[Opinion] Trump 'Incompetent' And 'Authoritarian'; Democrats Obstruct Presidency: Monday, May 15

Welcome to the White House Patch's daily roundup of what political pundits, columnists and editorial boards across the nation are saying about the news inside the Beltway. (For more national political news, sign up for the free White House Patch email newsletter.)"

E.J. Dionne: The Autocrat Returns

"Of course, Trump can be fairly regarded as both incompetent and authoritarian. We may be saved by the fact that the feckless Trump is often the authoritarian Trump's worst enemy. If we're lucky, Trump's astonishing indiscipline will be his undoing." (The Washington Post)

The Wall Street Journal: Obstruction Of The Executive

"Progressives have been lamenting the erosion of 'democratic norms' in the Trump era, but they’d have more credibility if they didn’t trample constitutional norms in their own rush to run President Trump out of town." (The Wall Street Journal)

PREVIOUSLY:

The Guardian view on Trump’s behaviour: tyrannical not presidential

"The man in the White House is governing like he is the president of a banana republic, not the leader of the oldest constitutional government in modern times." (The Guardian)

Charlotte Allen: No, Trump is Not 'Packing' the Courts

"[Franklin D.] Roosevelt's scheme might have died, but its pejorative implications won't die, at least for liberals in search of a talking point." (The Weekly Standard)

New York Post: Democrats’ hypocritical Comey-firing fury

"[D]on’t let Team Trump’s bumbling serve as a cover for the Dems’ two-faced dishonesty. They’ve wanted Comey gone for months — yet now resent that he is." (New York Post)

The Economist: Why Trumponomics won’t make America great again

"Mr Trump’s plan for the economy ... treats orthodoxy, accuracy and consistency as if they were simply to be negotiated away in a series of earth-shattering deals. Although Trumponomics could stoke a mini-boom, it, too, poses dangers to America and the world." (The Economist)

Todd S. Purdum: Trump pulls from Nixon's playbook

“It’s very Nixonian, in its own way,” said Nixon’s former White House counsel John Dean, speaking of Trump’s move. “But that’s typical of the man. They’re obviously trying the get the bureau back under the Department of Justice’s control." (Politico)

Wall Street Journal: Comey’s Deserved Dismissal

"The reality is that Mr. Comey has always been most concerned with the politics of his own reputation. He styles himself as the last honest man in Washington as he has dangled insinuations across his career about the George W. Bush White House and surveillance, then Mrs. Clinton and emails, and now Mr. Trump and Russia. He is political in precisely the way we don’t want a leader of America’s premier law-enforcement agency to behave." (The Wall Street Journal)

Margaret Carlson: Sally Yates Is the Early Hero of the Trump Era

"The White House never stepped up and fired Flynn. That would look like a mistake was made. ... Yates’ firing was quick and dirty. That tells us a lot about how the White House rolls." (The Daily Beast)

New York Post: Democrats’ witch hunt aids Russia’s anti-democracy efforts

"Yes, Russian attempts to interfere with our elections are a worrisome threat. But those efforts’ overall goal is to undermine faith in democracy itself. Sadly, Democrats’ posturing is doing plenty to help out with that."

Tom Rogan: Why Macron's victory in the French presidential election is good for American conservatives

"Ultimately, the American benefit of Macron's election is his general approach to things. He is the American friend that Le Pen will never be. ... Correspondingly, while American conservatives might not find Macron ideal, his presidency is a good match to our interests and ideology." (Washington Examiner)

Paul Krugman: Republicans Party Like It’s 1984

"What really stands out, however, is the Orwell-level dishonesty of the whole [health care] effort." (The New York Times)

John Cassidy: The House G.O.P.'s Shameful Health-Care Victory

"The vote represented a moral travesty, a betrayal of millions of vulnerable Americans, and a political gift to the Democrats. And if it ultimately costs the House G.O.P. its majority in next year’s midterms, that would be a richly deserved outcome." (The New Yorker)

Henry Olsen: No, Hillary — the main reason you lost is … you

"She didn’t lose because of Russian interference, James Comey or misogyny. She lost because she alienated millions of people who’d voted for President Obama twice." (New York Post)

Nate Silver: The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election

"The real story is that the Comey letter had a fairly large and measurable impact, probably enough to cost Clinton the election. It wasn’t the only thing that mattered, and it might not have been the most important. But the media is still largely in denial about how much of an effect it had." (FiveThirtyEight)

Eric Zorn: Trump and GOP, not campus radicals, pose the real threat to freedom

"The right dominates talk radio and cable chat, and Republicans control every branch of government at the federal level. Freedom of conservative speech is very, very safe. A better argument can be made that it's President Donald Trump and the GOP who are the true threats to American liberty." (Chicago Tribune)

