Monthly Archives: March 2021

(WTRF)- QAnon has marked March 4th as a very significant date in their calendar.

QAnonwho gained attention during the Capitol Insurrection on January 6th believes this is the dayDonald Trumpwill return to power as president.

The FBI is listing this as a domestic terrorist threat.

Experts sayQAnonfollowers latest theory will cause further humiliation for the radical group when their threat fails.

QAnonbelieves a secret law that was actually passed back in 1871 changed the United States into an actual corporation.

In essence, to these followers, all presidencies afterUlysses S. Granthave been illegitimate.

This would make formerPresident Donald Trumpthe 19th president instead of the 45th.

The reason behind the March 4th date is that this is when presidential inauguration ceremonies used to take place before it was moved to January 20th in 1933.

Both Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Departments are continuing to monitor potential threats and are aware of the significance of QAnons March 4th date.

U.S. Capitol Police are increasing security around the building following threats of more violence from a militia group Thursday.

The U.S. House of Representatives has canceled its Thursday session because of the threat.

Continued here:

Today Is The Day QAnon Believes Donald Trump Will Be Reinstated As President - WTRF

Moments after voting to acquit Donald Trump of the impeachment charge, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Trump was "practically and morally responsible" for the deadly Capitol riot. Still, he said conviction would be unconstitutional. (Feb. 13) AP Domestic

WASHINGTON That Mitch McConnell-Donald Trump feud is still happening.

The Senate Republican leader, dismissed last month as "a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack" by Trump, made clear Wednesday he did not watch the former president's comeback speech on Sunday and does not agree with Trump's suggestion that the party should "get rid" of GOP lawmakers who backed impeachment.

We're dealing with the present and the future, not looking back to the past," McConnell told Fox News.

The back-and-forth between the ex-president and the Senate's most powerful Republican underscores GOP turmoil as they look to regain control of Congress in next year's elections and win back the White House in 2024.

More: At CPAC, Donald Trump targets the Republican Party of Liz Cheney and Mitch McConnell

Trump and McConnell have clashed over the latter's assertion that the president's false claims of election fraud provoked the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the subject of Trump's second impeachment.

Former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are in a struggle for control of the Republican Party.(Photo: SAUL LOEB, AFP via Getty Images)

In his speech Sunday to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump called on supporters to oppose the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him, and the seven GOP senators who voted to convict him.

"Get rid of them all," he said.

"We want Republican leaders who are loyal to the voters and who will work proudly for the vision that I've laid out," Trump also told CPAC delegates during his speech in Orlando, Florida.

OnPolitics: The GOP's Trump problem

Only one of the Senate Republican impeachers Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is planning to be on a ballot in 2022.

In his Fox interview on Wednesday, McConnell said "absolutely we support Sen.Murkowski," and dismissed the complaints about impeachment during Trump's speech.

"Well, Ididn't watch it," McConnell said.

Trump did not attack directly McConnell in the speech the Kentucky Republican voted to acquit Trump, after all but he did claim his endorsement carried McConnell to victory in his Senate reelectionrace last year. That is a dubious assertion; McConnell was favored throughout his 2020 race, and he won with nearly 58% of the vote.

More: Donald Trump will protest the 2020 election for years.CPAC is here to help him spread his conspiracies.

Former President Trump speaks to a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, promises not to start a new political party. USA TODAY

The CPAC speech came less than two weeks after Trump issued a scathing attack on McConnell over his criticism regarding the Jan. 6 insurrection. Blaming him for the GOP loss of Senate control, Trump said in a written statement that "the Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political 'leaders'like Sen. MitchMcConnellat its helm."

"Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack," Trump said in that statement, "and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again."

While he voted for acquittal, McConnell also held "practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day." He said he supported acquittal anyway because hebelieved the Senate lacked the legal authority to try an ex-president.

CPAC or Trump-PAC?Conservative conference delegates stick with Donald Trump

During the Fox interview on Wednesday, McConnell said he would not take back anything from that floor speech. He also said Republicans are more unified than they appear to be.

