Conservative Review with Daniel Horowitz

How is it possible to get hit by a parked car?  It’s not possible, of course, unless you do it on purpose.  The same applies to Trump and Republicans losing the upcoming budget battle.  In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, we explore the mechanics of the budget battle and how the perfidy and betrayal demonstrates that Republicans don’t share our values.  It is impossible to lose a government shutdown fight when you control all three branches unless you don’t want to win or unless your definition of winning is different from your campaign promises.  Republicans are set to cave on the border wall, refugee resettlement, protecting Trump’s executive order, and Planned Parenthood, as well as the spending levels.  When juxtaposed to what Democrats got in 2009 when they controlled all three branches, it should become evident to anyone willing to listen that Republicans don’t share the values of their base the way Democrats represent their voters. Finally, Daniel discusses the mechanics of the filibuster and how several recent factors have changed the importance of this tool or at least the way it is practiced.      Show links: So much for the ‘Art of the Deal’: Trump and GOP leaders are about to cave on the budget While Trump attacks conservatives, his immigration agenda burns New budget report: America will be Greece unless health care is fixed Tillerson selling out to the Taliban? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, Daniel explains the depth and profundity of the betrayal of conservatives.  There is so much capitulation going on, it’s hard to keep up.  Worse, Republicans are using their operation to smear conservatives and project on them their own faults.  Facts and details of legislation no longer matter.  Lies and deceptions reign supreme.  The core of the problem is that we have now accepted the soft bigotry of low expectations from Republicans.  As long as they do one thing slightly different from Democrats, that is enough to mollify some phony conservatives.  Then they call anyone who upholds the most basic tenets of the GOP platform a purist.  This is how Democrat policies triumph even when they are out of power.  This party is irremediably broken and we need to break outside of the existing paradigm to do more.  Show Links Jared pushing criminal justice deform! Trump delaying move to designate Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group GOP establishment purists already surrendered April budget fight … with control of all 3 branches! At least some Republicans are honest about not wanting to repeal Obamacare Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Freedom Caucus has done a lot more than merely expose this party, the speaker, and the president as frauds on the health care issue.  They have demonstrated that the entire modus operandi of the Republican Party is a sham.  They run on campaign slogans to distinguish themselves from Democrats during elections but never have any intention of actually rolling back the leviathan.  Nonetheless, despite an inarticulate president and a phony party, Daniel explains why conservatives must not give up on Obamacare repeal and what we can do to fuel momentum for free market health care. Furthermore, Daniel explains why “tax reform” is a boondoggle.  It is the wrong issue to focus on and no good will come of it given certain political realities with establishment Republicans.  Trump would be wise to work with conservatives on the budget, immigration, and judicial reform rather than chase unicorn tax policies with Democrats.         Quotes "You can't con people, at least not for long. ... [I]f you don't deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on." President Trump, The Art of the Deal   Show links: RINOcare lesson for Trump: Work with conservatives, not with the swamp   Satire on why Freedom Caucus should apologize Trump tells Manchin he’ll work with Dems on “gun safety” Trump threatens to “work” with Dems on “tax reform” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special broadcast, Daniel celebrates the 100th episode of the Conservative Conscience. We outline a vision of what we are looking to do here – speak the truth, give a broad philosophical vision of conservatism as it relates to very specific information and issues and build a new movement that actually stands for something more than just being ‘slightly to the right’ of Democrats.     Tying in the entire premise of this show, Daniel goes through the news of the day with Obamacare and Neil Gorsuch to show how far to the left conservatives and Republicans have moved in their expectations.  They are simply happy to be one tranche to the right of the ever-drifting Democrat Party, which is why their soft bigotry of low expectations allows them to be happy with anything that “is not Democrat.”  Isn’t it time we stand on the veracity of our own views?    Plus you won’t want to miss all the latest news and inside baseball on the Obamacare repeal (or lack thereof).     To celebrate the 100th episode we’re excited to give away a free 1-year CRTV subscription. You'll get LevinTV, Michelle Malkin Investigates, Louder with Crowder, and The Steve Deace Show… and they're adding new programming all the time. Please tweet about the 100th episode of The Conservative Conscience by Sunday noon using the hashtag #CC100 and make sure you're following CRTV on Twitter.  