National Republicans
Surprises
Scratching the Surface Broadcasting live on the radio from Grovers Mill, New Jersey on Halloween night 86 years ago a stunned reporter watched Martians leaving a spacecraft, blasting policemen with heat rays. Panic swept across New Jersey. But he wasn’t a reporter he was an actor reading The War of the Worlds on Orson Wells…
Read MoreVanity
Trump’s on the way back to the White House, the MAGA movement’s more powerful than ever – so is it about to Make America Great Again? Back in 1776 the 13 colonies had next to no power – while Great Britain, an empire, was a superpower. Four days after the Declaration of Independence passed, George…
Read MoreFanning Fires
Back during the election as Trump battled Harris – on TV, across social media, on websites – pundits on both the left and right fanned fires. And hordes of people cheered. Harris lost, Matt Gaetz strode onto the stage, new fires spread. Gaetz got out – fire spreaders locked eyes on Pete Hegseth, talking about…
Read MoreThe Trump Threat
President-elect Trump said two things on Meet the Press Sunday that should set off alarm bells across America: he’ll pardon the January 6 thugs and traitors “on Day One” and the members of Congress who investigated the Capitol attack “should be in jail.” That is dictator talk. Yet, the media treated it as just another…
Read MorePointing Fingers
Back in the old days when an election was over folks leaned back, heaved a sigh of relief. Squabbling stopped. For awhile. This year, after the curtain fell on the election, squabbling rolled on: We’ve got Fox News still bashing Harris and the ‘mainstream’ media punching away at Trump, who just handed them more red…
Read MoreBiden
Joe Biden has been a good President, but missed being great because he wasn’t a great communicator. You can’t be a great politician – and certainly not a great President – if you aren’t a great communicator. Biden’s one term is much like President Jimmy Carter’s. Both did great things, but couldn’t tell the story.…
Read MoreIt’s Easy to Point the Finger…
Turning on the TV, watching the first debate in the 2016 Iowa primary, I stared at a row of candidates standing on stage – they all talked, sounded like smooth-tongued Washington politicians – except one: Donald Trump. Trump beat Hillary. Covid struck. Biden beat Trump. Trump ran again. Biden got out. Trump called Kamala Harris…
Read MorePublished stories from my memoir in The Assembly
John Bolton: “Reagan lost the first five primaries to Gerald Ford in 1976 – then upset Ford in North Carolina. Carter Wrenn ran Reagan’s North Carolina campaign. He tells a compelling story about American politics, from Reagan to Trump.” Stephen Mansfield, New York Times bestselling author: “Our generation is awash in a sea of thin…
Read MoreMandate?
Trump boasts that his election – by 1.5% in the popular vote – gives him a “mandate.” Which reminds me of what Jim Hunt said after one of his four elections as governor. (I forget which one, but I do remember that his margins of victory ranged from 9.5 to 31%.) A reporter asked Hunt,…
Read MoreHad Enough?
There was a moment after Trump won when he could have sowed healing. Brought us together. But Trump’s a fighter. Not a healer. The media didn’t change either. It went from howling to defeat Trump – or Harris – to howling about Matt Gaetz and Trump’s cabinet picks. In a way, that wasn’t surprising: Howls…
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