National Republicans
A Show
Addison McDowell worked for Ted Budd, worked as a lobbyist, 31 years old ran for Congress, got Trump’s endorsement in the primary, headed to a runoff with Mark Walker. Trump offered Walker a job – Walker got out of the race. McDowell won, took the oath of office, posted on X he’d sponsored a bill…
Read MoreChaos, Carnage and Cruelty
Trump doesn’t care how much chaos he creates, how much carnage he causes and how much cruelty he inflicts on people, including his own supporters. It’s all about making himself look big, strong and powerful. It’s all a show. Before, it was The Apprentice. Now, it’s The President. He makes a show of signing executive…
Read MoreTwo Pieces
When the smoke cleared – after Jesse Helms’ second campaign – we’d raised more money than anyone had ever raised in a Senate election; at the start of that campaign staring at reams of new election laws, confounded, I’d called Stan Evans head of the American Conservative Union. “I’m going to need a lawyer.” Stan…
Read MoreMish-Mash
Tim Waltz posted a photo of himself standing outside in a snowstorm wearing a flannel shirt – mocking Waltz, Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita posted above the photo, Everyone knows you wear a dress Tim. Above a video of Biden walking to a car, stopping, straining to hear questions shouted by a reporter, Trump’s press…
Read MoreFinding Out
Some Trump supporters are surprised to find out they’re Trump victims. Farmers at the American Farm Bureau convention were “nervous” that Trump’s immigrant deportations will take away their low-wage farmworkers. Police unions that endorsed Trump are “deeply discouraged” that he pardoned January 6th thugs who assaulted police officers. Latino voters who shifted to Trump and…
Read MoreA Day of Reckoning?
Watching a troupe of politicians sitting in line side by side behind an ornate wooden dais holding a hearing reminded me of watching an old play: Lips moved, the words politicians said boiled down to getting re-elected. Trump picked Hegseth, Kennedy, Patel, Bondi – no Republican dared cross Trump, risk a primary with Trump on…
Read MoreBiden Muted
One bleak visual at the inauguration summed up Joe Biden’s presidency: Biden sat silently – seething inwardly, no doubt – through Trump’s graceless, divisive and mean-spirited speech. For four years, Biden sat almost mute in the White House while Trump trashed everything Biden did to build back America after Trump’s first term. Biden thought the…
Read MoreWhat You Missed
Some of my friends didn’t watch Trump’s inauguration. One went to church. One went to every Martin Luther King Day celebration she could find. One went to an inaugural-free lunch with friends out of town. One dedicated the day to intensive study of the NFL and college football playoffs. I watched for them – and…
Read MoreLost Truth
Back in the old days three TV networks – ABC, NBC, CBS – ruled the news; since all three tilted left, a lot of people often wondered, Is that the truth? Tom Ellis saw a cure. A conservative network. So, forty years ago, he, Jesse Helms, and I sent 900,000 people letters asking them to…
Read MoreBiden’s Warning
In his farewell address, President Biden warned that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.” The oligarchy isn’t just “taking shape.” It’s taking power Monday. President Trump’s inauguration will…
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