Mediaboss Marketing

The intensity of Democratic and left-wing opposition to President Trump is taking a toll even on congressional Republicans.

"It's just a giant hassle," said Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va. "Everybody is losing it on the left."

"The world is upside down," said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C. "What is going on is the frustration of the American people, on both sides."

Republican lawmakers have faced raucous town halls with anti-Trump protesters shouting them down. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., had to leave on with police escort. "Do your job!" demonstrators jeered at House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, after he noted the president was exempt from federal conflict-of-interest laws.

Stay abreast of the latest developments from nation's capital and beyond with curated News Alerts from the Washington Examiner news desk and delivered to your inbox.

Sorry, there was a problem processing your email signup. Please try again later.

Processing...

Thank you for signing up for Washington Examiner News Alerts. You should receive your first alert soon!

Protesters initially blocked Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from entering two Washington, D.C., public schools Friday. Earlier in the week, Senate Democrats tried to block her from the job but failed due to Vice President Mike Pence's tie-breaking vote.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was ruled out of order during the debate over nominating Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., for attorney general when her criticisms were deemed by Republicans to impugn his character and motives in violation of Senate rules. After Sessions was confirmed, Warren ascribed to him "racism, sexism, bigotry."

Democrats mounted all-night protests against both nominees. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus stormed the Senate floor to highlight their opposition to Sessions.

"We mostly roll our eyes and laugh," a Republican congressional aide said of Democratic tactics. So far, the Democrats have failed to stop any of Trump's nominees, largely because of a filibuster rule change their own party made when they controlled the Senate.

With the exception of Trump's immigration order, now tied up in courts, the president has gotten much of what he wants in the early days of his administration.

Also from the Washington Examiner

It likely referenced the Senate voting to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren last week.

02/12/17 9:55 PM

For Capitol Hill Republicans, the stress of overcoming Democratic stalling in Congress and the anti-Trump "resistance" in the streets is still outweighed by excitement over the opportunities unified control of the federal government provides.

"These are friends of mine. They're acting badly. And we'll get past it," Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told Politico. "I'm embarrassed for them."

Democratic morale is lower, because of their minority status and the futility of many of their battles against the administration.

"They're not smiling," Brat said. "They're upset."

But the whirlwind activity of the Trump administration and its detractors has had an impact on Republicans too.

Also from the Washington Examiner

"At this particular point in history, our voices are needed more than ever."

02/12/17 8:41 PM

Several GOP lawmakers complained it was becoming difficult to sift constituent concerns from anti-Trump protests, not always from their districts. Even within their districts, they said they were facing newly politically engaged voters who are demanding they stand up to Trump even though they were elected making a different set of commitments to the constituents who voted for them.

One recent poll found that 56 percent of Democrats want their party's congressional wing to oppose Trump even if it means administration jobs don't get filled or bills get defeated.

"I hope the spring and summer will bring more civility than we see right now," Jones said.

"Tim Kaine has always been nice to me," said Brat, referring to the Virginia Democratic senator who was Hillary Clinton's running mate during the 2016 campaign. "Now he's gone from being a Guatemalan seminarian to a Guatemalan jungle fighter. I don't recall street fighters in the New Testament, maybe he can show me."

Congressional Republicans are unsure of whether the anti-Trump protests are similar to the Tea Party that powered many of them into office or more like the ultimately ineffectual demonstrations against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Several lawmakers said the Trump protests were less ideologically unified and more chaotic than the Tea Party. But while conservatives raise allegations about paid protesters and astroturfing funded by liberal billionaires, similar accusations were made on the left about the Tea Party.

Trump does his part to fan the flames, hitting back at critics on Twitter.

"You've got all these distractions with the tweets here and the tweets there," said Jones. "I wish he didn't tweet so much, but that's his decision, not mine."

"He is provocative, he eggs them on," Brat said of Trump's relationship with the Americans outraged by his presidency.

"We need to be gracious in victory but not stupid and weak," he added. "Trump is very good about saying you can't be stupid and weak, if he can figure out the first part we'll be in business."

Top Story

Opponents are planning to use the case as an opportunity to intrude into the presidency.

02/12/17 11:15 PM

Here is the original post:
Republicans cope with stressful opposition to Trump - Washington Examiner

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The ACA has never been more popular and you can see it at town halls across the country.

