Special Counsel: sabotaging the GOP House Majority

 

Note to readers:  This report demonstrates why I so often link to Sundance at Conservative Treehouse.  Most of us could not dig into the weeds to this extent – and make sense of it – as he does.  The appointment of Jack Smith as Special Counsel is not just about Trump;  it’s about blocking the slim GOP House majority from exercising its majority.  Here’s an extract:

Sunday Talks, Democrat J6 Committee Confirms Intent
to Transfer Evidence to Special Counsel
During Lame Duck to Begin Republican Targeting Operations

If you doubted the intent of the primary function of the appointment for Special Counsel John Smith, you can put that doubt to rest now.  . . .

Primary goal, create enough of a legal mess as to obstruct any republican legislative effort against the Biden White House.  Additionally, if Smith’s DC team can pick-off a few republican House members under charges of “supporting an insurrection“, the political power will revert back to the Democrats in office.

They didn’t just think this up overnight.

This is why the January 6 committee never ended.  They are using J6 as a weapon against their losing the House to republicans.  The Democrats are now structurally targeting Republicans with the appointment of Jack Smith.  It’s actually a brilliant move.  The executive is now investigating the legislative branch; the legal structure of this eliminates the separation of powers issue.

The DOJ is not investigating republicans, they are investigating defined criminals; insurrectionists that are national security threats, that happen to be republicans.  See how that works?  

Read the rest of Sundance’s analysis here.  This “investigation” will not only neuter some of the GOP in the House, it will be the reason the Special Counsel can block any public explanations under cover of not being able to compromise the ongoing investigation.  And it gets worse:

Then you have the congressional representatives under investigation and search warrants on their phones, text messages, emails, etc…. AND the added benefit of using DOJ-NSD defined terms of “national security threat” (that’s why they emphasized insurrection) to gain FISA warrants on an entire incoming congressional delegation.

# # #

Why Democrats can't cheat their way to victory in the mid-terms

 

Guest post by Pat:

We all saw Dinesh D'Souza's "2000 Mules" and how the Democrats stole the 2020 Presidential Election by stuffing ballot drop boxes with hundreds of thousands of stashed illegal ballots. One fact that exposes that that is what happened is that Biden had no coat-tails. Democrats lost seats in the house and barely held the senate. This is surprising since Biden "won" the greatest number of votes in history. Even more surprising is that the incumbent president surpassed his 2016 vote total by 6 million votes and still lost.

House seats are counted and decided at the district level. GOP districts have strong voter integrity rules, so the Democrats can't cheat there, as was shown in 2020. Former red districts still have the same controls.

Senate seats are counted at the state level. As we saw in the Georgia runoffs, the Democrats used the same game plan as they did in the previous November and unleashed their mules again, as "2000 Mules" proves. That enabled them to steal control of the Senate. Why didn't they do that in all the Senate races in 2020? I think they thought they didn't need to. The target was Trump, and the plan was to flood the system with Biden-only votes. It worked, and the Trump response to such blatant fraud was led by Rudy Giuliani, who was clearly not up to the task, as Patrick Byrne documents in his book, The Deep Rig.

So, how does the GOP and the MAGA people (not the same) prevent the Democrats stealing Senate seats in the mid-terms? One disinfectant is sunlight. "2000 Mules" exposed how they did it in 2020. Any GOP legislature with an ounce of common sense would enact legislation that bans drop boxes, enforces voter ID and signature verification, and cleans up voter rolls. But, we call the GOP the "stupid party" with good reason. So, the MAGA people must pressure the GOP to get smart and enact and enforce voter integrity laws. 

A comment:  I don't call the GOP the "stupid party" anymore ~ I call them the party of "bought."  And I hope contributor Pat is correct!

# # #

UPDATE: Ohio Congressional race

 

Seth McLaughlin at The Washington Times reports:

Trump-backed Max Miller targets ‘so-called Republican’
in Ohio congressional battle

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez is akin to a car that has been deemed a lemon.

That’s according to Max Miller, the Republican who launched a primary challenge against Mr. Gonzalez after former President Trump called for the scalps of GOP lawmakers like Mr. Gonzalez who supported impeachment following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Mr. Miller says voters in Ohio’s 16th Congressional District were sold on the idea that Mr. Gonzalez would fight for them in Washington, but have buyer’s remorse after discovering his brand of politics is out of sync with Trumpism and the MAGA movement. 

