Tag: GOP

How The Press Rewards Republican Cowardice In The Trump Era

After Donald Trump ignited a firestorm by launching a racist attack on four Democratic members of Congress, the Beltway press last week temporarily revised a time-honored journalism tradition of forcing members of the president’s party to respond publicly to controversial behavior. The results were utterly predictable, of course, with most Republicans refusing to criticize Trump’s latest bout of open bigotry. But even the recent media questions for the GOP seemed muted, given the stunning and historic nature of Trump’s racist behavior.

The sad truth is, the press mostly gave up a long time ago on holding Republican lawmakers accountable for Trump’s erratic behavior. Faced with a party that has completely capitulated to Trump’s unbalanced ways, reporters seem to have lost interest in the pursuit.

Why isn’t there constant, nonstop coverage detailing how radical the Republican Party has become, and how any hints of dissent in the age of Trump are cultishly hidden from view? Instead of vivid portraits of a party abandoning its principles as GOP lawmakers obediently fall in line behind Trump’s nasty behavior, we get coverage about how savvy Republicans are for holding their tongues about Trump and refusing to hold him accountable—about how strategic Republicans are being in allowing someone like Trump to maintain a stranglehold grip on the party.

View the complete July 21 article by Eric Boehlert from Daily Kos on the National Memo website here.

This Old Video Shows How Low GOP Has Sunk Since Reagan

The immigration policies of Donald Trump’s presidency would have no room for his GOP predecessors Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush—who both embraced work visas, family unification, easy border crossings and a better relationship with Mexico.

That counterpoint can be seen in a very short video clip from the 1980 presidential election where Reagan and Bush—who became Reagan’s vice president for two terms before winning the presidency in 1988—were asked about immigration at a campaign debate in Texas. Their responses show just how far to the right the Republican Party’s current leader, President Trump, and voters who have not left the GOP to become self-described political independents, have moved on immigration.

The responses by Bush and Reagan in a 1980 televised debate sound like today’s Democrats. The exchange was prompted by a two-part question from an audience member: should “the children of illegal aliens… be allowed to attend Texas public schools free? Or do you think that their parents should pay for their education?”

View the complete July 20 article by Steven Rosenfeld on the National Memo website here.

Attack on the ACA

Center for American Progress logoUndermining Protections for LGBTQ Patients and Language Accessibility Requirements

The Trump administration is proposing to undermine strong and clear protections against discrimination in health care by giving health care providers, pharmacy benefit managers, and insurers a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people and many others. The existing rule implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as the Health Care Rights Law, was promulgated by the Obama administration in 2016 after a rigorous six-year process. The rule characterized discrimination based on sex stereotyping and gender identity as impermissible sex discrimination under the law. It also prohibited insurance providers using the marketplace from discriminating against protected characteristics, provided strong language access and notice requirements, and established many other critical patient protections.

The Trump administration incorrectly claimed that an injunction against limited provisions of the rule necessitated promulgating a new rule, but the proposal’s expansive decimation of existing protections reveals that this is just the administration’s latest effort to undermine the ACA at the cost of patient care. In addition to erasing the existing regulation’s explicit protections for LGBTQ people, the proposed rule would also: Continue reading “Attack on the ACA”

EXCLUSIVE: Trump campaign, RNC training army of volunteers in key 2020 states

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) are mobilizing thousands of volunteers in more than a dozen battleground states, including a handful that President Trump lost in 2016, as they seek to expand the electoral map ahead of 2020.

Trump Victory, a joint operation comprised of the Trump campaign, the RNC and state Republican parties, kicked off a “National Week of Training” on Friday in a bid to train more than 6,000 volunteers and register voters in 14 states that Republicans have set their sights on for 2020.

At the same time, the committee is adding to its roster of state directors overseeing its organizing efforts, hiring staffers in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Virginia, Republican officials told The Hill.

View the complete July 19 article by Max Greenwood on The Hill website here.

Federal judge upholds Trump’s expansion of non-ACA health plans

Axios logoA D.C. federal judge upheld Friday the Trump administration’s expansion of insurance plans that don’t comply with the Affordable Care Act — a key part of its health care agenda.

