The Atlantic: `Will Elise Stefanik get last laugh?'
NCPR digs into who is hurt in North Country when Department of Education closes
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This past week, The Atlantic magazine posted a story asking the question, "Will Elise Stefanik get the last laugh?"
Russell Berman's piece included this about Stefanik return to the House of Representatives after being appointed U.N. ambassador:
"To Stefanik’s many critics, the turnabout represented a rich comeuppance for one of the Republican Party’s biggest sellouts. During a private Democratic-caucus meeting last week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joked about Stefanik losing her nomination, a person in the room told me. “It couldn’t have happened to a better person, y’all,” Jeffries said about his New York colleague. The party broke out in laughter and applause."
Of course, that is the opposition party, but Berman pointed out, "A onetime moderate, Stefanik had hitched her career to Trump’s, passing on bids for House speaker and statewide office so she could angle for the vice presidency. She had settled for a much lower post, and now she couldn’t even land that. Today she finds herself right back where she started before going all in for Trump—a rank-and-file member of Congress."
Unfortunately, that means representing us and it remains to be seen whether she has any enthusiasm for that mission.
To give you an idea of how far Stefanik believes she has fallen, she said this to Berman: “I’ve been counted out many times in my political career,” she said. “This is just Chapter 1.”
It's an odd thing to say, more reminiscent of a coach trying to motivate his team. I mean, who actually counted her out in her 10-year political career?
Almost every press release reminds voters of her popularity and significance.
She has never lost an election.
So who counted her out.
Berman went on to write, "But for now, her decade-long rise in Republican politics has suddenly stalled. Imagine a student about to head off to college—the car already stuffed with suitcases—only to be told she had to spend another year in high school."
Stefanik countered by telling Berman, “I’m frankly excited for what lies ahead.”
Berman then reported political insiders told him that President Trump "owes her" and that could lead to significant administration job in the future.
Republicans have rallied around her, applauding her for being a team player for the party. Berman says Stefanik is "stockpiling those statements as if they’re rave reviews on a movie poster."
“There has never been more positive support, ever, really, in my career—from Republicans, from donors, from colleagues, from senators,” Stefanik told Berman. “I'm very proud to be one of the president’s top allies, and everyone knows it—even the critics.”
If Trump's first term is any indication, cabinet positions will open in the future.
Some wonder if she might want to take on Kathy Hochul for governor.
“There are tons of opportunities,” Stefanik told Berman. “I have not ruled anything out, nor should I rule anything out.”
But others told Berman Stefanik should be wary.
New York Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat, told Berman, “Donald Trump has no loyalty to anyone or anything, and he will do whatever he wants regardless of the impact it has on other people."
So for now, Stefanik remains All-MAGA as she tries to rebuild her career in the House, but you have to wonder about her commitment in that minor role.
An eagle-eyed reader with some reporting background, pointed out that between March 27 and April 9, Stefanik did not vote 17 consecutive times.
Among the bills she failed to vote on was the "Disaster Related Extension of Deadlines Act" which allowed regular citizens caught up in a disaster to have an extension on filing their income taxes and the "Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act" which requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct studies on the prevalence of bile duct caner in veterans who served in Vietnam.
Politico also reported that Stefanik will rejoin the House Republican leadership "albeit at a lower rung." Stefanik previously had the fourth-ranked position as the GOP conference chair.
Stefanik told Politico in a statement - doesn't anyone talk on the phone anymore? - she is now, “Chairwoman of House Republican Leadership” — where she will “lead House Republicans in implementing President Donald Trump’s mandate from the American people for an America First agenda that includes securing our borders, strengthening our national security, growing our economy, and combating the scourge of antisemitism across our country.”
It sounds like a public relations position for the administration and not something that will help her North Country constituents. Stefanik also told Politico she will be returning to her previous committees on intelligence, armed services and education, although since the Department of Education is being eliminated, it is unclear what the eduication committee will provide oversight to.
Newsmax defamed Dominion
Remember how Fox News had to pay $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems for its defamation lawsuit about the 2020 election being rigged?
Newsmax is the next media organization up.
A judge in Delaware ruled that Newsmax defamed Dominion by falsely accusing it of rigging the 2020 presidential election.
A jury will now have to decide if it was intentional.
That trial is scheduled for April 28.
Who gets hurt?
North Country Public Radio's Amy Feiereisel has contributed more important reporting into who in the North Country gets hurt if the Department of Education is closed by the Trump administration.
