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“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” ― George Orwell, 1984

"This Will Make Your Blood Boil" - Biden Admin Goes Full Orwell Denying Vaxx Mandates Ever Happened​

Authored by Bobbie Anne Flower Cox via The Brownstone Institute,

If you have not yet read the book 1984 by George Orwell, you absolutely must.

I loathed that novel when I read it as a teen, because I hated the entire idea of an authoritarian government controlling its people so deftly. The dystopian world it described was just so depressing, so wrong, from the first page to the last. And yet, here we are, almost 75 years after Orwell first penned the book, and we see how that hellish science fiction novel is now playing out before us.

Even the left-leaning Wikipedia describes the book as a “cautionary tale” whose theme centers on “the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours within society.” Modeled on the authoritarian states of Stalin’s Soviet Union and of Nazi Germany, the book takes a deep dive into the role of truth within a society, and the ways in which truth and facts can be manipulated by government to control the population.



What you saw and heard with your own eyes and your own ears, the government denied and demanded you cast it aside and not believe it.

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”​

― George Orwell, 1984
Through the Ministry of Truth, the government (referred to in the book as “Big Brother” or “the Party”) engages in endless propaganda, intense surveillance, and the open and obvious negating of historical fact. Individual thought, and questioning of authority led to immediate persecution. Why deny facts and rewrite history? Well, as Orwell says in the book,

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”​

― George Orwell, 1984

Now let’s fast-forward to the present day. I will begin with this profound statement that keeps churning over in my head:

They must really think we are stupid!

The “they” is our government (federal and state). The “we” is you and me, and the other 300+ million Americans across our country.

Alas, here we are, entering the final quarter of 2023, and we have the United States government, and many state governments (including New York’s former Governor Andrew Cuomo, current left-wing Governor Kathy Hochul, and the super-majority Dem legislature)proclaiming for all to hear that they did not force anyone to do anything detrimental these past 3.5 years. UNBELIEVABLE! Did you hear this? They are actually saying with straight faces that they didn’t force you to wear a mask, or lock down and shutter your businesses, or choose between taking an experimental drug or losing your job… Nope! They did none of that. And you – well, you are flat out crazy if you think they did. You are lying. You are exaggerating and totally overreacting.

Unfortunately for Big Brother, ooops, I mean unfortunately for our 100 percent reliable, never-lies-to-us government, we have actual documents (including lawsuits), news stories, social media posts, and videos of the government at all levels mandating and forcing us to do all of those things, and more. Here’s just one example of Biden himself, the “Big Guy,” mandating the C19 shot:
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John Kelly confirms: Trump privately disparaged troops, veterans

John Kelly confirms: Trump privately disparaged troops, veterans

Three years ago, The Atlantic reported that Donald Trump privately denigrated Americans who served in the military. John Kelly is now confirming the story.


Oct. 3, 2023, 7:41 AM CDT
By Steve Benen

It was in early September 2020, as early voting was poised to begin in several states, when The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg published a staggering report on Donald Trump, his denigration of those who serve in the military, and his condemnation of fallen American heroes as “suckers” and “losers.”

The then-president wasted little time pushing back, insisting that the reporting was “made up“ and a “fake story.”

Reflecting on the quotes attributed to him, Trump went on to say at a Labor Day press conference, “Who would say a thing like that? Only an animal would say things like that.”

Even at the time, the defenses were difficult to believe. In fact, much of the reporting in The Atlantic’s article was corroborated by related reporting from The Associated Press, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and even Fox News.

Three years later, it’s also been confirmed by Trump’s former White House chief of staff. CNN reported:
John Kelly, the longest-serving White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, offered his harshest criticism yet of the former president in an exclusive statement to CNN. Kelly set the record straight with on-the-record confirmation of a number of damning stories about statements Trump made behind closed doors attacking US service members and veterans, listing a number of objectionable comments Kelly witnessed Trump make firsthand.

When CNN asked Kelly if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss on the record, the retired general responded, “What can I add that has not already been said? A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.

“A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women,” Kelly continued. “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason — in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.

“There is nothing more that can be said,” Kelly concluded. “God help us.”

