All The Biden Border Policies That Have Illegal Immigrants Heading North

By James Varney for RealClearInvestigations

While a federal court has stayed the Biden administration’s attempt to lift pandemic-prompted restrictions on immigrants pouring across the southern border, that is just one setback in a largely successful push by the president to make it easier for migrants to enter, live, and work in the U.S.

Since Joe Biden’s first day in office, when he signed seven executive orders on immigration that, among other things, suspended deportations and ended the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program that had eased the crush of those awaiting asylum hearings, the president has in word and deed sent signals that migrants have interpreted as welcoming.

The initiatives include reviving the Obama-era policy known as “catch and release,” “paroling” illegal border crossers so they can enter the country, resettling migrants through secret flights around the country, and ending the “no match” policy that had helped the government identify people who were using fraudulent credentials to find work.

RELATED: Texas Forced To Increase Border Security Spending By $500 Million As Biden Title 42 Changes Loom

At the same time, the administration has deflected responsibility for the surge of immigrants. Initially, Biden’s team claimed there was no significant spike in immigration, later attributing it to “cyclical” and seasonal trends. Even as a record number of migrants from around the world were streaming across the border, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki declared last year that “the border remains closed.”

Last week, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the administration had “effectively managed” the border crisis while also blaming “a broken and dismantled system” the administration had inherited.

Many people on the front lines of the border – where a record 1.9 million people were apprehended during fiscal 2021, hundreds of thousands of whom were then released into the county – say the Biden administration’s policies have exacerbated the surge. 

“We’re stopping nobody coming into our country,” said Clint McDonald, the executive director of the Texas/Southwestern Texas Border Sheriffs’ Coalition, “and we have no idea who is in our country.”

McDonald and other critics blame what they see as an ideological crusade by Biden officials to dissolve or ignore various laws and regulations that once checked or limited the influx of illegal immigrants – whom the administration now refers to as “irregular migrants.”

“We don’t know how else to put it,” said Spencer Raley, the director of research for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors curbs on illegal immigration. “Since the day he took office, Biden has not signed a policy that would enhance border security. Instead, everything that has been put into place was designed not just to undo policies of the Trump administration but to reflect an unending desire to bring more and more people into our country.” 

Biden’s presidential campaign was perhaps more transparent about his intentions than the official line since his inauguration. At several points in 2020, the campaign signaled that enforcement of the U.S. border would be significantly relaxed and opportunities for amnesty expanded. Criticism of the Trump administration’s allegedly harsh border policies were a staple of Biden and his fellow Democratic Party candidates throughout that election year.

Within hours of taking office Biden began to make good on his signals, moving aggressively against the existing infrastructure that dealt with illegal immigration at the southern border. In addition to temporarily suspending deportations and ending the “Remain in Mexico” program, he issued an executive order stopping work on Trump’s border wall.

RELATED: Rep. Gaetz Blasts DHS Secretary Mayorkas Over Open Borders At Congressional Hearing

Policy memos from the Homeland Security also gave Border and Customs Protection and ICE agents more latitude in how they handle people encountered crossing the southern border without papers. These policy directives effectively ended ICE’s usual practice of taking custody of immigrants released from local or state jails, and placed more restrictions on the ability of federal authorities to arrest illegal immigrants.

During Trump’s last three months in office, apprehensions along the southern border held steady at an average of 75,000. In the first two months of Biden’s tenure, that number shot up by 120%, reaching a peak of 213,593 last July.

Despite those sharp increases, the Biden administration continued its relaxed border policies. Agreements the Trump administration had reached with Mexico and Central American countries, known as Asylum Cooperative Agreements, which were designed to constrict the flow of immigrants, were scrubbed so that immigrants no longer needed to request asylum in the first country they enter after leaving home. 

The administration also reinstituted an Obama-era policy known as “catch and release.” It moved in the opposite direction of the Trump administration by lifting travel bans on some countries – bans upheld by the Supreme Court. Biden’s team has also expanded the list of countries whose residents can be granted “Temporary Protected Status” – which prohibits deportation because those countries are deemed unsafe – and extended the safe harbor period for residents of nine covered countries.

The Pew Research Center estimated last year that at least 700,000 immigrants from 12 countries were covered by the program, including Haiti, El Salvador, Venezuela, and Yemen.

The Biden administration has once again expanded the ability of Border Patrol and ICE agents to grant illegal immigrants what is known as “parole.” Although the law granting this power is specific – it allows the government to temporarily admit people on a “case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian or medical reasons” – various administrations have interpreted the law differently.

The Biden administration has reversed Trump’s strict interpretation of that language, reverting to the policy in place under President Obama that allows much wider discretion for granting of “parole” to accept hundreds of thousands of migrants. 

Some states have challenged the Biden administration’s expansion of parole, although those cases are still being litigated.

RELATED: Conservatives Urge Texas Government To Declare Border Crisis An ‘Invasion’

In yet another policy change that facilitates illegal immigration, the Social Security Administration quietly announced on its website last May that it would cease to issue what are known as “no-match” letters, which informed employers of discrepancies between its records and information provided by employees. Critics of the system said it targeted immigrants and claimed the letters were often sent in error. The SSA reportedly sent 791,000 no-match letters in 2020

The Biden administration has even further euphemized liberals’ use of language regarding immigration. Advocates of more open border policies long preferred “undocumented aliens” to “illegal immigrants,” but now even that has been abandoned for the new phrase, “irregular migrants.” 

