Who Will Replace Paul Ryan as Speaker? These Are the Contenders.

House Republicans have been in various stages of chaos — both healthy and unhealthy — ever since retaking control of the chamber in 2010. Speaker John Boehner was constantly trying to cut deals with President Obama, usually giving the President most or all of what he wanted, so Republicans wanted him gone. Boehner resigned in 2015 and is now a high-paid lobbyist, while his lieutenant, former Majority Leader Eric Cantor, was taken out in a shocking primary defeat. Their clearest successor at the time was Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, but he stumbled quickly and took himself out of the running.

How We Should React to Today’s GOP Baseball Shooting

This morning, an anti-Trump gunman from Illinois opened fire on several GOP congressmen and staffers at a baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. The players were preparing for tomorrow’s annual Congressional Baseball Game, a long-running bipartisan tradition to raise money for charity. While the gunman managed to injure several, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, it appears that everyone, with the exception of the gunman, will survive. Because Scalise was present at the practice, Capitol Police happened to be on the scene and were able to stop the gunman after several minutes of gunfire. The reactions to this shooting have been varied from

Are Donald Trump and Republicans Getting Serious About Religious Liberty?

Since beginning his 2016 presidential run last year, Donald Trump has not always appeared to have the strongest grasp on the issue of religious liberty. However, if his recent actions are any indication, that may be quickly changing. Most noteworthy was a statement Trump released last week vowing to defend religious freedom as president and, particularly, to sign the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), backing up a pledge he made last December in a letter to the American Principles Project: Religious liberty is enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution. It is our first liberty and provides the most