MINOT, N.D. — Like so many of the things he’s promoted, disgraced former President Donald Trump’s insistance that Republicans vote late, on Election Day, turned out to be stupid. “Vote on Election Day, because it’s harder for them to cheat,” he said at his last pre-election rally in Ohio . “It’s much harder because they don’t know…
Port: Let’s be thankful that the Trump moment seems to be passing
MINOT, N.D. — Thanksgiving isn’t the most fashionable of holidays today, rooted as it is in our nation’s founding mythologies. And, in fairness, the story we were told growing up about pilgrims and Native Americans working together to produce a feast celebrating a sense of comity and fraternity, to the extent it’s even true, is…
Port: Data show the NDGOP has an extremism problem that’s distorting its candidate selection process
MINOT, N.D. — The NDGOP has a big problem with its candidate selection process. The people participating in it are not remotely representative of North Dakota’s electorate. The heated U.S. Senate race, in which MAGA-world darling Rick Becker took on long-time Senate incumbent John Hoeven in a three-way race with Democratic-NPL candidate Katrina Christiansen, exposes…
Port: Let’s dispel some myths about the alleged success of North Dakota’s independent candidates
MINOT, N.D. — The weeks after Election Day is when politicos on the losing side of the vote spin the outcome for various self-serving reasons. Success has a thousand fathers, the saying goes, but failure is an orphan. Nobody likes to be a loser. In North Dakota, much of the spin is around two independent…
Port: Hoeven and Cramer on the wrong side of history, and probably their constituents, on same-sex marriage
MINOT, N.D. — Yesterday a bill to codify same-sex marriage in federal law passed cloture in the United States Senate. Basically, a supermajority vote to end any filibuster of the bill so that it can proceed to a final vote where it will pass or fail based on a simple majority. Both of North Dakota’s…
Plain Talk: Congressman Armstrong on winning re-election, the new Congress, and Trump
MINOT, N.D. — Nationally, Republicans didn’t perform as well in the midterm elections as expected. The “red wave” was more of a “red mist.” North Dakota Republicans bucked that trend, though, and Congressman Kelly Armstrong’s re-election was a part of that. On this episode of Plain Talk, he argued that, despite Republicans not living up…
Port: Republicans must move on from Trump, and Trumpism too
MINOT, N.D. — I began to think that the midterm elections, in which Republicans seemingly had all the momentum before Election Day, would go badly for the GOP when the son of disgraced former President Donald Trump was openly mocking an 82-year-old man who was attacked by a hammer-wielding, would-be assassin. Donald Trump Jr.’s tweet…
Port: With new leaders, North Dakota’s Legislature seemingly sees a power shift, from east to west
MINOT, N.D. — “After last night’s House/Senate leadership elections, it’s official, the power has moved out of the [Red River] valley and into the west.” That’s what one member of the state House, from a legislative district that is not in the Red River Valley on North Dakota’s eastern edge, texted to me this morning.…
Port: Democratic-NPL executive director Tyler Hogan placed on administrative leave due to ‘HR matter’
MINOT, N.D. — According to an email sent to Democratic-NPL party leaders last night, Tyler Hogan, the party’s executive director, has been placed on administrative leave. “This email is to inform you that Tyler Hogan has been placed on administrative leave as of this afternoon. We will be working as a leadership team to resolve…
Port: The NDGOP has eschewed Trump’s excesses, and it’s served them well
MINOT, N.D. — Across the nation, Republicans had a very bad night last Tuesday. They were expected to sweep back into majorities in Senate and the House. They ended up falling short in the Senate, and while there are still some races yet to finish, there is a not-zero chance that they fall short of…