Daily Archives: February 12, 2017

(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Grass-roots movements can be the life and death of political leaders.

Its a well-worn story now about how John A. Boehner, then House minority leader, joined a rising star in his caucus, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, in April 2009 for one of the first major tea party protests in the California Republicans home town of Bakersfield.

A little more than six years later, after they surfed that wave into power, the movement consumed both of them. Boehner was driven out of the House speakers office and McCarthys expected succession fell apart, leaving him stuck at the rank of majority leader.

Democrats are well aware of that history as they try to tap the energy of the roiling liberal activists who have staged rallies and marches in the first three weeks of Donald Trumps presidency.

What if they can fuse these protesters, many of whom have never been politically active, into the liberal firmament? What if a new tea party is arising, with the energy and enthusiasm to bring out new voters and make a real difference at the polls, starting with the 2018 midterm elections?

(Alice Li,Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

The womens marches that brought millions onto streets across the country the day after Trumps inauguration spurred organically through social media opened Democratic leaders eyes to the possibilities.

With a 10-day recess beginning next weekend, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has instructed her members to hold a day of action in their districts, including town halls focused on saving the Affordable Care Act. The following weekend, Democratic senators and House members will hold protests across the country, hoping to link arms with local activists who have already marched against Trump.

[Swarming crowds and hostile questions are the new normal at GOP town halls]

It was important to us to make sure that we reach out to everyone we could, to visit with them, to keep them engaged, to engage those that maybe arent engaged, Rep. Ben Ray Lujn (D-N.M.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told reporters at a Democratic retreat in Baltimore that ended Friday. The trick is to keep them aiming their fire at Republicans and Trump, not turning it into a circular firing squad targeting fellow Democrats.

Now we want people to run for office, to volunteer and to vote, Lujn added.

[Schumers dilemma: Satisfying the base while protecting the minority]

Its too early to tell which direction this movement will take, but there are some similarities to the early days of the conservative tea party.

In early 2009, as unemployment approached 10percent and the home mortgage industry collapsed, the tea party emerged in reaction to the Wall Street bailout. It grew throughout the summer of 2009 as the Obama administration and congressional Democrats pushed toward passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Many of the protesters were newly engaged, politically conservative but not active with their local GOP and often registered as independents. Their initial fury seemed directed exclusively at Democrats, given that they controlled all the levers of power in Washington at the time; the protesters famously provoked raucous showdowns at Democratic town halls over the August 2009 recess.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumers first brush with the anti-Trump liberal movement came in a similar fashion to Boehner and McCarthys Bakersfield foray in 2009. Originally slated to deliver a brief speech at the womens march in New York, Schumer instead spent 41/2 hours on the streets there, talking to people he had never met. By his estimate, 20percent of them did not vote in November.

That, however, is where Schumer must surely hope the similarities end.

By the spring and summer of 2010, the tea party rage shifted its direction toward Republican primary politics. One incumbent GOP senator lost his primary, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) defeated the Kentucky establishment favorite, and three other insurgents knocked off other seasoned Republicans in Senate primaries (only to then lose in general elections).

One force that helped the tea party grow was a collection of Washington-based groups with some wealthy donors, notably the Koch-funded Americans For Prosperity, who positioned themselves as the self-declared leaders of the movement. For the next few years, they funded challenges to Republican incumbents, sparking a civil war that ran all the way through the 2016 GOP presidential primaries.

Boehner could never match the rhetorical ferocity of the movement. He was perpetually caught in a trap of overpromising and under-delivering. Republicans never repealed Obamacare, as they derisively called the ACA, and they could not stop then-President Obamas executive orders on immigration. Boehner resigned in October 2015.

Democrats want and need parallel outside groups to inject money and organization into their grass roots. There are signs it is happening: The thousands of activists who protested at a series of raucous town halls hosted by Republican congressmen over the past week were urged to action in part by sophisticated publicity campaigns run by such professional liberal enterprises as the Indivisible Guide, a blueprint for lobbying Congress written by former congressional staffers, and Planned Parenthood Action.

