National Republicans
Crank, Crazy or a Crook?
In his State of the Union early last week, Trump sounded like a normal President. By the weekend, he was back to his cranky, crazy self. He went on a Twitter rampage. He claimed President Obama wiretapped him. Without a shred of evidence. And despite denials from intelligence officials. Now, it could just be that…
Read MoreThree Don Quixotes
There’re a lot of odd things going on in politics: Democrats are holding anti-Republican protests and calling them Town Hall Meetings; Republicans have been tweeting about Saturday Night Live and Meryl Streep – but even when they’re angry the people hollering on Facebook or Twitter seem to be enjoying themselves. But, last week, a new…
Read MoreDeep Throats
A high-ranking FBI official (Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat) and The Washington Post took down Richard Nixon’s presidency. FBI Director James Comey and the media echo chamber took down Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Now Trump compares American intelligence services with Nazis and declares that the media is the enemy. Where does this lead? A TAPster passes…
Read MoreMark Sanford takes on Trump
You know things are bad when Mark Sanford is the voice of reason. Yes, that Mark Sanford. The congressman from South Carolina. The ex-Governor who gave new meaning to “hiking the Appalachian Trail.” Sanford is back on stage as one of few Republicans unafraid to criticize Trump. He speaks out in a fascinating Politico article…
Read MoreThree Americas
One group of Americans watches Trump on TV, and they see their worst fears come to pass. They see a vain, boastful, arrogant, uninformed con man. They see an administration marked by chaos, cruelty, incompetence, hostility to fundamental constitutional rights and a troubling penchant for making unnecessary enemies and strange friends abroad. Another group of…
Read MoreTwo Worlds
Wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ cap a young man, a supporter of Donald Trump’s, roared, Keep ‘em out – while at a rally miles away a young woman, an anti-Trump protestor, tossing her head, joined the other protestors in chanting, ‘Let ‘em in.’ And unless you watched both Fox News and CNN the two…
Read MoreUp in Smoke
The phones began ringing and kept on ringing and each caller said the same thing: ‘I want you to hold more ‘Town Hall’ meetings.’ Sensing a groundswell of support for Town Hall Meetings, rolling across their districts, Republican Congressmen accommodated and walked straight into a trap. A few days later, stories began to appear in…
Read MoreReading Tea Leaves
He could have been bluffing – like a poker player. Or he could have been maneuvering to gain the upper hand – when he told the Mexican President: Either you agree to pay for the Wall or you cancel our meeting. After the Mexican President said, Meeting cancelled, Trump threatened him saying he’d put a…
Read MoreI Hit a Home Run
“The thing I do best” – Donald Trump was talking about his infrastructure plan – “in life is build.” “That speech was a homerun. They loved it… people loved it” – Trump was describing his speech at the CIA. He’d make “millions of people” happy, Trump said, with his plan to replace Obamacare. And…
Read MoreChoosing Allies
Sitting in front of a green marble fireplace, interviewing Trump, Bill O’Reilly asked about Putin and Trump said, “It’s better to get along with Russia than not,” and O’Reilly said, “But he’s a killer, though. Putin’s a killer.” Trump paused. Pursed his lips, “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers.…
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