Are Republicans blowing it already? - By Jennifer Rubin

[DonViejo]

January 5 at 11:30 AM

Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Post, offering reported opinion from a conservative perspective.

We are not through the first week of the new Congress and already Democrats have jumped rather successfully on three issues, which just so happen to be strong ones both substantively and politically for them.

First, Democrats are making hay out of Republicans’ failure to take seriously their own drain-the-swamp promise. They jumped all over the plan to gut the congressional ethics office. Then on Wednesday, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) rounded up dozens of Democrats to sponsor legislation stating that “President-elect Donald Trump should comply with the Constitution and follow the precedent established by prior presidents and convert his assets to simple, conflict-free holdings, adopt blind trusts managed by an independent trustees, or take other equivalent measures.”

In their news release announcing the legislation, Democrats set the basis for a constitutional standoff. “The resolutions note that in the absence of such actions by the President-elect before he assumes office or without specific authorization by Congress, Congress will regard dealings by Trump-owned companies with any entity owned by a foreign governmental actor as potential violations of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.” Cardin explained that voters “need to know that the President of the United States is making decisions based on what is in the public interest and not because it would advance the President’s private interests. This resolution is intended to send a clear message to the President-elect that he must take appropriate action and avoid any potential conflict with the Constitution before he takes an oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution in two weeks.”

Democrats are on solid footing, according to Hart Research Associates’ poll in 14 battleground states conducted for the left-leaning Center for American Progress Action Fund:

When asked to rate the importance of 13 potential priorities for the new president and Congress, voters in the Senate battleground states put an exceptionally high premium on “cleaning up corruption and financial conflicts of interest in the government”—rating it only slightly behind “protecting Medicare for senior citizens,” the number one item. . … It is significant to note that only 34% of voters say that Donald Trump is doing enough to avoid conflicts of interests between his business holdings and his role as president, while 52% say he should be doing to more to avoid conflicts of interests. … Voters may not be constitutional experts on the emoluments clause, but they believe that Donald Trump should not be allowed to receive payments from foreign governments through his business holdings while serving as president (71% agree, 18% disagree). Trump voters agree by 53% to 31%. Moreover, a 54% majority of all voters want Congress to take action to prevent Donald Trump from receiving payments from foreign governments while serving as president, while 17% say that President-elect Trump should not be allowed to accept foreign government payments, but do not think that congressional action is warranted at this time.

No wonder Democrats are pushing the issue.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/01/05/are-republicans-blowing-it-already/?utm_term=.d688036ed393&wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1

[riversedge]

1. Democrats will be defending 14 U.S. Senate seats in 2018.

These voters Want the Dems to be the check on Trump. oky doky!



1724 Connecticut Avenue, NW
, Washington, DC 20009 202
-
234
-
5570 202
-
232
-
8134 FAX
www.hartresearch.com
TO:
Interested Parties
FROM:
Geoff Garin
DATE:
January
3
, 2017
RE:
Survey of Voters in 2018 Senate Battleground States
This memorandum summarizes the key findings from a survey conducted by Hart
Research Associates for the Center for American Progress Action Fund among 1,206
voters across
14
key battleground states
in
wh
ich
Democrats will be defending U.S.
Senate
seats in
2018. The states included in the sample are: Florida, Indiana,
Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Each state
is represented
equally in the sample,


reflecting the allocation of seats in the Senate. The
interviews were conducted by telephone
from
December 19
to
23 and
on
December
27. The self
-
report
ed
presidential vote among respondents is 50% for Donald
Trump, 41% for Hillary Clinton, and 5% for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein; 4% declined
to say how they voted and could not be classified based on other responses. The
nine
-
point gap between Trump and Clin
ton is reflective of the actual average vote
across these 14 states.




