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President Donald Trumps critics view Republicans in Congress as his enablers. James Fallows, in The Atlantic, describes their behavior as the most discouraging weakness our governing system has shown since Trump took office. He singles out Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse for scorn because he leads all senators in his thoughtful, scholarly concern about the norms Donald Trump is breaking and then lines up and votes with Trump 95 percent of the time.

Another journalist, Ron Brownstein, has written similarly. When various Republican senators objected to Trumps attacks on MSNBC co-host Mika Brzezinskis appearance, Brownstein asked what they intended to do about it. Other Trump foes echoed this critique: The Republicans stern words were empty.

Most of this criticism is unreasonable.

It fails, for one thing, to account for what the Republicans have done. That includes mere criticism, since words matter in politics. Some of those words such as we need to look to an independent commission or special prosecutor (Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski) or our intelligence committee needs to interview Donald Trump Jr. (Maine Sen. Susan Collins) can have a fairly direct effect on what happens in Washington.

But its not just words. The Republican Congress held hearings about President Trumps firing of FBI Director James Comey. Most Republicans have supported sanctions on Russia the president opposes. For the Republicans critics, these steps were the least they could do. But they werent. The Republicans could have, for example, not held hearings.

Its unusual for senators to hold hearings into possible misconduct by 1) a president of their party 2) who is still fairly new in office and 3) supported by the vast majority of their voters. Perhaps the Republicans should have taken even more extraordinary action. But theyre falling pitifully short only if the baseline expectation is that they do whatever liberal journalists think its their duty to do.

And some things liberal journalists think its the Republicans duty to do make no sense. Take that 95 percent figure mentioned by Fallows. Was South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham really supposed to vote to keep regulations he considered unwise on the books because he opposes Vladimir Putin? Was Arizona Sen. John McCain really supposed to vote against confirming Alex Acosta as Labor secretary because the president tweets like a maladjusted 12-year-old?

When you complain about how often the senators vote with the president, thats what youre saying. Perhaps this is why the complaint is usually made by liberals, who would not want senators to be voting with President Marco Rubio or President John Kasich either.

Besides voting left, what would the Republicans critics have them do? Impeach the president? Not even Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, supports that.

As evidence piles up pointing to the possibility that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, Republican lawmakers have largely ignored Democrats calls for urgent action and continued about their day jobs, writes McKay Coppins.

The urgent actions he mentions: holding more press conferences about investigations into Trump; voting with Democrats on some anti-Trump resolutions they devised last week; and issuing subpoenas more aggressively.

Maybe Republicans should subpoena some people they have not, although some specificity on who should get these subpoenas would be reassuring. I suspect that if the Republicans did issue more of them, the goalposts would just shift. The subpoenas, like the Comey hearings, would turn out not to count as urgent action.

None of this means that Republicans are doing all they can and should do to address the concerns that Trumps presidency raises. Members of Congress should, for example, be looking for ways to compel presidents to disclose their tax records, such disclosure being a useful norm that Trump has flouted.

But making a focused and reasonable demand and then building support for it is different from expecting congressional Republicans to sound like the opposition party.

Ramesh Ponnuru is a Bloomberg View columnist.

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Ramesh Ponnuru: Liberals want Republicans to stop being Republicans - Topeka Capital Journal

Updated July 22, 2017 17:53:07

Former prime minister Tony Abbott says there is a contest between "factionalists" and "democrats" at play in the New South Wales Liberal Party.

But Mr Abbott argued it was not a brawl involving his hard right conservative allies and the dominant moderate wing of the state Liberals, who back his successor Malcolm Turnbull.

The state branch is debating changes to the party's governance in Sydney this weekend in what has been dubbed as a potentially explosive showdown by party insiders, and as the most important meeting since the Menzies-era by conservatives.

Mr Turnbull told delegates that he supported the principle of giving members a say in preselections, which is at the heart of Mr Abbott's concerns.

"We will be reflecting the procedure that I believe every other division of the Liberal Party adopts in Australia," Mr Turnbull said.

"So it is a very good idea, it's a very good idea, but it is not a new idea."

