Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Years rolled by, presidents tried to unite us – often fell short. But at least tried. Trump doesn’t try. A practical New Yorker he understands division tightens his grip on MAGA. So he uses division as a tool. And it works. But division sows seeds: People stop seeing their opponents as fellow Americans. They see…
The New York City mayor’s race is a preview of the 2028 Democratic presidential race: an aging, center-left establishment figure scarred by past battles, challenged by a fresh but unproven champion of young, more-left progressives. That could mean a civil war in 2028, like what led to Donald Trump in 2016. Or a new leader…
The shutdown’s rolling along – voice dry, flat, tedious, Chuck Shumer lays the blame on Trump. Defending himself, hitting back, Trump’s heaping scorn on Schumer. Over at the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem’s been spending taxpayers’ money airing TV ads praising Trump. Using the internet the Department of Agriculture’s spending taxpayers’ money to lay…
Reagan ran against Ford, then ran against Jimmy Carter, Jesse Helms ran against Jim Hunt: Those were tough hard-fought battles where each side hammered the other but, tough as they were, back in those days no one called his opponent a ‘scumbag.’ Because, if he did, shaking their heads people would vote against him for…
A reader sent these “random thoughts on a rainy day.” I thought they’re worth sharing: Watching the homes on Hatteras Island collapse into an angry Atlantic is sad. But the scene is also a microcosm of today’s paradoxical conflict between the responsibilities of individual citizens and their government. These are private homes whose owners and…
John F. Kennedy is one of Republicans’ favorite Democrats. And John McCain is one of Democrats’ favorite Republicans. That’s what we found when we asked Democratic and Republican voters in a rural North Carolina poll to name a politician in the other party they like or respect. Two things stood out: It helps to be…
Tariffs are controversial – people disagree over whether they do good or harm. I don’t know who’s right or wrong. But the way Trump saw it Canada was sapping our economy, so after he was reelected he put tariffs on Canada to fix the problem. An odd thing happened. Canada ran a TV ad in…
The News & Observer said former Governor Roy Cooper is “to blame” for governors not having the power to veto redistricting bills. Actually, a lot of Democrats who were in the legislature in the 1990s have to share that blame. In fact, some Democrats in the state House then – including then-Speaker and now-Senator Dan…
Sometimes you fear America could go down the same road as Germany 100 years ago. Then you see millions of Americans turn out at thousands of No King rallies across the country. Germans rallied for a dictator. Americans rallied against one. Unlike Germans, Americans have lived under freedom, not tyranny, for 250 years. Germans went…
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…