All About Tricia

Why did once-progressive state Rep. Tricia Cotham switch to Donald Trump’s Republican Party? Because she’s just like Trump: Politics is all about her. That comes clear in an insightful article by Kate Kelly and David Perlmutt of The New York Times, “Inside the Party Switch That Blew Up North Carolina Politics.” A friend in Charlotte…

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Rule of Law

Prosecutor Jack Smith proved yesterday that, in a world of coups and dictators, America is still a nation of law and justice. A grand jury of ordinary Americans indicted Donald Trump for trying, as President, to overturn the 2020 election. Trump will keep defying the rule of law. He will keep lying. Some 37% of…

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The Truth

Carter Wrenn and I don’t argue a lot, even though we disagree often. But I’m taking issue with him today. He wrote last week, “… it’s time to put politics aside and look for an honest answer to the question: Who stole the election? Biden? Or Trump?” No, we know the answer. Trump’s lawyers took…

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Young Voices

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is closer to my age than to young voters, but he gets why Democrats should listen to them – and understand their life experiences. On our Zoom conversation last week with state Democratic Chair Anderson Clayton, Fontes said: “I didn’t grow up in a world where I had to…

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Go Young, Democrats

Last week, I moderated a Zoom conversation that turned to Democrats’ huge opportunity with voters under 35 – the later Millennials and Generation Z. I’m a Gen Geezer, and my generation should listen up. The conversation was with state party Chair Anderson Clayton and Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who last month gave the…

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Wolfpack Howled, Too

A fellow N.C. State alum emailed that it wasn’t just UNC students who protested the infamous Speaker Ban Law in the 1960s – a precursor to today’s legislature squelching free speech at our universities. My blog “Free Speech Under Attack – Again” (link below) was inspired by Hugh Stevens’ story of how the Speaker Ban…

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Trump’s Delusion

There’s no reasoning with Trump and MAGA, but there’s a good reason President Biden isn’t “weaponizing” the Justice Department to knock Trump out of the 2024 race: Trump is the Republican Biden is most likely to beat. As 2016 showed, there are no certainties in politics. Trump could win and execute his plan to vastly…

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Big Mark and Big Pharma

When it comes to Big Pharma, Lt. Governor Mark Robinson goes from roaring lion to purring pussycat. The Republican candidate for governor told the New Hanover County GOP, “I don’t intend to do like our current attorney general did and sue the drug company.” Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democratic candidate for governor, did sue…

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Not This Kennedy

A recent poll showed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. getting 20% of the Democratic vote against President Biden. I’ll wager that most all of the 20% who picked Kennedy know just one thing about him: He’s a “Kennedy.” They don’t know – yet – that he’s an anti-vaccine, anti-science, conspiracy-spewing misogynist who said recently, “I’m proud…

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Free Speech Under Attack – Again

Sixty years later, history has hit “repeat” on the fight for free speech at North Carolina’s public universities. In 1963, it was one bill – the infamous Speaker Ban law – passed on one day at the end of the legislative session. Now, it’s bill after bill, step after step, day after day: the legislature,…

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