Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Trump’s presidency is best viewed, like Trump himself, as a reality TV show. Sometimes it’s scary. Like when Trump makes life and death decisions on the porch at Mar a Lago in full view of diners. Or anytime Steve Bannon crawls out of his cave. Sometimes it’s weird. Like when it’s big news that Trump…
The house where I grew up came down yesterday. It had to go. It was built some 70 years ago. A tiny box of a place, now rundown and decades outdated. My father had bought it sight unseen. He’d come home nights from his job in the composing room of the N&O. He’d bring the…
There’re a lot of odd things going on in politics: Democrats are holding anti-Republican protests and calling them Town Hall Meetings; Republicans have been tweeting about Saturday Night Live and Meryl Streep – but even when they’re angry the people hollering on Facebook or Twitter seem to be enjoying themselves. But, last week, a new…
Governor Cooper is right. The HB2 “compromise” is no compromise. It would make a bad deal even worse. The referendum provision sounds good. What’s wrong with letting people vote? Plenty. First is a matter of policy and principle. As the Governor said, we shouldn’t put minority rights up to a majority vote. That’s like putting…
A high-ranking FBI official (Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat) and The Washington Post took down Richard Nixon’s presidency. FBI Director James Comey and the media echo chamber took down Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Now Trump compares American intelligence services with Nazis and declares that the media is the enemy. Where does this lead? A TAPster passes…
You know things are bad when Mark Sanford is the voice of reason. Yes, that Mark Sanford. The congressman from South Carolina. The ex-Governor who gave new meaning to “hiking the Appalachian Trail.” Sanford is back on stage as one of few Republicans unafraid to criticize Trump. He speaks out in a fascinating Politico article…
Given how things are going with Trump, maybe we shouldn’t dismiss this secession idea too hastily. Let Roy Cooper and Josh Stein steer the ship of state.
Phil Berger set out to fix not one mistake but a whole row of mistakes compounded over nearly a year since the day the Charlotte City Council decided to allow gay men to use women’s restrooms; at first, it had looked like Charlotte’s ordinance would be an easy bit of wickedness to cure: After all,…
A good poll can guide you safely through the political jungle. A bad one can lead you into a death trap. Witness Pat McCrory. Jim Morrill reported in The Charlotte Observer (“A day before McCrory signed HB2, he got a poll that showed it would be popular”) that: “Former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed House…
The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…
A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…
Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…