… The past five years have been especially valuable in revealing where power within the Republican Party does and doesn’t reside. Republican members of Congress enjoy substantial internal influence in certain areas: they largely controlled the party’s legislative agenda and shaped much of the policy-making during the tenure of the outgoing administration. But in the realm of rhetoric and communication, of speaking for their party and guiding its members, congressional Republicans are clearly at the mercy of a conservative media apparatus that has successfully seized for itself the ability to define what, and who, is ideologically acceptable in the mind of the Republican electorate. CONTINUED
David A. Hopkins (Boston College), Honest Graft
The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack