National Republicans
Blindness
The NAACP called him ignorant. So did the head of the Congressional Black Caucus. Professors from Harvard, Yale and Columbia called him blind and strange. The Washington Post attacked him. And so did CNN. On Social Media he was also called provocative, dangerous and depressing. It all started when a church in Alexandria, Virginia decided…
Read MoreBlindness
The NAACP called him ignorant. So did the head of the Congressional Black Caucus. Professors from Harvard, Yale and Columbia called him blind and strange. The Washington Post attacked him. And so did CNN. On Social Media he was also called provocative, dangerous and depressing. It all started when a church in Alexandria, Virginia decided…
Read MoreBoehner’s Boners
You need a break from Trump, Trump, Trump. So dive into this great (and long) read about what happened to Congress, Washington and the Republican Party over the last 25 years – told through the (famously weepy) eyes of former Speaker John Boehner: “John Boehner Unchained: The former House speaker feels liberated—but he’s also seething…
Read MoreTrying times for Trump
Monday’s indictments brought to mind the predictions a wise lawyer made this summer about the Trump-Russia investigation. First, he predicted, Mueller would investigate the people around Trump. If he found possible crimes, he would indict them and offer them a choice: Help the investigation or go to prison. (Twenty years for Manafort.) Then, the lawyer…
Read MoreNow what?
Two questions arise now that Manafort and an associate have been charged. Will Trump go full Nixon and fire Mueller? If so, will the Republican Congress stand up for the rule of law? All eyes on Burr and Tillis.
Read MoreFlake out
Jeff Flake said it’s time to stand up. Then he said he’ll step down. Bob Corker stood up to Trump, but he’s also stepping down. George W. Bush gave an eloquent speech. But W, Poppy and Low-Energy Jeb are history. John McCain gave a great speech. But he has nothing to lose. For all the…
Read MoreSomebody’s Lyin’
So Bob Corker fired a broadside at Trump calling the White House an “adult day care center” and Trump fired back at Corker calling him ‘Liddle Bob Corker’ but that wasn’t unusual – this was: Next President Trump claimed Corker had begged to endorse him for reelection and, when Trump told him no, Corker had…
Read MoreThe content of his character
Only Trump can turn what should have been a sympathetic call to a fallen soldier’s widow into a week-long (so far), racially charged brouhaha over who said what to who and who can say what to a four-star general. Americans may not be tired of winning yet. But many, even Trump voters, are getting tired…
Read MoreThe anti-democratic (small d) party
Some Republicans have the annoying habit of calling us “the Democrat Party.” It’s an old slur, dating back to the 1940s and 1950s. Maybe “slur” is too strong a word. “Democrat Party” is more an insulting, annoying, derisive epithet. It conjures up “autocrat” or “bureaucrat” or just plain “rat.” When he was Speaker of the…
Read MoreDigging our own grave online
Back in the 1950s, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev boasted that “We will bury you.” Vladimir Putin figured out that if he just gave us the right tools, we’d bury ourselves. A spate of news stories explores how Russian misinformation (fake news) combined with Americans’ own rage and with our addiction to social media to affect…
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