JOSEPH FARAH — 1. "Trump has not risen to the mantle of the office." This cheap shot from Mitt Romney actually came in 2019, but I suspect it was a brazen untruth scripted in 2018. Furthermore, I couldn't wait another year for the 2019 list. Romney is clearly gunning for another shot at the big show. This will not help him in the least. All it does is show us there's one more Republican vote in the Senate right-thinking Americans cannot count on.... (more)

PJ MEDIA — The Vatican News website recently paid tribute to Cuba on the 60th anniversary of the Communist revolution in a post that was quickly deleted, according to reports. The Communist island nation marked the occasion with celebrations on News Year's Day, while several leftist Latin American leaders tweeted their best wishes.... (more)

DAILY CALLER — President Trump has often criticized former President Barack Obama for having a "10-foot wall" around his house in Washington, D.C. Trump tweeted recently "President and Mrs. Obama built/has a ten foot Wall around their D.C. mansion/compound. I agree, totally necessary for their safety and security."... (more)

STARS & STRIPES — Army veteran and Florida Rep. Brian Mast tweeted a photo Thursday marking the swearing-in ceremony of fellow wounded veterans and Republican congressmen Jim Baird and Dan Crenshaw. "5 eyes. 5 arms. 4 legs. All American," Mast captioned the image in a post on Twitter. "Welcome to Congress, @ElectJimBaird and @DanCrenshawTX."... (more)

DAILY CALLER — Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw responded to Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday after she posted a video of herself dancing in response to what she said Republicans considered 'scandalous.'... (more)

DAILY CALLER — West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin condemned freshman Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Your World With Neil Cavuto Friday afternoon for her comments about impeaching President Donald Trump.... (more)

REAL CLEAR POLITICS — On Wednesday's 'Fox & Friends,' Trump supporter Dan Bongino responds to Mitt Romney's op-ed arguing that the president's character "falls short" of what it should to lead the nation. Bongino said Romney is a "sell out" and a "fraud" and "the kind of guy who has absolutely decimated the Republican Party."... (more)

DAILY SIGNAL — Former NFL player Burgess Owens said socialism and Marxism are pushing an "anti-white" and "anti-American" agenda that's hurting the black community.... (more)

BRYAN FISCHER — Mitt Romney began attacking Donald Trump before Romney he was even sworn in, in a scathing op-ed in the Washington Post. He hammered the president for character flaws and mistakes in policy, but mostly for character flaws.... (more)

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON — The year 2018 will be deplored by pundits as a bad year of more unpredictable Donald Trump, headlined by wild stock-market gyrations, the melodramas of the Robert Mueller investigation, and the musical-chair tenures of officials in the Trump administration.... (more)

SUSAN FERRECHIO — Democrats used their new control over the House of Representatives late Thursday to pass two bills that would reopen parts of the government that have been shut down for two weeks.... (more)

WASHINGTON TIMES — One House Democrat moved quickly Thursday to flex his party's new majority, introducing articles of impeachment against President Trump. While that's not yet on party leaders' to-do list, another bill announced on the first day of the new Congress that aims to block Mr. Trump from firing special counsel Robert Mueller is likely to see speedy action.... (more)

SUSAN FERRECHIO — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Wednesday said he'll reject legislation proposed by House Democrats to fund nine partially closed government departments without money included for a border wall.... (more)

NATIONAL REVIEW — President Trump said Wednesday that he "essentially" fired former secretary of defense James Mattis due to Mattis's failure to effectively implement the administration's foreign-policy agenda. "What's he done for me? How had he done in Afghanistan? Not too good," Trump said Wednesday during his first cabinet meeting of the new year, according to the White House press-pool report. "As you know, President Obama fired him, and essentially so did I."... (more)

FOX NEWS — A former executive editor of the New York Times says the paper's news pages, the home of its straight-news coverage, have become "unmistakably anti-Trump." Jill Abramson, the veteran journalist who led the newspaper from 2011 to 2014, says the Times has a financial incentive to bash the president and that the imbalance is helping to erode its credibility.... (more)

FOX NEWS — The Associated Press was slammed last week for publishing a "garbage" obituary of Bre Payton, a conservative writer at The Federalist and frequent guest on television news outlets including Fox News Channel. Payton died at age 26 after reportedly contracting the H1N1 flu virus and possibly meningitis. Her sudden death was mourned by figures throughout the news industry, but AP drew sharp criticism for an obit that "wasn't so friendly," according to NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck.... (more)

WORLDNETDAILY — The abortionist who earlier this year boasted she prevents unborn babies from screaming by cutting their vocal cords is stirring controversy again, reports Breitbart News. Responding to a tweet wondering what God thinks of her profession, Utah abortionist Leah Torres said, "God performs way more abortions than I do, so there's that." Last week she tweeted that she had no problem using abortion as "birth prevention."... (more)

POLITICO — In the reinvigorated feud between her uncle, Mitt Romney, and her boss, President Donald Trump, Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has picked a side: the president's. McDaniel was critical of Romney, referring to him in a post to Twitter only as "an incoming Republican freshman senator." Romney, who will be sworn in as a senator from Utah later this week, authored a scathing op-ed published Tuesday by The Washington Post in which he wrote that Trump "has not risen to the mantle" of the presidency.... (more)

PAUL BEDARD — Washington is already taking sides in the battle between President Trump and incoming Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, with Trump ally Sen. Rand Paul slamming the 2012 GOP presidential nominee. Paul, R-Ky., tweeted that Romney is a "Big Government Republican" and a faux conservative, and a top Paul aide said that Trump is delivering on his promises.... (more)

WASHINGTON TIMES — A former federal prosecutor has emerged as special counsel Robert Mueller's most persistent courtroom critic. It's not Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney and now President Trump's ubiquitous defender, or any of cable TV's prosecutors-turned-pundits. He is Eric A. Dubelier, a litigator for the Reed Smith law firm who knows international law and the D.C. playing field. He served eight years prosecuting cases as a Justice Department assistant U.S. attorney in Washington. He refers to his former employer as "the real Justice Department," implying that Mr. Mueller's team is something less.... (more)

SUN SENTINEL — The state commission investigating the Parkland school shooting unanimously approved a tough final report Wednesday that puts the responsibility for reform on school districts, law enforcement agencies, Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis and state legislative leaders.... (more)

WORLDNETDAILY — The United States and Israel have completed their announced departure from UNESCO, the United Nations' Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, over its anti-Israel bias. UNESCO repeatedly has condemned Israel while granting membership to the Palestinians and naming ancient Jewish sites as Palestinian heritage sites. WND reported UNESCO designated the Temple Mount, the likely site of the original Jewish temples during biblical times, with Muslim names.... (more)

MITT ROMNEY — The Trump presidency made a deep descent in December. The departures of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, the appointment of senior persons of lesser experience, the abandonment of allies who fight beside us, and the president's thoughtless claim that America has long been a "sucker" in world affairs all defined his presidency down.... (more)

CLIFF KINCAID — The new leader of the anti-Trump resistance in the Senate, Mitt Romney, will take the oath of office January 3. The former Massachusetts governor and failed GOP presidential candidate represents what could be called the reemergent Rockefeller wing of the GOP.... (more)

ALAN KEYES — During the 2016 election, I doubted the sincerity of some of the positions candidate Trump staked out to ingratiate himself to conservatives disgusted and angry over the GOP leadership's continual betrayals of the principles and policies espoused in the party's platform since the election in 1980 that put Ronald Reagan in the White House.... (more)