Tag: Republicans

GOP fears Congress will actually do its oversight job after ‘blue wave’

The following article by Dan Desai Martin was posted on the ShareBlue.com website August 27, 2018:

Mitch McConnell, R-KY., 2018. Credit: J. Scott Applewhite, AP

A leaked memo shows Republicans are afraid that if Democrats take over the House of Representatives, Congress will actually reassert itself as a coequal branch of government.

A new memo circulating in GOP circles shows Republicans are “getting ready for hell” if Democrats take control of the House of Representatives.

What has Republicans so scared? Democrats are planning to investigate the rampant scandals of the Trump era.

In other words, Democrats want Congress to actually do its job.

View the complete article here.

Boogeywomen — GOP vilifies big-name female Dems

The following article by Melanie Zanona was posted on the Hill website August 18, 2018:

Republicans have made attacks on high-profile Democratic women a key part of their strategy for holding onto congressional majorities.

The GOP aims to cast rank-and-file Democrats as puppets of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and other Democratic boogeymen, calculating that suburban and rural voters won’t want to replace their Republican lawmakers with Democrats beholden to the party’s power brokers.

But while those tactics fire up President Trump’s conservative base, it risks turning off the suburban and college-educated women seen as crucial voting blocs in the fall — especially since so many of the GOP targets happen to be women.

View the complete article here.

Here’s Why Republicans’ Disturbing Romance with the Racist Confederacy Is So Troubling

The following article by W. Fitzhugh Brundage of the Independent Media Institute was posted on the AlterNet.org website August 17, 2018:

The road to the violence around statues is paved with hate, lies, and political gamesmanship.

Lee Park, Charlottesville, VA by Cville dog, via Wikimedia.org

Among the historical ironies of our current era is the defense of Confederate monuments and southern white “heritage” by Republicans. The curious path that the Grand Old Party of Abraham Lincoln has followed to its present stance is an example of expediency and ideology subverting principle.

For more than a century after the Civil War, the defense of white southern “heritage” was the preoccupation of white Democrats. Until the 1970s, Republicans in the South were a long suffering minority who had to battle against all manner of Democratic machinations to enfeeble their opponents. The party recruited African Americans—who remained loyal to the party of Lincoln and hostile to the white segregationists who still presided over the Democratic Party in the region—and whites who favored Republican policies and were less enchanted by white supremacy than their Democratic rivals. Southern Republicans were often vocal opponents of the poll tax and other Democratic schemes that suppressed voter turnout and impeded equal representation in state houses. Nationally, Republican ranks included moderates and liberals whose commitment to racial equality was crucial for the expansion of civil rights from the Civil War until the election of Ronald Reagan.

Continue reading “Here’s Why Republicans’ Disturbing Romance with the Racist Confederacy Is So Troubling”

Charles Koch Takes On Trump. Trump Takes On Charles Koch.

The following article by Jeremy W. Peters was posted on the New York Times website July 31, 2018:

Charles G. Koch, one of the Republicans’ biggest donors, has been critical of President Trump’s protectionist trade policies. Mr. Trump is hitting back, creating tensions that could affect the party in the midterm elections.Published OnJuly 31, 2018CreditImage by Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle, via Associated Press

Few had better reason to appreciate Mr. Trump’s results than Charles G. Koch, a billionaire industrialist who is one of the Republican Party’s biggest donors.

Yet Mr. Koch’s simmering frustrations with the president over trade and immigration have now spilled over into an ugly public feud with Mr. Trump and candidates who side with him. By calling Mr. Trump’s trade policies “detrimental” and denouncing divisive leadership, Mr. Koch is making a provocative political move that — be it hardball strategy or more of a ploy — threatens to complicate Republican efforts to hold on to their slim congressional majorities in the November midterm elections.

View the complete article here.

Before her arrest as an alleged Russian agent, Maria Butina’s proud defense of her homeland drew notice at American University

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman Moriah Balingit, Shane Harris and Tom Hamburger was posted on the Washington Post website July 25, 2018:

Maria Butina, 29, founded a Russian group called the Right to Bear Arms. On July 16 she was charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of Russia. (Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

On a campus full of ambitious students aiming to land influential U.S. government and policy jobs, Maria Butina cut an unusual profile.