“I have no other interest in doing this other than to serve the people of the 16th District and get an ‘America First’ conservative in Congress and get one who is a so-called Republican out,” Mr. Miller told The Washington Times.

The 32-year-old former Trump aide became more of a household name in February when Mr. Trump gave him his “Complete and Total Endorsement!” and warned that Mr. Gonzalez does not represent the “interest” or “heart” of voters in the district.

Mr. Trump is set to sing the challenger’s praises Saturday at Lorain County Fairgrounds in Wellington, Ohio, marking his first campaign-style rally of the 2022 election cycle.

Full report at The Washington Times is here. Previous CTP post on the Saturday June 26 Trump rally at the Lorain County Fairgrounds is here.

In other news, outgoing Ohio Senator Rob Portman is in the news again.  Here's the headline over Matt Vespa’s Townhall column:

GOP Senators Mobilize to Stop Largest Gun Confiscation
 and Registration Attempt in History Under Biden

. . . Oh, who are the two Republicans who refused to sign onto this communique? That would be Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Susan Collins (R-ME). 

# # #

Your Feel-Good Story of the Day: Romney “showered with boos”

Andrew Mark Miller has the story at the Washington Examiner:

Romney showered with boos at GOP event
as hecklers call him a 'communist' and 'traitor'

Sen. Mitt Romney was showered with loud boos by a Republican audience in Utah as he attempted to slam President Joe Biden’s agenda.

“I’m a man who says what he means, and you know I was not a fan of our last president’s character issues,” Romney said Saturday as delegates at Utah’s Republican convention shouted their disapproval, with some calling him a “traitor” and a “communist.”

Aren’t you embarrassed?” Romney asked the crowd at one point.

Romney also touted his Republican credentials and told the crowd that the boos don’t bother him.

“You can boo all you like,” said Romney. “I’ve been a Republican all of my life. My dad was the governor of Michigan, and I was the Republican nominee for president in 2012.”

The jeers finally stopped when the outgoing party chairman urged the delegates to “show respect.”

More at the link.  Utah conservatives are not feeding Romney The RINO.  Bravo!

# # #

Portman’s Senate seat: A Decepticon’s decision

 

Sundance at Conservative Treehouse has an interesting take on Sen. Rob Portman’s announcement that he will retire when his term is up in 2023:

With four GOP senators having announced they’re not running (Burr, Johnson, Toomey, Portman) there’s essentially zero chance of the GOP retaking control of the Senate in 2022.  [20 R seats up & only 14 D seats that are in solid D strongholds] it is far more likely the Democrats will gain seats, so keep this in mind…. 

…When we think about forming a third party, the “you will split the vote” crew always peddles their vote split narrative.  However, the GOP doesn’t have a chance in hell to win 2022 given what the base of the Republicans think about these senate DeceptiCons now.

There has never been a better time for a New Party to launch and capture three or four seats from the retiring GOPe crew.  It would be great to see true MAGA representatives that can caucus with Republicans but hold ground on America First principles.

Sundance’s full report with links and commentary is here.

UPDATE:  Don Surber thinks a third party is still a bad idea.  See here.

# # #

 

Are we asking the right questions?

 

Ned Ryun at American Greatness asks some serious questions. 

You can quibble with me about it all, and no doubt there are some good and well-meaning people mixed up in all of this, but a look at the world around us, from exploding debt to the expansive powers of our massive administrative state to our broken immigration systems to a failed electoral process to Big Tech monopolies crowding out our First Amendment freedoms, should answer all objections. No serious movement would have allowed that to happen or appear to be so full of people who, even now, think all of this is fine. We will just keep pushing on doing the same things that haven’t worked in more than a generation. 

Perhaps if we became more sophisticated in our use of 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 funds, we could address some of our problems in a meaningful way. But instead, we insist on funding retreads like the Heritage Foundation at $80-$100 million a year, AEI at $50-$60 million a year, and the mostly worthless state policy think tanks sucking down hundreds of millions of donor dollars every year. To what end? Serious question. 

