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Women voters made up 53% of the voters in the 2012 election. The 2016 U.S. presidential election in unique because of the first women candidate for president with advantage in the women's vote. Also unique is the split between the college educated and the non college educated voter, something that has into happened in an election in this way for a long time. A pro business party such as Republicans finds itself with a significant part of the non college educated vote.  Another difference is the huge turnout of Hispanic voters, and questions raised about how their loyalty may have shifted for decades with Republican positions on immigration and deportation. The demographics have also shifted with college educated voters in suburbs of southern states such as Georgia, Colorado and North Carolina. States that once dominated the national election such as Ohio with a larger number of non college educated voters are now not as significant as in the past. As a result the picture is changing in the electoral map. ...

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The US Senate filibuster rule that requires 60 votes for the budget to pass is a relic of the civil rights days, today it prevents Republicans from ending the shutdown by majority vote. Republicans used it when Democrats controlled the House and Senate and Senate Majority Leader Thune does not want to drop the filibuster as it acts to ensure no hasty legislation or budget is passed without some form of overall consensus. It also means that situations such as a government shutdown can happen when the opposition party in the Senate uses it to make it demands be met. In this case Democrats Schumer and Jeffries are asking Republicans to include money for subsidies for the Obama Affordable Care Act enrollees- about 22 million people signed up for this part of the ACA to receive generous subsidies for healthcare. These subsidies are not part of the Big Beautiful Bill of DJT that passed Congress and was signed into law. Unions and airline executives are calling on Democrats to end the shutdown as it disrupts air traffic at airports, and leads to cuts in SNAP and other benefits, and to lack of pay checks for government employees. ...

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Divisions in the Republican party in Texas that lead to the impeachment of Ken Paxton, the Attorney General in an assembly with a Republican majority.

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Deferred counting of ballot boxes from Istanbul, Ankara and big cities in May 2023 where Kilicdaroglu of the Republican party draws major support. Both Istanbul and Ankara have mayors from the Republican party of Kemal Ataturk who founded the party in 1921 in Ankara to resist the colonial powers but adopted the European model in education and in the constitution, dress, way of life similar to Japan's conversion in the Meiji period of 1871.

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Florida Governor Ron de Santis is critical of Mr. Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, for indictment of Mr. Trump. Yet he also says-"I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just can't speak to that." The Republican party for the most part sees the situation differently now. 

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Janet Protasiewicz, a Democrat, wins 55% to 45% for Republican Daniel Kelly in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. This gives Democrats a one vote majority in the Supreme Court. It will mean a challenge of a 1849 abortion law and the redrawing of the electoral maps that gives Republicans  a majority in the state assembly. The governor is Democrat Tony Evers and the legislature in Wisconsin has a Republican majority.  States in the midwest such as Michigan and Wisconsin played a part in Mr. Trump's gain of the presidency. Since then Ohio has moved into the Republican side, and the close contests are in places like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Colorado moved to the Democratic side. Just 40,000 votes in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin separated Biden from Trump in the election of 2020 even though Biden had 7 million more votes than Biden because of the Electoral College system which goes by state's won. In 2016 Trump and Biden were separated by just 80,000 votes.   ...

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Homeland Security and ICE needs new resources- $175 billion from Congress is part of the plan from Republican Senators to boost support for action in immigration. To deliver on plans to control illegal migration there is a need for funding the agencies involved. Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) says in this report that Homan was “begging” for funding from Congress. Much of the migrant action is hard to undertake with current resource levels. Graham’s committee adopted a budget blueprint for legislation to boost border security and immigration enforcement by $175 billion. Republicans say it is intended for three parts in funding: personnel, facilities and infrastructure, support for state and local officials. It includes pay raises, hiring and retention bonuses for ICE agents; immigration judges and support staff; assistant U.S. attorneys; the border wall; additional detention space and local and state law enforcement agencies to aid ICE, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. ...

