I am putting together a petition that will refuse the unconstitutional protection of President Trump. We the People respect our roots as immigrants, who were at the mercy of people in the foreign lands we hail. Let us honor the Merciful God-Allah that brought us safely to these shores where we could practice Freedom of Religion. It was this freedom we sought above all others, for it was our refusal to give up our religious beliefs that made life difficult in our nation of origin. This is evident in the ‘Cahan Exodus’.
The Rosamond and Witherspoon families came from Ireland, and were Ulster-Scot. John Witherspoon was a Signer of the Constitution. Write Lindsey Graham and bid him to refuse the religious discrimination and persecution that Trump deals out, for it revokes the Higher Law that good men and women are bid to follow.
Demand President Trump, and the Republican Party, draw up a list of people they believe they are protecting with these unjust bans, so those who have no need for that brand of protection, can cross their names off the list! Contact the Irish Senator and have him help establish sister cities in Ireland. We will take back America, one State at a time! We will pay our debt to a Merciful God, who saved us from tyranny.
Let us form ‘The Cahan Covenant’ in America, modeled after the Orange Lodge. With Liberty For All!
The term of a American President, is eight years. The terms for admittance into Eternal Life, must be established by the Peace we make, and the Providence we wish on all. For Jesus said; “I will not leave you as orphans in the world.”
To see those poor souls made orphans in the world while in transit, is America’s ‘Night of Broken Glass’ for the exception, good Americans came to their rescue. The broken windows in this church is a sign of bad things yet to come, for the shards say, that which binds us all, has been forsaken.
Where are the alleged Men of God, the evangelical ministers, who have to know what they are seeing when members of a family grasps one another in airports across America – so they will not get lost! Herod was a great builder. His edict drove the First Family of Christianity into the wilderness. Out of this wilderness, a great religion was born. What else can be the cornerstone of what many claim is our National Religion, then to always keep our door open, and a light burning, for those who have lost their way, after being driven out of Paradise.
Once again, we are at the mercy of ignorant and unruly, brats, who believe throwing stones at those they believe are lesser than you, is admittance into an Order of Men, that is forever dedicated to making men out of boys, so they will not run with the savages.
Trump is not a man. There is no sense of right and wrong in him. Six were killed in a Mosque in Quebec, this day. What, and who, do they protect? Look to the ruins of Berlin after the war, to know, these murders have come to destroy everyone, and everything. For the longest time the First Church was an orphan in the world. Roman rulers did not greet Christians with open arms. Nero used them as human torches.
“In their very deaths they were made the subjects of sport: for they were covered with the hides of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and when the day waned, burned to serve for the evening lights.”
That the President of the United States was not the first to stop this persecution, but the first to propose it, is the outrage of outrages! Trump only backs off when MEN argued with him, and convinced him this was not a great idea! This is not the Leader – anyone wants! He is unfit for office. He is not a builder, but a thrower of rocks! Everything, and everyone, is his target! The Kennedy brothers ended Mafia extortion in our major cities. McCain and Graham paid their dues when they served their country.
Trump attacks religion itself by saying this ban is not about religion. The Red Chinese say the same thing about the wanton destruction of the Tibetan religion that has made the Dali Lama a refugee for the rest of his life. We are not a cold calculating, pragmatic nation that lives for the protection of its borders, only.
“President Donald Trump strongly defended his move to impose a restrictive travel ban on key countries, saying that while America was “a proud nation” of immigrants, his order was strictly about national security and not religion.
Even American atheists understand it is about religion, and a morality that bids us be better people who forever root for the underdog. Jesus was born in a manger, and not a palace. He was poor, and not rich. He ministered to those that were forsaken and disenfranchised. He was sympathetic towards all, but one……..
“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Trump needs to divest, donate his fortune and high towers to the building of refugee camps. He needs……….to repent! He needs to go inside a church and hear the sermon about the Good Samaritan. He has to be stopped from being the king of the bad boys, the Lord of the Flies, knocking out the panes of glass of where we go to worship.
Waiting for a man to become a man – after he has been elected President – is a futile as waiting for a boy to be a king, just because there is a crown on his head. The men who founded this Democracy, were done with that waiting game, two hundred and forty-one years ago!
The Thug just said this, about a man born of Jewish immigrants.
