You Won’t Believe How Much AIPAC Is Spending to Target the Squad in 2024

One of the biggest political operations in Washington is gearing up to take down the Squad, the Democratic cohort that has heralded progressive policies from the Green New Deal to tuition-free college, throwing major dollars behind primary challengers they believe can unseat them in their 2024 reelection campaigns.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is expected to spend at least $100 million in the Democratic primaries in an effort to knock out the seven “Squad” members, reported Slate. They include Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, and Summer Lee—all Black and brown members of Congress who have been vocal critics of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Israeli lobby’s counter effort will likely only be the beginning of a very tumultuous battle for the Squad to retain their seats. Affiliated super PACs, including the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC and the Mainstream Democrats PAC, are also expected to throw cash at the drive to unseat the seven, who have been outspoken in their opposition to Israel’s occupation and continued military bombardment of Palestine.

The United Democracy Project super PAC has already launched a six-figure ad campaign against Bowman, Lee, and Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie after the trio voted against a House resolution to stand with Israel against Hamas.

And Bush, Bowman, Lee, and Omar are already facing Democratic primary opponents in their districts, still a year out from the election, thanks in large part due to the aggressive recruiting efforts and expenditures from AIPAC.

Representative Chip Roy went scorched earth on his Republican colleagues on Wednesday, haranguing them for years wasted on inaction and chaos as opposed to doing their jobs.

The Texas Republican and Freedom Caucus member spent his time on the House floor on Wednesday shouting and wildly gesticulating at his caucus, condemning them for capitulating on promises by working with Democrats and lamenting the party’s transparently vacuous approach to building a border wall.

“One thing. I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing. One. That I can go campaign on and say we did,” Roy said. “One!”

“Anybody sitting in the complex, if you want to come down to the floor and come explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides well, ‘I guess it’s not as bad as the Democrats,’” Roy lamented.

The House GOP finally passed a stopgap spending solution on Tuesday, after months spent ousting their own speaker and bickering over who to replace him with. That bill is now headed to the U.S. Senate, where it will face another round of criticism, just two days ahead of a potential government shutdown.

On Tuesday, Roy argued that the latest bill is “precisely” what got former Speaker Kevin McCarthy booted from the job.

“I am sick and tired of it. I didn’t come here for second place. I didn’t come here for more excuses. I didn’t come here for the speaker of the House to assume the position, and in 17 days, pass a continuing resolution on the floor of this House through suspension of the rules,” Roy fumed during his speech on the House floor.

He then took a jab at Donald Trump, criticizing conservatives for failing to meet their policy goals even when the party had the majority in the House, Senate, and White House during Trump’s presidency.

“With all due respect to former President Trump, they sure as hell didn’t get border security done when we had the White House and the House and the Senate,” Roy said. “Nothing!”

“Talked a big game about building a wall and having Mexico pay for it. Ain’t no wall and Mexico didn’t pay for it, and we didn’t pass any border security,” he added.

Representative Clay Higgins on Wednesday resurrected the conspiracy theory that the FBI was behind the January 6 attack, but he added a fun new twist: “ghost buses.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the House Homeland Security Committee to testify about global threats. During the hearing, Higgins brought up the conspiracy theory that the January 6 insurrection was started by FBI agents posing as Donald Trump supporters.

Although Wray said that was “emphatically not” the case, Higgins kept pushing.

“Do you know what a ‘ghost vehicle’ is, Director? You’re director of the FBI, you certainly should. You know what a ‘ghost bus’ is?” the Louisiana Republican asked.

When Wray said he didn’t, Higgins explained: “It’s a vehicle that’s used for secret purposes. It’s painted over,” he said, showing a photo of buses parked at Union Station in Washington, D.C., the night before the attack.

Higgins insisted that two of the buses had their windows completely painted over and were therefore ghost buses.

“These buses are nefarious in nature and were filled with FBI informants dressed as Trump supporters, deployed onto our capital on January 6,” he said. “Your day is coming, Mr. Wray.”

