8 | http://www.nationalreview.com MARCH 23 , 2020THE WEEK
ambassador to Germany. A sadly
typical Trump personnel snarl.
Grenell at least has been effec-
tive in his primary position, and
it is true that double dipping has
a history: James Monroe was
simultaneously secretary of state
and of war during the Madison
administration, but he didn’t
have to cross the Atlantic to tog-
gle between jobs. Ratcliffe, a
three-term congressman, was
floated for the DNI post when
Coats quit, but dropped when
Senate Republicans questioned his credentials; before his brief
time in Congress he was a lawyer and a small-town Texas
mayor. The most important credential of both Grenell and
Ratcliffe is their loyalty to Trump. Fine. But why can’t the pres-
ident find someone for an important slot who is loyal, experi-
enced, and unencumbered by other duties?nThe goat of this year’s CPAC, the annual D.C.-area conserva-
tive bash, was Mitt Romney. When President Trump addressed
the gathering, he twice called Romney a “low-life.” Turning
Point USA founder Charlie Kirk encouraged the crowd to boo
Romney (“Every time his name is mentioned, you should
respond that way”). But American Conservative Union chairman
Matt Schlapp took the prize when he told Greta Van Susteren that
if Romney were to show up—Schlapp having previously
announced that he would not be welcome—“I would actually be
afraid for his physical safety, people are so mad at him.” Did
Schlapp mean to say that CPAC attendees are uncontrollable
louts? Or did he mean that they are mad at Romney, but he
couldn’tthink of any non-loutish way to say so?nPresident Trump’s 2020 campaign sued the New York Timesfor
libel. The suit targets a March 2019 op-ed by former Timesexec-
utive editor Max Frankel, explicitly written as an opinion piece,
placed in the opinion pages. Legally, opinion is not libel.
Political opinion enjoys robust First Amendment protection.
Frankel based a “collusion” argument on the June 2016 Trump
Tower meeting. Because the Mueller probe absolved him of
criminal conspiracy with Russia, Trump suggests that any claim
of collusion is defamatory. But mere collusion is not conspiracy,
which is why there has been so much loose talk about the for-
mer. Frankel did not claim the latter. Trump does not need a
lawsuit to argue that the mainstream media are in the tank for
Democrats. Will the president ever learn that not every point-
less fight is worth fighting?nThe Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals briefly halted Trump’s
“Remain in Mexico” policy, under which Central American
migrants seeking asylum must wait their turn in Mexico—
and then promptly stayed its own order, allowing the policy
to continue for the time being as court challenges proceed.
The policy, the result of a deal with Mexico, has been key to
mitigating the crisis at the border by discouraging those who
seek to abuse the asylum process: Migrants are no longer
released into the country while they await their hearings, and
thus they no longer have an easy opportunity to disappearinto the interior. The rule also appears to be legal, as the exec-
utive branch has the authority to return certain migrants to
territories bordering the U.S., though that question involves
parsing several convoluted passages of U.S. immigration
law. The Supreme Court should settle this matter as soon as
possible; or better yet, Congress should immediately clarify
the statutes to allow this crucial policy to continue.nDemocrats in the Senate have successfully filibustered two
pro-life bills, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
and the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The first
bill would have required doctors to provide medical care to
newborn infants who survive attempted abortions and the sec-
ond would have prohibited abortion after 20 weeks’ gestation.
The votes could expose the extremism of dozens of Democrats
(both bills have majority support among Americans, according
to recent polls), but only if Republicans publicize them. We
know prominent media outlets won’t.nThe Democrat-led House has passed a bill that would ban fla-
vored tobacco and non-tobacco nicotine-vaping products,
including menthol cigarettes. This comes on top of new rules
that prohibit many (but not all) flavorings in the nicotine car-
tridges used in the popular Juul and other similar vaping
devices. Those rules were imposed by the Trump administra-
tion, which nonetheless opposes the House bill, as do some
members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who protest that
the ban on menthol cigarettes places a disproportionate burden
on black smokers, who choose menthol more frequently than do
other smokers. The Trump administration and the Congressional
Black Caucus, together at last. The CBC does have a point:
African Americans would be disproportionally inconvenienced
by the ban on menthol cigarettes. But to the broader point: Why
should any adult be restricted when it comes to choosing, not
whether to smoke or to vape, but which products to choose? The
Trump administration’s rules and the Democratic bill both are
offered as responses to the popularity of vaping among underage
users, but selling these products to minors already is illegal—as,
indeed, is selling these products to some adults: President
Trump already has signed into law a measure prohibiting the
sale of tobacco products to people under 21. That’s Washington
thinking: If one regulation doesn’t work, pile on some obliquely
related ones.nCritics of school vouchers often say that public schools are hurt
when students leave for private schools. Supporters of vouchers
say the opposite: When public schools face competition, they’re
forced to get their act together. A carefully de signed study,
recently released through the National Bureau of Economic
Research, supports the latter view. As Florida’s private-school
scholarship program has expanded over the past two decades,
the study finds, outcomes for public-school students have
improved—with the gains concentrated at the schools most sub-
ject to private competition, and among lower-income kids.
Competition works: Who knew?nWhile digging through Representative Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez’s personal Facebook feed, a reporter at the New York Post
unearthed a 2017 video of the socialist upstart celebrating her
BILL goddaughter’s placement in a New York charter school. “MyCLARK/CQROLLCALLweek - FINAL_QXP-1127940387.qxp 3/4/2020 2:58 PM Page 8
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