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In our latest edition, we're grateful to have an interview with RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, who spoke with us about the DNC, Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., foreign policy, and the GOP’s priorities through Election Day
By: Matthew Foldi
Despite the hype surrounding last week’s Democratic National Convention (DNC), the GOP has developed a “slight lead” over the Democratic Party going into election season, Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Whatley told the Washington Reporter in an extensive interview.
This year’s elections will be defined on issues of “strength versus weakness and success versus failure,” Whatley, who believes strongly that President Donald Trump will return to the White House, said.
“If you ask the voters what they care about right now, it’s jobs and the economy, it’s inflation, it’s safety and security, and on every single one of those issues Donald Trump outpolls Kamala Harris, and that’s why we’re leading in all the issue polls, and why we’re leading in the battleground states,” Whatley said.
Although the GOP “can’t be all things to all people right now,” Whatley emphasized two priorities in getting Trump reelected: “get out the vote and protect the ballot.”
Click HERE to read more from RNC Chairman Michael Whatley on what GOP candidates should do between now and November in order to win, and much more.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just endorsed Donald Trump for president. What do you think the significance of that will be? And what does it say about Trump’s outreach to non-traditional groups this cycle?
Matthew Foldi
Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Reporter
It’s really important that you look at how this happened, because Kennedy probably would have beaten Joe Biden in the straight-on primary, but they rigged it so that he couldn’t run, and then they pushed Joe Biden off the stage and gave it to Kamala Harris without her winning a single delegate in a single convention or primary, either in 2020 or in 2024. So he is obviously very excited about that, and understandably so. As you said, Donald Trump is willing to go out and talk to anybody who wants to Make America Great Again. What we’re seeing right now is a huge shift in black voters, Hispanic voters, and Asian-American voters who are coming towards him right now because of the policies that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have put in place over the last four years, particularly the inflationary spending that’s hurting their families and their communities right now. As far as Robert F. Kennedy Jr, I think, it is a very big symbol. It shows you how big a chance Donald Trump is actually building.
Michael Whatley
RNC Chairman
What are your thoughts on the downballot candidates the GOP has going into November?
Matthew Foldi
Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Reporter
When we look at the Senate, we’ve got an amazing cadre of candidates. Guys like Tim Sheehy, Bernie Moreno, Dave McCormick, Sam Brown, who we’re really looking at to be able to make sure that we flip the Senate. On the House side, we’re working with the House leadership, and meeting a bunch of these candidates around the country. We’re really excited about what we see in the ability to expand the map and be able to expand our majority in the House.
Michael Whatley
RNC Chairman
House:
Senate:
What we’re hearing from people we trust on and around the Hill – please send us more tips!
By: Matthew Foldi
Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) will present the Congressional Gold Medal to the 13 American servicemembers killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, he announced exclusively to the Washington Reporter on the third anniversary of the attack. Family members of all 13 individuals will accept the medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor, next month on behalf of their loved ones.
“The Gold Medal is an extreme honor for our kids, they’re in very, very select company,” Darin Hoover, the father of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, told the Reporter. “It’s quite an eclectic group of individuals who are on that list, but it just goes to the heart of what our kids accomplished: the greatest airlift in the history of the United States, and possibly in the world. It goes to the heart and the grit that they showed. They made the best of a bad situation, and they came out on top, they came out heroes.”
Johnson, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), Sen. Steve Daines (R., Mont.), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R., Mich.), will present the medals on September 10 to the family members of those killed by an ISIS-K suicide attacker. The attacker was released by the Taliban following President Joe Biden administration’s withdrawal from Bagram Air Base.
Daines and McClain sponsored the legislation to posthumously award the 13 servicemembers. The ceremony will take place in the United States Capitol Rotunda and will be the first Gold Medal ceremony this Congress.
Click HERE to read more on the House and Senate’s plans to honor the Gold Star families with the first Congressional Gold Medals of this Congress.
By: Matthew Foldi
The main super PAC for crypto, Fairshake, is spending big in House and Senate races across the country for both Republicans and Democrats — befuddling industry insiders, who view Republican control of the U.S. Senate as the clear priority for the industry.
Republican operatives connected to crypto believe a Republican Senate serves two purposes for crypto: it can either speedily confirm President Donald Trump’s cabinet, financial regulators, and judicial nominees, or it can reject Vice President Kamala Harris’s poor picks for her cabinet and regulatory agencies.
While Republicans are glad that Fairshake is spending more than $10 million to defeat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio), who is viewed as second only to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) in his hostility to the industry, many are concerned about its spending on behalf of Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.) and Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.) in their respective Senate bids. Slotkin and Gallego victories would hamper the industry’s desire to see Republicans flip the chamber.
Click HERE to read more about concerns that Fairshake PAC, crypto’s top 2024 spender, is harming the industry’s priorities with its support for Democrats.
By: Matthew Foldi
In the three years since an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 13 American servicemembers during the Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous withdrawl from Afghanistan, the Department of State has yet to prioritize, or amend, the process by which Americans are evacuated from countries around the world, multiple senior Hill staff tell the Washington Reporter.
During the Biden administration’s withdrawal, tens of thousands of Americans and Afghan allies were stranded in Afghanistan, awaiting assistance from the State Department. The department has yet to remedy the issues — indifference, low staffing, and incompetence, sources told the Reporter — in its rescue operations processes.
“The U.S. government is not a travel agent, it is not a cruise director,” a top foreign policy staffer said. “It can’t be everything for everybody. But I can’t give them the benefit of the doubt when they looked at blue passport holders and said ‘sorry, I can’t help you.’ Millions of Americans who travel overseas believe that when they carry that American passport that it means that your country will help you when you are overseas. The Biden administration took a 100 year sacred compact, lit it on fire, and then turned the page on it.”
