Category: life

Report: Democrats Have A Back-Up Plan That Might Still Bar Trump From Running Again If Impeachment Fails

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Congressional Democrats are reportedly considering a back-up plan – a censure resolution against Donald Trump should this week’s impeachment trial result in acquittal for the former President.

The resolution, according to McClatchy, would bar Trump “from holding future office over his role in the U.S. Capitol riot.”

The Senate impeachment trial began on Tuesday with opening statements and debate between House impeachment managers and the former President’s defense lawyers.

Trump’s lawyers argue that the House impeachment charge is unconstitutional and are calling on the Senate to acquit the former President.

His acquittal seems all but assured with 45 Republican Senators having already voted on a point of order that the trial is unconstitutional.

RELATED: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

Democrats Have Back-Up Impeachment Plan – Censure Trump

The Democrat attempt to censure Donald Trump – who is now a private citizen – would invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

It is a rarely cited Civil War-era provision that bars people from holding office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Pushing forward with the plan seems to be a foregone conclusion, as McClatchy notes “the debate among members of Congress is now whether to push for the resolution early this week — as the impeachment trial is first starting — or towards the end.”

Some Democrat lawmakers are hoping the trial itself will “build public support and political momentum” for the censure resolution.

“The reception has been lukewarm so far from Democrats, who would prefer to see the former president convicted in the impeachment trial, and from Republicans, who fear political consequences in barring Trump from office,” McClatchy observes.

Senator Tim Kaine adds, “Right now there’s not enough support on either side.”

If the Senate acquits Trump, however, bitter Democrats could conceivably coalesce behind such a censure resolution and they wouldn’t need any help from the Republicans.

A resolution to censure Trump would require a simple majority vote to pass in the House and Senate.

RELATED: Squad’s Ayanna Pressley: Capitol Riots Gave Me ‘Deep And Ancestral’ Terror From ‘White Supremacist Mob’

It Could Backfire

The report indicates that Democrats may be playing with fire if they plan to censure Trump following the Senate impeachment trial.

“Some Democratic lawyers warn the strategy could backfire if taken to court and provide Trump with a rallying cry to run again for president in 2024,” it reads.

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley has argued that censuring Trump is a “dangerous” tactic for the nation.

Barring the former President from running again in the future based on a rarely cited provision of the 14th Amendment, without a trial and supermajority vote could open up the floodgates for party’s in power to keep their political opponents out of office.

“The party in control could bar dozens of its opponents from running for federal office,” Turley explains. “Some Democrats are now demanding such action against Republicans who challenged the election of Joe Biden.”

Indeed, how often have we heard Democrats demand Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz be expelled from Congress?

“This is common in authoritarian countries such as Iran, where leaders often bar their opponents from office,” Turley adds.

The post Report: Democrats Have A Back-Up Plan That Might Still Bar Trump From Running Again If Impeachment Fails appeared first on The Political Insider.

Biden Administration In ‘Active Conversation’ To Require COVID Test Before Domestic Flights

Posted on by John Hanson

On Sunday, Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that the Biden administration is in active conversations with the CDC about requiring Americans to have a negative COVID-19 test before traveling by plane to another U.S. state.

Buttigieg made his comments during an Axios interview when the Democrat was asked what he thought “of requiring a COVID test before someone flies even domestically?”

RELATED: Dan Rather Says It May Have Not Been ‘Responsible’ To Air Commercials Of Crowds Maskless During Super Bowl

Buttigieg: ‘Going To Be Guided By Data, By Science’

“Well, there’s an active conversation with the CDC right now, what I can tell you is this going to be guided by data, by science, by medicine, and by the input of the people are actually going to have to carry this out,” Buttigieg replied.

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana and 2020 presidential candidate continued, “But here’s the thing, the safer we can make air travel in terms of perception as well as reality, the more people are going to be ready to get back in the air.”

Buttigieg also argued that most Americans’ typical work schedule might be permanently changed due to the pandemic.