While "we've had some internal back and forth that's been widely covered," McConnell said, the Republican Party is being unified in reaction to President Joe Biden's administration. "We'relooking forward,we're not looking backward," he said.

Before the CPAC gathering, McConnell also told Fox News that he would support Trump if heagain wins the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

Earlier this week, McConnell mocked Trump's claim that an endorsement propelled his reelection in Kentucky.

"Yeah, well, I want to thank him for the 15-point margin I had in 2014 as well," McConnell told reporters.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/03/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-were-not-looking-the-past/6909296002/

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Mitch McConnell on Donald Trump: We're looking to the 'future,' not 'the past' - USA TODAY

To the editor: Even with a few embattled members in revolt against former President Trump, its the same old Republican Party of birtherism, intolerance, voter suppression and climate denialism. Theres not a lot to work with, and the worst parts of it are now on steroids. (What GOP civil war? Trumps party is just rounding up the stragglers, Opinion, March 1)

Is Trump really the leader, or is it Q?

According to true believers of QAnon, the mysterious Q said that Trump was secretly planning to vanquish the blood-drinking, pedophile liberals and Hollywood elites. The GOP isnt asking about what Trump will do next, but rather what Q might tell them to do.

The party of Lincoln is long deceased, and whats left is Loony Tunes. Good luck to the remaining, rational faithful in staging a revolt against that.

Wendy Blais, North Hills

..

To the editor: Jonah Goldberg left out the most important and extreme example of right-wing cancel culture: the mob of Trump supporters who invaded the Capitol building Jan. 6 and wanted to kill then-Vice President Mike Pence for not overturning the election.

This is the prime example of cancel culture.

Michael Asher, Valley Village

..

To the editor: The letters in response to the golden statue of Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference missed the more apropos biblical analogy in the book of Daniel, Chapter 3.

In that story, King Nebuchadnezzar erects a 90-foot-tall statue of himself (at least he wasnt wearing boxer shorts) and declares that anyone who fails to bow down and worship him will be thrown into a fiery furnace. I certainly hope that all the Republicans whom Trump named in his speech will survive like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did in the story in Daniel.

Tim House, Lancaster

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It's the party of QAnon, not Donald Trump - Los Angeles Times

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Texas voters are almost evenly split on the question of whether Donald Trump should be allowed to mount a comeback, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

Asked whether Trump took actions as president that justify preventing him from holding future elected office, 45% said he did and 48% said he did not. Not surprisingly, 84% of voters who identified themselves as Democrats say he did, and 81% of Republican voters say he didnt. Among independent voters, 38% said barring Trump would be justified, and 47% said it would not be justified.

Almost all of the Democrats say he should be barred, along with 13% of Republicans, said Daron Shaw, co-director of the poll and a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

A similar question in the February 2020 UT/TT Poll, taken after Trumps first impeachment, produced similar results. Asked whether Donald Trump has taken actions while president that justify his removal from office before the end of his term, 43% of Texas voters said yes and 46% said no. Then, as now, partisan differences were stark: 80% of Democrats said yes, and 84% of Republicans said no.

These numbers suggest hes going to remain influential among these Republican voters, said Jim Henson, co-director of the poll and head of the Texas Politics Project at UT-Austin. Whether you like Donald Trump or not, these numbers show why Republicans are hanging on his every word.

Trump is viewed about as favorably now in the state as he was in the UT/TT Poll in October 2020, right before the election: 46% of Texas voters view him favorably and 46% have an unfavorable opinion of the former president. In October, his favorable/unfavorable numbers were 49%-46%. And Trump remains in better light than he did right before his election four years ago. In an October 2016 UT/TT Poll, 31% of Texans had a positive opinion of him while 58% had a negative one.

He has completely consolidated his Republican base in Texas, Shaw said.

The University of Texas/Texas Tribune internet survey of 1,200 registered voters was conducted from Feb. 12-18 and has an overall margin of error of +/- 2.83 percentage points. Numbers in charts might not add up to 100% because of rounding.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Correction, Feb. 26, 2021: An earlier version of this story misstated when the University of Texas/Tribune Poll was conducted. The poll was conducted Feb. 12-18, not Feb. 12-25.

