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Lets face it: The past 100 days have been a disaster for Democrats.

While much ink has been spilled in the past week assessing President Trumps first 100 days in office, the Democrats abysmal performance has largely escaped scrutiny. So lets review their record.

Democrats spent much of Trumps first months in office pushing their unfounded narrative of his alleged collusion with Vladimir Putin.

But that narrative went up in smoke when Trump launched missile strikes against Putins Syrian ally, Bashar al-Assad. Then came UN Ambassador Nikki Haleys blistering speech before the Security Council laying the blame on Russia for failing to stop Syrias use of chemical weapons and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis charge that Russia is arming the Taliban.

Suddenly, were in a new Cold War with Moscow which pours cold water on Democrats case for Trump-Putin collusion. All that effort at character assassination down the drain.

Most damaging has been Democrats seemingly nonstop efforts to further alienate the millions of Americans who twice voted for Barack Obama but switched to Trump last year. Some point to a Post-ABC News poll that showed that Trump hadnt expanded his base of support since he took office. Well, he didnt need to: He won. (And the poll suggested that if the election were held again, hed not only defeat Hillary Clinton again but win the popular vote this time.)

The ones who need to expand their base are Democrats, and they utterly failed to do so. According to that poll, only 2 percent of Americans who voted for Trump regret their votes, while fully 96 percent say it was the right thing to do.

Today just 28 percent of Americans say that the Democratic Party is in touch with the concerns of most Americans today 10 points behind Trump.

Democrats have made clear their deep-seated contempt for the values of working-class, socially conservative Democrats who left their party in droves last year. The new chairman, Thomas Perez, has announced that pro-life candidates are no longer welcome in the party: Every Democrat, like every American, should support a womans right to make her own choices about her body and her health. That is not negotiable.

Democrats are completely focused on placating their frothing, left-wing, anti-Trump base and the American heartland thinks these people are insane.

They see women marching in anti-Trump rallies wearing pussy hats. They see left-wing mobs attacking Charles Murray at Middlebury College and trying to stop Ann Coulter from speaking at the UC Berkeley.

They see Bill Nye the Liberal Guy (honorary co-chair of the March for Science) asking whether people should be punished for having extra kids. (Which kid is the extra one?)

They see a horrible feedback loop of left-wing intolerance for their beliefs and way of life. And they see Democrats pandering to these people.

They also see that Democrats have not even made a pretense of cooperation with the candidate they elected. The Democratic Party is no longer the opposition; it is The Resistance.

These voters rightly ask: Resistance to what? The answer, they conclude, is resistance to ideas that are not their own. Resistance to the values of Middle America. Resistance to the candidate who promised to fight for them the forgotten Americans the Democratic Party abandoned.

The Democrats unrelenting, hyperventilating obstruction of Trump has sent a crystal-clear message to Obama-Trump voters: We dont hear you. We loathe your president and all of you who put him into office. And were going to show you what you can do with your Trump vote, by doing everything in our power to undermine the man you elected.

Cranking out the liberal base while alienating working-class, traditionally Democratic voters didnt work in 2016. It cost Democrats not only the presidency but the chance to take control of the Senate in a year when the playing field was tilted against the GOP.

Yet for some inexplicable reason, Democrats seem hellbent on doubling down on this failed strategy.

Trouble is, in 2018 Republicans are defending only eight Senate seats, while Democrats are defending 25 including 10 in red states that Trump won. And working-class voters in those states see that Democrats have utter contempt for their choice of president, and thus utter contempt for them.

A hundred days in, these voters remain loyal to Trump. Thats good news for the president. But for Democrats, its a disaster.

Special to the Washington Post

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Democrats are doubling down on failure - New York Post

Lifezette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham blasted congressional Republicans for their contribution to the $1.07 trillion spending package, telling Fox News' "Hannity" that they were "cowering over a government shutdown."

Ingraham told host Sean Hannity that if she was advising Trump, she would tell him to veto the bill and "make them own it."

"Some of these Republicans, Sean, and you know who they are, are resisting Trump as fiercely in their own way as the Democrats are," said Ingraham. "I think Mitch McConnell said right off the bat that we are not going to shut down the government. Now, what does that tell the Democrats? Go for broke."

The radio host and Fox News contributor was harshly critical of the GOP for allowing the bill to maintain funding for Planned Parenthood.

"To fund that monstrosity of killing," Ingraham said. "I would have said [as Trump], Look, you own it, thats your priority, you want to die on the hill of Planned Parenthood, you go right ahead, but Im going to veto that."

Ingraham also blamed House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., for House Republicans' halting effort to vote on repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

"Trump won in November on his agenda," she said. "People wanted change. They didnt want Paul Ryan ...They voted for Donald Trumps populist agenda.

"If you cant put points on the board, you cant be the quarterback. Thats it."

