Posts by Carter Wrenn
Signs of Wisdom
This, Trump posted, is what Burj Khalifa looks like. He showed a photo of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai lit up at night by red, white, and blue lights, like a flag. Knowing the queasiness Trump felt when sheiks flew in grander jets than presidents, Qatar gave him a gift – a new $400…
Read MoreOff-Year Elections
Chariots of Fire won the Best Picture Oscar…Joe Montana and the 49ers won the Super Bowl …Dallas was the top TV show…and, back in 1982, I ran head-on into my first off-year election. By then I’d worked in 3 campaigns – each ended well. In 1982, with Reagan in the White House, we set out…
Read MoreQuite a Day
Trump had quite a day yesterday. Qatar offered a posh new jet to replace Air Force 1 – Trump said it’d be ‘stupid’ to say no. Next Trump said we’d stopped a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. When he’d imposed tariffs, Trump whacked China. Got whacked back. Blinked. Yesterday announced he’d cut a big…
Read MoreA Lovefest
Times change. Years ago, back in 2016, Ann Coulter wrote a book ‘In Trump We Trust.’ Last year, before the election, she said she’d vote for Trump despite the fact she couldn’t trust him. Times changed. Trump’s back in the White House, now, holding cabinet meetings – and they’re odd meetings: One by one the…
Read MoreWithout Bedrock
Bald head, hair shaved on both sides above his ears, skull shining, pedantic, certain he’s right, sitting in a restaurant Steven pointed across the room at the TV set above the bar. ‘There’s your friend John Bolton on TV. Criticizing Trump. You ought to tell him to shut up.’ I glanced at the TV, shrugged…
Read MoreThe Real Problem…
We’re trapped in a twisted time. The latest Fox News’ poll showed Trump dropping – so did half a dozen other polls last week. That wasn’t a shock. But in the next breath a stumble reared its head: The media pointed at practical but paper-thin explanations for Trump’s decline. Years ago, Arthur Finkelstein, an unusual…
Read MoreThe Wrong Fight
A risky move, landing in court, spurred a brawl – but give Trump credit: He’s outsmarting both Democrats and the press. Defying a judge’s order was a silly mistake. Trump could’ve made his case in court, won, and shipped Kilmar Garcia to an El Salvador prison. Instead charging out on a limb he threw ‘due…
Read MoreThis Sounds Screwy…
Trailing by 734 votes, losing his Supreme Court race to Democrat Allison Riggs, Jefferson Griffin headed to court, contesting the election. Nothing wrong with that. Fifty years ago Jack Hawke – who went on to become Republican Party Chairman – ran for Congress, lost by 900 votes, headed to court. Tom Ellis, his lawyer, later…
Read MoreWhat Happens If…
Trump’s fighting on a lot of fronts – look at tariffs: If Trump’s right, as he says, he’s leading us into a ‘Golden Age.’ But if he’s wrong we could land in a recession with the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs echoing in our ears. Here’s another fight: The Constitution says Congress decides how much money gets spent…
Read MoreA Puzzle…
Elon Musk’s charged ahead out to cut spending – then an odd thing happened. Trump put a billionaire friend of Musk’s, who flew in outer space twice on Musk’s SpaceX rockets, in charge of NASA. Musk’s friend’s mission: To land astronauts on Mars. It’s odd. Like watching two boys in high school parading, saying they’re…
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