Buttigieg said we should start looking more closely at different types of transportation like “bikes, scooters, wheelchairs” because “roads aren’t only for vehicles.”

‘Mayor Pete’ Defends Keystone Pipeline Cancellation

“Mayor Peter” also defended President Joe Biden recently killing the Keystone Pipeline by executive order.

During Buttigieg’s Senate confirmation hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz pressed Buttigieg on that issue, asking, “So for those workers, the answer is somebody else will get a job?”

Buttigieg replied, “The answer is we are very eager to see those workers continue to be employed in good-paying union jobs, even if they might be different ones.”

RELATED: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

It’s safe to assume the many Americans put out of work by the Biden administration’s decision to axe the Keystone Pipeline XL might take a very different view.

Several unions have blasted the move.

Even the head of America’s largest labor union, the AFL-CIO, declared his disappointment.

“I wish he had paired that more carefully with the thing that he did second by saying, ‘Here’s where we’re creating jobs. We can do mine reclamation. We can fix leaks. We can fix seeps and create hundreds of thousands of jobs doing that stuff,’” AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka said of the move.

The post Biden Administration In ‘Active Conversation’ To Require COVID Test Before Domestic Flights appeared first on The Political Insider.

Constitutional Professor: Why Senate Cannot Bar Trump From Being President Again

Posted on by RealClearWire

By James Sieja for RealClearPolitics

Perhaps they are thinking about the next election or their political legacies, but Democrats and some Republicans intent on impeaching and convicting former President Donald Trump are not reading the Constitution correctly. 

When the Senate trial begins Monday, there will be lots of grandstanding and lawyerly pettifogging, and we will find out if Democrats can convince 17 Republicans that they need to convict the former president. 

Fortunately, I don’t think they’ll succeed. I say fortunately because impeaching Trump would be wrong, constitutionally speaking. 

RELATED: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

Forty-five Republicans recently voted that this second Trump impeachment trial is in itself unconstitutional. They are incorrect. 

The bipartisan group of 55 senators who voted to proceed to the trial think that the Senate can apply a sanction after conviction. Constitutionally, they’re wrong, too. 

Republicans are wrong because the plain text of the Constitution, as Michael McConnell, a Stanford professor and former federal judge, points out, makes no exceptions or qualifications to either the House’s “sole power of impeachment” or the Senate’s “sole power to try all impeachments.” 

Therefore, the Senate clearly has the power — what legal scholars call jurisdiction — to try the case. 

But, jurisdiction is not the only consideration enshrined in constitutional law.

Two other concepts, standing and justiciability, are central to any court’s decision-making at the beginning of a case. Along with jurisdiction, courts call them, collectively, “threshold questions.” 

Because senators, especially the ones looking to convict, exercise judicial power when they try any impeachment, they would do well to take seriously the requirements for standing and the Supreme Court’s rules for justiciability. 

Standing refers to someone’s ability to bring a case to court in the first place. In the 1992 case Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, the late Justice Antonin Scalia listed three factors that comprise the “irreducible constitutional minimum” basis for standing.

While people probably know Justice Scalia for his acerbic dissents, the Lujan majority today is likely his most widely cited uncontroversial opinion. 

In the second Trump impeachment, the relevant element of the Lujan trio is the last one: The court must be able to give a final, binding judgment to the party that wants a punishment.

RELATED: Rand Paul Roasts Hypocrisy Of Impeaching Trump, Doing Nothing About Chuck Schumer, Waters, And Omar

The House wants to punish Trump for his actions. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution plainly declares the required punishment: “The president … shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of … high crimes and misdemeanors.”

“Shall” means it must happen. The Senate can’t remove Trump from a position he no longer holds, which means it can’t punish him. Thus, the House lacks standing. 

To be clear, the House retained standing while Trump retained the presidency. But, once he left, the case became moot — purely a matter for discussion, like the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin.

“Wait!” supporters of conviction cry out. “There’s also the bit in Article I about disqualifying a person who’s been impeached from holding office ever again.”