[Should House Democrats write off rural congressional districts?]

What is less clear is whether such energy and resources will remain united with Democratic leaders or will be turned on them, as happened with the tea party and the Republican establishment, if the activist base grows frustrated with the pace of progress.

There have been some signs of liberal disgruntlement toward Democratic leaders. Pelosi and Schumer (D-N.Y.) were jeered by some in a crowd of more than 1,000 that showed up at the Supreme Court two weeks ago to protest Trumps executive order travel ban. Marchers showed up outside Schumers home in Brooklyn, demanding he filibuster everything and complaining that he supported Trumps Cabinet members involved in national security.

But there are two key differences between the conservative and liberal movements: their funding, and their origins. Some anti-establishment liberal groups have feuded with leaders, but they are poorly funded compared with their conservative counterparts. And the tea party came of age in reaction not only to Obama but, before that, to what the movement considered a betrayal by George W. Bushs White House and a majority of congressional Republicans when they supported the 2008 Wall Street bailout.

There is no similar original sin for Democrats, as the liberal protests have grown as a reaction to Trump, not some failing by Schumer and Pelosi.

Schumer remains unconcerned about the few protesters who are angry at Democratic leaders. I think the energys terrific. Do some of them throw some brickbats and things? Sure, it doesnt bother me, Schumer said in a recent interview.

How the liberal activists respond to early defeats may be the next sign of which direction the movement takes. Their demand that Schumer block Trumps Cabinet is impossible to satisfy, because a simple majority can confirm these picks. All Schumer can do is drag out the debate, which he has done to an unprecedented degree.

The stakes will be even higher for the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch, whose lifetime appointment still requires a 60-vote supermajority to reach a final confirmation vote. A Trump victory on Gorsuch might deflate the liberal passion, and some think that was the main ingredient missing for Democrats in 2016.

We just didnt have the emotional connection, Pelosi told reporters in Baltimore. He had the emotional connection.

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A new, liberal tea party is forming. Can it last without turning against Democrats? - Washington Post

Posted February 12, 2017 19:51:12

The success of the Liberal Party's preference deal with One Nation in WA could be determined by how many support staff are available to hand out how-to-vote cards on the day, according to a political analyst.

"In order to know what you're supposed to do with your preferences, what you need to do is go to someone handing out a how-to-vote card and find the order for this," said Emeritus Professor David Black.

"In the Legislative Council it's completely different. As soon as you vote any party ticket, the preferences will flow in the pre-arranged order, which that party has lodged."

Professor Black said it was likely the Liberal Party, with its larger base of volunteers, would need to help hand out One Nation how-to-vote cards on election day.

"In a difficult election for the Liberal Party, if they can get some kind of deal which works and an adequate number of people available to hand out how-to-vote cards, then it could be a crucial fact in an election which could be very, very tight," he said.

"The impact of preference distribution in the Lower House will be crucially affected by the extent by which the parties can provide the staff at the polling booths to make this happen."

Professor Black said it appeared One Nation could receive a significant primary vote in WA's March election.

"We know that in the previous election when this happened their preferences went against sitting members in the Liberal Party, which suffered," he said.

"In a very difficult election for the Liberal Party this is one obvious way [the Liberals] can see of trying to boost their chances by having a party that's likely to get a pretty strong primary vote more likely to give preferences towards the Liberal Party than against."

"The Labor Party, to win the election, has to probably win 11 to 12 seats or more. If they [the Liberals] can save two, three or four seats, that can make all the difference."

Professor Black described the National party as an election wildcard.

"In the end, what their votes do, how well they do, what happens in places like the Pilbara because of the mining tax and so on, which party benefits is very much up in the air and that just makes it an even more complicated election than we'd otherwise have," he said.

"In order for the Liberals to lose, the Labor Party has to have absolutely everything going right."

Professor Black said the Labor Party appeared to be a in a slightly stronger position, but at the same time they needed to win a lot of seats.

"It's an election that the Liberals, according to the polls, are facing a very, very real prospect of losing," he said.

