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Top Republicans on Friday said that President Trump's decision to punish Syria was a reassuring sign that he had abandoned isolationism and was through playing footsie with Russia.

Republicans have hoped that Trump's foreign policy might evolve from the "America first" approach that suggested he wasn't interested in being a global leader. And, they have strongly urged the president to stop coddling Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

Trump's decision to hit Syria with missile strikes in retaliation for using chemical weapons, and his administration's stern warning to Damascus' key ally, Russia, that such behavior wouldn't be tolerated, left senior Republicans optimistic that the president is finally changing course.

"This action reminded me of [former President] George W. Bush," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. "It was well-planned, well-executed sent multiple messages."

McConnell said the strike put Syrian dictator Bashar Assad on notice that murdering civilians is unacceptable. The majority leader said it also signaled to U.S. adversaries and allies alike that "America is back, and playing a leadership role."

Republicans chafed under the foreign policy of former President Barack Obama. They criticized the Democrat for diminishing U.S. influence, charging that he appeased adversaries and neglected allies.

Yet, that's the same approach to international relations Trump telegraphed he might take while campaigning for president. The president questioned the value of crucial western alliances, and stubbornly refused to criticize Putin, whom he praised as a strong leader.

Similar to Obama, Trump argued that the U.S. was over-extended abroad and needed to refocus inward. The Republican appeared to go further, however.

Trump indicated that he was prepared to discard decades of bipartisan foreign policy consensus, formulated in the aftermath of World War II, and in particular embraced by the GOP since Ronald Reagan's presidency, that America had a unique role to play.

Also from the Washington Examiner

President Obama's former deputy national security adviser indicated Saturday that he isn't very happy with President Trump's decision to hit a Syrian air base with missiles.

Trump's missile strike, which was retaliation for Syria's use of chemical weapons, drew instant comparisons to Obama, who warned the U.S. would act if Syria used chemical weapons.

Obama did nothing after Syria crossed that "red line" of Obama's, and many said Trump was the one to finally enforce Obama's ultimatum years later.

But in an early Saturday morning tweet, Rhodes suggested that Trump's strike was only aimed at boosting his press coverage, and seemed to warn reporters against helping him achieve this.

04/08/17 4:04 PM

That's why Trump's action against Syria was so reassuring to Republicans. It symbolized to them that Trump was rejecting his isolationist tendencies, and embracing the hawkish foreign policy that has dominated his party for nearly four decades.

"I was proud of him," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a hawk who has been sharply critical of Trump's foreign policy. "He called me last night, and he said: 'Well, I bet you're happy.' I said: 'No, I'm proud. I'm proud that you did something that needed to be done.'"

Even a few Democrats praised Trump, however sparingly. While making clear that they wanted the president to communicate, more specifically, his military and diplomatic strategy for Syria, they were generally pleased to see him embrace a traditional foreign policy.

"I support this action by President Trump," said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "Assad's murderous campaign against his own people has gone on far too long."

Trump's flirtation with Putin has rankled Democrats and Republicans. But the matter has been particularly distressing for a GOP proud of its foreign policy heritage as the party that won the Cold War and presided over the demise of the Soviet Union.

Also from the Washington Examiner

Trump defended the strike as a way to defend the "vital national security and foreign policy."

04/08/17 2:55 PM

So despite their acceptance of the president's various political eccentricities, they have resisted him on Russia. Republicans have begged Trump to treat Moscow as an adversary and recognize its bad behavior, from repressing democracy at home to invading neighbors, not to mention undermining U.S. interests.

Syria is an example. Russia has propped up Assad and has a significant military presence in Syria, in an effort to challenge Washington's influence in the Middle East. The U.S. struck anyway, without coordinating or seeking Putin's advance of approval (Moscow was warned, but only to avoid an unintended military confrontation.)

The Trump administration additionally delivered a stern message to Russia that complicity with Assad's use of chemical weapons was unacceptable. All of that has deepened the Republicans' confidence that the president's infatuation with Putin might be over.

