Trump the Revolutionary?
One of the front page commentaries in today’s NY Times “Sunday Review” proclaims a new, revolutionized Republican Party, thanks to Donald Trump. The party of Ronald Reagan is dead, the author, R.R. Reno, claims. Trump has overturned traditional Republican/conservative themes ...
Read MoreIdeology, Pragmatism and Bernie
It is commonplace in our political discourse to treat the words “ideological” and “pragmatic” as practically antonyms. According to the conventional wisdom, pragmatists understand that social and political change is usually gradual and incremental; they keenly appreciate the practical obstacles ...
Read MoreThe Partisan Chasm
In these polarized times, people tend to avoid talking about politics at holiday family get-togethers. I don’t usually encounter that phenomenon: most of my holidays, it happens, are spent with friends and family whose views are predominantly progressive. There are ...
Read MoreStriking Syria
I’m frankly ambivalent about the US airstrikes in Syria. Arguably, they are an appropriately measured response to an atrocity. As long as they are no more than that—as long as they are a one-time demonstration and not a prelude to ...
Read MoreThe Battle over Gorsuch
Democrats are fighting a losing battle. The Senate in a couple of days will surely confirm Neil Gorsuch as the newest justice of the Supreme Court. But it’s a battle that nevertheless must be fought. Let’s first dispose of the ...
Read MoreDonald’s Dagger Wielded by Judge Jeanine
OK, so I’m already breaking my vow to try not to write all the time about Trump’s awfulness, but this is irresistible. Also, I have the excuse that it’s apparently not getting the attention it deserves. Yesterday morning, our Tweeter ...
Read MoreBlogging in the Time of Trump
I have a small confession to make. Even though I post hardly once a week on the average, and even though I’ve barely touched on a number of troubling aspects of the Trump presidency—for example, the vast conflicts of interest, ...
Read MoreBravo Bernie
Repeating a charge that he has made on previous occasions, Bernie Sanders has called Donald Trump a shameless liar. That might seem unremarkable, since Trump is, demonstrably, just that. But I don’t think any other major US politician has come ...
Read MoreHow to Beat Trump
Now that I’ve caught your attention, I will admit that I don’t have any magic answer to this question, which undoubtedly is gong to be foremost in the minds of progressives for the next four (hopefully no more than four) ...
Read MoreTrump’s War on the Media
Such ingratitude! Watching The Great Populist inveigh against the enemy of the people, it’s too easy to forget that Trump actually owes his spectacular political success to the very media he now excoriates. A loutish demagogue with no experience in ...
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