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This report in the WSJ by Peterson and Hackman shows how the American Health Care Act proposed by Speaker Paul Ryan provides less financial support and allows premiums to go higher for seniors approaching retirement in the 50-64 year age group. Premiums are allowed to go up 5 times that of premiums of young people in the Ryan House  plan compared to 3 times in the Affordable Care Act. Subsidies in the form of tax incentives provide $2000 to younger people going up by age not income to $4000 in the Ryan House plan. By contrast someone 60 years old making $20,000 a year can get Affordable Care Act credit of $9874, and making $40,000 a credit of $6752, according to analysis by Kaiser Family Foundation. The Ryan plan makes health care costs lower for young people in an effort to bring more young people who use less services into the system to support its overall financial condition. Another feature of the Ryan Plan is that it allows only for CPI index +1% even if health care costs are rising faster. Deep cuts to Medicaid affect lower income seniors on Medicare. As a result the AARP organization representing seniors has come out in opposition to the Ryan bill. The GOP plan wants to reduce premium costs yet in the process it makes vulnerable seniors with lower incomes pay more, which is likely to hurt Republicans who won by winning a large part of the senior vote. ...

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With the demands from younger people for a generational change in leadership for both Republicans and Democrats the questions are being raised about Nancy Pelosi continuing as leader of the Democratic Party in the U.S. Congress.

With the departure of Republican leader Paul Ryan from politics there is pressure on Pelosi to follow Ryan and create room for a younger leader. Democrats running for office in the upcoming midterm elections say they will run against both Republicans and Pelosi. This appears to be working. Pelosi has only a 32% favorability rating with 44% viewing her unfavorably. Pelosi is 79 years old and Stenny Hoyer the other Democrats leader is 78 years old, both have lost touch with the new Progressive trends in the Democratic Party.

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The author is a resident scholar of the American Enterprise Institute. He says conservatism and the Republican Party have failed to recognize the problems of the American working class, leading to the rise of Trump. He adds that it will take more than one election cycle for Republicans to change this, it will take a lot more effort lasting many years. Speaker Ryan arranged a forum on working class problems, poverty and lack of opportunity, but only after Trump had made appeals to older white working class Americans who have done poorly in the last decade, making him the front runner in the race, and relegated Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio to single digit support.

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Two popular mayors today run the two largest cities in Turkey- Istanbul and Ankara. The two mayors Imamoglu and Yavas are part of the campaign of Republican People's party head Kilcdaroglu, which has a real opportunity to provide a new government in Turkey following the disastrous earthquake and high inflation in the economy. This would also strengthen NATO during a period following Russian invasion of Ukraine and bring Turkey closer to its historical relations with the US and EU.

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Republicans and Democrats decided to tackle the U.S. fiscal cliff in several steps. The first step for the Bush tax cuts to be extended to single earners with income under $400,000, and couples earning under $450,000 was part of the agreement reached Jan. 1, 2013. Republicans see this as protecting small business owners who generate jobs in the U.S. economy. Democrats see this as progress in taxing the wealthy to reduce spending cuts in other programs. As expected the deal was reached between Senate colleagues Republican Mitch McConnell and former Democratic senator and Vice President Joe Biden, as rapport is missing in the relationship between Speaker Boehner and president Obama. The $110 fiscal cliff spending cuts on entitlements and defence will be postponed for 2 months till early March under the deal. Debt ceiling will not be raised and negotiations will be needed again by the end of Feb. 2013 to raise the debt ceiling. By March 27, 2013 short term funding measures lapse. Republicans see accepting tax cuts on the wealthy as a way to remove this issue in future negotiations to focus on spending cuts needed to improve U.S. finances. ...

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There are similarities in the Republican and Democratic party platforms in 2016. One area of agreement is in the reinstatement of Glass Steagall Act. That legislation made in the Depression period to separate commercial banking from investment banking was changed  when president Clinton made changes in a deal with Senators Phil Gramm and Jim Leach in 1999. The too big to fail problems of banks and the problems of investment banks during the 2008 financial crisis are attributed to the lack of Glass Steagall protections for financial stability and safety. The result is that in the post 2016 environment banks can expect a tougher regulatory environment. Another are is in trade where both parties are expected to take tougher positions to protect U.S. interests. The Republican platform calls for "better negotiated trade agreemets that put America first."