"For a lot of people, it will probably put to rest all this discussion about, oh, he and Putin are holding hands together," said Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, a pointed Russia hawk who serves on the intelligence committee. "If that was the case on Wednesday, it wasn't the case by midnight on Thursday."

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With Syria strike, Trump reassures Republicans on Russia - Washington Examiner

One of the few gifts of Donald Trumps presidency is that it unmasks all the hypocrisy and inanity of right-wing ideology. It is almost as if Trump werea brilliant saboteur on an undercover operation to expose members of the increasingly powerful far-right fringe as incapable of governance and barely able to dress themselves in the mornings. Unfortunately, secret agent Trumps aim is a little wide. Along with the delusions of the radical right, he will also damage America.

Trumps election, as surreal as it seems, fits into a larger pattern thats observable in modern American politics. A Democrat assumes power and performs his administrative tasks with competence and diligence. His policies, while insufficiently progressive for many leftist voters, result in the general improvement of living conditions for millions of people. Throughout the Democrats tenure, the right wing grows hostile and enraged, while building media empires to lure Americans into the opposition. As enticement they use abstractions that appeal to the default setting of mainstream, white American culture: bromides about personal responsibility, big government and rugged individualism.

Then white Americans elect a Republican, thinking he is going to clean up Washington and help business but are soon horrified to find that Republicans do what Republicans always do. They eliminate social services, reduce public aid, manage public institutions as illiterate fools and threaten to take the country to war.

Playtime lasted only months with Trump, whose health care policy amounted to encouraging Americans to save money to pay for health care themselves and giving the poor more options, as if members of an impoverished family on Medicaid carefully review all available health insurance packages, and after consulting an accountant, decide that Medicaid was best for them. The entire reason they are on Medicaid is that they have no other options. Anyone in the real world would understand the consequences of poverty, but Republicans emigratedfrom reality in recent years and thenbuilt a wall behind them to keep themselves out.

For decades, conservatives have accused liberals of living in a fantasy world of utopian idealism. While liberals believe that big government can solve every problem with more money, conservatives insist that only theyhave the practical wisdom necessary to make tough choices. Now long after former President Barack Obama and his political allies spent months poringover the details of the Affordable Care Act, barely managing to get it passed, it is the hard-nosed conservatives who complain that health care is complicated or who struggle to explain how insurance works. It turns out it is easier to shout, socialism and to make racist innuendos than to reform American law and grant millions of people access to decent medical treatment.

Right-wingers arenow lost in a labyrinth of theory. With no historical precedent or comparative evidence, they claim that the free market will solve every problem. Entirely divorced from the reality of real human lives, conservatives resort to emotional appeals to individualism in the face of suffering even when institutional intervention could offer alleviation.

Fearful that Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryans health plan might allow some poor people to take medicine, the bonkers House Freedom Caucus opposed the bill, creating a political fiasco. After eight years of promising to repeal and replace Obamacare, Republicans collapsed and fumbled at the 1-yard line. Several Republicans in the Senate, who have to contend with a statewide electorate of liberal, moderate and conservative voters and who have some attachment to the real world, opposed the bill because they feared the anger of constituents who would lose their health care. Reasonable citizens should feel grateful to the Republicans for subverting their agenda, regardless of the intentions, but the reasons they have cited demonstrate the difference between the abstract and the concrete.

The problem of American politics, and right-wing governance, is not that Trump is a wrecking ball in human form or that congressional Republicans are oblivious to any truth excommunicated from the laissez faire free market cult, but that so many voters namely white ones remain susceptible to Republican abstraction of concrete, quality-of-life issues.

During the health care debate, many reports detailed how Trump voters were terrified and angry that they would lose their health care coverage if Trump and Ryan succeeded. One can only stand in awe of these people. Attempting to figure out what drove them to the polls, and how they could express surprise at Trumps doing exactly what he promised to do, is about as easyand as enjoyable asattempting to break down a brick wall with your forehead.

