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I surveyed half a dozen Democrats since the vote, asking how important this would be for these Republicans and which of them was the most vulnerable. The strategists I talked with, many of them specialists on House campaigns or alumni of the Democrats congressional campaign arm, were hesitant to pick just one or two of these races as standouts. Instead, most agreed that any of these Republicans, from California or New York especially, were on notice. That would be John Duarte (Californias 13th district), Valadao, Mike Garcia (Californias 27th), Young Kim (Californias 40th), Michelle Steele (Californias 45th), Nick LaLota (New Yorks 1st district), George Santos (New Yorks 3rd, who of course has a whole other set of problems), DEsposito, Lawler, Brandon Williams (New Yorks 22nd), and Marc Molinaro (New Yorks 19th). If one were to simply go by Bidens margin of victory in these 18 districts, youd add Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon to that list. Biden won her 5th district by nearly double digits.

Trying to defend this bill in swing districts is nearly impossible for these Republican incumbents, said Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson. Theyve positioned themselves as both pro-default and against the middle class at the same time. Its quite a feat. Theres a story for Democrats to tell about how Republicans refused to pass a bill that would just avoid default and instead passed a bill that gutted the middle class.

Democrats had already been hammering these Biden-district Republicans on aspects of the cuts in the debt limit proposal. The Democratic-aligned advocacy group House Majority Forward has run TV ads hitting Republicans for being prepared to let America default. Democratic campaign committees, allied super PACs as well as outside consultants and strategists, expect these attacks to continue. And Democrats have polling to show they are effective. According to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted for House Majority Forward, 60 percent of those surveyed strongly disapprove when asked their opinion of the cuts.

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How 18 Republicans Just Made Democratic Recapture of the House ... - The New Republic

Dire warning: This column is about politics. Yikes!

I spent my last 25 years of active journalism working on the opinion pages of this newspaper. In that role, I met and interviewed just about every politician and political aspirant from this region as well as statewide office seekers and incumbents including a couple vice presidents of the United States. You know the names of those two Minnesotans.

Jim Heffernan

This is not to boast about all the important people Ive met governors, U.S. senators, Congress members, legislative leaders, city leaders, dog catchers but rather to illustrate that Ive spent a considerable amount of time around politicians from both major parties (and a few from minor parties, including one who shares a given name with Jesse James).

You pick up on certain traits in people who seek public office, some of whom succeed. After the successful ones have been in office for a while, they all, regardless of party, seem to have read the same playbook about how to be a politician.

For example, when speaking publicly, they never refer to this country simply as the "United States"; they always thunder United States of America in case there is any confusion about which United States they mean.

And they say the people they serve are always hardworking Americans who roll up their sleeves a lot. I have known many Americans I wouldnt consider hardworking, not excluding myself. I roll up my sleeves for a COVID-19 shot. They are also very quick with thoughts and prayers when the occasion suggests it.

Incumbents above a certain level never appear on TV or before a gathering of constituents without American flags (Old Glory) behind them, preferably several, in case there was any doubt about their patriotism.

Some things have changed, though, in recent years since I left active journalism, mainly the widening gap between the two major parties. Once opponents were referred to as worthy when referenced, and their party the loyal opposition. No more.

Thus, I have compiled a list of ways I see how Democrats and Republicans differ these days on major, and some minor, issues. I am not favoring one side over another here, although I obviously have a political ideology. These are just things I notice as I observe the political divisions play themselves out today, especially in Washington. Here goes:

So here we are a country divided against itself. How long can it stand?Finally, I suppose there are committed politicians who will resent some of these observations of the differences between the two parties. Thats fine. I believe more politicians should be committed. Pick your asylum.

Jim Heffernan is a former Duluth News Tribune news and opinion writer and columnist. He maintains a blog at jimheffernan.org and can be reached by email at jimheffernan@jimheffernan.org.

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Jim Heffernan column: Republicans, Democrats differ on everything - Duluth News Tribune

LONDON (AP) On his way to be crowned this week,King Charles IIIwill travel by gilded coach through streets swathed in red, white and blue Union flags and past a warning from history.

At Trafalgar Square stands a large bronze statue of King Charles I, the 17th-century monarch deposed by Parliament and executed in 1649. On Saturday, more than 1,500 protesters, dressed in yellow for maximum visibility, plan to gather beside it to chant "Not my king" as the royal procession goes by.

"We'll try and keep the atmosphere light, but our aim is to make it impossible to ignore," said Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchist group Republic.

The coronation, he said, is "a celebration of a corrupt institution. And it is a celebration of one man taking a job that he has not earned."

Republican activists have long struggled to build momentum to dislodge Britain's 1,000-year-old monarchy. But they see the coronation as a moment of opportunity.

