New York Times | The Republican's Guide to Presidential Behavior New York Times It wasn't so long ago that Republicans in Congress cared about how a president comported himself in office. They cared a lot! The president is, after all, commander in chief of the armed forces, steward of the most powerful nation on earth, role model ... |
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The Republican's Guide to Presidential Behavior - New York Times
Trump warning to former FBI Director James Comey against leaking anything negative about him tweeting James Comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! is deeply troubling.
The core issue here is not whether Trump is secretly recording his meetings or telephone calls (Trump and his White House aides refuse to say whether he tapes his visitors, something he was suspected of doing when he was in business in New York).
The real issues are these:
(1) The illegality of a President of the United States seeking to intimidate a potential witness in a congressional investigation.
(2) The illegality of a President potentially intimidating current FBI personnel who are investigating that president or his aides, by firing the former FBI head who was leading such an investigation and now threatening retaliation against him.
These illegal acts cannot be ignored. We are facing a constitutional crisis potentially larger and more significant than Richard Nixons Watergate. As long as Donald Trump remains president, our governing institutions are threatened.
The question now is whether there exist 22 House Republicans whose loyalty to the United States exceeds their loyalty to the Republican Party, who would join with House Democrats in seeking a bill of impeachment.
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Are There 22 Patriotic House Republicans? - HuffPost
When I first started on the Natrona County Republican Partys Executive Committee, I had come home from volunteering with College Republicans and on campaigns. I was bright-eyed and energetic to help further the Republican Party in my home state.
A couple years later I was elected to serve as State Committeewoman. What I witnessed shocked my eyes and crushed my spirit. Party leaders routinely abandoning principles and ethics, abusing procedure and rules, intimidating and railroading.
I had thought, If I play exactly by the rules, speak truth, have the votes, the people will prevail. Then I learned better.
You see, the party chairmans position is to act as a servant leader not a dictator. He is supposed to make sure the will of the body is carried out, according to the bylaws.
Joe McGinley mightily confused his role to the NCRP. He had the chance to do what is right, and instead chose darkness.
Because of what McGinley did, he was removed from his chairman position by the Central Committee in accordance with the bylaws.
I encourage all Republicans to get involved and see for yourself. The party needs anyone that is honest and forthright. You will be bullied, lied to, threatened and become very unpopular for questioning leadership. But you will learn with endurance.
We will debate. We will bicker over views and what the party should stand for. We will vote against each other and be upset with the outcome at times. And that is okay, as long as the will of the body is carried out truthfully and according to bylaws. There is no room left for more corruption. Help us bring darkness into the light.
Though I am convinced these experiences have probably taken 10 years off my life, I am thankful for the experience now. It made me question everything -- my party, my beliefs, my legislators, my purpose. It opened my eyes. I ask questions now. I look further and dig deeper. I read bills. I look up voting records. So truly, thank you. Thank you, for curing my blindness.
HOLLY BURROW, Birmingham, Alabama
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Burrow: Republicans need to get involved - Casper Star-Tribune Online
The GOP is becoming the party of Andrew Jackson, and some conservatives arent happy about it.
Until recently, Jackson was a bit of a political free agent. Democrats, who once celebrated Jackson as one of their own and championed how he stood up for the common man, have almost entirely purged the seventh president from their list of honored figures. Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb appears to be one of the handful of remaining holdouts, however, hes currently little more than a relic within his party.
Jacksons notoriety hit a low after the Treasury unceremoniously announced it would strip his visage from the front of the $20 bill in 2015, with few voices of protest. But Old Hickory has received a remarkable surge in interest since President Donald Trump began adopting Jackson as his model. Trumps Oval Office contains both a portrait and a statue of Jackson, and though Trump rarely demonstrated ideological convictions on the campaign trail, he has wholeheartedly embraced the legacy of the White Houses first Democrat.
So should Republicans and conservatives follow Trump and adopt Jackson as a model president? Not so fast, says National Review Editor-in-Chief Rich Lowry, who wrote in POLITICO that the GOP already has a perfectly acceptablenay, altogether superior19th century champion in the person of Abraham Lincoln.
Lowry noted that Jackson belongs in the pantheon of great Americans, but wrote that he should be left on the political party waiver wire now that Democrats have given him the boot; Lincolns model of personal responsibility and striving is a better fit as the cornerstone creed of the GOP. Jackson has too much baggage, according to Lowry. And besides, Lowry wrote, the Whig ethic was passed into the DNA of the Republican Party, since the partys founding, not Jacksonianism, and politics should stay that way.
Democrats have long wanted ownership of Lincoln, Lowry warned. And now the GOPs hold on the Great Emancipator is getting cross-pressured by [Trump].
While Lowry is correct that Lincoln rightfully has the most honored place in the history of the Republican Party, hes wrong about the need to jettison Jackson. Lincolns political creed could best be described as Hamiltonianafter Founding Father Alexander Hamiltonwhich political scientist Walter Russell Mead defined as being pro-business, for stable markets and promoting trade abroad.