Excerpt from:

Should Donald Trump be allowed to hold office again? Texas voters are split. - The Texas Tribune

The former mid-level aide is first member of Trump administration to face criminal charges for the January 6 breach.

The FBI has arrested a former State Department aide from the administration of former President Donald Trump in connection with the January 6 storming of the United States Capitol, according to US media.

Federico Klein was charged with unlawful entry, violent and disorderly conduct, and obstructing Congress and law enforcement, the New York Times reported.

He is the first member of the Trump administration to be implicated in the storming of the Capitol by supporters of the former president in an attempt to overturn the results of the November presidential election that was disputed by Trump.

The newspaper reported that 42-year-old Klein had worked on Trumps 2016 campaign and began working at the State Department shortly after Trumps victory. The violence left five dead.

A former colleague told the Politico news site that Klein had worked with the office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs before being transferred to the office that handles Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Trump appointee was seen in videos of the riot assaulting officers with a stolen riot shield, federal investigators said in court documents obtained by the Times.

He is wearing a Make America Great Again hat and is seen trying to push through a line of officers in a tunnel near the west terrace of the Capitol building and also tried to push through a doorway into the complex, where he physically and verbally engaged with the officers holding the line, the document says.

The FBI said Klein was still employed by the State Department at the time of the incident, and maintained top-secret security clearance.

The bureau had previously released Kleins photo, and received tips identifying him.

Federal prosecutors have so far charged more than 300 people in connection with the US Capitol breach. Those include members of the far-right Proud Boys group and the Oath Keepers militia.

Trump was also impeached by the House of Representatives on the charge of incitement of insurrection for his campaign of disinformation leading up to the riot and a rally he gave moments before the Capitol breach.

He was later acquitted in a Senate trial. The former president could still potentially face federal and local charges for his alleged role in inciting the violence.

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Trump appointee arrested in connection with Capitol riot: Reports - Al Jazeera English

The Fulton County district attorney opened a criminal investigation last month.

March 4, 2021, 5:35 PM

4 min read

A grand jury is expected to be seated this week in Fulton County, Georgia, to look into efforts by Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election, signaling that the county's investigation into the former president is intensifying.

Prosecutors in Fulton County are expected pursue subpoenas for documents and witnesses and rely heavily on them, people familiar with the investigation told ABC News.

In a letter sent last month from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to Gov. Brian Kemp and obtained by ABC News, Willis said the grand jury would convene in March and would "begin requesting grand jury subpoenas as necessary at that time."

Willis wrote in the Feb. 10 letter that her office had no reason to believe any Georgia official was the target of the investigation.

President Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia, Jan. 4, 2021, on the eve of the run-off election to decide both of Georgia's Senate seats.

The district attorney's office in Fulton County formally launched a criminal probe into Trump's efforts to overturn his election loss in the state last month, after Trump was heard in a Jan. 2 phone call pleading with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to help him "find 11,780 votes," the exact number he needed to win Georgia.

"This investigation includes, but is not limited to, potential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election's administration," Willis wrote in her letter to the governor.

George Washington University Law Professor John F. Banzhaf, whose formal complaints with Georgia officials helped trigger the investigation, says that Trump's hour-long call to Raffensperger could have violated as many as three separate state laws.

Trump has previously denied any wrongdoing.

ABC News' Quinn Scanlan contributed to this report.

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Grand jury in Georgia expected to convene in probe of Trump's efforts to overturn election - ABC News

Political appointees who stay to the very end of an administration often face a gap between Jan. 20 and when they land their next job, given the time it takes to network, get job interviews and then get a formal offer. Trump appointees face the added problem of job hunting in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot, which made some companies reluctant to hire former Trump appointees, in part because of fear of a backlash.

Im sitting here going, how do I pay my rent? How do I pay my cellphone bill? one former Commerce appointee said in an interview.

Another former Trump Commerce official said: I have enough money to make it a month, but when rents due next month, what happens then? Rent in D.C. isnt cheap.