Republicans have repeatedly insisted that FBI agents and informants were secretly behind the insurrection, so that they don’t have to admit that Trump and his supporters were responsible. This claim has been repeatedly debunked by the FBI and by people arrested in connection with the riot.

Hundreds of people arrested for participating in the January 6 attack said they went to Washington because they felt Trump had personally told them to. Others who were smeared as FBI agents, such as Capitol rioter Ray Epps, have testified that they were not connected to any law enforcement agencies.

Slowly but surely, the calls in Congress for a cease-fire are growing, as five more representatives on Wednesday urged an end to fighting in Gaza.

Representative Don Beyer released a statement calling for a cease-fire. Shortly after, Representatives Raul Grijalva, Henry Johnson, Mark Pocan, and Mary Gay Scanlon added their names to a joint letter to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, also calling for peace.

“Without an immediate cessation of hostilities and the establishment of a robust bilateral ceasefire, this war will lead to a further loss of civilian life and risk dragging the United States into dangerous and unwise conflict with armed groups across the Middle East,” the letter urged.

A total of 31 lawmakers have now called for a cease-fire. Beyer, Grijalva, Johnson, Pocan, and Scanlon join 26 other representatives and just one senator, Dick Durbin.

Congress has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of public support for a cease-fire. Democrats reportedly are telling their staff to let calls from voters go to voicemail while the party forms an official opinion.

Biden has so far resisted calls for a cease-fire, though, telling reporters last week that there was “no possibility” of one. Israel has agreed to a daily four-hour “humanitarian pause,” which Tel Aviv seems to think is enough time for civilians to flee bombs on foot.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also participated in a March for Israel rally on Tuesday. One of the speakers was far-right evangelical Pastor John Hagee, a known antisemite who once claimed Jews were responsible for the Holocaust. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who last month suggested that civilians in Gaza are legitimate targets, also attended the rally.

More than 11,100 Palestinian civilians, more than half of them children, have been killed in Israel’s ongoing retaliation to Hamas’s October 7 attack. The fighting has also killed at least 39 journalists and other media workers and more than 100 United Nations employees.

Senator Markwayne Mullin is apparently out for blood in his ongoing feud with a union boss.

The freshman congressman has taken to conservative political talk shows, refusing to give up a fight he had sparked with International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, a Senate committee witness, during a Tuesday hearing.

On one show, Mullin claimed that he “wasn’t afraid of biting” O’Brien if the moment called for it.

“I’ll bite 100 percent. In a fight, I’m gonna bite. I’ll do anything. I’m not above it. And I don’t care where I bite by the way,” Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, told podcast host Kyle Thompson on Wednesday’s episode of Undaunted.Life.

From Mullin’s perspective, these altercations are a part of representing the people of Oklahoma. In an interview with Fox’s Hannity on Tuesday evening, Mullin claimed his constituents would be “pretty upset” with him for failing to represent “Oklahoma values.”

While consensual fighting, also known as mutual combat, is a legal pathway for conflict resolution in some areas of the country like Texas and Washington state, it’s not in D.C., where Mullin and O’Brien would more likely be charged with assault and battery. It’s also a strange method of conflict resolution in the middle of a Senate hearing.

Mullin hasn’t given up hope that there might still be precedent on Capitol Hill, however.

“We looked into the rules. You used to be able to cane. You gotta remember, President Andrew Jackson challenged nine guys to a duel and won nine times,” Mullin told Newsmax’s Carl Higbie.

“And so at the end of the day, there is presence [sic] for it, if that’s what someone wants to do,” Mullin added.

The fight began Tuesday during a Senate committee hearing, when Mullin read aloud social media posts that O’Brien had made about the Oklahoma Republican online, including snubbing him as a “clown” and a “fraud,” though the initial confrontation ended abruptly after Senator Bernie Sanders scolded the pair.