National Democrats
Healing
Cut from two different bolts of cloth, first laying eyes on each other sitting in the Continental Congress, they became friends. Short, bald, plump cheeks, brilliant but irritating, John Adams dove head-on into fights. Tall, lean, copper-colored hair, charming but cautious, Thomas Jefferson avoided fights. An heir of ‘The Enlightenment’ Jefferson put his faith in…
Read MoreAchilles Heel
Last week, opening a poll, turning pages I read about voters in a NC district: Trump’s approval rating was Approve 51%, Disapprove 47% – not bad. But buried between the lines was a subtle hitch: The voters who approved of Trump split into two groups – 70% liked both Trump’s policies and his character. But…
Read MoreCheering the Lesser Sin
Leaning back smiling, a devout Christian, Chris praised Trump for stopping wokeness – I asked how he saw Trump’s religion. He paused, said thoughtfully, Getting wounded probably deepened Trump’s faith but he grew up in New York as a real estate tycoon. He’s got religion. But he’s got a ways to go. He laughed, then…
Read MoreHow Much Power…
Habeas Corpus. What those two Latin words mean is simple: They mean the government can’t throw you in jail without a trial. Unless you’re guilty. That old doctrine that goes all the way back to the Magna Carta. The Founding Fathers wrote it into the Constitution, saying habeas corpus can only be suspended by Congress…
Read MoreHonor
My friend Redge Hanes of Winston-Salem, who served with honor in the Army in Vietnam, wrote this about Trump and Los Angeles: “The National Guard, called out under doubtful and possibly illegal pretenses by the man who occupies the White House, is set to ‘quell’ the protests in LA. Quell is an interesting word when…
Read MoreM-O-N-E-Y
The billionaire head of Amazon paid $40 million to buy the rights to a film about Trump’s wife – Melania Trump stands to make a $28 million profit. Of course, politicians using their power to make money is an old story. For years Joe Biden did it to help his son Hunter make money. But…
Read MoreThe News Lately
Let’s take a look at what’s been in the news. On X, a Trump post included a photo of a billboard with his picture on it beside five words: Trump was right about EVERYTHING. DHHS Secretary Bobby Kennedy issued a report telling us how to improve our healthcare – but there was a problem: The…
Read MoreRecant or You’re Fired
Back in 1988, Floyd Brown’s Citizens United superpac ran an ad attacking Michael Dukakas for pardoning Willie Horton. The ad helped George H. W. Bush but Brown got a lot of heat for it. Fast forward forty-seven years: After Trump took over The Kennedy Center, Brown agreed to go to work at the center raising…
Read MoreTrumps and Bidens
Once-upon-a-time, not all that long ago, there were people in both parties who’d vote against a politician who tried to fool them by telling lies – and there were people in both parties who’d argue with someone on the other side, say, about taxes, and still call him their friend. Those days are all but…
Read MoreWho Is This?
At 16 he was arrested using marijuana. As a teenager he got kicked out of two boarding schools. When he was 29 he got arrested for heroin possession. Driving through upstate New York he saw a dead bear by the side of the road, stopped, loaded the bear in his van, drove on to New…
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