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WASHINGTON (AP) In Republican circles -- with the notable exception of the man who leads the party -- the debate about masks is over: Its time to put one on.

As a surge of infections hammers the South and West, GOP officials are pushing back against the notion that masks are about politics, as President Donald Trump suggests, and telling Americans they can help save lives.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, on Tuesday bluntly called on Trump to start wearing a mask, at least some of the time, to set a good example.

Unfortunately, this simple, lifesaving practice has become part of a political debate that says: If youre for Trump, you dont wear a mask. If youre against Trump, you do, Alexander said.

Its a rare break for Republicans from Trump, who earlier this month told the Wall Street Journal that some people wear masks simply to show that they disapprove of him. And the Republican nudges for the public -- and the president -- to embrace mask-wearing are coming from all corners of Trumps party and even from friendly conservative media.

Both Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in recent days have urged Americans to wear one when they are unable to maintain social distance. Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, told reporters it would be very helpful for Trump to encourage mask usage.

Put on a mask -- its not complicated, McConnell, R-Ky., urged Americans during his weekly news conference Tuesday.

Last week, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming tweeted a photo of her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, wearing a disposable mask and a cowboy hat. She included the message: Dick Cheney says WEAR A MASK #realmenwearmasks, a hashtag that echoed words spoken earlier by the Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Steve Doocy, co-host of a Trump friendly morning show Fox & Friends, said during an interview with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that he doesnt see any downside in the president being seen more often wearing it.

McCarthy, R-Calif., responded that, for the upcoming holiday, we could all show our patriotism with a red, white and blue mask.

Jacksonville, the Florida city where Trump is scheduled to accept his renomination as Republicans presidential candidate in August, announced a mask requirement for indoor public spaces this week. The presidents eldest son said the new requirements were no big deal.

You know, I dont think that its too complicated to wear a mask or wash your hands and follow basic hygiene protocols, Donald Trump Jr. told Fox Business on Tuesday.

Trump aides have defended the presidents refusal to wear a mask by noting that he is regularly tested for the coronavirus, as are his aides. Those outside the administration -- including White House visitors and members of the media who are in close proximity to him and Pence -- are also tested.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany didnt directly address Republican calls for Trump to wear a mask in public more often, but noted that the president has said in the past he has no problem wearing one when necessary.

But even with safeguards, the virus has found its way into the White House. A top aide to Pence, as well as a military valet to Trump, in May tested positive for the virus.

Still, mask usage remains rare in the West Wing, said Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat who attended an intelligence briefing at the White House on Tuesday with senior members of the presidents staff.

At the briefing, which he said included about eight White House staffers, only national security adviser Robert OBrien wore a mask, Sherman said. He added that no one in the secure briefing room was able to maintain 6 feet (1.8 meters) of social distancing, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I learned something major, and that is the White House is a mask-free zone, Sherman told The Associated Press. The president is consistent. Hes fine with people not wearing masks.

Polls show how the partisan divide on masks has seeped into public opinion.

The vast majority of Democrats think people in their community should wear a mask when they are near other people in public places at least most of the time, including 63% who say they should always, according to a Pew Research Center poll published in early June. Among Republicans, 29% say masks should be worn always, and 23% say they should be worn most of the time. Another 23% say masks should rarely or never be worn.

Trump has been caught on camera once wearing a mask. But Pence and members of the White House coronavirus task force frequently appear in public wearing masks.

If you want the return of college football this year, wear a face covering. If you want a chance at prom next spring, wear a face covering, Surgeon General Jerome Adams urged Americans.

Over the course of the crisis, the government has sent mixed messages on masks. As the first COVID-19 cases were identified on U.S. soil, top public health officials insisted masks should be reserved for front-line workers.

In early April, the CDC issued a recommendation that people wear cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures were difficult to maintain.

But Trump immediately undercut the CDC guidance by flatly stating that he wouldnt be following it, suggesting it would be unseemly for the commander in chief to wear one as he meets with heads of states.

Other world leaders, including Canadas Justin Trudeau and Frances Emmanuel Macron, have worn masks in public and urged their citizens to do the same when they cant maintain social distance

Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University, says he worries Republican calls for wearing masks might be too late.

The public has received such mixed messages from the administration, Gostin said. I fear we may be stuck with coronavirus until it burns through the American population and leaves hundreds of thousands dead.

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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Darlene Superville and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report.

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Republicans, with exception of Trump, now push mask-wearing - The Associated Press

Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative National Review and author of The Case for Nationalism, said in an interview, No one can dismiss this and say its completely implausible.

