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There is a saying: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

In 2016, first Republicans and then national voters were fooled badly by Donald Trump. He claimed superiority in moral clarity, honesty, dedication to conservative principles, policy knowledge and management skill. Next to him, he said, accomplished lawmakers were failures, serious conservative thinkers were uncommitted, and dignified opponents were low energy, weak and tired. (One can only imagine what he would have said of a candidate Ronald Reagan.)

Nobody knows the (political) system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it, he told voters, many of whom were rightly weary of arrogant and overreaching government. He promised Americans, We will have so much winning if I get elected that you may get bored with the winning.

So 60 million Americans some enthusiastically, others less so voted him into the White House. Then he began to show who Donald Trump really is.

He had promised to drain the swamp of Washington corruption, but he put his children and cronies in powerful government offices, while the Trump Organizations rakes in millions from taxpayers and special interests.

He had bragged of his honesty, but now he lies about even the most mundane of facts, such as the size of his inauguration crowd or his electoral victory.

He had declared himself to be a committed conservative, but he intends to add to the national debt, ignores the fiscal crises facing Social Security and Medicare, offers government subsidies and favors to businesses he likes and threatens businesses he dislikes, dismisses reports that Russia Americas top geopolitical foe for 70 years is trying to undermine the nations political institutions, discounts hard-won international agreements that have contributed to Americas strength and prosperity, and vows new expansions of presidential and federal power.

He had claimed great knowledge of public policy, but he was recently astonished to learn that health care policy is so complicated and he offers no serious guidance to lawmakers on improving health care or reforming taxes or government process.

He had touted his management skills, but his appointees include unqualifieds, incompetents and embarrassments, and his own announcements and decisions alternate between irrational impulsiveness and weak indecisiveness.

He had promised foreign and defense policies so strong that nobody, nobody is going to mess with us, but he kowtows to the autocratic ruler of Russia, while world leaders friends and foes alike dismiss him as a dimwitted blowhard. And so do a growing number of political leaders at home, Republicans and Democrats alike.

Now, this president who once bragged of his moral clarity tells us that there were some very fine people among the neo-Nazis, Klansmen and other white supremacists who rallied in Charlottesville, Va. To be sure, he also chastised the KKK and neo-Nazi movements in remarks he read from a teleprompter. Still, there were some very fine people wearing swastikas and carrying torches. This from a guy who previously bragged that his celebrity lets him get away with groping women, and who repeatedly derided American war heroes and their families.

This is not winning. This is abhorrent. And were only seven months into his presidency. Imagine what lies ahead.

Deep down, most Republicans must know this is a disaster. Despite his claims of superiority during the campaign, its now clear he lacks even basic levels of morality, wisdom or understanding of governance let alone the levels necessary for a president.

Donald Trump fooled Republicans and other voters in 2016. The question now is whether they will let him continue to do so.

Some may, rationalizing that Democrats do and say bad things too. But they do it too is no justification for such failure. If Republicans cant maintain their partys basic dignity, then they have no authority to govern.

Other defenders might say, Theres nothing Trump can do to satisfy Democrats and the press. Perhaps its true that Republicans have to work twice as hard to get half as far, but thats hardly a reason to empower someone who works one-tenth as hard and expects 10 times the adulation.

Still other Republicans may profess, Hes better than having the Democrats in charge. But every new humiliation and every Republican capitulation to Trumps ignorance and arrogance increase the likelihood of future, enduring Democratic victory.

Besides, there are worse things than political losses. The worst is the loss of ones principles. If Republicans are willing to surrender those to Donald Trump, then what else will they do? As a wise man once asked, What benefits a person to gain the whole world and lose his soul?

The question now is whether responsible Republicans will stand up and declare that Trumps performance is unacceptable. Will they be loyal to their principles, or to him?

To borrow some words from the GOPs past, Republicans have reached a time for choosing. They need to choose well. No less than the nations future is at stake.

Thomas A. Firey is a Washington County native.

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Thomas A. Firey: Republicans' time for choosing - Herald-Mail Media

North Carolina Republicans gave themselves a large and durable advantage in proposed state districts after a federal court forced them to redraw the electoral map, according to a new analysis released Tuesday.

The Campaign Legal Center analyzed the recently proposed maps using the efficiency gap, a mathematical method growing in popularity that measures the votes each party wastes in an election. The method has gained considerable attention because a federal court in part considered it when striking down Wisconsins state map on partisan grounds. The Campaign Legal Center is representing the plaintiffs challenging the maps in the appeal of that case, which the Supreme Court will hear in October.

When an efficiency gap is greater than 7 percent, experts say, it is extremely likely the majority will maintain its majority. The CLC analysis shows that in North Carolina, where Republicans have supermajorities in both legislative chambers, the expected efficiency gap for the proposed state House and Senate maps is just under 12 percent for each.

