National Republicans
Operating on Obamacare
Donald Trump and congressional Republicans made a big promise in 2016. They would repeal Obamacare. Immediately. Totally. End of discussion. Now, maybe not so much. Republicans on Capitol Hill say the operative word is no longer “repeal.” It’s “repair.” Still, they say, they’ll do it right away. But then Trump says, maybe not so fast.…
Read MoreSame Old, Same Old
Sunday morning Nancy Pelosi sat down across from Chuck Todd and, wanly going through the motions on the Meet the Press, criticized Trump’s “Unconstitutional, immoral ban on Muslims” and said “I want to know what the Russians have on Trump.” It was the same-old same-old. Todd then played Pelosi a video of Elizabeth Warren talking…
Read MoreAn Irish Column
Last week a friend sent the column (below) from the Irish Independent in Dublin by Ian O’Doherty. The Best of the Best–by a Poetic Irishman Tuesday November 8, 2016 – a day that will live in infamy, or the moment when America was made great again? The truth, as ever, will lie somewhere in…
Read MorePolitical Steel? Or a Boomerang?
An email flies out saying, ‘Demonstration at the airport,’ and a thousand Democratic activists head for the airport – or to a Women’s March, Gay Pride Demonstration, Moral Monday Protest, Earth Day March or Immigration Protest. So are these protests political steel? Or, like Keg Parties and Beer Blasts, simply an occasion for activists to…
Read MoreWhat do Democrats do now?
Two weeks into Trump’s carnage, Democrats face two questions. First, can we channel the raging torrent of marches, protests and demonstrations into election victories? Second, can we come up with a coherent and convincing message? First, elections. You win with basics: Candidate recruitment, fundraising, voter registration and voter turnout. It’s great to march, protest and…
Read MoreThe Curse
He’s been a TV star, a Master Dealmaker, and a mega-tycoon but success failed to make him popular. But, a year ago, after Donald Trump announced he was running for President his unpopularity didn’t matter: Because a curse settled on his opponents. Trump was elected due to his opponents’ vices not his virtues. Now, post-election,…
Read MoreThose Days Are Gone
It’s the lynchpin of his plan: Paul Ryan wants to tax imports a trillion dollars over ten years so he can cut corporate taxes and income taxes an equal amount. It sounds straightforward. But there is an odd missing piece. A trillion dollars over ten years is $100 billion a year – and, in years…
Read MoreThe New Enemy
Whether it was in his blood or whether, like a craft, it was a talent he honed he could walk into a board room and sell one group ‘the greatest deal ever’ in the morning and in the afternoon in another board room he could make the same promise to another group and since he…
Read MoreTrump’s brain
When Democrats look at Trump’s immigration ban, they see chaos, cruelty, carnage, confusion and controversy. Not to mention a lack of planning, a lack of coordination and even cause for impeachment. Steve Bannon sees things working out just like he planned. Bannon is Trump’s brain. Where Trump is impulsive, Bannon is strategic. Where Trump reacts…
Read MoreThe Third Man
Fearless and unfettered by creeds, mocking his foes, he tweeted New Year’s greetings to “my many enemies who have fought me and lost so badly.” His vanity boundless he loves talking about himself, boasting, ‘Great meeting…packed house…long standing ovations.’ When he speaks one man sees a Deliverer while another sees a devil; one roars he’s…
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