“I noticed Chuck Schumer yesterday with fake tears,” Trump said after meeting with small business leaders at the White House. “I’m going to ask him who is his acting coach.”
This vile utterance would have gotten praise from Hitler who was loathed by his neighbors, so, he sent his goon squad in, and burned down their homes.
This church. That pile of stones. Those words. The light! God’s Providence!.
Jon Presco
‘The Nazarite’
The parable of the Good Samaritan is a didactic story told by Jesus in Luke 10:25–37. It is about a traveler who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. First a priest and then a Levite comes by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan comes by. Samaritans and Jews generally despised each other, but the Samaritan helps the injured man. Jesus is described as telling the parable in response to the question from a lawyer, “And who is my neighbor ?” whom Leviticus Lev 19:18 says should be loved. In response, Jesus tells the parable, the conclusion of which is that the neighbour figure in the parable is the man who shows mercy to the injured man– that is, the Samaritan. He then tells the lawyer to “go and do likewise.”[1] His answer corresponds to his words in the Gospel of Matthew 5:43-48, to love one’s enemy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_providence#Lutheran_theology
Schumer was born in Brooklyn, the son of Selma (née Rosen) and Abraham Schumer.[5] His father ran an exterminating business, and his mother was a homemaker.[6][7] His family is Jewish,[8] and he is a second cousin, once removed, of comedian and actress Amy Schumer.[9][10][11] His ancestors originated from the town of Chortkiv, Galicia, in what is now western Ukraine.
This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country,” Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said in a joint statement. “That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security.”
In typical fashion, Trump brushed them off as weak on immigration and “always looking to start World War III” in a tweet. He ordered the White House, too, to release a statement defending the President’s moves. Two of his top advisers convened a conference call late Sunday to further brief reporters and dispute coverage of the order as a ban on Muslims.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_into_Egypt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch-Irish_Americans
http://www.sciway.net/hist/people/scotch-irish-sc.html
The impetus for the colonization was the combination of exorbitant land rents in Northern Ireland, sometimes provoking violent resistance, and the offer of free land and inexpensive tools and provisions tendered by the colonial government of South Carolina. For instance, each Scottish Covenanter was entitled to 100 acres for himself and 50 acres for his spouse, and an additional 50 acres for each child brought to South Carolina. Faced with this crisis and opportunity, Reverend Martin persuaded his parishioners that they had nothing to lose by leaving Ulster, and before long he was in charge of a small fleet of vessels bound for South Carolina. This story is recounted by Ms. Stephenson from the records of the South Carolina Council Journal and tax lists, passenger lists, church histories, and other sources housed at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
http://magoo.com/hugh/cahans.html
http://www.sciway.net/sc-photos/williamsburg-county/thorntree.html
Cahans Exodus
A group of Seceder Presbyterian families from Ballybay, county Monaghan, Ireland, sailed on the “John,” from Newry, county Down, Ireland, on May 10, 1764, and arrived in New York on July 28, 1764. The emigrants were part of the congregation known as the Ballybay New Erection. They sailed under the leadership of their pastor, Reverend Doctor Thomas Clark. By 1767, the majority of the emigrants had settled on farmland acquired for them by Doctor Clark in New Perth (after 1788, Salem), New York. Others settled in Abbeville, South Carolina. In 1779, Dr. Clark visited the members of his Ballybay congregation who had settled in Abbeville. In 1780, he organized them into the congregation of Cedar Springs and Long Cane in South Carolinas. At the same time, McGoughs began to move to Abbeville from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. (See A Scots-Irish John McGough— A Seattle Connection — Emigration of Presbyterian McGoughs in 1773). In 1782 (or perhaps 1786), Dr. Clark permanently joined the part of his Ballybay congregation that had settled in Abbeville. He died suddenly of an epileptic seizure in Abbeville on December 26, 1792.
This emigration from Ballybay is known as “The Cahans Exodus.” The story is told in At the Ford of the Birches: The History of Ballybay, its People and Vicinity, by James H. Murnane and Peadar Murnane (Murnane Brothers 1999), at page 174–196. The story of the exodus is told on the Internet at The Cahans Project. In his book, Full Circle – A Story of Ballybay Presbyterians (Cahans Publications 1999), the Reverend David Nesbitt devotes Part 2 to Cahans (pages 194–327).