That is true, but the passage doesn’t improve the logic of a post-presidency Senate punishment in the least. No matter how long we “Wait!” the Senate will still not be able to render the required punishment, so the standing problem remains. 

More importantly, the disqualification punishment presents a justiciability question. Justiciability refers to the ability of a court to effectively resolve the case.

Over several cases, the Supreme Court has identified a bunch of factors that lead to justiciability issues, but all of them stem from a single idea: It’s not the court’s job to decide this, but rather it’s somebody else’s job. 

If the Senate tried to disqualify Trump from holding the presidency again, it would arrogate a privilege — determining who will not be president — that the Constitution explicitly reserves to another body: We the People.

Thus, there is a clear justiciability problem with disqualification if it tries to block anyone — Trump, you, me, anyone — from winning the presidency or other elected office. 

RELATED: Hiding Biden: How Democrats Crafted First Impeachment, Helping Defeat Trump With Media Help

Alexander Hamilton declared that the Constitution stood for the idea “that the people should choose whom they please to govern them.”

However imperfectly, this is what we do in districts and states throughout the country. And we choose through the Electoral College, a defense of which the current impeachment ironically springs from.

For the House and Senate, a mere 535 citizens, to absolutely bar nearly 160 million from a completely free electoral choice turns the Constitution upside down. 

Ultimately, the Senate can exercise its clear jurisdiction to hear the case, complete with senatorial bloviations, and lawyerly dodges.

But, if the outcome is anything other than the status quo ante, meaning Trump remains eligible for the presidency in the future, the Senate will deal a grave blow to not just the Constitution but to every member of We the People who thinks they still have a choice.

Syndicated with permission from RealClearWire.

James Sieja, assistant professor of government at St. Lawrence University, studies the federal court system and teaches courses in the U.S. Constitution.

The post Constitutional Professor: Why Senate Cannot Bar Trump From Being President Again appeared first on The Political Insider.

Meghan McCain Calls Bashing Liz Cheney, Pro-Impeachment Republicans A ‘Losing Strategy’

Posted on by John Hanson

“The View” co-host Meghan McCain said on Monday that reports of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy asking Congresswoman Liz Cheney to apologize for her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump was concerning.

McCain said Republican leadership taking this route was a “losing strategy.”

Watch the video below.

RELATED: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

McCain On Cheney’s Impeachment Vote: ‘She Has Nothing To Apologize For’

McCain said on ABC, “There was a really interesting report that came out in Axios over the weekend that said that Kevin McCarthy actually asked her to apologize for voting for impeachment, and she said that.”

“She said people in the caucus asked me to apologize, and she said that publicly,” McCain said.

According to Axios, before the GOP conference met to decide the fates of Cheney and Marjorie Taylor Greene, GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had asked Cheney to apologize.

McCain said it worries her that McCarthy or any other Republican would think that voting for impeachment was something to apologize for.

“It’s interesting to know that it’s the leader of the caucus that asked her to do that, and she defiantly said she won’t apologize, and she has nothing to apologize for,” McCain insisted.

McCain Is Worried About The ‘Liz Cheneys Of The Party,’ Including Herself

She continued, “I now am feeling very concerned about the fact that the leader of Republicans in Congress seems to think that if you are for impeachment, you have something to apologize for and atone for, and I do think that’s a losing strategy.”

McCain is worried there isn’t enough love for the “Liz Cheneys of the party,” and included herself in the same category as Cheney.

“I’m very skeptical of the big-tent party narrative right now because it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of love for the Liz Cheneys of the party,” McCain complained, adding, “which I guess at this point includes me.”

RELATED: Sunny Hostin Confronts CNN’s Van Jones On ‘The View’ – ‘People In The Black Community Don’t Trust You Anymore’

McCain Calls Cheney A ‘Red-blooded Conservative’

“The View” co-host also added that she is worried about the future of the GOP when a “red-blooded conservative” like Cheney can be treated this way.

