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Growing GOP problem: Powerlessness

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Photo: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images

Republicans are losing power where power matters most at the national level: in politics, media, technology and the workplace.

Why it matters: Republicans often felt mistreated when they had real power in the form of the presidency and Senate. Watch Fox News or listen to Ben Shapiro, and you will see and hear how this new isolation will feed Republican worries and grievances in the months ahead.

  • Tucker Carlson warned on Fox: "Tens of millions of Americans have no chance — they’re about to be crushed by the ascendant left."

Democrats will soon control the White House, Senate and House. They already dominate most mainstream newsrooms, own Big Tech companies, and often band together inside corporations to force politically motivated decisions.

  • Republicans will be left with Mitch McConnell as party leader of a 50-50 Senate, prime time on Fox News and The Wall Street Journal editorial page.
  • Most importantly, the right has the Supreme Court, which might prove to be the one reliable counterbalance, and the majority of power at the state level.

Conservatives long ago lost so many key institutions that define the national conversation, including culture, media and higher education.

  • But since 1980, the party had political power and policy-making capability.

Now, President Trump has cost Republicans those tools, and the party will have to rebuild around new people and ideas.

Subscribe to Axios AM/PM for a daily rundown of what's new and why it matters, directly from Mike Allen.
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Go deeper

Orion Rummler
19 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Sanders says Democrats will push coronavirus relief package through with simple majority

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leaves the Senate floor on Jan. 1. Photo: Liz Lynch/Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), incoming chair of the Senate Budget Committee who caucuses with the Democrats, told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that Democrats plan to push a coronavirus relief package through the chamber with a simple majority vote.

Why it matters: "Budget reconciliation" would allow Democrats to forgo the Senate's 60-vote requirement and could potentially speed-up the next relief package for millions of unemployed Americans. Democrats hold the the 50-50 split in the Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaking vote.

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Margaret Harding McGill, Ashley Gold
24 mins ago - Technology

Tech digs in for long domestic terror fight

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

With domestic extremist networks scrambling to regroup online, experts fear the next attack could come from a radicalized individual — much harder than coordinated mass events for law enforcement and platforms to detect or deter.

The big picture: Companies like Facebook and Twitter stepped up enforcement and their conversations with law enforcement ahead of Inauguration Day. But they'll be tested as the threat rises that impatient lone-wolf attackers will lash out.

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Marisa Fernandez
35 mins ago - Health

The pandemic could be worsening childhood obesity

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

The 10-month long school closures and the coronavirus pandemic are expected to have a big impact on childhood obesity rates.

Why it matters: About one in five children are obese in the U.S. — an all-time high — with worsening obesity rates across income and racial and ethnic groups, data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey show.

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