Republican: Virginia Dems Fuel Violence
The Democratic Party in Virginia “has grown comfortable excusing, rationalizing and even promoting political violence and murder,” fumes Mark Peake at Fox News. It goes far beyond attorney general candidate Jay Jones, who sent texts “repeatedly and explicitly” wishing “death on his political opponents and their children.” Dem gov hopeful Abigail Spanberger “called on her supporters to ‘let your rage fuel you,’” and “refused to back down — even as multiple Virginia Republicans had faced credible death threats.” Add some Virginia Dems’ “disgusting reaction . . . to the killing of Charlie Kirk last month,” including “Chesterfield County School Board Chair Dot Heffron,” who posted that “I remember when we used to be ok with shooting Nazis.” Peake warns: Democrats are “laying the groundwork for more threats, more intimidation and more bloodshed.”
Health-care beat: Obamacare Fraud Exposed
Democrats refuse to end the federal shutdown unless “Congress gives additional billions to private health insurance companies” via Obamacare subsidies, notes Michael F. Cannon at The Washington Times. Yet “Republicans have never taken responsibility for Obamacare, and they should not start” now: It “offers junk insurance at outrageous premiums”; Democrats want to make the “subsidies permanent because if they disappear, it would reveal” Bamcare’s “excessive premiums.” Dem subsidies would go to “households earning as much as $600,000 at a 10-year-cost of $440 billion. Households earning $200,000 annually could receive subsidies of $12,000.” Democrats are “banking on the stupidity of Republican lawmakers” to go along.
Conservative: GOP Losing Shutdown Showdown
From “populist Republicans who cannot stomach a fight over funding America’s imminently insolvent entitlements to GOP lawmakers who earnestly fret over the prospect of American readiness in a dangerous world, it’s the Republican Party that seems to be losing its nerve” in the shutdown face-off, argues National Review’s Noah Rothman. Yes, GOPpers have “explored avenues that might accentuate the hardship Democratic constituents are experiencing,” but the party “up to and including the president” has failed to put “much pressure on Democrats to abandon their strong-arm tactics.” And Dems “are emboldened by the weakness they’re encountering in their opponents.” “Unless Republicans want to see even more thoughtless pugilism and recalcitrance from the minority party, they had better figure out how to put Democrats back on the defensive.”
From the right: Biden Moves Stiil Hamper ICE
On top of “violent attacks, rioters, angry activists, and others trying to obstruct enforcement,” Trump immigration officials “also have to deal with the obstacles former President Joe Biden left in their path,” grumbles the Washington Examiner’s Byron York. One Biden-era “illegal border-crosser” policy involved “abusing” his “parole” authority. He “granted it en masse to millions of illegal border crossers who just showed up at the US-Mexico border.” That “made it harder” for Team Trump “to remove illegal immigrants who were indiscriminately granted parole.” Other forms of protection from removal included “easy application for asylum” and “Temporary Protection Status.” Yet, though “Biden made the job very difficult for Trump — the president “is getting it done, one way or the other.”
Foreign desk: Sino-Russian Alliance Deepens
News that “Russia’s two largest state-owned enterprises, Rosatom and Gazprom” will “issue yuan-denominated ‘panda’ bonds in China” is Moscow signaling “that it has found an alternative financial anchor in Beijing,” explains Lianli Yang at The Hill. Likewise, “Beijing is signaling its willingness to underwrite a partnership that directly challenges Western power” — while undermining the “efficacy of sanctions” and boosts “the role of the Chinese currency in global markets.” Yuan bonds offer Russia “a means to sustain its war economy” while China gains “a pathway to advance the renminbi as a global currency.” The Sino-Russian alliance is also “a reminder that sanctions alone cannot isolate a country as large as Russia,” if Beijing “is prepared to provide financial shelter.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board