Charles Hurt: Shut up, Jimmy Kimmel, you elitist creep

"I mean, really, Jimmy, does your newborn child not mean more to you than petty politics? How do you look at the miracle of your child and think — partisan politics!" (The Washington Times)

Patricia Murphy: The Biggest Mess in Washington? Not on Capitol Hill

"Donald Trump is right that there’s a mess in Washington. But it’s not on Capitol Hill. It’s on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue. Until he fixes his own mess, Trump shouldn’t count on the Republican Congress to pass his bills for him." (Roll Call)

Walter Russell Mead: ‘Nationalist’ Shouldn’t Be a Dirty Word

"Nationalism—the sense that Americans are bound together into a single people with a common destiny—is a noble and necessary force without which American democracy would fail." (The Wall Street Journal)

Robert Reich: 5 reasons why Trump’s corporate tax cut is appallingly dumb

"Don’t fall for Trump’s corporate tax giveaway. It will be a huge windfall for corporations and a huge burden on ordinary Americans." (Salon)

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Ann Coulter is right. Period.

"It wouldn’t matter if it were Louis Farrakhan at Ole Miss or Bernie Sanders at the High School of Economics and Finance just off Wall Street. The right to free expression is either secured for all or it’s guaranteed to none." (Miami Herald)

Rekha Basu: Omaha mayoral race has Democrats facing an identity crisis

"But maybe the real question here is whether a politician should be allowed to evolve on an issue if his or her public policy position ends up where one wants it to be. And the answer to that, if the candidate is otherwise trustworthy, should be yes." (Des Moines Register)

Eugene Robinson: Trump Tax Plan: Plant Beans and Wait for the Beanstalk

"Trump's plan is based on the idea that tax cuts stimulate the economy to grow, not a little but a lot -- almost like a magic beanstalk that rises into the clouds, where we find a goose that lays golden eggs, allowing us to live happily ever after. I agree with the economists who find this scenario unlikely." (The Washington Post)

David N. Bossie: Trump ushers in an optimistic era: Opposing view

"While the media have obsessed over rumors, unsubstantiated accusations and palace intrigue stories, the American people have seen a president delivering on his promises and putting their interests first. (USA Today)

Albert R. Hunt: Trump Tax Plan Is a Trail of Broken Promises

"The tax plan would be an addition to the list of other broken Trump promises, which include declaring China a currency manipulator, proposing a replacement for Obamacare that covers everyone, and having Mexico pay for a border wall." (Bloomberg)

David Gergen: The president Donald Trump has to envy

"It is obvious that Trump would love to become as large a life leader as FDR; it is equally clear that he has a ways to go." (CNN)

Charles R. Kesler: Donald Trump Is a Real Republican, and That’s a Good Thing

"Mr. Trump remains the kind of conservative president whom one expects to say, proudly and often, 'the chief business of the American people is business.'" (The New York Times)

Ben Schreckinger and Hadas Gold: Trump’s Fake War on the Fake News

"But behind that theatrical assault, the Trump White House has turned into a kind of playground for the press. We interviewed more than three dozen members of the White House press corps, along with White House staff and outside allies, about the first whirlwind weeks of Trump’s presidency. Rather than a historically toxic relationship, they described a historic gap between the public perception and the private reality." (Politico)

Donald Trump isn't learning from his mistakes

"By this time in his presidency, there should be a sense that he and his team have a firm grip on governance. But on matters big and small, the administration in recent days has revealed that it is making many of the same kind of mistakes it made a few months ago[.]"(CNN)

Ulrich Baer: What 'Snowflakes' Get Right About Free Speech

"The idea of freedom of speech does not mean a blanket permission to say anything anybody thinks. It means balancing the inherent value of a given view with the obligation to ensure that other members of a given community can participate in discourse as fully recognized members of that community." (The New York Times)

Eugene Robinson: The GOP’s latest health-care plan is comically bad

"The new proposal — brokered by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.), of the moderate Tuesday Group, and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), of the far-right Freedom Caucus — is like a parody, as if life-or-death access to health care were fodder for a 'Saturday Night Live' sketch." (The Washington Post)

Charles Krauthammer: With North Korea, We Do Have Cards To Play

"The Korea crisis is real and growing. But we are not helpless. We have choices. We have assets. It's time to deploy them." (Investors Business Daily

Ed Rogers: Who are the Democrats?

