Greg Corombos of Radio America and David French of National Review applaud the Trump administration for rescinding Pres. Obama’s demand that all public schools embrace transgender accommodation and leaving the issue to states or local school districts. They also slam the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for ruling that any gun can be banned if it’s “useful for military service.” And David vents about the one of the worst trades in NBA history.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss the almost unanimous praise of Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster to be Pres. Trump’s new national security adviser. They also discuss how the free speech debate ought to be less about Milo and more about liberals bent on destroying the careers of anyone they disagree with politically. And Jim mulls Singapore-style caning for whoever defaced three monuments in Washington over Presidents’ Day weekend.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss reports that intelligence officials and the FBI have not found any criminal activity thus far by Mike Flynn after reviewing transcripts of his call to Russia and testimony to the FBI. They also react to Thursday’s high-octane press conference as Trump and the media clashed again. And they rub their hands with glee as Ted Nugent says he’s considering a run for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enthusiastically welcome a liberal threat to launch primary challenges to Democratic senators in 2018 for being too nice to Donald Trump. They also slam Republicans John McCain and Susan Collins for voting against very solid conservative nominees. And we react to the mainstream media temper tantrum after not getting to ask questions at some of Pres. Trump’s press conferences.
North Korea will pose a nuclear risk to the United States within a few years and stopping the threat means realizing North Korea and Iran are two components of the same threat and getting tough on China is the key to stopping both of them.
Gordon Chang is widely seen as one the world’s leading experts on China and North Korea. He is the author of “The Coming Collapse of China” and “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World.” He says this past weekend’s North Korean test of an intermediate range missile needs to be a call to awareness and to action.
“The North Koreans and the Iranians have been thick as thieves. This is one program conducted in two separate locations. When we add in China’s participation in this, we’ve got to look at this as a whole, not just the separate pieces,” said Chang.
Chang says no further evidence is needed than to note the Iranian missile test which made worldwide headlines last month was actually conducted with a North Korean missile.
Officially, China is condemning the latest North Korean provocation, but Chang says Beijing is is doing that largely to sooth the rest of the world. He says China is notoriously duplicitous when it comes to North Korea.
“The Chinese have consistently been helping the North Koreans develop both nukes and long-range missiles. We see Chinese banks involved in money laundering for North Korea and involved in North Korea’s illicit commerce. Chinese entities have been selling things like uranium hexafluoride and components for the North’s uranium weapons program,” said Chang.
“If Beijing wanted this to stop, it would. It hasn’t been,” added Chang, who says the Chinese are equally deceptive on the diplomatic stage.
“We see China rhetorically supporting sanctions and then turning around and busting them when the world isn’t watching. So I don’t think the Chinese are genuine in what they say in New York (at the United Nations),” said Chang.
North Korean provocations in the past 20 years are often followed by a familiar pattern of condemnation and sanctions. Yet, since the failure to stop North Korea’s nuclear ambitions in the 1990s, little has been effective at getting the regime to change course.
Chang says it’s time to get serious with China.
“One thing we could do is unplug Chinese financial institutions from the global system because of their participation in North Korea’s illicit commerce. That would shock markets but we’ve got to show Beijing that we are serious,” said Chang.
While carrying economic and diplomatic challenges, Chang says the move would gut the nuclear threats emanating from both North Korea and Iran.
“It certainly would but we have not had the political will to do that. But if some American city ends up to be a radioactive slab, it will not do for the president to say, ‘Well, I could have stopped this but I didn’t want to anger the Chinese. We need to anger the Chinese because we need, first of all, to protect our homeland,” said Chang.
Chang says are obvious things China could do to show it was serious about stopping the North Korean nuclear program, but like other efforts, Beijing must be closely monitored.
“If we saw commerce between North Korea and China drop to zero, that would be an indication that Beijing is serious about this. After the next to last sanctions on North Korea, which were in March of last year, there was a brief fall-off in commerce in April and May. After that, everything went back to pre-sanction levels. So that is a pattern,” said Chang.
