The US Senate Republican election of John Thune over John Cornyn and Rick Scott to Majority Leader isn't surprising except to MAGAs who can't imagine that Thune beat Trump in South Dakota by 37,785 votes in 2016

 Thune has been dutifully serving Mitch McConnell for years and has the seniority and credibility demanded by his colleagues.

It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

 

 

Trump was less popular in his own races than Republicans running for US Senate in theirs in 12 states in 2020

 Trump underperformed:

Ronchetti in New Mexico (loser)

Lummis in Wyoming

Capito in West Virginia

Cornyn in Texas

Rounds in South Dakota

Somebody you never heard of in Massachusetts (loser)

Sasse in Nebraska

Gardner in Colorado (loser)

Cotton in Arkansas

Collins in Maine

Sullivan in Alaska

Perdue in Georgia.

Imagine doing worse than three losers.

The Republican Party is infested with 123 members of the House and Senate who want tens of thousands more foreign workers let in to take US jobs

Story.

• Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD)
• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
• Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
• Sen. James Risch (R-ID)
• Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
• Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
• Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
• Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY)
• Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO)
• Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
• Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
• Sen. Mike Crap (R-ID)
• Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)
• Sen. John Thune (R-SD)
• Sen. James Lankford (R-OK)
• Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
• Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)
• Sen. Todd Young (R-IN)
• Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS)
• Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
• Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)
• Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)
• Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
• Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
• Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
• Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)
• Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI)
• Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH)
• Rep. John Curtis (R-UT)
• Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN)
• Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA)
• Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC)
• Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AZ)
• Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-MI)
• Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI)
• Rep. Van Taylor (R-TX)
• Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA)
• Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI)
• Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)
• Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL)
• Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA)
• Rep. Darren Soto (R-FL)
• Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD)
• Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO)
• Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS)
• Rep. Peter King (R-NY)
• Rep. Roger Marshall (R-KS)
• Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN)
• Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL)
• Rep. Elise Stefancik (R-NY)
• Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ)
• Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA)
• Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA)
• Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-LA)
• Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA)
• Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA)
• Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC)
• Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA)
• Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC)
• Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL)
• Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA)
• Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI)
• Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND)
• Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS)
• Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH)
• Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH)
• Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX)
• Rep. David Joyce (R-OH)
• Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH)
• Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS)
• Rep. French Hill (R-AR)
• Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV)
• Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH)
• Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO)
• Rep. Billy Long (R-MO)
• Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH)
• Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)
• Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
• Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY)
• Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY)
• Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)
• Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH)
• Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR)
• Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY)
• Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK)
• Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA)
• Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO)
• Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA)
• Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO)
• Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS)
• Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC)
• Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH)
• Rep. Don Young (R-AK)
• Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN)
• Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI)
• Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
• Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT)
• Rep. David McKinley (R-WV)
• Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)
• Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH)
• Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI)
• Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
• Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX)
• Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL)
• Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN)
• Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)
• Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX)
• Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL)
• Rep. Fred Keller (R-PA)
• Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA)
• Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL)
• Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL)
• Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX)
• Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC)
• Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA)
• Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI)
• Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL)
• Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX)
• Rep. John Carter (R-TX)
• Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID)
• Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH)
• Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA)

More of this please: Senator Cornyn mocks Senator Feinstein for withholding "facts"

Senator Cornyn reminds everyone that Jennifer Rubin is a fake conservative

John Cornyn ain't buyin' it

Senator John Cornyn is right: We've already had a hearing, and Ford & Democrats are hijacking the process

WaPo reports here:

Earlier Thursday, Senate Republicans had reiterated their resolve to press forward with a vote on Kavanaugh in the coming days if Ford chose not to testify before the 21-member Judiciary Committee.

“If she doesn’t want to participate and tell her story, there’s no reason for us to delay,” Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, told CNN. “I think it all depends on what she decides to do. We’ve all made clear this is her chance.” ...

Cornyn said Thursday that he sees no reason to call additional witnesses since the committee had already held a full hearing on Trump’s nominee.

“We already had a hearing,” Cornyn said. “That’s what I call hijacking the regular committee process to accommodate political interests.”

Once again Republicans refuse to even THINK of cutting spending in order to cut taxes

Reported here:

The Senate parliamentarian ruled Thursday that a fiscal "trigger," important to winning deficit-wary Sen. Bob Corker's support for the GOP plan, will not work under Senate rules. Republican senators are now looking to find new ways to address the concerns of Corker, a so-called deficit hawk Republican from Tennessee.

"It doesn't look like the trigger is going to work, according to the parliamentarian," Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters, according to Politico. "So we have an alternative, frankly: a tax increase we don't want to do to try to address Sen. Corker's concerns."

McConnell reportedly set to bring full repeal bill like HR 3762 to a vote in the Senate

Here and here for the story.

