科罗拉多州一位州长候选人称，不结婚而同居会导致恶魔附身。佐治亚州一位参议员候选人在其竞选材料中展示了他的女婿，后者曾在网上宣扬白人至上主义和反犹太主义内容。而在俄亥俄州州长竞选中，出现了一则新广告，将一位民主党对手的童年创伤作为攻击武器。
A candidate for governor in Colorado said living together without getting married leads to demonic possession. A Senate candidate in Georgia featured in his campaign materials his son-in-law, who has promoted white nationalist and antisemitic content online. And there’s a new ad in the Ohio governor race, weaponizing the childhood trauma of a Democratic rival.
“大选名单上有一些疯狂透顶的共和党人，”大卫·科恩在《压力测试》这一期节目中说。在全国范围内，许多获得特朗普背书的候选人如今陷入自找的丑闻，或表现出因“让美国再次伟大”运动接管共和党而常态化的极端主义。大卫预测，这些候选人无论胜败，都将成为特朗普遗产的一部分。大卫说，尽管共和党“正走向选举日的惨败”，但“共和党内部仍将存在大量右翼极端主义”。
“There are some bat crap crazy Republicans on the ballot,” says David Corn on this episode of Stress Test. Across the country, many Trump-endorsed candidates are now mired in self-inflicted scandals or displaying the kind of extremism normalized by MAGA’s takeover of the GOP. These candidates, win or lose, will be part of Trump’s legacy, David predicts. Even though the Republicans are “heading for a major drubbing on Election Day,” David says, “there’s still gonna be a tremendous amount of right-wing extremism within the GOP.”
大卫和联合主持人加里森·海耶斯梳理了冲击共和党中期选举候选人的诸多不堪入目的指控——特别聚焦了记者阿比·韦苏利斯和诺亚·拉纳德揭开的调查。阿比审阅了数千页涉及俄亥俄州联邦众议员马克斯·米勒的文件，米勒的前妻——参议员伯尼·莫雷诺的女儿——告诉调查人员，米勒曾向她泼热水、用枪顶住她的头、将她推向墙壁。
David and co-host Garrison Hayes catalogue the unsavory allegations hitting GOP midterm candidates—spotlighting, in particular, investigations broken open by reporters Abby Vesoulis and Noah Lanard. Abby reviewed thousands of pages of filings involving Ohio Rep. Max Miller, whose ex-wife—the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno—told investigators Miller threw hot water at her, held a gun to her head, and shoved her against a wall.
当局还调查了他们幼童锁骨骨折一事。调查结论为“证据不足”，米勒否认虐待任何人。但《库克政治报告》很快将他原本稳操胜券的席位调整为势均力敌，阿比持续披露监护权争夺战的细节——包括显示米勒反复扣留女儿心爱的蓝色兔子玩偶的短信。与此同时，诺亚花费数周深挖戴维·弗利波，这位获得特朗普背书、竞选雷诺地区空缺席位的共和党人，包括他从未获得的带“V”字勋铜星勋章、从未提交的四份必需财务披露、以及他声称投入竞选却无任何明显财富来源的逾250万美元。
Authorities also investigated their toddler’s broken collarbone. Their finding was “unsubstantiated,” and Miller has denied abusing anyone. But Cook Political Report soon shifted his once-safe seat to a toss-up, and Abby kept surfacing details from the custody battle—including text messages indicating Miller repeatedly withheld his daughter’s beloved blue bunny. Meanwhile, Noah has spent weeks digging into David Flippo, a Trump-backed Republican running for an open Reno-area seat, including a Bronze Star with valor he never received, four required financial disclosures he never filed, and more than $2.5 million he says he poured into his campaigns without any apparent source of that level of wealth.
“如果我是共和党国会候选人，接到你的电话，”大卫开玩笑对诺亚说，“我就该开始担心了。”
“If I’m a Republican congressional candidate and I get a phone call from you,” David jokes to Noah, “I should start to worry.”
加里森想知道究竟需要什么，选民才会对极端主义做出反击：“我们看到的是，即使是一些忠于共和党的选民，种族主义也不是‘一票否决’的理由。反犹太主义也不是‘一票否决’的理由，”他说。“白人民族主义、新纳粹主义——这些东西对他们来说都不是‘一票否决’的理由。”再过不到两周，我们就能确切知道了。
Garrison wonders what it might take for voters to push back against extremism: “What we’re seeing here is that even for some voters who are loyal to the Republican Party, racism is not a deal-breaker. Antisemitism is not a deal-breaker,” he says. “White nationalism, neo-Nazism—this stuff is not a deal-breaker for them.”We’ll know for sure in just under two weeks.