"With all the mixed messages, muddled policies, and now, two losses in special elections, back to our question: Who are the Democrats?" (The Washington Post)

Sam Myers and Sarah Peterson: Highly skilled workers visas have fees to help Americans

Wouldn't it be nice if President Trump's latest executive order included a requirement that employers of foreign workers pay those workers at least the same as their U.S. colleagues? "Well, no need; we already have it," write Sam Myers and Sarah Peterson. (The Star Tribune)

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Kyle Wingfield: Close call in 6th should leave both GOP, Democrats uneasy

The Republicans still aren't sure how to embrace Trump, and the Dems aren't quite sure how to attack him. That means the GOP will lose voters in places like the 6th District, "but not enough (yet) to lose races in which they’re favored," writes Kyle Wingfield. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Joan Vennochi: Hillary in 2020? Nothing’s far-fetched after Trump

"A rematch must be tempting to Clinton, given Trump’s assault on health care, immigrants, civil rights, and environmental protections, not to mention his flip-flops on foreign policy. Trump knows it too. As he watches Clinton emerge from the woods of Chappaqua, he’s back to calling her 'crooked Hillary.' But next time around, he will be judged on his record, not his rhetoric. That’s enough to make Clinton think about his vulnerabilities and forget about her own." (Boston Globe)

Charles W. Calomiris: Why Trump Might Win With China

"Mr. Trump may even be able to make progress on geopolitical issues, such as limiting China’s military adventures in international waters and securing its help on North Korea. If he plays his cards right." (The Wall Street Journal)

Ruy Teixeira: 7 reasons why today’s left should be optimistic

"The left should reject this [negative] approach. Leftists and liberals should promote instead a sense that positive change has been, is, and will continue to be possible. That will make it far easier to mobilize their fellow citizens. Besides, look at it this way: It is basically impossible to out-pessimism Donald 'American Carnage' Trump. It’s time to try something new." (Vox)

Nicholas Kristof: How to Stand Up to Trump and Win

"Yes, Trump opponents lost the election and we have to recognize that elections have consequences. But if 'resistance' has a lefty ring to it, it can also be framed as a patriotic campaign to protect America from someone who we think would damage it." (The New York Times)

Michael E. O'Hanlon: If Trump really wants to improve relations with Russia, he should persuade NATO to stop expanding

"If we continue down this path, a U.S.-Russia war could even erupt over a contested area in Europe. To reduce the risk, we need to develop an alternative to further expansion of NATO, one that promotes the security and prosperity of the neutral countries in Eastern Europe." (Los Angeles Times)

David Ignatius: Trump got Syria and China right last week. That’s a start.

"In last week’s crucial tests, President Trump made good decisions about Syria, Russia and China — moving his erratic administration a bit closer toward the pillars of traditional U.S. policy." (The Washington Post)

Brian Beutler: Sean Spicer Is the Perfectly Awful Spokesman That Donald Trump Deserves

"Any right-thinking president would have fired Spicer a long time ago, as many are now calling on Trump to do. Spicer survives because he’s willing to toe any line Trump asks him to, and to improvisationally torch his own credibility in defense of the administration’s outrages." (New Republic)

Richard Cohen: Recklessness Is Not a Policy

"The many commentators who cheered Trump's missile strike ought to note that this is roughly what some of us feared: a cocksure president using the power of his office any way he wants. Trump will not be restrained by nettlesome constitutional questions nor the nagging examples of history." (RealClear Politics)

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Stifling free speech: Academia's 'Cone of Silence'

"Ever so gradually America's centers of higher education have become incubators of indoctrination, pushing free speech (and free thought) to the margins. It is high time for the duly concerned to push back — hard." (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Peter Weber: Trump has done a lot for the super wealthy. What about the rest of us?

"Does any of this help you? Unless you already meet Trump's definition of success — and Trump appears to have an almost religious devotion to financial and other measurable metrics of success (TV ratings, crowd sizes, etc.) — chances are, not so much." (The Week)

Robert Knight: Cleaning up the swamp

Courtesy of Obama overreach, swamp creatures continue to roam and bite. (The Washington Times)

J.M. Opal: America Should Never Be ‘Great Again’

"The American myth is at a crossroads. Our old stories will not save us. We need a new way to understand ourselves, a more honest account of our troubled past to help us face our troubling future." (Time)

Michelle Dillingham: Parents should be concerned about Gorsuch's opinions

"Cincinnati families need to know that a judge who has consistently ruled against rights and protections for students with disabilities may be appointed to the Supreme Court, where the final judgment in all cases involving laws of Congress, such as IDEA, are decided." (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Michael Brendan Dougherty: America can't save Syria. And it shouldn't try.

