National Republicans
The Post-Trump GOP
Polls suggest that up to 30 percent of Republicans don’t want to vote for Donald Trump. They’re torn about what to do. Swallow hard and vote for Trump? Swallow harder and vote for Hillary Clinton? Vote for Gary Johnson, half of whose issues are totally contrary to Republican thinking? These Republicans are in agony. But…
Read MoreNever Seen Before
One poll has Hillary leading by nine. Another by ten. Another fifteen. The last fifteen national polls on Real Clear Politics all show Hillary leading. So is it a Hillary bump? A Trump dip? Is the die cast? Will the dip pass? Or get worse? Most Democrats look on Trump’s demise as revealed truth, a…
Read MoreRoss vs Burr and Cooper vs McCrory
A reader chided me for not writing lately about the NC Senate and Governor’s races. My excuse was that all the oxygen is taken up with “Trump said what today?” Then the Marist/Wall Street Journal poll last week showed Clinton, Ross and Cooper all leading. So here we go. The stunner was Clinton leading Trump…
Read MoreLesser Evils
Let Hillary pack the Supreme Court, Tom said, and the country’s kaput. And that’s the way he sees it: Voting for Hillary’s wrong. Voting for Trump’s wrong. But voting for Trump is less wrong. But does being less wrong make it right? Every evil, lesser evil or greater evil, Spencer said, comes with a price.…
Read MoreA Wager
Ole Francis De Luca over at the Civitas Institute released his latest poll and revealed an amazing fact – Donald Trump is receiving 32% of the African-American vote in North Carolina. The poll took wing and flew across right-wing websites, hailed it as proof of ‘The Donald’s’ invincibility. Who else could win a third of…
Read MoreBush founded ISIS
Another day, another idiotic outburst by Donald Trump, then another lame excuse that he was just kidding. But the Donald has raised an important question: Which American President is to blame for ISIS? It’s George W. Bush. True, Trump is so bad that W, his low-energy brother and his noble yet hapless father look good…
Read MoreFlubs
A pundit on Fox News said, Trump flubbed during the primary and it didn’t matter. So why should it matter now? Sounds logical. But does the logic hold water? Back during the primary when I’d turn on the television I’d see a debate stage full of Washington Republican politicians – and Ted Cruz and Donald…
Read MoreTrump, Fox and Facebook
Donald Trump is not some weird, one-time, election-year anomaly. He’s the logical product of a Fox News/Facebook society. Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, put her finger on it. She said Trump is “unworthy of being our president” because of “his constant stream of cruel comments and…his attacks directed at people who could not respond…
Read MoreFruit from Vices
Six of us sat down for our weekly lunch and an ethical perplexity landed on the table: Does a Republican have to defend Donald Trump, no matter what he says, because if he doesn’t he’s helping elect Hillary? Eric, an attorney, asked. No one liked Hillary but no one liked Trump either and then Eric…
Read MoreCrooks and Fools
Sitting in a century old steakhouse staring out at the Brooklyn Bridge thirty years ago Hank Greenburg (the pollster not the baseball player) explained an election that could only happen in the grubby circus of New York politics: Given a choice between a Crook and a Fool, he said, voters take the Crook. His theory…
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