See the article here:
Ingraham: Some Republicans resisting Trump 'as fiercely as the Democrats are' - Fox News

By Pete Schroeder | WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives opposed to Republican legislation that would repeal major sections of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law on Tuesday made multiple efforts to delay the bill.

The House Financial Services Committee was due to consider Representative Jeb Hensarling's sweeping bill to rework the 2010 law. In addition to eliminating large portions of Dodd-Frank - enacted in the wake of the global financial crisis - it would put new handcuffs on regulators charged with writing and enforcing its rules.

The partisan maneuvering to slow work on the bill demonstrated how divided the two parties are regarding rules for the financial sector, casting doubt on Congress's ability to revisit them significantly despite Republican President Donald Trump's vow to "do a number" on existing regulations.

First, Democrats ordered a vote on whether the committee even wanted to actually consider the bill. That amendment passed with support from only the Republican majority.

Then, Democrats ordered that all 589 pages of the law be read out loud by the committee clerk. The reading of legislative language is almost always waived by committee members when considering a bill.

After about 3-1/2 hours of the bill being read to a largely empty committee room, Democrats agreed to shelve that request and proceed to the amendments they wanted to offer. Democrats had drawn up roughly 140 amendments they wanted to offer to change the bill, according to a House aide. But that number is expected to shrink as the two parties work out a path forward.

Hensarling announced on Tuesday that despite earlier plans to vote on amendments to the bill throughout the day, no votes would be held on the bill until Wednesday morning at the earliest.

The procedural obstacles were all aimed at a bill that is not expected to actually become law, as the sweeping rewrite of Dodd-Frank is not expected to garner enough support in the Senate, which the Republicans hold by a slim majority.

But it is expected to pass the Republican-led House, and the skirmish over it was a clear indication of how much Democrats are willing to dig in on measures that would make life easier for the financial sector.

"This is one of the worst bills I've seen in my time in Congress," said Representative Maxine Waters, the committee's top Democrat, as the committee began debate on the measure. "The bill is rotten to the core, and simply carries water for Trump and his buddies on Wall Street."

Hensarling's bill would allow large banks to avoid most Dodd-Frank rules if they agree to establish a 10 percent capital ratio, and also scraps several powers given to regulators after the financial crisis to more closely scrutinize some of the nation's largest institutions.

It also makes several changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, severely limiting its power and giving Congress and the White House more direct control over its operations and funding.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

WASHINGTON The U.S. National Security Agency collected more than 151 million records of Americans' phone calls last year, even after Congress limited its ability to collect bulk phone records, according to an annual report issued on Tuesday by the top U.S. intelligence officer.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Russia succeeded in its goals of sowing discord in U.S. politics by meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which will likely inspire similar future efforts, two top former U.S. voices on intelligence said on Tuesday.

Originally posted here:
Democrats dig in, delay against Dodd-Frank overhaul - Reuters

New York Times

Emboldened by Trump but Divided by Generations, Democrats Look to 2020 New York Times MANCHESTER, N.H. A vast array of Democratic leaders, divided by generations but uniformly emboldened by President Trump's perceived vulnerability, have begun taking palpable steps toward seeking the White House in an election that is still three and ... What Obama Can Do for the DemocratsBloomberg Trump chides Democrats for blocking his policiesNew York Post Trump tweet-shames Democrats, promises health care nirvanaCNET Politico -Washington Post -The Atlantic -Constitution Daily all 188 news articles »

Read more here:
Emboldened by Trump but Divided by Generations, Democrats Look to 2020 - New York Times

Before fighting the latest Republican attempt to undo the Affordable Care Act, progressive Democrats had a tiff with former president Barack Obama and the ethics of his two $400,000 paid speeches, including one at a health-care conference put on by the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

It just speaks to the power of Wall Street and the influence of big money in the political process, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

I was troubled by that, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a radio interview. The influence of dollars on this place is what scares me.

Locked out of power in Washington and most states, Democrats have shaken off the stupor of their 2016 defeat. Theyve fought Republicans to a stalemate on some of President Trumps campaign pledges. In special elections, theyve turned out voters and forced the GOP to spend millions of dollars defending once-safe seats. Their most vulnerable senators, facing a daunting 2018 map, have broken their fundraising records.

But like Republicans after Obamas victories, Democrats are in a state of constant tension. An energized left-wing base is waging and winning arguments about messaging and strategy. Like the tea party in 2009 and 2010, that base quickly determined the congressional partys style of opposition; like the tea party, it sees messy public fights as the way out of the doldrums.

Democrats have to have an argument, said Robert Borosage, a progressive organizer whose Campaign for Americas Future merged last year into the new group Peoples Action. What Sanders has made clear is that there be a real debate on the left about what our agenda is, and as we debate, we drive that into the Democratic Party.

