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On Saturday, Donald Trump went to Wyoming to campaign against Republican Rep. Liz Cheney. He repeatedly called her a RINO and urged the states voters to elect her challenger, Harriet Hageman. But Trumps speech exposed how the meaning of RINO has changed. It used to refer to people who werent Reagan conservatives. Now it refers to people who are.

The substantive positions for which Trump praised Hagemanon oil drilling, guns, crime, and border enforcementwere no different from Cheneys. In fact, according to the American Conservative Union, Cheneys voting record is far more conservative than the record of Rep. Elise Stefanik, who, at Trumps behest, replaced her last year as chair of the House Republican Conference.

In his speech, Trump called Cheney a lapdog for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But that accusation, too, is bogus: Cheney has voted against Pelosis positions more consistently than have the top three officials in the House Republican Conference.

So Trumps beef with Cheney isnt about conservatism. Unless, that is, he finds her too conservative. And in many respects, he does: On several major issues, Cheney respects longstanding Republican principles, while Trump flouts them.

In Wyoming, Trump excoriated Cheney and Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvaniaanother RINO, according to the former presidenton three issues. One was the use of military force. Trump called Cheney and her father globalists and warmongers. He condemned the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and complained that Liz Cheney had voted no on bringing our troops back home from Syria.

You can disagree with Cheney or her father about their positions on these conflicts. But you cant argue that Trumps position, compared to theirs, is more Republican. For 15 years, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the global struggle against terrorism defined the GOP. The 2012 Republican platformthe last platform before Trump seized control of the partyresolved to employ the full range of military and intelligence options to defeat Al Qaeda and its affiliates. The platform opposed troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and pledged that future decisions by a Republican President will never subordinate military necessity to domestic politics or an artificial timetable.

Trump broke that promise. Two years ago, against military advice, he rushed American troops out of Afghanistan, hoping to end the war before the 2020 election.

The 2012 platform was also firm on law and order. It stipulated that strong, well-trained law enforcement is necessary to protect us all, and it called for tough but fair prosecutors and meaningful sentences. Last year, Cheney honored these principles when she agreed to serve on the House January 6th Committee, which is investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump takes a more . . . liberal view of January 6th. He defends the assailantsin fact, he has offered to pardon themand he vilifies the prosecutors and law enforcement. At his rally, he called the investigation a persecution of the January 6th political prisoners. He also accused Cheney of trying to weaponize the national security state and law enforcement against MAGA and MAGA supporters. The former president justified his denunciation of law enforcement by telling the crowd that the people under interrogation about the January 6th violencein contrast to people from Black Lives Matterwere people like you. These are people that represent our interests.

On economics, the 2012 GOP platform declared that Republicans will pursue free market policies. It called for a worldwide multilateral agreement among nations committed to the principles of open markets. In Wyoming, Trump derided Toomey for defending free trade. Trump bragged that he had extracted billions of dollars from China through taxes and tariffs, and I gave it to the farmers. He also boasted that he had issued instructions: I told the farmers, You have to do two things: Go out and buy more land, and go out and buy bigger tractors.

Taxes, largesse, and business directives from the president sound like the sort of thing Liz Cheney has often called socialism.

As Trump ranted about these topicsrepudiating not just Cheney but the whole Republican worldview from Reagan to Mitt Romneymy first thought was that the term RINO had been turned inside out. By Reaganite standards, Trump and his acolytes are the RINOs. Theyve abandoned Republican principles, but theyve captured the party.

More broadly, as Bill Kristol points out, the meaning of Republican has changed in every era. Reagan, like Trump, transformed the party. He built a Reaganite establishment. Trump has now replaced that with a MAGA establishment. Anyone who doesnt fit the new establishment gets called a RINO.

And that raises a question about Trumps Republican establishment: What does it stand for? How does Trump decide which candidates to endorse or oppose?