RealClearInvestigations reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, its subordinate organizations of Customs and Border Protection and ICE, and the SSA for comment on the overall impact of Biden administration policies, but did not receive a response. An ICE spokesperson responded that it would defer to CBP, which did not respond.

Most recently, the Biden administration insisted on ending Title 42, a clause from a 1944 public health law the Trump administration had used to limit illegal immigration during the COVID pandemic. Experts predicted its removal would lead to a tsunami of more illegal immigrants, and at least 10 congressional Democrats, including those up for reelection this year such as Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, have voiced reservations about lifting it.

When pressed last month on the reasoning behind the plan to do away with Title 42, White House spokesperson Vedant Patel said: “As always is the case, this administration is working every day to provide relief to immigrants, restore order, fairness and humanity to our immigration system and bring it into the 21st century.”

Critics such as Raley of the Federation for American Immigration Reform say such language shows that Biden’s team sees the issue from the perspective of migrants rather than that of American citizens. “They’re changing the terms because they want to conflate illegal immigrants at the southern border with legal immigration,” he said.

Although there have been rumblings that Republicans might move to impeach Mayorkas if they regain the House next year, most of the pushback to the administration’s immigration policies has come from the states. Various lawsuits filed by Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, Arizona, Alabama, and Montana have sought to check ICE’s refusal to take custody of immigrants released from prison, and another suit this week seeks to block the administration’s plan to give asylum granting powers to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees rather than immigration court judges.

RELATED: DHS Chief Claims Worry About New ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ Is Due To ‘Misinformation’

The administration claims the new rule would “streamline” the process and help unclog a huge backlog in immigration court of nearly 1.7 million cases, according to a recent study by a team at Syracuse University.

Lawyers for the state of Texas contend, however, that the rule violated the Administrative Procedures Act and unduly shifts power from immigration courts to UCIS workers. Their lawsuit argues that the proposed rule “upends the entire adjudicatory system to the benefit of aliens,” the lawsuit said.

In some instances, most recently with the effort to lift Title 42, the Biden administration has been rebuffed in court – as it was last year, when a federal appeals court rejected its effort to end the “Remain in Mexico” policy. The Supreme Court heard arguments on that case last month.

The impact of the administration’s policies is clear to would-be migrants around the world, Sheriffs’ Coalition leader McDonald said. “There is a widespread idea among them that the border is open,” he told RCI. “Last week, illegal immigrants on the Rio Grande wanted to take pictures with sheriff’s deputies they encountered. They were FaceTiming people back in their home countries shouting, ‘We’re here! You can come!’ They know our government is not going to do anything about it.”

McDonald spent 21 years as sheriff of Terrell County, Texas, and when he first won his badge he said that perhaps two corpses a year would be found along the border. Last year it was 22. “It’s just unreal,” McDonald said. “Some of these small counties can’t even cover their morgue bills anymore.”

The post All The Biden Border Policies That Have Illegal Immigrants Heading North appeared first on The Political Insider.

Report: Mitt Romney Wears A Disguise In Public To Avoid Trump Supporters

Senator Mitt Romney allegedly wears a disguise when venturing out into public as a means to avoid Trump supporters.

This, according to excerpts from a new book titled, “This Will Not Pass,” written by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns.

Business Insider reports that Romney (R-UT) has been using an elaborate disguise when vacationing in Palm Beach, Florida where he owns a home.

And by ‘elaborate,’ we mean straight from the Marvel Universe school of disguises in which he’s been wearing hats while dining out in the wealthy town where former President Donald Trump also has a home.

“If he were recognized by Trump supporters there, there was a good chance he would be harassed,” a family friend told the authors.

RELATED: Trump Ally Sean Reyes Is Preparing To Primary Mitt Romney For Utah Senate Seat

Mitt Romney’s Disguise

The Salt Lake Tribune provides other interesting revelations from the book regarding Mitt Romney, crafty disguises aside.

According to the newspaper, Ann Romney, the Republican senator’s wife, says Trump’s feud with him has created such hostility amongst supporters that she has “severe doubts about whether any of their five sons could ever run for elected office as Republicans.”

A horrific fate, to be sure.

Last spring, Mitt Romney had boos and catcalls cascaded down upon him from well over 2,000 Republican delegates at the Utah Republican State Convention.

The Republican Party in Weber County, Utah, issued a formal censure of Romney for his multiple votes to convict Trump during his impeachment trials.

Trump issued a statement around that time calling the Utah senator “a stone-cold loser!”

In recent news, Romney has …

  • Blamed the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the Trump-touted concept of ‘America First.’
  • Joined Democrats as the only Republican to vote against repealing the transportation mask mandate.
  • Accused decorated Iraq War veteran and former Representative Tulsi Gabbard of being a Russian asset and spreading “treasonous lies.”

Gabbard demanded Romney resign over his comments.

“Senator Romney, please provide evidence that what I said is untrue and treasonous,” demanded Gabbard. “If you cannot, you should do the honorable thing: apologize and resign from the Senate.”

She later sent him a cease-and-desist letter and insisted he retract his statement.

RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard Demands Mitt Romney Resign After He Accuses Her Of ‘Treason’

Romney’s Alias

This isn’t the first time Mitt Romney has engaged in using disguises before.

The Senator also ran a fake Twitter account to attack Trump, using the name “Pierre Delecto.”

