Republicans
December 23, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
At FiveThirtyEight, Perry Bacon argues that President Trump completed his takeover of the Republican Party this year. I think that’s right. Trump’s control of congressional Republicans is exemplified by the fact that no GOP member of the House voted for his impeachment. Indeed, as far as I know, no GOP member acknowledged that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine for a time in order to induce the Ukrainian government to
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November 30, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Daniel Horowitz asks: “Who needs George Soros when you have Republicans. . .enacting his number one agenda item – de-incarceration?” Horowitz’s case in point is Oklahoma: The Koch-funded “conservative” organizations have convinced Oklahoma Republicans to embark on a one-sided mission of prison release rather than stemming the tide of growing crime. They have made them feel guilty about having the highest incarceration rate of any state. Yet rather than identifying
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November 22, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The GOP members of the House Intelligence Committee performed like all-stars in the Schiff impeachment theater, the stalwart Ranking Member Devin Nunes foremost among them. We have previously recognized Rep. Elise Stefanik for her work during the Schiff show. The rest of the GOP members also excelled. I would like to recognize them by name: Mike Conaway (Texas), Mike Turner (Ohio), Brad Wenstrup (Ohio), Chris Stewart (Utah), Will Hurd (Texas),
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October 1, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
This is the 70th anniversary of a dark day in history — the founding of the Chinese Communist dictatorship. Jay Nordlinger correctly calls this dictatorship “one of the great tragedies and horrors of modern times.” John McCormick provides examples of the horrors: A decade [after the revolution], Mao’s Great Leap Forward killed perhaps 45 million people. The Communist regime still denies its people freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and
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September 11, 2019 — John Hinderaker
It is no shock that most Americans, most of the time, disapprove of politicians and political parties. Thus, the task of a party is not to be universally beloved, but rather, not to be disproportionately disliked. Pew Research has some interesting numbers in this regard: According to the poll, 45 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Democrats, compared with 52 percent who hold an unfavorable view. Those
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July 23, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia is up for reelection in 2020. Warner is a formidable candidate, but he shouldn’t be considered unbeatable. Ed Gillespie came very close to defeating him in 2014. Even so, Republican politicians in Virginia have not seemed eager to challenge Warner. To my knowledge, the only one to enter the race so far is former Rep. Scott Taylor. He threw his hat into the ring earlier
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April 3, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Largely as a result of unprecedented Democratic obstructionism in the United States Senate, President Trump has yet to staff many executive positions in his administration or fill many judicial vacancies. This afternoon comes word that the Republican majority has finally altered Senate rules to reduce debate time on most presidential nominees by reducing post-cloture debate. They have done so by exercising what the media refer to as the “nuclear option”
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March 13, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
For many months, we (along with many other conservatives) have been urging Senate Republicans to reduce the number of hours permitted to debate nominees. This step is necessary because Senate Democrats have used the 30 hours now permitted to stall nominees. The result is an unacceptable backlog of qualified, confirmable nominees. Consequently, judgeships and key administration jobs remain vacant. Now it finally looks like Majority McConnell will pull the trigger.
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March 10, 2019 — John Hinderaker
I am currently reading Andrew Roberts’ biography of Winston Churchill. So I followed, with interest, the link that someone (probably Scott) put up as a Power Line Pick to this piece by Roberts in the Spectator about his book tour in America. His theme is that Americans, in general, esteem Churchill now more than ever. Which is a good thing. I want to comment on a single paragraph in Roberts’
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February 21, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The headline of this article by Byron York is: “Dems’ hard-left turn poses dilemma for ‘Never Trumpers.” Actually, I don’t believe the Democrats turn to the hard left is creating a difficult decision for hardcore Never Trumpers. They are determined to bring Trump down whether it means a Joe Biden presidency, a Kamala Harris presidency, or even a Bernie Sanders presidency. Their overriding objective is to see Trump repudiated and
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February 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Democrats have hoodwinked Republicans on the border compromise legislation that would end the dispute over funding the government. That’s the most charitable interpretation of what has happened. It’s possible that the Republicans who agreed to the deal know about the “landmines” that will undermine the Trump administration and simply don’t care. Mark Krikorian blows the whistle. He writes: The bill is disappointing in many respects, but if it had been
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January 20, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Larry Hogan, the governor of Maryland, reportedly is considering running against President Trump for the Republican nomination. According to Politico, “the second-term Maryland governor has been implicitly going after Trump in speeches, meeting with Never Trump Republicans, and planning a March trip to Iowa as vice chair of the National Governors Association.” Hogan is an old fashioned “good government Republicans” and a political centrist. That’s fine for a Republican governor
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December 25, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
On Christmas, Thomas Friedman delivers a column better suited for April Fool’s Day. He recommends that Republicans “threaten to fire” President Trump. Friedman writes: I believe that the only responsible choice for the Republican Party today is an intervention with the president that makes clear that if there is not a radical change in how he conducts himself — and I think that is unlikely — the party’s leadership will
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December 19, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Late last night, the Senate passed First Step, the leniency legislation that will free many thousands of felons from federal prison and shorten the sentences of many thousands of future felons. The vote was 87-12. Here are the 12 courageous Republicans who resisted pressure from the Trump administration and from big-money interest groups like the Koch Brothers, and voted to protect the public from the hardened criminals who populate federal
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November 30, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
FIRST STEP, the leniency for federal felons legislation being supported by President Trump, may or may not pass the Senate this year. Either way, it has split the Republican caucus. This Washington Post report leaves no doubt about that. The division is encapsulated in dueling National Review articles — one by Sen. Tom Cotton opposing the jailbreak and the other by Sen. Mike Lee supporting it. In another NRO article,
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November 27, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Tonight, Cindy Hyde-Smith easily defeated Mike Espy, a member of President Obama’s cabinet, in a run-off election in Mississippi. The margin of victory looks to be about 8 points. Hyde-Smith’s win means that the new Senate will consist of 53 Republicans. Consequently, President Trump may be able to nominate (and see confirmed) highly conservative judges and cabinet members he might have shied away from during the past two years. Contrary
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November 26, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post states: “While [President] Trump has blasted Democrats as ‘an angry left-wing mob’ and the ‘party of crime,’ researchers have identified just one fatal attack in 2018 that may have been motivated by left-wing ideologies.” By contrast, “researchers say at least 20 people have died this year in suspected right-wing attacks.” These counts may be accurate, though I’m not prepared to take the word of the Washington Post
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