Assuming a statewide uniform swing in the vote, in order for there to be a Republican majority in the House, Republicans will only need a statewide vote of 45.7 percent. By contrast, Democrats would need 54.8 percent of the vote to get a majority in the House. This is asymmetrical, and evidences a severe bias in favor of Republican voters, Ruth Greenwood, voting rights counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, wrote in the analysis.

Assuming the same conditions in the Senate, Republicans would need just 46.15 percent of the statewide vote to retain a majority, while Democrats would need a 55.15 percent share.

By historical standards, these are extraordinarily large figures, revealing an enormous Republican edge, Greenwood wrote in the memo, which she submitted to lawmakers charged with creating the new maps. Those lawmakers were holding public hearings on the maps across the state on Tuesday.

Even if Democrats perform better than expected with up to 5 percentage points more of the vote the efficiency gap increases in Republicans favor in the proposed House and Senate plans. That result shows the power of gerrymandering: Even though Democrats would be getting more votes, they wouldnt be able to translate them into more elected lawmakers.

The Supreme Court has never struck down a legislative map on partisan grounds, leading to intense interest in the Wisconsin case and the efficiency gap.

The North Carolina analysis shows that lawyers can use data provided by the state to predict a large efficiency gap that signals a map will be unfair to voters, Greenwood said.

A federal court forced North Carolina lawmakers to redraw its mapsbecause they took race into account too much. But understanding the political advantage that a map gives one party is linked to understanding how gerrymandering dilutes the influence of racial groups, Greenwood told HuffPost.

Race and politics are intertwined in North Carolina because to some extent theres racially polarized voting, she said. Its not OK, when a legislature has been found to violate one part of the Constitution, for them to introduce a remedy plan that violates a different part of the Constitution. They should have to have legal plans in total.

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North Carolina Republicans Would Give Themselves A Huge Advantage With New Electoral Maps - HuffPost

J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press/File 2017

Senator Bob Corker declared that the president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to in dealing with crises.

Donald Trump has frequently pledged to unite Americans, and over the past week he has seemingly fulfilled that promise. Indeed, in his response to the events in Charlottesville and his refusal to condemn Nazis, he waded so far into the sewer of moral barrenness that even Republicans were willing to join Democrats in condemning his comments.

While some Republicans, like Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, who is up for reelection in 2018, were willing to question Trumps stability, competence, and basic comprehension of American values, most Republicans reserved their words of denunciation for neo-Nazis and white supremacists and only vaguely chastised Trump.

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To be sure, its always good to see Republican politicians speak out against racism. But you dont get points for doing what youre supposed to do.

A true condemnation of racism, bigotry, and hate would look a lot different than tut-tutting about Nazis and white supremacists.

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It would have meant condemning Trump a year ago, when he suggested that a Mexican-American judge could not be impartial because of his ethnic heritage and taking away ones endorsement of Trump because of it.

The huge response to Saturdays rally should be seen as an important statement of public disgust toward vile groups and the hateful beliefs they espouse.

It would mean deploring efforts by state legislatures in North Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, and countless other states to restrict the franchise of minority voters and passing changes to the Voting Rights Act that would further protect voting rights.

It would mean speaking out against the Trump administrations Muslim ban and its incessant attacks on undocumented immigrants as purveyors of national violence and crafting legislation in Congress to stop it.

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It would mean rejecting the nomination of Jeff Sessions as attorney general because of his history of racist, xenophobic, and homophobic statements. It would mean pushing back on his efforts to increase punishments for low-level drug users, which disproportionately affects minority populations.

It would mean rather than attacking Black Lives Matter and treating the police as somehow above criticism working with civil rights groups to protect minority communities from police brutality. It would mean passing common-sense gun control legislation that would make it easier for cops to do their jobs without worrying that every traffic stop could turn into a deadly encounter.

In short, there is a clear and unambiguous legislative and policy roadmap for enacting policies that tackle institutional racism and bigotry in American society.

But, of course, for this to happen it would mean that the modern Republican Party wouldnt be the modern Republican Party. The reality is that, for nearly five decades, the GOP has used coded racial messaging to scare white Americans and win countless elections. Trumps image of homicidal undocumented immigrants follows in the ugly footsteps of Willie Horton, welfare queens driving Cadillacs in American inner cities, and tough law-and-order rhetoric. The true difference with Trump is that, unlike previous Republican politicians, he didnt use dog whistles when making nakedly racist appeals.

Republicans might convince themselves that they are somehow different from Trump because they didnt call for a total Muslim ban or propose deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. But every Republican candidate for president in 2016 supported restricting Syrian Muslims from entering the country. They all backed tougher enforcement policies in regard to undocumented immigrants, and they were all happy to use both groups, as well as Black Lives Matter, as rhetorical punching bags.

