A Poll About Trump

Donald Trump’s spokesman said: The Republican Party is Trump’s Party. I wondered, Truth? Or bluster? Later, talking with John Bolton, catching up, we talked about the same question. That led to a poll – one number leaped out: Trump’s ‘Favorable/Unfavorable’ rating with Republicans. When a candidate’s popularity begins to wane it’s seldom like a titanic…

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The Result: Polarization

I clicked, up popped a long list of newspaper headlines on Twitter: Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans… Transgender athletes banned… Matt Gaetz accused of sex trafficking … Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Rep. David Cicilline, ‘Rep. Mussolini…’ Rep. Cicilline tells Greene ‘get lost…’ Biden stumbles three times… Trump rules the GOP… Howls rolled on. People cheered,…

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At Mar-a-Lago

Trump gave an order: Don’t certify the election results. Mitch McConnell disobeyed. Angry, offended, sitting in a room full of Republican donors at Mar-a-Lago, Trump struck back, called McConnell a ‘dumb son-of-a-bitch.’ The problem isn’t that Trump dislikes McConnell – it’s how Trump went about it: Hurling insults. And, worse, it’s people cheering as he…

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Rolling Downhill

Profound faith: Laying wounded on a gurney staring up at the emergency room ceiling, an assassin’s bullet lodged an inch from his heart, hemorrhaging internally, Ronald Reagan said a prayer for the crazed young man who’d just shot him; later, fighting to win the Cold War, Reagan warned, If we forget we are one nation…

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Gospel Truth? Or Heresy?

To get reelected Trump had to win one war: He had to beat Joe Biden with Independents. He failed. But, as we hear Trumpsters say every day, most Republicans are still blindly loyal to Trump. Gospel truth? Or heresy? Forty-four years ago when I managed Ronald Reagan’s first Presidential campaign in North Carolina we fought…

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Lyin’ Eyes

When I was ten years old walking along a muddy dirt road beside a wide creek at the foot of a hill I glanced down, saw a black tree branch lying in a patch of sunlight in the mud – behind me my gray-haired uncle said, Stop. A snake reared up in the air in…

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The Blessed Silence

I remember a thin, tall, blonde boy, back in high school, who’d set his tray on the table in the cafeteria, start talking – and he couldn’t stop; mocking a girl’s dress, a football player’s stammer, a math teacher’s hairdo he’d talk on and on. Trump likes to talk too. Morning, noon and night he’s…

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Election Nights

In the old days, when we all voted on election day, election nights had a kind of normalcy – votes trickled in, then rolled in, but huge puzzling swings were rare. Then early voting started and unexpected swings began to happen on election nights. For some reason Democrats like voting early while Republicans prefer walking…

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Looking Back at Georgia

Our nightmare came true. Democrats won the Senate. According to the exit polls more Republicans voted in Georgia than Democrats (Republicans: 38%, Democrats 34%) – which meant if the two Republican candidates each got 50% of the Independent vote, they’d each win by four points. They lost Independents 57-43%. Why? Most people walking around on…

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Telling Republicans He Won…

President Trump said he won Pennsylvania – but three Republican federal Circuit Court Judges ruled his Pennsylvania lawsuit had “no merit.” Trump appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court – it told him no. Republican judges in Georgia and Wisconsin said no to pro-Trump lawsuits. Trump turned to the Republican Governors in Arizona and Georgia to…

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