"But they are confronted by this situation, where for a variety of reasons, One Nation has re-emerged from the clouds and all the opinion polls suggest they're going to get a very substantial portion of the vote."

Professor Black said there could also be some retaliation from the WA Nationals, who could direct their preferences elsewhere.

Topics: elections, liberals, one-nation, polls, wa

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What the Liberal-One Nation preference deal could mean at the ballot box - ABC Online

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump walk down the West Wing Colonnade following a bilateral meeting between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe February 10, 2017 in Washington, D.C.(Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

Liberals are so determined to vanquish all things Trump that they risk losing the one friend they may have in this new White House.

Ivanka Trump, the new presidents oldest daughter and most trusted personal adviser, is as stylish a first family member as the country has seen in a while. She turned her fashion sense into a clothing line that is sold in many of the nations top stores, including Nordstrom.

Or at least it was. The sight of Ivanka Trumps name on the garments labels so triggered the derangement of her fathers haters that they demanded the upscale retailer rid the clothing from its racks, or face boycott.

Boycotts are the favorite weapon of the resistance movement. Anyone who suggests affinity for Donald Trump or cooperates with his administration or fails to speak out against him on command (see Tom Brady) faces being ostracized or having their livelihoods threatened and their names smeared.

The lefts demand for conformity in loathing Trump is creating a blacklist to rival that of Joe McCarthys Red Scare.

So Ivanka Trumps fancy dresses are a natural target. Its not the first time the first daughter has been villainized. Shortly after the election, she and her children were shouted off a commercial plane by rude, self-righteous wackos.

Ivanka, though, like her father has donated to several Democrats in the past, is not quite a true liberal she endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012. But shes a far sight left of some of Trumps more ideological counselors.

Like Trump himself, shes a product of the New York social scene, meaning shes spent more time with liberals than with conservatives, tempering her views on social issues.

She and her husband, White House adviser Jared Kushner, reportedly killed an attempt by Trumps inner circle to rescind an Obama executive order on LGBT rights. That influence was also evident in Trumps acceptance speech in Cleveland, when he pledged support for gay and transgender individuals in an arena filled with roaring Republicans.

Ivanka also is pushing her dad to attack the wage gap for women, and to develop a parental leave policy. And she signaled her views on climate change by inviting former Vice President Al Gore and actor/activist Leonardo DiCaprio to Trump Tower for post-election meetings on the Paris accord and other global warming concerns.

Conservatives worry about Ivanka, seeing her as a liberal Svengali too close to the ear of a president who already stretches the definition of conservatism. Youd think at a time in Washington when they have so little influence, the left would find opportunity in courting someone who might carry their concerns into the Oval Office.

But liberals cant see past their blind fury. To embrace Ivanka as a possible ally would mean letting go of a bit of their malice toward Trump.

So if you want an Ivanka Trump original, dont look in tony clothing stores. I thought about ordering one online, as I did a sandwich last week from a D.C. deli being boycotted because its owner shook Trumps hand. But the red lace sheath I fancied was not available in plus sizes.

nfinley@detroitnews.com

Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/2kye3fk

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Finley: Left bites Ivanka's liberal hand - The Detroit News

NSW Liberal Party president Kent Johns has condemned Ross Cameron's comments at a Q Society fundraiser as "highly offensive" and accused the former federal MP of becoming "nothing more than a circus act".

Addressing a dinner held by the anti-Islam group on Thursday night Mr Cameron referred to theThe Sydney Morning Heraldas the "Sydney Morning Homosexual" and said the NSW Liberal Party was "basically a gay club."

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Former Liberal MP Ross Cameron has appeared on SKY NEWS to defend the comments he made about homosexuality and The Sydney Morning Herald at the Q Society fundraising dinner in Sydney. Vision: SKY NEWS.

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After her cervical cancer diagnosis, Jo Wallace has made sure her children don't miss the Human Papillomavirus vaccine.

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Just before the 2014 state election, now Deputy Victorian Premier James Merlino said Labor would not allow another skyscraper to overshadow the Shrine of Remembrance.