READ MORE: What to know about calls for reparations for Britain's legacy of slavery in the Caribbean

Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September after 70 years on the throne, was widely respected because of her longevity and sense of duty. Charles is another matter, a 74-year-old whose family feuds and firm opinions on everything from architecture to the environment have been headline fodder for decades.

Opinion polls suggest opposition and apathy to the monarchy are both growing. In a recent study by the National Center for Social Research, just 29 percent of respondents thought the monarchy was "very important" the lowest level in the center's 40 years of research on the subject. Opposition was highest among the young.

"I think it's definitely shifting," said Smith, whose group wants to replace the monarch with an elected head of state. "People are quite happy to criticize Charles in a way they weren't willing to necessarily in public about the queen."

Millions in Britain will watch broadcasts whenCharles is crowned in Westminster Abbey. Tens of thousands will line the streets, and neighborhoods across the country will hold parties.

But millions more will ignore the ceremonies. Some will attend alternative events, including a gig in Glasgow by tribute band the Scottish Sex Pistols, recapturing the spirit of punks who sang "God save the queen, the fascist regime" during the late queen's 1977 silver jubilee.

London's Newington Green Meeting House, a gathering place for religious dissenters and radicals for 300 years, is holding an "alternative community party," complete with food, drink and "radical and republican" music.

General manager Nick Toner said that the event is for people who "don't want to sit through hours of footage of ceremonies, carriages and endless Union Jacks, perhaps because they think it's a waste of taxpayers' money or even just plain old boring."

WATCH: Death of Queen Elizabeth draws mixed reactions from former British colonies in Africa

While the BBC, Britain's publicly owned national broadcaster, will offer wall-to-wall coronation coverage on Saturday, rival Channel 4 offers an alternative schedule including a musical about disgraced royal Prince Andrew, irreverent sitcom "The Windsors" and documentary "Farewell to the Monarchy."

Some argue that it's grotesque to spend millions on pomp and pageantry amid a cost-of-living crisis that has brought 10 percent inflation, driven thousands to food banks and triggered months of strikes by nurses, teachers and other workers seeking higher pay.

Even Charles' slimmed-down ceremony with about 2,000 guests instead of the 8,000 who attended the queen's coronation in 1953 carries a big price tag for British taxpayers. The full cost won't be known until afterward, butElizabeth's 1953 coronationcost 912,000 pounds, the equivalent of 20.5 million pounds ($26 million) today.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, who helps oversee coronation arrangements, has argued that "people would not want a dour scrimping and scraping" at such a "marvelous moment in our history." Coronation supporters argue that the celebrations will be a boost for brand Britain, attracting tourists and stimulating sales.

Not everyone is convinced.

"I disagree with it," said Philippa Higgins, a 24-year-old receptionist in London. "I just think it seems a bit silly when we've got so many people struggling, to have something so extravagant right now. But some people argue tradition, I suppose."

Opposition to the lavish coronation is especially strong in Scotland and Wales, where some pro-independence nationalists see the monarchy as part of the U.K. state they want to leave.

Some Scottish nationalists object to the Stone of Destiny a 275-pound (125-kilogram) chunk of sandstone linked to both Scottish and English monarchs being sent from Edinburgh to London to take its traditional place under the coronation chair. The iconic rock, a symbol of Scottish nationhood seized by an English king in the 13th century and not returned until 1996, had to be moved to Westminster Abbey in secrecy and amid tight security.

Charles is keen to be seen as a modern monarch, and Buckingham Palace has adapted some of the coronation's ancient traditions for the 21st century. His coronation will be the first to feature contributions fromBuddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders, and the first to include female bishops.

Still, a suggestion from the Church of England that people watching the coronation on TV might want to swear allegiance to the king from their sofas has struck a sour note with some.

Charles is monarch of 14 former British colonies as well as the U.K., and the king has tentatively addressed thelegacy of empire. He supports research into the monarchy's links to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and last year expressed "personal sorrow" at the suffering caused by slavery though he stopped short of saying sorry.

The number of Charles' realms is likely to dwindle during his reign. Barbados became a republic in 2021 and Jamaica plans to do the same.New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkinssaid this week he wants his country to jettison the crown, though he added that it's not an "urgent priority."

Craig Prescott, a constitutional law expert at Bangor University in Wales, says that in the U.K., the monarchy is probably safe for now because of Britain's tendency to "muddle through" and gradually adapt its politics and constitution to changing times.

"Clearly, if you were going to start from scratch, you would probably never choose one family and say, 'They're going to provide a head of state forever,'" he said. But the arrangement mostly works, and abolishing the crown "isn't on the horizon of any political party."