None of that money will be or has been used to address the greatest threats to our democracy, from election integrity to Big Tech. Honestly, you could pile 90 percent of that money in the street, light it on fire, and it would be just as effective. 

But instead of thinking about adjusting our priorities, we’re sitting here like programmed robots ready to repeat the same mistakes. Again. And again.

A provocative read;  Mr. Ryun’s full column is here.

# # #.

What can conservatives DO?

art credit:  medium.com

It is alarming to see the riots, violence, lawlessness, and, well, insanity everywhere.  Most of the GOPe / Uniparty are standing around, wringing their hands in despair and doing not much of anything.  What can the concerned citizen do in these frightening times?  Fletch Daniels at American Thinker has an idea of what conservatives can actually DO.

Cultural tyranny reigns in America, the last step before full-fledged political tyranny. 

Lurking beneath the surface of virtue signaling leftists are tyrants seeking to exert their will over those they despise.  The defining leftist culture enables them to ruthlessly use all the power at their disposal, both real and imagined, to enforce a single acceptable viewpoint on society. 

. . .

Democrats in this country do not feel they need to hide their political allegiance or culturally approved viewpoints.  Most never shut up about it, believing they are speaking truth to power, even as they bask in the approval of the corrupt and wicked power centers. 

.. .

I wish I had a dollar for every American who uttered the phrase, “Never in my lifetime did I expect to see…” over the last few weeks.  We are living in the upside-down when patriotism is outlawed, the vilest of criminals are celebrated, and brave law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line daily are slandered as the worst of society so thoroughly that it descended into evil farce, when a kid’s show “Paw Patrol,” came under attack since it is apparently racist to have a positive police character in a children’s show.  

This is war and the left is playing to win.  Anyone who doesn’t get that by now, to include most of the NeverTrumpers, is either irredeemably stupid or an active collaborator.  Every pillar of cultural power in America, to include the unholy trinity of academia, the media, and government has declared cultural war on at least half the country.  And yet NeverTrumpers reserve almost all of their scorn for those with the audacity to not drop to their knees and surrender. 

. . .

The problem is that the silence enables the leftists to continue to drive the narrative and normalize ideas and behaviors that would have been considered unfathomable just a few short years ago while winning more converts, which shrinks that sane majority.  It is their toxic ideas that are being force fed to every young person in America and we are paying a heavy price for that. 

And here’s Mr. Daniels’ suggestion:

I’d like to see far more people vocally pushing back against the mob within their social circles.  Every person who pushes back emboldens others to do the same. 

Even if you don’t want to spoil the party or make everyone at the picnic uncomfortable, it’s worth the try.  My own batting average is low, but I count at least half a dozen in my circle who were apathetic liberals before I started speaking up, and they are now committed and vocal conservatives.  Mr. Daniels' full article is here.

# # #

Jobs or Mobs?

DC Whispers reports:

By nearly every possible metric the Trump administration is succeeding across the board—success which in turn is benefiting tens of millions of Americans all across the nation regardless of race, gender, religion, or political affiliation.

Meanwhile, Democrats now seem to only offer character assassination, threats of violence, actual violence, and promises of further chaos. 

Jobs not Mobs—coming to an election result near you…

So - today’s meme via Chicks on the Right:

###

Update: amnesty legislation

From NumbersUSA:

Last night, House GOP Leaders announced that they will hold two immigration votes next week -- one on Rep. Bob Goodlatte's H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act. and the other on a compromise bill still being negotiated.

The details are light. It's possible that the version of the Goodlatte bill that reaches the floor is quite different from the one that NumbersUSA endorsed earlier this year. And we don't know the full details of the compromise bill, but we can say with near certainty that it won't reduce overall immigration numbers or mandate E-Verify.

Please be on the lookout for action alerts early next week as the details become more clear.

It seems that the GOPe Uniparty and RINO Paul Ryan are determined to ram some sort of amnesty bill down our throats. But President Trump has a pen.

# # #

Update on Dreamers amnesty

It’s on, it’s off, and even if the House passed a DACA bill, President Trump would surely veto it. At any rate, here’s the latest by Mike Lillis And Juliegrace Brufke at The Hill:

GOP staves off immigration revolt — for now

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday tamped down a Republican insurrection on immigration — at least temporarily — with vows to “put pen to paper” on a compromise bill to protect immigrants known as "Dreamers."

