Weaving Their Way Through Congress

Donald Trump was blunt, saying his Presidency is going to be about taking power away from the Washington Politicians and giving it back to the people. I’d like to say, Amen. But is Donald Trump really a populist crusader? Or is he a pragmatist who simply decided anti-Washington populism was the train to ride to…

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Hard News and the Search for Clicks

I read down the list of headlines on the newspaper’s website until I came to one that read: Trump’s inaugural address echoes anti-Semitic isolationists and a Batman villain. Fact, I wondered. Or opinion? According to the newspaper it was fact. Hard news. When Donald Trump said his inauguration was about taking power away from Washington…

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Trump’s Speech

Donald Trump didn’t mince words: “We are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another,” he said, “we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to the people.” “For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost……

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Four Tribes

A year and a half ago – when the election began – the Democrat Washington Politicians battled the Democratic Outsiders and the Republican Washington Politicians fought the Republican Outsiders. So where are the four tribes now? Hillary’s gone. But both the Democratic Washington Politicians and the Democratic Outsiders are carefully watching Trump waiting for him…

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The Old World

Back in 1789 there was nothing in the federal Treasury worth stealing but Thomas Jefferson wrote John Adams it was only a matter of time: He didn’t see, he said, how the Constitution would stop a scoundrel (or a group of scoundrels) clever enough and ruthless enough to cajole (or buy) 51% of the votes…

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Limited Power

When the election began Millennials trapped in dead-end jobs faced a choice between a Democrat Washington Politician and a Socialist (who could only come from Vermont) and the Millennials chose the Socialist. On the other side of the aisle working class families sitting at kitchen tables in small towns staring at stacks of bills faced…

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A New Wrinkle

‘Sallie told David who told Harry who told Joe that Sergie said’… It sounds like gossip flying around a sewing circle of old women but it wasn’t – it was a story about Donald Trump and the Russians told by a former MI6 agent in a ‘report’ that caught fire (on one website) then rolled…

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Yes they can

I have a simple way of judging a political event. If I know most everybody there, and they’re my age, it’s a flop. If I don’t know many people, and they’re young, it’s a success. Governor Cooper’s Inaugural SnowBall was a huge winner. It was jammed with smart, interesting, idealistic, funny, charming and hard-working young…

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Hope vs Hate

President Obama’s farewell speech drew the lines clearly. His hope versus Trump’s hate. Reason and oratory versus tweets and insults. Building people up versus tearing them down. Bringing us together versus driving us apart. Graceful equanimity in the face of bitter partisan attacks versus a narcissistic imperative to attack any critic, doubter or questioner. Ultimately,…

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The Professor

Looking back the first warning sign was his crowing: For years, the professor wrote, he’d traveled the world. He’d set up elections in strange places like Sudan. Along with his Danish colleague he’d designed the first model – measuring over 50 moving parts of the political process – to determine whether elections were fair. He’d…

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