"But the real question is this: Should the emotion generated by these pictures elicit our consent for the United States military, under President Trump, to intervene even more aggressively on behalf of al Qaeda in Syria, under the legal authority of a 2001 act of Congress declaring war on al Qaeda?" (The Week)

Ed Rogers: Media outlets go easy on Susan Rice, double down on Trump-Russia

"[T]he media will contrive stories they think add to the Trump-Russia connection. That a back-channel meeting may have occurred in the Seychelles in January before the inauguration is interesting, and perhaps even sexy in a James Bond sort of a way, but it’s completely irrelevant to and inconsistent with the notion that President Trump is somehow in collusion with the Russian government." (The Washington Post)

Ross Baker: Democrats can save the Senate or ruin it

"The Democrats could do a lot worse, and they will when the next vacancy occurs. ... [T]hey will lose on Judge Neil Gorsuch and on the next seat if it comes up during Trump's time in the White House. They will have handed the president two justices, and they will disable the Senate's emergency brake on all judicial nominations." (USA Today)

Brian Beutler: Don’t Let Trump Get Away With His Latest Deception

"The White House says Obama adviser Susan Rice spied on Trump aides. We will all regret taking the claim at face value." (The New Republic)

Rich Lowry: Gorsuch filibuster will be the dumbest in US history

"It won’t block Gorsuch, won’t establish any important jurisprudential principle and won’t advance Democratic strategic goals, indeed the opposite." (New York Post)

Michelle Goldberg: I hope Susan Rice was keeping tabs on Trump’s Russia ties.

"In fact, it would have been a dereliction of duty for the Obama administration, which was still in charge of the country’s national security, to ignore suspicious contacts by members of the Trump transition team. After all, at the time, the FBI investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian attempts to subvert the election had already begun." (Slate)

Jonathan Allen: The S.S. Trump Is Sinking — Find a Lifeboat

"Dear Republican member of the House:

"Run away from Donald Trump. Run hard. Run fast. And don’t look over your shoulder.

"This president doesn’t care about you, he doesn’t share your values, and a dumpster fire would be envious of his reckless disregard for everything and everyone around him." (Roll Call)

Juan Williams: Trump's risk of impeachment rises

"It is no fantasy to say the drip-drip-drip of the Trump-Russia investigations is draining this presidency of political capital. The president’s historically high disapproval rating — 51 percent in the latest McClatchy poll — tells the same story. That’s why astute Republicans are starting to look out for themselves." (The Hill)

Kimberly A. Strassel: What Devin Nunes Knows

"Hint to the press corps: If Mr. Nunes wanted to tip off the White House about his Russia probe, it’d be a lot easier to speed-dial Steve Bannon secretly from his office. ... Mr. Nunes has zero reason to recuse himself from this probe, because he is doing his job. It’s Mr. Schiff who ought to be considering recusal, for failing to do his own." (The Wall Street Journal)

Tim Mach, Lachlan Markay: Things Go From Bad to Worse for Devin Nunes and Team Trump

"Thursday’s report means that either Nunes has been lying to the public or The New York Times is flat wrong on a story that neither Nunes nor the White House will deny." (The Daily Beast)

Bradley Harris: Expect to hear more from GOP's Freedom Caucus

"The same group led the government shutdown in 2013, nearly initiated two more government shutdowns, forced the U.S. Treasury to conduct 'extraordinary measures' to avoid defaulting on the national debt, and took down House Speaker John Boehner. And we haven't heard the last of them." (Philly.com)

Brian Dickerson: With or without Devin Nunes, House's Russia probe is toast

"Any hope of redeeming the legislative branch’s independence now resides with the Senate Intelligence Committee, where Sen. Richard Burr, the Republican chair from North Carolina, and Sen Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat from Virginia, are in the early stages of their own investigation into Russia’s election meddling." (Detroit Free Press)

New York Times: President Trump Risks the Planet

"Perhaps most important, Mr. Trump’s ignorance has stripped America of its hard-won role as a global leader on climate issues." (New York Times)

Clive Crook: Brexit Doesn't Have to Be a Disaster

"The point is to understand that the die is now cast, that further recrimination over how this came about serves no purpose, and that the best bet for both sides is to make the most of it." (Bloomberg)

Catherine Rampell: Think tax reform will be easy for Trump? Ha, ha.

"After the Obamacare-repeal disaster, President Trump has decided to move on to tax reform. ... But many of the issues that brought down repeal-and-replace will dog his tax plan, too." (The Washington Post)

Victor Davis Hanson: The Russian Farce

"If Putin were really a conniving realist, he would have much preferred Hillary in the 2016 election — given his success in manipulating the Obama-era reset." (National Review)

Michael R. Bloomberg: Stop Blaming. Start Governing.

