with people like him, god always seems to tell them what they want to hear and never tells them to shut up and sit down.
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FDChief said on June 19, 2024 at 9:11 am
It would be much more fun to watch these nitwits try to out-kook one another if they didn’t have a hope in Hell of winning elections.
That they do?
Is an indictment of We the People. I’m all in for self-governance, but how do you justify democracy when it can vomit up these cretins?
Apparently the Constitution IS a suicide pact.
The good news here is the weather; so far cool and wet, so fire season is late to the Northwest. But…that is changing this week. We’ll get our fire smoke skies by August is my bet…
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Deborah said on June 19, 2024 at 11:57 am
Fire season is in full swing in New Mexico. Hopefully we’ll have a monsoon season this summer, unlike last summer which was hot and dry throughout.
Regarding heat index or “feels like” temps, I don’t take them as an exact science but as a guide not to be surprised when you go outside and it feels hotter or colder than you expected because of the wind or humidity. When it says that it feels like -25° even though the actual temperature is like 5° that tells me to pile on the coats and scarves and maybe not walk anywhere that day. It doesn’t mean to me that it feels exactly like -25° temps would actually feel like. Same for heat/humidity obviously.
I really detest humidity, cold and damp in the winter feels so much colder to me and high humidity in the summer obviously feels much hotter. That’s why I spend winters and summers in New Mexico.
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Jeff Borden said on June 19, 2024 at 12:12 pm
Happy Juneteenth…the holiday that makes MAGA heads explode.
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Dexter Friend said on June 19, 2024 at 1:55 pm
“The use of the telegraph in Texas preceded the railroads and began as the Texas and Red River Telegraph Company in 1854 with the first telegraph office opening in Marshall, Texas.” _ internet grab.
So why did it take 2 months in 1865 for Juneteenth to happen in Galveston? Lots of smart people here…help? Galvestonians should have known nearly instantly. I never understood this.
A few years I was in Las Vegas in early August and it was either 113F or 114F for 4 days straight. Humidity was like 7% or less. My joints responded well to this climate but the heat was insufferable. Of course being in a house with a brand new AC unit on the roof made it great until I stepped outside. At night it was fun driving the strip in a convertible though. This current heat dome is awful…not for me as I can just fuck off and around in the cool house, but for people who work and are compelled to broil themselves in the sun…people so addicted to running they can’t take a break even for a heat dome/wave. Yesterday, hot here, and a young fat man was wearing a heavy hoodie with a huge stocking cap (beanie to some) walking on the hot concrete walkway. He was at least a mile and a half from anything, really, except that hot sidewalk. Damn, Sam.
And I saw Willie Mays play several times in San Francisco and maybe 15 times in Chicago. My best memory: I was 15, had worked my way down to the dugout railing area for autographs, got a few, then Willie Mays came up to play catch for a while right like 10 feet from me. He always caught the baseball glove pointed down and he warmed up throwing submarine-style, sort of half underhanded. I was too much in awe to yell at him or ask for a signing. Willie had huge hands and long fingers. As a boy, we argued who was better, Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays. Now, Mickey is never mentioned in the same breath as Willie. All sports stations are screaming Willie was the best player ever. Babe Ruth? Ty Cobb? Shunted off the podium.
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Sherri said on June 19, 2024 at 4:12 pm
Mantle and Mays were comparable at the beginning of their careers, but Mantle’s terrible knee injury robbed him of his speed (and his alcoholism shortened his career.) Mays was the ultimate five tool player, as they say in baseball: could run, throw, play defense, hit, and hit for power, all at an elite level. He was also durable; played more than 150 games a year for 13 seasons. He had a high baseball IQ; he sometimes called pitches for the pitcher from the outfield (absolutely unheard of.)
He ended his career fifty-four homers short of Babe Ruth, and it’s reasonable to speculate that had he not lost two years of his career to the Army and played the bulk of his career in Candlestick Park, where the wind knocked down potential homers, he might have passed Babe. Or had he not played in the low offense era of the 1960s, which eventually led to lowering the mound to restore balance to the game.
Babe Ruth redefined baseball, adding home runs as an important part of offense, and was a top pitcher. Ty Cobb had speed and could hit, but not hit for power. Mays may not have been the best ever at any one thing, but there was no aspect of baseball that he wasn’t among the best.
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Joe Kobiela said on June 19, 2024 at 5:34 pm
Dexter,
These hot days have me happy flying in bird with A.C instead of a hot muggy factory with no a.c on 3rd shift, people who used to tell us we were overpaid never had to work in a place where you were sweating putting on your work boots did they.