Emigration from Scotland to Ulster after 1690
In the fifteen years after the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, about fifty thousand Presbyterians emigrated form lowland Scotland to Ulster. In the northern half of county Monaghan, Anglo-Irish landlords, such as Lord Blayney, the Leslies in Glasslough, the Dawsons in Dartry, and the Murray/Clermont estate, encouraged these Protestant Scotsmen to become tenants on property they controlled. They offered these Scots settlers their best land on favorable terms and at low rent.
A good summary, in seven parts, on emigration back and forth from Ireland to Scotland is: The Scots, part of The People of Ireland (Appletree Press, currently out of print), on Irelandseye.com.
In 1748, a Presbyterian Seceder Congregation in the Ballybay area, made up almost exclusively of Scots emigrants, petitioned the Seceder Presbytery of Glasgow that the Reverend Doctor Thomas Clark be sent to them as their regular pastor. On June 27, 1749, Doctor Clark was sent to Ireland with a commission from the Associate Presbytery in Glasgow to preach at Ballybay, Clennaneese (near Dungannon), and elsewhere in Ulster. He accepted the offer of the Seceder congregation at Ballybay to become their minister and was ordained by three ministers from the Burgher Presbytery of Glasgow in the field of William McKinley at Cladaugh, near Cahans, on July 23, 1751.
Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party who has served as a United States Senator from South Carolina since 2003 and the senior Senator from South Carolina since 2005.
Born in Central, South Carolina, Graham graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1977. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1981. He served in the United States Air Force from 1982 to 1988 and served as a Guardsman first in the South Carolina Air National Guard then in the Air Force Reserves, attaining the rank of colonel. He worked as a lawyer in private practice before he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1992, serving one term from 1993 to 1995. He then served in the United States House of Representatives, representing South Carolina’s 3rd congressional district from 1995 to 2003. He was elected to four terms, receiving at least 60% of the vote each time.
In 2002, Graham ran for the U.S. Senate after eight-term Republican incumbent Strom Thurmond announced his retirement. Graham won the primary unopposed and defeated Democratic opponent Alex Sanders in the general election. Graham was re-elected to a second term in 2008, defeating Bob Conley. He won a third term in 2014, defeating Democrat Brad Hutto and Independent Thomas Ravenel.
Graham is known in the Senate for his advocacy of a strong national defense, his support of the military, and as an advocate of strong United States leadership in world affairs.[1] He is also known for his willingness to be bipartisan and work with Democrats on issues like global warming, tax reform and immigration reform and his belief that judicial nominees should not be opposed solely on their philosophical positions.[2][3][4][5][6][7] He is also a critic of the Tea Party movement, arguing for a more inclusive Republican Party.[6][8][9][10][11][12]
On May 18, 2015, Graham informally announced his candidacy for President of the United States,[13] followed by a formal announcement on June 21, 2015, in his hometown of Central, South Carolina.[14] On December 21, 2015, Graham ended his campaign for the presidency.[15] Graham later endorsed Jeb Bush for President.[16] After Bush suspended his campaign on February 20, Graham subsequently endorsed Ted Cruz.[17] When it seemed certain that Donald Trump would become the Republican Presidential candidate in early May 2016, Graham announced he would not vote for Trump.[18]
Descendants of Sergeant William (James ??) Rosamond
Generation No. 45.BENJAMIN4 ROSAMOND (JAMES3, JOHN ‘THE HIGHWAYMAN’2, SERGEANT WILLIAM (JAMES ??)1) was born 1785 in Greenwood County, SC, and died May 16, 1859 in Attala, Mississippi.He married (1) SUSANNAH HILL, daughter of JOHN HILL and SUSANNAH.She died 1842.He married (2) JANE ROGERS MAYS 1845 in Greenwood county, SC, daughter of DANIEL ROGERS and SUSAN.She was born Abt. 1806 in Greenwood County, SC. Notes for BENJAMIN ROSAMOND: Benjamin Rosamond, GG Grandfather. Bornca 1785 in Greenwood Co., South Carolina. Benjamin died in Attala County, MSbef 16 May 1859, he was 74. In “Greenwood County Sketches” Benjamin, Susannah and son Thomas are mentioned as members of the Walnut Grove Baptist Church located near Ware Shoals in 1834.Before 1850, Benjamin had remarried to Jane Rogers Mays. Benjamin is mentioned several times in “Abstracts of Old Ninety-Six” and “Abbeville District Wills and Bonds” as witness to wills and deeds. Following his marriage to Jane, Benjamin was made guardian to three Mays children, Abner Mays, Jr., Aletha Mays and Jessee Mays. I believe these are Janes children from her first marriage to Abner Mays, Sr.The children are listed as neices and nephew of Benjamin’s son Thomas and Sarah Mays Rosamond. “Mays Minors, Box 68, Pack 1658 – On Oct 14 1840, Benjamin, John Rosamond, Felix Rogers bound to Moses Taggart Ord., Abbeville Dist sum $2,000. Benjamin Rosamond made guardian of Lethe, Jessy and Abner Mays, minors of Abner Mays, decd. 1841. Rec’d of Mathew Mays, Admn. of S. Whitley, Decd., who was guardian of above children.” According to an article in J.P. Coleman’s “Choctaw County Chronicles” under New Zion Baptist Church, organized December 1842, Benjamin ws one of the first two deacons. Also among the organizers was a Rosander Rosamond (don’t know who he/she is). By 1850 Benjamin had sold his South Carolina property whoich was located somewhere near the Mulberry Creek/Saluda River area. He divided the profit with his sons and was living near his brother Samuel in Atalla County, Mississippi. In the same time period his other brother Thomas and all his sons except Thomas and Joseph were also in Mississippi. In 1850 Benjamin was listed in the Mississippi census as owning 9 slaves and being married to Jane. Census Ed. 126, 495/495. OTHER NOTES ON BENJAMIN’S CHART: In November 1858, James Rosamond (Benjamin’s son James ??) was appointed guardian of Jerusha W. (who is this?) and Tilman J. Rosamond. Then on May 16, 1859, Jane is named as guardian of Tilman J. and Marion F. Rosamond. These are her sons by Benjamin. On this date she gave her annual accounting regarding her sons. On 12/20/ 1858, William T. Wright, referred to as the guardian of Jantha Rosamond (presumably Jantha Mays who was under guardianship of Benjamin and Jane), gave his final accounting. Jantha at this time was married to John F. Temple. Benjamin married Susannah Hill. 5 Susannah Hill. Susannah diedabt 1842 Children of BENJAMIN ROSAMOND and SUSANNAH HILL are:
| 9. | i. | SAMUEL5 ROSAMOND, b. 1815, Abbeyville District, SC. | |
| 10. | ii. | JAMES ROSAMOND, b. Abt. 1808, Abbeyville District, SC. | |
| 11. | iii. | JOHN ROSAMOND, b. 1809. | |
| 12. | iv. | WILLIAM ADDISON ROSAMOND, b. September 17, 1819, Abbeville District, SC; d. November 29, 1900, Weldon, Houston County, Texas. | |
| 13. | v. | THOMAS HENRY ROSAMOND, b. October 19, 1811, Abbeyville District, SC; d. 1886. | |
| 14. | vi. | BENJAMIN ROSAMOND JR., b. Abt. 1814, South Carolina. | |
| 15. | vii. | JOSEPH ROSAMOND, b. 1825, South Carolina; d. 1870. | |
| 16. | viii. | NANCY NARCISSUS ROSAMOND, b. October 20, 1828, Abbeville County, SC; d. June 17, 1921, Chester, Choctaw County, Mississippi. |
Children of BENJAMIN ROSAMOND and JANE MAYS are:
| ix. | MARION FRANCIS5 ROSAMOND. |
| Notes for MARION FRANCIS ROSAMOND: Information from Jimmy Dale Rosamond Nonimus was to me, a half-first cousin, twice removed. The half comes from the fact that his grandfather, and my gg-grandfather, was married twice. This is Benjamin Rosamond who was born in SC. Benjamin first married Susannah Hill and they had seven sons, and I believe two daughters. After Susannah died, Benjamin remarried to the widow Jane Rogers Mays who was about twenty years younger than him. Benjamin and Jane had two sons, one of which was my grandfather Marion Francis (Franklin?) Rosamond. Nonimus was descended from Benjamin and Susannah, I am descended from Benjamin and Jane. Benjamin’s father was James Rosamond, and one of our mysteries is exactly who his wife was. We have numerous theories, but no proof of anything. One record shows that her given name was Lettice, so I used that in my file, but don’t take that as gospel. There are even more unanswered questions regarding James’ father John Rosamond, who we lovingly refer to as “The Highwayman”. You can read about him in the reports so I won’t repeat it all here. John’s parents are really a total mystery, but I included “Sergeant” Rosamond in my file simply because I wanted a way to maintain the data, and family legend has it he was John’s father. A story from my side also involves a murder, although I am still trying to locate court records and such on it. This involved my g-grandfather Marion Francis Rosamond, his first wife Sarah Jane Hodges, and her father who I haven’t been able to pinpoint either. First, I got Sarah Jane Hodges name off my grandfather’s death certificate. That also shows Marion’s middle name as Francis, although his tombstone has Marion Franklin on it. Moving on, the story goes that both Marion and his father-in-law ?? Hodges (who would be my gg-grandfather Hodges) were both medical doctors. Sarah Jane was pregnant with I believe her and Marion’s third child. My grandfather was eight at the time. Sarah Jane was having problems and Marion and Sarah Jane’s father disagreed on the best method of delivering the baby. Marion was called away on an emergency of some sort, and supposedly instructed gg-grandpa Hodges as to what he was to do. Gg-grandpa Hodges must have thought he knew more so he proceeded as he thought best, but unfortunately this resulted in the death of both Sarah Jane and the baby. When g-grandpa Marion returned to find his wife and baby dead, he apparently went into a rage and killed gg-grandpa Hodges. Marion was sentenced to life in prison in Montgomery County, MS based on a record we found in the Library at Kosciusko, MS in Judge Nile’s Diary. The record just says that “… Frank, son of old Ben”, was sentenced to life for killing his father-in-law. This all happened late in 1884. Following this, my grandfather was sent to live with the family that had moved to Houston County, Texas. The patriarch of the clan in Houston County (doesn’t include the city of Houston), was William Addison Rosamond who was an uncle of your Nonimus Rosamond. After serving seven years in jail, Marion was released and went to join his children in Texas. I have a marriage record dated 1892 showing that he remarried a Mrs. B.F. Smith in Houston County shortly after he arrived there. They had several children together (3 if I remember right off the top of my head). Anyway, Houston County, Texas is where my father and the majority of his family and in-laws were born. My mother was born in one of the neighboring counties, but her family also moved into Houston County. All that last part is to explain why I am also County Coordinator of the Houston County TXGenWeb site, one of the other web pages I maintain. The URL for that is http://www.io.com/~dwhite/more.html. Although, I admit that with the computer problems I’ve had lately, I am in dire need of updating both of these. Just so you have a complete list of my web sites, I also maintain a site for my daughter Karina at http://rosamond.ourfamily.com/karina/ , plus a site for a fellow she sings with, Tony Dalton. |
| x. | TILMAN JASPER ROSAMOND. |
6.SAMUEL E.4 ROSAMOND (JAMES3, JOHN ‘THE HIGHWAYMAN’2, SERGEANT WILLIAM (JAMES ??)1) was born 1786 in Abbeville District, SC, and died 1862 in Attala County.He married FRANCES E. ‘FANNIE’ HILL 1812 in Abbeville District, SC, daughter of JOHN SR. and SUSANNAH.She was born 1785 in Abbeville District, SC, and died 1867 in Attala County. Children of SAMUEL ROSAMOND and FRANCES HILL are:
| i. | WILLIAM EDWARD5 ROSAMOND. | ||
| ii. | THOMAS ANDREW ROSAMOND. | ||
| iii. | SUSAN V. ROSAMOND. | ||
| iv. | SAMUEL E ROSAMOND JR.. | ||
| v. | MARY C. ROSAMOND. | ||
| vi. | JAMES A. ROSAMOND. | ||
| vii. | FRANCES L. ROSAMOND. | ||
| viii. | NANCY ANN E. ROSAMOND. |
7.NATHANIEL JONES4 ROSAMOND (JAMES3, JOHN ‘THE HIGHWAYMAN’2, SERGEANT WILLIAM (JAMES ??)1) was born Abt. 1786 in Abbeville District, SC, and died Abt. 1840 in Abbeville District, SC.He married AMY POWELL, daughter of EZEKIEL POWELL and MARGARET ROSAMOND.She was born in Laurens County, South Carolina, and died 1855 in Northport, Alabama. Children of NATHANIEL ROSAMOND and AMY POWELL are:
| i. | WILLIAM CAPERS5 ROSAMOND. | ||
| ii. | MARTHA ROSAMOND. | ||
| iii. | NANCY ROSAMOND. | ||
| iv. | BASCALINE ROSAMOND. | ||
| v. | MARY ROSAMOND. | ||
| vi. | JOSEPH ROSAMOND. |
