Mediaboss Marketing

Lou Zickar, Opinion contributor Published 6:00 a.m. ET Jan. 15, 2021

Within a few minutes rioters outnumbered police and rushed to the front of the Capitol. USA TODAY

If you are a principled centrist or principled conservative, now is not the time to remain silent.

As someone who has spent more thana decade working for the oldest centrist Republican organization in the United States, I admit that we have foughta losing battle for most of this time.

From the rise of the Tea Party in 2010 to the election of Donald Trump in 2016, centrists have largely been relegated to the margins of the Republican political scene content with promoting bromides about the importance of working together while those on the political right win elections and muscle through their priorities on Capitol Hill.

Yet, if you are a centrist, now isnotthe time to concede defeat.Far from it.

For as the tragic events on Jan.6at the U.S. Capitol made clear, the divide in the Republican Party is no longer between the center and the right wing.The divide in todays GOP is between the insurrectionist wing and everyone else.

Many Republicans will no doubt not want to hear this message.Ive workedfor GOP candidates and causes since the late 1980s, and whenever there was a sign or possibility of inner-party strife, the message from party leadership was always the same dont rock the boat. Well, we are long past those kinds of admonishments.

The question facing Republicans is not whether to rock the boat.The question is which boat do you want to be on.Do you want to be with the insurrectionists, who ignored facts, distorted realityand encouraged the storming of the Capitol last week?Or do you want to stand with principle-based centrists and conservatives who believe in and are driven by the ideas thatmade our party and our country great?

In this June 23, 2020, file photo Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine COVID-19 on Capitol Hill in Washington.(Photo: Michael Reynolds, AP)

If you are a principled centrist or principled conservative, now is not the time to remain silent.To do so will lead to more of the same a party devoid of principles and dominated by personalities.

It also will lead to centrists and conservatives being challenged by those who stand with and cheered on the insurrectionist wing.

Take Alaska, which Lisa Murkowski has represented in the U.S.Senate since 2003.Murkowski is conservative on some issues, and more centrist on others.The Ripon Forumrecently featured the senator on its cover because of the bipartisan energy reform proposal she has authored that not only acknowledges the threat posed by climate change, but also strikes a balance betweenmeeting our current energy needs while pursuing clean energy for the future.

Last fall, when some questioned whether Murkowski would support the Trump administrations nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the Supreme Court, former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin posted a video on Twitter warning Murkowski to do the right thing by supporting the yet-to-be named nominee.Implying that she might challenge Murkowski in the next election if she did not, Palin then added: I see 2022 from my window.

Recently, when Palin campaigned in Georgia in the run-up to the runoff election, sheclaimedthat the Nov.3general election had been rigged.Around that same time, her website published aninterviewwith Melissa Carone, the Rudy Guiliani-backed witness in Michigan who reminded people of a drunk Cecily Strong.

In the interview on Palins website, Carone repeated unsubstantiated claims that Dominion Voting Machines in Michigan had been tampered withand that the state had been delivered to Joe Biden as a result.

Does any rational Republican believe that Palin would be a more effective and responsible member of the Senate Republican Caucus than Murkowski?And yet in states and congressional districts across the country, like-minded candidates are no doubt considering similar campaigns.

In 2022, each would-be Republican candidate must be held to account for their actions in the days and weeks leading up to Jan.6.

Fortunately, members of the business community are beginning to do just that.Over the weekend, Forbesreportedthat Marriott International, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Commerce Bank were indefinitely suspending contributions to any official who voted against certifying the election of Joe Biden afterthe attack on the Capitol.

According to this same report,Bank of America, Ford Motor Co. and AT&T planto take recent events into consideration before making future donations, while CVS Health Corp., Exxon Mobil, FedEx and Target also planto review their political giving.

If the business community has the courage to step up, centrist Republicans should, too.Ten years ago, centrists stood by aghast as a member of their own ranks, then-Congressman and former Delaware Governor Mike Castle, was upset by Christine ODonnell in the states GOP primary.

ODonnells rise was rapid.She was embraced by the Tea Party, and then soundly defeated by centrist Democrat Chris Coons in the general election because of her extreme views.

That seat was Castles to lose.If it hadnt been for ODonnells challenge, it would be in Republican hands today.More significantly, the Senate would still be under GOP control.

ODonnell was a relative unknown and did not have a record to defend.The members of todays insurrection wing are known to all and do have a record.Which is why if you are a principled centrist or a principled conservative who would like to be in the majority and cares about the future of the GOP now is not the time to stay silent.