For years, one of the dogmas of the Republican party was that Obamacare needed to be repealed. Forget for a second that many of the most controversial sections of Obamacare (like the individual mandate) began their life as ideas from the Republican party; Republicans have spent the years since the ACA was passed spreading lies about the bill. Paul Ryan has said that it's bankrupting Medicare, when in fact the truth is just the opposite. This comes from FactCheck.org.

As for Ryans claim that Obamacare had worsened Medicares financing, thats not the case, either. In fact, the law both expanded Medicare fundingadding a 0.9 percent tax on earnings above $200,000 for single taxpayers or $250,000 for married couplesand cut the growth of future spending. Additional revenue and savings actually extend the life of the trust fund. The trustees 2010 report estimated that the ACA had added 12 years to the life of the Part A trust fund.

That's right! Literally the exact opposite is true. The ACA has PROLONGED Medicare's life. But the worst of the lies that Republicans have trotted out is the trusty old "Death Panels", or the idea that a government panel would decide if elderly people weren't worthy of care anymore. (It's funny how Obamacare has now been in place for years, and yet there have been no death panels. It's almost like it was never true at all.)

Well, that's not stopping some GOP officials from trotting that idea out in the debate over the potential repeal of Obamacare, and this time Americans aren't buying that shit. Take for instance this amazing moment from a town hall in Florida when local Republican official Bill Akins tried to use "Death Panels" as an argument for the repeal of a law that gives 20 million people healthcare. The reaction? Angrier than you can imagine! We're talking angrier than Donald Trump is every time he looks at Sean Spicer-levels of anger.

And then the guy had the gall to be offended by being called a liar for, well, lying about something that has been debunked over and over again SINCE 2009! That's eight solid years of debunking and this guy still is trying to sell this shit.

Americans are done with the same old tricks from the same old snake oil salesmen. This is what an effective resistance looks like. Show up at town halls. Make your voices heard. Let them politicians know that there's a reason why Obamacare is more popular today than it has ever been before.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS ONE

Follow this link:
Republicans Are Still Lying About Obamacare and Americans Aren't Having It - GQ Magazine

New York Times

Republicans Hold On to a Myth to Hold On to Power New York Times Given the increased political power Republicans won in the last elections, from Washington to red-state legislatures, voters might expect the party to feel that the nation's voting procedures are working quite well. Yet this is far from the case, as ... and more »

Visit link:
Republicans Hold On to a Myth to Hold On to Power - New York Times

The Hill

Republicans dismiss growing protests at home The Hill wrote in a letter to Republicans this week that they should not fear the vocal minority he says is grasping for relevance in communities across the nation. Some, like Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), are blaming the protests on a group called Indivisible ... and more »

Continue reading here:
Republicans dismiss growing protests at home - The Hill

One of the less understood criticisms of progressivism is that it is totalitarian, not in the sense that kale-eating Brooklynites want to build prison camps for political nonconformists (except for the ones who want to lock up global-warming skeptics) but in the sense that it assumes that there is no life outside of politics, that there is no separate sphere of private life, and that church, family, art, and much else properly resides within that sphere.

Earlier this week, I expressed what seemed to me an unobjectionable opinion: that politics has a place, that politics should be kept in its place, and that happy and healthy people and societies have lives that are separate from politics. The response was dispiriting but also illuminating.

Among those who directed tut-tuts in my direction was Patti Bacchus, who writes about education for the Vancouver Observer. Thats one of the most privileged things Ive ever heard, she sniffed. Patti Bacchus is the daughter of Charles Balfour, a Vancouver real-estate entrepreneur, and attended school at Crofton House, a private girls school whose alumni include Pat (Mrs. William F.) Buckley. It is one of the most expensive private schools in Canada. I do enjoy disquisitions on privilege from such people. But of course her criticism is upside-down: It is exactly we privileged people with education, comfortable lives, and spare time who expend the most energy on politics. But there are other pressing priorities, like paying the rent, for poor people. If Ms. Bacchus would like to pay a visit to West Texas, Ill introduce her to some.

Another objection came from a correspondent who demanded: What if politics greatly impacts every facet of your life? That would be an excellent question if it came from some poor serf living in one of the states our American progressives so admire, such as Cuba or Venezuela, where almost every aspect of life is under political discipline, where government controls whether you eat and, indeed, whether you breathe. But if you live in the United States and politics greatly impacts every facet of your life, you have mental problems, or you are a politician.