Feiereisel reports "the biggest pots of federal funding are to support children with physical and learning disabilities, and for schools that are rural and/or low-income. The North Country has a lot of those.
North Country schools receive anywhere from 2 percent to 8 percent of their budget from the federal government.
"Schools that are identified as high poverty receive title money to support those high poverty students," Lee Kyler, the Elementary School Principal for Elizabethtown’s Boquet Valley Central School District told Feiereisel.
Naturally, these upstate districts voted for heavily for Trump for president.
It's an important story and deserves your attention.
Who will collect taxes?
Substack columnist Robert Hubbell reported this week on President Trump's effort to undermine the ability of the IRS to collect taxes and enforce U.S. tax laws by shuttering the Department of Justice Tax Division.
Hubbell points out that "collecting tax revenue is essential to creating and maintaining the infrastructure that imparts value to their businesses. A thriving economy needs highways, bridges, airports and air traffic control, utility regulations, safety regulations that give consumers confidence in products, courts to adjudicate disputes, and schools to educate a workforce. If the IRS can’t collect money (because it has no enforcement authority), it raises the obvious question, “Why would anyone pay their taxes if no one is going to do anything about non-payment?”
Hubbell then went on to suggest, "One answer to that question is that the IRS can place levies on your bank accounts and wages if it believes you aren’t paying the amounts owed."
A chilling thought.
History under attack
There appears to be a concerted effort by the Trump administration to remove the accomplishments of minorities and women from government websites.
The Washington Post reported that a National Park Service web page about the Underground Railroad and abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman had been deleted, but then reappeared on Monday.
The page had been changed in February by removing photos and quotations from Tubman. The Post reported that new text emphasized that the Underground Railroad “bridged the divides of race” and other differences.
The New York Times reported that materials on Arlington National Cemetery's website "highlighting the graves of Black and female service members have vanished or been obscured. An article on the Defense Department website devoted to Jackie Robinson’s military career disappeared and then reappeared. And another Defense Department page featuring the biography of Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers, a Black Army general who received the Medal of Honor, also disappeared before being restored.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, a Democrat, wrote on X that the president is trying to “whitewash” history.
“Trump is trying to rewrite the history of the Underground Railroad — even diminishing its conductor, MD’s own Harriet Tubman,” Mr. Van Hollen said in a post on X. “The Underground Railroad is an important part of the American story. We cannot let him whitewash it as part of his larger effort to erase our history.”
April Fools Day
This shows you how crazy things have gotten in our country.
I received an email April 1 from theatermania.com after purchasing some Broadway tickets.
The headline read, "Trump! The Musical! to debut at Kennedy Center."
I was naturally aghast, but since Trump had recently made himself the head of the organization, it seemed totally with the realm of possibility.
"President Donald J. Trump and the board of trustees at the Kennedy Center have announced the center’s most ambitious commission to date. Trump! The Musical! will be a bio-musical about the real estate mogul and reality TV star who became America’s 45th and 47th president," the first paragraph read. “It’s going to be just like Hamilton without DEI,” said the president in a press conference. “And you know what?,” he added, “It’s going to be even better than Evita … and with a happier ending. We love a happy ending.”
Knowing it was April 1, I was skeptical of the story and it wasn't until the final paragraph that the folks at theatermania.com admitted it was a joke.
Thank goodness.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
Sedition Stefanik diabolical calculation to become an all out defender anything Trump has backfired. Miss Harvard wasn’t smart enough to know that jumping on the Trump train doesn’t guarantee anything. The Destroyer in Chief expects loyalty but doesn’t reciprocate. If she thinks that the sociopathic narcissist owes her anything , she is delusional.
That being said, what is she going to do now that she is stuck in a job that she truly loathes?
Will she finally take her job seriously and represent the people of NY 21 instead of using us as a stepping stone? A leopard doesn’t chance its spots and neither will Elise.
Stefanik is back on social media with a flurry of her usual acrimonious posts about Gov. Hochul, Democrats and universities. But they are outnumbered by her posts praising herself and Trump. In one post she said she was proud to "lead with moral clarity".
Even though she will be reappointed back on several committees, it was reported this morning that the seats are all filled and for her to be seated, another member will have to step down, Johnson removes them, or Johnson adds an additional seat, which would mean that an additional Democrat seat would have to be added too. There has been no indication that any Republican member is willing to step down to allow Elise to take their seat. Geez, I wonder why?
I wonder how many bridges she burnt with her fellow members when she was nominated to be UN Ambassador? I think she ranks up there with being disliked by many of them such as Gaetz was.