His remarks in Wyoming indicate three guiding principles. The first is personal loyalty to Donald J. Trump. Cheneys cardinal offense, as described by Trump, was going after your president for inciting the January 6th attack. Toomeys offense, similarly, was that he raised his hand to impeach me over the insurrection.

Trumps second principle is defending corruption. In 2009, President George W. Bush refused to pardon Dick Cheneys former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, who had been convicted of perjury. Bush concluded that Libby had lied to prosecutors and that it would be wrong to let him off the hook. Trump, who had no such scruples, pardoned Libby nine years later. On Saturday, at the Wyoming rally, Trump scorned Bush for failing to use the pardon power to pay back Libby, whom Trump described as the Bush administrations protector.

Third, Trump doesnt cotton to peoplesuch as Cheneywho oppose Vladimir Putins Russia. Instead he defends candidates such as J.D. Vance, Madison Cawthorn, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spout Russian propaganda and oppose military aid to Ukraine. At his Wyoming rally, Trump didnt just dismiss the investigation of Russias interference in the 2016 election. He also ridiculed allegationswhich remain unresolvedthat Russia offered the Taliban bounties to kill American troops in Afghanistan. And he accused Cheney, a staunch advocate of aid to Ukraine, of trying to get us to go into wars with Russia and other countries.

And it isnt just Russia. Trump also admires Chinas Communist ruler, Xi Jinping. The 2012 Republican platform rebuked China for its religious persecution, its suppression of human rights, and its erosion of democracy in Hong Kong. At his rally, Trump extolled Xi as smartvery brilliant, actually, for running with an iron fist a country of 1.4 billion people.

Trump may well succeed in purging Cheney and other Reagan Republicans from his party. In 2020, he scrapped the drafting of a platform entirely. He could do so again in 2024. Through purges, capitulations, and retirements, he might complete the transformation of the GOP into a party that worships dictators, ignores Russian aggression, tramples the Constitution, scorns the rule of law, and substitutes presidential favoritism for free markets.

That party might manage to gain and hold power for many years. It might even do so by winning elections. But it wouldnt resemble the Republican party any of us have known.

Read the original here:
What Makes a Republican a RINO? - The Bulwark

Political parties are allowed to have "advisory questions" on a primary ballot to help inform possible future legislation.

COLUMBIA, S.C. Republican voters casting their vote in the June 14 primary election may see a series of questions on their ballot. Here's what you need to know before heading to the polls.

These voters will have three yes/no "advisory questions" on the primary ballot this time. In fact, it is not unusual for the Republicans or Democrats to add questions to their primary ballots to feel out the opinion of voters for future legislation.

The first question asks if people should "have the right to register with the political party of their choice when they register to vote."

Currently, South Carolina primaries are open, meaning if you are going to cast a vote in the June 14 election, a voter who hasn't declared a party isn't bound to a particular party's primary.

For example, since South Carolina has no system requiring you to declare or register with your political party of choice, a Republican who hasn't declared their party is free to vote in the Democrat primary -- just as a Democrat can cast their vote in a Republican primary if they have not registered/declared their party affiliation when they initially registered to vote.

This current system allows for individuals in districts where they may be in a political minority to still exercise their right to vote for who they think is the best candidate, regardless of party affiliation.

The second question is, "Should candidates for local school boards be able to run as a candidate of the political party of their choice, just like candidates for other elected offices?"

Right now, school board elections and most city and town council elections in South Carolina are non-partisan. Earlier this year, representatives for the Lancaster County School District put forth an amendment in the South Carolina House (H.4800) that would change the nature of that district's elections from non-partisan to partisan. The bill made it through the House and Senate (R.132) but Governor Henry McMaster vetoed it on March 29, 2022.

The third question is a bit more straightforward and deals with the payment of damages based on fault. The question reads, "In a situation where there is more than one person responsible for damages in a lawsuit, do you support changing South Carolina law so that each person should pay damages based on that person's actual share of fault?"