When CNN sought comment from Trump’s political operation, the Republican’s campaign responded by going after retired Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley, “who had nothing to do with this story.”

As regular readers know, after Trump left the White House, John Kelly, the man who served as the Republican president’s chief of staff for 17 months, has struggled to contain his contempt for his former boss. Over the last couple of years, the retired Marine general, who also served as Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, has accused Trump of, among other things, “poisoning” people’s minds, having “serious character issues,” and not being “a real man.”

Just as notably, Kelly has also raised concerns about Trump’s abuses while in office. Last fall, for example, Kelly told the Times that Trump, during his presidency, told his chief of staff to use the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department to target his critics and perceived political foes.

Now, Kelly is going even further, confirming that the former president, while in office, disparaged troops, veterans,and their families.

I’m mindful of the fact that Trump’s followers reflexively distrust the Republican’s opponents, but it’s worth reemphasizing that Kelly isn’t a pundit, scholar, or elected official — he’s the man Trump personally tapped to oversee his White House.

He’s also the man who appears desperate to warn the public about the former’s president’s character.

"Too Freaking Late" - Mayorkas Finally Admits "Acute & Immediate Need" To Build Border Wall In Texas

This is awkward...



In a stunning reversal of everything that was said over the last 7 years by the left, and just months after the Biden administration was caught selling portions of Trump's border wall on a government surplus website, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is citing an "acute and immediate need" to waive dozens of federal laws in order to build a border wall in south Texas as the illegal immigration crisis grows utterly out of control.

"The Secretary of Homeland Security has determined, pursuant to law, that it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations, and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border in Starr County, Texas," reads a notice posted to the U.S. Federal Registry that Fox News obtained.
In light of the surge in illegal immigration, Mayorkas found that there exists an "acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas."

No, this is not Babylon Bee.

As Ben Whedon reports at JustTheNews.com,The former president's campaign team took Mayorkas's decision as a vindication, telling Fox News that:"

"President Trump is always right. That’s why he built close to 500 miles of powerful new wall on the border and it would have been finished by now.

Instead, Crooked Joe Biden turned our country into one giant sanctuary for dangerous criminal aliens."
In total, Mayorkas plans to waive a total of 26 federal laws to expedite construction.

It's going to fun to see the Democrats and their MSM lackeys squirm out of this one...
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Republicans are sick of Matt Gaetz, and they’re not quiet about it

Republicans are sick of Matt Gaetz, and they’re not quiet about it


By Jacob Bogage
Updated October 3, 2023 at 8:42 p.m. EDT|Published October 3, 2023 at 7:43 p.m. EDT

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Rep. Matt Gaetz stood in an unfamiliar spot Tuesday as he pressed his case to boot Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the role of House speaker — the Democratic side of the chamber.

By the time Gaetz (R-Fla.) finally made good on his long-standing threats to force a vote to topple McCarthy (R-Calif.), his Republican colleagues were so fed up with him that they wouldn’t let him debate from within their caucus, banishing him to the minority Democratic side of the room.

Gaetz’s successful fight to remove McCarthy from the speakership has cost him in his own conference, lawmakers say.

The GOP on Tuesday was considering expelling Gaetz from its caucus. McCarthy, meanwhile, told Republicans he would not seek reelection as speaker after Gaetz pushed him out.

“I’d love to have him out of the conference,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told reporters Tuesday. “ … He shouldn’t be in the Republican Party.”

In a GOP conference that has in recent years devoured its own — ostracizing members who have spoken out against former president Donald Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — so far only Gaetz seems to be at risk of formal dismissal.

Asked whether he was afraid of being exiled, Gaetz responded with the same brashness he brought to the House floor during the debate over McCarthy.

“If they want to expel me, let me know when they have the votes,” he said.

The GOP disdain for Gaetz, aside from the handful of hard-right Republicans who joined his motion to vacate the speakership, was clear all day Tuesday.

“You all know Matt Gaetz,” McCarthy told reporters after he was ousted. “You know it was personal.”
Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) assailed the Floridian on the House floor for soliciting campaign donations on the back of his motion to vacate the speakership.

“It’s what’s disgusting about Washington,” he said.