Still, he sees danger ahead if a young generation that has endured years of austerity, pandemic and economic pinch continues to struggle.

"If the monarchy stands for the status quo, the status quo isn't necessarily great, in generational terms, for a certain section," Prescott said. "If that continues, then that may be a problem for a lot of national institutions in 20 or 30 years' time."

Associated Press videojournalist Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this story.

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UK Republicans call for Saturdays coronation to be the last - PBS NewsHour

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - Half of U.S. Republicans think a federal court was motivated by politics when it ordered the suspension of government approval for a widely used abortion pill, a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Wednesday found.

Fifty-one percent of self-identified Republicans in the poll said they agreed that the ruling last week - which would essentially make sales of the abortion pill mifepristone illegal - was politically motivated. Only 28% of Republicans disagreed, and the rest said they weren't sure.

A federal appeals court late on Wednesday put the ruling partly on hold, allowing mifepristone to remain available for now but with significant restrictions, while the case proceeds.

Fifty-six percent of overall respondents, including 67% of Democrats, said the decision was politically motivated.

The poll's results point to deepening doubts about the impartiality of the U.S. justice system, and to potential trouble for Republicans in coming elections, including next year's presidential contest.

Many Republicans have campaigned on promises to ban abortion or severely restrict access to it, but a substantial slice of Republican voters support some form of abortion rights.

During his four years in office, Republican former President Donald Trump nominated many federal judges associated with anti-abortion views, including three Supreme Court justices and U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, the judge who suspended approval of mifepristone.

The U.S. Supreme Court, which now leans conservative 6-3, last year struck down women's constitutional right to abortion in a landmark case that is widely seen as a key factor in Republicans' underperforming expectations in last year's congressional elections.

Fifty-one percent of Republicans in the poll, and 73% of Democrats, opposed state-level restrictions on access to abortion pills. Forty-three percent of Republicans said they were less likely to vote for a politician who supports limiting access to abortion.

Doubts in the impartiality of the U.S. legal system have simmered in recent years. A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month found about half of Americans, including one-third of Democrats, believe a New York investigation into whether Trump paid hush money to a porn star is politically motivated.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll gathered responses from 995 adults nationwide, including 433 self-described Democrats and 379 Republicans. The poll had a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of about 4-6 percentage points in either direction.

Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Half of Republicans say politics drove US abortion-pill court ruling, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows - Reuters

Mother Pence, an AI-generated portrait of Mike Pence in drag (all images courtesy RuPublicans)

As Republicans in Florida, Tennessee, and beyond continue to push harmful rhetoric and legislation that oppresses and targets drag queens and performances, one Instagram account is striking back in true queen fashion: with high style and satire. Launched one week ago, @RuPublicans uses the AI image generation tool Midjourney to generate imaginary portraits of GOP higher-ups in high drag. Leave it to drag to make Republicans less of a drag!

Were huge fans of drag, RuPublicans co-creators Craig and Stephen (who preferred to use their first names only) told Hyperallergic. It has brought so much joy to our lives. Bearing witness to the GOPs anti-drag rhetoric and actions made us want to do something. So for the last 2 weeks, weve been creating AI-generated images just as over the top and ridiculous as the false narratives around drag.

The results are fabulous. Who needs Ted Cruz when we can have Cruzella Deville, a fur-draped queen whose fashion sense is as murderous as her politics? Steve Bannon is famously disheveled, but Bombshell Bannon serves a double helping of lewk along with a steady stream of misinformation. And we can all agree pink is Mike Pences color. The portraits are accompanied by delightful descriptions. Say hello to the GOPs downfall darling, Rudy Garland, serving cuckoo couture, reads the caption for an image of Rudy Giuliani in a cheetah-print coat. She used to run the Big Apple, but now shes the juiciest peach on the streets, wandering the Upper East Side looking for her next gig (NOT the Four Seasons, honey). You thought the only thing she could leak was hair dye? Girl, watch her spill the tea!

The comments on the posts are equally hilarious. One AI portrait of Ron DeSantis Rhonda Shanty sitting in a bookstore wearing a puffy-sleeved gown brought hundreds of comments. Pictured with the only books left in Florida, said one user, referencing the Republican governors crackdown on critical race theory and learning in general.

Though the accounts co-creators are not themselves drag performers, they describe themselves as two queens (husbands) who appreciate the art and what it has done for so many.

They also highlight the ways in which the speculative power of artificial intelligence whose potential for harm has been the subject of headlines lately can be harnessed for activism, and humor.

The world doesnt need more hate these days, the pair said. It needs more beauty and laughter. If it takes AI generated wigs and glitter to elevate awareness of this important issue, were here to do it.

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AI Portraits of Republicans in Drag to Get You Through the Week - Hyperallergic