Jill Biden, Postal Service salute Nancy Reagan on her centenary

NEWS AND OPINION:

A round of applause, please, for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute and the U.S. Postal Service, which will reveal a new stamp Monday to honor Nancy Reagan on the 100th anniversary of her birth.

The celebration will take place at the White House.

Among those on hand for the occasion: first lady Jill Biden; Nancy Reagan’s niece Anne Peterson; Reagan Foundation Chairman Frederick Ryan Jr.; and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

“Her own stamp. I’m sure she never expected to receive an honor like this. Neither did she expect to be flying all over the country stuck to the front of envelopes,” said son Ron Reagan Jr.

“She would, of course, have reacted modestly to this wonderful commemoration. But secretly she would be very pleased,” Mr. Reagan said in a statement shared with Inside the Beltway.

Mr. Ryan noted in a statement that “Nancy Reagan made history as a leader, an advocate, a confidant and a partner. Now, she’s making history as the sixth first lady to have her own stamp.”

“She would be proud to join the ranks of only five first ladies to be honored this way — Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt and Lady Bird Johnson,” he said.

And one more Reagan-centric moment of note: The event will be livestreamed at 11 a.m. Eastern time; find it at the Reagan Foundation website, ReaganFoundation.org.

‘IN MY CASE’

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise has some advice about determining the root cause of gun crimes, and on reducing the number of these crimes.

“We need to be focused more on stopping things before they happen. This isn’t something that we’re having a conversation about right now, and it should be. It immediately becomes about Democrats wanting to take away guns,” Mr. Scalise told “Fox News Sunday.”

“Look at the hearing that they had last week in Congress. I mean, you had Democrats cursing out the Second Amendment. You had members saying, ‘Well, if we can’t get this, we’re going to blow up the filibuster and pack the Supreme Court to get around the Second Amendment.’ The Second Amendment is not some guideline. It’s part of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and it’s there for a reason,” the Louisiana Republican continued.

Mr. Scalise also recalled that he and four others were shot by a gunman on June 14, 2017, during a practice session for the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity in Alexandria, Virginia.

“There are a lot of Democrat colleagues of mine who want to take away concealed-carry permits. And again, President Biden himself was talking about going after handguns. There’s a case where a handgun was used to take down the shooter. In my case, it was a cop with a handgun that took down the shooter,” Mr. Scalise said.

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW

The Republican Party continues to use strategic voter polls to engage GOP fans and inspire them to get to the polls when the time comes — a technique employed by the Democratic Party as well.

The GOP is the latest to share just such a voter engagement poll with Inside the Beltway on Sunday — and it consists of 24 questions. Here is a small sample:

Do you oppose non-citizens being allowed to vote?

Are you concerned about the Radical Left’s effect on this country?

Do you believe parents have a right to have input on what their children are taught in public school?

Do you believe Joe Biden and his administration are responsible for the rise in inflation?

Do you miss President Trump?

Do you support building President Trump’s border wall?

Do you want to see a Republican Red Wave in November?

THAT’S THE WAY IT WORKS

In the social media arena, the Twitter hashtag #UnderTrump was very popular Sunday, encouraging critics of former President Donald Trump to recall all the policies, activities and events they hated when Mr. Trump was in office.

The call for action resulted in many thousands of anti-Trump tweets in the last 24 hours. But things can work both ways.

“Lefties’ cute little trend ‘Under Trump’ meant to trash ‘45 was highjacked by the Right and it’s a glorious thing,” advised Twitchy.com, a news organization which points out that the effort was quickly redirected toward criticism of President Biden and praise for Mr. Trump.

“From what we can see, the ‘Under Trump’ trend was some sort of effort to make Trump look worse than Biden. Or something. Who knows?” Twitchy asks.

The resulting pro-Trump tweets were many, including this sample from syndicated radio talk show host Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo: “Under Trump we had fewer regulations, gas was $2 a gallon less, we were not mandated to take a shot or wear a mask, Putin/Iran/China were afraid to get out-of-line. Shall I go on?” he asked.

IVY COVERED HALLS

Some noteworthy numbers: 27 of America’s top 30 universities are raising their tuition and fees for the next academic year, according to a Campus Reform, a student-written news organization which based their analysis on U.S. News & World Report “best university rankings” from 2019 to 2022.

“Vanderbilt University increased its tuition the most in that timeframe. At the start of COVID-19, Vanderbilt charged $52,070. As of the 2022-2023 academic year, tuition at the Tennessee university is up approximately 11.64% from 2019-2020 to $58,130,” the analysis said.

See the complete review of notable tuition hikes at Campusreform.org.

POLL DU JOUR

• 43% of U.S. adults feel things in America today are going “very badly”; 70% of Republicans, 42% of independents and 23% of Democrats agree.

• 33% overall feel things are going “somewhat badly”; 21% of Republicans, 36% of independents and 39% of Democrats agree.

• 18% overall feel things are going “somewhat well”; 6% of Republicans, 19% of independents and 28% of Democrats agree.

• 5% overall say things are going “very well”: 3% of Republicans, 3% of independents and 10% of Democrats agree.

SOURCE: A CBS News poll of 2,021 U.S. adults conducted June 1-3.

• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com.