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WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans chose Rep. Mike Johnson as their latest nominee for House speaker late Tuesday, hours after an earlier pick, Rep. Tom Emmer, abruptly withdrew in the face of opposition from Donald Trump and hardline GOP lawmakers. Johnson of Louisiana, a lower-ranked member of the House GOP leadership team, becomes the fourth Republican nominee after Emmer and the others fell short in what has become an almost absurd cycle of political infighting since Kevin McCarthy's ouster as GOP factions jockey for power. Refusing to unify, far-right members won’t accept a more traditional speaker and moderate conservatives don’t want...

The political world would be a much better place if all public officials knew how to apologize for mistakes the way Louisiana Lt. Gov. Bill Nungesser did on Easter Day. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was interviewing Nungesser about Louisiana’s unusually high incidence of the coronavirus, part of which probably was exacerbated by Mardi Gras celebrations in February. Nungesser was saying there was only one known case in the whole state by the time of Mardi Gras, but that had federal or medical guidance come sooner, officials certainly would have considered canceling Mardi Gras.

"The Five" discussed Monday whether or not Democrats are underestimating President Trump and his ability to connect with voters. Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera made the case that the president's Friday rally showed that he will be "formidable." "I'm telling you no Democrat could match that enthusiasm, even with Beyonce they couldn't get their kind of a crowd and keep that crowd for as long as he did," Geraldo said Monday. "He had them spellbound. He is a master performer." Trump slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during a Friday night rally in Louisiana, saying "Nancy Pelosi hates the United...

Freeper Friends: Please forward this letter from Pro-Lifer Richard Mahoney: Dear Friends, Of the candidates running for Louisiana Secretary of State, only former state senator A.G. Crowe, of Pearl River has taken serious action to put abortionists out of business across the state. For this reason we must not split our votes, we must all work to help get A.G. Crowe elected. Attached is a letter from A.G. Crowe showing his commitment to fighting for Life. His website is https://agcrowe.com/ I totally endorse him for this position and know for sure he will serve God and this state in the...

Anti-Brett Kavanaugh protesters have flooded Capitol Hill since news of allegations of sexual misconduct against him, walking hallways in protest, holding loud demonstrations and confronting senators in elevators. One such protester approached Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on his way through a Senate building walkway Monday. She asked, “Why are you supporting Kavanaugh?” to the brisk-walking senator. Cassidy took the chance to push back, asking her if she would like it if her loved ones were “destroyed” by “uncorroborated” charges. Cassidy: “Why wouldn’t I support Kavanaugh?” Protester: “Because rapists are bad.” Cassidy: “Wait a second — everybody there said...

As the Reverend William Barber appeared as a guest on Saturday's AM Joy on MSNBC to give his religion-based views on current events, host Joy Reid at one point seemed to worry about not being able to talk more about Republican Rep. Steve Scalise's conservative views and his history on "race," as she recalled the discredited story that the congressman spoke to a white nationalist event 15 years ago. The Reverend Barber declared that he hopes that Scalise stops being "homophobic," and that Republicans -- presumably including Scalise -- stop "preying" on "the poor and on minorities and the sick,"...

The hospital where Rep. Steve Scalise is recovering after being shot during practice for a congressional baseball game says the congressman remains in critical condition and will require several more operations. MedStar Washington Hospital Center is also providing a more detailed description of Scalise's wounds. The hospital says he was shot in the left hip, after which "the bullet travelled across his pelvis, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs and causing severe bleeding."(continued)

Republicans Scott Angelle and Clay Higgins have advanced to Dec. 10 runoff for Louisiana 3rd Congressional District seat.

Droves of people turn out to watch Republican nominee hand out water bottles and diapers as locals commend his efforts: ‘This is his stomping grounds’ The post-disaster politicking got under way in earnest on Friday, as Donald Trump appeared in flood-stricken Louisiana to give his image a presidential burnish, and as the White House announced Barack Obama would tour the area next Tuesday. A day earlier Louisiana’s governor, John Bel Edwards, had warned Trump not to show up in Louisiana “for a photo op”. Instead, he said, Trump should volunteer and make donations. Edwards also defended the delayed visit by...