“As Delecto, Romney, who has become one of President Trump’s most vocal GOP critics, used the account to like critical tweets about the president, while also occasionally defending himself against detractors,” the Washington Post reported in 2019.

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Wearing disguises in public while sporting an online alter ego at home is not very becoming of a sitting U.S. senator.

In all fairness, Romney’s use of a disguise may be somewhat warranted considering last January, some supporters of President Trump confronted Romney as he sat quietly at an airport waiting area, with others chanting “traitor” later on the airplane.

If only he had been wearing a hat at the time, this never would have happened.

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Democrats To Explore Impeachment Options For Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

Impeachment-happy Democrats are expected to hold a hearing to explore the possibility of impeachment for Supreme Court justices in the wake of controversial messages surfacing from the wife of conservative Justice Clarence Thomas.

The hearing follow reports that Thomas’ wife, Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas, exchanged text messages with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about alleged election fraud after the 2020 election.

Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA) distributed a memo to members of the House Judiciary courts subcommittee that seeks further inquiry into legislative proposals to impose ‘ethics requirements’ on Supreme Court justices.

The memo, obtained by The Hill, “discusses Congress’s impeachment authority” as a means to regulate “the conduct of Supreme Court justices.”

Johnson, famously known as the lawmaker who once asked if the island of Guam might capsize if too many people were on it, is the chairman of the subcommittee.

RELATED: AOC Calls To Impeach Clarence Thomas, The Only Black Supreme Court Justice

Seeking Impeachment of Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas is the longest-serving justice, the second black justice, the only black justice until Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed over the summer, and the most conservative member currently serving on the Supreme Court.

That’s the true reason why he is being targeted.

Democrats have been seeking to get his recusal on cases involving the election and former President Donald Trump, suggesting his interpretation of laws is clouded by his wife’s beliefs.

The hearing exploring ethics and impeachment options involving the Supreme Court, titled “Building Confidence in the Supreme Court Through Ethics and Recusal Reforms,” will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

A committee in Congress, which perpetually holds a favorability rating in the teens, wants to ‘build confidence’ in the Supreme Court, whose favorability rating recently sat at 54%.

Though she doesn’t serve on the committee, far-left Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has been instrumental in the notion that the impeachment of Clarence Thomoas should be explored.

“Clarence Thomas should resign,” she tweeted last month.

“If not, his failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan 6th commission from key information must be investigated and could serve as grounds for impeachment.”

Once again proving the Squad Queen tells her party to jump … and they sure do ask ‘How high?’

RELATED: DeSantis Signs Bill To Create Election Police Force In Florida To Investigate Voter Fraud

The Impeachment Mob is Unwarranted

AOC went on to suggest the only sitting black Supreme Court justice must be ‘held accountable’ for the actions of his wife.

“Congress must understand that a failure to hold Clarence Thomas accountable sends a loud, dangerous signal to the full Court,” she said.

Mark Paoletta, former chief counsel and assistant to Vice President Mike Pence, argues that the case against the Thomases is thin and manufactured.

In a column for the Washington Examiner, Paoletta points out that Virginia Thomas’ involvement in the events of January 6 is minimal as she “attended the rally … but left before then-President Donald Trump addressed the crowd because she was cold.”

Paoletta also notes one of her private texts to Meadows points out the rioters themselves do not represent Trump supporters.

The National Review’s Andrew McCarthy concurs noting, “The smearing of Justice Thomas is transparently partisan politics, nothing more.”

A senior GOP aide tells The Hill, “Let’s be honest, this hearing is nothing more than step one in impeaching Justice Thomas.”

Thomas once famously declared his nomination process, turned into a smear campaign back in 1991, was “a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas.”

Then-Senator Joe Biden was instrumental in those shenanigans. 

With Democrats now pursuing the impeachment of Clarence Thomas, what exactly has changed in the party since that moment over 30 years ago?

The post Democrats To Explore Impeachment Options For Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas appeared first on The Political Insider.

Marjorie Taylor Greene Slams Democrats, Media After Lawsuit to Block Her Re-election is Allowed to Proceed

Marjorie Taylor Greene fired back at Democrats and the media following news that a lawsuit seeking to block her from running for re-election is being allowed to proceed.

The lawsuit alleging that she is unfit for office due to her supposed support for Capitol rioters was allowed to go forward by Judge Amy Totenberg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

You may recall media outrage over a Trump-appointed judge dropping the mask mandate earlier this week? There is little mention that Totenberg is an appointee of Barack Obama.

RELATED: Judge Slams DOJ For ‘Trampling’ Rights Of Capitol Riot Defendant – ‘No Excuse To Treat A Human Being Like That’

Lawsuit Against Marjorie Taylor Greene Allowed to Proceed

The case, filed by a group of voters, claims Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) violated a provision of the U.S. Constitution passed after the U.S. Civil War known as the “Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause.”

The clause, under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, 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.”

Obviously, this clause was meant to punish Confederate soldiers, officers, and politicians who engaged in war.

Totenberg, in allowing the case to proceed, argued Greene had failed “to establish a substantial likelihood of success on the merits” of her legal claims and “failed to meet the burden of persuasion.”

Greene sought a temporary injunction in the case, arguing it was unlikely to be resolved before Georgia’s primary elections on May 24.

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

Greene Upset That Media Will Distort Hearings

A similar legal challenge was filed against Representative Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) with the North Carolina State Board of Elections, but a federal judge blocked that effort noting that allowing such frivolous lawsuits to continue would open up similar retaliatory efforts by political opponents.

