Posts by Carter Wrenn
Signs
Out to save the world from climate change, crossing a green field carrying canisters, a troupe of English protestors spray painted Stonehenge orange. Smiling, laying down canisters, they sat down on the grass in front of a stone monolith painted orange and had their pictures taken. Silent, towering, Stonehenge stood untouched since before King Arthur,…
Read MoreA Defining Moment
The debate ended. The first commentator on CNN said the question now is will Democrats be able to get Biden to step aside. Face bewildered, vacant, Biden showed voters their biggest fears about him are right. He did so poorly Trump didn’t seem to matter. The debate left even Biden supporters shaking their heads. Biden…
Read MoreDebates
Debates can turn a campaign on its head. My book, The Trail of the Serpent, is going to be published in August. I tell stories about politics from Reagan’s campaign against President Gerald Ford through Trump and Biden. One story is about Jesse Helms’ first debate with Jim Hunt in 1984. In Jesse’s campaign we…
Read MoreVengeance and Forgiveness
Reading about Trump, Biden, politicians, in newspapers is like watching two warring camps – that hate each other. At rallies gripping the podium Trump tells Trumpster’s: ‘I am your retribution’ – forgiveness flies out the window. We’ve walked down this road before. Back in 1865, watching the South collapse, to sow seeds of forgiveness Abraham…
Read MoreThe Pier
Muddled creatures, thinking they hold power in their hands, men learn they don’t. Hamas charged into Israel, slaughtered Israelites – Biden said he backed Israel 100%. Got cheers. Next protests erupted howling as Israel bombed Gaza. Those protestors didn’t represent many voters but, running neck ‘n neck against Trump, losing just a fraction of voters…
Read MoreFox Latest Poll
One day a Fox News pundit said Trump’s lead over Biden, set in stone, ‘won’t budge.’ The next day Fox News released a new poll: Biden led Trump. For the first time since last year. Trump tore into Fox, called its poll: ‘Trash.’ For eight months Trump led Biden in every Fox poll. What changed?…
Read MoreA Rare Thing
Face to face with a brutal choice he asked himself: Was it right for him to replace Biden’s presidential Electors – approved by state legislatures – with Trump Electors (picked by Trump). He knew, under the Constitution, a vice president couldn’t give Trump what he wanted – but he also knew telling Trump no was…
Read MoreThe Governor’s Race: Stein Slams Robinson
I walked into my bedroom, turned on the TV, caught a glimpse of Mark Robinson’s face, turned, his voice roared – stopped me in my tracks. Most political ads are cliches wrapped in flashy graphics, dark music, laced with melodramatic voices – you watch one for five seconds and tune it out. But in Josh…
Read MoreGray Areas
Sighing, a friend told me, The rule of law in America is no more. It’s gone. Sitting across the table another friend nodded, Biden’s using judges to destroy Trump. Biden controls the judiciary. I asked: If that’s so why didn’t he derail his son’s trial in Delaware? The verdicts in Trump’s first two New York…
Read MoreDemagogues
A Democrat before he ran for Senate, in 1946 Joe McCarthy pulled off a rare feat: He beat a 3-term Republican Senator – in a Republican primary. The Soviet Union exploded its first A-bomb. Fear shook America. Standing on a stage in West Virginia, waving a sheet of paper, McCarthy said, ‘I have in my…
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