I had planned to join my friend Randy Roth in a trip to the Reagan Library for Liz Cheney’s address at the Library on June… Read More »Guest Blog by Randy Roth: Liz Cheney at the Reagan Library
Winston Churchill’s observation concerning democracy has seldom seemed more apt: No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is… Read More »Blog No. 219 Constitutional Crisis? No, Not Yet.
Donald Trump has been called many things, but linguistic stylist is not one of them. Indeed, a poverty of vocabulary is one of his hallmarks.… Read More »Guest Blog. The Language of Donald Trump: “Evil Losers”
An article in the Washington Post on Thursday summed up the current mood in the Republican Party:
Turmoil in the Republican Party escalated Wednesday as party leaders, strategists and donors voiced increased alarm about the flailing state of Donald Trump’s candidacy and fears that the presidential nominee was damaging the party with an extraordinary week of self-inflicted mistakes, gratuitous attacks and missed opportunities.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was described as “very frustrated” with and deeply disturbed by Trump’s behavior over the past week, having run out of excuses to make on the nominee’s behalf to donors and other party leaders, according to multiple people familiar with the events.
Read More »Blog No. 107. Trump in August: Notes From the Traveling Asylum
Bill Mauldin was a celebrated cartoonist whose memorable figures of Willie and Joe chronicled World War Two in the pages of Stars and Stripes. After… Read More »Special Bulletin. The Convention Is Over: Trump and Lincoln
Blog No. 102, “Brexit: Arguments, Consequences and the Trump Factor,” expressed our view that, while the burdens on Britain of membership in the EU were genuine, they were far less than the costs and risks of leaving. Our tone, however, was cautionary rather than alarmist:
The Brexit proposal will be put to the voters in a referendum on June 23, and to the questions “What will happen?” and “What will it mean?” there is clearly only one answer: no one really knows. Without attempting predictions, our view is that if the vote is to leave the EU, the risks to Britain, the EU, and ultimately the United States, could be significant.
Well, we now know what happened, and to some extent why, but what it will mean—for Britain, the EU, global markets and the United States–is something that still no one really knows.Read More »Blog No. 104. After Brexit, Now What?
Even readers who have been preoccupied with the agonies of the Republican and Democratic primary campaigns are probably aware of the political battle being waged across the Atlantic over Brexit. That term, of course, refers to the proposal that Britain (with Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom) exit from the European Union. In more shorthand, the opposing sides are tersely referred to simply as Leave and Remain. The Brexit proposal will be put to the voters in a referendum on June 23, and to the questions “What will happen?” and “What will it mean?” there is clearly only one answer: no one really knows. Without attempting predictions, our view is that if the vote is to leave the EU, the risks to Britain, the EU, and ultimately the United States, could be significant.Read More »Blog No. 102: Brexit: Arguments, Consequences and the Trump Factor
The Endorser.
Last week, Paul Ryan dropped the other shoe by issuing his expected endorsement of Donald Trump. It had been clear since Ryan and Trump met on Capitol Hill last month that an endorsement of some sort would be forthcoming, and the only real questions were how long it would take and how tepid it would be. As it turned out, the endorsement arrived in the form of a tweet and an Op-ed column in Ryan’s hometown newspaper. Short of writing the endorsement on the back of an envelope, stuffing it in a bottle, and casting the bottle into the Potomac, it could hardly have been more low key.
Read More »Blog No. 101. Trump: The Endorser, The Pretenders and The Opponent.
History may record various casualties of the 2016 presidential campaign and, indeed, the very existence of the Republican Party may prove to be the most important. A lesser but still highly significant casualty may be our policy favoring free trade agreements in general and, specifically, approval of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership.Read More »Blog No. 98. Is Free Trade a Lame Duck or a Dead One?
The Thursday night Republican debate came as a distinct relief. In terms of substance, there were claims and assertions with which one could agree or disagree, but we will reserve comment on those for a later blog. At least, however, the debate presented four serious adults avoiding personal insults and discussing serious issues. One can only wish that the earlier debates had been conducted similarly.Read More »Special Bulletin. A Respite From the GOP’s Continuing Trainwreck?