The Queens Boy Syndrome

Chuck Schumer couldn’t believe his luck – when Trump said he was willing to testify, as fast as Schumer could he said, Come on over to the Senate and we’ll swear you in. A born showman, Donald Trump craves attention. But that need lands him in messes. Once he boasted he drew bigger crowds than…

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Creating a Myth

One can’t help feeling Ned Barnett down at the News and Observer was a little relieved when he read the Duke professor’s report. ‘Only 1 in 4 of Trump’s voters were working class people,’ Ned wrote quoting the professor. ‘The claim that working class voters elected Trump is a myth.’ Unfortunately, there was a bit…

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Contradictions

A frustrated Donald Trump called Jim Comey a no-good liar but, in the next breath said Comey’s testimony proved he hadn’t colluded with the Russians. The words of a liar proved he was innocent, Trump said. Next Trump’s lawyer said he was filing a legal complaint against Comey for leaking ‘privileged information.’ But Trump, himself,…

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Waiting to Know

Each looked into a camera and each said the other was a liar. Comey said Trump, sitting in the Oval Office, asked everyone to leave the room but him then, when the door closed behind the Attorney General, turned to face him and said, I hope you’ll let go of the investigation of Mike Flynn.…

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Georgia 6: The Debate

Karen Handel stood in front of the cameras looking grumpy and, beside her, Jon Ossoff looked pleasant but far too young to be on that stage. He said, You’ve got Super PACs. You’re a politician. She said, You’ve got Super PACs too. You’re Nancy Pelosi’s pawn. He said, I’m Independent. She said, How can you…

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Trump’s (non)voters and Democrats’ (non)message

Two good political reads bust up two big political “truths”: (1) white working class voters elected Trump, and (2) Trump’s negatives will be enough to elect Democrats. Trump’s non(voters) Nicholas Carnes, an assistant professor of public policy at Duke University’s Sanford School, co-authored “It’s time to bust the myth: Most Trump voters were not working…

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Why the polls were wrong

Nate Cohn of The New York Times Upshot column has an eye-opening analysis of why so many state-level polls were wrong about Trump and Clinton last year. More on that later. But bad polls aren’t to blame for Hillary Clinton’s loss. Because her campaign didn’t do polls. That’s the most shattering revelation in a new…

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A Story We May See Again

There’ve been two special elections for Congress and two more are on the way: Last fall, Trump won three of those districts easily but won one — in Georgia — by just two points. The Georgia district is Republican (31%); Democrat (27%); Independent (41%). That’s a four point Republican advantage. But a poll last week…

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The Plague Spreads

Conor pulled out a chair, sat down by Spencer, straightened his tie, and Judge Bryne, sitting across the table, grunted, ‘You’re a walking plague.’ ‘Could you put a little meat on that bone?’  ‘You look at a politician and see a teenage boy and now Spencer’s doing it too.’ ‘Which politician?’ A federal investigator had…

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Plagues

‘You said to watch that documentary – with all that ranting about ‘real nut jobs’ and ‘stone cold losers’ those two guys remind me of a pair of teenage boys.’ Judge Bryne grunted. ‘You mean Roger Stone and Donald Trump?’ The waitress served three breakfast plates. Conor glanced around the table. ‘That show addled my…

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