“I’m very skeptical of the promises that we will respect the Liz Cheneys after this,” McCain said. “My question is, how long until we start trashing her?”

“I think she’s doing good work now, but at a certain point, she’s a red-blooded conservative,” McCain insisted. “She’s not a squish or a RINO.”

“She is not someone in the middle,” McCain finished.

McCain and Cheney exemplify what many in the conservative movement consider the Establishment of the GOP, who are out of step with the base that largely aligns with President Trump. 

In a measure of how out of step she may be, Cheney has been censured by the Wyoming state Republican Party, and at least 10 County Republican Parties in Wyoming for her vote to impeach Trump. 

Commentator Dick Morris recently said Cheney has a ‘snowball’s chance in Hell’ at getting re-elected.

RELATED: If Republicans Put America First, They’ll Remove Liz Cheney, Not Donald Trump

Watch the segment here:

The post Meghan McCain Calls Bashing Liz Cheney, Pro-Impeachment Republicans A ‘Losing Strategy’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

AOC Declares She ‘Will Not Apologize’ For Saying Cruz Tried ‘To Get Me Killed’

Posted on by John Hanson

Far-left Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Post that she “will not apologize” for her tweet late last month in which she said of Senator Ted Cruz, “You almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago.”

According to the Post, AOC made the comments at a press conference in Queens on Monday.

In the video, which is garbled in the beginning, you can see a reporter say “Ted… (unintelligible) he, he tried to have you murdered at Capitol, at the Capitol riots.”

AOC responds, “That’s not the quote and I will not apologize for what I said.” 

AOC vs. Cruz

“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told The Post on Monday that she’s not going to apologize to Sen. Ted Cruz for accusing him of nearly having her ‘murdered’ during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot,” the New York Post reported.

RELATED: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

Ocasio-Cortez’s controversial tweet came after investor trading app Robinhood started blocking investors from buying shares of GameStop.

Small investors had banded together using the popular forum Reddit in order to buy GameStop stock, after it was discovered that major hedge funds had massively shorted the stock. 

A few days into the rally, the app blocked users from buying shares, and only allowed them to sell their shares. 

Cruz said he “fully” agreed with AOC’s statement that Robinhood’s actions were “unacceptable.”

“This is unacceptable,” AOC tweeted. “We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.”

“As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I’d support a hearing if necessary,” Ocasio-Cortez added.

Cruz, in a bipartisan move that is increasingly rare in Washington, retweeted Ocasio-Cortez, adding, “Fully agree.”

In a sign of the times, Cruz’s agreement with AOC didn’t go over well.

Ocasio-Cortez To Cruz: ‘If You Want To Help, You Can Resign’

Ocasio-Cortez then went after Cruz, “I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out.”

“Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed,” AOC tweeted. “In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign.”

Ocasio-Cortez went on, “While you conveniently talk about ‘moving on,’ a second Capitol police officer lost their life yesterday in the still-raging aftermath of the attacks you had a role in. This isn’t a joke.”

“We need accountability, and that includes a new Senator from Texas,” she wrote. “You haven’t even apologized for the serious physical + mental harm you contributed to from Capitol Police & custodial workers to your own fellow members of Congress.”

AOC added, “In the meantime, you can get off my timeline & stop clout-chasing. Thanks. Happy to work with other GOP on this.”

13 House Republicans Demanded An Apology From AOC

On Feb. 2, 13 House Republicans led by Congressman Chip Roy demanded that Ocasio-Cortez apologize to Cruz.

In a joint letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the 13 House members demanded that Ocasio-Cortez apologize for her accusation. 

RELATED: Sheila Jackson Lee’s Gun Control Bill Would Create A National Firearm Registry, Require Licensing

“It has come to our attention that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent out a tweet in which she accused Senator Cruz, in essence, of attempted murder,” the letter read.

It continued, “We believe this is completely unacceptable behavior for a member of Congress to make this kind of scurrilous charge against another member, in the House or Senate, for simply engaging in speech and debate regarding electors as they interpreted the Constitution.” 

