Commentary: Senate Republicans Just Handed Matches to Arsonists

One of the most fateful decisions of Donald Trump’s presidency happened just weeks after Inauguration Day.

In March 2017, Republican lawmakers joined Democrats to demand Jeff Sessions, a former Senate colleague and Trump’s new attorney general, recuse himself from anything related to the investigation into alleged Russian election collusion. Sessions’ two brief meetings in 2016 with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak—a figure who appeared often in collusion-related drama—amounted to evidence of collusion, collusion perps insisted.

Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) were just a few top Republicans who asked Sessions to step aside—so he did.

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Commentary: Manchin Saves the Filibuster for Now, so House Democrats Call Supreme Court Packing ‘Infrastructure’

Joe Manchin

On April 7, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) penned an oped for the Washington Post entitled, “I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster,” appearing to foreclose any possibility of President Joe Biden ramming through major changes to law on a slim partisan basis expanding the Supreme Court, nationalizing election law, expanding statehood to D.C. or Puerto Rico, and so forth.

“The filibuster is a critical tool to protecting that input and our democratic form of government. That is why I have said it before and will say it again to remove any shred of doubt: There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster,” Manchin wrote, appearing to salvage the nation’s two-party system — for now.

But not so fast, say House Democrats, who last week unveiled a plan to expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 justices, the Judiciary Act of 2021.

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House Republicans Offer Tax Cuts, School Funding Change in New Ohio Budget Proposal

Group of young students

Ohio House Republicans announced Tuesday they want to put the focus on funding the state’s schools and tax breaks.

The House Finance Committee accepted a substitute bill containing the House GOP’s version of a new two-year state budget, which also includes COVID-19 relief help for small businesses and more oversight of state spending.

“This is a thoughtful, structurally balanced and comprehensive budget plan that funds Ohio’s priorities and invests in Ohio’s future,” said Finance Committee Chair Rep. Scott Oelslager, R-North Canton.

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Commentary: The GOP’s Trump Solution

Former President Donald Trump

The Wall Street Journal on Friday published an editorial headlined “The GOP’s Trump Problem.” It gets things terribly wrong. The GOP is Trump’s party and it is the Wall Street Journal that has the Trump problem.

Having been commendably supportive of the former president through most of his term, the Journal joined in the general embarkation of NeverTrumpers over the ostensible election results. The theory that inspired this headline is Trump had his chance but lost the election in a manner practically indistinguishable from defeated incumbents Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H. W. Bush in 1992 (when there were no suggestions of questionable results). The editors suggest further that Trump had exhausted any grounds he had for contesting the fairness of the counting of ballots, and that it was his duty to go quietly into that good night and do everything that he could to elect Republican senators in Georgia to preserve the Republican majority in the Senate and to enhance the likelihood of the reelection next year of Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia and his secretary of state Brad Raffensperger.

These state officials were to be embraced even though they had capitulated to the leader of the Georgia Democrats, Stacey Abrams, permitting the critical electoral votes of their state to be wrongfully cast for Joe Biden. They assumed Trump had to do all he could to keep those in his own party who had betrayed him in place. That is not normally how the system, or human nature, works.

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EXCLUSIVE: Republican Attorneys General Plan to Create Legal Roadblocks for Biden Agenda

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

Republican attorneys general are determined to mount numerous legal challenges against President Joe Biden, creating a formidable roadblock to the president’s agenda.

In less than three months since President Joe Biden was sworn into office, Republican states have waged war on his agenda, suing the administration on climate change, energy, immigration and taxation policy. But the conservative attorneys general who started filing the lawsuits in March said they aren’t done yet and expect to continue challenging the administration in court.

“We are sharpening the pencils and filling up the inkwells,” Louisiana Attorney General and former Republican Attorneys General Association Chairman Jeff Landry, who is leading two of the ongoing lawsuits against the Biden administration, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Commentary: Down with Asa Hutchinson and Other Useless Republicans

On Tuesday, the Republican-led Arkansas legislature overrode Governor Asa Hutchinson’s Monday veto of the aptly named “Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act” (SAFE Act). The SAFE Act would prevent vulnerable minors from irrevocably transforming their bodies according to the dictates of an extreme ideology that sees no value, let alone the reality in, the primordial human sexual dimorphism and all that it implies and demands.

