Mediaboss Marketing

By Lisa Mascaro

Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON, D.C. The relationship between President Donald Trump and GOP leaders in Congress started as a marriage of convenience, thrown together by necessity and sustained on the promise of pushing a Republican agenda into law.

Until recently, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tolerated Trumps turbulent debut because they agreed with the direction the White House was heading or were confident they could nudge it in the desired one.

Many Republicans backed the travel ban, despite the rocky rollout. They support upending Obama-era regulations and raved about Trumps Supreme Court nominee.

For most of us, there has been such a yearning to get something done, even if they dont agree with the tactic, they applaud the result, said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

But the newfound partnership is showing signs of serious strain. Growing discomfort about the Trump teams ties to Russia, daily dramas at the White House and the increasing unrest at town hall meetings with constituents back home have prompted many in Congress to express second thoughts about the alliance.

As the first 100 days tick away, and rank-and-file Republicans head home for a weeklong recess, there is a growing worry that Congress will face a drip-drip-drip of new revelations about the Trump White House that will overshadow the rest of the Republican agenda, such as repealing Obamacare, enacting tax reform and cutting government spending.

Thats what the fear is, said one Republican senator, granted anonymity to frankly discuss the outlook. Its not a good situation. You cant let this go and not look at it.

Its growing pains, said another, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D.

In their first significant rebuke of the White House, Republican senators this week tanked Trumps pick for Labor secretary, fast-food executive Andy Puzder, rather than vote for someone who was accused decades ago of spousal abuse and who hired an immigrant housekeeper who was in the country illegally.

The Senate revolt came as Trumps ousting of national security adviser Michael Flynn exposed lawmakers to a web of unanswered questions about possible Russian influence on the administration.

For a while, Republican leaders tried to swat back media inquiries about Trumps latest unconventional moves or statements by refusing to engage in what they dismissed as mere distractions from the work of governing.

They often acted as self-appointed Trump translators, explaining the substance of the presidents policies in language more befitting of Washington norms than the presidents often-jarring presentations.

The travel ban, for example, became a travel pause.

Look, the president has a responsibility to the security of this country, Ryan said after a weekend of airport chaos over the order that temporarily blocked refugees worldwide as well as arrivals from seven mostly Muslim nations. Now, I think its regrettable that there was some confusion on the rollout of this . We are going to make sure that we get this program up and running with the kind of vetting standards that we all want to see.

But hardly a day goes by that Ryan or McConnell arent asked to defend Trumps latest provocations on Twitter or the next executive order rumored to be coming from the White House.

Republican leadership is gambling that their best bet is to look past Trumps Andrew Jackson-like coarseness and unconventional style in hopes of accomplishing their broader goals.

Im not a great fan of daily tweets, McConnell told reporters Friday. What I am a fan of is what hes been actually doing.

When McConnell considers what could have been with a President Mitt Romney or Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush, he said, I cant see much difference between what President Trump is doing and what they would have done.

One former GOP leadership aide said theres not a single Republican anywhere whos not stunned by some of Trumps comments. But they focus instead on the GOP priorities they see taking shape, he said.

In the end, were still talking about tax reform, Supreme Court all the stuff is getting done, the aide said. Most of the stuff is sort of within the lines of what Republicans want anyway. People by and large think progress has been made.

Trump has already started signing into law bills sent by Congress to roll back President Barack Obamas regulatory clampdown on coal pollution and overseas corporate bribes. More are on the way to his desk.

Republicans have put their trust in Vice President Mike Pence, the Cabinet secretaries and a legislative team culled from the halls of Congress even though it is unclear how much sway those voices ultimately have with the occupant of the Oval Office.

And areas of significant disagreement with Trump lie ahead, such as his $1-trillion infrastructure plan, having Congress pony up funds for the border wall with Mexico, and a massive military buildup.

But the questions about Russia are threatening to overshadow Republican goals. Emboldened Democrats are calling for independent inquiries into alleged contacts between Trumps campaign team and Russian intelligence officials, and demanding the release of a transcript of a wiretapped conversation between Flynn and a Russian diplomat.