This refers to the rule of "joint and several liability." An example: If there are multiple defendants in a case, and even though one of those defendants has been determined to be responsible for only 5 percent of the fault, that single defendant might end up paying the entire damage settlement to the plaintiff if the other defendants are found to be insolvent.

The question put forth suggests a scenario where, if you were responsible for 5 percent of the damage, you would only be responsible for 5 percent of the payment/reimbursement to the plaintiff.

The rest is here:
Republican voters in the June 14 primary face three questions on the ballot - WLTX.com

A Republican lawmaker in Texas says the state's GOP-controlled Legislature has not done enough to stop mass shootings, and he would like something done "pretty quickly."

State Senator Kel Seliger, while on Don Lemon Tonight on Wednesday evening, broke with his party and joined Texas Democrats who are calling for Governor Greg Abbott to convene a special session of the state Legislature to address gun laws.

"What I would like to see happen is a special session, in which we can pass legislation pretty quickly," Seliger said.

If Abbott does not call for a special session, Seliger told Lemon the alternative is that "we wait until January of 2023, where we will address thousands of issues."

Seliger is not alone among Republicans breaking with their party to push for reforms to gun laws after 21 people, including 19 children, were shot and killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last week. Joe Walsh, a former GOP congressman from Illinois, has taken a similar position by urging gun owners to ramp up pressure on Republicans.

Walsh, who describes himself as a "huge gun rights advocate," appeared on CNN's New Day on Tuesday and called for "passionate Second Amendment people like me" to "get off our ass and pressure these Senate Republicans to do something."

On Wednesday, in response to a question from Lemon about the 2019 shooting in Odessa, Texas, that left seven dead and 21 injured, Seliger said he has had trouble sleeping since the Uvalde shooting because the state Legislature "did nothing" following the 2019 shooting.

"I haven't slept well for eight days because I sat there in the 87th Legislature and the attendant, couple special sessions, and we did nothing. And I've spent sleepless nights since then because we should have done something. We should have at least had a very incisive dialogue about what could be done."

The state senator went on to say that, in his call for a special session, he is asking for legislators to sit down with a number of law enforcement agencies.

"That's what's in my call for a special session. I said we should sit down with the FBI, Department of Public Safety, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and talk about what would work in Odessa, or El Paso, or Santa Fe, or Uvalde, and start coming up with solutions," he said.

On Wednesday, after calls from Texas Democrats for Abbott to convene a special session, the governor issued a letter to Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan directing them to form committees in order to come up with recommendations on a number of topics, including school safety, mental health and firearm safety.

Newsweek reached out to Seliger's office for comment.

See the original post:
Texas Republican Calls For 'Quickly' Passing Gun Laws in Break With Party - Newsweek

House Republicans are sounding the alarm over an anti-misinformation partnership between news rating tool NewsGuard and the American Federation of Teachers that put NewsGuard rating tools on the devices of millions of American teachers and school children.

In a letter to both organizations on Wednesday, Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana, Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Burgess Owens of Utah said both AFT and NewsGuards history of demonstrating left-wing bias raises concern that they aim to politicize the classroom.

As members of Congress, it is our duty to investigate these efforts to politicize classrooms across the United States with a biased misinformation rating system, the lawmakers wrote. We hope you agree that American parents and students deserve full transparency and that this extends to the information delivered to students.

The lawmakers gave NewsGuard and the AFT 30 days to respond to a list of demands, including details behind the events leading to the partnership and whether parents can opt out of installing NewsGuard on their childrens devices.

AFT President Randi Weingarten said it is ironic that committee members charged with finding out the truth would attack a website dedicated to discerning fact from fiction.

These members may prefer to read Russia Today, but with NewsGuard kids can spot propaganda with the click of a mouse, she said.

NewsGuard bills itself as an unbiased, apolitical tool to assess the credibility and transparency of news and information through its scoring system which can warn users of problematic web content through the use of plugins installed on their web browsers.

