Posts Tagged ‘Donald Trump’
A Flash of Lightning
A year into the toughest campaign I was ever in when Jesse Helms trailed popular Governor Jim Hunt by 25 points, Arthur Finkelstein walked into my office, dropped a poll on the table, looked from me to Tom Ellis, pursed his lips. “It’s time you two learned something new.” Arthur pointed to the 4-inch-thick poll…
Read MoreThe Trials Ahead
A reader emailed: “Doing nothing heroic, I served in naval intelligence. My service required a top-secret clearance. Each time I saw a top-secret document, I recall saying to myself: ‘No wonder this is top secret.’ Similar reaction when I saw documents classified ‘secret,’ also reflecting compelling reasons to protect their confidentiality. “Absorbing only what I…
Read MoreJust the Facts, Ma’am
Jack Smith looked a bit like Abe Lincoln and talked a lot like Sgt. Joe Friday. We saw and heard him Friday afternoon for the first time. In just under three minutes and just over 300 words – strong, striking, sledgehammer sentences – the special counsel laid out his case. “Good afternoon. Today, an indictment…
Read MoreFall In
Like President Biden, I fell this weekend. And I’m only 74. He tripped on an ill-placed sandbag. I slipped on a slick boardwalk in Manteo. He fell more gracefully than I did. My feet went out from under me, and I ended up flat on my back. No damage done, except for some soreness and…
Read MoreHe’s No Reagan
Watching Trump’s rambling, raging Mar-a-Lago speech Tuesday night, I was reminded at first of another Republican President whose hair had an unnatural tint. But Trump is no Ronald Reagan. I didn’t care much for Reagan, but I liked one thing: He had a sunny, optimistic vision of America. In his farewell address, he called it…
Read MoreThe Edwards Case
The News & Observer ran a story headlined “Trump case recalls John Edwards’ scandal in NC.” Edwards’s prosecutor was a Republican, then-US Attorney George Holding. Holding later resigned to run for Congress, was elected and served four terms. In 2012, Politico reported, “Holding conceded that the facts in Edwards’s case—payments made by political backers to…
Read MoreHope
Trump’s porn star/hush money/fraud indictment brings hope and fear. Hope that the law finally will catch up with him, that Republican primary voters finally will turn against him and that, even if he wins the nomination, he’ll lose the election so badly he’ll lead the GOP to its worst shellacking since the post-Watergate election of…
Read MoreFeeding the Beast
Republicans made a deal with the devil 60 years ago, and the devil has come to collect. In 1964, Barry Goldwater turned the party of Lincoln into the party that opposed civil rights. In 1968, Richard Nixon followed Strom Thurmond’s Southern Strategy to the White House. In 1972, Nixon helped elect North Carolina’s Jesse Helms…
Read MoreTrump’s Carnage
Donald Trump likes to incite violence. He set a violent mob on the Capitol January 6, 2021. Now he’s riling up his supporters to protest if he gets arrested. When Trump was inaugurated, he said, “The American carnage stops right here, right now.” No. He was just getting started.
Read MoreHate
Nancy Pelosi once called Donald Trump “the most dangerous person in the history of our country.” And that was before he set a violent mob on the Capitol to overturn an election. Now he’s back. And he’s worse than before. He promises us “retribution.” After the 2016 election, I asked a Republican friend, no fan…
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