National Republicans
Is Trump 2016’s Ross Perot?
Didn’t we see this movie before? A billionaire with a big ego and a bigger mouth seizes the stage, runs for President as an independent and ends up electing President Clinton. That was Ross Perot in 1992. Now Donald Trump is warning he may go third-party next year. Visions of Republican chaos and a Clinton…
Read MoreThis is your chance, Chris Christie
The worse Donald Trump gets, the better his poll numbers get. Once again, he owns the national political debate because he goes where no one else dares to go. And when you go where even Dick Cheney and the South Carolina Republican Party chair won’t go, you’ve left the gravitational pull of Earth. It’s time…
Read MoreTerror and the Oval Office
The political significance of President Obama’s speech last night wasn’t what he said, but why. Obviously, our famously no-drama Commander-in-Chief felt the seismic shift after the California killings. Weeks ago, he calmly assured us that ISIS (why does he say “ISIL”?) was “contained.” Last night, he sternly assured us he takes the threat seriously. Forget…
Read MoreWatch the Video
Donald Trump’s coming to Dorton Arena tonight and reporters and pundits have been calling, asking, Isn’t Trump going to be the kiss of death for Republicans? That’s the ‘spin’ coming out of the Republican Establishment in Washington, where they’re telling Republican voters, ‘If Trump’s the nominee we’re sunk, Hillary’s in;’ and out of Hillary and…
Read MoreThe Winnowing Out Process
Ben Carson already knew the world was not a kind place but, unfortunately, unkindness reached out and struck him again: A quarter of his supporters abandoned him for Ted Cruz. In a poll in Iowa a month ago Carson led Donald Trump but now he’s dropped into third place – with Cruz (at 23%) and…
Read MoreTrump disease
Donald Trump is like a fever in the Republican body politic: a sign of sickness. A lot of Republicans are hoping and praying the fever breaks before the sickness infects the entire body. Trump has owned about a third of the Republican vote in polls since he announced. That one-third gravitated to him when he…
Read MoreTerror politics
The Great Ebola Panic hit America a year ago this October, right before the 2014 midterm elections. President Obama’s poll ratings plunged, and races that had been within Democrats’ reach – including the U.S. Senate and legislative races in North Carolina – shifted to Republicans. This year, the Paris terrorist attacks remind us how dangerously…
Read MoreTed Cruz Moment
It starts with seeing a tiny cloud on the horizon – and that’s the first sign; then, next, out of nowhere chains of emails start floating across the Internet – and that’s the second sign: After studying Donald Trump with unease (and amazement) and Ben Carson with hope (but doubt) conservatives’ eyes have now locked…
Read MoreA moment for Hillary
The Paris attacks and the Syrian refugee crisis quickly brought out the worst in Republicans. Will it now bring out the best in Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton? Of course Republican politicians are doing what they do best: stoking Americans’ worst fears, deepest suspicions and darkest prejudices. No surprise. The politicians saw what bashing Mexicans did…
Read MoreAsking hard questions, made easy
The Republican presidential candidates are right: the questions asked at the CNBC debate were awful. But not for the reasons the candidates complain about. By straining to ask “tough” questions, the panel made the debate too easy on the candidates. There’s a better way. Less is more. The hardest questions to answer are short, sharp…
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