The issue is what form of member empowerment is adopted at the conference.

Mr Abbott's motion, commonly referred to as the "Warringah motion", would allow party members to vote in preselections after two years of membership.

His proposal has been criticised by some who see it as laying the groundwork for rampant branch stacking that has been seen in the Victorian branch as a result of similar changes.

Liberal MPs Alex Hawke and Julian Leeser have put forward compromises, including requiring a person to have been a member for up to four years before being given voting rights, and passing an "activity test" by showing they have campaigned or handed out how to vote cards for the party.

They will be debated on Sunday.

Mr Abbott argued Mr Turnbull's comments show they are "on the same side".

"This is a contest between factionalists who want to keep power and democrats who want to open up our party. That is the contest," he told reporters outside the conference.

"I am very pleased that the Prime Minister and I are on the same side.

"Listen to his words today. He is an absolutely unequivocal supporter of one member, one vote."

Federal Liberal president and former New South Wales premier Nick Greiner said debate was healthy, but issued a warning.

"We have had a tradition of civility, a tradition of having robust differences in the party or in the wings and we will always have that tradition and that reality," he told delegates.

"But I do notice, it would be hard not to notice, some lack of that civility, some lack of that mutual respect.

"My plea to you tomorrow and going forward is, of course we advocate with passion, of course we argue for our views on what is best for our party or for our nation, but not to do it in our tradition of civility of respect is unfortunate."

Topics: liberals, political-parties, government-and-politics, abbott-tony, turnbull-malcolm, sydney-2000, nsw

First posted July 22, 2017 12:38:36

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Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott 'on the same side' in NSW Liberals reform push - ABC Online

"Conservatives and libertarians were always portrayed as the shrill and unhappy guys, and the left and liberals were always the people who are having fun," says Greg Gutfeld, host of Fox News' The Greg Gutfeld Show, co-host of The Five, former host of Red Eye, bestselling author, and Reason magazine intern reject.

"What you're seeing now is a lot more fun on the libertarian and right side than you've ever seen on the left."

Gutfeld sat down with Reason's Nick Gillespie to discuss his "ugly libertarianism," Donald Trump's love of Red Eye, why he was excited about the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and why Trump's comments on the campaign trail were best understood in the context of a Comedy Central roast.

The interview took place on stage at Freedom Fest 2017, an annual gathering for libertarians in Las Vegas.

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Audio post-production by Ian Keyser.

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Greg Gutfeld: Trump Turned Liberals Into Dean Wormer [Podcast] - Reason (blog)

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Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr, 30, is seen in Mississauga, Ont., on July 6, 2017.

Support for the Liberal government is still strong among Canadians, despite backlash following the Omar Khadr settlement.

A poll conducted by Abacus Data found that if an election was held today, 43 per cent of decided voters would vote for the Liberal Party, while 31 per cent would vote for Conservatives, and 16 per cent would opt for the NDP. For context, Liberals garnered 40 per cent of votes to win the October 2015 federal election.

Thursdays poll, which was conducted after news broke of the governments$10.5-million settlementwith Khadr, reveals 48 per cent of Canadians approve of Justin Trudeaus government while 34 per cent disapprove.

WATCH:Trudeau remains firm that paying out Omar Khadr the better option

Many Canadians have voiced outrage that the Liberal government granted Khadr a Canadian citizen who spent 10 years in Guantanamo Bay settlement money and an apology for any wrongful treatment.

But Abacus Datas CEO David Coletto explained the aftermath of the Khadr controversy hasnt changed much for the government.

So far, even in the direct aftermath of the decision to settle with Omar Khadr, we find little evidence of a shift in public affinity for the PM or the federal government, he said in a press release.

READ MORE:Canadians donate to family of slain U.S. soldier in wake of Omar Khadr settlement

Despite a series of difficult decisions by the federal government, we find little evidence that Canadians feel any worse about the government today than they did in May.

Approval of the government is mostly uniform across the country, except for thePrairie provinces Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan where more respondents disapprove than approve of the Liberals.