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A father of two has been killed and four others injured in the annual Southern 80 water-ski race on the Murray River.

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Dozens of young men run through Melbourne's Summersault festival, stealing mobile phones and assaulting festival-goers. Vision courtesy Seven News Melbourne.

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Homeowner Warren Jarvis has lost property and animals to a large fire impacting the township of Cassilis in central west NSW.

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Scientists Dr Devanshi Seth and Dr Shweta Tikkoo are tackling gender inequity and unconscious bias through the Women in Science group at Sydney's Centenary Institute.

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A five-year-old girl is in a critical condition in Westmead Children's Hospital after she and her younger brother fell from a third-storey window at South Terrace, Bankstown.

Former Liberal MP Ross Cameron has appeared on SKY NEWS to defend the comments he made about homosexuality and The Sydney Morning Herald at the Q Society fundraising dinner in Sydney. Vision: SKY NEWS.

Cartoonist Larry Pickering told the audience that "I can't stand Muslims [but] they are not all bad, they do chuck pillow-biters off buildings."

In a sharply worded statement on Sunday morning Mr Johns said the Liberal Party was "was not aware of the event or Mr Cameron's attendance and participation in it".

"He was not speaking on behalf of the Liberal party," Mr Johnssaid.

"Personally, I think the comments were highly offensive and quite frankly, they do not belong in the Liberal Party or a decent society.

"It's a shame that a former member of parliament has become nothing more than a circus act.

"The Liberal party will deal with any matters raised through our party processes and in accordance with our rules and regulations."

Earlier, Liberal Party defector Cory Bernardi criticised Mr Cameron's comments as "totally inappropriate" but defended his right to free speech.

Senator Bernardi, along with Liberal National Party MP George Christensen, addressed aQ Societyfundraiser in Melbourne on Friday, despite the furore over Mr Cameron's remarks in Sydney.

Senator Bernardi said on Sunday he had spoken with Mr Cameron after the event who explained to him the "historical context" of his comments.

Senator Bernardidescribed Mr Cameron's comments as "totally inappropriate" saying they were an "own goal" for critics of attempts to loosen anti-vilification laws.

But he stopped short of suggesting Mr Cameron should apologise for the remarks.

"They'reentitled to say what they like; we're entitled to say they're wrong," Senator Bernardi told Sky News.

The Q Society dinner was part of an effort to raise to raise funds for a defamation case brought by halal certifier Mohamed El-Mouelhy, who is suing Liberty Alliance political candidate Kirralie Smith over her videos alleging halal certification funds illegal activity.

The Greens will push a motion against Mr Christensen in the House of Representatives on Monday calling for his sacking from the LNP as opposition parties seek to ratchet up pressure on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the hard right agenda advocated by elements of the Coalition.

Mr Christensen told Fairfax Media on Saturday that Mr Turnbull could not be held responsible for him attending the dinner because he paid for his travel and accommodation himself.

Mr Cameron has defended his comments. "I don't see a single sentence of my remarks which is critical of gays," he said."I gave a very pro-gay speech in which I said gays have been associated with the creative class since the beginning of history."

Mr Cameron already faces having his party membership suspended for five years over comments he made last year on Sky News savaging then-NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian who has since become Premier.

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Liberal president Kent Johns blasts Ross Cameron as 'nothing more than a circus act' - The Sydney Morning Herald

In the 1990s, a serious malady appeared on the American public square in which citizens were driven over the edge by their antipathy for incumbent presidents. It came to be known as the presidential-derangement syndrome and over the course of the Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama administrations its victims grew in number. But while it was a given that whoever won last Novembers election would have one named after them, we really had no idea what we were in for once Donald Trump moved into the White House. As weve seen this past week, presidential paranoia has not only gone mainstream in terms of the public, its now found a home in the mainstream media.