The winner will be selected next week.   Show links: New York liberals taking over the White House Ezekiel Emanuel advising Trump on health care 15 unanswered questions conservatives have about Gorsuch Gorsuch is not going to save us from judicial hell Tom Price confirms what we knew: Republicans never intended to repeal Obamacare Do we have a country or not? Trump must cancel Obama’s amnesty Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, Daniel is joined by Professor John Cochrane of the Hoover Institute, an expert economist on health care policy.  In a refreshing change from the typical inside-Washington health care discussion, Daniel and the professor actually move beyond the false choice of the existing paradigm and envision what a true free market would look like. Professor Cochrane gives a synopsis of his plan for free markets to deal with pre-existing conditions through the issuance of health-status insurance.  The source of the pre-existing condition problem is government intervention that has boxed out any ability or need for private enterprise to compete for consumer demand.  But if we actually repealed the Obamacare (and some pre-Obamacare) regulations and interventions, we could have health status insurance that would be purchased just like term-life insurance at a very young age to cover any change in health status.  Show notes:  Forget about the Washington-speak of “repeal and replace,” here is a true market approach from Professor Cochrane    Professor Cochrane’s econ blog Health insurance CEO’s want more subsidies, not free market 20 free market health care ideas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we learned what it means to be a conservative soul trapped in the corrosive body of the Republican Party.  What Republicans do is viewed by the public as conservative because of the phony binary choice, but in fact conservatives get blamed for the liberal rhetorical and policy problems with their proposals, which are messaged to the public as conservative!  Nowhere is this more evident than with Obamacare, as Republicans are selling retention of Obamacare as repeal of Obamacare, saddling conservatives with all the liabilities of perceived repeal, but none of the benefits.  In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, we explore how the entire binary fight between the parties is a false flag operation and how we are fighting with the media (and even CBO) over policies that aren’t even conservative.  Further, we explore some very concerning foreign policy news as it relates to Pentagon and State Department personnel and Trump’s newfound love for the PLO and the stupid peace process.  If conservatives don’t demand a course correction soon, this will be the third term of Obama’s foreign policy.     Show links Iran deal architect is now running Tehran policy at the State Department John Kerry apprentice to lead Israeli-Palestinian portfolio at State Department   Trump preventing Israel from building…just like Kerry Caroline Glick: Trump embraces the PLO fantasy   Trump should be working with conservatives on immigration instead of against them on health care CBO confirms: Full repeal of Obamacare is the ONLY way forward Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, Daniel explains how the lies Paul Ryan is telling about Obamacare are reflective of a broader terminal illness within the political system: the idolatry of the binary choice.  Going through the history of primary challenges and budget fights since 2011, Daniel explores how Republicans and their elite allies use conservative talking points in order to get people to buy into their electoral scam, but then renege on them when the inflection point is at hand.  Worse, they criticize those who hold the very line they claimed to support before the moment of truth was upon them.  This episode also explores some of the problems with Trump’s cabinet members hiring liberals for top positions in State, Defense, and DHS while patriotic conservatives within the administration are doing their best to hold the line.     Show links GOP should look up the definition of 'Obamacare' before claiming to repeal it   20 ideas to crush Obamacare and cure America's health care crisis RINOcare: What would Mike Pence of 2003 tell VP Pence? Yes, all of Obamacare can be repealed through budget reconciliation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How quickly Republicans have accepted every premise of government run healthcare.  In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, Daniel goes through the entire timeline of the GOP RINOCare bill as well as each element – the regulations, subsidies, spending, and mandates – to demonstrate how the political and policy outcome of this bill will be worse than Obamacare.   This is not just Obamacare-lite.  It never repeals Obamacare to begin with and the few things it tweaks will exacerbate the existing system.  This bill only helps the big Pharma industry because it guarantees a steady flow of subsidies driven by endless crisis points of fiscal insolvency.     Show links Obamacare 2.0 is a gift to illegals. Oh, and GOP? You LIE. RINO-Care: A more insolvent version of Obamacare … except this time GOP owns it List of 24 Regulations from CRS – almost none of them are repealed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone agrees Trump gave a well-received speech before Congress on Tuesday night.  