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Conservatives Celebrate as Another University Waves Goodbye to Its Confucius Institute

Student Brandon Fontaine

Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island will close its Confucius Institute, according to an announcement by President Ross Gittell. 

“After 15 years of values language and cultural programs provided through the Confucius Institute at Bryant University, we have chosen not to apply for continued funding at the expiration of the Confucius Institute contract,” Gittell wrote on March 22, “The university will evaluate changes that are taking place in China regarding U.S.-China Relations before making any future commitment.”

Gittell maintained that developing students’ “global mindset is a cornerstone of Bryant’s mission,” noting that the university will still offer “high quality business education through our curriculum offerings in Zhuhai [China].”

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Trump Tells Supporters Who Don’t Want the Coronavirus Vaccine That It’s Safe and Effective

Former President Donald Trump urged Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine Tuesday evening, touting the treatments as safe and effective in fighting the virus.

“I would recommend it,” Trump said during a Fox News interview. “And I would recommend it to a lot of people who don’t want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly.”

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Michigan Senate Authorizes Second Lawsuit Against Gov. Whitmer

The GOP-dominated Michigan Senate on Thursday approved a lawsuit against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

At issue is a possible attempt by the governor to unilaterally spend nearly a million dollars attached to a bill she vetoed this week.

Senate Resolution 26 reads: “Any attempt by Governor Whitmer to expend moneys that she vetoed without further legislative approval or expend certain funds without the enactment of Senate Bill No. 1 or House Bill No. 4049 would be contrary to both law and Michigan’s constitutional system.”

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New York Republicans Seek to Impeach Cuomo as AG’s Office Ramps up Investigation

As New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday announced the attorneys who will conduct the independent review on the sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Republicans in the state Legislature said they intend to seek the embattled leader’s impeachment.

James appointed Joon H. Kim and Anne L. Clark to look into the sexual harassment allegations. Kim is a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Clark focuses on employment law.

James said the state is committed to a thorough review and heralded Kim and Clark as experts. Kim and Clark will be able to issue subpoenas, depose people and review records. They will give James’ office a weekly update throughout the investigatio

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Omar: ‘We’re Sending Money to Less People than Trump’

Rep. Ilhan Omar said she is disappointed that Democrats are “ultimately sending money to less people than the Trump administration.”

The $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package passed Saturday by the U.S. Senate includes $1,400 stimulus checks for individuals making up to $75,000 and married couples with a joint income of up to $150,000. Unlike the two previous relief bills — which included $600 and $1,200 stimulus payments — higher-income earners won’t receive partial checks.

“I see it as a really disappointing development. We obviously are now ultimately sending money to less people than the Trump administration and the Senate majority Republicans,” Omar told CNN Friday night.

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Commentary: Republicans Against the Family

The coronavirus pandemic, real and exaggerated, has provided a unique opportunity to fortify the family and undermine the hegemonic cant of a regime that is hostile to Middle Americans. 

Public school enrollment is down across the country, while homeschooling is on the rise, which should be good news for those frustrated with a system out to teach children what to think rather than how to think. 

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Commentary: A Special Election to Recall Gov. Gavin Newsom Could Push California Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire

In 2010, California voters approved Proposition 14, which fundamentally changed how general elections are conducted in the state. Prior to Prop. 14, the general election ballot would include the names of every qualified party’s nominee. The new system created the “jungle primary,” an open primary in which all registered voters could vote for any candidate running, regardless of party affiliation, with just the top-two finishers appearing on the ballot in November.

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Trump Vows to Help Elect ‘Strong, Tough, and Smart Republican Leaders’ at CPAC Appearance

Former President Donald Trump returned Sunday to the public arena for the first time since leaving office, promising an enthusiastic audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that he will help Republicans win “a historic struggle for America’s future.”

“As we gather this week we’re in the middle of a historic struggle for America’s future, America’s culture and America’s institutions, borders and most cherished principles,” he said.