Rather, it is time to stand up to the insurrectionists who would like to carry the GOP banner in 2022 and have them answer one question: After fomenting a rebellion that claimed five lives and desecrated our nations Capitol, why are you still fit to serve?

Lou Zickar is editor of The Ripon Forum, a centrist journal of political thought and opinion published by the Ripon Society.The views presented here are his own.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/01/15/centrist-republicans-need-stand-up-against-insurrectionists-column/4157203001/

Original post:
Centrist Republicans, speak up! We must take a stand against the insurrectionists - USA TODAY

Forgive me if I am not celebrating the courage of all these South Carolina Republicans who are now shocked shocked! by President Chaos after spending years enabling him. With the stunning exception of Myrtle Beachs Tom Rice, you dont suddenly become a hero because you refuse to stand by the guy who inspired the worst attack on Americas Capitol since the British torched it in 1814.

Lindsey Graham, Mick Mulvaney, Nikki Haley, Nancy Mace all these profiles in courage who were more than happy to ride along on the Trump train are jumping off right on cue. It has been a hell of a journey as Graham put it, but enough is enough.

Going after the Mexicans and the Muslims was one thing. Sure, Charlottesville was a bit awkward, even for (some) Republicans, and those kids in cages at the border, too. But when the barbarians show up at the gate of your own house, the Peoples House, with zip ties, and they start breaking out gas masks on the Senate floor, then that is really infringing on your personal freedom. Besides, the base doesnt like masks.

They could have blown the building up, Graham said with all the outrage he usually reserves in defense of The Boss. They could have killed us all!

It was always going to end like this, or something like it. Trump didnt change; Trump will never change, and that is exactly what the MAGA faithful love about him. Its not like Graham didnt know. In the 2016 presidential campaign, he famously told us the truth: Trump was a kook, crazy, unfit for office.

And then Trump was elected, and Graham eventually became Sycophant One in Congress, on the golf course, on Air Force One. But he was hardly alone. Trump was Nikki Haleys ticket to the United Nations and Henry McMasters to the governors office. Mick Mulvaney went from tea party nobody to Trumps budget director and then spent a long year as the hands-off acting chief of staff letting Trump be Trump.

They were all cheerleaders and apologists for the worst president in American history. Trump lied, divided and played on racial animus. He leaves office with a virus killing 4,000 Americans a day, the economy in tatters, particularly for those at the bottom, and a nation more divided than any time since the Civil War.

To my Trump friends, I say this: Whatever you thought you got from the guy, it wasnt worth it. The price was too high.

And yet, after we knew exactly who he was, Graham, Mulvaney and the others wanted to put this narcissistic madman back in the White House for another four years. Over the past two months, as Trump relentlessly pressed his Big Lie, that the election was stolen from him, they were silent or worse. They fueled the fire.

The South Carolina Five Republican Congressmen Jeff Duncan, Ralph Norman, Tom Rice, William Timmons and Joe Wilson shamefully voted to overturn the election. Lindsey Graham could not acknowledge Joe Biden won until he was scared silly by the Trump terrorists.

Our governor who liked to brag he was the nations first statewide elected official to endorse Trump wrote off the attack on the Capitol as a bad day at the office. Alan Wilson, our Republican attorney general, wants you to believe he was as surprised as anyone about those robo calls from his partys association of attorneys general summoning patriots to Washington.

The one South Carolina Republican who actually put his career in jeopardy was Rice, who out of nowhere voted to impeach Trump on Wednesday. It was a gutsy move in the bright red 7th Congressional District and virtually guarantees him a primary challenge in two years. It is called political courage, not something you see too often these days.

For four years, too many Republicans have been willing partners, complicit in the unraveling of our institutions and the trust that binds us together.

You cant pretend that all that came before the past two weeks was just a bad dream. The road to redemption isnt that easy. It requires a fidelity to the truth and facts that is sorely lacking in our society today.

Donald Trump didnt just happen. He had a lot of help, and his helpers need to own what they broke.

Steve Baileycan be reached at sjbailey1060@yahoo.com. Follow on Twitter @sjbailey1960.

Read the original here:
Bailey: Trump's South Carolina enablers need to own what they helped break - Charleston Post Courier

Kate Middleton returned to public royal duties this week alongside Prince William, after taking a break during the holidays. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took part in a virtual chat on Wednesday, and shared an image from the video calland revealed a peek inside their home in the process.

As the royal couple were confirmed to be at Anmer Hall, their country home in Norfolk, just last Saturday (their kids threw a tea party for Kate's birthday, naturally), and the U.K. is currently in lockdown, it can be safely assumed that Will and Kate were taking part in the video call from there.

