A daily roundup of the biggest stories in right-wing media.
On Monday, conservatives responded to a New Yorker article about the vice presidency and potential presidency of Mike Pence. A section of the New Yorker piece widely shared on social media described Trump poking fun at Pence’s social conservatism:
At the Resurgent, David Thornton addressed Trump’s comments:
The president … reportedly teased Pence about his pro-life views and his opposition to the gay rights movement. Sources say that in a meeting with a legal scholar who pointed out that states might choose to legalize abortion if Roe v. Wade were overturned, Trump said, “You see? You’ve wasted all this time and energy on it, and it’s not going to end abortion anyway.”
When talk at the same meeting turned to homosexuality, Trump gestured toward Pence. “Don’t ask that guy,” Trump said. “He wants to hang them all!” […]
Although Trump’s mocking comments are what has generated the headlines, Mayer’s main message is that, if Trump is impeached or forced to resign, liberals might like Pence even less. “Democrats should hope Trump stays in office,” said Democrat strategist Harold Ickes, noting that Pence would likely be much more effective at working with Congress and implementing a conservative agenda.
At National Review, Jim Geraghty criticized liberals for speculating that Pence might be a worse president than Trump:
A lot of Trump critics, myself included, thought the Pence pick was about as solid and reassuring a selection as he could possibly make: he was more experienced, more well-versed in policy, more level-headed than Trump and exponentially more consistently conservative. But to a lot of people on the left, Pence’s qualities didn’t matter.
To the Left, despite their belief that Trump is a devilish figure and a major threat to destroy the country, Pence is no real improvement – meaning the Left’s problem with Trump is not that he’s uniquely crude, ill-informed, erratic, narcissistic, misogynist, etcetera; it’s that he’s a Republican.
RedState’s Susan Wright argued that conservatives should continue to view Pence as suspect for agreeing to serve Trump. “Whether Pence be a lackey, or a legitimate threat to Trump,” she wrote, “it’s clear that whatever principles may have helped him get this far, he’s traded them off for a seat on the Trump train and a chance to be close to power.”
In other news:
The Daily Wire’s Jeremy Frankel marked the two-week anniversary of the Las Vegas shooting with a look at the prospects of gun control proposals advanced in the wake of the attack:
[Sen. Chris] Murphy continued to call for Congress to take on the “gun industry.” Another example was from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who, even after admitting on CBS’ Face the Nation that no law would have stopped the mass shooter from obtaining his weapons or murdering those people, is still a long-time advocate for gun control and is now pushing legislation in light of the Vegas massacre — banning bump stocks.
As of Friday, there is a new bipartisan bill in Congress to ban bump stocks, which is a spring-like piece that increases the rate of fire of a semi-automatic rifle. The bill, drafted by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and co-sponsored by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), states that “it shall be unlawful for any person … to manufacture, possess, or transfer any part or combination of parts that is designed to increase the rate of fire of a semi-automatic rifle.” […]
Feinstein admits that the killer wouldn’t have been stopped by any legislation, and anyone can come to the logical conclusion that someone willing to kill will also be willing to break a gun law. But for the Left, it isn’t about stopping mass killers. It is, and always was, about confiscating guns from law-abiding Americans, and eventually gutting the Second Amendment altogether.
Breitbart’s AWR Hawkins wrote about the NRA’s efforts to have the ATF issue more bump stock regulations:
An immediate problem with looking to the ATF is that the agency approved bump stocks for sale as accessories in 2010. The ATF found that the bump stocks did not convert a semiautomatic rifle into an automatic weapon. Rather, they were an accessory that let gun owners mimic automatic fire in short bursts. If the ATF reverses this ruling and equates a stock accessory with a conversion device, then the floodgates are wide open for the ATF to re-evaluate and regulate other similar accessories.
In other words, the ATF route is a slope that is as slippery as the Democrats’ legislative push. Both avenues — legislative and regulative — mean more gun control.
