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Hugh Hewitt
Professor Hugh Hewitt is a lawyer, law professor and broadcast journalist whose nationally syndicated radio show is heard in more than 120 cities across the United States every weekday afternoon. Professor Hewitt has been a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News Network, and MSNBC, and has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. Hewitt writes daily for his blog, HughHewitt.com, which is among the most visited political blogs in the U.S. He is also a weekly columnist for The Washington Examiner and Townhall.com.
Writer's WebsiteThree paths forward for the GOP
In early 2015 I scheduled our annual listener cruise for the first two weeks of May 2016. I assumed the GOP nomination process would be over by then.
When the pre-primary debate season seemed to point to an open convention, I told myself I would only be away for the Indiana and West Virginia contests. I’d be back for the weeks running up to the all...
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Brokering a convention, part VI
Cleveland’s Terminal Tower was still beaming off the display of red, white and blue Rock & Roll Convention of an elephant-opposite-a-guitar logo as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan seated themselves in the studios of Lake Effect Media on the 40th floor of Cleveland’s landmark property, next to a third,...
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Brokering a convention, part V
When Texas Sen. Ted Cruz found Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the latter was finishing a bowl of Skyline Chili 5-Way delivered to his suite at Quicken Loans Arena by an Ohio delegate who had wanted the Buckeye State governor to stay loose and relaxed.
“Ted, Ted, come in. See what you missed when you skipped Ohio? Best damn chili in the country. I didn’t have...
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Brokering a convention, part IV
Donald Trump had shrewdly set up headquarters for his team in the Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland’s Tower City, smack in the heart of downtown. Reciprocity among casino owners was as advertised — legendary until it turned lethal — and Trump’s excellent relationships throughout the gaming industry had opened all the doors in the four year old...
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Brokering a convention, Part III
As Sen. Cruz headed into the hallway outside Dan Gilbert’s owner’s suite of Quicken Loans Arena in search of his wife Heidi and campaign manager, Jeff Roe, en route to a meeting with Donald Trump, Spencer Zwick, chairman of America Rising, a super PAC sitting on $200 million, disconnected the second of two rushed calls on his iPhone and turned back...
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Brokering a convention, Part II
Part I of this serialization can be found here.
Wednesday night, July 20, 2016. Cleveland Ohio. Dan Gilbert’s Owner’s Suite 1, Quicken Loans Arena
As the door closed behind Ohio’s governor, Sen. Ted Cruz kept his silence and could hear the Buckeye asking his Ohio State Troopers in their distinctive campaign hats, “Where the hell did you...
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How Republicans can beat Clinton in November
My ritual declarations of neutrality are less and less persuasive to more and more people diving into the scrum that is the GOP presidential nomination process. But it is still the case that my radio show remains open to all three of the GOP candidates still in the field, and all can continue to expect fair but pointed questions, increasingly focused on their...
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The Trump Solution to the Clinton Problem
by Garrett M. Fahy
He is, to quote Steve Martin, rude, crude, and socially unacceptable. He is, thanks to GOP primary voters, also holding the most delegates, 458, he has won the most states (15), and fresh off another dominating performance last Tuesday, when he won 3 of 4 contests, he is favored to win the most delegates before the GOP convention.
To win the...
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Schultz and Wilson: Two serious men for Republicans to emulate
In a week of spectacle and rising rhetoric and temperatures, the image of two quiet men sitting stands out for me.
Former United States Secretary of State George Schultz (also a former Secretary of Treasury and Labor, Director of the Office of Management and Budget) and former California Governor and United States Senator Pete Wilson sat stoically at the funeral...
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Six reasons Trump is still better than Clinton
I spent Friday’s radio show explaining to incredulous guests that of course I’d support Donald Trump if he is the GOP nominee.
“But after he just insulted you and your radio show in front of 15 million people?” came the question.
When I reminded Trump at Thursday’s debate that it was the first anniversary of his promise — made on...
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Why I’m putting away my political crystal ball
Prognostications are part of a political pundit’s job description. If you bat a Ted Williams-level .400 over your career that’s commentator Hall of Fame stuff. But mostly we all get most of the calls wrong. There are just too many moving parts in politics, including even the weather, as when hurricanes like Sandy and Katrina indelibly impacted not...
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No hearings. No votes
Lame duck presidents don’t get to make successful nominations for lifetime appointments in an election year. Not in 2016. Not for the past 80 years.
It is that simple. And it doesn’t matter who the president nominates — even if lightning struck and he nominated an originalist in the mold of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
President Obama certainly...
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Less Is More (Where GOP Candidates Are Concerned)
By Brian Fahy & Garrett Fahy
Let the winnowing begin. The day after Donald Trump dominated the New Hampshire primary by taking 35% of the vote and ten delegates, New Jersey governor and former federal prosecutor Chris Christie and former Hewlett Packard chief Carly Fiorina dropped out. Given their poor showings in New Hampshire, Christie received 7.4% and...
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Who’s up and who’s down in New Hampshire, and beyond
Donald Trump looks certain to win the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night because he didn’t lose the Saturday night debate.
He didn’t win it either. Ohio Gov. John Kasich clearly won by pitching perfectly to the independent vote he has been wooing for months at town halls across the state. Enough to come in second behind Trump? Probably.
Which leaves...
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Hillary’s emails disqualify her from the presidency
How fast does information move through the Iowa caucus electorate?
Hillary Clinton is hoping very, very slowly, because Friday’s bombshell news about 22 of her emails — stored on her private, illegal, compromised, national security-endangering server — turn out to be so sensitive that not one word of any of them will be released to the public.
Hillary...
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Most important issue of 2016: The judiciary
When the new president is sworn in on January 20, 2017, Chief Justice John Roberts, who administers the oath, will be 61.
His colleagues, on that day, will be mostly older. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be 83. Justices Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia will be 80. Justice Stephen Breyer will be 78.
The “in their prime” justices will be Justice...
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