The Obama speaking gigs were bound to start a fight. Hillary Clintons fees for speeches between her State Department career and presidential bid were a point of contention throughout the 2016 campaign, fueling the primary with Sanders and letting Trump portray his opponent as a corporate puppet. In defending Obamas speeches, the former presidents team used language that had not worked for Clinton.

Regardless of venue or sponsor, President Obama will be true to his values, his vision, and his record, Obama spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement Wednesday evening. In 2008, Barack Obama raised more money from Wall Street than any candidate in history and still went on to successfully pass and implement the toughest reforms on Wall Street since FDR.

With few Trump victories to celebrate, Republicans are highlighting intra-Democratic spats over abortion, accusing the party of being run by its fringe, and taking solace in its lack of leadership. As Trump and congressional Republicans punted on their health-care bill, the Republican National Committee and several party surrogates insisted that it was the Democrats fresh off a Democratic National Committee unity tour with Sanders and DNC Chairman Tom Perez who were listless.

I have no idea who the leader of the Democratic Party is, scoffed White House counselor Kellyanne Conway this past week, on the Trump-friendly morning show Fox and Friends. Is it Tom Perez ... who was booed routinely through his profanity-laced appearances last week on his disunity tour? Is it Bernie Sanders who won 22 states last year in the Democratic Primary but refuses to call himself a Democrat?

To Democrats, the mockery sounds like projection. Trump won 46 percent of the popular vote last year; according to CNNs polling, House Speaker Paul D. Ryans favorable rating has fallen from 46 percent to 38 percent since the start of the year.

But Democrats have not gained much from the contrast. A Washington Post/ABC News poll released last week found that just 28percent of Americans say that the Democrats were in touch with the concerns of most people, 10 points below the number who thought that of Americas wealthiest president. Three years ago, 48percent of Americans thought the party was in touch.

The Democrats messaging problems were visible throughout last week, when leaders in Congress held meandering news conferences to attack Trump on his broken promises. The muddle started with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who used a Meet the Press interview about the use of her image in Republican attack ads to haltingly set up the Democrats campaign against Ryan (R-Wis.).

I think its really important for the voters in those districts to know who the candidates will be voting with, she said. Will they be voting with Paul Ryan, who wants to eliminate the guarantee of Medicare, who has voted to privatize Social Security, whos there to dismantle Medicaid?

The rest of the weeks messaging events made few headlines, apart from an intraparty argument about whether to demand health-care money in the resolution to fund the government. Yet as Republicans had done for years, Democrats in the first 100 days lost faith that mainstream media and Washington news cycles could be fair or worth winning.

Ultimately I just dont believe a voter in a competitive district is going to be turned out by a leader in Washington that they dont see on the news, said Guy Cecil, the chief strategist of the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA.

Boxed out of the national headlines by Trump, Democrats have grown more concerned with what animates their base. Republicans had a field day mocking the Perez-Sanders speaking tour, with cable networks playing footage of Perez being booed by loud minorities of audience members, and abortion rights groups coaxing an apologetic statement out of Perez after Sanders campaigned with an antiabortion candidate for mayor of Omaha.

But Democrats spent much of 2016 watching a Republican Party that looked hopelessly divided, hyping every instance of a Republican criticizing Trump.

Sometimes things get bumpy, said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who narrowly lost the DNC chairs race to Perez despite being backed by Sanders.

Todays energy, however, comes from a left that continues to challenge the Democrats to move. Last Tuesday, Connecticut Democrats, who had nearly lost control of their state senate during the Obama presidency, watched a member of the progressive Working Families Party take a safe blue seat. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he was hiring staffers not just for his 2018 reelection, but also to work with the progressive resistance groups springing up around the state.

For the most part, Democrats spent the first months of Trumps presidency responding. Republicans hoped that eight red-state Democrats would feel pressure to confirm Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court; just three did. Smatterings of House Democrats have voted with Republicans to roll back regulations unpopular in their districts; no other Trump agenda item has won bipartisan support.

To the extent that Democrats have a competing agenda, its driven by the left. Last week, while Trump announced his tax priorities, Sanders held a rally with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) to introduce the Raise the Wage Act of 2017, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024. It was sponsored by 22 Democrats and no Republicans.

As Sanders criticized Obamas speaking fees, the academic and left-wing activist Cornel West was asking Sanders, in a column, to build on the ruins of a dying Democratic party and start his own third party. West specifically endorsed a Peoples Party that a few veterans of the Sanders campaign are trying to launch, using every Democratic misstep to make the pitch.

Even while criticizing Democrats, and while refusing to join the party, Sanders has refused to abandon the party. If there are places in this country where somebody wants to run as an independent, go for it, he said. But right now, whats absolutely imperative is that the Democratic Party be completely reformed.

Read more at PowerPost

Originally posted here:
Democrats find strength in disunity - Washington Post