Now it’s time for him to follow that up with action. In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, Daniel discusses how Trump can use the bully pulpit to promote specific policies on the most important issues, such as immigration, health care, national security, taxes, and regulations.  He must first get everyone in his administration in line with his agenda, formulate specific policies, and then make a series of high profile policy speeches speaking to the morality of those policies in order to browbeat Congress into submission.  That is how Reagan successfully used the bully pulpit.  Specifically, we discuss how Trump can articulate a vision for free market health care and channel his populism into a conservative message that shows how the Left is responsible for destroying innovation in health care.  Daniel speaks passionately about his blueprint for free market health care reform and the need to end venture socialism, whereby the AMA and the lobbyists for the status quo use the boot of government to prevent an Uber or Amazon type revolution in the industry.  Trump would be the best ambassador for such a cause because of his persona as an innovative entrepreneur.  This is how he can get Republicans unified behind one health care plan.    Moreover, this is how Trump can speak over the media.  The more chaos, division, and indecisiveness on policy issues, the more the media will fill the news vacuum with manufactured administration scandals.  But the more Trump publicly, definitively, and passionately speaks to the issues of our time with specific proposals, the more the media will have to wage their war on our territory.  The public is starving for innovative changes from traditional failed policies on so many issues.  It’s time to speak consistently, seriously, and specifically with one voice.    Quotes: “When you believe in something with all your heart and soul it comes very easy.  We don’t have Republicans that believe in principles with their hearts and souls.”  “Trump needs to speak to the morality of free markets the same way he did his immigration policies.  We have a natural right to free market health care. We have the right to pursue happiness and engage in commerce and contracts without government screwing us over.” “In politics you either drive the narrative or get driven by the narrative.  If you are not making a definitive play, you will become a victim of the media’s play.” Show links Trump scored big, using a conventional speech to kick off an unconventional presidency   If airlines worked like health care… Logan Albright: How the AMA is using their government-sponsored monopoly to destroy health care 4 reasons why GOP’s health care plan is really RINO-care What Trump should say to Congress about Obamacare Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first step to solving a given problem is being honest with yourself about the severity of the problem itself.  We can’t become like ‘Baghdad Bob liberals’ and ignore the problems within our comatose movement and pathetic congressional leadership.  Nor can we ignore the problems with Trump himself, even as we praise the good aspects of his first month in office.      In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, Daniel goes through some observations of this past week and from the CPAC gathering to demonstrate why too many conservatives have their heads in the sand about some of the challenges we face.  We are no longer on the campaign trail.  Republicans have control of all branches of government, and although we know many of them, especially in the Senate, are not conservative, that point is lost on the average voter.  Voters will blame all conservatives for the ineptitude of Republicans if they fail to enact a relentlessly positive agenda.  Railing against the media is therapeutic for many of us, but if that’s all we have to offer, we are headed for a disaster.   It's time for an honest discussion about the future of what this party stands for.  We must formulate a hard-hitting agenda (many ideas have already been put forth here at CR), speak to the morality of our views, and channel our passion and outrage to issues of substance in a consistent and intelligent way.  Once we do that, it will be much easier to fight the media on our turf rather than on their terms.    Towards the end, Daniel gives Trump some advice for his upcoming address to Congress and how he should present his immigration and health care policies in a way that will place Democrats on defense.  Rather than have a false debate between progressive nationalism and failed tepid republicanism, why not actually try real constitutional conservatism for once?    The notion that conservatism is dead and in need of reform is built upon a false premise because we have never tried real conservatism in the modern era with the existing challenges confronting this country.  We need a new movement, not new principles. It’s time to build a new movement built upon timeless principles.              Show Links:  Trump’s new national security advisor sounding like a liberal Enough lukewarm hell: 8 steps Trump must take NOW to effect real change Islamists just sawed off a Jew's finger. That's not enough bloodshed for the 'tolerant' Left.     Daniel Horowitz Senior Editor, ConservativeReview Twitter: Daniel Horowitz @ RMConservative Subscribe to The Conservative Conscience Podcast: iTunes | Stitcher | Android | RSS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices