National Republicans
Svengali or Bumbler?
Was Michael Flynn Svengali? Donald Trump’s back door conduit to the Russians? To get them to help him defeat Hillary? And if Flynn was Svengali does he now know – as David Axelrod has hinted – Trump’s worst secret? Is he whispering to Trump, Protect me or I’ll tell all? Does that explain Trump’s stubborn…
Read MoreTrump’s (non)voters and Democrats’ (non)message
Two good political reads bust up two big political “truths”: (1) white working class voters elected Trump, and (2) Trump’s negatives will be enough to elect Democrats. Trump’s non(voters) Nicholas Carnes, an assistant professor of public policy at Duke University’s Sanford School, co-authored “It’s time to bust the myth: Most Trump voters were not working…
Read MoreIt’s Not an Earthquake
It’s easy to agree with Donald Trump on trade and spending cuts but then his lips move and the same man who said, I get bigger crowds than Beyoncé, and, Trump University gets an ‘A’ rating from the Better Business Bureau, says, The FBI investigation is a witch hunt. Without honesty trust withers and without…
Read MoreHold your horses
As my old friend J.P. used to say, “People even got tired of The Andy Griffith Show eventually.” So it is with the Trump Presidency. Understandably, Democrats want him out of the White House. Now! Today! His recklessness and willful ignorance are frightening. But the more Democrats rail and rant and rave, the more Trump’s…
Read MoreA Novel Kind of Diplomacy
The President rapped the Germans, Angela Merkel rapped back, and the President unsheathed a new type of diplomacy – he tweeted. NATO’s the key to the West’s alliance against Russia, and Germany – after the United States – is the biggest nation in NATO and the President’s having a twitter spat with the Germans. It’s…
Read MoreWhy the polls were wrong
Nate Cohn of The New York Times Upshot column has an eye-opening analysis of why so many state-level polls were wrong about Trump and Clinton last year. More on that later. But bad polls aren’t to blame for Hillary Clinton’s loss. Because her campaign didn’t do polls. That’s the most shattering revelation in a new…
Read MoreA Story We May See Again
There’ve been two special elections for Congress and two more are on the way: Last fall, Trump won three of those districts easily but won one — in Georgia — by just two points. The Georgia district is Republican (31%); Democrat (27%); Independent (41%). That’s a four point Republican advantage. But a poll last week…
Read MoreThe Plague Spreads
Conor pulled out a chair, sat down by Spencer, straightened his tie, and Judge Bryne, sitting across the table, grunted, ‘You’re a walking plague.’ ‘Could you put a little meat on that bone?’ ‘You look at a politician and see a teenage boy and now Spencer’s doing it too.’ ‘Which politician?’ A federal investigator had…
Read MorePlagues
‘You said to watch that documentary – with all that ranting about ‘real nut jobs’ and ‘stone cold losers’ those two guys remind me of a pair of teenage boys.’ Judge Bryne grunted. ‘You mean Roger Stone and Donald Trump?’ The waitress served three breakfast plates. Conor glanced around the table. ‘That show addled my…
Read MoreWatergate at warp speed
Hand it to Trump. He moves fast. As big a crook as Richard Nixon was, it took him four years to get caught. Trump did it in three months. It took two years for Nixon to resign. What might happen with Trump? Some smart people think he might quit. That he’s thinking: “Running was fun.…
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