Issues
Handing an Enemy a Gift
If you’d asked me, Leave Afghanistan? a year ago I’d have nodded, said, Yes. We had tanks, jets, helicopters, drones – and Taliban didn’t – but we botched the war. But it turns out escape was an illusion. It’s an old story. We fight an enemy. We hand our enemy a gift. And the chickens…
Read MoreHave You No Decency?
A mob of protesters howled, ‘Give Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure – you’re racist.’ UNC Trustees wilted. Howls won. That night Bonfire of the Vanities was on television – to get himself elected Mayor a scheming New York district attorney indicted a Wall Street master-of-the-universe (played by Tom Hanks), claiming driving down a backstreet in the Bronx…
Read MoreA Poll About Trump
Donald Trump’s spokesman said: The Republican Party is Trump’s Party. I wondered, Truth? Or bluster? Later, talking with John Bolton, catching up, we talked about the same question. That led to a poll – one number leaped out: Trump’s ‘Favorable/Unfavorable’ rating with Republicans. When a candidate’s popularity begins to wane it’s seldom like a titanic…
Read MoreThe Result: Polarization
I clicked, up popped a long list of newspaper headlines on Twitter: Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans… Transgender athletes banned… Matt Gaetz accused of sex trafficking … Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Rep. David Cicilline, ‘Rep. Mussolini…’ Rep. Cicilline tells Greene ‘get lost…’ Biden stumbles three times… Trump rules the GOP… Howls rolled on. People cheered,…
Read MoreThe Blessed Silence
I remember a thin, tall, blonde boy, back in high school, who’d set his tray on the table in the cafeteria, start talking – and he couldn’t stop; mocking a girl’s dress, a football player’s stammer, a math teacher’s hairdo he’d talk on and on. Trump likes to talk too. Morning, noon and night he’s…
Read MoreElection Nights
In the old days, when we all voted on election day, election nights had a kind of normalcy – votes trickled in, then rolled in, but huge puzzling swings were rare. Then early voting started and unexpected swings began to happen on election nights. For some reason Democrats like voting early while Republicans prefer walking…
Read MoreLooking Back at Georgia
Our nightmare came true. Democrats won the Senate. According to the exit polls more Republicans voted in Georgia than Democrats (Republicans: 38%, Democrats 34%) – which meant if the two Republican candidates each got 50% of the Independent vote, they’d each win by four points. They lost Independents 57-43%. Why? Most people walking around on…
Read MoreTelling Republicans He Won…
President Trump said he won Pennsylvania – but three Republican federal Circuit Court Judges ruled his Pennsylvania lawsuit had “no merit.” Trump appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court – it told him no. Republican judges in Georgia and Wisconsin said no to pro-Trump lawsuits. Trump turned to the Republican Governors in Arizona and Georgia to…
Read MoreAn Ironic Kind of Justice
Trump brags, name-calls, but to his credit he’s candid – what you see is what you get. He’s a rascal but doesn’t dress it up with high sounding talk. Cal Cunningham’s a rascal too but candor’s not among his virtues: He painted a picture of himself as a small-town boy… to trust… who loves North…
Read MoreIs Tillis Losing the ‘Base?’
I got a call from a reporter who’d read a poll: Biden and Cal Cunningham each had 47% of the vote in North Carolina; Trump had 47% (tied with Biden) but Thom Tillis only had 40%, seven points behind Cunningham – the reporter asked, There’re a lot of people, a lot of Republicans, voting for…
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