The Swamp: Alive and Well

The other day Mitch McConnell told Chuck Schumer that not one Republican Senator would vote to raise the debt ceiling…then in the next breath told Schumer how to raise the ceiling on his own without a single Republican vote. Schumer shot back: ‘This debt is Trump’s debt. It’s Covid debt. Americans pay their debts.’ To…

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The Deadliest Fruit

Standing on stage at his rally in Ohio Trump bragged, ‘I won by a landslide’ – beside me, watching Trump’s video, my friend nodded. I leaned toward him. ‘Give me one fact that proves Trump won?’ He laughed. ‘Do I think the Democrats would steal an election…yes, in a minute.’ He didn’t need facts –…

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Reality Show Politics

Love him or despise him you have to admit Donald Trump is a larger than life character, a law unto himself; before he became President in 2016 he changed parties five times; launching his first campaign for President – back in 2000 – on CNN he told Larry King, ‘I hate, hate abortion but I’m…

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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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