“That’s not governing,” McCarthy added. “That’s not becoming of a member of Congress. … It was all about his ethics. But that’s all right.”

Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) referred to Gaetz as a “Republican running with scissors.”

And Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), seething on the House steps after the vote, said: “I will always put the best interests of the United States of America and my constituents above my own personal feelings. And clearly Matt Gaetz can’t do that.”

Gaetz was McCarthy’s main obstacle to the speakership in January, leading a band of rebels who refused to vote for the longtime GOP minority leader for the first 13 rounds of roll calls. In the 14th round, Gaetz softened his stance, but only slightly. He voted “present,” not a vote against McCarthy but also not in favor — and not enough to hand him the speaker’s gavel.

McCarthy approached Gaetz on the floor, then walked away, appearing dejected. Meanwhile, Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.) stormed over and lunged at Gaetz before being restrained by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.). The Floridian sat unperturbed.


McCarthy was elected speaker after midnight in the 15th round of voting when Gaetz and other right-wing hard-liners voted “present,” lowering the threshold McCarthy needed to win office.

But by then, McCarthy had struck deals with those hard-liners that hemmed him in. The most noteworthy concession: A single member could bring a “motion to vacate the chair,” or call for a vote to remove the speaker.

Gaetz threatened to wield that power for months, then made clear on Sept. 12 that he would seek to depose McCarthy, when he said the speaker was “out of compliance” with the deal he struck in January.

Gaetz demanded McCarthy rectify those supposed breaches by instituting steep budget cuts during the September fight to fund the government and abandoning a spending deal McCarthy had made with President Biden in June. The president and speaker agreed to suspend the debt limit in exchange for limiting growth in federal discretionary spending. Conservatives quickly soured on that arrangement, which drew large numbers of Democratic votes on its passage.

Gaetz threatened to invoke the motion to vacate if McCarthy did not back away from that deal and instead pass 12 appropriations bills with draconian spending cuts. And if McCarthy made an end run around Gaetz and relied on Democratic votes to keep the government open, Gaetz would invoke the motion, too.

Over the weekend, that’s exactly what happened: McCarthy pushed through a deal to extend government funding into November at current spending levels but without billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine that Biden wanted. Again, Democrats backed the measure, which the Senate also adopted just ahead of a deadline for a shutdown.

Gaetz was livid. And his GOP colleagues were furious, too — but with him.

“I think there’s some reason to doubt whether or not Matt Gaetz is serious,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) told reporters on Tuesday. He called Gaetz’s crusade a miscalculation that would undercut Republicans’ narrow House majority.

“This was a vote for chaos,” Bacon said. “I think it hurts our country, our Congress. Republicans will be weaker for this come next November. And I thought the behavior of these eight folks [who voted against McCarthy] was shameful.”

After the vote, Gaetz said his party needed time to go through “the grieving process.” First, he said, was denial, as GOP leadership hoped they could pry away votes to save McCarthy’s gavel.

It wasn’t clear that lawmakers were in denial of the outcome, but they did appear to be reeling. “Give me a minute, guys,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) told reporters after the vote as colleagues offered him consolation drinks and cigars back at their offices. “Let me think through some things.”

Then, Gaetz said, would come (more) anger. Gaetz and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said they drew the ire of colleagues on their way out of the House chamber.

“I got cussed at and sneered at, and I get it,” Burchett said. “I’ve been down this road before. I’ve handled bullies before in my life.”

As the conference went into a closed-door meeting Tuesday to determine the GOP’s next move, Gaetz said, members were “headed toward bargaining.”

Honest question about the future of the DC position at USC.

Do you feel it is a forgone conclusion that Grinch is gone at years end? I believe it is, and now spend more time thinking of a replacement and what positives we have in hiring the next DC. I do believe, while it hurts this years team, keeping Grich for 2 years shows loyalty and therefore a top DC considering the job will take that into consideration. Another positive is a top 10 team with players that are experienced and a defense should only get better.

What do you all think and who do you think are the candidates are?

PFF stats?

@Ryan Young is it possible for you to share the grades and snap counts for the CO game?

It appears a lot of the Fr will RS. Hard to believe Duce hasn’t been playing.