The background shows a cream couch, topped with decorative pillows, as well as a couple plants and a table, on which the Cambridges appear to have placed a couple family photos. The duo has also arranged decorative porcelain plates on their wallhardly a surprise, as the Windsors famously love them some porcelain.

Kensington Palace

The aim of the call was for the royal couple to learn about the counseling and bereavement support being provided to help essential workers amid the pandemic. National charity Hospice U.K. launched a helpline called Just 'B' to aid frontline workers cope with loss and trauma in March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Through their Royal Foundation's COVID-19 Response Fund, the Duke and Duchess have partnered with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Department of Health and Social Care to help fund the helpline.

During their meeting, Will and Kate heard from Just 'B' counselors as well as NHS staff who've benefitted from the helpline's services.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

Originally posted here:
Kate Middleton and Prince William Offer a Peek Inside Anmer Hall, the Royal Couple's Country Home - TownandCountrymag.com

While the attack on the Capital is abhorrent, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Politics has been getting ugly for decades, but took a turn for the worse when Harry Reid forced through the ACA on a party-line vote, using raw, ugly political power, and against the wishes of half the country. Then he changed the rules for approving federal judges, opening up the door for Mitch McConnel to do the same for SCOTUS. The right-wing has been mostly peaceful over the years, while the left-wing has become more and more violent. Compare the Occupy Wall Street to the TEA Party. Compare ANTIFA and BLM "peaceful" protests to anything. Now having endured almost a year of violence in our largest cities, that the Democrats have yet to condemn, it was only a matter of time that the right-wing exploded.

The extreme right-wing is pretty much disavowed by rank and file Republicans, but the extreme left-wing is the rank and file Democrats. This will not end until the Democrat leadership puts an end to their own radical movement and violence, and the Republican leadership sits down with the Democrats and comes up with a way to diffuse the powder keg that violence created.

In the meantime, our Republic is on shaky grounds, more dangerous than anything since the Civil War. The nation will not make it to 300 years if something doesn't give. I'm just glad I'll be dead when the nation implodes in a violence that is unimaginable.

See the original post:
What is the most significant impact of the insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol? - The American Legion

Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, owners of Uline shipping supply company located in Pleasant Prairie, WI, and major donors to Republican candidates including President Donald Trump, contributed more than $4 million to the Tea Party Patriots.

The group participated in the rally before the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. While the organizers have taken down their website, and many tweets, since the rally led to the mob takeover of the Capitol, Mother Jones and others have reported on the March to Save America, AKA the March for Trump, sponsors.

That contribution of $4.3 million, reported by Chicagos public radio station WBEZ, has led the Democratic Attorney General Association (DAGA) to call on attorneys general and its counterpart the Republican Attorney General Association (RAGA) and Republican attorneys general and candidates to refuse any future contributions from the Uihleins.

This declaration and other corrections to their association are necessary actions on the only path forward for those who claim to believe in the rule of law and protecting our democracy, said Sean Rankin, executive director of DAGA in a statement. Republican AGs or candidates who choose to accept Uihlein money moving forward will be turning their backs on our country and ignoring the deadly attack on Congress on January 6th.

According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC)s website, the Uihleins (and others related to Uline shipping) have given nearly $1.5 million to Wisconsin candidates including the annual maximum $32,500 in donations to former Attorney General Brad Schimel who frequently used the slogan law and order to describe his views in the race he lost in 2018 to Attorney General Josh Kaul.

RAGA also has direct ties to the Jan. 6 rallies. WDC reported this week that an arm of RAGA, called the Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF) urged followers to attend a Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally making robocalls, according to reporting from Documented, a watchdog group.

WDC describes RAGA as a Washington, D.C.-based group, which raises and spends unlimited amounts from special interests to help elect state GOP attorneys general throughout the country. The group was active in the 2018 Wisconsin state elections, doling out more than $2.8 million on electioneering activities to attack Democratic candidate Josh Kaul.

Between January 2018 and late November 2020, RAGA took in around $279,000 from about two dozen Wisconsin contributors, including MillerCoors (now Molson Coors), Foley & Lardner, Wisconsin Realtors Association and Kwik Trip.

The Uihleins have also given amounts of $1,000 each election cycle to many Republican legislative candidates, WDC records show.

Rankin continued: We must demand accountability from our elected leaders and future leaders, and we must refuse to let funders of terror and spinners of dangerous conspiracy theories undermine our democracy.

THE MORNING NEWSLETTER

Subscribe now.

See the article here:
Uihleins, owners of Wisconsin company, gave millions to group sponsoring the Jan. 6 March for Trump - Wisconsin Examiner