During a two-hour, closed-door meeting in the basement of the Capitol, Ryan and other GOP leaders urged their troops not to endorse a procedural move to force votes on solutions for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program — known as a discharge petition — and instead give leaders more time to forge a compromise that can win 218 Republicans.

“The next step is to start putting pen to paper and get legislation to the floor," the Wisconsin Republican told reporters afterward.

The promise seems to have bought them some time in their search for an elusive DACA deal that can win the support of centrist immigration reformers and conservative hard-liners.

The new unofficial deadline appears to be June 12, leaving leadership just five days to craft legislation they believe can garner 218 GOP votes. Supporters of the petition are three signatures away from the number of members needed to bypass leadership and bring the “Queen of the Hill” rule to the floor.

Not good news, and it’s not much of a breather. The rest of The Hill report is here.

# # #

John Boehner speaks (for the Uniparty)

photo credit: mashable.com

John Boehner speaks (reported by Rick Moran at PJ Media):

The worst House speaker in perhaps the last 100 years says, "There is no Republican Party." Coming from the man who did more than most to destroy it, it seems ironic that he should complain.

"The Republican Party is kind of taking a nap somewhere," Boehner added. He should know all about that since, under his leadership, the GOP was snoozing while Obama enacted a radical, liberal agenda.

. . .

But is he right?

Depends what you mean when you say "Republican Party." If you mean the party of Ronald Reagan, Boehner is right. But Trump wasn't responsible for the death of Reagan Republicanism. That honor goes to George W. Bush, whose "big government conservatism" led to political and economic disaster.

John Boehner was/is a member in good standing of the Uniparty. As Sundance pointed out earlier this year with respect to Speaker Paul Ryan:

Republicans did not want to win the majority position and face having to reveal their true UniParty agenda.

BTW, I got another fund-raising call the other day from the Republican National Committee. I decided to take the call instead of just hanging up. When the chap started in on his scripted message, I interrupted him to let him know that I was an angry conservative voter. For over seven years, the GOP has raised millions of dollars, and gained the House and Senate and White House, on their promises to repeal Obamacare. With majorities in both chambers of Congress, they have refused to repeal it. I repeated that bit, and that was the end of that phone call.

Read the rest of the report at PJ Media here.

# # #

2018 Ohio Primary Races

Ohio Primary Election is tomorrow Tuesday, May 8. Your mailbox and Inbox are probably both as stuffed with campaign literature as mine are. 

It seems as though just about every candidate running as a Republican for any office – from Governor to GOP Central Committee member -- wants to be seen as conservative, an outsider, and a supporter of President Donald J. Trump. 

Can we trust the campaign claims? And do any endorsements enter into the calculations in this election, or do they start to cancel each other out?

Regarding the Governor primary - both Mike DeWine and opponent claim to have been yuuge supporters of Donald Trump during the Presidential election.  That is NOT true.  During the primary both stayed away from any and all Trump events.  During the General Election - support was lukewarm at best.

The Cuyahoga County Republicans has endorsed the DeWine / Jon Husted ticket. Many conservative and religious groups across Ohio have endorsed Mary Taylor.

In the primary race for Ohio Treasurer between Robert Sprague and Sandy O'Brien - Sprague has been endorsed and supported by almost every relevant group across Ohio ranging from religious right, Tea Party, County Republican Party groups and the Ohio Republican Party.  

Sprague has a rock solid record during his time in the Ohio House and has shown the fundraising ability to compete against the Democrats in a statewide race.

The US Senate primary between one of the Finance Chairs for the Trump campaign in Ohio and successful businessman Mike Gibbons & Congressman Jim Renacci to take on Democrat Sherrod Brown is turning out to be very contentious.

NumbersUSA is all about legal immigration, and it rates candidates and current members of Congress based on voting records and/or expressed support for enforcement of existing immigration laws. It rates Senator Sherrod Brown with an “F minus.” 

It rates Rep. Jim Renacci with a “C.” It describes US Senator candidates Melissa Ackison and Mike Gibbons as “True Reformer.”