Those equipped with helmets might want to consider how white rural, and often suburban, culture is reflexively conservative in the sense that it believes only bad people which is code forpeople of color receive government assistance. If rural typesreceive government assistance, they believe they are exceptions and that certainly Donald Trump will make the appropriate distinctions.

I remember having a conversation with a man looking for an open ear in a bar. In the middle of a rant against Barack Obama, he remarked that he doesnt want government running health care. I asked him how he obtained health coverage. His answer: I get mine through the VA.

When I covered a Tea Party rally in Indiana, I politely withheld comment while listening to a man pontificate at length on the evils of big government. He was wearing a T-shirt from Yellowstone National Park.

Stories of dislocation between right-wing belief and behavior are common but not simply because small government conservatives are all shameless hypocrites. Many of them are sincere but unaware of the cognitive dissonance. Right-wingers blind spots are exactly why rational arguments in favor of social services and public programs so often fail to persuade them. It is not an intellectual but a psychological problem.

Luckily, Obamacare requires insurance plans to cover therapy.

Here is the original post:
Trumpcare fiasco proved it: Republicans are utterly divorced from reality - Salon

Republicans never knew how much they loved Barack Obama.

Three months into Donald Trumps presidency, congressional Republicans enter a two-week Easter recess without a major legislative victory to brag about to voters back home. While they used to blame the ex-president for all their problems pointing the finger at a Democratic White House for their inability to pass GOP priorities their beloved scapegoat is gone.

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That means they now bear responsibility for the partys inability to land any of Trumps campaign promises in what should have been some of the most productive months of his presidency. Indeed, House GOP infighting has all but suffocated their longtime promise to repeal Obamacare and its threatening their chance to pass tax reform and fund Trumps border wall.

Clearly, President Obama gave us a common focus, said Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.). Now that hes gone, we have to govern. Thats always a bit of a challenge when youre not just the opposition, but youre now the governing majority. I hope when we go home for the next two weeks, our constituents will remind us of that so we can get on track when we come back.

It wasnt supposed to be like this. Speaker Paul Ryan had a plan, with a timeline that included sending Trump a GOP Obamacare alternative by the close of this week. Then, Congress would quickly fund the government, including the first piece of a new U.S.-Mexico wall, and move onto a sweeping tax reform package unlike anything the country had seen since 1986.

But the Wisconsin Republican and his top lieutenants miscalculated. They thought they could get the White House to pressure the House Freedom Caucus into backing a bill conservatives deemed Obamacare 2.0. The intra-party war that ensued effectively killed the House bill entirely, leaving little indication of a revival anytime soon.

Meanwhile, senior Republicans are already signaling they wont fight hard for Trumps wall, in order to avoid a government shutdown showdown at the end of the month. And tax reform looks like a truly heavy lift. Senate Republicans can at least boast that they muscled through Neil Gorsuchs confirmation to the Supreme Court, but thats about it.

Thats the burden of being in the majority: you cant blame anyone else. Youre in charge, said Rep. Mike Simpson, a senior Republican and leadership ally. The Idaho Republican said he thinks some GOP constituents will be angry and could try to boot them from office.

Its a much different dynamic than what theyd become accustomed to under Obama, when they deflected heat to the Democratic commander-in-chief. During an interview off the House floor, Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) said divided government also united the conference at least some of the time.

Not only is there someone else for whom to place the blame, theres a unifying, rallying point of, If only we didnt have that person, or that entity, or that party, or that whatever, we would be able to do X, Y and Z, he said.

Now, of course, Republicans control everything. And theyre still not able to get their priorities over the finish line.

House leaders feel the same frustration. When asked whether his GOP colleagues missed Obama, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy laughed out loud while walking back to his office this week.

There was Hillary, there was Susan Rice, there was a lot of em, the California Republican said. Harry Reid was unifying!