Do you know the real reason Lee hasn’t been playing?

What’s going on with Anthony Lucas? All the OL raved about him in camp. Maybe it’s because Byrd/Muhammad/Height have balled out.
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Pope Francis scolds U.S., ‘irresponsible’ Western lifestyle in climate plea

Pope Francis scolds U.S., ‘irresponsible’ Western lifestyle in climate plea

By Anthony Faiola
and
Chico Harlan
October 4, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

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VATICAN CITY — Warning that “the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point,” Pope Francis issued a renewed call for climate action Wednesday, singling out the United States for “irresponsible” Western excess and decrying the “weakness” of world leaders for failing to take bold steps.

Eight years after his landmark environmental encyclical, Laudato Si’, in which he scolded climate change deniers and called for an “ecological conversion” among the faithful, Francis released a follow-up, known as an apostolic exhortation. Considered a lower-level document, it was far more concise — 12 pages, compared with his 180-page encyclical. Its impact, too, may be more limited.

Francis summarized accepted science and again took aim at skeptics who deny man-made climate change. He strayed beyond climate, couching artificial intelligence as representative of a worrying inclination to “increase human power beyond anything imaginable.” In what reads much like a policy paper — apart from a smaller section of religious references toward the end — the “green pope” denounced the scale of emissions from high-consumption cultures and argued that the world’s poor were paying the price.

“If we consider that emissions per individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries, we can state that a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact,” the pope wrote.

While criticizing the United States, Francis also made a point to praise U.S. bishops for aptly expressing that “our care for one another and our care for the earth are intimately bound together” — though that quote from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was just a paraphrasing of the pope’s language in Laudato Si’.

Francis’s call in 2015 brought applause from climate advocates, who saw him as helping to build momentum for what would become the sweeping Paris Accords to curb global emissions, adopted in December of that year. A Vatican delegation that attended the Paris negotiations was credited with helping to influence commitments from Poland and Catholic countries in Latin America.

In his new document, Francis noted how little world leaders have accomplished since then and blamed an absence of mechanisms to hold countries to their commitments, along with a “failure of conscience and responsibility.”

Vatican City’s own climate commitments do not stand out in their ambition. Like Italy and the European Union, it has pledged net-zero emissions by 2050. The Vatican also reports that it recycles most of its trash, makes compost for its gardens and has banned single-use plastics.

Francis devoted a section of the document to his expectations for this year’s United Nations climate summit, or COP28, scheduled to start in late November. The annual conference — where countries lock heads over policy details and fight for incremental progress — has been a source of disillusionment for environmental activists. And this year’s summit is hosted by the United Arab Emirates, a country with cutting-edge renewable projects that has grown rich by pumping oil and has one of the world’s largest carbon footprints per capita.

Among the many fault lines, less developed countries say they need dramatically more financial help in preparing for and coping with the consequences of a warmer climate — the result primarily of emissions from the world’s wealthy countries.

“We must move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned but not having the courage needed to produce substantial changes,” the pope wrote.

Francis — who took the name of the patron saint of ecology — stands out among popes in his push to make environmentalism a core part of the faith.

After making some unwelcome interventions related to the war in Ukraine, and amid the Catholic church’s continued failings on clerical abuse, he is returning to a theme on which he remains an authoritative voice. It is also one highly relevant to the younger generations with whom he has sought to connect.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, a senior Vatican official seen as close to Francis, said in an interview: “This … is not just for Catholics or other pious and holy people. It is for the world community.”

He continued: “To the powerful, Pope Francis dares to repeat this question: ‘Why do you want to preserve today a power that will be remembered for its inability to intervene when it was urgent and necessary to do so?’”

But Francis’s positions on climate change no longer offer much surprise, and he may not have as captive an audience as he did earlier in his papacy.

“In the eight years [since the environmental encyclical], many things have happened outside and inside the church that have weakened its power,” said Luis Badilla, editorial director for Il Sismografo, a Vatican-related blog. “The position on Russia. Ineffectiveness on pedophilia … Francis’s words now can feel like speaking in a desert.”

In the new document, Francis focused on what he described as a broken multilateral system for global decision-making and avoided calling on Catholics to take specific steps to combat climate change.

