Blog No. 111. Trump: Were His Flips a Flop?
Well, August is over and that’s a relief. Donald Trump closed out the month with a couple of faux pivots designed to persuade independent and… Read More »Blog No. 111. Trump: Were His Flips a Flop?
RINOcracy
Blog No. 110. The “A Words” of the 2016 Election Campaign: Aleppo and Afghanistan
In attempting to chronicle the antics of the 2016 election over the last few months, we have sometimes tried to inject some humor. Today we turn to two subjects that leave little room for humor: Aleppo and Afghanistan. We term them the “A words” of the campaign because, despite their importance, they are words that never seem to cross the lips of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, and coverage in the media is spasmodic. Hence we thought it worthwhile to remind readers of what the candidates are so determined to ignore.Read More »Blog No. 110. The “A Words” of the 2016 Election Campaign: Aleppo and Afghanistan
Special Bulletin. Trump the Tweeter in Chief
Surely everyone has heard about Donald Trump’s tweets. But our guess is that many of the readers of RINOcracy.com have never actually gone to @realDonaldTrump to see for themselves. In order to fill that gap, we decided to give you a sampling of what you would find there – in just the past two days.
To our continuing puzzlement, we actually have friends who are Trump supporters, and we would ask them “Do you want a President who sits in The Oval Office banging out tweets of self-congratulation, whining about the press, insulting or belittling those perceived opponents or enemies or those who simply do not appreciate him enough?”
They would probably reply, “He won’t do that after he’s President.”
To which we say, “Uh-huh.”
PS: Here is our RINOcracy Twitter page for those of you who tweet.
Blog No. 109. Still More Trump in August: OMG, Where’s the Reset, Has Anyone Seen My !#$%^&* Reset Button?
Friday morning brought the news of Paul Manafort’s resignation from the Trump campaign. That was the latest development in a week in Trumpland that provided reasons for despair among Republicans but grist for those with an interest in political pathology. On Monday, the Trump campaign had tried to bring some order out of chaos by yet another reset. (For a chronology of Trump resets, see NBC News, “Will Donald Trump’s Latest ‘Reset’ Stick? Here Are 7 Times It Didn’t.”) 
Blog No. 108. More Trump in August: Trumponomics and Loose Lips
Like the media in general, we are guilty of giving more time and space to commenting on Donald Trump than he deserves or we would wish. Nevertheless, we believe that the possibility of his election is such a grave threat that it cannot be ignored. So we will continue to try to puzzle out what he is up to and what it may amount to. Since our last blog, significant events have included Trump’s speech on economic policy, as well as some peculiar and offensive comments on the Second Amendment and ISIS.Read More »Blog No. 108. More Trump in August: Trumponomics and Loose Lips
Blog No. 107. Trump in August: Notes From the Traveling Asylum
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
Blog No. 106. The End of the Beginning: Historic Conventions and the Candidates They Gave Us
The Republican and Democratic conventions each produced historic results: the Democrats were the first major party ever to nominate a woman for President and the Republicans produced the most stunningly unfit candidate ever to be nominated by a major party. Now that the conventions have come and gone, we are left with a momentary sense of relief, but also foreboding as to the the next three months of charges and counter-charges and, ultimately, the election in November.Read More »Blog No. 106. The End of the Beginning: Historic Conventions and the Candidates They Gave Us
Special Bulletin. The 4th of July (and Goodbye for a Brief Departure)
We are about to leave on a trip overseas and, with holiday and travel preparations, there has been no time to write anything adequate to the 4th of July in 2016. Rather than letting the day pass without comment, however, we looked for some relevant observations by wiser and more eloquent figures. Some of our favorites appear below: many were written in times that were also challenging, but they all express sentiments that we share.
We will, perhaps mercifully, be away during the Republican Convention but we are confident that the Republic will survive that event. If the election in November is another matter, we will turn to that when we return, and we expect that RINOcracy.com will reappear in late July or early August.
Best wishes to all for a joyous 4th and as relaxing a summer as possible.
Read More »Special Bulletin. The 4th of July (and Goodbye for a Brief Departure)
Blog No. 105. Which Route for a RINO: Will or Paulson?
For purposes of this blog, we are assuming that most RINOs are among the growing number of Republicans who find the nomination, or worse yet the election, of Donald Trump to be categorically unacceptable. There are, of course, many others in the #NeverTrump movement and our comments are for them as well.
Read More »Blog No. 105. Which Route for a RINO: Will or Paulson?
Blog No. 102: Brexit: Arguments, Consequences and the Trump Factor
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