“We ask you to call on her to immediately apologize and retract her comments,” the House members demanded of Pelosi.

For the time being, it looks like AOC has no plans to apologize.

The post AOC Declares She ‘Will Not Apologize’ For Saying Cruz Tried ‘To Get Me Killed’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, As Top Democrat Admits It’s Not Crazy To Argue It Is Unconstitutional

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

On the eve of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, lawyers for the former President are demanding a dismissal, while a top Democrat admits the process could reasonably be argued as unconstitutional.

A memorandum filed by Trump’s legal team Monday calls for an “immediate dismissal” of what they define as Democrat “political theater.”

“The Article of Impeachment presented by the House is unconstitutional for a variety of reasons, any of which alone would be grounds for immediate dismissal,” they write.

“Taken together, they demonstrate conclusively that indulging House Democrats’ hunger for this political theater is a danger to our Republic[an] democracy and the rights that we hold dear.”

RELATED: CNN’s Jake Tapper Called Out For Claiming Republicans Must Stop ‘Insane Lies’ That Have Led To ‘MAGA Terrorism’

The Impeachment of a Former President IS Unconstitutional

Meanwhile, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), during an interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, admitted it is not “ridiculous” for his GOP colleagues to argue the impeachment is unconstitutional.

“I will admit that this is, of course, a matter of first impression. And so I don’t think the case that Senator Paul is making here is a ridiculous one,” Murphy said.

Senator Rand Paul forced a procedure two weeks ago that prompted 45 Republicans to vote that the impeachment trial is unconstitutional.

In an op-ed column, Paul (R-KY) also referred to the impeachment process against the former President as a “farce” and said it should be dismissed.

“The Constitution says two things about impeachment — it is a tool to remove the officeholder, and it must be presided over by the chief justice of the Supreme Court,” he wrote.

Neither of those criteria has been met by the House impeachment effort.

RELATED: Dead On Arrival: 45 Republicans – Including McConnell – Vote That Trump’s Impeachment Trial Is Unconstitutional

Murphy Disagrees

While he does argue that Republicans could make a viable case, Senator Murphy disagrees that the impeachment is unconstitutional.

“I come to a different judgment … I think we have this responsibility,” he countered. “But I – listen, I admit that Senator Paul’s case is, you know, not from outer space.”

Paul, however, claims even Supreme Court Justice John Roberts recognized the impeachment trial as being troublesome.

“Justice Roberts said heck no, I’m not coming across the street because you’re not impeaching the president,” Paul said.

“This was a strong signal to all of us that this was going to be a partisan hearing with a Democrat in the chair, who’s already voted for impeachment.”

Paul went on to echo the sentiments of Trump’s lawyers regarding the impeachment trial, calling it a “partisan farce.”

The post Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, As Top Democrat Admits It’s Not Crazy To Argue It Is Unconstitutional appeared first on The Political Insider.

Liz Cheney Says ‘Massive Criminal Investigation’ Underway Into Whether Trump Incited ‘Premeditated Violence’ At The Capitol

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) claims there is a “massive criminal investigation underway” to determine if former President Trump is guilty of inciting “premeditated” violence on the Capitol.

Cheney made the startling assertion during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace.

The Republican lawmaker urged her colleagues in the Senate to consider the evidence that would be put forth during the upcoming impeachment trial.

“If I was in the Senate, I would listen to the evidence,” she said. “I think that is the role the Senate has as jurors.”

“I would also point out that the Senate trial is a snapshot. There’s a massive criminal investigation underway,” continued Cheney. “There will be a massive criminal investigation of everything that happened on Jan. 6 and in the days before.”

RELATED: Explosive TIME Magazine Investigation: “Well-Funded Cabal” Worked To Change Election Laws, Control Flow Of Information

Liz Cheney – Trump the Subject of a Massive Criminal Investigation

Rep. Liz Cheney went on to suggest that the criminal investigation into Trump’s alleged role in the Capitol riots was to determine whether or not his actions were “premeditated.”