The National Rifle Assoc. (NRA) has endorsed numerous candidates based on Second Amendment rights. Among the endorsed candidates is Jim Renacci for US Senate. But this year, Ohioans for Concealed Carry & Ohio Carry have both rejected Renacci as they have previously and endorsed Mike Gibbons for US Senate.

Donald Trump has recently endorsed Jim Renacci. Many of the Delegates and original Tea Party leaders that supported Donald Trump have come out and are supporting Mike Gibbons.  Gibbons has also been endorsed by Senator Rand Paul.

Many of these supporters of President Trump believe President Trumps endorsement of Renacci, who is also supported by Mitch McConnell & has received donations from his PAC, will turn out like President Trumps endorsement of the McConnell favorite Luther Strange in Alabama - which resulted in a loss to the Democrat in the General Election. 

Most importantly - regardless of who you vote for -- make sure you vote!!!

When you vote, you will need to select a Democratic party, Republican party, Green party, or “Issues only” ballot; you can view a sample ballot online at www.443vote.com . NOTE: Cleveland Tea Party does not endorse primary candidates.

Mr Speaker on Fake News

Photo credit: painepubllishing.com

Speaker Newt Gingrich’s latest emailing is titled “The Republican 2018 Surprise: Victory.” A short extract:

[Scott] Adams, the author of Dilbert, has a list of 20 political opinions and predictions made about President Trump and his Administration, which were just plain wrong. He suggests if you were wrong about 15 or more of these assertions, you might quit talking about politics while Trump is in the White House. By Adams’s standard, most elite "analysts" would have to be quiet, because they have been so consistently wrong about Trump.

As I listened to the end of the year "analysts," I was struck by how little they know, how little they have questioned their own mistakes, and how mutually reinforcing their false information has been.

These are not analysts. These are liberal propagandists. Much of what they assert is just plain wrong. Fake news is, sadly, an accurate term. And the topic about which they have been the most fake is the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Newt predicts a GOP win in the midterms. But that would not be enough. I can’t help but hope that in the process of draining the swamp, members of the UniParty, including those with an (R) after their name, are exposed as the corruptocrats that they are. 

Newt’s column is online here.

# # #

Conrad Black on “Trump’s Whirlwind Year”

Image credit: westernjournal.com

Conrad Black has a great wrap-up of Trump’s presidential campaign, election and first year as POTUS. He begins with Trump’s candidacy:

Trump was attacking the entire political establishment, the whole Washington sleaze factory, all factions of both parties, all the Bushes, Clintons, and Obama, the national media, the lobbyists, Wall Street, Hollywood, and the limousine Left from the Hamptons to Silicon Valley. Of course the Trump campaign was insane and impossible, and was doomed to be a ludicrous fiasco, a gigantic, comical clown act that misfired horribly.

On Election Night, Nobel prize–winning (for economics) New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said the stock market would “never recover” from the Trump victory. (It has set a new all-time high more than 90 times since.) . . .

This year [Trump] has won over the congressional Republican party, which had almost entirely opposed him, to toil in the enactment of his program. Together they have achieved the greatest tax reform and reduction in over 30 years, largely emasculated Obamacare, put a rod on the backs of those states that elect incompetents like Jerry Brown and the Cuomos and lay the resulting state income taxes off on the whole country, repatriated trillions of dollars of corporate profit, exonerated over half the people from personal income taxes, reduced the return of 80 percent of taxpayers to a postcard, and produced conditions for 4 percent GDP growth next year. . . .

Considering the sustained assault of 90 percent of the media, in which the normal honeymoon for a new president has been replaced by a daily media assassination squad, he has done well. 

The article is at the National Review website here.

# # #

UPDATE on Amnesty (A "No Action Needed" Alert)

NumbersUSA sent out this newsletter earlier today:

Thirty-three Republican U.S. Representatives want to put young illegal aliens who received the unconstitutional DACA amnesty ahead of the interests of American workers, according to a letter they all signed addressed to House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this week.

The letter signers urged Speaker Ryan to immediately pass legislation that would grant a permanent amnesty to approximately 700,000 illegal aliens before the end of the year.

While they did mention their desire to improve border security and to fix the "broken immigration system", they offered no specifics. And they did not suggest that those fixes or any other immigration-related provisions be paired with DACA legislation.

We write in support of passing of a permanent legislative solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients before the end of the year. ...