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Harlan Hill Commentary: With ‘Republicans’ Like Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Who Needs Democrats?

by Harlan Hill   Due to their Republican leadership, many great states like Florida are open for business while successfully managing and mitigating the COVID-19 crisis. The same cannot be said for Ohio: you’d be forgiven for mistaking its leadership as Liberal. Ohio is not open, as its Republican-in-name-only Governor Mike DeWine has shut the state to small businesses, restaurants, family celebrations, and more. In doing so, the already precarious state economy is faltering. And Republicans should especially worry: the GOP’s hold on the state looks likely to suffer as a result. Please don’t just take my word for it; look at the data. Recent polling reveals DeWine is massively underwater with Republican voters. This isn’t a new phenomenon for the “RINO,” but it’s remarkably worse than ever before. In this survey of likely Ohio Republican primary voters from December 2020, just 14 percent of voters say Ohio is on the right track, while an eye-watering 72 percent say Ohio is heading in the wrong direction. And who is to blame? Mike DeWine. A mere 16 percent of Ohio Republicans approve of DeWine’s handling of COVID-19. And his approval rating – an abysmal 17 percent is barely better. Therefore, less than one in five people approve of DeWine…

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Lindsey Graham Says VP Harris Could be Impeached if GOP Takes Back House

Lawyers for Donald Trump said it over and over: Impeaching and convicting the former president would set a terrible new precedent ripe for abuse.

Before the trial began, Trump lawyer Bruce Castor laid out his team’s arguments.

“We will argue that the entire proceeding is unconstitutional, bad public policy, and is setting a bad precedent for the nation,” Castor said. “We will argue that every person in the United States is entitled to due process of law, even if it is the president of the United States. And the president of the United States during the House impeachment was afforded no due process of law.”

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Georgia Voting System Chief Gabriel Sterling Blames Rep. Taylor Greene for Runoff Election Losses

A member of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office attempted to shift the blame to President Donald J. Trump and his supporters, including a newly-elected congresswoman, for the GOP’s failure in the U.S. runoffs in the Peach State.

“The drop off in GOP turnout from Nov to Jan was driven by Trump and most prominently in areas represented by Doug Collins and Marjorie Taylor Greene. These folks cost the GOP two senate seats and control of the Senate. Giving Biden and Dems a free hand,” Gabriel Sterling, the Secretary of States’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial officer said on Twitter. 

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Commentary: Now That Democrats Have Successfully Pulled Off Their ‘Decapitation’ Strategy, Will Americans Reward or Punish Them?

In their latest entry in their litany of hypocrisy, the Democrats are trying assiduously to suppress the very opposition strategy they engaged in during the Trump Administration.

It is ironic, and in many instances unnecessary. By and large, Republicans and populists would never engage in many of these political tactics. Nevertheless, the Democrats are trying preemptively to extinguish a Republican-populist version of their “resistance” by using the execrable and rightly condemned Capitol riot as a pretext to equate legitimate “opposition” with treasonous “sedition.”

The Democrats’ “resistance” was no organic, spontaneous uprising. It was a well-orchestrated political operation. Knowing what they did to undermine the Trump Administration, the Democrats know what they must do to stop it from happening to them. In other words, there is a history lesson the Democrats are trying to rewrite.

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Commentary: Our Future

This is no time for despair. This is no time for discouragement, and this is certainly no time for violence. Now is the time to use every constitutional prerogative at our disposal to peacefully fight for the future of our country.

I was deeply disappointed by the outcomes in the Georgia elections and the congressional certification of the electoral college vote making Joe Biden the next President of the United States. However, this is the reality we face, and it is time to acknowledge it.

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Analysis: How the GOP Lost Control of Washington, and What Comes Next

Washington DC

ow that Democrats are poised to control the White House, Senate and House, the traditional game of finger-pointing and recrimination will begin inside the GOP.

The first instinct for politicians will be to assign blame, call names and jockey for position. But the 2020 election wasn’t just an election, it was a political watershed in which the rules and strategy for winning were rewritten.