The big picture: The Department of Health and Human Services last year allowed consumers to keep barebones, lightly regulated “short-term” health insurance for up to three years — longer than than the Obama administration had allowed. HHS does have the legal authority to change those limits as it sees fit, Judge Richard Leon ruled today.

View the July 19 article by Sam Baker on the Axios website here.

GOP rattled by Trump rally

The Hill logoRepublican lawmakers are feeling rattled after a long week capped by a raucous presidential rally where thousands chanted “send her back” at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a Somali refugee who became a U.S. citizen and one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

President Trump distanced himself from the chant on Thursday, saying it made him unhappy and that he disagreed with it.

But he also did not seek to tamp down the chant when it happened on Wednesday night, and the crowd was clearly responding to Trump’s attacks on Omar and three other minority congresswomen he earlier in the week had said should “go back” to their home counties.

View the complete July 19 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.

‘Send her back’ chant chills Washington

Some Republicans criticize crowd at Trump rally; McConnell says Trump is ‘onto something’ with attacks on progressive ‘squad’

The words “send her back” briefly drowned out the President Donald Trump’s speech in Greenville, North Carolina, last night, and quickly sent chills through Washington.

Trump carried his screed against Rep. Ilhan Omar from Twitter on to the stage of a campaign stop Wednesday night, prompting supporters to respond that he should “send her back” to the country she emigrated from as a child. The moment stoked fear about both the safety of the congresswoman and about the ramifications of the nation’s most powerful politician inflaming racial and religious hatred.

The president’s Democratic rivals rapidly condemned his diatribe and the crowd’s approving chant as “racist,”“vile”and “disturbing.”

View the complete July 18 article by Emily Kopp on The Roll Call website here.

Lifelong Republican and former judge leaves GOP with scathing goodbye statement

AlterNet logoThree guesses why she’s leaving …

The deep corruption of Spiro Agnew? No. Trey Gowdy’s fey Christmas elf hair? Nuh-uh. Oh, I know. Trump! That racist sh**heel hardly any Republicans dare gainsay.

Elsa Alcala isn’t a prominent national figure, but she was a Texas judge, and her Dear Jackasses letter is a gem. Apparently, Trump’s latest racist pus-draining was a bit too much for her to stomach.

Enjoy: https://twitter.com/keribla/status/1150914870814093315

 

View the complete July 17 article by Aldus J. Pennyfarthing from Daily Kos on the AlterNet website here.

Republicans’ choice: Stand with Trump or risk his wrath

Trump has already informed at least two GOP lawmakers of his dissatisfaction with their defense of his racist tweets.

Sen. John Cornyn prides himself on winning a large share of the Latino vote in Texas, campaigning in the Asian American community and running ads in three languages. It’s a crucial strategy for a Republican in a diverse state — and one that is sharply divergent from President Donald Trump’s approach.

So as Cornyn seeks reelection next year with Trump on the ballot, he’s making sure that he isn’t dragged down by the president’s more inflammatory politics, exemplified again this week by his racist tweets telling four liberal Democratic congresswomen to “go back” to where they came from.

“I don’t have any trouble speaking to any of my constituents. They don’t confuse me with what’s happening up here in D.C.,” said Cornyn, who has gently criticized Trump’s battle as a “mistake” that unified Democrats. “I know we are consumed by this here, but it doesn’t consume my constituents when I go back home.

View the complete July 16 article by Burgess Everett and James Arkin on the Politico website here.

GOP put on the back foot by Trump’s race storm

The Hill logoPresident Trump’s attacks on four minority Democratic lawmakers have created a rift in the GOP, putting many Republicans on the defensive.

Most are seeking to steer clear of the firestorm, but a few GOP lawmakers came out against Trump’s suggestion that the four women of color “go back” to their home countries, even though all are U.S. citizens.

One of the strongest denunciations came from Rep. Will Hurd (Texas), the only African American House Republican, whose district has a large number of Hispanic residents. He blasted Trump’s tweets as “racist” and “xenophobic” in a CNN interview.

View the complete July 16 article Alexander Bolton and Jordain Carney on The Hill website here.