"Who’s to blame for the failure of the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare? Who cares? What matters now is that Democrats stop gloating, Republicans stop sulking, and each party come to the table to improve a health-care system that both parties agree needs work." (Bloomberg)

Thomas Groome: To Win Again, Democrats Must Stop Being the Abortion Party

"If Democrats want to regain the Catholic vote, they must treat abortion as a moral issue, work for its continued reduction and articulate a more nuanced message than, 'We support Roe v. Wade.'" (The New York Times)

E.J. Dionne: Gorsuch's Convenient Untruth

"With a shrewdly calculated innocence, Judge Neil Gorsuch told a big fat lie at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Because it was a lie everyone expected, nobody called it that. 'There's no such thing as a Republican judge or a Democratic judge,' Gorsuch said." (Indiannapolis Star)

Roger L. Simon: Time to Investigate Obama, not Just Trump

"What appears at this writing is that Trump transition team members and possibly Trump himself had their identities revealed, were 'unmasked' in the parlance, while foreign diplomats were being surveilled." (PJ Media)

Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon: Why Steve Bannon Wants You to Believe in the Deep State

"What has been lost in the discussion of the Deep State, however, is that even if it is fiction, it is a profoundly useful one for the White House. As Trump takes a wrecking ball to the federal bureaucracy—what Steve Bannon has called 'the administrative state'—an illusory enemy like the Deep State is exactly what is needed to justify the destruction." (Politico)

Gregg Jarrett: Sorry Dems, Judge Gorsuch is un-Borkable

"Gorsuch’s credentials are too impeccable, his intellect too keen and his temperament too even to fall victim to the kind of debasement that felled Judge Robert Bork and coined an infamous phrase." (Fox News)

David Leonhardt: All the President’s Lies

"Our president is a liar, and we need to find out how serious his latest lies are." (The New York Times)

Richard Benedetto: Media Erect Roadblocks to Trump Budget

"When the first Trump budget was unveiled last week, the news media exploded with exaggerated and heart-rending tales of the human, natural and material pain and devastation the suggested spending reductions will wreak on American society." (RealClear Politics)

Juan Williams: For GOP, a domino effect on health and taxes

"Without a healthcare plan that cuts federal spending, there is no chance for tax reform." (The Hill)

Joel Kotkin: Hollywood’s self-inflicted wounds

"Hollywood’s decision to make itself part of the anti-Trump resistance would make for wonderful satire, if you could get it on film. Imagine feminist icon Emma Watson fighting for 'women’s empowerment' while baring her breasts in Vanity Fair. Or a host of social justice warriors, like Meryl Streep, demanding justice for the dispossessed, then returning to their estates." (The Orange County Register)

Jane Eisner: School Vouchers, Bolstered By Trump’s Budget, Fail America

"Already, public monies pay for transporting students to religious schools, and for their textbooks, and, in certain cases, for special education teachers. Remember, the vast majority of the private schools currently receiving some sort of subsidy from state programs are religious in nature. How does scaling up this program not advance religion?" (The Forward)

Grover Norquist: What Trump's tax returns really tell us (sorry Rachel Maddow)

"Newsflash: Trump paid his taxes and more. Rachel Maddow’s exploration of Al Capone’s vault exploded in her face and the world moves forward." (Fox News)

David Miliband: Trump's devastating new travel ban is built on a harmful myth

"The myth underpinning the executive order is that refugees are waived into the US without checks." (The Guardian)

Ian Tuttle: Democrats’ Sudden Amnesia about Obamacare’s Many Ills

Republicans’ alternative to Obamacare deserves much of the criticism it has received. ... But no one should be allowed to forget, or misrepresent, the failure it’s trying to fix." (National Review)

David Cay Johnston: The real Trump tax scandal

"The big story in Trump’s tax returns is that Congress has created two income tax systems, separate and unequal. One system burdens most Americans. The other enriches the donor class." (USA Today)

Lawrence Kudlow: Paul Ryan's Plan Is a Very Good First Step

The American Health Care Act isn't perfect, but it "will abolish mandates, open the door to free-market choice and competition, provide universal access, generously protect the poor and the sick among us, and slash taxes — all of which gives us a stronger health system and a faster growing economy," writes Lawrence Kudlow. (RealClearPolitics)

Dr. Christy Duan: ‘Trumpcare’ could kill an extra 50,000 people a year

A new report by the Congressional Budget Office estimates that under the AHCA, 24 million Americans would lose coverage over the next decade. That translates to 52,747 extra deaths a year, according to the most definitive study on death rates and Medicaid coverage expansion conducted by researchers at Harvard University and the City University of New York. (STAT)

Jim Newell: Republicans Have Absolutely No Idea How to Handle This Awful CBO Report

"For most of the quiet Republicans, not having had a chance to read the CBO report is a justifiable excuse—an hour or 90 minutes after it’s come out. That gets them through the day. By the next time they’re in session, they’ll have to start saying that they can’t read." (Slate)

Glenn Reynolds: Preet Bharara proved Trump right

"Bharara’s refusal to resign wasn’t about principle. It was about putting himself publicly on the side of anti-Trump Democrats, no doubt in the expectation of future rewards, political or professional. It was not a brave act. It was, in fact, a species of corruption." (USA Today)

