Issues

Saying he was going ‘To Make America Great Again’ and waving the banner of ‘Americanism’ Donald Trump set out to whip the Washington Politicians and he did whip every Republican in sight from Jeb Bush to Ted Cruz – but then came eyeball to eyeball with Hillary. Ship sinking, unable to save himself, Trump needs…

The Amish, to their misfortune, have turned out to be a key group of voters in Pennsylvania and Ohio – so PBS journeyed to Amish land to talk with voters who don’t have TVs or radios or computers, and listening to their interviews was like hearing the voices of time travelers from the distant past…

One of the most dreaded beasts in politics slouched into North Carolina a week ago in a Wall Street Journal poll. Contemplating their Hobson’s Choice – between Hillary and Donald –  voters tilled to Hillary who promptly soared to a 9 point lead in the state. But the debacle isn’t Hillary’s growing lead: It’s Roy…

Donald Trump’s been called every name in the book: Braggart, con-man, bully. But no one’s called him a flip-flopper. The Donald speaks his mind and sticks to his guns. Then an odd thing happened. First Trump refused to endorse Paul Ryan, John McCain and Kelly Ayotte – which promptly ignited a firestorm up in Washington.…

Let Hillary pack the Supreme Court, Tom said, and the country’s kaput. And that’s the way he sees it: Voting for Hillary’s wrong. Voting for Trump’s wrong. But voting for Trump is less wrong. But does being less wrong make it right? Every evil, lesser evil or greater evil, Spencer said, comes with a price.…

Political campaigns are odd creatures: There’re born, grow like crazy, live in chaos, then die on a set date. Back in the late 1970’s, Republicans leaped a generation ahead of Democrats in the arts (from fundraising to communicating with voters) of nourishing these strange creatures.   But those days are gone. At their convention in…

Clicking back and forth between Fox News and CNN, watching the Democratic Convention, was like watching two different conventions. From two different worlds. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was roundly booed by Bernie Sanders’ supporters. But, then, Michelle Obama righted the Democrats’ ship with her speech Monday night – and proof of her effectiveness is the non-existent…

It was a rough week. But it’s over. No more opening the morning newspapers to read stories about plagiarism. Or about booing Ted. Or about hour-long political speeches in prime time by Donald Trump.   Orators aren’t born – they learn their art the old-fashioned way. One hard step at a time. And great orators…

We haven’t heard this said before – not during this convention. And not during Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s campaign against one another.    We have heard, from Donald Trump: ‘I will make America great again.’ And ‘I will make great trade deals.’ And we’ve heard how ‘Donald Trump can do the impossible.’ We’ve heard…