Tag: GOP

What does Doug Jones’s win mean for the country?

The following article by Allison Michaels was posted on the Washington Post website December 13, 2017:

“This is something that’s really going to define Alabama for the future. Not just for the people but for all the aftereffects that we’re going to have on what the people view as what’s politically correct and what’s not.” — Zach Parrish of Alabama, 20, Democrat

Last night, Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama’s competitive — and at times bitter — election, and is now set to become the state’s next U.S. senator. In the days leading up to the special election in Alabama, Washington Post political reporter Robert Costa spoke to voters in the deep-red state as they decided between the Democrat and a Republican, Roy Moore, who has faced allegations of sexual misconduct with minors.

Jones’s win has sizable consequences for the rest of the country, for the legislative agenda in Congress, for the state of divisive politics and party loyalty and even for the president of the United States.

On the 50th episode of “Can He Do That?,” a podcast that explores the powers and limitations of the American presidency, we dive into Costa’s reporting in Alabama and cover what happens next now that Alabama has elected a Democrat to the Senate.

Listen to the full episode below.

View the post here.

Can Presidents Obstruct Justice? Republicans and Democrats Say Yes

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website December 11, 2017:

Durbin: ‘Desperate statement’ suggests ‘they expect to lose on the merits’

Vermont Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, left, and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham confer before a hearing in 2015. Both senior Judiciary Committee members say there is ample precedent showing a president can obstruct justice, despite a claim to the contrary by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Republican and Democratic lawmakers say an assertion by Donald Trump’s personal lawyer that a sitting president cannot obstruct justice is dubious, warning the White House there is ample precedent to the contrary.

The members were reacting to Trump lawyer John Dowd’s legal argument in a recent interview with Axios that “the president cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [Article II of the Constitution] and has every right to express his view of any case.”

Lawmakers from both parties rejected the claim as legally flimsy, and a few suggested it is politically treacherous. Some Democrats see Dowd’s argument as “desperation” from the Trump legal team, and even some Republican lawmakers are advising the president and his lawyers to find another legal defense strategy. Continue reading “Can Presidents Obstruct Justice? Republicans and Democrats Say Yes”

Not Your Parents’ GOP

The following article bu Susan Milligan was posted on the U.S. News and World Report website December 8, 2017:

Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Republican revolution of 1994 led onetime Democratic Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama to switch parties and become a proud member of the GOP. Next week’s election in Alabama may define the beginning of the end of the senior senator’s party as he’s known it.

When Shelby aligned with the party, Republicans were on an electoral and ideological roll. Having seized control of both the Senate and House, the GOP was on a mission to cut taxes, reform entitlement programs, slash domestic spending and shrink the federal footprint on Americans’ lives. Now, the Republican Party has been increasingly defined by what were once its fringe elements, observers in both parties bemoan, raising the question of whether the party, in its traditional model, is on its way out. Continue reading “Not Your Parents’ GOP”

Medicare for all will work better

To the Editor:

I recently attended a presentation organized by the Plymouth Indivisible group, by Dr. Timothy Magee, representing the nonprofit “Healthcare for all Minnesota” in which he made an excellent argument for universal and single payer health care.

We learned that the United States has health services that are about average compared to European countries and Canada, and in many ways not as good, but we pay significantly more for that care.  A large portion of that extra expense is ultimately used to run the health care insurance system, and another large portion is spent by health care provides doing their part of the insurance paperwork. Continue reading “Medicare for all will work better”

Roy Moore, and the GOP’s prejudicial persecution complex

The following article by Aaron Blake was posed on the Washington Post website December 6, 2017:

President Trump and the RNC are formally supporting Roy Moore in his bid for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat, a month after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Cameron Carnes/The Washington Post)

Roy Moore now has President Trump’s endorsement, support from the Republican National Committee and a reasonably strong chance of winning — all proving that the many GOP leaders who tried to stop him have little control over their party. Whatever control GOP leaders retained after the tea party movement, in fact, has been severely undermined by Trump. And Moore, who stands accused of sexual misconduct with multiple minors, is easily the best indicator of that to date.