David Remnick: There Is No Deep State

"The problem in Washington is not a Deep State; the problem is a shallow man—an untruthful, vain, vindictive, alarmingly erratic President. In order to pass fair and proper judgment, the public deserves a full airing of everything from Trump’s tax returns and business entanglements to an accounting of whether he has been, in some way, compromised. " (The New Yorker)

David Catron: How and Why Obamacare Repeal Will Succeed

"The bill will need 218 votes to pass in the House and 51 to pass in the Senate. After 7 years, how many Republicans will be ready to face his or her constituents, having cast the vote that prevented Obamacare repeal from going to President Trump’s desk?" (The American Spectator)

Charles Lane: Republicans wave a white flag on health care

"The GOP bill ... revealingly ... represents the maximum progress House Republicans think they can make toward free-market health care without committing political suicide. They sure didn’t get very far." (The Washington Post)

Noah Rothman: Dem's Irrational Obamacare Exuberance

"For all the Democratic efforts to gin up their base over the prospect of ObamaCare’s revision, it would be better for them to get out of the way. Their conceited campaign to remind the public of the debacle that Republicans are attempting to fix is only saving the GOP from itself." (Commentary)

Jason L. Riley: So Far, So Good, Mr. Trump

"Seven weeks in and he’s sticking to his promises to help the urban poor and improve school choice." (The Wall Street Journal)

James Pethokoukis: How GOP bumbling just made single-payer health care more likely

"There's a policy vacuum that Democrats will be eager to fill should they get the chance. And the GOP's failure to deliver on its top promise raises the odds that Democrats will get a chance." (The Week)

Kevin Baker: It's Time For A Bluexit

Writing in the New Republic, Kevin Baker stops short of calling for a traditional secession but says its time for Blue States to go it alone. "[W]e’ll turn our back on the federal government in every way we can, just like you’ve been urging everyone to do for years, and devote our hard-earned resources to building up our own cities and states," he writes, adding, "We’ll turn Blue America into a world-class incubator for progressive programs and policies." (New Republic)

Michael A. Cohen: With new health care plan, GOP embraces its Scrooge image

"But the real takeaway from this bill is that it is deeply reflective of a mindset and attitude among modern conservatives that government should do less, not more, to help those in greatest need." (Boston Globe)

Victor Davis Hanson: Eight years of a fawning press have made the Left reckless.

"Were NBC anchor Brian Williams’s fantasies fake news? Were Dan Rather’s 'fake but accurate' Rathergate memos? How about the party line circulated in JournoList or the Washington and New York reporters who colluded to massage the news to favor the Clinton campaign, as revealed in the Podesta WikiLeaks trove?" (National Review)

Ezra Klein: The GOP health bill doesn’t know what problem it’s trying to solve

"In reality, what I think we’re seeing here is Republicans trying desperately to come up with something that would allow them to repeal and replace Obamacare; this is a compromise of a compromise of a compromise aimed at fulfilling that promise." (Vox)

Yascha Mounk: The Coming Democratic Majority? Not So Fast.

"[I]t simply isn’t true that most young people are liberal. On the contrary, a recent Gallup study shows that only 30 percent of millennials call themselves liberal—while 28 percent identify as conservative and 40 percent as moderate." (Slate)

Bradley P. Moss: Trump’s Wiretap Rant Betrays Ignorance of the Law

The president’s conspiratorial Saturday-morning tweetstorm betrayed a shocking lack of understanding of how the American legal system works. (Politico)

Michael Goodwin: Leaks and unnamed sources fuel media’s plan to destroy Trump

"Separating fact from fake news has never been more essential. All that is certain is that we are witnessing a homegrown attack on a sitting president, most likely by elements of our own government and most likely for purely partisan purposes." (New York Post)

Patrick Buchanan: It's Trump's Party Now

"The Republican establishment today bends the knee to Caesar. But how long before K Street lobbyists for transnational cartels persuade the GOP elite, with campaign contributions, to slow-walk the president's America First agenda?" (The American Conservative)

Paul Waldman: How much longer can Republicans defend Trump over Russia?

With revelations that Jeff Sessions had contacts with Russia during the election, "members of the president's party are suddenly asking themselves just how far they're willing to go to defend the administration on this question." (The Week)

Philip K. Howard: How Trump Can Save Almost $1 Trillion in 10 Easy Steps

"Washington’s waste pile is so high that President Trump could energize the economy by bulldozing bureaucracy that serves no public purpose." (The Daily Beast)

Richard Wolffe: Donald Trump's Congress speech was a heroic effort in contradiction and cliche

In a scathing Guardian column, Wolffe says that when Trump mentioned "a new wave of national pride" during Tuesday night's speech to Congress, he empowered "the previously downtrodden minority known as white supremacists." (The Guardian)

Brian Bennett: The real goal of Trump's executive orders: Reduce the number of immigrants in the U.S.