8.THOMAS A.4 ROSAMOND (JAMES3, JOHN ‘THE HIGHWAYMAN’2, SERGEANT WILLIAM (JAMES ??)1) was born June 05, 1787 in Abbeville District, SC, and died November 30, 1861 in Yalobusha County, MS.He married ELIZABETH A. WILLIAMS 1820 in Kershaw District, SC.She was born April 20, 1805 in Kershaw District, SC, and died April 23, 1857 in Yalobusha County, MS. Children of THOMAS ROSAMOND and ELIZABETH WILLIAMS are:
| i. | REBECCA5 ROSAMOND. | ||
| ii. | WHEELER DUNWOODY ROSAMOND. | ||
| iii. | JAMES A. ROSAMOND. | ||
| iv. | ROSANNA THOM ROSAMOND. | ||
| v. | THOMAS COKE ROSAMOND. | ||
| vi. | MARY ANN ROSAMOND. | ||
| vii. | BENJAMIN ROSAMOND. | ||
| viii. | JOHN ROBERT WILLIAM ROSAMOND MD. | ||
| ix. | GEORGE M. ROSAMOND. | ||
| x. | TILLMAN ROSAMOND. |
For the first time in his presidency, Donald Trump is facing significant criticism from Republican officials and conservative groups who are rattled by his ban on immigrants and refugees from Muslim-majority nations, questioning his domestic policy agenda and worrying about what steps the New York billionaire might take next in the name of nationalism.
By Sunday evening, more than a dozen GOP members of Congress had spoken out against Trump’s executive order on immigration. Among them were an array of the party’s most influential figures. The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said the United States should not implement a religious test. Sen. Rob Portman of Ostahio said the plan to strengthen vetting of refugees was itself not vetted. And the political and policy groups led by Charles and David Koch offered their first public criticism of Trump, whose candidacy the billionaire brothers found so unpalatable they sat out the 2016 election.
The wave of criticism marks the end of a startlingly brief honeymoon period for a new President who has been in office for scarcely a week, and even set the White House on defense as it backtracked on the ban applying to green-card holders. And while much of the blowback was driven by Trump’s immigration orders, the controversial plans he has on the horizon suggest the rest of his term could be just as rocky.
The emerging rifts come amid mass protests in cities around the U.S. against an executive order that would block millions of people from entering the United States. Legal permanent U.S. residents were detained at airports, refugees were trapped en route to the United States and judges from coast to coast stepped in to stop the unprecedented White House action. The chaos knocked the White House back on its heels and prompted Trump on Sunday night to release a defense of the policy.
“This is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting,” Trump said in a statement released by the White House. “This is not about religion—this is about terror and keeping our country safe.”
The sentiment did little to calm skittish conservatives, who have already grown tired of the theatrics and hysterics. From removing the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from the National Security Council, to trolling news organizations on Twitter, the precedent-breaking new President was testing the patience of Republicans who had hoped he might change tactics and tone once he was in the Oval Office.
During a later session at the Koch retreat near Palm Springs, Calif., the co-chairman of the policy and politics network told donors not to expect Trump to get a pass, especially if he goes after specific groups of people or adds red ink to government budgets.
“We have the courage to oppose bad policies that will only harm people’s lives, regardless of who proposes it,” Brian Hooks said. “Remember: A trillion-dollar government stimulus was a bad a idea under Democrats. It’s a bad idea when a Republican proposes it.” Hooks, one of Charles Koch’s top aides, vowed that the Koch network would “hold all politicians accountable, regardless of political party.” Put another way: Stand with Trump at your own risk, lawmakers.
To be sure, the number of Republicans to publicly excoriate the new President is still relatively low. Silence reigned for most of the weekend as protests raged. And there were few signs that Trump was ready to bend in any meaningful way in the face of criticism. If anything, the criticism may only convince Trump to step up attacks on his opponents and the media. His first public comment on Sunday morning, after a day of striking protests, was a broadside at The New York Times.