“People will want to know exactly what the president was doing,” Cheney said referencing a tweet in which the former President criticized vice president Mike Pence for not being courageous in combating the election results.

People “will want to know … whether that tweet, for example, was a premeditated effort to provoke violence,” she claimed.

Cheney’s rantings are nearly indiscernible from those of her colleague Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) who claims Trump should face premeditated murder charges for his alleged role in the riots.

“There’s information that some of the planning came out of individuals working in his campaign,” Waters said.

“As a matter of fact, he absolutely should be charged with premeditated murder because of the lives that were lost with this invasion, with this insurrection.”

Not an ounce of difference between what Waters has said and what Liz Cheney is trying to say with her criminal investigation comments about Trump.

RELATED: Maxine Waters Wants Trump Charged With ‘Premeditated Murder’

Claims No Future For Trump in the Republican Party

Liz Cheney, during her interview with Wallace, went on to claim that Donald Trump has no future in the Republican party.

“Somebody who has provoked an attack on the United States Capitol to prevent the counting of electoral votes, which resulted in five people dying, who refused to stand up immediately when he was asked to stop the violence, that is a person who does not have a role as the leader of our party going forward,” she said.

“We should not be embracing the former president.”

The reality, however, suggests it is Cheney and the anti-Trump Republicans who are not being embraced by Republican voters.

One poll, released last month, shows a vast majority of Republicans do not hold Trump responsible for the Capitol riots, and a staggering 92 percent still see him as their preferred nominee in 2024.

Another poll shows an overwhelming percentage of Republican voters would follow him to a new political party if need be.

Cheney, one of the few Republicans to join the Democrats in their impeachment charade, was censured by the Wyoming Republican Party for her actions.

Former Clinton campaign adviser Dick Morris recently told Newsmax that she “has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting reelected.”

The post Liz Cheney Says ‘Massive Criminal Investigation’ Underway Into Whether Trump Incited ‘Premeditated Violence’ At The Capitol appeared first on The Political Insider.

Dick Morris: Liz Cheney ‘Has A Snowball’s Chance In Hell’ At Getting Re-Elected

Posted on by John Hanson

Former Clinton campaign adviser and popular political prognosticator Dick Morris recently said that Congresswoman Liz Cheney will lose her re-election campaign in 2022 in the GOP primary due to her decision to impeach former President Donald Trump.

Morris also said allowing Cheney to remain in Republican leadership shows how out of touch party’s leaders are with their base.

RELATED: Newt Gingrich Predicts Democrats Will Throw Away Congress ‘Once Again’ With ‘Radical’ Budget Agenda

Morris: ‘Liz Cheney Is A Gone Goose’

“She has snowball’s chance in hell of getting reelected,” Morris recently told Newsmax. 

“Her favorability is down to 13% and she loses the projected primary by 3-1 or 4-1,” Morris said. “Wyoming went 70% for Trump.”

“And Liz Cheney is a gone goose,” he added.

Morris explained how Republicans leaders don’t understand where the rank and file base is right now.

Morris said, “And it’s ridiculous, and shows how out of touch Kevin McCarthy and the Republican leadership is with the voters of the Republican Party, that he and Scalise worked overtime to round up votes for this…traitor, who voted to impeach Donald Trump.”

“The voters of her state, Wyoming, her state,” Morris insisted “will not be so forgiving.”

Cheney was censured last week by the Wyoming Republican Party for being among the ten Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump.

Previous to that state-wide Party vote, many of Wyoming’s County Republican parties also voted to censure her.

Morris: ‘She’s Part Of Republican Royalty Because Of Her Father’

“While she did win the vote in the House because it was basically set up by the leadership and she’s kind of inherited royalty among Republicans,” Morris noted.

Morris did stated a glaring fact about Cheney’s current popularity back home.

“But, in fact, there’s some polling in Wyoming [that suggests that] she has a 13% job approval among Republicans,” Morris said.

Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is currently the third highest-ranking position in the House GOP.