“The federal court is tasked with protecting the soapbox, the ballot box, and the jury box,” U.S. District Court Judge Richard Myers II said. “And when these fail, people proceed to the ammunition box.”

Greene has said she “never encouraged political violence and never will,” but will now be forced to testify in the case. And the media, she fears, will have a field day.

“It’s absurd what they are claiming and lying about,” said Greene in an interview with former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis.

“They’re going to allow the press in the courtroom,” she worried. “They’re going to allow the whole thing to be videoed live out to go anywhere in the world that they want to.”

“And you know what that’s going to look like — the Democrats and the nasty mainstream media … they’re going to be able to twist and turn, and clip out any little piece they want of the horrible things that these funded attorneys are going to try to say about me,” Greene continued.

Remember – Democrats objected to the election results in 2016 officially and during the proceedings certifying electoral votes 11 times:

  • Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) objected based on “the confirmed and illegal activities engaged by the government of Russia.”
  • Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) argued Florida’s electoral votes “violated Florida’s prohibition against dual officeholders.”
  • Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) objected to Georgia’s vote certificate.
  • Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) objected due to “the overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in our election.”
  • Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) suggested the election saw “massive voter suppression.”
  • Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) objected on violations of the Voting Rights Act.
  • Jackson Lee tried to support Grijalva’s objection.
  • Jackson Lee again chimed in objecting to South Carolina’s electoral votes.
  • Barbara Lee again tried to raise an objection before having her microphone cut off.
  • Jackson Lee once again tried to make an objection on the grounds of Russian interference in the election.
  • Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) begged a Senator to join her own objection after the final state’s votes had been read.

And don’t for a minute let them cast doubt that their undermining of the election results in 2016 did not lead to violence in Washington, D.C.

They may not have swarmed the Capitol complex, but there was violence in the streets and Democrat lawmakers were most assuredly trying to “obstruct, influence, impede or delay” the certification of the presidential election, just as Republicans are accused of doing on January 6.

If Totenberg can allow the case to proceed against Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican voters can surely launch at least seven of their own lawsuits against the aforementioned list of Democrats.

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After Getting Trump Endorsement, Message Surfaces Showing J.D. Vance In 2016 Worrying Trump Was ‘America’s Hitler’

After scoring an endorsement earlier this week from the former president, a text message has surfaced showing Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance worrying in 2016 that Trump was either “a cynical asshole” or “America’s Hitler.”

The news demonstrates just how important it is to vet people for their endorsement and how Donald Trump seemingly hasn’t learned that lesson.

“In the Great State of Ohio, the candidate most qualified and ready to win in November is J.D. Vance,” Trump said in a statement released Friday. “We cannot play games. It is all about winning!”

He also acknowledges that Vance has made some disparaging comments about him in the past.

“Like some others, J.D. Vance may have said some not-so-great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades,” Trump beamed.

RELATED: I’m Just Going To Say This: Trump’s Endorsement Of Dr. Oz Is The Wrong Move

J.D. Vance Worried Trump Was ‘America’s Hitler’

We’re all for people finally seeing the light on President Trump’s potential and desire to make America great again, but certain comments seem a bit too far gone.

GOP officials in Ohio urged Trump not to back Vance or any candidate in the Senate race.

“We know there are many qualified candidates in this race who have stood up for the ‘America First’ agenda over the years and have carried the Trump mantle over the years, again with the notable exception of JD Vance,” party leaders said in a letter to Trump.

Vance, a current populist firebrand and author of the memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” threatened to back Hillary Clinton in 2016 and called Trump “another opioid.”

“Like a lot of people, I criticized Trump back in 2016,” Vance he told Fox News last year. “And I ask folks not to judge me based on what I said in 2016, because I’ve been very open that I did say those critical things and I regret them, and I regret being wrong about the guy.”

RELATED: Candidate Trump Endorsed To Replace Liz Cheney Called Him ‘Racist And Xenophobic’

Trump’s Endorsements Gone Wrong

How wrong was Vance ‘about the guy’? Try, unhinged liberal lunatic-level wrong.

Georgia Representative Josh McLaurin, a Democrat who claims to have been Vance’s roommate at Yale University, shared a 2016 text message contending to be from the Ohio Senate candidate.

In the message, Vance laments the fact that Trump had become the face of the Republican party.

“We are, whether we like it or not, the party of lower-income, lower-education white people, and I have been saying for a long time that we need to offer those people SOMETHING (and hell, maybe even expand our appeal to working-class black people in the process) or a demagogue would,” he allegedly wrote. “We are now at the point.”

The message continued: “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a****** like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler. How’s that for discouraging?”

No Denial

Vance’s campaign didn’t deny the message came from him.

“It’s laughable that the media treats JD not liking Trump 6 years ago as some sort of breaking news, when they’ve already covered it to death since this race began,” his campaign manager told Newsweek.

Vance’s campaign manager added that Trump obviously views him as “a genuine convert.”

Last week, The Political Insider reported that Trump had endorsed Mehmet Oz – better known as Dr. Oz – in the Pennsylvania GOP primary for the U.S. Senate.

This, despite a history of decidedly non-conservative viewpoints on abortion, fracking, and gun control.

Trump Supports Hageman

Trump has also thrown his support in Wyoming to Harriet Hageman, the attorney running against Liz Cheney in an upcoming primary.