Yet it is clear Trump will not have an unconditional coalition behind him. Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania called the move “ridiculous.” Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska said the order gives terrorists a win because they can claim the United States just equated all Muslims with jihadists. Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington said many immigrants are “having their lives needlessly disrupted.” Sen. Bob Corker, a finalist to be Trump’s Secretary of State, joined fellow Tennessean Sen. Lamar Alexander in calling for changes to this policy. All are Republicans and come from across the ideological spectrum.
At the same time, conservatives are building blockades on Trump-style fiscal policy. “I really don’t like it,” Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said of Trump’s border tax plan, which could add a 20% tax on good and materials imported from Mexico. (Companies are most likely to pass the cost along to American consumers.) Asked later about Trump’s moves to shut out immigrants from seven countries with Muslim majorities, Lee tried his best to dodge. “I wasn’t aware that I’d lose my First Amendment rights after walking out this door,” he said gamely as as he left reporters behind.
Until now, the prospect of sweeping policy changes under unified Republican government had largely swept aside the tensions between Trump and members of his party. Trump rode a populist wave to victory, and many lawmakers are skittish about being the next target of a tweeted tirade. Some lawmakers are hoping Trump proves pliable on policy, or that he defers to Vice President Mike Pence or White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. Still, there’s an unknowable risk of sitting on the sidelines and hoping things turn out just fine. It’s simply not what’s in the DNA of the outside groups who pushed the party to the right during the Obama administration.
Jason Pye, a spokesman for the conservative advocacy group FreedomWorks, said that there is plenty to like about Trump’s policy agenda, from his early push to gut Obamacare to his pledge to usher in sweeping regulatory reforms. But Pye said he was troubled by plans to shell out billions to build a border wall without corresponding spending cuts, invest up to $1 trillion in infrastructure and impose tariffs while doing little to tackle entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. It’s a far cry from the conservative mantra during the Obama years, when the GOP insisted on offsetting all new discretionary spending—including for emergency disaster relief and unemployment insurance for the needy—with reductions elsewhere. There was no mention of doing the same for Trump’s proposed border wall.
Republicans “spent the last eight years complaining about budget deficits,” Pye says. “It makes us look like hypocrites.” During the Bush administration, he added, “Congressional Republicans abandoned any sort of fiscal restraint they claimed to have. I’m worried that just because the man in the White House has an ‘R’ next to his name that we’re going to do it all over again.”
Other conservative groups echoed the sentiment. The Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity wrote a letter to House Ways and Means chair Kevin Brady complaining that the GOP’s border-adjustment plan amounted to a “whopping tax hike.” Club for Growth spokesman Doug Sachtleben says the proposal is “really a bad idea.” The free-market group opposes some of Trump’s other trade ideas as well. “ We don’t think getting the country involved in the trade war is a good idea,” Sachtleben says. “The notion that you punch first with a tariff threat is just not good for the economy.”
But for now, disagreements on fiscal policy have taken a backseat to the backlash over the immigration ban. Even Trump’s allies struggled to excuse the hastily composed order. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, told reporters at the Koch summit that he appreciated Trump’s intentions to secure borders. But, he added, he had no idea what Trump was thinking when it came to residents who have green cards. “I don’t understand what they’re trying to do,” Chaffetz said.
The rupture in GOP unity, coming so soon after Trump took office on Jan. 20, portends bigger fights to come. Many of the big-ticket items on Trump’s domestic agenda are sure to ruffle feathers among budget hawks. Airports aren’t cheap to rebuild, and bridges, roads and tunnels aren’t free, either. The widespread protests against the immigration moves suggest Trump’s critics are energized, if not organized—and that not all Republicans will blindly have Trump’s back.
“This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country,” Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said in a joint statement. “That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security.”
In typical fashion, Trump brushed them off as weak on immigration and “always looking to start World War III” in a tweet. He ordered the White House, too, to release a statement defending the President’s moves. Two of his top advisers convened a conference call late Sunday to further brief reporters and dispute coverage of the order as a ban on Muslims.
Yet there are signs that patience with the President is wearing thin. Breaking with Trump carries political risks. But some Republicans are beginning to believe that not doing so would be even riskier.
Rosamond Press 
Reblogged this on Rosamond Press and commented:
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.