The Republican leadership has tried to contain the congressional investigations to the House and Senate intelligence committees, where hearings are often conducted in secret because of the classified nature.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., suggested that former Obama administration officials were behind intelligence leaks about Flynn and others. I have never seen such a concerted effort to try and make an administration fail so early on, said Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Trump is also pushing back hard, saying that Russia is a ruse.

Continue reading here:
In Congress, Republicans are starting to fret - The Daily World

Congressional Republicans, we watched you at the White House Thursday. Just before Donald Trumps rambling, manic, often snarky press conference delivered more in the manner of a churlish insult comic than leader of the free world the president met with a group of you, a self-titled Trump caucus of early supporters.

You fawned over him like autograph hunters gushing over their favorite movie star. Rep. Chris Collins of New York: Mr. President, were all honored to be here. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee: Were excited about the work youre doing. And Missouris Billy Long referenced the recent visit of Japans prime minister: I knew you all would hit it off because youre both people persons and great personalities. . . . I knew you guys would get along good.

Oh, brother. Has it come down to this? The party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower in the thrall of a petulant, impulsive, preening and shamelessly amoral president who thinks Vladimir Putin is the apex of effective management.

Republicans, is this really the legacy you choose?

How can you not take a solid stand against an unhinged con man who in less than a month has undermined fundamental constitutional liberties, thrown governance into disorganized hell and possibly made decisions based on his desire to please the leader of another country? (Whats he afraid that Putin might do?)

Its well reported now that Trump campaign aides, including hustlers like the recently departedMike Flynn and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort dubbed the King of K Street by a prominent business magazine were in regular touch with Russian intelligence and other officials during our 2016 election cycle and the presidential transition. Were they coordinating dirty tricks to damage not only the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party but the fate of American democracy as well? Its possible.

Listening to Morning Edition on NPR this week, we were struck by the inability of some of your colleagues to get a grip and face some hard truths about all this. The broadcast played a Fox News clip of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) appearing to justify a cover-up: I just dont think its useful to be doing investigation after investigation, particularly of your own party.

Then host Steve Inskeep spoke with Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), who seemed to think Mike Flynn and the Trump campaigns contacts with Russia werent the problem. Following his presidents claim that the Russia story is a ruse and the real issue is leaks, he said, I mean, the leak of highly classified information by, what is apparent here, a number of individuals inside our intelligence community, is the illegal act that I think we need to review.

Johnson added: I dont think that theres anything extraordinary at all about persons in an incoming administration or during a campaign talking with officials from other countries.

Would you agree with us that a comment like that bespeaks less a stupid man than a man who looks upon the public as stupid? Is that what you think of the people now? In the full blossom of your monopoly power over government, are you writing off the people who gave you that power?

And so it went: Hemming and hawing, backing and filling, their comments reminded us of Watergate, a scandalous sequence of events that the two of us witnessed firsthand, and thought or hoped, at least would be the worst political and constitutional crisis of our lifetimes. This has the potential to be much, much worse.

Back then, as today, many Republicans refused to acknowledge the horrors perpetrated by Richard Nixon and his thugs. Some held onto their willful blindness right up to the bitter end, when to ignore the mans perfidy would have been tantamount to treason. Thanks in part to the courts and journalists like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and to true Republican patriots who refused to follow Nixons nefarious orders, this country narrowly averted a disaster.

Now, once again, we find ourselves desperately counting on the courts and an independent press to help protect us. We cant depend on but a handful of Republican senators and House members who have come forward. Theyve called for more thorough investigations by the House and Senate intelligence committees, and thats a start, but in this current Congress, its more than likely that a truly impartial, transparent, honest inquiry will be stymied and quashed.

Thats why we continue to insist that only an open and public, independent, bipartisan investigation can determine if Trump and his pals actually colluded with Putins intelligence agencies to influence the 2016 election, and whether they came to power obligated to carry out the wishes of a foreign power.