Gov. John Bel Edwards was forced to eat his own words when GOP nominee Donald Trump showed up in Baton Rouge today to donate and hand-out supplies for Louisiana flooding victims. Edwards’ spokesperson was silent on President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s failure to visit the state in the wake of the flooding crisis. But, the spokesperson took a swipe at Trump, saying he didn’t want him to show up with cameras and not actually help victims. “Donald Trump hasn’t called the governor to inform him of his visit,” Edwards’ spokesman said. “We welcome him to LA but not for a...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and running mate Mike Pence will visit flood-damaged areas of Baton Rouge, La. Friday. Record flooding across Louisiana has killed at least 13 people. Over 85,000 people have registered for federal disaster assistance, more than 30,000 have been rescued, and an estimated 40,000 homes have been damaged. Trump addressed the flooding at a rally in Charlotte, N.C. Thursday night, calling Louisiana “a state that is very, very special to me.”

The Declaration of Independence came under attack from an unlikely quarter—a state legislator. Louisiana lawmaker Barbara Norton (D-Shreveport), argued that America’s founding document was racist during debate on a bill requiring public school students in the state to recite the Declaration of Independence daily, Fox & Friends reported Saturday. “For the Declaration of Independence only Caucasians (were) free,” Norton, who is black, said Wednesday during the debate on the floor of the Louisiana House of Representatives. “And for you to bring a bill to require that our children will recite the Declaration of Independence I think it’s a little bit...

Donald Trump has set his sights on a new target for litigation: the Republican Party. He is threatening to sue the Republican National Committee over delegate allocations in Louisiana. Trump defeated Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Louisiana's March 5 primary, but Cruz may receive up to 10 more delegates from the state than Trump. Trump defeated Cruz by 3.6 percentage points in Louisiana. But because the results were relatively close, each candidate was awarded 18 delegates. There are also five unbound delegates in the state, reserved for party officials and elected officeholders, who are expected to back Cruz. And there...

Donald Trump barely won Louisiana’s primary. In fact, he lost the actual primary day turnout. A big win in early voting helped him keep the lead, but it was close. So close, in fact, that for all intents and purposes, it was a draw. Enter Louisiana politics. Via my colleague streiff: What is very clear is that if Donald Trump is not awarded the nomination on the first ballot, his bloc of delegates will melt away and his wins are not being capitalized upon because his campaign is essentially incompetent. You see, when it came down to the actual election...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz may turn out to be the real winner of the Louisiana Republican primary. Despite losing the primary in early March by fewer than four percentage points and winning an equal number of pledged delegates, Cruz supporters scooped up five of Louisiana's six positions on key committees intended to write the Republican National Convention's rules and platform, The Wall Street Journal reports. Only one Trump supporter managed to receive an appointment to a senior level delegate post. Eric Skrmetta, the Trump campaign's state co-chairman was named vice chairman of GOP convention delegation, a mainly ceremonial position without...

A lot of Trump folks are not very happy about the fact that Ted Cruz tied Donald Trump in the number of delegates he received from the Louisiana Primary on Saturday. The head of Trump's campaign in Louisiana, Woody Jenkins, posted a lengthy rant on how unfair it is and said that it is, somehow, a violation of the 14th Amendment. The problem for Team Trump is that they simply did not take part in writing the formula for handing out the delegates in the first place. This comes from the Louisiana GOP Executive Director, via the Hayride: I sent...

I've never been a fan of early voting. Those who vote early do not have the opportunity to include in their deliberations late breaking events or campaign developments that might cause them to re-examine their decision. I've always believed we're better off having everybody vote on the same day. That way everybody has access to the same information before they pull the lever. (Absentee ballots, of course, should be made available to those who cannot show up on election day due to travel or other unavoidable complications.) An illustration of this comes from the Louisiana primary on Saturday. Donald Trump...

If you listen to Donald Trump, you would believe that Ted Cruz's huge victories in Kansas and Maine in Super Saturday were a fluke. While Trump is still leading in delegates, he should be a little more worried about the Cruz surge. While Kansas was always going to be a toss-up between the two, Cruz's surprising victory in Maine should not be overlooked. While Trump was spinning Mar. 5 as another resounding victory, in reality, it was a not such a good day. Not only did Cruz obtain most of the 155 delegates that were up for grabs on Saturday,...

CNN projects Trump to win Louisiana. 9:43 EST.

NEW ORLEANS (CNN) - More than two dozen protesters chanting "black lives matter" disrupted Donald Trump's rally here on Friday, linking arms and resisting security personnel trying to eject them from the venue. The protests come after a week of intense scrutiny directed at Trump after the Republican presidential front-runner was asked to disavow the support of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke and several white supremacist groups. Trump declined to disavow Duke's support and that of white supremacist groups, including the KKK, during a CNN interview on Sunday, but later tweeted his rejection of Duke, a position...