Besides the vacation payouts, at least three former Commerce appointees havent gotten their separation packets that contain a document called the SF-50, which allows them to apply for unemployment benefits, according to another former Commerce appointee, who only just received his packet.

A Commerce Department spokesperson said in a statement: Commerces HR Department is available to past appointees and more than happy to help them finish any outstanding paperwork.

The spokesperson added that Commerce had completed separation procedures for appointees who have completed the necessary paperwork and that it was ready to assist appointees who have outstanding questions or havent completed all of the steps for off-boarding out of the department, which is necessary for payouts to be issued.

The lack of timely vacation payouts is not affecting just former Commerce appointees. A former Homeland Security official said she hadnt received payout of her annual leave, which is more than 200 hours and equivalent to three months of pay. Another former senior DHS official said he also hadnt gotten his one month of vacation payout, which comes out to about $15,000 minus taxes.

For all pay and benefits inquiries, former DHS employees are encouraged to reach out to their servicing Human Resources office, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.

Its not known how widespread the payment delays are or the exact cause, but there have been other personnel hiccups during the transition, which was especially rocky because of former President Donald Trumps refusal to acknowledge President Joe Bidens win. POLITICO previously reported that a number of Trump appointees unexpectedly lost their parental leave benefits when Biden was sworn into office.

While some Trump appointees have been able to land jobs on Capitol Hill or in the private sector, many of them are still looking, and one called the job market for Trump appointees a little slow and said that shed received no offers yet.

Two former Commerce political appointees who served at the end of the Obama administration said that their vacation payouts werent delayed as long, and that there werent major delays in getting appointees their separation packets.

I dont remember it being a problem, said one of the former Obama Commerce officials. I dont remember us having any issues. Another former official got his vacation payout in the middle of February of 2017.

Some of the former Trump appointees say they are getting increasingly frustrated with the prolonged delays in the payouts, although others have started to get them recently.

I dont understand how its taking so long to figure out how much comp time you have and how much youre owed and why that isnt falling directly into my account, one former Trump appointee said. Jan. 20 was never a moving target. While he has only 72 hours of unused comp time because he was new at the department, he said some people have hundreds of hours.

A lot of the politicals are not getting jobs, so a lot of them were relying on the lump-sum payments to get them through the next few months, a third former Trump appointee said.

A separate issue some former Trump appointees are facing is temporarily extending their federal government health insurance through COBRA, although such insurance would be paid by the appointees themselves.

While theres a 31-day grace period in which appointees still get health insurance, several told POLITICO that the government hadnt given them the proper forms to apply for COBRA, and one said that when he went to a doctor recently, the office couldnt find evidence of his insurance.

One said the delay was leaving a lot of people asking: Am I going to lose health care for the time that the processing center would take to get our information into the system?

A lot of people are freaking out, another said.

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Former Trump appointees say theyre still waiting on their vacation payouts - POLITICO

Actor and comedian Tim Allen recently said that he liked that President Donald Trump incited anger in his critics.

"Once I realized the last president pissed people off, I kinda liked that," the 67-year-old "Last Man Standing" star said during an appearance on Monday's episode of "WTF With Marc Maron."

He continued, "It was fun to just not say anything. Didn't join in the lynching crowd."

Allen went on to say that he personally knew Billand Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 presidential election, calling the former US president a "genuinely nice guy."

He added that he "just didn't think that Hillary should've been president," saying that there was "nothing personal" about his opinion.

The actor referred to himself as a "fiscal conservative" as a result of his long-standing dislike for paying taxes.

"Once I started making money, I had this silent partner that just took almost half of my money and never gave me anything for it. That's taxes. I've never liked taxes," he said.

Allen added that he doesn't try to inflict his political views on others.

"I literally don't preach anything. What I've done is I've just not joined into, as I call it, the 'we culture.' I'm not telling anybody else how to live. I don't like that," he explained.

Following Allen's interview with Maron, his name began trending on Twitter as a result of his comments about Trump. However, it wasn't the first time he's spoken about the former president.

In 2016, he called Hollywood liberals "hypocritical" for condemning Trump as a "bully" during a visit to Fox News' "The Kelly File."