Bennett notes that the foreign-porn population in the U.S. has quadrupled since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which has "alarmed right-wing nationalists" like Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, who see the immigration ban as a way to combat the increasing multiculturalism of the U.S. (Los Angeles Times)

Charles Hurt: Trump speech leaves Democrats befuddled, in ruins, with question marks

Trump "delivered the most finely crafted speech of his political life Tuesday," write Hurt, who says the president stole the Democrats' thunder by owning issues like health care and immigration. (The Washington Times)

Eugene Robinson: Does Trump He's President?

"The question is inevitable: How much does the president even know about his administration's policies?

"Not much, it appears." (The Washington Post)

Ingrid Jacques: The Left Has An Intolerance Problem

"Using the left's harsh reaction to the confirmation of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Ingrid Jacques writes: 'She has clearly stated that the department under her watch will protect the rights of all students, including LGBTQ youth, and defend against bullying and harassment. It would be refreshing if her liberal opponents would do the same.'" (The Detroit News)

RealClearPolitics: Trump's Speech — A Chance For A Do-Over

In a commentary, RealClearPolitics writes that President Trump's Inauguration Day address was essentially a victory lap. "He won the 2016 campaign, but 2017 is a time for governing," RCP says, calling tonight's speech to the joint session of Congress a chance for a "do-over." (RealClearPolitics)

Paul Brandus: Why The Trump Boom Won't Last

"Trump supporters think good times are ahead because a Republican businessman like Trump is in the White House, gunning to cut regulations and taxes, and that’s got to be great for stocks, right? But that’s based more on wishful thinking than on history." (USA Today)

The Oregonian: As Trump Prepares To Unveil New Ban, Don't Forget Fatemeh

The Oregonian editorial board reminds us of Fatemeh, the 4-month-old Iranian girl in need of life-saving open-heart surgery who came to Oregon despite Trump's travel ban. (The Oregonian)

Oren Cass: No, Obamacare Has Not Saved American Lives

"Had mortality continued to decline during ACA implementation in 2014 and 2015 at the same rate as during the 2000–13 period, 80,000 fewer Americans would have died in 2015 alone." (National Review)

Kelly Riddell: Playing The Xenophobic Card

"When a reporter asked the president if he felt his administration was 'playing with xenophobia and maybe racist tones,' contributing to the surge of anti-Semitic acts, Mr. Netanyahu was quick to step in and defend.

“'I’ve known the president and I’ve known his family and his team for a long time, and there is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than President Donald Trump. I think we should put that to rest,'” Mr. Netanyahu said sternly.

"But he doesn’t know the American press. When they sense they have an opportunity to paint Mr. Trump as a fear-mongering racist and xenophobe, they’ll pound that narrative home." (The Washington Times)

Josh Rivera: Trump fears come true for LGBTQ: Column

"Around the country, you can see anti-LGBTQ policies left and right. A study from the Movement Advancement Project details: a law in Mississippi that permits businesses, doctors and government officials to deny services and care to LGBTQ people; bans of cities and counties in Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina from extending non-discrimination protections to LGBTQ people in employment, housing and public accommodations; laws in Alabama and Louisiana restricting educators from discussing LGBTQ issues; and laws in Georgia and Tennessee that allow health care providers to refuse access to transition-related care for transgender people.

"The issue with Sessions — and a pressured Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos — is about public accommodation. It is our government saying, 'We will not recognize you.'

"If our government is already giving protection to specific groups under the law, why not include nearly 700,000 who identify as transgender? Why continue with the marginalization?" (The Des Moines Register)

Nathaniel Parish Flannery: How Trump's Bullying Of Mexico Could Backfire

"Trump appears to believe that Mexico will be unable or unwilling to respond. In his business dealings Trump proved adept at forcing suppliers and partners to eat costs and accept pay cuts. When relationships soured, such as his failed luxury condo project in Baja California, Mexico, Trump often moved on to new projects and new deals. He cannot do this with another country.

"The irony is that Mexico, with its combination of a large pool of low-cost laborers and a small, well-educated professional class, is almost the perfect economic ally for the U.S. Mexican elites have helped create an unbalanced manufacturing economy that complements the U.S. rather than competing with it directly. Mexico never really tried to follow the example of South Korea and Japan, which created their own car companies and electronics giants that produced cheaper goods that undercut the goods produced in America. Such a rival on the U.S.’s southern border would spell trouble for American manufacturers. And it could materialize faster than you might think." (New Republic)

Dallas Morning News: In picking H.R. McMaster For National Security Adviser, President Trump Chooses Wisely

"Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, 54, is a seasoned battlefield commander. As a captain during the Persian Gulf War, he commanded 140 soldiers in nine tanks and 12 Bradley fighting vehicles in a nighttime battle against a much larger Iraqi force, with 30 tanks, 20 personnel carriers and 30 other trucks. By morning, every enemy vehicle had been destroyed and McMaster's armored troop had not suffered a single loss.