There is at the very least a significant faction within the Republican Party that [Carlson] has a huge stake in and arguably leadership over, Lowry, who writes a column for POLITICO, said. If he has political ambitions, he has an opening. He has a following and a taste for controversy. Hes smart, quick on his feet and personable. Political experience matters less than it once did.

Carlson has never run for office and has been dismissive of doing so in the past. In 2012, Nunberg said Republican operative Roger Stone unsuccessfully pushed Carlson to run on the Libertarian ticket. Stone told POLITICO in an email that [i]t is not inconceivable that I may have raised it in jest or in passing as repartee, but have no memory of that.

On his show, Carlson has made it abundantly clear that he thinks Trumps election in 2016 was not a freak accident. Instead, he views it as a righteous repudiation of a morally bankrupt Republican Party that had become obsessed with capital gains tax cuts and foreign wars. This week, he warned his viewers to watch out for vultures [who] wait just off stage to swoop in and claim the GOP for themselves once Donald Trump is gone, name-checking likely 2024 candidate Nikki Haley.

The moment Trump leaves, they will attack him, he said. Theyll tell you that Republicans lost power because they were mean and intolerant just like Donald Trump. ... Its a lie.

It is just one of many exhortations from the past month that have propelled Carlson to new popularity among the GOP base. As Republicans across the country and in Congress have expressed newfound openness to reforming the police and taking down Confederate monuments in the wake of protests, Carlson has denounced the Black Lives Matter movement and derided Republicans who have gone along with it.

This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through. But it is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you, Mr. Carlson said in one 25-minute monologue on June 8 that has over 5.4 million views on YouTube. That lost him high-profile advertisers, including Disney, Papa Johns and T-Mobile, whose chief executive tweeted, Bye-bye."

A Fox News spokesperson said that Tuckers warning about when they come for you was clearly referring to Democratic leaders and politicians.

Carlson faced a similar advertiser exodus in 2018 after saying that immigrants make "our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided.

Carlson emerged from the backlash apparently unchastened.

The angry children you watched set fire to Wendy's and topple statues and scream at you on television day after day are truly and utterly stupid, he said on his show last week. And he has repeatedly pushed back on the idea that racism is systemic in the country. Overall, this is the least racist country in the history of the world, he said a few days earlier. Millions of Africans want to move here. Many already have. Our last president was black. What are you talking about?

His audience has rewarded him with blockbuster ratings.

What hes been saying speaks for a lot of people, and its basically not expressed or serviced by most Republican politicians, Lowry said. Theres a lot to be said for being fearless, and he is, while Republican politicians, as a breed, are not.

Carlson has also earned powerful enemies in the party for his regular missives aimed at lawmakers and power brokers attacks that he has kept up for the past month.

After Haley said the killing of George Floyd needs to be personal and painful for everyone in order for the country to heal, Carlson said, What Nikki Haley does best is moral blackmail. A Haley spokesperson declined to respond.

When Republican Sens. Ron Johnson and James Lankford this week proposed making Juneteenth a national holiday and doing away with Columbus Day in order to keep the number of national holidays the same, Tucker mocked the effort. "They describe themselves as conservatives, as improbable as that may seem," he said.

Carlson painted with a wider brush this week, saying Republican Party leaders so-called principles turned out to be bumper stickers they wrote 40 years ago. In a sentiment that drew praise from some conservatives and liberals alike, he added that, Instead of improving the lives of their voters, the party feeds them a steady diet of mindless, symbolic victories partisan junk food designed to make them feel full even as they waste away. Carlson apologized, to the extent this show has participated in it.

Carlson even tore into Trumps top aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner. No one has more contempt for Donald Trump's voters than Jared Kushner does, and no one expresses it more frequently, he said last month. He blamed Kushner for moderating the president on immigration, law enforcement and foreign policy.

The Kushner-bashing made some Trump-aligned Republicans wary of praising Carlson on the record. But several are bullish about a potential candidacy.

I think everybody views Pence the same: What a great guy. But I dont think anybody thinks hes the force of nature that it takes to win the presidency, said one former White House official. I think Day One, Tucker probably starts ahead of those people if he does run.

A Republican strategist close to the White House added: If you are a Republican politician and you want to know where Republican voters are, all you have to do is watch Tucker Carlson every night.