"What I find odd in Hollywood is that they didn't like Trump because he was a bully," he said. "But if you had any kind of inkling that you were for Trump, you got bullied for doing that. And that's where this gets a little hypocritical to me."

The comedian has also attended Trump's inauguration in January 2017 and described his experience on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" months after.

"I was invited. We did a VIP thing for the vets, and went to a veterans ball, so I went to go see Democrats and Republicans," he said.

Allen told the host then that he had to be "careful" talking about his decision to attend the event, likening being a conservative in Hollywood to living in 1930s Germany.

"You get beat up if you don't believe what everybody believes. This is like '30s Germany. I don't know what happened. If you're not part of the group, 'You know what we believe is right,' I go, 'Well, I might have a problem with that.' I'm a comedian, I like going on both sides," he said.

Excerpt from:

Tim Allen says he 'liked' that Donald Trump 'pissed people off' while he was in office - Insider

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Stewart Poths and Suzanne Stratten of Vancouver, Washington sold flags, T-shirts and hats Monday, March 1, 2021 at the corner of Hartnell and Cypress avenues in Redding.(Photo: Damon Arthur/Record Searchlight)

Donald Trump may have lost the election in November, but Gretchen Vela is still flying his flag.

The Redding woman bought one in Redding on Monday from acouplewho set up tables and displays selling Trump flags, hats and T-shirts at the corner of Hartnell and Cypress avenues.

Vela and her husband came to buy a flag that says "Jesus is my savior and Donald Trump is my president."

To Vela, it is appropriate to mention Trump and Jesus in the same sentence.

"He makes it possible to keep our religious rights and what we feel is right," Vela said.

Stewart Poths and Suzanne Stratton of Vancouver, Washington, travel around Oregon, Washington and Northern California selling Trump goods. Sales are still strong, even though Trump is no longer president, Poths said.

One of the flags for sale in Redding on Monday, March 1, 2021 looked like an American flag but featured assault rifles and handguns.(Photo: Damon Arthur/Record Searchlight)

"It's good. A lot of the support is really good," Poths said, especially in Redding.

In addition to the standard "Make America Great Again" ball caps, there were also "Trump 2024" flags, "Our Nation Our Votes Stolen" flags, yellow Gadsden flags featuring an image of a coiled snake and the phrase "Don't tread on me."

There was also a flag that resembledthe American flag, but the stars were made up of images of handguns and the stripes were composed of assault rifles.

Vela said she bought her first Trump hat from the same vendors a couple days ago.

Stewart Poths of Vancouver, Washington, shows off a flag he had for sale in Redding on Monday, March 1, 2021.(Photo: Damon Arthur/Record Searchlight)

"He (Trump) just reminds me of my grandpa, who was a hard worker," Vela said.

But Stevan Keyser of Redding said he was angered at seeing the Trump goods up for sale. He was riding the bus when it passed by the corner and saw the items up for sale.

"I don't think that what I was seeing there was American," Keyser said. "I think this moves beyond free speech because it is incendiary."

More: Redding considers police raises, fresh round of pandemic assistance

More: Vacant Shasta Lake City Council seat is red hot with 10 people applying for the job

Former President Trump speaks to a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, promises not to start a new political party. USA TODAY

Damon Arthur is the Record Searchlights resources and environmentreporter. He is among the first on the scene at breaking news incidents, reporting real time on Twitter at@damonarthur_RS. Damon is part of a dedicated team of journalists who investigate wrongdoing and find the unheard voices to tell the stories of the North State. He welcomes story tips at 530-338-8836 and damon.arthur@redding.com. Help local journalism thrive bysubscribing today!

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Donald Trump still gets the love and sales in Redding - Record Searchlight

Ralph Bristol, Guest columnist Published 12:00 p.m. CT March 2, 2021

Former President Trump speaks to a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, promises not to start a new political party. USA TODAY

Trump allies like Lindsey Graham say Donald Trump is still the future of the Republican Party. Democrats hope that's right.