Chang also advocates the financial strategy against China because it’s clear that softer diplomacy is a massive failure.
“Yes, we’ve had diplomacy intended to disarm the North Koreans but we have not seriously pursued it with the vigor that it requires. That’s why the North Koreans now have nuclear weapons and are on the verge of being able to mate them to their longest-range launchers. Clearly, our diplomacy over the course of decades has failed,” said Chang.
That’s right. Chang says the North Korean missile program is making great strides in recent years, regardless of the failed tests that tend to make headlines.
“When they have a test which fails, they learn a lot, so it’s not necessarily a setback. We know that within 3-5 years, they will be able to have an intercontinental ballistic missile which will be able to reach most of the lower 48 states, and they’ll be able to mate a nuclear weapon to that,” said Chang.
“Right now, they have the launchers. They have the distance. They just don’t have the ability to mate a weapon to a long-range launcher,” said Chang.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are thrilled to see Tom Price confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services. They also discuss the numerous problems with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the Trump immigration order. And they slam CNN’s Chris Cuomo for asserting that accusing a journalist of fake news is the equivalent of using the N word.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are pleased to see nine Senate Democrats claim to want an up or down vote for Judge Gorsuch. They also applaud Missouri passing right to work legislation but wince as opponents may be able to stall the law from taking effect for almost two years. And they scold President Trump for tweeting about Ivanka’s battle with Nordstrom.
Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are pushing party leaders to speed up work on major legislative priorities and stay committed to their campaign promises, but one key member says the effort should begin with tax reform and not Obamacare.
As the first 100 days of the Trump administration tick by, conservative lawmakers are urging leaders in the House and Senate to get going on their vows to repeal and replace the Obama health care law and jump start the economy with significant tax reform.
Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., shot to conservative stardom when he topped then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a 2014 congressional primary. A former college economics professor, Brat says getting tax reform done first and done right are at the top of his priority list.
He says news that top Republicans plan to address health care and infrastructure before the tax code is a mistake.
“That is hugely concerning. I taught economics for 20 years. That is piece number one, without which I can’t vote for anything else,” said Brat.
Specifically, Brat wants to see a major reduction in the corporate income tax rate and immediate expensing for business. He says that is the key to getting the economic engine humming. He says experts who helped to craft the 1981 Reagan tax cuts, such as Arthur Laffer, see those provisions as they keys to explosive growth, wage growth and job creation.
“He said that is consistent with eight percent wage growth, four percent GDP growth for the country and eight percent wage growth for a country that has not seen the average guy have their wages increase for 30 years,” said Brat.
He says getting that right will set the stage for everything else.
“If we don’t get that piece, we will not be able to afford any of the rest of it. That has to come first. It’s got to be in writing. It’s got to be in stone or I can’t go along with the rest of it,” said Brat.
As for Obamacare, conservatives have two growing concerns: moving more quickly to advance legislation and pushing hard against some GOP leaders who now seem willing to work within the framework of Obamacare than to repeal it in full.
Brat says part of the current delay on legislation is due to the Senate slow-playing the confirmation of Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., to be the nest Secretary of Health and Human Services. The congressman says President Trump has made it clear that is the key to revving up the reform effort.
“A few weeks ago, he said, ‘Look, once Price is in that slot, then we’re going to move at lightning speed.’ So I think that’s what you can realistically hope for. Once Price [is confirmed], boom, the plan comes out and we run with it. I think it’s going to be surprisingly good,” said Brat.
“I don’t think it will be perfect. I’m not a big fan of tax credits because you can bid those up forever,” said Brat. “But it will not be Obama-lite from what I’m hearing.”
An aggressive approach in the House, however, may run into hesitation from Senate Republicans, who seem more willing to work within the existing framework of Obamacare.
“The Senate has made it clear they’re OK with tweaking Obamacare and repairing the existing broken system. I obviously think that’s the wrong way,” said Brat.
Brat says Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., is coming to rally the GOP members to stand strong on campaign promises to repeal and replace Obamacare.