Some observers suggest he has missed an opportunity. For instance, a study led by Cambridge University found that a call by Catholic bishops in England and Wales to reinstate the old practice of not eating meat on Fridays had a significant impact on behavior and saved the equivalent of 55,000 metric tons of carbon emissions over a year.

Catholic views are mixed on Francis’s climate efforts. Some conservatives criticize the pope for his environmental focus, saying he is pushing the faith beyond its religious boundaries. In a notably political moment, in 2017, he gifted a copy of his encyclical to a visiting world leader: President Donald Trump.

According to the Pew Research Center, 54 percent of American Catholics say the planet is warming mostly because of human activity — in line with the average among all American adults, but well behind the 90 percent figure among atheists.

“It is safe to say that many Catholics still do not view care for the environment as a central aspect of what it means to be a Catholic,” said David Cloutier, a professor of moral theology at Catholic University. “They view it as an optional activity that some Catholics might be involved in on the side, not a central commitment. But Pope Francis clearly is trying to move the church in that direction.”

Evangelicals Worshiping Trump Is as About as Unchristian as It Gets

Evangelicals Worshiping Trump Is as About as Unchristian as It Gets

Trump diehards who believe he’ll bring about a Christian nation kind of get everything about Christianity completely wrong.

Matt Lewis​


Senior Columnist
Updated Oct. 03, 2023 2:44AM EDT / Published Oct. 02, 2023 9:00PM EDT

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Fanatical idol worship was once reserved for rock stars. Today, it is former President Donald Trump who enjoys cult-like popularity.

“I’m going to start crying now,” a middle-aged woman told an interviewer in Iowa, this weekend. “But when [Trump] comes out on stage [and] I can see him face-to-face live, it’s going to be the best day of my life. I love that man.”

She’s not alone. After two impeachments, a Capitol riot, and four indictments, Trump retains a dominant hold over Republicans who have put their faith in “that man.” Literally.

Consider recent news that a prominent conservative group spent $6 million testing more than 40 TV ads, only to conclude that “all attempts to undermine [Trump’s] conservative credentials on specific issues were ineffective.”

And while this is true for many Republicans, Trump’s hold over evangelicals (who constitute a large percentage of Iowa GOP primary voters) is particularly strong. If you want to understand why nothing will sway them, The New York Times columnist David French noted recently that an old friend told him, “David, I was with you on opposing Trump until the Holy Spirit told me that God had appointed him to lead.”

Good luck coming up with a persuasive argument that will trump someone who says “the Holy Spirit told me…”

Never mind the humiliation that pro-Trump prophets have faced for prophesying he would win in 2020—and then that, despite losing, he would be reinstated in 2021. There is a real sense among many Christians (whether this “word of knowledge” came directly from the man upstairs, or was shared second hand) that Trump is still God’s vessel in 2024.

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Although I am not a pastor or a theologian, I am a non-Trump conservative and an (albeit flawed) evangelical—which is to say that while I marvel at the hold Trump has over many of my fellow believers, I do not scoff at the notion that the Holy Spirit can guide believers.

This belief no doubt puts me among the minority of Americans today. Even many Bible-believing Christians are “Cessationists,” who believe that prophecies and other “signs and wonders” (like healings and speaking in tongues) generally ceased after the apostles died.

Regardless, the practical problem with prophecies is that they empower every potential crank to justify anything they want to do or say.

Belief in prophecy enables charlatans, to be sure. But it also allows well-meaning, if delusional, people to reverse-engineer rationalizations to do things they want to do, even if doing so contradicts common sense or church doctrine. (But God told me I should leave my family and marry that cocktail waitress!)

In recent years, untold numbers of Christians have employed this permission structure to justify supporting Trump—a man who bragged about grabbing women by their privates, paid off a porn star for sex, and was found liable for sexual assault (just to name a few of his not-so-greatest hits).

Judge Kicks Reporters Out of Courtroom to Talk to Trump and AG


Judge Kicks Reporters Out of Courtroom to Talk to Trump and AG


Justice Arthur F. Engoron also issued a gag order against Trump earlier in the day after the former president attacked one of his law clerks on social media.

