National Republicans
Reign of Terror
Federal agents – and fear – have descended on North Carolina. I’m old enough to remember when President Kennedy sent federal agents to protect Black Americans from racist cops and masked Klansmen. Trump sends masked agents – why the masks? – to terrorize people who look Hispanic. As Governor Josh Stein said, “This is not…
Read MoreA Rough Week
Sitting in front of the shiny gold filigree on the White House wall, having a rough week after the election, Trump growled Democrats are ‘absolutely crazed.’ Insulting Democrats surprised no one. But it wasn’t the side of Trump folks like either. Setting his jaw, Trump warned Democrats were going to end the filibuster – so…
Read MoreLast Week’s Election
To fit the pieces together let’s look at three voters: Tom’s a Democrat, Dick’s a Republican, Harry’s an Independent – Tom never votes for a Republican; Dick never votes for a Democrat; and every election Harry has to make a choice – but who he chooses wins. Each party has what you could call a…
Read MoreHuman Nature
Years ago my grandfather handed me a photograph of a famous Virginia train wreck – today politics reminds me of a train wreck. It’s easy to blame Trump for that. But the blame runs deeper. In the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament King David lusted after Bathsheba, had her husband sent into battle…
Read MoreHelping Chiselers
Born in China, he moved to Canada, worked at a McDonald’s. Calling himself CZ, he returned to Shanghai, started his own cryptocurrency business. Became a billionaire. He opened Binance U.S., landed in a courtroom – terrorists like Hamas laundered money on his crypto exchange. He paid over $4.3 billion in fines, spent four months in…
Read MoreDemocrats’ Victory Roads
Not only is there a road to Democratic victory, there are roads – plural. For Republicans, there’s only one road: Trump’s way – or the highway. Democrats took many paths to winning Tuesday – from a democratic socialist in New York City (a Muslim) to an ex-Navy officer in New Jersey (a woman) to an…
Read MoreBombs in the Caribbean
The Defense Department turned into the War Department and now every day we’re bombing boats in the Caribbean – killing, Trump says, terrorists and drug smugglers. Senator Rand Paul asked a straightforward question: Show us proof they’re terrorists. Trump ignored him. Paul added a president can’t just, on his own, order the army to kill…
Read MoreHuman Nature at Work
Years rolled by, presidents tried to unite us – often fell short. But at least tried. Trump doesn’t try. A practical New Yorker he understands division tightens his grip on MAGA. So he uses division as a tool. And it works. But division sows seeds: People stop seeing their opponents as fellow Americans. They see…
Read MoreA Trainwreck
The shutdown’s rolling along – voice dry, flat, tedious, Chuck Shumer lays the blame on Trump. Defending himself, hitting back, Trump’s heaping scorn on Schumer. Over at the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem’s been spending taxpayers’ money airing TV ads praising Trump. Using the internet the Department of Agriculture’s spending taxpayers’ money to lay…
Read MoreScumbags
Reagan ran against Ford, then ran against Jimmy Carter, Jesse Helms ran against Jim Hunt: Those were tough hard-fought battles where each side hammered the other but, tough as they were, back in those days no one called his opponent a ‘scumbag.’ Because, if he did, shaking their heads people would vote against him for…
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