Inside the Beltway: Wayne LaPierre: ‘Media has thrown out the rules of journalism’

NEWS AND OPINION:

Along with other conservative stalwarts, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre was summoned to the White House in early February for a strategy session with particular focus on the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. LaPierre was seated right next to President Trump. The significance was not overlooked.

“At that moment, I realized — and perhaps President Trump understood — that each and every member of the NRA was sitting next to him. Each of you deserves that place at the table. In all the years of my working for the cause at the NRA, I have never seen our association given such recognition, such honor by a president,” Mr. LaPierre says in a message issued Tuesday to the organization’s 5 million members.

“I came away from that meeting feeling very much as you do — that with the presidency and majorities in both houses of Congress, we will be working in a much less hostile political world,” Mr. LaPierre continues. “It is not to be. As Trump has begun the arduous task of rebuilding the nation, the good citizens who voted for his vision of a rebirth of American exceptionalism and restoration of individual freedom find ourselves faced with an unprecedented threat. Never before have we seen a change in administration that has been met with such widespread organized hatred. That hatred is amplified by a national media that has thrown out the rules of journalism and has become a part of the mob.”

Mr. LaPierre says this phenomenon is akin to “well-organized political guerrilla forces” and urges his membership “to be at the center of the coming battles to oppose a kind of political sabotage never before seen in our nation’s history.”

It’s a new reality, he notes.

“We are up against a destructive, corrosive movement built around the dangerous lie that ’Trump is an illegitimate president.’ This is something not seen before in our nation — something straight out of a banana republic failed state. At the heart of this revolutionary ’resistance’ are a series of far-left organs — some new, some old, but all united by the election and all bent on taking down Trump, and with him his agenda to restore individual liberty.”

Mr. LaPierre’s complete message appears in “America’s 1st Freedom,” a journal of the National Rifle Association.

GORSUCH: THE REVIEWS ARE IN

Here are three from a trio of news mavens regarding Judge Neil Gorsuch’s U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings before the Senate on Tuesday.

“I think he did a great job this morning. I think the Democrats have done a pretty poor job, but I think the reason they have done a poor job is there’s not a lot to beat this man up on.” (CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.)

“The Democrats have not even bruised, blemished anything to this judge so far.” (CNN anchor John King).

“I think that this has been a slam dunk.” (NBC News anchor Andrea Mitchell).

JOE BIDEN RETURNS

There will be a Joe sighting, and soon: Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden returns to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for an appearance with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats. The occasion: to mark seven years since former President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. Remember that? A jovial Mr. Biden was overhead on an open microphone making a colorful oath about the big moment during a friendly embrace with his boss — the “BFD” moment, as the press delicately put it.

Yes, well. Intrepid C-SPAN will cover Mr. Biden’s appearance at 10 a.m. EDT — and pundits will squawk about it for the rest of the day.

THE FAITH FACTOR

“As has been the case in prior Congresses, the 115th Congress is more Christian than the U.S. population as a whole. The vast majority of the nation’s federal lawmakers (91 percent) describe themselves as Christians, compared with 71 percent of U.S. adults who say the same,” says a new report by Aleksandra Sandstrom, a Pew Research Center analyst who used congressional data compiled by CQ Roll Call.

More than half the states — 28 — have delegations that are composed entirely of Christians, Ms. Sandstrom found.

“Overall, Congress has 30 Jewish members, three Hindus, three Buddhists, one Unitarian Universalist and one religiously unaffiliated member. There are also 10 members of Congress who declined to specify a religious affiliation, and they are not counted as Christians or non-Christians,” she says. “Only one state has no Christians in its congressional delegation — Hawaii’s delegation is made up of two Buddhists, one Hindu and one Jew.”

HIDDEN BENEFITS OF TRUMPCARE

Meticulous analysts at Americans for Tax Reform — a grass-roots coalition of frugal-minded folks — have uncovered some future benefits of the American Health Care Act: Trumpcare actually will shrink federal spending, based on data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget.

“Under the American Health Care Act, by 2021 federal spending on health care as a percentage of gross domestic product is reduced from 6.9 percent to 6.3 percent. As time goes by, the spending reduction gets larger,” the researchers say, noting that by 2027, “total federal spending as a percentage of GDP is reduced from 23.4 percent to 22.4 percent.”

So that’s something.

“In addition to abolishing Obamacare’s taxes, the AHCA reduces the total size of government permanently,” says Grover Norquist, president of the organization.

FOXIFIED

They still seek the grass roots: Fox News Channel will feature a live town hall from Southern Pines, North Carolina. Moderated by Martha MacCallum, the event will focus on President Trump’s performance as he passes the halfway point of his first 100 days in office. Voters from the Tar Heel State will weigh in on health care, tax reform, national security and immigration.

Interesting guests: Ms. MacCallum will be joined by Fox News contributor and former Trump deputy campaign manager David Bossie as well as Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager, Robby Mook. Airtime is 7 p.m. EDT.

POLL DU JOUR

• 51 percent of Americans take a daily vitamin.

• 35 percent stretch or exercise daily; 33 percent wear sunscreen.

• 34 percent say they skip healthy habits because they are “too tired.”

• 28 percent say they are too busy, 26 percent say they’re “too lazy.”

Source: A YouGov poll of 1,293 U.S. adults conducted March 16.

• Polite applause, churlish remarks to jharper@washingtontimes.com