Hageman vociferously supported Cheney during her 2016 congressional campaign, and strongly opposed President Trump at the time.

In fact, she tried to stop Trump from getting the Republican nomination in 2016, and called him “racist and xenophobic.”

Backing Winners

Each time he makes one of these questionable endorsements, Trump indicates it’s all about backing a winner.

“This is all about winning elections in order to stop the Radical Left maniacs from destroying our country,” Trump said in his endorsement of Oz.

We’re skeptical he wouldn’t start looking for someone better if somebody like Mitt Romney was the best chance of stopping a Democrat in his Senate race. 

Maybe we’re wrong. He did, after all, endorse Romney in 2018. Romney has done nothing but stab him in the back since, voting to convict Trump in his impeachment trial over the former President’s alleged role in the Capitol riot.

Will these other candidates do the same – bend the knee for an endorsement only to drive a knife in the back of conservatives when the fate of the country is on the line?

The post After Getting Trump Endorsement, Message Surfaces Showing J.D. Vance In 2016 Worrying Trump Was ‘America’s Hitler’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Trump Sends Easter Message Of ‘Peace And Prosperity’ – Slams Democrats Trying To ‘Destroy Our Country’

Former President Donald Trump issued multiple Easter messages on Sunday, starting innocently enough with a positive message of “peace and prosperity” before moving on to skewer Democrats.

At 9:45 on Easter Sunday, a statement from Trump sent out by the ’45 Office’ was released.

“Happy Easter to all,” the message read. “May there be great peace and prosperity throughout the World!”

Simple. Disciplined. In line with the spirit of the holiday.

But it didn’t take long for Trump to pivot to the feisty fighter we all know and appreciate.

 

RELATED: Trump Celebrates Retirement of Latest Republican Who Voted For His Impeachment

Trump’s Brutal Easter Message For Democrats

To be perfectly honest, Trump’s initial message stood out for its simplicity and unwillingness to veer off on a tangent.

And this must have bothered the former President, because less than one hour later another Easter message was released, this time from the ‘Save America PAC’ account.

“Happy Easter to all including the Radical Left Maniacs who are doing everything possible to destroy our Country,” he said. “May they not succeed, but let them, nevertheless, be happy, healthy, wealthy, and well!”

Just an incredible display of brilliance, to be honest.

Though, one has to note that the only way to get to the “peace and prosperity” in Trump’s first Easter message is to make sure Democrats never again succeed in electing a man hell-bent on trying to “destroy our country” like President Biden.

RELATED: Critics Say Biden Rewrite Of Trump-Era Rule Will Raise Energy Prices, Bog Down Development

Trump Sends Another Brutal Message

Less than 40 minutes after sending that gem, Donald Trump sent another message targeting a particular Democrat – New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“Happy Easter to failed gubernatorial candidate and racist Attorney General Letitia James,” he wrote.

“May she remain healthy despite the fact that she will continue to drive business out of New York while at the same time keeping crime, death, and destruction in New York!”

He could have just bought her a ham or some Cadbury Creme Eggs.

Instead, Trump is offering James some tough love this Easter season.

James and the Manhattan district attorney’s office have been investigating whether Trump lowered property values on his tax forms but raised them in paperwork for lenders.

She has tried to have the former President and his adult children sit for depositions and requested that a judge hold Trump in contempt and fine him $10,000/day for not turning over documents.

Trump has responded to the inquiry by filing a federal lawsuit asking for an injunction against the probe.

The post Trump Sends Easter Message Of ‘Peace And Prosperity’ – Slams Democrats Trying To ‘Destroy Our Country’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

I’m Just Going To Say This: Trump’s Endorsement Of Dr. Oz Is The Wrong Move

Former President Trump has issued a full-throated endorsement of Mehmet Oz – better known as Dr. Oz – in the Pennsylvania GOP primary for the U.S. Senate.

Trump issued a statement late last week which uncharacteristically did not simply contain the usual soundbites we’ve become accustomed to in his endorsements.

Rather, it’s a long-winded effort, seemingly designed to convince GOP voters of why they should support Oz even if he isn’t the perfect candidate.

“This is all about winning elections in order to stop the Radical Left maniacs from destroying our country,” Trump said.

“The Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a tremendous opportunity to Save America by electing the brilliant and well-known Dr. Mehmet Oz for the United States Senate.”

RELATED: Candidate Trump Endorsed To Replace Liz Cheney Called Him ‘Racist And Xenophobic’

Trump Endorsement of Oz is a Bad Move

But this isn’t just about winning elections. It’s about winning elections with candidates that aren’t useless RINOs like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and are, in fact, conservative, America-first politicians.

Here are just a few of Oz’s views that should have made Trump skeptical enough to never endorse the good doctor.

Oz’s comments on abortion alone are alarming. In a 2008 interview with the National Review of Medicine, Oz actually argued that his politics would be similar to that of Oprah Winfrey in many aspects.

“I’m not socially conservative,” he added. “I don’t believe that we should be intruding into the private lives of homosexuals and we should not be creating obstacles during the difficult time that women have when trying to terminate a pregnancy.”

In a 2019 interview on the Breakfast Club radio show, he noted that he dislikes abortion on a “personal level” but suggested he would not want to “interfere with everyone else’s stuff” because “it’s hard enough to get into life as it is.”

Dr. Oz On Abortion

Trump’s endorsement states that Oz is “pro-life,” something the Daily Beast claims is a “shameless flip-flop.”

