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Jennifer Harper

Jennifer Harper

jharper@washingtontimes.com

Jennifer Harper wrote the daily Inside the Beltway column for The Washington Times.

Articles by Jennifer Harper

A survey finds that voters are not ready to let go of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. About 55 percent are opposed to the idea. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Voters say it’s not time to fire ‘ICE’

Leading Democrats are demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement — ICE — be abolished. The federal agency was created 15 years ago in response to 9/11 and related threats. A new Rasmussen Reports survey, however, finds voters are not ready to put ICE on ice: 55 percent oppose the idea, including 69 percent of Republicans, 53 percent of independents and 44 percent of Democrats. Only 25 percent overall favor shuttering the agency.

July 5, 2018
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Wednesday, June 27, 2018, in Fargo, N.D. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

Donald Trump off to Montana for classic MAGA rally, plenty of protesters

With July Fourth in the rear view mirror, President Trump is back in business mode on Thursday, bound for Great Falls, Montana -- located on the Missouri Rive, population 59,000. The occasion is a classic "Make America Great Again" rally for thousands of Trump fans, and one with specific intent.

July 5, 2018
A Gallup poll reveals that most Americans say the nation's best years are ahead of us, and satisfaction with the country is at a 12-year high. (Chris Light)

Inside the Beltway: Gallup: Satisfaction with America at 12-year high

Stand aside, now. Here's yet another poll to vex news media and Democratic Party, both long convinced that President Trump would be out of office by now. A new Gallup poll finds that a majority of Americans now believe the nation has a brighter future, a sentiment which had dwindled in previous years.

July 4, 2018
President Trump's favorability ratings are rising despite hostile news coverage. Mr. Trump's old school "grit" could be playing a role here. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Trump’s true grit

The news media has ramped up negative coverage of President Trump, seeking to distract Americans from his very real accomplishments. Yet Mr. Trump's popularity continues to rise. Is this due to the president's grit? Could be.

July 3, 2018
Protesters rally in Philadelphia to protest a recent visit to the city by Vice President Mike Pence. One columnist warns of a "soft civil war." (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: America and an emerging ‘soft civil war’

The news media continues to provide shrill coverage of partisan discord, political unrest and the disquieting experiences of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, recently banished from a restaurant, and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, harassed by critics at a restaurant and again at her home. Discussion on both sides is rampant; the hashtag #civility led the national list of trends on Twitter in the last 24 hours.

June 25, 2018
"I would argue that national security is at stake," said Rep. Michael McCaul. "We stop 10 terrorists every day from getting into this country." (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: McCaul: ‘We stop 10 terrorists every day from getting into this country’

The immigration bill could stall on Capitol Hill for all sorts of reasons, some of them predictable, some not. At the moment Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has a specific source of concern over the status of the legislation as debate continues and the wheels of Congress only twitch in response. The Texas Republican says national security is at stake.

June 24, 2018
In this Jan. 16, 2015, file photo, Donald Trump, host of the reality television series "The Celebrity Apprentice," poses for photographers at the NBC 2015 Winter TCA Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Trump’s boardroom table from ‘The Apprentice’ sells for $32,000 at Las Vegas auction

Public fascination with President Trump goes far beyond politics and right into the collectible world. On Saturday, a 300-pound boardroom table that Mr. Trump used during his days as an NBC reality TV star was sold at auction for $32,000. Officials at Julien's Auctions -- which staged the 'Hollywood Icons' auction at the Planet Hollywood resort in Las Vegas -- originally predicted the table would fetch no more than $20,000.

June 24, 2018
Then-reality TV star Donald Trump appears with his famous guests in a publicity photo for NBC's "The Celebrity Apprentice" in 2008. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Inside the Beltway: President Trump, the ‘Hollywood icon’

Public fascination with President Trump goes far beyond politics. He is also a cultural force, and there's not a thing his Democratic rivals can do about that. The public is simply interested in all things Trump, and it works for him.

June 21, 2018