Trumpcare RIP
First, let’s be clear: “Trumpcare” is a misnomer for the awful legislative proposal that has just hit the dust. Beyond egging the Congressional Republicans on, Trump had nothing to do with their proposal: he hardly knew what was in it, ...
Read MoreLiberal Condescension?
There’s a narrative that has long been a staple theme on the American right, but has won increasing credence recently on the left as well. The narrative is about liberal smugness, condescension, and elitism. Liberals, it is said, look down ...
Read MoreSen. Hatch defends civility
Sen. Bernie Sanders has offended Sen. Orin hatch. In a tweet, Sen. Sanders charged that the Republican healthcare bill now going through Congress would, if passed, kill thousands of people. Sen. Hatch’s office counter-tweeted, “The brief time when we were ...
Read More“When the distinction between truth and lies disappears…”
The Trump presidency is ugly, destructive and dangerous in hundreds of large and small ways, so the president’s habitual, uninhibited mendacity might seem like just…well, whatever is the opposite of the icing on the cake (the turd on the top ...
Read MoreShort Takes
SURPRISE—No Tapes! Did anybody really believe that Trump had tapes of his conversations with Comey? What does surprise me is that all the commentators I’ve seen have expressed puzzlement at Trump’s motives for the ruse, speculating that he was trying ...
Read MoreWhat to do about North Korea?
The death of Otto Warmbier after captivity in North Korea serves as a reminder—if anybody needed one—that the regime in Pyongyang is brutal as well as bizarre. What should the United States do? Sanctions can be ratcheted up, but the ...
Read MorePragmatism and the Democratic Divide
The lead article in today’s NY Times reports on a “deepening divide” within the Democratic Party as the party’s base tilts towards the left. The 2016 election debacle and its catastrophic consequences have evoked a rising tide of activism aimed ...
Read MoreOne for the Forces of Darkness
So, the struggle between the forces of darkness and the forces of…well, not exactly light, but relative sanity… continues in the Trump entourage. Not long ago, the pundits were reporting on how Jared Kushner—a leader of the sane faction—had managed ...
Read MoreDonald in Palestine
Donald Trump fancies himself the world’s greatest deal-maker, and now he’s pitching himself as the man to broker the deal that finally ends the historic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump’s angle is to stress that if Israel wants ...
Read MoreDonald in Arabia
Donald Trump has gotten rather positive press coverage for his address to the Saudis. Remember his State of the Union address? Whenever Trump talks for more than 5 minutes without making an obvious ass of himself, people start calling him ...
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