McCarthy, though, pushed back against the criticism that House Republicans have accomplished nothing in almost three months of total Washington control: How long did it take Barack Obama to pass health care? Sixteen months. So give us a little break here. Were working.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Republicans are very glad Obama is gone. Theres still a lot of things were unified on. Weve passed a lot of [Congressional Review Act resolutions] to the president and that hes signed that have undone a lot of Obama regulations, and thats permanent, by the way. Thats some big wins that dont get reported a lot.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also argued Friday that the 13 Obama-era regulations the GOP has killed amounted to a significant achievement. Theyre going to save the economy billions of dollars, the Kentucky Republican told reporters.

Of course, McConnells bigger victory was his year-long power play to deny Obama a chance to fill a Supreme Court vacancy and instead install Gorsuch even if it meant he had to kill the filibuster for high court nominees and erode an essential characteristic of the Senate.

Apart from that much-needed GOP win, McConnell acknowledged the partys slow start and called for a bit of patience. Look, were just in the first quarter of the year, he said. Theres much left to be done.

Since House Republicans cant blame the left, theyve turned on one another, obliterating the message of unity the party took up after Trump won last fall.

Ryan, for his part, has delicately suggested some of his own members dont know what it means to govern. His conference, hes said numerous times over the past few weeks, is experiencing growing pains.

Meanwhile, Freedom Caucus members and more than a few mainstream Republicans outside the group arent happy with the process Ryan employed to craft the health care bill. They argue there wasnt enough member buy-in, and theyre resentful that they didnt get their say.

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Even Rep. Rod Blum of Iowa, a conservative in a swing district who benefited from Ryans personal fundraising assistance during the 2016 election, told POLITICO he wished the speaker would shoulder more of the blame for what happened.

I come from the private sector, and in the private sector, the leader stands up if something doesnt work and says its 100 percent my fault, Blum said. Thats what a leader does. Id like to see that in Washington, D.C. He, as the House leader, should say its 100 percent my fault, and there shouldnt be any finger-pointing.

Conservatives and centrists are also at one anothers throats. Freedom Caucus members say moderate members of the House Republican Conference no longer want to repeal Obamacare. Rep. Mo Brooks singled out centrist Republicans in the Tuesday Group for the fact that Republicans will return to their districts with Obamacare fully intact.

Its very paradoxical today that our Republican Congress could, when Barack Obama was president, pass a repeal of Obamacare, the Alabama Republican said. Yet, now that Donald Trump is president, we lack the ability to pass the repeal of Obamacare. To me the primary difference is that the Tuesday Group does not want to repeal Obamacare. And as long as they dont its difficult to get the majority votes needed.

GOP leaders, moderates and dozens of mainstream Republicans across the conference, however, still think the Freedom Caucus set fire to the House. And as Sanford noted Wednesday, the bickering has created a GOP identity crisis.

External party struggles you can have an open food fight and say, I disagree with Nancy Pelosi and shes going to throw breadcrumbs my way and Im going to throw breadcrumbs her way, Sanford said. If its within the fraternity, then its a question of wait who represents the fraternity? Are we right? Are we left? Are we center? Who is us?

John Bresnahan contributed to this report.

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How Republicans learned to love Obama - Politico

New York Times

Eleven House Republicans Sign Letter Supporting Arts Endowment ... New York Times In spite of President Trump's call to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, there are a growing number of Republicans that want to save it. and more »

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Eleven House Republicans Sign Letter Supporting Arts Endowment ... - New York Times

Variety

Bill Maher: Republican Motto Has Become 'What Would a D-ck Do?' Variety Real Time host Bill Maher thinks the Republican party has abandoned all principles since Trump took office in favor of being a d-ck. On Friday night's show, Maher cited the GOP's plans to reverse the ban on lead ammunition, which have been known to ... Bill Maher slams Trump Republicans for looking at America's problems and asking, 'What would ad*ck do?'Raw Story Bill Maher Explains Republican Philosophy: 'What Would a Dick Do?'Esquire.com Bill Maher Brutally Sums Up What Republicanism Has Become Under Donald TrumpHuffington Post all 35 news articles »

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Bill Maher: Republican Motto Has Become 'What Would a D-ck Do?' - Variety