READ MORE:Fake news broadcast by media-bashing Tory MP deleted from Facebook

The highest approval rating is in Atlantic Canada at 60 per cent. The lowest is in Alberta at 37 per cent.

The Abacus Data report goes on to say that reasons for support largely centre on the economy, which many Canadians believe is picking up steam. About 68 per cent of Canadians believe the economy is growing the highest number since the 2015 election.

WATCH:Tory leader Andrew Scheer talks Omar Khadr

Coletto noted that these results confirm a new era of Canadian politics, where the governments performance is constantly compared to U.S. President Donald Trumps administration. He explained that this leaves the Conservatives with a complicated task.

READ MORE:Omar Khadr payout: 71% of Canadians say government made the wrong call

Very few Canadians are looking for a Canadian version of Trump or even Trump-lite, he said.

So, the choice for Conservative politicians is how to criticize this governments fairly popular agenda, distance itself from the Trump administration, while at the same time offering a positive alternative to Trudeau and his team.

While the Khadr case may not have affected Trudeaus approval or support, a recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute did find that most Canadians disapproved of Trudeaus handling of the case.

WATCH:Judge dismisses request to freeze Omar Khadrs assets

According to the July poll, 71 per cent of Canadiansthink the Liberal government should have fought a legal case with Khadr rather than settling out of court. They added it should have been left to the courts to decide if Khadr was wrongfully imprisoned.

Only 29 per cent of Canadians thought the Liberals did the right thing by offering an apology and compensation to Khadr.

The Abacus Data poll was conducted online between July 14 and 18, 2017, and completed by 2,036 Canadians. The poll is considered accurate+/- 2.2%, 19 times out of 20.

2017Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Liberals' support still strong despite Khadr settlement: poll - Globalnews.ca

Liberals don't just hate President Trump; lots of them don't even like the idea of being in the company of his supporters.

That's the big takeaway from a new Pew Research Center survey, which is just the latest indicator of our remarkably tribal and partisan politics. And when it comes to Trump, it's difficult to overstate just how tribal the left is and how much distaste he engenders. Indeed, that distaste apparently extends even to people whodecided they would like to vote for Trump.

The poll shows almost half of liberal Democrats 47 percent say that if a friend supported Trump, it would actually put a strain on their friendship. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters more broadly, the number is 35 percent. White and more-educated Democrats are more likely to feel that it's tough to even be friends with a Trump supporter.

And while partisanshipand tribalism are pretty bipartisan things in American politics today, Democrats are actually substantially less able to countenancefriends who supported the wrong candidate:Just 13 percent of Republicans say a friend's support of Hillary Clinton would strain their relationship.

Part of the reason for the imbalance is likely that liberals tend to live in more homogeneous places and don't even associate with conservatives. Another Pew study last year showed a whopping47 percent of people who planned to vote for Clinton didn't have any close friends who were Trump supporters. By contrast, 31 percent of Trump supporters said they didn't have any friends who backed Clinton.

Because of the way our population is sorted, with liberals clustered in urban areas and Republicans more spread out, Democrats tend to be more insulated from dissenting political voices. So perhaps it's no surprise that they don't hear and don't want to hear those voices coming from their friends' mouths.

The prevalent belief on the left that Trump isn't just a bad president or person, but is also racist, xenophobic and misogynistic is undoubtedly at play here too. And at one point during the 2016 presidential campaign, Clinton even suggested half of Trump's supportersweredeplorables who were also racist or xenophobic or misogynistic. (Her campaign later clarified that she meant only people at Trump's rallies. But still.)

Despite that, it's noteworthy just how many people think supporting the nominee of a major American political party reflects poorly upon the people they know. Fully 46 percent of Americans who voted for president chose Trump, and that isn't really an acceptable position for a friend to take for half of liberal Democrats.

One final data point from the new Pew study: 68 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters say they find it stressful and frustrating to talk to people who have a different opinion of Trump. About half 52 percent of Republican and GOP-leaning voters say the same.

When people ask why politicians in Washington can't get along, this is why: Americans can't even talk to each other about politics anymore withoutgetting flustered.

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Nearly half of liberals don't even like to be around Trump supporters - Washington Post