Heres what former Democratic House member Lee Hamilton who was vice chair of the independent 9/11 Commission just told Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post: Very aggressive leadership is necessary, he said. Theres just an awful lot out there that needs to be clarified and investigated independently by people who do not have an interest in the outcome of the investigation. I am doubtful that the Congress can put together a very robust investigation. Their performance on oversight in recent years has been deplorable timid and not robust enough.

We have to remind you of something: Those Republicans who stand by watching all of this, silently, in the hope that in return for their obeisance they will get away with forcing a right-wing agenda of privatization, deregulation and inequality upon the nation, should keep in mind that when survivors look back upon a time of acute crisis, those who are remembered are not the spineless and opportunistic who hoped to snag a piece of the action. Rather, it is the men and women who rose in defiance and said this betrayal of what my country is supposed to be will not stand.

In the 50s, the red-baiting Joseph McCarthy was brought down not just by newsman Edward R. Murrow and the compassionate but scathing attorney Joseph Welch, but also by Republican senators who said enough is enough. During Watergate, Richard Nixon was not undone solely by The Washington Post and the justices of the Supreme Court, but also by Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee who voted for his impeachment and the senators who came to him in the White House and said it is time for you go.

Republicans, there is a name for those who take the moral high ground and fight back: heroes. When all is said and done, how will you be remembered?

Go here to read the rest:
Republicans, where's your backbone? Congressional GOP members must take a stand, not stay silent - Salon

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Fort Worth Convention Center on February 26, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Republicans disagreed this weekend with President Donald Trump 's claim that the media is the "enemy" of the American people .

Trump has repeatedly attacked what he calls the "FAKE NEWS media," and on Friday he lashed out on Twitter, saying outlets like the New York Times , NBC News, ABC, CBS and CNN are the "enemy of the American People!"

Following the attacks, members of his administration and party defended the need for a free press.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Sunday that he had no problems with the press.

"I've had some rather contentious times with the press. But no, the press, as far as I'm concerned are a constituency that we deal with," Mattis said when asked about Trump's criticism during a trip to the Middle East. "And I don't have any issues with the press, myself."

Arizona Sen. John McCain came out strongly against Trump's assertion during an interview with NBC's Meet the Press .

"That's how dictators get started," he said of Trump's tweet about the media. Later, McCain said a free press is "vital."

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham partially echoed McCain during an interview with CBS's Face the Nation , although he scolded the press for "acting more like an opposition party" when it comes to reporting on Trump and urged reporters to step up their game.

"The backbone of democracy is a free press and an independent judiciary, and they're worth fighting and dying for," Graham said. "The bottom line is America is not becoming a dictatorship."

Original post:
Republicans Speak Out on Freedom of the Press After President Trump Calls Media the 'Enemy' - Fortune

Republicans have spent years decades talking up welfare and entitlement reform. But for the past two decades thats all they have delivered: talk.

This year Virginias General Assembly considered a half-dozen measures that would have curtailed various social-welfare benefits. Only two minor ones have survived the gauntlet. One would audit a family that loses multiple benefit cards. The other would cross-check welfare beneficiary lists against lists of lottery winners.

If the changes were any less significant you would need an electron microscope to see them.

Note that the GOP controls both houses of the legislature. So while Republicans sponsored the measures, Republicans also killed them.

The picture looks much the same at the national level. Congressional leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan have long agitated for changes to Medicare and other programs. The need to change social-welfare programs so they do not become a hammock, as some put it, is an article of faith among Beltway Republicans.

So is deficit reduction. Many Republicans want to trim benefits not for cultural reasons but for fiscal ones. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are growing to such a degree that all other federal spending (except interest payments on the debt) soon will be squeezed to nothing, unless the federal deficit balloons again.

Which it almost certainly will. Donald Trump has proposed big tax cuts. He wants to spend as much as $1 trillion on a new infrastructure program. He also aims to rebuild the military. But he has shown little interest in entitlement reform. He has promised to protect Social Security and does not want to meddle with Medicare or cut Medicaid. There is no universe in which this does not amount to a prescription for ruinous levels of debt. Something needs to give.