(But I repeat myself.)

Esars Comic Dictionary (1943) contains two definitions of the word fanatic, often wrongly attributed (by me, among others) to Winston Churchill: First, A person who redoubles his efforts after having forgotten his aims. Second (my favorite), One who cant change his opinion and wont change the subject.

If you want to see fanaticism at work, try looking for a roommate in Washington or New York City.

From the New York Times we learn of the emergence of the no-Trump clause in housing ads in our liberal (which is to say, illiberal) metropolitan areas. The idea is nothing new I saw similar No Republicans Need Apply ads years ago when looking for apartments in Washington and New York but the intensity seems to have been turned up a measure or two: In 2017, the hysteria knob goes up to eleven. Katie Rogers of the Times offers an amusingly deadpan report:

In one recent ad, a couple in the area who identified themselves as open-minded and liberal advertised a $500 room in their home: If youre racist, sexist, homophobic or a Trump supporter please dont respond. We wont get along.

Thats a funny kind of open-mindedness it is in fact literal prejudice. It is also illiterate: Whatever Donald Trumps defects, to associate him with homophobia is a stretch to the point of dishonesty, inasmuch as Trump in 2017 is well to the liberal side of Barack Obama in 2008 on gay marriage. Trumps personal style is abrasive and confrontational, but he also is on the actual policy issues arguably the most moderate Republican president of the modern era, one who often has boasted of taking a more progressive view of such issues as abortion, gay rights, gun control, raising taxes on Wall Street, and what we used to call industrial policy. Given his history in and with the Democratic party, this is unsurprising.

But, as Robin Hanson put it, politics isnt about policy.

What it is about is tribe, which is what makes all that conflation of racism and bigotry with political difference so amusing. Political prejudice is not the moral equivalent of racial prejudice, but they operate in very similar ways, as anybody who ever has spent much time around a genuine racist or anti-Semite knows. Taxes too high? Blame the blacks. Not making enough money? Blame the Mexicans. Foreign policy seem overwhelmingly complex? Blame the Jews. Whataburger gave you a full-on corn-syrup Coke instead of a Diet Coke? Blame the blacks, Mexicans, Jews, subcontinental immigrants...somebody. Racism and anti-Semitism are metaphysical creeds, and those who adhere to these creeds see the work of the agents of evil everywhere. For them, there is no world outside race and racism.

In this, they are very similar to the Hillary Clintonvoting Manhattan balletomanes who seethe that they must endure being seated in the David Koch theater. David Kochs brand of libertarianism is mild and constructive, and it has about as much to do with ballet as Keith Olbermann has to do with astrophysics. But for the fanatic, even to hear the name spoken is unbearable.

Imagine being so mentally poisoned and so spiritually sick that you feel the need to organize a protest at New YorkPresbyterian Hospital because the institution accepted $100 million the largest gift in its history, being put to purely philanthropic health-care purposes from someone whose political views are at odds with your own. Imagine what it must be like to feel that doing that is a moral imperative. Imagine sitting down to listen to a Beethoven string quartet and being filled with paralyzing anxiety that the cellist might not share your views on the ArabIsraeli conflict.

(Ill bet Beethoven had really regressive views about gay marriage. And who knows what Bach or Bernini thought about tax policy?)

Imagine being willing to take a stranger into your home only on the condition that he did not vote for the man who won the 2016 presidential election. One of those Trump-excluding roommates mentioned in the Times insisted that this discrimination was in the interest of the Trump voters, too, who would be unhappy in a household full of raging liberals.

Meditate, for a moment, upon the word raging.

The people who believe that there can be no art, literature, culture, or life apart from politics are people who do not understand art, literature, culture, or politics, and whose lives are sad and sadly deficient.

A Buddhist writer once described two kinds of material unhappiness: the absence of what one desires and the presence of what one despises. But the Buddha was known to associate with worldly men and their unclean enthusiasms in much the same way that Jesus slummed around with prostitutes and tax collectors, instructing us by example to seek after lives that are as large as our love and not as small as our hatred. The people who close their doors against those who simply see the world in a different way, who scream profanities atBetsy DeVos or chant You should die! at Jewish musicians, are people who cannot rise far enough above their own pettiness to understand that the thing they fear is the thing they are.

Kevin D. Williamson is the roving correspondent for National Review.

More:
No Republicans Need Apply - National Review