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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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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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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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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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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Minnesota State House Democrats Urge Republicans to ‘Repent’ for Their ‘Foolish statements’

Minnesota State House Democrats recently filed a complaint against their Republican colleagues who raised concerns about changes to Minnesota’s election laws, urging them to “repent of their foolish statements.”

Concerns about the complaint were brought up by Republicans during a Thursday House session.

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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: 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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Commentary: Republicans’ Populism Without Trump

November’s result should not obscure the fact that Trump bequeathed Republicans a winning populist strategy. The question is whether there can be populism without his persona. Republicans should seek to find out, or at least they should be if they have any political sense. Trump has drawn Republicans the populist blueprint; now someone else must build from it.

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Commentary: Republicans Have a Moral Obligation to Support the Pennsylvania Lawsuit Against Universal Mail-in Ballots

Will we allow our election system for future elections to be upended by a single state supreme court, which happens to consist of partisan hacks? If the answer is no, then the only option is to fight the open lawlessness in Pennsylvania with every channel and tool of both the judicial and legislative processes.

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Commentary: In Georgia, Weak Republican Politicians Pave the Way to Their Own Demise

If he [Trump] continues to disillusion voters … by saying that the elections were rigged and that your vote doesn’t matter, this could have severe consequences for the administration in trying to keep those two seats Republican,” pollster-pundit and alleged Republican Frank Luntz said on “Squawk Box.”

In this stern admonition Luntz indicates what he considers to be the greatest danger facing Republicans in the runoff race for the two Senate seats in Georgia on January 5. Luntz’s warning puts his own spin on what purports to be an objective analysis of the forthcoming election. But Luntz’s comments do not seem to be especially convincing. Why would I think that because Trump has refused to concede openly and emphatically (when there is no need for him to do that now or ever), Republican candidates in Georgia’s senatorial races will be taking a severe hit?

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Commentary: The Pressure to Make Allegations of a Mass Fraud During the 2020 Presidential Election Disappear is Enormous

So what is the state of play regarding the 2020 presidential election? There seem to be two main positions.

One is that Joe Biden won the election, narrowly but with sufficient latitude that any challenge is bootless. A corollary of that contention is that the adults in the room, be they Republicans or Democrats, should get with the program and accede to the Narrative.

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Commentary: A Retired Professor’s Retrospective on How Academia and Society Have Gone Separate Ways

I landed in Washington, D.C., in 1965 as a graduate student. For a conservative, the landscape was barren.

There was no conservative administration, no national newspaper that competed with the liberal New York Times and Washington Post, no conservative think tanks that rivaled the Brookings Institution or Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and no conservative majority in Congress.

Over the previous 32 years, the Democrats occupied the White House for 24 years, and both houses of Congress for 28 years. For all practical purposes, Washington and national politics were a Democratic Party monopoly.

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Commentary: An Unserious Movement for an Unserious People

We all should probably acknowledge that we Americans, in many ways, have become an unserious people. No serious civilization and society would allow a fraction of what is taking place here—from the absurdity of our education system to the dominance of big tech monopolies to our current form of elections. A list of our nation’s follies demonstrating our unseriousness would fill pages. But it’s not just about the American people as a whole: conservatism is an unserious movement (if one can even call what exists a movement), and Republicans are deeply, deeply unserious as a political party. 

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Commentary: Republicans Leading in the Senate May Save America from Democratic One-Party Rule

States are still counting votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina — and with disputed deadlines currently allowing absentee ballots to still be received days after the election in Pennsylvania and North Carolina — it is simply too close to call the presidential race.

President Donald Trump carried Ohio, Florida and Iowa by big margins despite many mainstream news polls saying he would lose those states handily — which are little better than astrology at this point — and is still promising to take the race for the White House to the Supreme Court with litigation, presumably challenging any late ballots that come in.

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Commentary: Will Maximum COVID Fear Keep Democrats at Home on Election Day?

In the closing days of the presidential campaign, amid a surge in support for President Donald Trump in many battleground state polls, media outlets are reporting rising confirmed Covid cases in states like Wisconsin and New Mexico but also nationally as the cold and flu season kicks into gear.

“Wisconsin faces Covid-19 crisis as coronavirus cases continue to rise, governor says,” reads one headline from CNN.

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Commentary: Trump Hit on a Great Truth That Recalibrated Foreign and Domestic Policy and Shifted Republican Orthodoxy

What was, is, and will be the Trump agenda?

Against all odds, what elected Trump in 2016 was a recalibration of American foreign and domestic policy—and the art of politicking itself.

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Senate Votes to Advance Barrett; Confirmation Expected Monday

Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly Sunday to advance Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett toward final confirmation despite Democratic objections, just over a week before the presidential election.

Barrett’s confirmation on Monday was hardly in doubt, with majority Republicans mostly united in support behind President Donald Trump’s pick. But Democrats were poised to keep the Senate in session into the night in attempts to stall, arguing that the Nov. 3 election winner should choose the nominee to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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Republicans Want to Know Whether Amtrak Have Any Perks to Biden

Republicans on the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee want to know whether Amtrak gave Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden special treatment.

In a letter to Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer William Flynn, the lawmakers ask whether the former vice president’s use of a chartered Amtrak train for a recent campaign trip disrupted Amtrak service or interfered with freight train operations. They also want to know how many employees were “taken off their regular duties to staff the Biden campaign charter train, including any overtime hours worked.”

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Republicans Will Put PPP Funding Back on the Floor for a Vote Despite Democrats’ Efforts to Block It, Sen. Blackburn Says

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told CNBC’s SquawkBox on Wednesday that Republicans will try again to pass their bill that would provide PPP and vaccine funding despite Democrats’ attempts to block the efforts.

