National Republicans
Steve Bannon’s Three Temptations
The main character in Michael Wolff’s book isn’t Donald Trump it’s Steve Bannon: The book begins with Bannon having dinner with Roger Ailes and ends with Bannon standing on the steps in front of the Breitbart townhouse in Washington explaining the next move in his war on ‘The Swamp.’ Bannon’s story twists and turns: A…
Read MoreTrump’s Speech
He couldn’t help doing a bit of boasting and making a slip here and there but in his speech Trump talked about ‘faith and family’ and ‘in God we trust’ and the dignity of ‘hard work’ – then introduced a man from North Korea who crossed China and Southeast Asia on crutches to be free…
Read MoreE Pluribus Uniom?
You’ll need to tell me tomorrow if Trump was “presidential.” I’m not ruining an evening watching him. Surely there’s a quality basketball game on ESPN. Apparently, “presidential” means “reading a Teleprompter without drooling, attacking somebody or grabbing a porn star.” The real State of the Union (“Uniom?”) question is whether Trump and his zealous Javerts…
Read MoreWhat Makes a Wave Election?
What creates a wave election? Two things. Here’s one: In 1988, 1990 and 1992 Congressman David Price, a popular Democratic incumbent in a Democratic district, received over 100,000 votes in each election and won easily. Then, in 1994, a wave election came along that favored Republicans. Democrats didn’t vote and David Price received 76,000 votes…
Read MoreAll politics is Trump
All politics is local, Tip O’Neill used to say. No more. All politics has become national in the last 20, 25 years. Today, all politics is Trump. Trump so dominates the political conversation there’s not enough air to sustain any other topic. His tweets, his unpredictability and his sheer outrageousness overwhelm everything. If Democratic pollsters…
Read MoreChina’s 3500 Year History
The President slipped four more times in an interview with the New York Times – he said: 1) Virtually every Democrat has said there is no collusion. 2) I brought (Luther) Strange up 20 points. 3) I know the details of taxes better than anybody. Better than the greatest C.P.A. 4) ‘President Xi… treated me…
Read More‘I would NEVER…’
President Trump’s single most popular tweet in 2017 (according to ABC News) was: Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me “old” when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’ So did Donald Trump, who’s not known for his subtlety, just make a back-handed insult? Or did he just do what he said…
Read MoreProving Fake News
The headline roared ‘Donald Trump has combined all the worst qualities of our former Presidents’ and the article by Robert Reich sailed across the Internet but how could it possibly be true? Other Presidents owned slaves. One fought in a duel. Could one man combine all the vices of 44 other men? President Trump is…
Read MoreA Brief Love Affair
The Republican Insiders in Congress trooped down to the White House just before Christmas and standing in lines on the steps overlooking the South Lawn pledged their undying love for President Trump. The holidays passed and after New Years both Republicans and Democrats sat down around a table in the White House and pledged they’d…
Read MoreFixing the Slips?
President Trump said over and over that his tax cut is the biggest in history but, then, the press reported the Treasury Department had ranked every tax cut (as a percentage of GDP) since 1940. Was Trump first? No. Was he second? No. Where did he stand? Last. Seventh out of seven. Which leads to…
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