“Not only was Oz supportive of abortion rights, he seemed puzzled that people would spend time fighting abortion rights—going so far as to say that, as a physician, he was ‘really worried’ about the anti-abortion movement and that eliminating Roe would have negative effects on women’s health,” they wrote.

RELATED: Report: Biden’s Brother James, Son Hunter Received 150+ ‘Concerning’ Payments

Dr. Oz On Guns

Trump, aside from lauding Dr. Oz for being pro-life, also claims the Pennsylvania Republican “will always fight for and support our under-siege Second Amendment.”

But will he?

Oz’s campaign site seems to confirm: “He opposes anti-gun measures like red flag laws and liberal gun grabs. Dr. Oz knows we cannot compromise our ability to protect ourselves.”

Interesting thing, those red flag laws. Here he is in a 2019 interview stating such laws “help protect you and your family” and have been shown to prevent mass shootings.

Go ahead and look at that clip again. In the same segment, Dr. Oz goes on to suggest he’d like to see an anonymous call-in system for people to report concerns over others’ social media posts.

“Part of the hope I gather is that we’ll make a system so that I can call in and say there’s evidence besides my testimony that this person is dangerous,” he states. “Look at their Facebook feed or social media postings or comments they’ve made to other co-workers.”

Government surveillance and infringing on God-given rights based on social media posts doesn’t seem like a warrior for conservatism.

Dr. Oz On Obamacare

Oz was a strong advocate during the Obama years of health insurance mandates and even bragged that he helped get Obamacare passed by serving on President Obama’s council.

CNN reports that while he doesn’t fully support Obamacare, “Many of Oz’s statements on health care align with some of the key tenets of the Affordable Care Act.”

Dr. Oz On Fracking

Oz, who is running in a state where fracking is of tantamount importance, often raised concerns about the practice in the past.

In multiple columns Oz co-authored with Dr. Mike Roizen, former chief medical officer at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, the two raised concerns about health risks involved in the practice.

Inside Climate News writes that “the two physicians cited the environmental and health risks associated with fracking on several occasions and, in one column, warned expecting mothers who live near natural gas wells against drinking the water and counseled them to keep three kilometers away from fracking fields.”

Now, he’s fracking’s number one fan.

We live in a time where too many Republicans try selling their conservative wares just to get elected only to start functioning like barely-disguised left-of-center RINOs once they get into office.

Trump should know better.

Trump Endorsements All Over Map

Trump has also thrown his support in Wyoming to Harriet Hageman, the attorney running against Liz Cheney in an upcoming primary.

Hageman vociferously supported Cheney during her 2016 congressional campaign, and strongly opposed President Trump at the time.

In fact, she tried to stop Trump from getting the Republican nomination in 2016, and called him “racist and xenophobic.”

The GOP Needs True Conservatives

Mr. Trump, to quote comedian Sebastian Maniscalco, “What are you doing?”

There’s little doubt one of the greatest failures of the Trump presidency was his inability to clear out the deep state riffraff within his own administration.

Too many faux conservatives kneecapped his presidency and continue to destroy his legacy to this day. Winning elections isn’t everything. Winning them with actual conservatives is. And the two don’t need to be mutually exclusive.

If Trump wins in 2024, what exactly will change if he continues to hire and support people that actively want to destroy him and conservative values along the way?

It’ll be the same stalled agenda. The same impeachment proceedings. The same effort to destroy America just so Democrats can get power back in 2028.

The post I’m Just Going To Say This: Trump’s Endorsement Of Dr. Oz Is The Wrong Move appeared first on The Political Insider.

AOC Calls To Impeach Clarence Thomas, The Only Black Supreme Court Justice

Far-left Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is demanding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas resign or face impeachment for what she has determined are ethical breaches.

The comments follow reports that Thomas’ wife, Virginia Thomas, exchanged text messages with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about alleged election fraud.

“Clarence Thomas should resign,” AOC tweeted.

“If not, his failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan 6th commission from key information must be investigated and could serve as grounds for impeachment.”

Thomas is the longest-serving justice, the second black justice, the only black justice, and the most conservative member currently serving on the Supreme Court.

RELATED: Flashback: Biden Effectively Killed Potential Nomination Of First Black Woman To Supreme Court

AOC Wants to Impeach Clarence Thomas

One has to wonder what the media takeaway would be here if a Republican lawmaker were trying to impeach the only black justice sitting on the bench of the Supreme Court.

AOC goes after Clarence Thomas, however, and nobody bats an eye.

Democrats are currently trying to get Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson seated on the Supreme Court after President Biden vowed to only consider black women for the Court. 

They’re seeking to place Jackson on the court in large part due to her being black, while simultaneously trying to remove the only current black member.

Proving it is all about extreme ideology and subservience to Democrats in the end. They only act as if they care about diversity if it will help them get votes.

President Biden, as an example of this, filibustered the nomination of Judge Janice Rogers Brown, a black woman, to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2003.

He subsequently warned then-President George W. Bush he would do the same if she were nominated as the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

RELATED: Tucker Carlson Mocks Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Inability To Define ‘Woman’ – Complete With Graphic Of The Female Reproductive System

Proper Worldview

Ocasio-Cortez, in discussing Biden’s decision to choose a black woman for the Supreme Court suggested “identity” would only take that person so far. That their “worldview” would have to match up with the extreme left.

“Identity is just the starting step when we are discussing a Supreme Court justice … ” she said. “But the question is, what is going to be that nominee’s worldview?”