Indeed, condemning bigotry and racism in America means recognizing that bigotry and racism in America exist in forms much larger and more insidious both implicitly and explicitly than just a few hundred losers marching in a white supremacist rally. It means recognizing that decades of Republican rhetoric on crime, immigration, terrorism, and the role of government perpetuate those racial divisions. In short, it means more than doing the absolute bare minimum. When GOP politicians are willing to do that, they should be praised. Until then, their words are meaningless platitudes.

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Enough talk: Republicans must walk the walk on systemic racism - The Boston Globe

Tax reform is the "political holy grail" for Republicans and therefore should get done, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty told CNBC on Monday.

"Tax reform is across-the-board popular in the Republican Party," the Republican said in an interview with "Closing Bell."

"If they can't do this, they can't do anything. This is low-hanging fruit."

In an event on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin touted tax reform, with Mnuchin saying the Trump administration is "100 percent committed" to getting it done.

Republican leaders are expected to start working tax reform through Congress next month.

"Congress gets things done when there's a legal deadline or there's a political imperative or crisis," said Pawlenty, CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable.

"If they don't do it between now and the 2018 elections they're going to be in big trouble."

He said there needs to be at least a significant reduction in the corporate tax rate, as well as middle-income tax relief. The other details can be worked out, he said.

Pawlenty is also not too concerned about taxes being derailed by the drama surrounding President Donald Trump. The president has been widely criticized for blaming both white nationalists and counterprotesters for violence at a Virginia rally this month organized by neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

Trump "clearly has some challenges because of the distractions and some of the decrease in his popularity, but keep in mind this is equally important to Congress and they can pass this on their own, assuming they don't hit a tripwire of his, and he'll sign it," he said.

However, Jared Bernstein, former economic policy advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, said while Congress writes the law, the president needs to be actively engaged. For example, President Ronald Reagan played a critical role in organization tax reform in the 1980s, he told "Power Lunch."

"You need a president who's got more interest and credibility than Trump has on the issue," he said.

And right now, there are so many open questions about what the GOP tax bill may look like.

"It's a little remarkable at this point that they don't have a plan," he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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If Republicans can't do tax reform, they can't do anything: GOP ex-governor - CNBC

President Trump likes to trumpet his "tremendous" support and strong base, but polls show that his approval rating is declining, even among key demographics that voted for him in 2016. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Donald Trump won the presidency on the strength of 63 million votes across the United States. More specifically, he won it on the strength of 78,000 votes in three states. His narrow wins in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin 0.06 percent of all the votes cast gave him the electoral college majority he needed to be inaugurated, despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes overall.

On Sunday, NBC News released new polling conducted by Marist. As is the case in most other places in the country, Trumps approval rating in those states has sagged, with only about a third of adults approving of his job performance. Nearly 4 in 10 adults in each state view him with strong disapproval.

What jumped out at me in these poll results, though, was another set of numbers. In each state, more than 6 in 10 adults say that Trumps conduct as president leaves them embarrassed, while only about a quarter say that Trump makes them proud.

Unsurprisingly, Republicans and those who voted for Trump are more likely to say that theyre proud than embarrassed.

But notice an interesting detail on that graph: About 1 in 5 Trump voters and 3 in 10 Republicans agree with the majority that his conduct has been embarrassing.

Even more interesting is that white working-class respondents the group thats often given credit (or, in some quarters, blame) for Trumps victory is more likely to say that they are embarrassed than proud.

In that group, Trumps overall approval rating is underwater in both Michigan and Wisconsin; in Pennsylvania, his approval rating with whites without college degrees is only twopoints higher than his disapproval.

The motivating issue for those voters was ostensibly concern over the economy. On economic issues, Trump fares decently, with more people in each state* generally saying that Trumps making the economy stronger than say hes making it weaker.

Notice, though, that the opinions of white working-class residents of each state align more with the overall views of Trump than with his base of support. That, of course, is because a lot of the white working-class voters in these three states are Democrats who, in elections past, helped keep the states blue. But Trumps argument has been that this is the core of his base of support. At this point, it doesnt look like it.

On manufacturing, we see the same split between the population and Trumps base: General skepticism that Trump is succeeding on manufacturing, with working-class whites in each state leaning more toward the overall opinion.

When we look at the proud-versus-embarrassed question this way, the split is clear.

Marist asked another question thats revelatory. Of Trump voters, the pollster asked why they supported him, because they liked Trump or because they disliked Clinton? At least 30 percent in each state said it was because they didnt like Clinton.

Now, this may be after-the-fact rationalization, an excuse offered for supporting a candidate whom they now find embarrassing. But given that Trump won Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by 0.22, 0.72 and 0.76 percentage points, respectively, the idea that 2 in 10 now say theyre embarrassed by him and 3 in 10 of his supporters in each state now say that they only did it because they hated Clinton? Thats not a recipe for reelection.

* Weve made Michigans columns in the graphs a vibrant shade of scarlet.

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In the states that gave Trump the presidency, 3 in 10 Republicans are embarrassed by him - Washington Post