“She shouldn’t be [Wyoming’s] congressman in any case,” Morris said. “But she’s part of Republican royalty because of her father and they don’t want to move against her.”

“But the voters have their own minds,” Morris reminded.

RELATED: Trump Voices Support For Lou Dobbs After Fox Cancels His Show – ‘Nobody Loves America More’

Morris then explained how Republican leaders are probably mis-analyzing their own voters.

“The word ‘base’ is something the Left likes to use to describe Trump supporters,” Morris said.

“It’s not his base, it’s 80% or 90% of the Republican Party. The word is the Republican Party. And they try to pretend it’s fragmented, but it’s not.”

“And if it [is] fragmented, it’s not the Left against the Right, it’s the top against the rest of it,” Morris explained.

“That’s what you’re seeing here” Morris finished.

The post Dick Morris: Liz Cheney ‘Has A Snowball’s Chance In Hell’ At Getting Re-Elected appeared first on The Political Insider.

Dr. Ben Carson’s Plan For National Unity: American Cornerstone

Posted on by RealClearWire

By Ben Carson for RealClearPolitics

We have painted our fellow Americans as “​deplorable​,” “stupid,” and worse. It is this type of malicious, political rhetoric fueled by opportunistic politicians and profit-driven media organizations that has roiled our deeply divided nation.

We are better than this. Words such as compromise, compassion, and civility are twisted, maligned and tainted as somehow being dirty, or have magically disappeared altogether.

We must do better than this.

I miss the days when Americans fought united for freedom and justice for all — equally.

I miss when compromise, compassion, and civility were not only encouraged but celebrated, where individuals accepted the consequences of their actions, when politicians pursued the public good, not just their own good.

RELATED: Rejecting The Trump ‘America First’ Agenda, Joe Biden Recommits To Global Leadership

My time serving as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development over the last four years taught me many things, none more important than the necessity for collaboration and mutual understanding.

I saw first-hand that, when we work together as one nation, the American Dream becomes attainable for all and opportunity becomes limitless.

It is for these reasons — and many others — that I am launching a nonprofit conservative think tank with the goal of providing common-sense solutions to some of our nation’s biggest problems. The first step in healing is to start talking to one another again.

The American Cornerstone Institute will be dedicated to creating dialogue and smart discourse.

ACI will focus on promoting and preserving individual and religious liberty, helping our country’s most vulnerable find new hope, and developing methods to maximize government’s efficiency and effectiveness to best serve all our nation’s citizens.

ACI will focus on a diverse set of issues that influence important policy discussions. We will engage with local governments and work with communities to find solutions to our nation’s problems.

Related: Democrats Demand Trump Testify At Senate Impeachment Trial

We must work to improve American cities. While many of the country’s large cities face similar problems — homelessness, a higher cost of living, and rising crime, to name a few — the causes of these problems, and the best ways to address them, will vary from place to place.

The institute will study in detail some of America’s largest cities, identifying the key drivers of their current issues and potential solutions that take into account the unique characteristics of each urban area.

We will serve as a check on political power in Washington. ACI will actively push and remind the powers that be to allow and even empower local communities to govern their own affairs.

Washington may be home to our political arena, but it is seldom a place for finding solutions; for those we must look to the American people.

For the preservation of this great nation, for ourselves, and the next generation, we will foster a renewed focus on education.

If there’s one thing I know to be true, it’s that education is the key to prosperity. Without it, our communities will falter and our institutions will crumble.

Related: Poll: 64 Percent Of Republican Voters Would Join Trump If He Started A New Party

We are one nation, under God. We must not forget that. The United States of America is seen as a beacon of freedom and hope across the world, a place where the practice of one’s faith should be encouraged and protected, without trepidation.

ACI will promote the value of self-sufficiency and the idea of creating equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome.

Providing individuals with opportunities to transform and improve their lives leads to better outcomes than subsidies and welfare programs.

We are a compassionate nation, the greatest civic experiment in history, the world’s guiding light of freedom and opportunity.

