National Democrats
An Old Warning
Conor sat down. “A poll in the newspaper says Republicans are 14 points behind Democrats – is that true?” He was asking about the generic ballot question in the poll. Both modern and old-fashioned, after law school Conor returned to his small town, practiced law with his father. Like his father, grandfather, great-grandfather he’s a…
Read MoreTrump + Mamdani
The last time a “fascist” and a “communist” were this chummy, they divided up Poland. This time, President Trump and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani shook up politics. Trump had called Mamdani a “communist lunatic.” The mayor-to-be had called the President a “fascist” and “despot.” But love was in bloom when the two met Friday.…
Read MoreFighting for Freedom
Do any “Freedom Conservatives” in the Republican Party have qualms about masked government agents snatching people off the street and locking them up? The only Republican I’ve heard pipe up is lame-duck Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who said at a Senate hearing yesterday: “I want to make sure that Homeland Security can provide…
Read MoreAn About Face
For months I’ve been wondering about tariffs: Are they good? Bad? Do they make a cup of coffee cost more? Who pays them? Are they taxes? Back in Reagan days almost all my Republican friends said, Yes, absolutely, they’re taxes. But today we’re marching down a different road. Trump says absolutely not, tariffs aren’t taxes.…
Read MoreNothing Noble About It
Allies for years, erupting, Trump called Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘a traitor.’ Greene, looking frazzled, posturing herself, shot back that standing up for women who’d been raped didn’t make her a traitor – said she never expected fighting to release the Epstein files would come to this. Insult hurling rolled on – Trump said Greene was…
Read MoreA Different Sin
I missed that Jeffrey Epstein, in one of his emails, mentioned this Sherlock Holmes story: Back in 1892, a famous racehorse was stolen in the middle of the night and the horse’s trainer was found dead. To Dr. Watson’s surprise, Holmes pointed out a curious fact: The night the man was killed the dog that…
Read MoreBit by the Politics Bug
The four of us – from four political generations – fell into talking about when we first got hooked on politics. The oldest, in his 80s, remembered his father letting him stay up and watch the national conventions in 1952, when Dwight Eisenhower and Robert Taft battled for the Republican nomination and Adlai Stevenson and…
Read MoreA Rough Week
Sitting in front of the shiny gold filigree on the White House wall, having a rough week after the election, Trump growled Democrats are ‘absolutely crazed.’ Insulting Democrats surprised no one. But it wasn’t the side of Trump folks like either. Setting his jaw, Trump warned Democrats were going to end the filibuster – so…
Read MoreLast Week’s Election
To fit the pieces together let’s look at three voters: Tom’s a Democrat, Dick’s a Republican, Harry’s an Independent – Tom never votes for a Republican; Dick never votes for a Democrat; and every election Harry has to make a choice – but who he chooses wins. Each party has what you could call a…
Read MoreHuman Nature
Years ago my grandfather handed me a photograph of a famous Virginia train wreck – today politics reminds me of a train wreck. It’s easy to blame Trump for that. But the blame runs deeper. In the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament King David lusted after Bathsheba, had her husband sent into battle…
Read More