On Clarence Thomas’s supposed ethical breaches – for which she provided no evidence – AOC suggested he needs to be taught a lesson.

“Congress must understand that a failure to hold Clarence Thomas accountable sends a loud, dangerous signal to the full Court,” she said adding that punishment might deter other conservative on the Supreme Court from acting as he has.

The National Review’s Andrew McCarthy notes that Supreme Court justices aren’t subject to recusal even if their own activities involve certain cases.

“The smearing of Justice Thomas is transparently partisan politics, nothing more,” he writes.

The post AOC Calls To Impeach Clarence Thomas, The Only Black Supreme Court Justice appeared first on The Political Insider.

Biden And Obama Must Answer For Russiagate

By J. Peder Zane for RealClearPolitics

What did Barack Obama and Joe Biden know about the Russiagate collusion hoax their fellow Democrats ginned up to kneecap Donald Trump – and when did they know it? How much did their chicanery contribute to Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade the Ukraine?

Those questions are coming into sharp relief following a definitive report by my RealClearInvestigations colleague Paul Sperry last week that places the worst political scandal in our nation’s history and Putin’s brutal war directly inside the White House.

Drawing on a wide range of documents, many never previously reported, Sperry details how the Obama administration worked closely with the Clinton campaign and a foreign government – Ukraine – in a “sweeping and systematic effort” to interfere in the 2016 election. It turns out Democrats were guilty of every false charge they lodged against Trump.

RELATED: Liberal Bill Maher Slams Russiagate Narrative: ‘Why Didn’t Putin Invade When Trump Was In Office?’

Their maneuverings began in 2014 when Obama officials supported the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych because he was too close to Putin. Biden, then the vice president, was the Obama administration’s point man on Ukraine. Sperry reports that leaked transcripts of conversations between two high-level officials in both the Obama and Biden administrations – Victoria Nuland and Jake Sullivan – reveal that Biden gave his blessing to the formation of a new coalition government.

Sperry writes that Nuland even “traveled to Kiev and helped organize street demonstrations against Yanukovych, even handing out sandwiches to protesters.”

A few months after the anti-Putin government took power next door to Russia, Putin marched into Crimea. Eight years later, he invaded Ukraine.

Top Obama administration officials continued to influence Ukraine’s internal affairs. Biden, for example, would later boast of threatening to withhold aid until the government fired its chief anti-corruption prosecutor – who, among other matters, was investigating the gas company Burisma that was paying his son, Hunter Biden, $83,333 a month for a largely ceremonial position for which he had no qualifications other than his family name. [In 2019, House Democrats would impeach Trump for temporarily withholding aid to Ukraine to pressure it to investigate the Biden family’s dealings there.]

During its final two years, the Obama administration’s dealing with Ukraine became increasingly focused on the 2016 election. Sperry reports that Nuland received some 120 reports on Ukraine from an outside contractor – Christopher Steele.

A former British intelligence officer, Steele would soon start working for the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was paid by the Clinton campaign to dig up dirt on Trump. Fusion’s crown jewel was the so-called Steele dossier, a series of salacious and false memos allegedly cobbled together by Steele that formed the basis of the Trump/Russia collusion theory.

Steele and his Fusion colleagues weren’t the only political operatives working behind the scenes in the Obama administration. In April 2015, the Democratic National Committee hired a Ukrainian-American activist named Alexandra Chalupa as a $5,000-a-month consultant.

Chalupa was convinced that Trump’s Achilles heel was Paul Manafort, a lobbyist who had done work for the party led by Viktor Yanukovych. Her effort to attack Trump by exposing Manafort’s alleged Russian ties was the seed of the collusion hoax. Sperry reports that the DNC operative visited the White House at least 27 times during 2015 and 2016.

Among the government officials she worked closely with was Eric Ciaramella, the CIA detailee to the White House who would later be the “whistleblower” regarding Trump’s 2019 call with the Ukrainian president that led to his first impeachment.

RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard Demands Mitt Romney Resign After He Accuses Her Of ‘Treason’

At the same time, the Obama administration was politicizing its foreign policy for domestic goals. In one of the more damning passages in his article, Sperry reports:

The Obama administration’s enforcement agencies leaned on their Ukrainian counterparts to investigate Manafort, shifting resources from an investigation of a corrupt Ukrainian energy oligarch who paid Biden’s son hundreds of thousands of dollars through his gas company, Burisma.

“Obama’s NSC hosted Ukrainian officials and told them to stop investigating Hunter Biden and start investigating Paul Manafort,” said a former senior NSC official who has seen notes and emails generated from the meetings and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

As it became increasingly clear that Trump would be the GOP’s 2016 nominee, Chalupa and the administration ratcheted up the pressure on Ukrainian officials to denounce Clinton’s rival in order to sanitize their dirty tricks. [Fusion GPS did the same with Steele, having him present himself as an independent former British intelligence agent – while hiding his ties to Clinton – so that his smears would seem apolitical.]

Democrats collaborated with several Ukrainian lawmakers who supported them. This is not surprising because, Sperry reports, while Ukraine might have been a relatively small and poor nation, one of its oligarchs contributed more money to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary was secretary of state than any other group of foreign nationals, including the Saudis.