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The Republican tax law of 2018 is unpopular, according to a new NBC/WSJ poll in April 2018. Only 27% of people in the poll view the tax law favorably, 36% view the tax law unfavorably. About one third or 32% say they have no opinion, possibly because they have no clear idea of how it will impact them or the country. On trade and other economic issues the Republican Party is viewed more favorably, including for its tougher stance to give the U.S. a level playing field. Even though the Republicans are not viewed so favorably on taxes, the poll findings show the Democrats are not seen as better on taxes and economic issues. The poll also shows the Democratic Party better able by large margins to handle issues such as gun violence, sexual harrassment and health care. This shows that under an aging Democratic leadership of Pelosi, Hoyer and Schumer, and the failure of Hillary Clinton, the younger Democrats with a more Progressive tendency are having to make their own case with people not clear how the Democrats can offer a better alternative. ...

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Governor Jindal's call for the Republican party in the U.S. to become known as the party of growth not the party of austerity.

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Jeb Bush on the Republican party and lack of willingness to compromise to come up with viable solutions to economic problems facing the U.S.

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Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive is the new Treasury Secretary in the Trump administration. His ties to Goldman Sachs go beyond his own work at the firm. His father joined Goldman in 1957, and worked for his entire career at the investment bank. Steven's brother Alan also worked at Goldman. During the campaign Trump was severe in his criticism of his opponents Cruz and Clinton's ties to the bank. Ironies abound, not only is the new Treasury Secretary from Goldman, his connections go back a generation. The Treasury Secretary under Clinton was Goldman Sachs executive Robert Rubin. Under Bush who followed Clinton the Treasury Secretary was Goldman Sachs executive Henry Paulson. Under Republican and Democratic administrations Goldman Sachs executives have held key positions. Mr Mnuchin was campaign finance chairman for Trump for 6 months leading to him being chosen for Treasury Secretary. Mnuchin joined Goldman in 1985. During the campaign Trump was also severe in his criticism of financier George Soros, making this a key point in a debate with Clinton for taking Soros's support. This report by Das and Ensign points out that in 2002 Mnuchin left Goldman to run a credit fund set up by George Soros. In 2004 Mnuchin founded hedge fund Dune Capital Management LP with Soros support.  When IndyMac bank collapsed a deal with the government was arranged that covered a part of any future loan losses being taken by FDIC, and Dune was one of several hedge funds and private equity funds including Soros funds that acquired it for $1.5 billion. The renamed IndyMac bank was called OneWest with Mnuchin as chairman. OneWest was sold in 2014 at a large profit to CIT Group Inc. This report says CIT Group took a $230 million charge in July 2015 for accounting problems at OneWest.  During the latter part of the Trump campaign after he joined it in May 2016, Mnuchin set up a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee. This made it possible for major donors to give to the Republican party and Mr Trump. The head of the Republican National Committee is Mr. Lewis Eisenberg. Having run the technology division at Goldman, Mnuchin was prominent in Goldman and investment banking circles in New York.    ...

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The divisions in the Republican Party as Trump wins in Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, and Cruz wins in Texas, Oklahoma, and Alaska, in the March 1, 2016 Republican primaries.

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Paul Ryan says in May 2016 that he will not endorse Donald Trump as the nominee of the Republican party for president of the U.S.