According to a press release announcing the NewsGuard partnership with AFT in January, 1.7 million schoolteachers and the millions of kids who they teach, were given free access to its traffic light news ratings and Nutrition Label reviews via a licensed copy of NewsGuards browser extension.

The lawmakers, however, say NewsGuard tips the scales in their ratings, citing a Media Research Center analysis that showed clear liberal bias in NewsGuards misinformation scoring system.

According to the analysis cited by the lawmakers, NewsGuard has scored left-leaning news outlets 27 points higher, on average, than right-leaning outlets.

MRC is a nonprofit research and education organization with a self-described commitment to neutralizing leftist bias in the news media and popular culture through its news monitoring capabilities and sophisticated marketing operation.

The lawmakers also say the company has ranked Chinese state-run media outlets as more trustworthy than U.S.-based conservative news outlets.

These factors taken together demonstrate that NewsGuard is not qualified to determine the veracity of any news, let alone determine the truth for millions of American school children, the lawmakers wrote.

NewsGuard CEO Gordon Crovitz, a former publisher and opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, rejected the lawmakers claims that his company leans left.

NewsGuards rating process is nonpartisan and apolitical, and NewsGuard rates many conservative outlets [] as credible, Mr. Crovitz said in a statement to The Washington Times.

Mr. Crovitz called the MRC study unscientific and said the group cherry-picked data to skew the results.

He also said the lawmakers claim that it has rated Chinese state media outlets as credible is simply false.

There are no Chinese state-run media outlets rated as credible by NewsGuard, he said.

Originally posted here:
Republican lawmakers knock NewsGuard and American Federation of Teachers partnership - Washington Times

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Hosts of ABC's "The View" called for getting "rid of the Republican Party" to pass gun control on Thursday, saying that they were the "party of White Supremacy" and "massacres."

"I always say don't vote for Republicans," co-host Joy Behar said. "Right now, I mean you can go back to it after you have gun laws."

Behar said Republicans would be voted out if they vote for gun control laws in Congress because that's not what their constituents want. "In 1994, the assault weapons ban went into effect and many of the Republicans who voted for it lost their jobs," Behar claimed.

She argued that the only way to "preserve" the Republicans' jobs was to vote for Democrats, "then they can do whatever they want in the Republican Party" and there would be more Democrats to "get the laws done."

Joy Behar said on Thursday's episode of "The View" that Americans need to "get rid of Republicans." REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

THE VIEW' CO-HOST WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I DONT WANT ALL YOUR GUNS, I WANT THAT AR-15'

"That is my answer to this problem right now," Behar concluded.

Co-host Sunny Hostin reemphasized Behar's position a little later in the discussion, saying that Republicans "get in lock step against gun safety because all they care about is power."

Joy Behar repeated her calls for getting rid of Republicans on Thursday's episode of "The View." (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)

She said the solution was to "get the AR-15s off the planet."

WHOOPI GOLDBERG SUGGESTS BANNING AR-15S, ARRESTING OWNERS: REPORT THEM AND WELL PUT THEM IN JAIL'

"Get rid of these weapons of war, and it's not going to happen with Republicans in power. So I am now with you, Joy. Get rid of Republicans, get rid of the party, the party as it stands now, because it's a party of White Supremacy, it's the party of insurrectionists, it's the party of massacres at this point," Hostin said. "You can't trust it."

Guest host Tara Setmayer responded saying, "That's why I left the Republican Party."

Hosts of "The View" on Thursday called on voters to "get rid of Republicans" so that Democrats can pass gun legislation. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)

The hosts discussed whether action on gun control would be taken in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting and the Tulsa hospital shooting on Wednesday that left five dead, including the suspected gunman.

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On Wednesday co-host Whoopi Goldberg called for banning AR-15s and arresting their owners if they do get banned, saying, "Report them and we'll put them in jail."

She has also said that they were going to "come for" guns if women cannot get an abortion.

Link:
'The View' hosts call for getting 'rid of Republicans:' They're the 'party of White Supremacy,' 'massacres' - Fox News