We are compelled to act immediately because many DACA recipients are about to lose or have already lost their permits in the wake of the program's rescission. ...

We must pass legislation that protects DACA recipients from deportation and gives them the opportunity to apply for a more secured status in our country as soon as possible. Reaching across the aisle to protect DACA recipients before the holidays is the right thing to do.

You can read the full letter here: https://www.numbersusa.com/news/34-house-republicans-call-daca-amnesty

The letter's signees -- led by Reps. Scott Taylor of Virginia and Dan Newhouse of Washington -- fail to address any of the unintended consequences that would result from passing amnesty-only legislation. They ignore interior enforcement, including a requirement for all employers to use E-Verify for all new hires, that would cut off the jobs magnet and significantly reduce future illegal immigration. An amnesty without E-Verify would only guarantee demands for future amnesties for the new illegal aliens who would be enticed to come.

The letter fails to address Chain Migration, which if not ended, would multiply the size the amnesty, adding millions more foreign workers to the labor market to compete with unemployed and underemployed American workers. Pres. Trump, himself, has said that an end to Chain Migration must be part of any DACA deal, but the letter signers instead refer to an outdated quote from White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that leaves out Chain Migration.

The full list of the letter signers is at the link above to the full letter, or click here. I am pleased to say that none of the signatories are from Ohio, so there’s no Action Alert today to get on the phone to them.

# # # .

Good news on Health Care

 photo credit: Legal Insurrection

Despite the GOP winning majorities in both the House and Senate, and then winning the White House, the pathetic GOPe in Congress have utterly failed to deliver on its promise to repeal the misnamed “Affordable Care Act.” The bill to repeal should have been on the President’s desk on Day 1, but the GOP, it would seem, never dreamed they’d have to make good on the promise.

Now President Trump has signed a few Executive Orders to begin to dismantle the monstrosity known as Obamacare, and Betsy McCaughey reports on what that means:

Trump strikes a blow 

for health care freedom

Free at last! That’s the message for millions who don’t get health coverage at work and, until now, faced two dismal options: going without insurance or paying Obama­Care’s soaring premiums. On Thursday, President Trump announced changes that will allow consumers to choose coverage options costing half of what ObamaCare’s cheapest bronze plans cost.

Democrats are already accusing the president of kneecapping ObamaCare, but these changes will reduce the number of uninsured — something Democrats claim is their goal.

The Affordable Care Act requires everyone to buy the one-size-fits-all package. You have to pay for maternity care, even if you’re too old to give birth. You’re also on the hook for pediatric dental care, even if you’re childless. It’s like passing a law that the only car you can buy is a fully-loaded, four-door sedan. No more hatchbacks or two-seaters.

Trump’s taking the opposite approach, allowing consumers choice. His new regulation will free people to again buy “short-term” health plans that exclude many costly services, such as inpatient drug rehab. These plans aren’t guaranteed to be renewable year to year; the upside is they cost much less.

. . .

. . . Trump has now seized the initiative, after congressional Republicans fell flat on their faces and failed to address the pain ObamaCare is inflicting on consumers stuck in the individual insurance market.

The president should keep going. What’s next? Trump should use his discretion to stop enforcing the tax penalty on those who don’t buy ObamaCare-compliant plans, including buyers of short-term plans.

Then he should cancel the sweetheart deal his predecessor weaseled for members of Congress and their staff members. Even though the Affordable Care Act requires them to buy coverage on ObamaCare exchanges, Obama arranged for them to have a choice of 57 gold plans and have John Q. Public pick up most of their costs. It’s an outrage.

Once members of Congress are feeling the same pain as everyone else, they’ll be more focused on repealing and replacing the dysfunctional health law. In the meantime, Trump is wisely providing relief where it counts the most — in people’s wallets.

Read the rest here.

# # #

It's a start

image credit: rainbow law

Yesterday, Kathryn Covert at the Washington Free Beacon reported:

GOP Donors Respond to Obamacare Repeal Failure, Withhold Donations

Republican donors are protesting GOP lawmakers' failure to repeal Obamacare by withholding donations to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

At least $2 million in contributions originally promised to the NRSC have not materialized, CNN reported Tuesday.

