fighting-words

The Republican primaries in Virginia have become a haven for schoolyard bully tactics as candidates unleash personal attacks on each other in ways and to a degree seldom seen in American politics.

One candidate blazing that trail is Senate hopeful and President Donald Trump’s former state campaign chairman Corey Stewart.

Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson said he questioned the “cognitive thought process” of military veterans in the Democratic Party.

Speaking in an interview on WTMJ-AM, Nicholson, who is running to challenge Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, defended his claim that his service in the Marines is a conservative value.

Update 8:45 a.m. | A spokesman for Rep. Mark Walkertold USA Today that the congressman was stepping down from the group searching for a new House chaplain.

Emotions are running high in the House as members grapple with Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s decision to fire House Chaplain Patrick J. Conroy. And religious tensions started to spill into public view last week before lawmakers departed Washington for a one-week recess.

President Donald Trump unleashed his wrath on Montana Sen. Jon Tester Thursday for leading the charge against Ronny Jackson, the president’s pick to head the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Jackson, who has served as the president’s personal physician since George W. Bush was in office and is a rear admiral in the Navy, withdrew his name from consideration for the VA post amid allegations compiled by Democrats on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that he had been drunk on the job on multiple occasions and had garnered the nickname “Candyman” for his excessive prescribing practices.

Just 13 days before Arizona’s 8th Congressional District holds its special election to send a new member to the House, the Democratic candidate there is warding off political volleys regarding her time as an emergency room doctor.

Hiral Tipirneni, who won the Democratic nomination in February to replace disgraced former Rep. Trent Franks, is under siege by Republican operatives pushing the narrative that she has been dodgy with voters about her medical career.

President Donald Trump on Sunday said Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian leaders were responsible for backing Syrian President Bashar Assad just hours after the Syrian government reportedly carried out a deadly chemical attack on a rebel-held area.

“Big price … to pay,” Trump tweeted, serving up rare public criticism of the Russian leader. But he did not elaborate on what he might do to punish Putin and Iran. His administration has slapped sanctions on Russian individuals and entities, expelled Russian diplomats and intelligence officers, and shuttered a Russian facility in Seattle.

Forget a debate. President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. want to throw down with their fists.

Back in 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr and political rival Alexander Hamilton chose to settle their deep differences in perhaps the most American way, with guns. But Biden and Trump want to face off in an even more old-school way, by throwing hands.

A student from Reno is saying his civil liberties were violated after he was suspended from his high school after calling Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei.

Noah Christiansen called his congressman’s office last week while students across the country walked out of classes in support of gun control, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Incessant phone calls and abusive language prompted Sen. Tom Cotton’s office to mail cease and desist letters to members of the liberal activist group Ozark Indivisible, in October.

One of those constituents, Stacey Lane of Fayetteville, Arkansas, told ArkansasOnline that she received the ultimatum after “an f-bomb or two” during phone conversations with Cotton staffers.