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Tucker Carlson 2024? The GOP is buzzing - POLITICO

Jul 4th 2020

Editors note: Each of these climate-change articles is fiction, but grounded in historical fact and real science. The year, concentration of carbon dioxide and average temperature rise (above pre-industrial average) are shown for each one. The scenarios do not present a unified narrative but are set in different worlds, with a range of climate sensitivities, on different emissions pathways

IN THE DETRITUS littering Phoenixs cavernous arena, the morning after the 2024 Republican convention, were the usual greasy corn-dog wrappers, coffee cups, shrivelled balloons and campaign flyersbut also evidence of the remarkable change Larry Hogan had brought to the party. The wrappers and cups were all recyclable, the balloons not red, white and blue but greenand mixed in with the bumf were copies of the Republican presidential nominees stirring pledge to the Earth: We, the party of Lincoln, mindful of the damage humanity is doing to Gods creation, commit to combating climate change, conserving species and environmental consciousness. Introducing the former governor of Maryland to the stage to deliver his address, Bill Gates called it perhaps the most hopeful statement ever made in American politics.

What a change this was from Donald Trumps pollution-boosting tenurewhich was of course largely the point. Mr Hogan, who had emerged from Americas coronavirus crisis as the countrys most popular governor, had been a somewhat reluctant environmentalist during his time in Annapolis. He claimed to have been fully converted to the climate cause during a post-gubernatorial fishing trip to Alaska. But the Republicans green shift was more obviously a response to the 2020 election, in which the party lost the presidency, both congressional chambers, a clutch of governors mansions, hundreds of state legislatorsand seemingly any prospect of returning to national power.

Trumpism had turned out to be a blind alley. Even in the partys southern heartlands, suburbanites, millennials and a multitude of younger voters, repelled by its philistinism, antediluvian social policies and race-baiting, flocked to the Democrats. A staggering 70% of college-educated Americans rejected the Grand Old Party. High time, then, to slay a holy cow. And as Republican strategists looked around, sharpening their knives, the appeal of abandoning their former antipathy to environmental policy was obvious. It would not only be a hit with science-respecting educated voters. It would also be relatively easy. Immigration reform would be a non-starter with the Trumpist rump. Evangelicals were never going to compromise on abortion. Far fewer conservatives were fundamentally against environmentalism, however.

As Mr Hogan loved to remind them, conservation shared more than a lexical root with conservatism; it was an expression of it. Republicans had been responsible for most of Americas environmental progress. Yellowstone National Park, the national forest reserves, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the emissions-trading scheme that fixed acid rainall were creations of Republican presidents. To renew conservatism, Mr Hogan insisted, Republicans need only look to their own noble past.

He was right. As recently as the mid-1990s some had worried about climate change just as much as the Democrats. The embrace of climate-change scepticism by the party and its supporters was driven (as Mr Hogan did not say) by a well-funded misinformation campaign by wealthy polluters, waged through conservative think-tanks, lobbyists and direct contributions to Republican candidates. Yet the partys donors had also shifted. Many traditional Republican backers, including oil companies, were now in favour of Mr Hogans greenery. And the party had, in addition, become increasingly dependent on the largesse of the renewable-energy companies that had burgeoned in many conservative states.

A boardroom terror of Democratic tax rises probably played a part in this corporate shift. But the main reason was realism. The combination of ever more alarming climate science and a solid electoral majority for addressing the issue had made ambitious climate action inescapable. Given this reality, the Republicans old and new donors alike reckoned that it would be better introduced by a pro-business Republican administration, rather than a hostile Democratic one.

President Joe Bidens business-throttling environmental policies had hastened that conclusioneven if, ironically, his Republican opponents were largely to blame for them. Having been prevented by the obstructiveness of Senate Republicans from passing almost any legislationincluding the carbon tax he had campaigned onMr Biden had instead been pushed down a regulatory path. This had in turn so delighted the rowdy Democratic left (which hated market-based solutions) that the president had doubled down.

The Biden EPAs latest rules made it almost impossible to cut urban trees, build large structures with more than 50% concrete content or develop shale-gas sites. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the climate secretary, even declared a war on gas. This leftward lurch opened up a space for a distinctively conservative approach. Mr Hogan could push his green capitalismbased on the carbon tax Mr Biden had wantedas an alternative to the Democrats green socialism.

He was not the only Republican presidential hopeful to have made this calculation. The partys primary contest had featured all sorts of climate talk. Mr Hogans main moderate rival, Nikki Haley, also proposed a carbon tax, but less compellingly. She called it a sustainability levy, a phrase that convinced no one it would be anything other than a tax. This encapsulated the South Carolinians much-hyped yet over-rehearsed and rather cloying candidacy. Mr Hogan called his proposed tax a polluter fee, a phrase that appealed to the partys still-aggrieved working-class base.

