National Republicans
Dems Aren’t Dead
Democrats shouldn’t minimize our problems. Nor should we exaggerate them. The New York Times, in an article headlined “Six Months Later, Democrats Are Still Searching for the Path Forward,” said the party’s standing “has plunged to startling new lows — 27 percent approval in a recent NBC News poll, the weakest in surveys dating to…
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…
Read MoreHealing Wounds
Instead of going to college Joe Kent joined the army at 18; a Ranger, Green Beret, did 11 combat tours. Stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia he met Shannon Smith, also a soldier – they married, had two children. Five years later on a street in Syria an Isis terrorist walked toward four soldiers, ignited a…
Read MoreSigns of Wisdom
This, Trump posted, is what Burj Khalifa looks like. He showed a photo of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai lit up at night by red, white, and blue lights, like a flag. Knowing the queasiness Trump felt when sheiks flew in grander jets than presidents, Qatar gave him a gift – a new $400…
Read MoreDonald of Arabia
Trump took an entourage of super-rich Americans to visit super-rich Arabs to do deals that will make them all richer. Back in Washington, congressional Republicans drew up a budget that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will cause more than four million people to lose health insurance and 8.6 million people to lose Medicaid coverage.…
Read MoreOff-Year Elections
Chariots of Fire won the Best Picture Oscar…Joe Montana and the 49ers won the Super Bowl …Dallas was the top TV show…and, back in 1982, I ran head-on into my first off-year election. By then I’d worked in 3 campaigns – each ended well. In 1982, with Reagan in the White House, we set out…
Read MoreQuite a Day
Trump had quite a day yesterday. Qatar offered a posh new jet to replace Air Force 1 – Trump said it’d be ‘stupid’ to say no. Next Trump said we’d stopped a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. When he’d imposed tariffs, Trump whacked China. Got whacked back. Blinked. Yesterday announced he’d cut a big…
Read MoreA Lovefest
Times change. Years ago, back in 2016, Ann Coulter wrote a book ‘In Trump We Trust.’ Last year, before the election, she said she’d vote for Trump despite the fact she couldn’t trust him. Times changed. Trump’s back in the White House, now, holding cabinet meetings – and they’re odd meetings: One by one the…
Read MoreWithout Bedrock
Bald head, hair shaved on both sides above his ears, skull shining, pedantic, certain he’s right, sitting in a restaurant Steven pointed across the room at the TV set above the bar. ‘There’s your friend John Bolton on TV. Criticizing Trump. You ought to tell him to shut up.’ I glanced at the TV, shrugged…
Read MoreThe Real Problem…
We’re trapped in a twisted time. The latest Fox News’ poll showed Trump dropping – so did half a dozen other polls last week. That wasn’t a shock. But in the next breath a stumble reared its head: The media pointed at practical but paper-thin explanations for Trump’s decline. Years ago, Arthur Finkelstein, an unusual…
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