In 2020, former President Donald Trump was involuntarily inducted into the least envied of all former presidents clubs.

Trump is one of nine U.S. presidents to seek and fail to get a second term. Twenty-one Presidents won election to a second term. Others didnt seek a second term for various reasons, including death.

The other eight members of the club are John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Franklin Pierce, Benjamin Harrison, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush.

You cant judge Trumps presidency or his potential to continue to lead the GOP solely by his membership in that least envied of all political clubs. For that, you must examine other evidence.

Former President Donald Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 28, 2021, in Orlando, Florida.(Photo: John Raoux/AP)

Three 20th-century Republican presidents were involuntary inductees. Trump is the first in the 21st Century.

In the 20th century, William Howard Taft was felled by a split in the Republican Party when his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, broke with the GOP and ran on a third-party ticket, paving the way for Democrat Woodrow Wilsons victory.

Herbert Hoover was seven months into his administration when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. His loss gave us Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only president to serve more than two terms, who presided over both the Great Depression and World War II.

George H.W. Bush took hits from both a strong third-party candidate, Ross Perot, and the 1992 recession. He also suffered self-inflicted wounds by reneging on a now infamous read my lips promise not to raise taxes. Democrat Bill Clinton collected the spoils, which included some of the most irresponsible Oval Office behavior of any U.S. president, but also one of the most robust and sustained market rebounds in history and, coupled with spending restrained by a Republican congress, the last responsible, balanced budget the U.S. will likely ever see.

Former president Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)(Photo: John Raoux, AP)

Trump won the presidency at the end of the so-called Great Recession after modest growth had returned and the largest deficit in history to that point, $1.4 trillion under President Barack Obama, had dropped to $700 billion, still outrageous but trending in the right direction. The country had practically forgotten the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that dominated the eight years of the George W. Bush administration and still plagued the eight years of the Obama administration. Trump inherited and reined over a period of relative peace and prosperity. His reelection jeopardy was two-fold.

The first was self-imposed. Trump made a lot of domestic enemies in high and low places with the way he conducted political business. He constantly and publicly fought with people almost indiscriminately, in both parties, in business, in the media, in the street, berating and punishing anyone who crossed him and many who didnt.

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Since he occupied the most powerful office in the world, he could and did command a lot of fear, but not nearly as much respect. That works up to a point, until the privacy of the ballot box unveils a previously undetected vein of opposition.

Trumps self-imposed problem was joined by the challenge to manage a deadly coronavirus pandemic in a way that would save the most lives without wrecking the economy, a challenge that presented itself nine months before the election. Trump cant be blamed for COVID-19 or for all of the government decisions that made it worse, but the buck stops with the president, especially in an election year.

The virus and government reaction on all levels to it permanently destroyed millions of businesses and jobs, despite Trump and Congress trying to save them with a federal government spending spree that knows no historic equal, and people continued to die by the thousands every day.

For reasons having nothing to do with alleged election fraud, Trump lost the 2020 election by a margin he described as a landslide when he defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Ralph Bristol(Photo: Submitted)

Fourmonths after the election, Republicans are still circling the wagons around Trump. Most House and Senate Republicans voted to protect him from impeachment charges that he incited the Jan. 6 riot and "insurrection" at the Capitol. State Republican parties in Louisiana, North Carolina,, Pennsylvania, Alaska and Nebraska censured their U.S. senators who voted to convict Trump of the impeachment charges. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina insisted after the Senate vote that the path to future Republican victories is Trump plus.

The next two election cycles should reveal whether Graham is right that the newest inductee into the infamous club, who lost the entire government to Democrats, will continue to lead the GOP. Democrats insist they hope Graham is right, as do Independents and third party candidates eager to challenge both parties in the next two election cycles.

More likely, most Republicans are simply stuck in the first stage of grief denial but will advance to bargaining by the midterm elections and will be ready for acceptance and eager to put Trump in the rear view mirror well before the next presidential election.

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Ralph Bristol is a retired conservative broadcaster living in Nashville.

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Can Donald Trump lead the Republican Party after losing Congress and the White House? | Opinion - Tennessean