Carter is a Republican. Gary is a Democrat.

They met in 1984, during the epic U.S. Senate battle between Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt. Carter worked for Helms and Gary, for Hunt.

Years later, they became friends. They even worked together on some nonpolitical clients.

They enjoy talking about politics. So they started this blog in 2005.

They’re still talking. And they invite you to join the conversation.

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Carter Wrenn

Gary Pearce 2024

Gary Pearce

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Proving Fake News

By Carter Wrenn January 22, 2018

The headline roared ‘Donald Trump has combined all the worst qualities of our former Presidents’ and the article by Robert Reich sailed across the Internet but how could it possibly be true? Other Presidents owned slaves. One fought in a duel. Could one man combine all the vices of 44 other men? President Trump is…

A Brief Love Affair

By Carter Wrenn January 19, 2018

The Republican Insiders in Congress trooped down to the White House just before Christmas and standing in lines on the steps overlooking the South Lawn pledged their undying love for President Trump. The holidays passed and after New Years both Republicans and Democrats sat down around a table in the White House and pledged they’d…

Like a Politician

By Carter Wrenn January 16, 2018

Hardly anyone likes politicians drawing districts to elect themselves but, to rip apart the Congressional Districts Republicans drew, Judge James Wynn spun a tale full of fictions. Judge Wynn described the Republican Plan as a vicious extreme ‘partisan gerrymander’ that would assure Republicans win 10 of North Carolina’s 13 Congressional seats for years and cited…

Fixing the Slips?

By Carter Wrenn January 15, 2018

President Trump said over and over that his tax cut is the biggest in history but, then, the press reported the Treasury Department had ranked every tax cut (as a percentage of GDP) since 1940. Was Trump first? No.  Was he second? No. Where did he stand? Last. Seventh out of seven. Which leads to…

King, Trump and Helms

By Gary Pearce January 15, 2018

My blog “President Shithead” irked a TAPster who worked for Jesse Helms (not Carter): “I don’t mind when you pick on my old boss, but saying he’s part of a string of Trumps… that’s hitting below the belt.” That is pretty low. But is it justified? Well, Martin Luther King Day is an appropriate day…

President Shithead

By Gary Pearce January 12, 2018

At times like this I consult my friend Boweaver. Now 90-something, he’s seen it all. He grew up in the Depression, enlisted in World War II and would be happy if FDR had lived forever and stayed President. His counsel generally keeps my head from exploding. He wrote back: “Who cares if Trump called some…

No Guile

By Carter Wrenn January 11, 2018

Michael Wolff wrote Trump was crazy and dumb and Trump fired back on Twitter that he was a smart, stable genius but the master of the put-down (who once immolated Lindsey Graham by calling him a dumb, crazy, nut-job in one breath) had slipped: Trump tweeting he wasn’t crazy sounded crazy. Wolff wasn’t entirely unkind…

The River

By Carter Wrenn January 10, 2018

The ‘Tweet of the Year’ award doesn’t go to Trump or a Hollywood liberal but to Mike Huckabee who, after watching The Darkest Hour, tweeted ‘in Donald Trump we have found our Churchill.’ The Trumpsters set Twitter on fire with cheers and the ‘Trump Haters’ had heart-lock – and politics went crazy again. Later, the…

Cooped up

By Gary Pearce January 10, 2018

2017 was a cold first year for Governor Cooper. More heat is coming in 2018. Fittingly Cooper started both years on TV, managing snow and ice storms and wearing “disaster casual” (a tip of the TAP hat to Joe Stewart). In between, the Governor navigated an icy relationship with a power-crazed Republican legislature. He spent…

Getting the News

By Gary Pearce March 13, 2026

How do you get your news? Our statewide poll asked North Carolina voters what their primary…

MAGA-gator

By Gary Pearce March 12, 2026

Thom Tillis and Phil Berger fed the MAGA alligator. Then it ate them. Thomas Mills wrote…

Enough is Enough

By Gary Pearce March 11, 2026

Exactly 80 years ago, in 1946, Republicans took control of Congress with a simple message: “Had…