The failure of Republicans to fulfill a central campaign promise particularly concerns some donors because it could disillusion core voters heading into the 2018 midterms. The uncertainty could put the Republicans' majority—especially in the House of Representatives—at risk.

The Republican majority in the Senate is widely viewed to be safe in the 2018 midterms. Nonetheless, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, Ky.) has been privately warning his colleagues and donors that the GOP's 52-48 majority should not be taken for granted, according to CNN. A campaign donation shortfall could impact the GOP's ability to effectively campaign in states where Democratic senators are vulnerable.

. . .

Withholding contributions is a good start, but it’s just a start. Remember when Dave Brat upset Eric Cantor? We need two or three more primary challenges. 

# # #

More obstruction from the Uniparty

image credit: ring of fire radio

From The Hill:

The Senate blocked President Trump from being able to make recess appointments on Thursday as lawmakers leave Washington for their August break. 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), doing wrap up for the entire Senate, locked in nine "pro-forma" sessions — brief meetings that normally last roughly a minute. 

The move, which requires the agreement of every senator, means the Senate will be in session every three business days throughout the August recess. 

The Senate left D.C. on Thursday evening with most lawmakers not expected to return to Washington until after Labor Day. 

If anyone wondered whether the term "Uniparty" was hyperbole . . .

# # #

Repealing Obamacare: again

YouTube: Right Side Broadcasting

Following President Trumps’s brief speech today (above) in a last-ditch effort to get the Uniparty RINOs to keep their promise to repeal Obamacare, it’s timely to review a couple of reasons why Congress should repeal:

• Medicare is not the answer. Here is today’s horror story about a 91-year old needing treatment but getting rejected by the system.
• Single-payer systems put the state, not the individual in charge of medical decisions. Here’s Mr. Vodkapundit (Stephen Green) on the final chapter in little Baby Gard’s life, and the tragic situation with his parents.

Yet Congress is so used to end-running rules, breaking campaign promises, and disregarding their constituencies that it will be a miracle if they do the right thing on healthcare. How do they keep getting away with it? Here’s an essay by Angelo M.Codevillaon at the American Greatness blog about what “regular order” in the legislative process is supposed to look like. 

# # #

What’s wrong with Rob Portman?

cartoon credit: Walt Handelsman

via US News and World Report / The New Orleans Advocate

Scott McKay at The American Spectator asks:

Do Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman, and Shelley Moore Capito expect to ever get votes from Republican voters again?

Here’s a question: How long have Republicans been running for federal office on repealing Obamacare, in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s terminology, “Root and branch”?

Answer: since 2010.

. . .

You would figure that with Donald Trump in the White House and Republican majorities in the House and Senate, repealing Obamacare would be a no-brainer.

OK, the repeal-and-replace angle could be harder to pull off. That’s understandable. There are lots of different kinds of Republicans, and it might be hard to get all of them to coalesce behind a single federal healthcare policy to replace it. Those of us whose studies of the American public sector have led to an understanding that the less federal healthcare policy there is the healthier the healthcare industry will be have a far simpler solution to that problem, but we are unfortunately not the majority — in the House, Senate or public. That’s a shame, and it’s a symptom of a larger civic disease, but that’s for another column in this space. There will be a replacement for Obamacare, and we can hope it’s less awful than what it stands in for.

But when the Senate version of an Obamacare replacement foundered and McConnell announced the next step would be, early next week, an up-or-down vote for an Obamacare repeal now and the crafting of a replacement as a consensus for one emerges, that’s something an entire GOP caucus can vote for.

Minus Susan Collins, of course; Maine’s quote-unquote Republican Senator wouldn’t vote to repeal Obamacare back in 2015 when McConnell’s majority sent a bill doing just that to then-President Obama’s desk to die. But outside of Collins and Mark Kirk of Illinois, who is no longer in the Senate, the rest of the caucus was on board with the repeal.

And yet Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito, and Ohio’s Rob Portman have now joined Collins in announcing they won’t support a repeal when the vote comes up next week.

What is wrong with these people?

Capito laced her announcement with a special bit of arsenic for Republican voters. “I didn’t come to Washington to hurt people,” she said.

No, Senator, apparently you came to Washington to lie to people.

. . .

What’s wrong with these people? My guess in one word: Uniparty. And the rest of Scott McKay's article is here.