From DefenseOne:
Fort Trump: A Silly Name Masks a Good Idea
Finally, establishing a permanent base in Poland tells other allies that the United States helps allies that help themselves. Poland does not free-ride. It has promised to pay for the U.S. base. It spends about 2 percent of its GDP on defense. It is investing heavily in military modernization, including buying U.S. weapons. It is expanding its active-duty force and, since 2016, has been developing a territorial defense force.
Assistant Professor Michael Hunzeker
From the Washington Post:
The Trump Administration is Exercising Executive Privilege Without Saying So
Withholding documents or testimony generally is defensible only when done to protect national security or another substantial public interest. Confidentiality does not exist for its own sake, but rather to protect the national interest by assuring that presidents can receive the best possible advice, and that their closest advisers do not have to fear public disclosure of every utterance and the consequences that may follow.
Nonetheless, the power to withhold information is not absolute. Just as presidents and their advisers have confidentiality needs, Congress and prosecutors must have access to executive-branch information to carry out their investigative and oversight functions. Therefore, executive privilege must be weighed against Congress’s legitimate need for information to perform its constitutional role (which is not absolute, either).
From the Hill:
Kavanaugh Allegations Could Be a Monster Storm Brewing for Midterm Elections
I covered those confirmation hearings for CNN. The Republican strategy in 1991 was to turn the Thomas confirmation hearings into a trial. Americans “get” trials. They had been watching Perry Mason on TV for years. For a senator to vote against [Clarence] Thomas's confirmation became tantamount to declaring the nominee guilty of sexual harassment. Since Hill could not “prove” that Thomas had harassed her, Thomas was (narrowly) confirmed. Nevertheless, Hill's testimony raised the political consciousness of women and made sexual harassment a major issue.
Bill Schneider, Professor of Public Policy and Public and International Affairs
From the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star:
Hey, Virginia GOP, Learn Something from Maryland
Republican candidates for governor [in Maryland] in recent years—Robert Ehrlich and the popular incumbent Hogan—have achieved electoral success in a very blue state with policy and rhetorical moderation, and an emphasis on technocratic good-government values that appeal to educated white moderates.
The same could happen in Virginia, but it is going to require a shift in much of the thinking in the GOP right now that continues to hinge its success on a shrinking base of white voters.
Perhaps it will take another electoral shellacking this year in the midterms and next year in the state legislative contests to finally make clear the reality that the old GOP formulas no longer work here.
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
In Virginia, There’s No Rest for the Politically Weary
Expect a bruising autumn this year because the congressional midterm election stakes are so high. The party that controls Congress will decide issues ranging from access to health care and abortion rights, to gun control, immigration, the minimum wage, and tax policy, to name some. The outcome of the 2018 midterms also will determine whether Democrats gain the power to launch dozens of congressional probes into President Trump’s political and business dealings. And here’s why there will be no rest for the weary: State party leaders already are looking ahead to another battle, one with long-term implications — the 2019 contest for control of the Virginia General Assembly.
From the Roanoke Times:
‘Old Lions’ of the Virginia GOP Put Current Party to Shame
Republicans may wonder why they have not won statewide office since 2009, and why Democrats last year nearly swept away the GOP’s previous iron grip on the General Assembly. Maybe they should consider returning to the values demonstrated by M. Caldwell Butler, Linwood Holton and John Warner…
The present-day GOP is increasingly concentrated in rural districts. Partisan control over the design of election districts protects incumbents and exacerbates party tribalism.
In low-turnout elections such as the upcoming congressional mid-terms, Republicans may yet prevail for a while longer because they are disciplined about voting.
But Virginia and the country are changing. If they hope to be relevant in the long term, Republicans would be wise to look to the likes of Caldwell Butler, John Warner and Linwood Holton.