2020 Election
December 16, 2020 — Scott Johnson

Last week Joe Biden introduced his nominee for Secretary of HHS as “Xavier Bakaria.” I noted that howler here. Yesterday Biden emerged from his basement to campaign for the Democratic candidates in the January 5 Georgia Senate runoffs. Holding another one of the drive-in rallies that served him so well in the 19th-century style presidential campaign he ran, Biden urged those in attendance to “Honk for your next United States
»
December 14, 2020 — Scott Johnson

We have received a small stream of emails from readers and noted a few comments calling us out for not “standing with” President Trump and disparaging our manhood as well — this because we have not decried the “rigged” election that robbed President Trump of reelection. One professed long-time reader sent us a message announcing that he has “resigned” from the site. I particularly appreciate the imputation of cowardice to
»
December 9, 2020 — Scott Johnson

Fox News has hemorrhaged daytime viewers since election night. Stories by Axios and the AP go into some details, reporting a surge in viewers to CNN since the election. The AP story relates that Fox daytime viewership is down 10 percent compared to a year ago. In prime time, however, Fox News still dominates. According to Axios, Fox said it had its highest-rated November ever. What happened? I wrote about
»
December 7, 2020 — Scott Johnson

If you read mainstream media accounts of last night’s the debate between Kelly Loeffler and Raphael Warnock, such as this one from the AP, you will get the impression that Loeffler flunked the catechism test. The catechism in issue recites the victory of Joe Biden over President Trump in the election. Loeffler declined to recite it and stood her ground. It is harder to ferret out from the media reports
»
December 1, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff

Yesterday, I wrote an update on two of the three House races I discussed on Sunday — Iowa-2 and New York-22. Today, there is definitive news about the third of these races. In California-25, Republican Mike Garcia is the winner. Democrat Christy Smith has conceded. This seat traditionally has been held by Republicans. Katie Hill won it for the Democrats in the Democratic wave of 2018, but resigned due to
»
November 30, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff

Yesterday, I wrote about three races in which the outcome may still be in doubt. Today, there is news about two of the races. In Iowa’s second district, we have a winner — Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, at least for now. Today, the state canvass board certified her victory. The margin was six votes, reportedly the slimmest in any House race since 1984. However, Miller-Meeks’ opponent, Rita Hart, is likely to
»
November 29, 2020 — Steven Hayward

Paul notes below several razor-close House races, including especially Iowa 2, where the Republican candidate, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, is leading by six votes. Prediction: if Miller-Meeks is certified as the winner, House Democrats will refuse to seat her in January, so desperate are they to secure every possible House seat they can. Can they do this? Yes—because House Democrats have done this before. Back in 1984, in what became known as
»
November 29, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff

I want to update readers on three extremely close House races. In California’s 25th congressional district, Republican incumbent Mike Garcia leads Democrat Christy Smith by 405 votes out of approximately 340,000 cast. It appears from this account that, amazingly, there are still some votes that haven’t been counted. No one seems to know how many. The final canvass is supposed to be tomorrow (Monday). After that, I think the loser
»
November 29, 2020 — Scott Johnson

Spectator USA has posted Patrick Basham’s column “Reasons why the 2020 presidential election is deeply puzzling.” Subhead: “If only cranks find the tabulations strange, put me down as a crank.” I’ve asked our friends at Spectator USA to make the column accessible, but at the moment it is behind their (semipermeable) paywall. Basham is not a crank. He is founding director of the Democracy Institute and was an adjunct scholar
»
November 24, 2020 — Scott Johnson

I wasn’t familiar with the work of Robert Epstein on the impact of big tech on our elections before Tucker Carlson had him on last night to discuss the possible impact of Google on the 2020 elections. I have posted the video below. Epstein is an interesting guy. He is a psychologist by training and is in fact the former editor of Psychology Today. Among his research papers is one
»
November 23, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff

When the dust settles from the 2020 election, House Democrats will find themselves with a very slender majority, possibly just four seats more than the majority threshold of 218. Whatever the precise number, the margin will be the smallest in the House in two decades. Thus, just a few defections on any legislation will prevent the Democrats from passing it, unless some Republicans join them. Few if any Republican are
»
November 23, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff

We have written often about the Soros-funded campaign to elect radical prosecutors. Its success has helped undermine the criminal justice system in St. Louis, for example. The next step for the same hard-left crowd might well be to elect radical judges. Doing so can erect a second barrier — a backup — to punishing criminals. In Maryland, four outside challengers won election to circuit courts this month. It’s extremely rare
»
November 22, 2020 — John Hinderaker

Sidney Powell’s claim that the presidential election was stolen using Dominion voting machines has dominated post-election controversy over voter fraud, but the Examiner reports that the Trump campaign is distancing itself from that claim: With Trump-allied insiders distancing themselves from massive and unproven election fraud allegations being made by Sidney Powell, the president’s legal team announced on Sunday that the attorney has no direct role in their efforts. Sources close
»
November 21, 2020 — Scott Johnson

This concludes my report on an interview with Rep. Elise Stefanik yesterday afternoon. I posted the first installment here, including my daughter Eliana’s 2014 NR profile of her just before she became the youngest woman elected to Congress at the time. I mentioned to Rep. Stefanik how much I admired women standing up to run for office on our side because of the abuse to which they subject themselves. Unlike
»
November 20, 2020 — Scott Johnson

After noting the strong women candidates who contributed to the Republican pickups in the House when I wrote about them this past weekend, I thought it might make sense to speak with Rep. Elise Stefanik. She had a hand in all those races and kindly gave me a telephone interview this afternoon. Indeed, she stayed on with me until she had answered all my questions. Do you have anything more,
»
November 20, 2020 — Scott Johnson

RealClearPolitics has posted Matt Towery’s knowledgeable take on the Georgia Senate runoffs. Towery’s column is “A realistic take on Georgia’s Senate runoffs.” Towery’s “realistic take” injects a sobering dose of reality from a variety of perspectives into our view of the the races. I hope President Trump can find his way down there to do his thing for Senators Perdue and Loeffler and that Republicans can otherwise find their way
»
November 19, 2020 — John Hinderaker

Today several of President Trump’s lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, held a press conference in which they alleged that they have convincing if not conclusive evidence that the presidential election was rigged, and that in addition to garden variety voter fraud, hundreds of thousands of votes were added to Joe Biden’s totals through electronic manipulation. This is the familiar issue that involves Dominion and SmartMatic software. Here is
»