Though it was limited at first to the fever swamps of American politics where some on the right first imagined that black helicopters were about to swoop in and steal their freedom or that the Clintons were operating a drug cartel, the derangement virus adapted to the changing political environment in the years that followed. Those deranged by Bush were less marginal than the Clinton victims but shared the belief that the 43rd president was somehow a front for a vast conspiracy and not only blamed him for lying the country into war but viewed the entire national-security response to 9/11 as a put-up job intended to mask the theft of liberty.

As awful as the Bush version was, the Obama-derangement syndrome was in many ways even worse as the 44th presidents citizenship was questioned along with his religious faith and anything else about him that anyone could think of. Though Obamas liberal policies and power grabs were bad enough from a conservative point of view, some on the right preferred to instead spend their energy pondering the authenticity of his birth certificate (see Trump, Donald) or whether or not he was an Islamist mole. We can blame the Internet and the rise of social media for the more pervasive nature of Obama conspiracy theories but even that dispiriting spectacle may turn out to be insignificant when compared to the psychological torment Trump has inspired among not merely the far Left but also mainstream liberals.

Anyone with a Facebook account already knows that many of our liberal friends are convinced that Trump is, at best, setting the U.S. up for a rerun of the last days of Weimar Germany. At worst, they see him as not merely a billionaire with a thin skin but as the mastermind of a scheme aimed at replacing democracy with a dictatorship that will repress women and minorities.

When liked, shared, and echoed in comments on social media, that sort of thinking is a form of mass group therapy for those who still cant believe Trump won the election. But its also what helped to motivate the counter-inaugural marches and the rest of the reaction to the new administration that increasingly calls itself a resistance rather than mere political opposition.

That there is no more proof of a coming Trump coup than there was for past derangement-syndrome theories is immaterial. What matters is that growing numbers of liberals are operating under the assumption that Trump isnt merely an inappropriate figure or wrong on the issues; they think he is really plotting to destroy democracy.

One would hope that mainstream, liberal publications would, as serious conservative journalists did during the Obama presidency, act as a check on this sort of foolishness. But the fever pitch of angst about every one of Trumps appointees and the over-the-top denunciations of his immigration orders in mainstream publications like the New York Times and on cable-news networks have only served to reinforce the tendency to view the debate through a conspiratorial mindset.

But on Thursday the Washington Post went a step further. In his discussion of the controversy over Judge Neal Gorsuchs reported comments about Trumps criticism of judges, Chris Cillizza used The Fix column to probe the question of whether the entire kerfuffle what Gorsuch said and the reaction from both the president and Kellyanne Conway was a charade.

While its true that one can argue that Gorsuchs statement might make him more palatable to Democratic senators (though the odds that more than one or two will resist the party bases demand for an all-out war and filibuster of Trumps choice for the High Court are minimal), Cillizzas reasoning was based in a common thread of liberal thought these days: the belief that Trump is operating off a master plan only he can see and that the chaos of his administrations early days is actually careful orchestration. Trump fooled the country during the campaign and whats to say hes not doing it again now?

The conceit of the piece was that if you dig a little deeper this relatively minor sidebar to both the confirmation and the litigation over Trumps executive orders the conspiracy theories begin to seem, well, not so conspiratorial. Though the supposed proof for this is entirely circumstantial, Cillizza insisted we couldnt rule out the possibility that the ensuing controversy was all part of his [Trumps] broader plan. The column crossed the line between D.C. gossip and a bow in the direction of the social-media paranoia that is driving the anger of what is no longer a fringe element of the Democratic party.

Once even the gatekeepers of responsible liberal opinion begin to see hidden agendas everywhere then it is fair to ask whether the extremism and paranoia of the anti-Trump camp is matching or exceeding the bad judgment being exhibited by the White House. We cant know where this will lead as liberal hysteria and Trumpian contempt for political norms compete in a race to the bottom of the barrel. But what we can be sure of is that this derangement syndrome is already farmore serious than those that afflicted critics of Clinton, Bush, and Obama and is bound to get even worse over the next four years.

Jonathan S. Tobin is a contributing writer to National Review Online. Follow him on Twitter @jonathans_tobin.

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The Paranoid Style of Anti-Trump Politics - National Review