That something ought to be entitlements, which have spiraled out of control and which are placing the greatest strain on the federal treasury. But without the president behind them, congressional Republicans wont get far on reform even if they have the stomach to give it a shot. Given recent events in Virginia, that too is open for debate.

Read more from the original source:
Editorial: On welfare reform, Republicans are all talk - Richmond.com

To best understand the Republican mentality on Capitol Hill specifically, their disgraceful refusal to probe the President Donald Trump-Russia national security scandal with even a scintilla of the energy they devoted to Benghazi you need only read what Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on Fox News Radio.

I just dont think its useful to be doing investigation after investigation, particularly of your own party, Paul said.

Well never even get started with doing the things we need to do like repealing Obamacare if were spending our whole time having Republicans investigate Republicans.

There you have it, folks. Permit me to translate: If we fully probe deeply for anti-American treason, we wont have time to strip Americans of their health care.

Remember when Republicans wrapped themselves in the flag and fancied themselves to be our truest patriots? That was their brand for decades. But these days, the Trump armband is wound so tight that its cutting off oxygen to their brains.

Republicans have their priorities. The party, and its dream of shredding the safety net, totally comes first. The country, despite ever-mounting evidence that Team Trump was in bed with a foreign adversary, decidedly comes second.

The latest news and I know, its tough to keep up is that Trump campaign officials and Trump associates had repeated contacts with Russia in 2016, during the same time frame that Russia was actively working to get Trump elected.

Theres no evidence in this new report that Trumps people participated in the anti-Hillary Clinton hacking or that they were apprised of Russian leader Vladimir Putins cyber-invasion.

But its suspicious that in December, on the same day President Barack Obama punished Russia with sanctions, newly departed national security adviser Michael Flynn called Russia five times in an attempt to undermine Americas sanctions.

Was he sending Russia a thank-you note for the election help? Is it rational to believe that he called so many times on his own, without a directive from Trump or other higher-ups?

All this smoke wait, heres even more suggests a serious Trumpster fire. All these unconnected dots are clearly sufficient impetus for a thorough independent probe.

But somehow (and I know this is hard to believe), Republicans have lost the investigative zeal they exuded during the Obama era.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, was all geared up last year to deep-dive into Clintons private email server vowing to soldier on even if she became president. He churned out more than 70 letters and subpoenas about that allegedly dire threat to national security.

But when asked about Trump and Russia, Chaffetz took refuge in Flynns resignation: I think the situation has taken care of itself.

Right. As if thats the end of the story. Those of us who lived through Watergate know that the scandal didnt end when Jeb Magruder and John Mitchell quit their jobs.

Congressional Republicans probably know this, but theyre willing to indulge Trumps tumultuous idiocy in exchange for his signature on long-sought right-wing legislation.

And theres another big reason for their refusal to provide oversight: Many are terrified of being primaried in 2018 by Trumpy challengers. In fact, the Republican base remains inexplicably in thrall to Trump.

According to a late-January Qunnipiac poll, 62 percent of Americans including 66 percent of independents want Congress to investigate potential links between Trumps campaign advisers and the Russian government. Probe support among grassroots Republicans is a mere 28 percent.

This helps explain why we have such a zeal imbalance. This is why Republicans (with a few rare exceptions) are zoning out on Trump-Russia, in contrast to their passion for nailing Clinton on Benghazi which inspired futile investigations by the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Judiciary Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

Somehow it feels like the Russian cyber-invasion and what Trump and his people mightve known and when they knew it rates at least a fraction of all that investigatory attention.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at least, is willing to openly state the obvious: If theres contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence officials outside the norm, thats not only big-league bad, thats a game changer.

And Ill put it in Trump language: Congress needs to extreme-vet this regime until we can figure out what the hell is going on.

Dick Polman is the national political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia, a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania and is syndicated by Cagle Cartoons. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: @DickPolman1. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.

Continued here:
Dick Polman: With Donald Trump, Republicans Suddenly Lose Their Appetite to Investigate - Noozhawk