Free Republic

WASHINGTON—In laying out the checks and balances of democracy, authors of the U.S. Constitution imagined that the president and Congress would wrestle for power when their authority conflicted, each fighting for influence. “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition,” James Madison wrote. President Trump’s ambition has been sweeping and muscular in the first days of his new term, producing less of a transition in government than a takeover. Congress, by contrast, has all but forfeited the match. The result, if Trump’s assertions of power survive the courts, would significantly rebalance power in Washington, centralizing unprecedented authority over federal spending, executive-branch...

WASHINGTON—In naming a set of unconventional nominees to run federal departments, Donald Trump this week also took steps to push for a broader goal: realigning the balance of power among Washington’s major institutions so that more authority flows from the White House. Trump has threatened to take steps that would undermine the Senate’s confirmation powers and Congress’s role in budgeting—the most essential powers of the two chambers. He has insisted that senators allow him to place some nominees directly in their jobs, bypassing the Senate’s public hearings and confirmation process. He has said he would move to impound—or decline to...

While moderate, abortion-friendly Larry Hogan has decided to sacrifice his pretend presidential ambitions to try and defeat Donald Trump, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a quasi-clone of Hogan, isn’t ready to stand down. In a splashy Wall Street Journal article out on Sunday, the newly re-elected governor of the Granite State lays out his case for why a moderate, pro-choice candidate would be the best chance Republicans have at taking back the White House in 2024. After I clean up the coffee I spit on the keyboard, it’s worth a discussion for discussion’s sake. You don’t need to go much...

Republicans succeeded in one of their top goals this year: They brought more of their party’s voters to the polls than did Democrats. But in the course of energizing their core voters, Republicans in many states lost voters in the political center—both independents and many Republicans who are uneasy with elements of the party’s focus under Mr. Trump. Undercutting the GOP advantage was that independents favored Democrats by 4 points nationally, the survey found, and by a far more substantial 18 points in Pennsylvania, 28 points in Georgia and more than 30 points in Arizona.

READING, Pa.—Joseph Nuñez at first didn’t like Donald Trump. “I couldn’t stand the guy. I didn’t like the way he spoke about Hispanics or people in general,” he said. But by 2020, Mr. Nuñez had become a fan of Mr. Trump’s style and priorities, and he voted in favor of giving the president a second term. So did many other Latino voters in this working-class city who had once backed Democrats or, like Mr. Nuñez, had skipped elections altogether. Now, as political strategists continue to sift through the 2020 election results, the emergence of these newly Republican voters is setting...