“[Walker] says, ‘Once you start reform, you can’t backtrack. Once you take out one leg of the stool, which we already have done – Trump has already done some of the repeal by regulatory fiat. Once we start down that road, we’ve got to conclude it. I think (House Speaker) Paul Ryan is going to to come out and make that clear in the next few days,” said Brat.
Brat says the tinkering approach cannot work. He points out that the typical family on just a bronze plan is saddled with a $12,000 deductible just to get access to the health care system. As a result, he says it’s putting even greater financial pressure on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veteran’s programs, which are now headed towards insolvency faster and faster.
The congressman says the current system bends the cost curve up by 20 percent for Americans. He says the only responsible approach is to bend the cost curve to zero in order to spare those programs and give younger Americans a fighting chance of actually seeing some of those benefits.
“We’re growing (the cost curve) at 20 percent now. Bending the cost curve down doesn’t mean you grow at 10 percent or five percent. It means you shrink the cost of health care to zero. That’s what you’ve got to do just to maintain balance. That doesn’t reduce costs. That just keeps them from growing more in the out years. So we’ve got some heavy lifting to do,” said Brat.
A former top immigration official says federal law is very clear in giving the President of the United States broad power over who is allowed into the country and points out that possession of a visa does not give permission to enter the United States.
The issue is still at a boiling point after Federal Judge James Robart placed a temporary restraining order on President Trump’s executive order pausing immigration to the United States from seven nations roiled by radical Islamic terrorism.
In his ruling, Robart said he was granting the injunction because the plaintiffs were likely to win in the merits and individuals and the states could suffer irreparable harm before the case is fully resolved.
Jan C. Ting served as Assistant Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the Justice Department during in the George H.W. Bush administration. He now teaches at the Temple University School of Law. He says the law is clearly on Trump’s side.
“The law is very clear that Congress has authorized the president to decide. If the president finds the entry of any aliens or any class of aliens would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he is authorized to suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens or to impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate,” said Ting.
“It’s codified as Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 212 (f). It’s also codified as 8 USC Section 1182 (f). It gives broad power to the president to exclude, basically, any aliens or non-citizens he chooses on the grounds that it would be detrimental to the interests of the United States,” said Ting.
He says this should be an open and shut case for the courts in the Trump administration’s favor.
“I think the courts, if they follow the precedents, have to come up with that result, and I hope they will,” said Ting.
Robart did not cite any constitutional provision or U.S. statute. The only court cases he cited dealt with his power to issue an injunction. Ting says the ruling was unconvincing.
“I didn’t find the temporary restraining order terribly persuasive. I thought the judge relied on generalities about the law and the Constitution and our customs and practices,” said Ting.
Prof. Ting is also taking aim at some of the legal arguments against the executive order, starting with the contention that anyone in possession of a U.S. visa has a right to enter the country.
“People need to understand what a visa is. All a visa is is permission to get on an airplane coming to the United States,” said Ting.
“If you don’t have a visa, you can’t get on the airplane, but the visa does not itself authorize anyone to come into the United States. They have to present themselves for inspection and the inspectors are authorized to turn people around, even if they have visas,” said Ting.
And that is why Ting says citing a 1965 law barring discrimination against aliens from a particular country doesn’t matter in this case. He says that law also focuses only on visas and not actual entry into the United States. He says Section 202 (a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act makes that clear.
“I think it’s clear that the 1965 language in 202 (a) does not apply to the inadmissability language in 212 (f),” said Ting.
Nonetheless, if the courts continue to rule against the Trump administration, Ting says it’s up to Congress to clarify statutory language even more to make sure the lew is being followed as the original lawmakers intended.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America have all bad news, starting with a federal judge putting a hold on Pres. Trump’s immigration order without citing any law or constitutional provision and Trump’s subsequent tweets attacking the judicial system. We also blast Trump for his moral equivalence in dismissing Vladimir Putin as a killer by saying America’s done a lot of bad things too. And we discuss and debate whether the slower GOP strategy on Obamacare and tax reform is responsible leadership or letting a golden opportunity slip away.