However, both Hamiltonian and Jacksonian ideas were present and essential at the Republican Partys creation. And it so happens that in the modern political landscape they must once again work in tandem to correct each others shortcomings and create a dynamic governing creed.
A more thoroughly Jacksonian party would focus on: Peace through strength and reorienting foreign policy to focus on narrower American interests, better trade deals for the American people, preventing crony capitalism, curtailing the bloated and out-of-control administrative state, and returning policies decisions back to the states.
An infusion of Jacksonian ideas into the party of Lincoln will ultimately be a net positive, especially in a time when populist discontent is roiling the country and the West in general.
Jacksonian Origins of the Grand Old Party
Twitter was aglow with hot takes and pseudo-history after Trump suggested in a recent interview that had Jackson been a little later he could have possibly have prevented the Civil War. The statement brought howls of derision from the media who were quick to remind the American peopleafter a quick Google searchthat Jackson had, in fact, been dead for sixteen years when the war started, and he was a slave owner to boot.
Trump later tweeted that Jackson saw the war coming, was angry about it, and wouldnt let it happen.
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The Republicans Should Be the Party of Lincolnand Jackson - The National Interest Online
Federal authorities on Thursday searched the offices of a political consulting firm in Annapolis that has worked with Republican candidates locally and nationwide and was sued in 2014 on allegations of fraudulent fundraising practices.
Strategic Campaign Group says it supports Republican candidates on a range of services including mail, fundraising and telephone town halls. Its leaders include GOP strategists Kelley Rogers, Chip ONeil and Dennis Whitfield.
The firm has close ties to Republican consultant Scott B. Mackenzie, a treasurer for multiple political action committees that have drawn scrutiny for spending little money on candidates and instead steering donations to consultants, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Rogers said in an interview that he helped lead one of those groups, the Conservative Strike Force.
On Thursday, six FBI agents showed up at the third-floor office of Strategic Campaign Group to gather computer files and documents related to the firms direct mail and fundraising practices, Rogers said. Lindsay Ram, a spokeswoman for the FBI field office in Washington, confirmed that agents were conducting law enforcement activity in Annapolis, off Main Street.
Rogers said agents appeared interested in work the firm did during Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinellis 2013 gubernatorial race. Cuccinelli (R) sued the Strategic Campaign Group and the Conservative Strike Force in 2014, alleging they raised almost $2.2million to support his campaign but steered little of that money to him.
Our suspicion is that this is just a carry-over from that, Rogers said. I think the facts speak for themselves, and we tried to give the agents all the information they could possibly need.
The Conservative Strike Force agreed to pay Cuccinelli $85,000 to settle the lawsuit, and Strategic Campaign Group said it would turn over donor information.
The Conservative Strike Force has paid Strategic Campaign Group at least $493,000 for services since 2011, according to federal records. Strategic Campaign Group also received at least $188,000 in that time period from the Conservative Majority Fund, another political action committee listing Mackenzie as its treasurer. Mackenzie did not return a voice mail seeking comment.
Both groups have spent a small portion of the donations they receive on the candidates they aim to support, according to federal records, and reported high spending on consultants and other firms.
The Federal Election Commission has been struggling for some time with the issue of political action committees that are formed solely to enrich those running them. Unlike nonprofits, which are governed by boards of directors, PACs can be run by a single consultant. And although candidates are prohibited under federal election law from using campaign donations for personal use, traditional political action committees and their super PAC brethren face few limitations on how they spend their funds.
Critics say scam PACs have proliferated in recent years, driven in part by the advent of big-money super PACs in the wake of the Supreme Courts 2010 Citizens United decision. There has also been a surge in groups chasing small-dollar donors, often with misleading promises of how they plan to use those funds.
The Strategic Campaign Group has ties to Republicans in the Maryland state legislature, and Rogers has raised money for Gov. Larry Hogan (R), although Rogers said Thursday that federal agents did not appear interested in his local work.
In 2016, Strategic Campaign Group was paid by the campaigns of Maryland House Minority Leader Nicholaus R. Kipke (R-Anne Arundel) and GOP Maryland congressional candidates Patrick McDonough and Charles Faddis, state and federal records show. Kipke said Thursday that the state GOP House and Senate political operations would suspend work with the company until the investigation is resolved.
Strategic Campaign Group also worked to support Republican Kathy Szeligas unsuccessful 2016 campaign for a U.S. Senate seat.
Virginia Republicans, mostly state lawmakers, have sent the company more than $500,000 since 2009 for services including polling and robocalls, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Alice Crites, Peter Hermann, Ann Marimow, Steven Rich, Elise Viebeck and Ovetta Wiggins contributed to this report.
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FBI searches Republican political consulting firm in Annapolis - Washington Post