There were 52 "Yeas" for the HR 3762 Obamacare repeal bill in the Senate on December 3, 2015 out of 54 Republicans, which Obama subsequently vetoed. It was the only repeal bill ever to reach Obama's desk:

Alexander of Tennessee

Ayotte of New Hampshire (seat lost to Democrats in 2016)

Barrasso of Wyoming

Blunt of Missouri

Boozman of Arkansas

Burr of North Carolina

Capito of West Virginia

Cassidy of Louisiana

Coats of Indiana (Todd Young)

Cochran of Mississippi

Corker of Tennessee

Cornyn of Texas

Cotton of Arkansas

Crapo of Idaho

Cruz of Texas

Daines of Montana

Enzi of Wyoming

Ernst of Iowa

Fischer of Nebraska

Flake of Arizona

Gardner of Colorado

Graham of South Carolina

Grassley of Iowa

Hatch of Utah

Heller of Nevada

Hoeven of North Dakota

Inhofe of Oklahoma

Isakson of Georgia

Johnson of Wisconsin

Lankford of Oklahoma

Lee of Utah

McCain of Arizona

McConnell of Kentucky

Moran of Kansas

Murkowski of Alaska

Paul of Kentucky

Perdue of Georgia

Portman of Ohio

Risch of Idaho

Roberts of Kansas

Rounds of South Dakota

Rubio of Florida

Sasse of Nebraska

Scott of South Carolina

Sessions of Alabama (Luther Strange)

Shelby of Alabama

Sullivan of Alaska

Thune of South Dakota

Tillis of North Carolina

Toomey of Pennsylvania

Vitter of Louisiana (John Neely Kennedy)

Wicker of Mississippi.

There were two Republican "Nays":

Collins of Maine, who is still there

Kirk of Illinois, who lost his seat to the Democrats.

Now out of 52 Republicans in the Senate we have 48 votes this time for repeal that we had last time, plus 3 Republican freshman in the Senate to pressure to vote for repeal, which would bring the total to 51, assuming Collins of Maine again votes "Nay".

We'll see if they have the guts.

Grassley wants to end the EB-5 visa program altogether, but Cornyn wants to end the EB-5 cap

Grassley would end the issuance of these "buy-your-way-in" visas, but the Texas Senator would open up the program to thousands more.

Story here.

Good idea: John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell call for transcript of FBI interview with Hillary Clinton

That's good. If there's nothing to see here, the FBI won't mind us having a look.

Story here.

Kimberley Strassel detects a sign of a spine in Mitch McConnell on the Lynch AG appointment

Kim is smart as ever and looking good

From her Wall Street Journal column here:

Mr. McConnell made clear that so long as he didn’t get his trafficking bill, Democrats didn’t get Ms. Lynch. He would devote the rest of this week to the Cornyn-Klobuchar legislation, next week would be about the budget, the week after that would be Easter recess, and so on. Let’s hope Ms. Lynch enjoys Sudoku. No give, no get.

The Republicans' biggest traitors on immigration amnesty: Mike Enzi, Mitch McConnell, Thad Cochran, Shelley Capito

The biggest traitors on immigration are Republicans Mike Enzi of Wyoming, who got an "A" grade from NumbersUSA for his anti-amnesty views, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Thad (tell-me-what-to-do) Cochran of Mississippi who received "B" grades. Capito, who got a "C", was a crapshoot, as was Daines. Daines came through for us, Capito did not.

Based on such grades it looked last November like we had 14 newly elected/re-elected anti-amnesty Republicans in the Senate and 9 pro-amnesty (Louisiana had yet to be decided). Based on last Friday's vote in the Senate, however, we have 14 anti-amnesty, just not the same 14, and 10 pro-amnesty Republicans beginning new Senate terms as a result of the November 2014 election (individuals in red more or less surprised with their votes based on pre-election evaluations; expect them to surprise in the future, too).

Anti-amnesty:

Sessions of Alabama
Sullivan of Alaska
Cotton of Arkansas
Perdue of Georgia
Risch of Idaho
Ernst of Iowa
Roberts of Kansas
Cassidy of Louisiana
Daines of Montana
Sasse of Nebraska
Tillis of North Carolina
Inhofe of Oklahoma
Lankford of Oklahoma
Scott of South Carolina.

Pro-amnesty:

Gardner of Colorado
McConnell of Kentucky
Collins of Maine
Cochran of Mississippi
Graham of South Carolina
Rounds of South Dakota
Alexander of Tennessee
Cornyn of Texas
Capito of West Virginia
Enzi of Wyoming.

23 Republican traitors in the US Senate vote to fund Obama's illegal immigration amnesty

From the Roll Call Vote in the Senate, Vote Number 62, Friday, February 27, 2015, here [the bill passed 68-31, requiring a simple majority, meaning the Republicans, who control the Senate, could have stopped this by not authoring it or voting for it; not a single Democrat voted against the bill]:

Alexander (R-TN)

Ayotte (R-NH)

Barrasso (R-WY)

Capito (R-WV)

Coats (R-IN)

Cochran (R-MS)

Collins (R-ME)

Corker (R-TN)

Cornyn (R-TX)

Enzi (R-WY)

Flake (R-AZ)

Gardner (R-CO)

Graham (R-SC)

Hatch (R-UT)

Heller (R-NV)

Johnson (R-WI)

Kirk (R-IL)

McCain (R-AZ)

McConnell (R-KY)

Murkowski (R-AK)

Rounds (R-SD)

Thune (R-SD)

Toomey (R-PA)

Republican Senator-elect John Cornyn of Texas also has a divided mind on illegal immigration

According to NumbersUSA.com.