CNBC asked Blackburn if she would vote for a deal if the White House and the Treasury Department reached an agreement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12).

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Trump Campaign Knocks One-Millionth Door in Minnesota

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign knocked its one-millionth door in Minnesota over the weekend. 

While Democrats have been hosting their events online, Republicans have been on the ground knocking doors and holding rallies in their push to turn Minnesota red. Democrats were previously critical of Republicans for campaigning in person during a pandemic, but supporters of Joe Biden recently took to knocking doors themselves.

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Commentary: If Republican Senators Were Like Crazy Mazie

As I emerged from the Jewish Holy Season, marking the beginning of Year 5781 since Creation, I was jolted from the spirituality and meaningfulness of Sukkot, Sh’mini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah into the reality of the New Filth that permeates American politics. The media like to blame the president for the degradation, but he is not the cause. He is the response and the reaction.

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Commentary: In 2020, Wallace Learned ‘Never Go Full Crowley’

In the second presidential election debate between President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on October 16, 2012, CNN moderator Candy Crowley sensed that Obama, coming off a dismal initial September 26 debate, was again floundering.

Romney was driving home the valid point that the Obama Administration had inadequately prepared the American mission in Benghazi for likely terrorist attacks. And such laxity resulted in a horrific attack and the deaths of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

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60 Percent of Duluth Rally Attendees Were Not Republicans, RNC Says

The majority of attendees at President Donald Trump’s recent rally in Duluth, Minnesota, were not Republicans, the Republican National Committee said.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said 60% of attendees were not Republicans while another 20% were Democrats, according to data the GOP collected from voters during the event.

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Over 60 Percent of Americans Say They Will Not Get a First Generation Coronavirus Vaccine

Sixty-one percent of Americans surveyed now say that they would not get a first-generation coronavirus vaccine as soon as it available, an Axios-Ipsos poll shows.

The percentage is eight points lower than a month ago, a drop that is reflected among both Democrats and Republicans, the Ipsos index shows. The United States is approaching 200,000 coronavirus deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University database.

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Commentary: Dear GOP Senate, Please Get This Right!

As Jack Nicholson said in “Terms of Endearment,” you were just inches from a clean getaway.
Armed with a wholly unimpressive list of accomplishments from the past four years, with the exception of confirming hundreds of federal judges, you were prepared to return home to defend your paltry record with little more than the argument that the other side is much, much worse. Which, lucky for you, is true.

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Democrats Say They Will Pack the Court if Republicans Vote to Replace Ginsburg in 2020

Prominent Democrats are threatening to expand the size of the Supreme Court to cancel out President Donald Trump’s court picks if Republicans vote on late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement this year.

Left-wing activists have been pushing Democratic politicians to endorse court-packing since Justice Anthony Kennedy’s 2018 retirement cleared the way for Justice Brett Kavanaugh to join the high court. Some congressional Democrats embraced the idea following Ginsburg’s death Friday night.

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Support for BLM Drops Among Hispanics, White Voters, and Republicans, New Poll Shows

Support for the Black Lives Matter movement has fallen since June, dropping more than 12 percentage points over the past three months among non-black Americans, according to a poll published Thursday.

Roughly 55% of American adults said that they supported BLM in September, compared to 67% of people who said the same thing in June, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center. White American support fell the most, dipping from 60% in June to 45% in September, the poll found.

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Exclusive: Pollster Explains His Finding That 10 Percent of Trump Supporters Lie on Surveys

The lead researcher of the study: “Are Election 2020 Poll Respondents Honest About Their Vote?” told Star News Network there are twice as many “shy voters” among the supporters of President Donald J. Trump than among supporters of former vice president Joseph J. Biden Jr. “The term ‘shy voter’ has…

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Out of 8,000 Federal Donations Made to PACs and Politicians by CDC Employees in the Last Five Years, FEC Records Show Only Five Went to Republican Causes

Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have made more than 8,000 contributions totaling over $285,000 to Democratic candidates and causes since 2015, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis of political contributions.

Only five contributions were sent to a Republican PAC or candidate. Out of these five contributions, which totaled just over $1,000, three sent money to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign efforts, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records indicate.

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Democratic Challengers in 10 Key Senate Races Outraise Republicans by $34 Million

Democrats hoping to unseat Republicans in 10 key U.S. Senate races outraised their opponents by $34 million over the three month quarter ending June 30, Federal Election Commission filings show.

The 10 Democrats raised a total of $86 million compared to the $52 million that Republicans raised, Reuters reported. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky were outraised by approximately $5.6 million and $5.2 million respectively, FEC filings show.

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Commentary: Without Exception, Republicans Must Actively Oppose the Anarchists Ruining the U.S.

Republicans are facing their biggest test in generations.

The mentality of a psychotic mob of radicals has taken control of the country and its institutions. With remarkable speed, America’s mayors, governors, media, lawmakers, health experts, artists, sports leagues, generals and troops, powerful corporations, and the wealthiest men on the planet, have all loudly endorsed this mob, its hatred of America, and its demands for radical transformation.

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Commentary: An Open Letter to the D.C. ‘Right’

I’m addressing this to several of you whom I know in Washington, D.C. Not all of you, but some of you.

I’ve known you for decades. You’re think-tankers, government officials, political journalists, and pundits. Some of you have been all these things.

For a long while, I thought you were the good guys. You talked about individual liberty. Some of you identified as conservatives, others as libertarians, still others as classical liberals. None of you are outright leftists.

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