Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Something has always seemed off psychologically about Trump. The ego, the grandiosity, the thin skin. The missing link came into focus in Puerto Rico when he tossed the paper towels to hurricane victims: The man has no empathy for other human beings. His coldness and his contempt show when he is forced to mix with…
Carter and I disagree on most every issue, but we agree on one big thing: Good polling is essential in a campaign. Which is why I’m obsessed with why Hillary Clinton’s campaign stopped state-level polling in the final weeks of 2016. I think about that decision every time Trump does something dumb, despicable or dangerous…
There’s a photographer in Minnesota who happens to believe gay marriage runs counter to his religion so when a gay couple asked him to take pictures at their wedding he declined. And landed in court. At his trial he argued he had a right – a religious freedom – to say no but the federal…
It didn’t make good sense but, at least, if you tried to look at it through the eyes of a Black Lives Matter protestor, it had a kind of logic behind it when protestors started tearing down Confederate statues. But then, next, protestors went after statues of Columbus and Francis Scott Key – which wasn’t…
As the N&O editorial aptly noted, this American carnage won’t end now, especially with Trump and the Republican Party safely locked away by the NRA. By now the pattern is familiar. First, shock and horror. Then frustration and anger over the predictable response by Republican politicians. Thoughts and prayers are sent. Mental illness is blamed.…
I opened the newspaper, saw the headline, and thought, Oh, Lord – in black and white right in front of me the New York Times headline roared: Trump threatens to ‘totally destroy’ North Korea. Then, a moment later, further down into the article I read exactly what Donald Trump had said to the United Nations:…
The headline read ‘Independents Pass Republicans’ meaning there are now, for the first time, more Independents than Republicans in North Carolina – which sounded dismal. But there’s a missing piece. When Ronald Reagan was elected President in 1980 voter registration in North Carolina was Democratic 71%, Republican 25%, Independent 4%. In the last 37 years…
Trump called Kim Jong Un ‘Rocket Man on a suicide mission.’ Kim called Trump ‘a dotard’ and ‘mentally deranged.’ Trump called Kim ‘a madman’ and Kim called Trump ‘a frightened dog.’ The Chinese stepped in and said everybody ought to take a deep breath and calm down and, of all people, the Russians said the…
Bill Clinton’s old pollster Stanley Greenberg joins the pile piling onto Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Greenberg’s most striking point is the campaign’s overreliance on “data analytics” and under-reliance on polls, focus groups and good old political gut. In other words, the campaign abandoned the very same techniques that made Bill Clinton a winner in 1992…
How do you get your news? Our statewide poll asked North Carolina voters what their primary…
Thom Tillis and Phil Berger fed the MAGA alligator. Then it ate them. Thomas Mills wrote…
Exactly 80 years ago, in 1946, Republicans took control of Congress with a simple message: “Had…