State has “seemingly not changed anything” in the three years since promising to evacuate Americans or allies in Afghanistan, one top Republican said, adding that “I don’t see anything that suggests a new process for how to handle Americans who are stuck somewhere.” In the years since President Joe Biden presided over the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, American embassies in countries from Ukraine to Haiti to Sudan and beyond have been fully or partially evacuated.
Allied Afghans struggled to evacuate during the chaos in August 2021, according to communications reviewed by the Reporter. “I need fucking help!!! On god they just pointed the gun on me. Saying I’m not Muslim and I’m an American trying to go to America. Please I beg of you,” one ally wrote in a text message. “I was told they have my name and family’s name inside the airport .. but noopppe,” another wrote. “My son is sick and got trama. Everywhere is firing and we are in hell,” another said.
Click HERE to read more about the ongoing failures the State Department has when it comes to evacuating Americans, and for a lot more about the indifference the Biden administration has for its failures in Afghanistan.
By: Matthew Foldi
A union watchdog is working to make Gov. and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s (D., Minn.) ties to teachers unions a liability before November’s election.
In an ad debuted with the Washington Reporter, the Public Labor Unions Accountability Committee (PLUAC) “demand[s] accountability” after the Democratic Party spotlighted union leaders such as Randi Weingarten, Becky Pringle, and Stacy Davis Gates at last week’s Democratic National Convention. “Harris and Walz: champions for their radical agenda,” it says.
“Teachers’ unions have found their fighters,” the ad says. “Teachers’ unions shut kids out of schools, demanded police-free schools, and tried to ban charter schools, while sending their own children to private schools,” the ad mentions.
Click HERE to share Public Labor Unions Accountability Committee’s latest ad that seeks to hold Kamala Harris and Tim Walz accountable for their reliance on far-left teachers’ unions.
By: Joe Teirab
America is being sold a bill of goods with Gov. Tim Walz, and a dangerous one at that.
The Democrat machine has been working overtime to introduce Walz as a folksy Midwestern dad with natural good sense, but nothing could be further from the truth.
I would know — I was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Minnesota for four years under Gov. Walz.
When I first started as a federal prosecutor, I never thought so much of my time would go towards cleaning up after the governor’s messes, but it quickly became a recurring theme in my job. When Walz sat on his hands and let protesters destroy the Twin Cities, my colleagues and I went after rioters and held them accountable. When Walz was asleep at the wheel while crooks stole hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, I prosecuted some of the fraudsters and recouped some of the money.
The problem is that this isn’t just gross incompetence — it is downright dangerous decision-making. And there won’t always be prosecutors like myself, local law enforcement, or other stopgaps to help lessen the damage.
Walz’s weaknesses become even more concerning when they are paired with those of Kamala Harris. The Harris-Walz approach to public safety is so radical that it defies common sense and puts the public at serious risk. In fact, to the types of criminals I worked to put away, the pairing of Harris and Walz probably seems like a match made in heaven.
Click HERE to read more from Joe Teirab, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in Minnesota, about Gov. Tim Walz’s dangerous bill of goods.
By: Michael Chamberlain
McDonald’s legend Ray Kroc once said that “you’re only as good as the people you hire.” He was hiring people to make hamburgers. The Reagan administration translated that to governing: “personnel is policy.” If that’s true, what does it say about policy that 92 percent of the people who went to work for Vice President Kamala Harris have already left? That casualty rate would leave the men who planned the Battle of the Somme reeling at the senseless attrition.
Then there are the … interesting people the Biden-Harris administration has hired over the last three years. One can only call these personnel judgements weird.
Remember Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley? He headed up the Biden-Harris administration’s hush-hush negotiations with the Iranian regime: an effort to resurrect the Iranian nuclear deal President Donald Trump had scuttled. Malley came under investigation for mishandling classified documents, and the Oversight Committee found that he and members of his team “may have had compromising ties to the Iranian regime.” He was suspended without pay and the investigation was turned over to the FBI.
Click HERE to read more from Michael Chamberlain, the director of Protect the Public’s Trust, on the litany of ethical problems his organization has found throughout the Biden-Harris administration.
By: David Cook
In 1976, Ronald Reagan campaigned for president against the idea of giving away the Panama Canal, telling the American people that “we built it, we bought it, we should keep it.” Today, the Middle East is in flames. Well, we built what’s now burning, we bought the turmoil with American blood, and still, we should keep a presence there.
You won’t find any advocacy for a Surge-like troop buildup; we know that doesn’t work. What else doesn’t work? This administration retreated from Afghanistan three years ago, leaving more than 1,200 American citizens flapping in the wind and no allies in place to counter terrorism or nation-state encroachment. In doing so, it gave permission to our greatest adversaries to take what they want, without recourse from the United States. Six months after the last US C-17 departed Afghanistan, China began negotiating with the Taliban for the largest untapped copper reserves in the world and inked a $540 million deal for Chinese Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co. Ltd. to develop an oil and gas field in Amu Darya in northern Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, in March of this year, ISIS-K, a group with roots in the Khorasan Province in Afghanistan conducted a horrific attack in Moscow, which left 137 people dead and more than 100 injured. The attack is a display of the group’s ability to coordinate and export terrorism. As I write, a mass stabbing has occurred at a German music festival leaving at least three people dead that the Islamic State claimed responsibility for.
Click HERE to read more from David Cook, the executive director of the Special Operations Association of America, about why the Biden-Harris administration’s failures in Afghanistan will ripple beyond the Middle East.