But the reason something like Moore could happen is more complicated than just Trump. And Republicans can blame one thing that Trump stoked, with plenty of help: The party’s increasing persecution complex. Continue reading “Roy Moore, and the GOP’s prejudicial persecution complex”

House Republicans Vote to Raise Taxes on 36 Million Middle-Class Families

The following message from Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer was e-mailed November 17, 2017:

Yesterday, House Republicans passed their tax scam bill through the House, voting to raise taxes on 36 million middle-class families, provide massive tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and corporations, and add $1.5 trillion dollars to the deficit. House Democrats unanimously opposed this tax scam that overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy while leaving the middle class behind and triggering a$25 billion cut to Medicare next year alone. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to reject this bill and work with Democrats to reform the tax code in a bipartisan, transparent, and revenue neutral fashion. Continue reading “House Republicans Vote to Raise Taxes on 36 Million Middle-Class Families”

Anti-worker Republicans take a page from Wisconsin playbook

The following column by Ken Martin, DFL Party Chair, was released October 27, 2017:

Credit: cspan.org

Our neighboring state of Wisconsin was thrust into the national spotlight in 2010 when Gov. Scott Walker staged an all-out assault on labor unions. Despite protestors flooding the Capitol for nearly three weeks, Walker signed a bill to dramatically curtail collective bargaining rights for public employees.With no power to effectively bargain over workplace rules or salaries, union membership in Wisconsin has dropped by a staggering 40 percent.

Workers in Minnesota have watched what’s happening across the border with grave concern. That concern was unfortunately validated earlier this month when a state legislative panel voted to reject a new contract for nearly 30,000 state employees. The workers belong to Minnesota’s two largest public employee unions, AFSCME and Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE). The proposed contract included modest pay increases, improved health coverage, and expanded benefits. Continue reading “Anti-worker Republicans take a page from Wisconsin playbook”

This chart should really worry Republicans about 2018

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website October 17, 2017:

The symbols of the Democratic (donkey) and Republican (elephant) parties in Washington, D.C., in 2008. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)

Buried inside the new CNN poll is a finding that won’t make many headlines, but should probably cause a good bit of concern for Republicans.

The poll asked the standard “generic ballot” question: Would you prefer a generic Democrat or a generic Republican in the upcoming election? Democrats lead on that question for the 2018 midterms by a whopping 16-point margin, 54 percent to 38 percent.

If that were actually to turn out to be the case, of course, we’d be talking about a Democratic landslide — and almost definitely a Democratic takeover of the House that is so difficult given the map. But even if it’s just close to reality, it could be a very bad omen for the Republican Party in a historically tough first midterm election under a president of their own party. Continue reading “This chart should really worry Republicans about 2018”

Trump never had a good relationship with Latino voters. It’s only getting worse.

The following article by John Wagner and Ed O’Keefe was posted on the Washington Post website October 9, 2017:

The Trump administration released a list of hard-line immigration principles Oct. 8, which could threaten to derail a deal in Congress to protect “dreamers” from deportation. (Elyse Samuels/The Washington Post)

When President Trump said a few weeks ago that he wanted to find a way to continue protecting young “dreamers” from deportation, some Republicans touted the possibility of a “Nixon goes to China” moment that could reset the president’s deeply frayed relationship with Latino voters.

But ever since, Trump has returned to antagonizing this growing segment of the electorate — including proposing new hard-line immigration measures Sunday — deepening a rift that many in his party fear will do lasting damage to the GOP’s ability to win future elections. Continue reading “Trump never had a good relationship with Latino voters. It’s only getting worse.”

Trump is slowly rupturing the Republican Party, suggests yet another new poll

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website September 13, 2017:

President Trump’s decision to back Democrats’ plans for raising the debt ceiling and permanently removing Congress’s debt ceiling requirement is frustrating Republicans, and especially conservatives. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

President Trump’s ability to fracture and even destroy the Republican Party has been chewed over plenty in recent days, as he — for the moment, at least — flirts with working with Democrats. The New York Times’s Peter Baker wrote that Trump is, “in many ways, the first independent to hold the presidency” since the Civil War. I’ve looked at what might happen if Trump actually ditched the GOP. Continue reading “Trump is slowly rupturing the Republican Party, suggests yet another new poll”