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Republican Party Treasurer Ron Kaufman Worked with Democrat Howard Dean, Their Firm Helped Major Bernie Backing PAC

As the Republican National Committee’s annual winter meeting approaches, GOP insiders are voicing concern over a top RNC establishment figure who is up for reelection.

The RNC will meet for three-days on Amelia Island, Florida, starting on January 6, the same day Congress convenes for what is shaping up to be a contentious session for the certification of the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden.

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Commentary: The Most Important Week of the Century

Three big things are happening this week that could decide America’s fate. First, a run-off election in Georgia on Tuesday for two U.S. Senate seats that will determine the balance of power in the Senate. Second, Congress meets for a joint session on Wednesday to formally count the votes of the electoral college. And third, Americans from across the country will rally in support of election integrity on Wednesday on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Here’s a quick look at all these moving parts and ways you can make a difference in the saving America from a Marxist-Socialist takeover.

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Commentary: Donald Trump is The Essential Man

Once upon a time, there was a president called Ronald Reagan – a model of decency and probity, at once great and self-effacing, who, above all, was truly in love with America and saw it as his sacred mission to preserve and strengthen American freedom. During his eight-year tenure, he revitalized the U.S. economy, snapped us out of what his disastrous predecessor had referred to as “our malaise,” and helped bring down the Soviet Union.

Then he walked off into the sunset. And for the next seven presidential terms, we had to make do with mediocrity and self-dealing. Both parties were dominated by crime families – sorry, I mean political dynasties. The Bushes were uninspiring. The Clintons were pure slime.

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Commentary: Sorry, Democrats What Goes Around Comes Around

Democrats who are unhappy that Republicans are skeptical of the 2020 election results have no one to blame but themselves. Democrats cannot understand why Republicans would question the election results in spite of the fact that Democrats sought to undermine anti-voter fraud measures in the run-up to the election; that Republican observers were not allowed to observe vote counting; and that massive numbers of Biden votes were counted in the middle of the night while no Republican observers were present. Of course, in recent years, Democrats have repeatedly disputed unfavorable election results, pushed wild conspiracy theories, and lied about their opponents. A quick review of recent political history seems in order.

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Commentary: America’s Union Agenda at a Crossroads

The war for the soul of America is mirrored in the war for the soul of its major political parties. The establishment Democrats contend with a progressive insurgency and the establishment Republicans contend with a populist America First insurgency. But above all, the corporate bipartisan glue that connects the establishment Democrats to the establishment Republicans means they have more in common with each other than with their respective insurgencies.

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Commentary: Play the Game or Be Played Like a Chump

By now, you may have forgotten the story from all the way back in August when various bugmen and D.C. lizard people convened to run a series of “war games” on the upcoming presidential election. Dubbed the Transition Integrity Project, the group of Democratic Party operatives, Bushite neocons, and lawfare swamp creatures warned of a tumultuous Election Night at the end of which neither candidate would concede, followed by a months-long political and legal battle, going all the way to Inauguration Day, that would stress our republic to its breaking point.

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Commentary: Trump Shouldn’t Cling Bitterly, But Rise Again

It is a tainted election, with a poor result and a disquietingly unprepossessing presumptive president-elect. The current president did great damage to himself by his frequent lapses into boorish self-obsession. He also had an outstanding  term of achievement in the face of unprecedented obstruction and illegal harassment, as well as the almost unanimous and hysterical antagonism of a totalitarian opposition media. And so he’s being evicted. Taking his place is a ramshackle coalition of big media, big money, big tech, big league sports, Hollywood, most of Wall Street, and an odious ragtag of urban guerrillas masquerading as civil rights crusaders. 

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Commentary: Will We Be Citizens or Subjects?

A decisive moment comes and passes, a fleeting chance for action. People rise to the occasion or not, their measure taken and place in history assigned.

We, the citizens of the United States, have reached such a moment. For those who still remember the old republic, the questions it poses are self-evident. Do we make a stand or nervelessly surrender our rights? Do we affirm ourselves citizens—an historically rare and noble title—or do we accept becoming subjects, the fate of most humankind? 

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