"In picking McMaster, Trump has shown himself capable, as he did with the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, of rising above the self-created chaos of his administration to hire a smart, exceptionally competent individual." (Dallas Morning News)

James P. Rubin: Does Trump Herald The End Of The West?

"...[W]ith each passing week of chaos, confusion and amateurish public statements emanating from the modern day Tower of Babel, formerly known as the White House, the prospect of permanent damage to this revered institution [NATO] is no longer an exaggerated fear. This time, many in Europe agree, the danger is real. Worse yet, we are rapidly approaching a point of no return—a decision point when European governments conclude that, despite its demonstrable success, the era of a U.S.-led NATO military alliance is ending and they must act accordingly.

"We are not there yet. But for those who have worked over the past 70 years to establish and enhance American leadership of a stable, prosperous, democratic order, as well as for those who support and benefit from the policies and practices such a world order entails, it’s time to recognize the risk." (Politico)

Washington Examiner: Conservatives Must Remember Conservatism

"The set of beliefs and principals that animate conservatism is at risk of being obscured — perhaps even displaced — by vulgar provocation, tribal rather than principled opposition to the Left, the demands of entertainment and partisan fealty to a Republican president.

"If these elements take over and drown out conservative philosophy, ideas, and policies, they will inflict harm not only on conservatism but on the Right in general and on the Republican Party and President Trump in particular. And that would be bad for the country." (Washington Examiner)

David Harsanyi: Why The Resistance Is The Best Thing That's Happened To President Trump

"It's true that Trump doesn't exhibit prudence, reliance or inherited wisdom. Yet—and I know this is exceedingly difficult for Democrats to comprehend—neither does the alternative. If liberals were serious about convincing Republicans to abandon Trump in toto, they'd have something better to offer than Trump. ... The average resistance fighters might dislike Trump. But they hate conservatism. By treating even the most milquetoast, run-of-the-mill Cabinet nominee as the worst thing that has ever happened to America, The Resistance gives conservatives the space to defend such long-standing political positions as school choice, immigration enforcement and deregulation. I imagine many Republicans would happily hand over the scalp of more Michael Flynns if it meant creating a more stable and experienced administration." (Reason)

Frank Bruni: Milo Is The Mini-Donald

"Trump the father and Yiannopoulos the son are both provocateurs who realize that in this day and age especially, the currency of celebrity isn’t demeaned by the outrageousness and offensiveness through which a person achieves it.

"Both are con men, wrapping themselves in higher causes, though their primary agendas are the advancement of themselves.

"Both believe that audience size equals value — and that having people listen to you is the same as having something worthwhile to say." (The New York Times)

Tammy Bruce: The Trump-Reagan Parallels

"The extraordinary assaults by media, celebrities and jealous politicians against Mr. Trump have been unending. Their attacks include questioning his mental health, comparing him to Hitler (over and over and over again), declaring him a fascist, insisting he’s a modern-day Manchurian candidate, that he’s a traitor (because Russians!), and on and on. ... Mr. Reagan withstood similar vitriol by the same and usual suspects. The Sun newspaper quoted author Steven Hayward’s recollection of the rhetoric against Mr. Reagan: 'Democratic Rep. William Clay of Missouri charged that Reagan was “trying to replace the Bill of Rights with fascist precepts lifted verbatim from Mein Kampf.”' " (The Washington Times)

Roger Cohen: The Russificanion Of America

Writing about the recent Munich Security Conference, Cohen opines: "For me, the most troubling thing was finding myself unsure who was more credible — Pence or Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. The Russification of America under Trump has proceeded apace. Vladimir Putin’s macho authoritarianism, disdain for the press, and mockery of the truth has installed itself on the Potomac." (The New York Times)

Marc A. Thiessen: Left's Hypocrisy On Trump's "Enemy Of The American People" Comment

"Our politics is increasingly filled not simply with anger but also contempt for those we see as our opponents. We saw this contempt in Obama’s disdain for 'bitter' Americans who 'cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them ... as a way to explain their frustrations.' We see it in Trump’s crass comments about women and immigrants. We see it in the venom spewing from the left at anti-Trump rallies — from riots on Inauguration Day to Madonna standing up before a cheering crowd on the Mall and declaring 'I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.' And we see it in some of the press coverage of Trump, which even CBS 'Face the Nation' host John Dickerson has called 'hysterical.' Trump is not wrong when he complains that the press is seething with 'so much anger and hatred' for him." (The Washington Post)

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