The power of positive messaging

Sometimes Carter and I get asked to speak about the 1984 Hunt-Helms Senate race. Some of the people we see weren’t born then. For them, it’s like going to the Dinosaur Museum – and the dinosaurs come out and talk. Because we lost, I’m often asked what was the biggest lesson I learned. That’s easy,…

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What would Mister Rogers do?

You knew there was something just a little too good about Fred Rogers, didn’t you? Now all is revealed, thanks to a new documentary. Brace yourself: Mister Rogers was a lifelong Republican. That’s about it. Otherwise, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” shows him to have been just as kind, wise and decent in real life…

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Republicans we love

Trump has accomplished one thing. He’s made Democrats love Republicans we used to loathe. Remember demonic warmonger George W. Bush? Now he’s lovable, artistic George, a goofy but compassionate conservative. George H.W.? A veritable statesman. John McCain, the hateful Palin-picker from 2008? A true American hero. Mitt Romney, the 47 percenter from 2012? A fine…

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Impeachable sources

You don’t have to be a Junior G-Man to be wary of James Comey. After all, he was the American League MVP in Trump’s election, thanks to his late hit on Hillary Clinton. (Vladimir Putin and Cambridge Analytica tied for Foreign League MVP.) Still, Comey is right about two things: (1) Trump is “morally unfit”…

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The week that was

This is how fast things move in Trump Times. On Monday federal agents raided the office, home and hotel room of Trump’s lawyer. Then Trump ranted that it’s an attack on America. He might shut down the investigations and fire everybody. That raised the threat grew of a constitutional and political bloodbath. Somewhere in there…

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Out-Foxed

Trump doesn’t just get his news from Fox, he’s getting his advisors from there. It’s worth reading, then, what one now-former Fox commentator says about Fox Fake News. Ralph Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who commented on military affairs, quit Fox. He fired a parting salvo calling Fox “a mere propaganda machine for a…

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Trump’s trysts and twists

Which is worse – that Trump hopped in bed with Stormy or that he’s still in bed with Putin? Stormy and Putin have a lot in common. Both show off their chests. Both stories involve thugs. Both might involve illegal campaign activities. And Trump hasn’t said a bad word about either Stormy or Putin. Stormy’s…

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Rethinking Trump

I just got around to reading Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” and my reaction was different from what I heard when the book came out. Then the Rob Porter spouse-abuse scandal erupted – and highlighted what I took from Wolff: Trump is a total, bumbling, ignorant, incompetent fool. He is…

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E Pluribus Uniom?

You’ll need to tell me tomorrow if Trump was “presidential.” I’m not ruining an evening watching him. Surely there’s a quality basketball game on ESPN. Apparently, “presidential” means “reading a Teleprompter without drooling, attacking somebody or grabbing a porn star.” The real State of the Union (“Uniom?”) question is whether Trump and his zealous Javerts…

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All politics is Trump

All politics is local, Tip O’Neill used to say. No more. All politics has become national in the last 20, 25 years. Today, all politics is Trump. Trump so dominates the political conversation there’s not enough air to sustain any other topic. His tweets, his unpredictability and his sheer outrageousness overwhelm everything. If Democratic pollsters…

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