Another contender, Senator Marco Rubio, pitched what he called a pro-environment industrial policy. It would consist of heavy public investment in low-carbon technology and industries, for two main reasons, neither of which involved the climate: a need to out-compete China and high-quality job creation. Mr Hogan, a flexible small-governmentalist, purloined the proposal after Mr Rubios early exit from the contest.

Even the Trumpist candidate, the disgraced former presidents eldest son Donald Trump junior, had an environmental policy of sorts. This was down to his chief policy adviser, Steve Hilton, who had succeeded in getting a British Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, elected prime minister by the same means. Yet expecting Don junior to explain complicated geoengineering schemes proved to be a bad misjudgment.

In a televised debate the younger Trump launched a bizarre sales pitch for using capitalism to make these huge mirrors that are called aerosols for whitening the climate. Rightly fearing he had lost his audience, he then ended with a bump: But, whatever, its all green shit! Mercilessly, Mr Hiltons former employer, Fox News, cut away to show Mr Hogan, at the adjacent podium, disdainfully shaking his head. I like you, Don, he said. But Im green and youre full of it. It became his unofficial campaign catchphrase.

For more coverage of climate change, register for The Climate Issue, our fortnightly newsletter, or visit our climate-change hub

This article appeared in the The World If section of the print edition under the headline "The elephants U-turn"

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What if the Republicans pivoted on climate? - The Economist

Deeply conservative Oklahoma narrowly approved a ballot initiative Tuesday to expand Medicaid to nearly 200,000 low-income adults, the first state to do so in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The vote to expand the Affordable Care Acts reach once again put voters, many of them conservative, at odds with Republican leaders, who have worked to block it or invalidate it. Five states Maine, Utah, Idaho, Nebraska, and now Oklahoma have used ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid after their Republican governors refused to do so.

Oklahoma pushed the G.O.P. over a notable threshold: Most congressional Republicans now represent Medicaid-expansion states. The vote also came at a striking moment, less than a week after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn the entirety of Obamacare including Medicaid expansion.

What we saw last night was Medicaid expansion triumph over party and ideology, said Jonathan Schleifer, executive director of the Fairness Project, which has helped organize all the Medicaid votes. Oklahoma voted for Medicaid expansion even as Trump is doubling down on repeal.

Medicaid expansion could spread further into Republican-controlled states this year, as they weigh how to cover the many unemployed Americans expected to lose health insurance along with their jobs. Missouri voters will decide on a ballot initiative at the states August primary. If it passes, it will expand Obamacare coverage to 217,000 low-income people.

Some Wyoming legislators recently took a fresh look at the program, too, as they watched job losses mount. Ive voted against it about 10 times, never voted for it, said the states House speaker, Steve Harshman, a Republican. Now Im thinking of our work force. Were a mineral and oil kind of state. Thats a lot of able-bodied adults in a lot of industries who will probably need some coverage.

Mr. Harshman voted in May to have a legislative committee study the topic, but he does not expect any action until the bodys next session begins in January.

Medicaid expansion has proved an especially resilient part of the health care law, despite early challenges. The program, which provides coverage to Americans earning less than 133 percent of the federal poverty line (about $16,970 for an individual), was initially meant to serve all 50 states.

But in a 2012 ruling, the Supreme Court declared that states could decline to participate. The program began in 2014 with about half of the states, mostly run by Democratic governors.

That figure has grown to 37 states and the District of Columbia, as more Republican-controlled states have signed on. Many academic studies have found that the program increases enrollees access to medical care. A more limited body of research shows that the program also reduces mortality rates.

The program still faces threats, most significantly the Trump administration lawsuit to overturn the health law. The Department of Justice, alongside a coalition of 20 Republican-controlled states, submitted briefs to the Supreme Court last week arguing that the recent repeal of the individual mandate, which required all Americans to carry health coverage or pay a fine, made the entire law unconstitutional.

President Trump has found strong support in Oklahoma; he took 65 percent of the vote there in 2016 in a 36-point victory, and recently held a campaign rally in Tulsa, his first since the start of the pandemic.

Still, voters there broke with him on this issue, albeit by the margin of one percentage point. The ballot initiative drew 30,000 more voters than the states Senate primaries, suggesting that some Oklahomans came out specifically to support the insurance expansion.

Oklahoma is an awfully red state, said Adam Searing, an associate professor at Georgetown University who has tracked the states ballot effort. Its very conservative, very rural. To have it pass there is quite significant.