On March 30, 2016 Chalupa wrote to her contact at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington requesting that they express their grave concerns about Trump and Manafort. “Within minutes of sending the email,” Sperry reports, “Chalupa wrote the DNC’s communications director Luis Miranda, ‘The ambassador has the messaging.’ Then she reached out to a friend in Congress, Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, about holding hearings to paint Manafort as a pro-Kremlin villain.”

Sperry reports that these efforts paid dividends in August 2016, when Manafort was forced to resign as Trump’s campaign manager because of his previous work in the Ukraine. [Manafort would later be sent to prison on various tax and other charges, none of which involved him doing Russia’s bidding.]

After Trump’s election that November, a Ukrainian lawmaker who had worked with Fusion GPS in the effort to damage the Republican told the Financial Times that his nation believed “a Trump presidency would change the pro-Ukrainian agenda in American foreign policy.” He said that most of Ukraine’s politicians were “on Hillary Clinton’s side.”

RELATED: Former AG Bill Barr Tells CNN He Would Help Defeat Trump In 2024

That, of course, was not the end of the story. Democrats, their allies in the FBI, CIA, and other branches of the government, as well as Never-Trump Republicans – all with the active collaboration of the media – would continue to peddle the Russiagate hoax to damage the commander in chief. On Jan. 5, 2017, just days before they left office, President Obama, Vice President Biden, and others met with then-FBI Director James Comey in the Oval Office.

The next day, Comey briefed President-elect Trump about the bogus Steele dossier. CNN then used that meeting as a pretext for trumpeting the false claims of collusion, sparking a media feeding frenzy that led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as a special counsel to investigate the charges bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign.

Sperry’s reporting strongly suggests that Obama and Biden were involved in this scandal well before then. The hydra-headed smear campaign against Trump deployed the powers of the executive branch to take down a political rival.

It is long past time for the media to begin the process of restoring its integrity. It could start by correcting the record – and then pressing Barack Obama and Joe Biden to explain why they accused Donald Trump of doing precisely what they did so effectively, which was involve a foreign nation in a U.S. presidential election.

Syndicated with permission from Real Clear Wire.

J. Peder Zane is an editor for RealClearInvestigations and a columnist for RealClearPolitics.

The post Biden And Obama Must Answer For Russiagate appeared first on The Political Insider.

Report: Never-Trumpers Kinzinger, Hogan, And Cheney Could All Run Against Trump In 2024

Critics of former President Donald Trump – Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, along with Maryland Governor Larry Hogan – could all launch presidential campaigns in 2024.

The news comes via a report from the Associated Press.

The report notes that all three have some irons in the fire regarding 2024:

  • Hogan is “planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire.”
  • Kinzinger is “considering a rough timeline for a potential presidential announcement.”
  • Associates of Cheney are “openly talking up her White House prospects.”

The AP points out that this is the first time ‘Never Trump’ operatives have plotted a ‘shadow primary’ knowing it is very likely Trump himself will run in 2024.

RELATED: Hawley Mocks Liz Cheney For Possible Presidential Run: She Has ‘No Support In Her Own Caucus’

Cheney-Kinzinger 2024

The goal for Hogan, Cheney, and Kinzinger in 2024 supposedly isn’t about winning the nomination, as each is clearly destined to fail. As per usual, they view themselves as having a more noble cause – stopping Donald Trump.

“Their goal would not necessarily be to win the presidency,” the outlet writes. “Above all, they want to hinder Trump’s return to the White House.”

In that, 2024 might not end up being very different than 2016.

“It’s there as an option, but it’s not necessarily because this is all some big plan so I can be in the White House,” Kinzinger admitted.

“It’s looking and saying, ‘Is there going to be a voice out there that can represent from that megaphone the importance of defending this country and democracy and what America is about?’” he added.

Kinzinger seems to think he’s that man. Of course, he’s the same drama queen who said Republicans who stand up to Trump are the same as the heroes of Flight 93 who fought back against terrorists on 9/11.

The report indicates that the ‘anti-Trumpers’ all believe there are “a significant number of less vocal Republican voters” who “are eager to move past Trump.”

RELATED: Goodbye: Anti-Trump Rep. Adam Kinzinger Won’t Seek Reelection

It’s in the Works

The report that Cheney, Hogan, and Kinzinger are planning a run at the Republican nomination for president in 2024 has been hinted at in the past.

A Politico column in August notes that those close to Kinzinger believe he may run for statewide office or “he could even mount a 2024 presidential bid.”

The Political Insider reported back in April that Cheney refused to rule out a future run for President of the United States when asked.

“I’m not ruling anything in or out — ever is a long time,” Cheney was quoted as saying.

The comments prompted Senator Josh Hawley to mock the anti-Trump Representative, saying she doesn’t speak for Republicans and has “no support in her own caucus.”

The pair – Kinzinger and Cheney – are nearly indistinguishable after abandoning any semblance of Republican values and shifting their focus to an exclusively anti-Trump campaign.

Hogan, according to the AP, is busy “working to help Trump’s loudest Republican critics in other states” as he plans trips to Iowa and New Hampshire – the first two states on the traditional presidential primary calendar.

Perhaps that says something about the relative value of a nominal Republican who is able to win a deep blue state, like Hogan in Maryland or Mitt Romney in Massachusetts.

Kinzinger also noted he’d be willing to try a presidential run as an Independent in order to stop Trump but his “hope would be to be able to find the salvation of the GOP.”

The post Report: Never-Trumpers Kinzinger, Hogan, And Cheney Could All Run Against Trump In 2024 appeared first on The Political Insider.