I imagine Dana in Auburn was just as hot as Dana on State street in Fort Wayne. As far as running goes I’m usually out the door around 5:45 am it’s usually not too bad at least the sun isn’t beating down on you, I do get to see some spectacular sunrises.
Pilot Joe
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Dorothy said on June 19, 2024 at 5:38 pm
Suzanne @5: I had a co-worker at Kenyon who once referred to my hometown Pittsburgh as “P-burgh” and I had to be gently vehement (is that a thing?!) to tell her that absolutely NO one ever refers to the city by that term. I mean I guess it’s POSSIBLE but what I meant was “please never use that term in my presence ever ever EVER again.”
I agree, Deborah, about your theories about ‘feels like’ temperatures. I know that if I go out in cold weather to walk my dog and the wind is not blowing, I can manage the cold just fine without feeling like I want to run back inside the second she does #2. However – if it’s windy out and the temperature is the same as it was the day before when it wasn’t windy, it’s going to cut through me and make me run back inside the second she does #2. Wind is a bitch when it’s cold. It works the same if you’re in sweltering temperatures and a breeze comes by and you sigh and say “ahhh, that feels great! It cooled me off!” The temperature didn’t change so you’re still sweltering, but for a few moments you felt cooler.
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ROGirl said on June 19, 2024 at 6:12 pm
The AC crapped out at work today and the fan was running. It helped a bit, but it was very humid and I felt awful, even after drinking a lot of water. I left early to get some relief at home.
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Mark P said on June 19, 2024 at 6:53 pm
Back when I could run, 40 or so years ago, I didn’t mind running in very hot weather. Before I ran I drank water till I sloshed, and I slowed down involuntarily, but it never really bothered me.
What you all experience in cold, windy conditions is exactly what I think the weather forecasters need to say instead of some nebulous “feels like.”
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Deborah said on June 19, 2024 at 8:44 pm
We’re having major windstorms in our part of NM today. My husband and I are at the cabin in Abiquiu and there’s a fine coating of dust on everything inside since this started. As I’ve said here in the comments before, fire isn’t our biggest problem where we are (knock wood) but since climate change wind is a huge problem and it’s escalating frighteningly. We are seriously thinking about ways to reinforce the cabin from the high lateral winds which were unheard of when the structure was designed.
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Dexter Friend said on June 19, 2024 at 9:52 pm
Yeah, Pilot Joe…the heat was the worst in 1988 when it was 88F at 2:AM outside. It was a lot hotter inside and not just in Heat Treat. One year a new HR assistant, a lady who cared about us, gave everybody a gel-filled neck bag…best when frozen to start but still very cooling when rinsed in the cold water sinks.
Well, I am OK, but got a jolt of awareness when a friend who retired from United Steel Workers told me his company pension monthly check amount. From my UAW negotiated pension, I receive 4 times less than he receives. No sour grapes…but maybe I shoulda worked where he worked! Ha! Jokes on me.
Dorothy, do you also feel that way when you are called a yinzer? From Google: “”Yinzer” (or “Yunzer”) was historically used to identify the typical blue-collar people from the Pittsburgh region who often spoke with a heavy Pittsburghese accent. The term stems from the word yinz (or yunz), a second-person plural pronoun brought to the area by early Scottish-Irish immigrants.”
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Deborah said on June 19, 2024 at 10:11 pm
This ridiculous edict in Louisiana that all public school classrooms must display the Ten Commandments is so hypocritical, I mean are there any of the ten that Trump doesn’t flagrantly ignore? Yet they all proclaim him as Christlike. Give me a break.
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alex said on June 20, 2024 at 6:44 am
I will have owned my current home 20 years this year. I have no idea how old the central AC unit was when I bought the place, but it’s still going strong (knock wood) and works especially well since I got new attic insulation last summer. I used to keep the thermostat at 72 in the summer but now it’s quite comfy at 75, if not almost too cold. The house is now on its third furnace since I’ve lived here, btw.
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Dexter Friend said on June 20, 2024 at 8:10 am
ACLU in high speed mode and this Louisiana Ten Commandments mandate will not stand.
Jesus Christ! We will not allow these goddam zealots to tear up The Constitution of The United States.
I have been in recovery meetings in church basements more than a few times when people desperately needing meetings to deal with problems turn their backs or bolt towards the door when the obligatory Lord’s Prayer and the hand-holding part of the meeting occurred. God is deep inside recovery meetings but He can’t be forced back into schools in ONLY the Christian form. This was dealt with many years ago and we shall not regress. Keep God in your church, your home, and in your soul. Keep Him out of schools. Damn it, this is simple. What the hell is wrong with these zealots?
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