Oklahomas Republican leadership had opposed Medicaid expansion and initially offered more limited alternatives. Gov. Kevin Stitt outlined a program in January in which new low-income enrollees would pay modest premiums and be required to work to gain coverage.

He went on to veto that program, after the legislature secured its funding.

Oklahoma was also the first state to ask the Trump administration for permission to convert its Medicaid program to block grant funding, an idea strongly pushed by Mr. Trumps health appointees. The state would receive a lump-sum payment from the federal government to run the program with additional flexibility. Opponents of that proposal worry that such a funding formula could struggle to keep up with increased enrollment in an economic downturn.

Oklahoma submitted its application in April, and the Trump administration had not issued a decision before the Tuesday vote.

Oklahomas ballot initiative is notable in being the first to add the Medicaid expansion to the states Constitution. That will make it hard for Governor Stitt and the Republican-controlled legislature to tinker with or block the program, as other governors have sought to do in the wake of successful ballot initiatives. Most notably, when Paul LePage was governor of Maine, he declared he would go to jail before implementing the states Medicaid ballot initiative. The situation was resolved when a Democratic governor was elected and set up the coverage expansion.

In Oklahoma, ballot organizers can pursue either statutory or constitutional initiatives. The latter have more staying power but also require gathering twice as many signatures. Amber England, who led the ballot effort, felt the additional work was worth it.

If were going to ask people to get clipboards and pens, and gather signatures, we want to make the policy as strong as possible, she said. It was important that we protect Oklahomans access to health with the Constitution. We didnt want politicians to be able to take that right away.

Missouri will be the next state to vote on Medicaid expansion, in its Aug. 4 primary. The state is a party to the Trump administrations case against Obamacare. Gov. Michael Parson, a Republican, has publicly opposed that ballot initiative, which he argues is too costly in the midst of an economic downturn. Missouri would need to cover 10 percent of new Medicaid enrollees bills, with the federal government paying the other 90 percent.

I dont think its the time to be expanding anything in the state of Missouri right now, Mr. Parson told a local television station in early May. Theres absolutely not going to be any extra money whatsoever.

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Republican Leaders Want to End Obamacare. Their Voters Are Expanding It. - The New York Times

After every single Republican on the coronavirus subcommittee turned up to a Friday meeting without wearing a mask, the Democratic chair has threatened to stop them from speaking at future meetings if they fail to do so again.

Not wearing a mask in a confined space such as a committee hearing room violates rules written by Congresss attending physician, if attendees intend to be in the space for more than 15 minutes.

Representative Jim Clyburn who chairs the coronavirus subcommittee meetings released a letter on Monday morning, expressing his profound disappointment at this rule being flouted at a time when the United States reached the highest number of new coronavirus cases on record, and after the disease has already killed more people in the United States than in any other nation on Earth.

Clyburn said he reminded attendees in person of that requirement and that posters outside the committee room also flagged the issue. The refusal to wear face coverings has raged across America. The president himself refuses to wear a mask. Meanwhile, a small number of Americans have objected to official guidance on wearing face coverings in enclosed spaces, arguing that it impinges on their constitutional freedoms. According to the Poynter institute, there is no constitutional right that allows people not to wear a mask.

My Republican colleagues refusal to wear masks is perplexing because you have asked repeatedly to hold in-person hearings, and you assured me that this could be done safely, Clyburn wrote in a letter addressed to Steve Scalise, the ranking Republican on the committee. Unfortunately, the Republican Members refusal to wear masks undermined the safety of everyone in the hearing room, he said.

Clyburn, in his role as chair of the committee, has to formally acknowledge a member before they can speak or participate in the meeting.

In his letter, he has threatened not to recognize any members of the committee who try to speak without wearing a mask in the meeting.

Scalise said in the meeting on Friday that he saw mask-wearing as an additional precaution, rather than a necessary requirement.

There are guidelines out there for how to properly social distance and were following those. And again, I understand doctors might look at things differently and want to give even extra precautions, but the precautions that have been out there are clearly being followed, he said.

He added that representatives have complied with social distancing rules and did not want to hurt anybody.

None of us would want to put anybody else in harms way. Its why the House has been having votes on the House floor safely, properly, with social distancing, with the necessary supplies to make sure we can wipe down spaces, Scalise said.

Clyburn said that members who do not want to wear masks to meetings could also participate virtually in future meetings, in which case, he would be willing to let them speak.

Read more:
Republicans told to wear masks in House panel or be barred from speaking - The Guardian