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In this episode we discuss a grab bag of political topics, including the challenges facing the Republican Congress when they return from their August recess, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake’s criticism of President Trump, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice’s switch to the Republican Party and Walker Stapleton’s super-PAC. Segment 1: Congressional Recess • The basis for our first segment on the Congressional recess is a Wall Street Journal article (Congressional Recess, Full Plate Keep the Heat on GOP Lawmakers) from over the weekend. • The article highlights the desire of Congressional Republicans to shift their focus to tax reform over the next four weeks, but notes that as members return home and meet with constituents, they may find it difficult to move on from the contentious legislative fight over healthcare reform. • The problem for Congressional Republicans on healthcare is really twofold. For one, many voters in swing states and districts still support the ACA, and are therefore very critical of attempts to repeal it. At the same time, Republican voters are more likely to blame Congress for gridlock in Washington – including, of course, over healthcare – than they are to blame President Trump. This leaves Republican Congressmen, like Mike Coffman and Cory Gardner here in Colorado, to take the brunt of criticism from both sides. • Complicating the plans for tax reform even further is the fact that Congress is faced with the prospect of a fight over raising the federal debt limit by September 29th and keeping the government funded beyond September 30th – a process that may be made more difficult if conservatives within the Republican Party include controversial items like funding for the border wall. Segment 2: Jeff Flake’s Criticism of President Trump • Senator Jeff Flake’s new book, Conscience of a Conservative, is highly critical of President Trump, claims Republicans are “in denial” about the President and calls on them to rebuke him and return to their principles. • Excerpted here in Politico Flake says of his fellow Republicans: “It was we conservatives who rightly and robustly asserted our constitutional prerogatives as a co-equal branch of government when a Democrat was in the White House but who, despite solemn vows to do the same in the event of a Trump presidency, have maintained an unnerving silence as instability has ensued. To carry on in the spring of 2017 as if what was happening was anything approaching normalcy required a determined suspension of critical faculties. And tremendous power of denial.” • He continues: “Under our Constitution, there simply are not that many people who are in a position to do something about an executive branch in chaos. As the first branch of government (Article I), the Congress was designed expressly to assert itself at just such moments. It is what we talk about when we talk about “checks and balances.” Too often, we observe the unfolding drama along with the rest of the country, passively, all but saying, ‘Someone should do something!’ without seeming to realize that that someone is us. And so, that unnerving silence in the face of an erratic executive branch is an abdication, and those in positions of leadership bear particular responsibility.” • It’s at this point that he recalls former leaders in Congress like Senators Bob Dole, Howard Baker and Richard Lugar, men who were “vigorous partisans, yes, but even more important, principled constitutional conservatives whose primary interest was in governing and making America truly great.” • Senator Flake then proposes three steps for Republicans to take: First, we shouldn’t hesitate to speak out if the president “plays to the base” in ways that damage the Republican Party’s ability to grow and speak to a larger audience. Second, Republicans need to take the long view when it comes to issues like free trade: Populist and protectionist policies might play well in the short term, but they handicap the country in the long term. Third, Republicans need to stand up for institutions and prerogatives, like the Senate filibuster, that have served us well for more than two centuries. • Jeff Flake’s approval rating in a recent poll by Public Policy Polling was 18% approve, 62% disapprove. Segment 3: West Virginia Governor Jim Justice • In other political news from last week, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice switched parties to become a Republican, accompanied at a rally by President Trump. • Justice explained the move by saying: “Like it or not, but the Democrats walked away from me…West Virginia, I can’t help you anymore by being a Democratic governor.” • Justice, a coal mining and agriculture businessman who is the richest man in West Virginia, refused to endorse Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign and won election as a Democrat despite President Trump’s 42-point victory in the state. • Given his past, Justice’s switch to the GOP is unsurprising. What will be more interesting is where the West Virginia Democratic Party goes from here. The two men who ran against Justice in last year’s Democratic Primary, former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin and former State Senate President Jeff Kessler, were both critical of the state party in the aftermath of Justice’s switch. • Goodwin wrote in a Facebook post: “This should be a huge wakeup call for the current leadership of the West Virginia Democratic Party. Character and integrity matter.” And Kessler was far more pointed in his critique, saying: “I thought Jim was a creation of the Manchin machine, and now he’s turned into Frankenstein” and adding, that Justice was a “Democrat by convenience, not conviction”, who used the party after he was “pursued and coaxed” by party leaders. Segment 4: Walker Stapleton’s Super-PAC • A big political story out of Colorado last week was the reporting on presumptive gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton’s “super PAC-style” group that is lining up big donors before his official announcement as a candidate. • So long as Stapleton does not announce, he can help steer donors toward the group, Better Colorado Now, whose purpose according to state filings is: “To oppose Democrat candidates for governor.” • The group is drawing comparisons to Jeb Bush’s Right to Rise super-PAC, and is being heralded as the first major super-PAC on the scene in Colorado.