The Bible says, if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

There have been many calls to heal the divide that has polarized our great nation. The American Cornerstone Institute will be a leader and part of the solution. Our goal is simple: heal, inspire, and revive America.

Syndicated with permission from RealClearWire.

Dr. Ben Carson is the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

The post Dr. Ben Carson’s Plan For National Unity: American Cornerstone appeared first on The Political Insider.

MSNBC Cuts Away From GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy To Tell Audience ‘What You Are Watching Now Is Not True’

Posted on by John Hanson

On Thursday, MSNBC personality Nicolle Wallace broke away from coverage of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s floor remarks concerning Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to claim to her viewers that “what you are watching right now isn’t true.”

Wallace made her comments during her show “Deadline.”

McCarthy was speaking before Democrats held a vote to remove Greene from her committees over controversial comments she made before being elected to office.

Watch the video below.

McCarthy Blasts Democrats

McCarthy said on the House floor, “The rushed impeachment threw without a shred of due process just like today. Reducing this tool from the highest constitutional remedy to just another opportunity to fund raise and go on TV.”

“Now they are declaring the majority has veto power over the minorities members selection for committee,” McCarthy said. “We reviewed this with the parliamentarian.”

“Never before in the history of this House has the majority abused its power in this way,” he added.

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The House Minority Leader then turned his sights on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“But it is clear that Speaker Pelosi’s caucus think differently,” McCarthy said. “They are blinded by partisanship and politics. It’s the American people who will suffer the most because of it.”

McCarthy then roundly condemned Greene’s comments before she became a congresswoman.

He said, “As far as the member in question, let me be very clear, Representative Greene’s past comments and posts as a private citizen do not represent of values of my party.”

“As a Republican, as a conservative, as an American, I condemn those views unequivocally,” McCarthy said. “I condemned them when they first surfaced and I condemn them today.”

McCarthy then focused on the QAnon conspiracy theory itself.

“This House overwhelmingly voted to condemn the dangerous lies of QAnon last Congress, and continue to do so,” McCarthy insisted. “I also made this clear when I met with representative Greene.”

Wallace: ‘Most Of What Kevin McCarthy Is Saying… Is Not True’

“I also made clear that we as members have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard,” McCarthy said. “She acknowledged this during or conversation and apologized for her past comments.”

He emphasized, “I will hold her to her words and her actions moving forward.”

That is when Wallace cut away to tell her viewers what was ‘really’ happening.

Wallace said, breaking from covering McCarthy, “We’re going to come out of it because most of it is not true.”

Wallace then doubled down, “Most of what Kevin McCarthy is saying, while he appears to believe it as it comes out of his mouth, is not true.”

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“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee appointments are not in the air and up for a vote today because of Democrats,” Wallace said. “It’s up in the air and up for a vote today because Kevin McCarthy can’t clean his own house.”

Then she backed Liz Cheney and continued to dump on McCarthy.

Wallace said, “He led 61 of his colleagues to vote against Liz Cheney’s leadership post because she had the audacity to call an insurrection incited by Donald Trump an insurrection inspired by and incited by Donald Trump. So what you are watching right now isn’t true.”

Wallace’s argument isn’t a set of facts. It’s her own opinion. 

It’s her opinion that Democrats were kicking Greene off her committees because “Kevin McCarthy can’t clean his own house.” 

It’s unclear what Wallace means by this. What action, exactly, is McCarthy supposed to take? Marjorie Taylor Greene was duly elected by the people of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District – by 75%.

And what does the Liz Cheney vote have to do with Democrats kicking Greene off her committees?

There’s nothing in the Constitution, or the law, or even the House rules that requires Democrats to remove someone from their committees because the other party held a vote in their caucus about their leadership.

The truth is, Wallace wanted to cut away from McCarthy to editorialize. 

Watch the extraordinary segment here:

The post MSNBC Cuts Away From GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy To Tell Audience ‘What You Are Watching Now Is Not True’ appeared first on The Political Insider.