It wasn’t just the outspoken conservative politics of the auburn-haired Russian woman that drew the attention of other graduate students at American University. There was also her almost zealous embrace of her homeland.

Butina’s cellphone case was emblazoned with a famous photograph of Russian President Vladi­mir Putin riding shirtless on a horse. She would buy friends rounds of vodka at Russia House, the Dupont Circle restaurant popular with the Russian diplomatic set, sometimes challenging male friends to down horseradish-infused shots. She bragged to classmates that she had worked for the Russian government.

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So Does That ‘R’ Stand For Republicans — Or Russians?

The following article by Gene Lyons was posted on the National Memo website July 24, 2018:

Donald Trump is shown on video monitors as he speaks live to the crowd from New York at the RNC Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 19, 2016. Credit: Mario Anzuoni, Reuters

How long do you suppose, before the initial “R” signifying “Republican” is also understood to mean “Russian?”

Let’s assume that special counsel Robert Mueller produces strong evidence that shady GOP campaign officials such as, say, Paul Manafort, conspired with Russian operatives. What would it take for your Trump-loving brother-in-law to transition from “witch hunt!” to “thank God Putin saved us from Hillary Clinton?”

Three days? A week?

View the complete article here.

Surveys Say: Polling Still Points to Rough November for Republicans

The following article by Stuart Rothenberg was posted on the Roll Call website July 24, 2018:

From Fox News to NBC News & the Wall Street Journal, the numbers aren’t good for GOP

President Trump isn’t losing many of his base of support among Republicans, but Democrats don’t need them to win the majority. Credit: Sarah Silbiger, CQ Roll Call

Analysis — If you trust the July 9-11 Fox News poll and the July 15-18 NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey — and I have no reason not to — the GOP still looks headed for a difficult election and the likely loss of the House.

No, President Donald Trump’s voters are not fleeing him, and his personal poll numbers have not cratered even after his behavior at the NATO summit in Belgium and his Helsinki meeting with Vladimir Putin. So, maybe he really could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters. But that says something about Trump’s supporters, not the overall electorate.

Unfortunately for Republicans, the combination of national and state polling continues to show the party’s vulnerability as November approaches.

View the complete article here.

Why is Trump so much more popular with Republicans than past presidents?

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website July 24, 2018:

There has been an effort, often by Republicans skeptical of President Trump’s administration, to explain why Trump consistently sees approval ratings among members of his own party that are so much higher than past presidents. We noted in June that the only Republican president with more support from Republicans in the modern era was George W. Bush — immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. How could that be, many have wondered, given how polarizing Trump is? There are certainly reasons for Republicans in particular to support Trump’s presidency: the strong economy, his appointments to the courts. But so much more than past Republican presidents?

One popular theory is that the increase in self-identified independents reflects a movement away from an increasingly partisan Republican (and Democratic) Party, consolidating a more-extreme base within the party that approves of Trump’s actions.

While it’s true that the number of partisans has increased, it doesn’t seem to be true that a significantly lower percentage of Americans is identifying as Republican in the Trump era relative to past years. Pew Research Center polling shows that the biggest drop in Republican Party identity came in the last few years of the Bush presidency, as an unpopular president turned off voters. In 2009, the percentage of the country that identified as Republican was 26 percent; in 2017, it was the same.

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GOP seeks separation from Trump on Russia

The following article by Alexander bolton and Jordain Carney was posted on the Hill website July 19, 2018:

Republicans on Capitol Hill are scrambling to distance themselves from President Trump’s controversial comments on Russia earlier this week.

With less than four months before the election, Senate Republican leaders say they will likely act on legislation sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) this year. That measure would impose stiff economic penalties on Russia if it meddles in a U.S. election in 2018 and beyond.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has indicated to colleagues that he may bring the bill straight to the floor, skipping the committee process to save time. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday declined to say whether the administration supports the Rubio-Van Hollen bill.

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