Jose Pagliery​


Political Investigations Reporter
Published Oct. 03, 2023 5:44PM EDT

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in the courtroom with his lawyers


A turbulent second day at Donald Trump's bank fraud trial in New York came to an equally puzzling end, when the judge unceremoniously kicked out all journalists from the courtroom to speak privately with the former president and Attorney General Letitia James.

When one reporter asked whether the courtroom was being sealed, Justice Arthur F. Engoron did not respond. Instead, security personnel yelled at journalists to leave immediately.

New Gallup Poll Is a Disaster For Democrats

Neither Party Well-Liked, but GOP Holds Advantage on Issues​

October 3, 2023

by Lydia Saad
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The two major political parties remain unpopular in the U.S., with 56% of Americans viewing the Republican Party unfavorably and 58% saying the same of the Democratic Party.

Although both parties are about equally disliked, the public chooses the Republican Party over the Democratic Party by healthy margins when asked which will better safeguard the nation’s prosperity and security.

  • Fifty-three percent of Americans believe the Republican Party will do a better job of keeping the country prosperous over the next few years, whereas 39% choose the Democratic Party.
  • A slightly larger majority, 57%, have greater faith in the Republican Party to protect the country from international terrorism and military threats, while 35% favor the Democrats.
The latest results are from a Sept. 1-23 Gallup poll in which more than eight in 10 Americans disapprove of the job the politically divided Congress is doing, close to six in 10 disapproveof President Joe Biden’s job performance, and nearly three-quarters feel pessimistic about the direction of the economy.

Historically Ample Leads for Republicans

Republicans’ 14-percentage-point lead in public preferences for keeping the country prosperous is up from a 10-point margin last year and is its widest advantage on this measure since mid-1991. That followed a period from the mid- to late 1980s when Republicans performed unusually well on this measure, historically. However, in the past three decades, the parties have been more closely matched in perceptions of which can better maintain the nation’s economic health or the Democratic Party has led by a solid margin.

The GOP’s current standing with Americans is even stronger on matters of national security, where it leads the Democratic Party by 22 points for protecting the country from international terrorism and military threats.

The Republican Party has led on this measure in all but two readings in the trend originating in 2002, but today’s margin is one of the widest in that more limited stretch of time.

GOP Holds Edge for Handling Americans’ Top Worry

The recent poll also finds the Republican Party leading the Democrats as the party more Americans choose as better able to handle whatever problem they name as the most important facing the country. Forty-four percent say the Republican Party is better, while 36% name the Democratic Party and the rest say the parties are the same or have no preference. This is at a time when the economy, government/poor leadership and immigration lead Americans’ open-ended responses when asked to name the most important problem facing the country.

Although Republicans periodically enjoyed strong leads on this party preference measure between the 1940s and 1980s, today’s eight-point advantage for the Republicans is fairly uncommon in the context of the trend since 1992. In addition to its 11-point advantage last year, those exceptions include a seven-point lead for the GOP in 2011 and a slight edge in 2015 and 2016.

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POOR MATTY! - Matt Gaetz Backs Down on McCarthy Ouster as House Speaker—for Now

Matt Gaetz Backs Down on McCarthy Ouster as House Speaker—for Now


Brett Bachman​


Night Editor
Published Oct. 02, 2023 1:05PM EDT

U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz.


Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)—who has been making enemies in recent days of members of his own party over his incessant campaign to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy—didn’t offer a motion to do so Monday as was widely expected, though he still promised to do so later in the week.

As justification for his delay, Gaetz said he wanted more details on a “secret side deal” that he accused McCarthy of making with President Joe Biden on Ukraine funding—though it’s unclear whether such a deal has actually been struck. “Members of the Republican Party might vote differently on a motion to vacate if they heard what the speaker had to share with us about his secret side deal with Joe Biden on Ukraine. I’ll be listening,” he said on the House floor Monday. “Stay tuned.”

Gaetz’ antics have reportedly led a group of House Republicans to draft a motion to expel him from Congress, which they plan to introduce if an ongoing ethics committee probe does not clear him of long-simmering allegations of wrongdoing.
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