Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Only Trump can turn what should have been a sympathetic call to a fallen soldier’s widow into a week-long (so far), racially charged brouhaha over who said what to who and who can say what to a four-star general. Americans may not be tired of winning yet. But many, even Trump voters, are getting tired…
Read MoreSome Republicans have the annoying habit of calling us “the Democrat Party.” It’s an old slur, dating back to the 1940s and 1950s. Maybe “slur” is too strong a word. “Democrat Party” is more an insulting, annoying, derisive epithet. It conjures up “autocrat” or “bureaucrat” or just plain “rat.” When he was Speaker of the…
Read MoreBack in the 1950s, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev boasted that “We will bury you.” Vladimir Putin figured out that if he just gave us the right tools, we’d bury ourselves. A spate of news stories explores how Russian misinformation (fake news) combined with Americans’ own rage and with our addiction to social media to affect…
Read MoreThe good news: Democrats are fired up and ready to vote. The bad news: They’re fired up at each other and ready to start a civil war. Nancy McFarlane says Charles Francis’s decision to call a runoff will “divide those who share progressive values.” And her supporters say Francis has been known to consort with…
Read MoreTrump puts the “bully” into Teddy Roosevelt’s “bully pulpit.” Trump has 40.3 million Twitter followers. Every morning, he gets up, picks up his cell phone and picks a fight with somebody. This week it’s “Liddle Bob Corker.” Last week it was his own Secretary of State. All the time now, it’s (black) NFL players. His…
Read MoreThe Meeker-McFarlane Era of Good Feelings in Raleigh politics ended Tuesday. It had a good run for 16 years, but it’s over. Not since the days of Tom Fetzer and Paul Coble, who lost to Charles Meeker in 2001, has Raleigh politics been this hot and heavy. Why? First, race. The contest between Nancy McFarlane…
Read MoreTennessee Senator Bob Corker uncorked on Trump in an interview with The New York Times, “Bob Corker Says Trump’s Recklessness Threatens ‘World War III’:” “(Corker) charged in an interview on Sunday that President Trump was treating his office like ‘a reality show,’ with reckless threats toward other countries that could set the nation ‘on the…
Read MoreSomething 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…
Read MoreCarter 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…
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If you seek political asylum the next four years, try Iceland. We went there last week…
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The tumult and the shouting dies; The Captains and the Kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient…
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Bert Bennett of Winston-Salem, the legendary political godfather to Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt, had a…
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