Key Findings
1
.
Voters across the battleground states want Senate Democrats to
serve as a check and balance on Donald Trump, even if this means
opposing and trying to block his policies
on many occasions.
We asked voters in the battleground states if they want Senate Democrats
mainly
t
o
support Donald Trump’s policies or to serve as an independent
check and balance on Donald Trump. Ha
lf of the respondents were given
this
choice with a
stated assumption that serving as a check and balance might
mean
opposing
Trump’s policies on many occasions, while the stated
assumption
for the other half
was that
serving as
an
independent check and
balance might mean trying to
block
his policies on man
y occasions.
By 61% to 25%, voters in the battleground states want Senate Democrats to
be an independent check and balance on Donald Trump, even if this means
opposing Trump’s policies on many occasions.
The demand for Senate Democrats to serve as a
check and balance on
Donald Trump is nearly as great even with the tougher stipulation that
Democrats would try to block Trump’
s policies on many occasions
—
voters
opt
for Democrats to act as an independent check and balance by 56% to 30%.

[MrModerate]

11. Conveniently,

Resisting Trump is what any sensible political party would be doing now anyway.

It's nice when strategy lines up with your values. Which it will consistently if your values are any good.

[Cha]

2. K&R

[gratuitous]

3. Disagree strongly

Republican voters don't give a happy rat's ass about "corruption and financial conflicts of interest in the government." They're very concerned about things that can be made to look like corruption, like the squeaky-clean Clinton Foundation, but for actual quid-pro-quo, pay-to-play, mutual back scratching corruption, they could not possibly care less. The Wall Street Journal has a story up today that Trump under-reported his debts by about two-thirds, and failed to disclose any number of creditors who might justifiably think they will have some leverage with the chief executive.

Remember how much fun it was last decade, going to war to satisfy George W. Bush's daddy complex? Well, we're going to get a chance to see if the U.S. will go to war to defend the president's debt portfolio. And contrary to what Jennifer Rubin chooses to believe, a significant portion of the U.S. population will be just fine with that mind-boggling level of corruption and financial conflict of interest.

[MrModerate]

9. Fine. Let the Deplorables send *their* sons and daughters . . .

To Trump's wars, and I'll invest in defense contractors.

[hibbing]

10. I agree with your disagreement

I have zero optimism about ACA, Social Security and Medicare. The one thing I'm optimistic about is that a large number of Democrats will vote for the next round of tax cuts for the ruling class.


Peace

[Beartracks]

13. This. As long as Clintons and all evil Dems are kept...

... from the levers of power, Repub voters are okay with anything.

==================

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Drain the Swamp is a very big, and initial issue

It could taint public perception of the trump Administration
for its entirety.

[stevepal]

5. How can the Repubs blow it?

They've got the voting machines armed and ready to rig the next election and the next and the one after that, ad infinitum.

Here's a recent email I forwarded to a friend. The material is from Beth Clarkson, a statistician at the NIAR (the National Institute for Aviation Research) and a professor here at Wichita State. She just did exit polls on her own here in Kansas since the ones done by the professionals are always adjusted to fit the results of the vote as arrived at thru rigged voting machines.

Read it and weep, because it's not just true here in Kansas but everywhere in the country. The forwarded email is at the top of the email linked below where it says Show Me the Votes:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/159322f2f9e20f2a

[klook]

6. Requires Gmail login

Any way you can post a copy of the info.?

And welcome to DU, btw.

[calimary]

7. And it's about damn time the Dems are pushing the issue!

It's about damn TIME they "jumped all over the plan to gut the congressional ethics office"!!!

It's ABOUT DAMN TIME.

INDIVISIBLE: A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR RESISTING THE TRUMP AGENDA
https://www.indivisibleguide.com

It's about damn time.

[MrModerate]

8. Henceforward, may a day not pass that Trump is not deposed, er, required to give a deposition. n/t

[ffr]

12. I didn't see that. Let me check my calendar.

I know it's my responsibility to know what my boss is doing, but I'm unaware he was deposed today. Can I get back to you on that?

- Sean Spicer
Incoming Donald tRump Press Secretary
http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/trump-quietly-deposed-under-oath-at-trumpt-ower/