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Senator Schumer the Majority Leader in the Senate has shown a unique ability to bring together Republicans and Democrats in bipartisan efforts that would have been daunting to lesser men. He was a key driver of the efforts to bring Republican and Democrats together to invest in the country's aging infrastructure. This is a win-win situation for both. He did this again when at Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's suggestion at the end of October that action on the border be an essential part of aid to Ukraine, Schumer  did not say no, he struggled with it talking with his staff till he says an epiphany sort of lightning strikes. He realized it was needed to be tough on the border and to do it right was a win-win situation for both supporters of Ukraine and getting the border situation under control. Because so many Democrats were for Ukraine they would vote for a good border security bill. This report shows him making calls even on Christmas Day.  Only someone of Schumer's dedication, ability to talk and persuade others, and hard work could have done this. As in getting bipartisan support for infrastructure bills he had Democrats who had good relationships with Republicans to persuade Republicans that Democrats were sincere about taking strong action on the border. It is to the credit of president Biden and shows that his decades spent in Congress were worth it for America that he supported Schumer and worked with Republicans. It is this sincerity that made it possible for 22 Republican Senators nearly half of Republicans in the Senate to join Schumer in the new aid package for Ukraine, after a former president shut down the earlier bill that combined the border action with Ukraine. Many in the media and in the country have not grasped the meaning of the way some of the most senior members of Congress including Mr. Biden who was one of the longest serving senators in history are working together showing courage and wisdom in the face of many distractions and factional differences on the fringes of different parties. ...

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Republicans have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives 222 to 212 for Democrats. This means Republicans can only lose 4 members of their party in a vote when all members vote. Kevin McCarthy was not elected Speaker of the House after 4 days of voting as 20 Republicans oppose his nomination.

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Wellstone's unique contribution comes from his effort to work with rural poor and poor white farmers in the tradition of Minnesota Farmers Labor Party. This part of rural roots for the Democratic party since FDR and from the  time of Woodrow Wilson in 1900 was lost by 1980. After 1990 the Republican party set up roots in rural America that continued into the Obama period when the emergence of internet and tech companies as part of Democrats distracted and led to the loss of rural support in addition to the loss of union workers support. Tim Walz is from a rural small town America and bring the Democrats closer to their roots.  Paul Wellstone was  Senator from Minnesota in 1990 from the tradition of Farmers Labor Party in the state, and the period of FDR that followed the Great Depression and continued right into the 1960's with John F. Kennedy. He was for local community organizing during all periods not just campaigns, and public policy. He was educated at UNC and was a professor of political science at Carleton College from 1969 to his election as Senator in 1990.  He died in a plane accident in 2002 during an effort to run for a third term in the Senate.  ...

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FR24 reports from a teashop in the old Turkish city of Gaziantep before the Turkish elections on May 14, 2023 in which the two decade rule of Mr. Erdogan is contested by a civil servant from the Republican party of Kemal Ataturk Mr. Kilicdaroglu. Ataturk was the founder of the Republican party, became president in 1923, and modernized Turkey. 

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NYT interviews with Biden era officials on mistakes made with immigration - no tough enforcement on illeal migration, no clear policy to stop illegal migration, and failure to anticipate a surge as policies towards migrants were relaxed, appointment as head of Homeland Security of someone who was not tough on migration, delegation of migration to a former AG of California who had no experience in issues raised by high migration. Till it was too late and the public had lost confidence in the Biden administration on this issue and the homeless migrants in cities becoming a major local issue. The last year saw Biden negotiate with Republican Senator from Nebraska on migration which failed to get support in the Republican party and Congress. In this way Biden lost control of the narrative as migration surged and surged by 2023 and 2024. Tackling the Covid pandemic was a major distraction and cost of living affordability crisis also became a major issue leading to the undoing of the Democrats. Second generation Latino Americans from Cuba and Mexico preferred tough policies on illegal migration surges from places such as Guatemala and Venezuela. Democrats lost part of their own base. Rural America and the South, had already made up its mind. ...

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This piece by Jonathan Martin in the NYT says some Republican party establishment donors and leaders now agree with Ted Cruz's assessment of the 2016 U.S. presidential election- the critical element will be rallying the Republican base to win in 2016. As Tom Hamburger points out in the Washington Post, Cruz is using technology to advantage in the campaign effort to rally evangelical base support, and working to build support from the ground up.