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Category Archives: Columns
It’s time to go beyond destroying statues to building new ones – CNN
The righteous fury to tear down Confederate monuments has begun to stray in recent days toward a more arguably indiscriminate toppling of statues, ranging from President Ulysses S. Grant to St. Junipero Serra to George Washington and the removal of … Continue reading
Wall Street Is Dancing While Trump Assaults Free Markets. It Won’t End Well – Rolling Stone
The titans of American industry decry the government putting its thumb on the scale — except when the thumb belongs to Trump Imagine if President Barack Obama — or God forbid, Bernie Sanders — decided to have the Justice Department open … Continue reading
Trump’s Unhinged Power Grab Opens Pandora’s Box – Rolling Stone
The president and his team are dead set on dominating the Western Hemisphere, international law be damned. Russia and China couldn’t be happier Days after Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro was kidnapped by American forces and extradited to the United States, President Donald Trump and his lackeys have been making … Continue reading
Trump’s Year of Media Capture – Rolling Stone
The president spent 2025 attacking the press, further eroding the First Amendment and empowering autocrats around the world This was the year when public broadcasting was gutted and hyper-partisans prospered, when the First Amendment was exhaustively praised and opportunistically abandoned. … Continue reading
Trump Shares Russia’s Twisted Vision of ‘Peace’ in New National Security Strategy – The Rolling Stone
The president is leading a new wave of “code pink conservatives” who don’t care what happens beyond America’s borders — except when they do It’s never a good sign when the United States’ national security plan is praised by Russia as being … Continue reading
Trump Is Trying to Legalize Corruption by Abusing His Pardon Power – Rolling Stone
The president has issued more than 2,000 pardons since taking office, many to loyalists convicted of serious crimes You’ve probably heard that cosplay Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been blowing up alleged drug running boats from Venezuela in extra-judicial killings … Continue reading
Dems Just Won Big. Learning the Wrong Lesson Could Spoil the Party – Rolling Stone
Democrats romped in the off-year elections earlier this month. They can’t squander the moment with the midterms looming The technical term is an ass-kicking. Democrats came roaring back in the 2025 off-year elections, flipping seats from governor to positions in … Continue reading
Trump’s ‘Might Makes Right’ Politics Are Bringing Out the Worst in America – Roling Stone
This is a deep cut. There’s a solo John Lennon track called “Remember” off the Plastic Ono Band album. He closes it by screaming “Remember the 5th of November!” followed by an explosion. It was a reference to Guy Fawkes Day, marking … Continue reading
Why Trump Can’t Afford to Lose This Election – CNN
President Donald Trump is desperate to get reelected — so desperate that he’s refusing to commit to the peaceful transfer of power. But the New York Times’ report revealing insights from two decades of tax returns might shed some light … Continue reading
Where’s your health care plan, Mr. President? – CNN
Pandemics don’t care about partisan politics. So when Robert Redfield — President Donald Trump’s director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a lifelong conservative — testified to Congress Wednesday that a Covid-19 vaccine wouldn’t be ready … Continue reading
GOP’s Supreme Court hypocrisy in their own words – CNN
In March 2016, Sen. Lindsey Graham brushed off accusations of partisanship and invited critics to hold his feet to the fire after he opposed President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court pick to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. His reasoning? It was an … Continue reading
Poliwood: The Ups and Downs of Combining Celebrities and Politics – CNN
Poliwood — the intersection of politics and Hollywood — can be a powerful combination, capable of elevating policy debates and inspiring broad audiences. Unfortunately, it can also dumb us down to a nation of slack-jawed spectators. This past week, we … Continue reading
Trump’s McCarthyism Charge is Deeply Ironic – CNN
“Study the late Joseph McCarthy, because we are now in period with Mueller and his gang that make Joseph McCarthy look like a baby!” President Donald Trump tweeted from the final days of his golfing vacation at Bedminster, New Jersey. … Continue reading
Trump, the Saudis, and America’s Disastrous ‘Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend’ Strategy – CNN
“He’s a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is said to have been talking about Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. It was 1939, and you can imagine him, cigarette and martini in … Continue reading
Independent Voters are Trump’s Judge and Jury – CNN
It’s the best of times and the worst of times for independent voters and candidates. With Washington bitterly polarized, the need to break out of the divisive duopoly of Republican and Democrat has never been clearer — especially for those … Continue reading
New York Had an Election, and Nobody Noticed – The Daily Beast
When there’s no real choice, democracy is diminished into a clubby spectator sport in which people participate with their wallets rather than at the ballot box. In a democracy, decisions are made by people who show up. But in New … Continue reading
The Best Columns of the Year – The Daily Beast
I’m a fan of the American art form once known as the newspaper column. That’s why I co-edited two Deadline Artists anthologies with my friends Errol Louis and Jesse Angelo—to honor and archive the best of the past. But the … Continue reading
McCain, the Man Who Should Have Been President – The Daily Beast
Yes, he was a hero, but he was more: He was a defiantly human public servant who strove to uphold our best traditions against ever-stronger headwinds. Heroes are an endangered species in American politics. Profiles in courage are in short … Continue reading
Genius for Friendship, Murray Kempton – National Review
Someone should tell the story of this odd couple, because many today would find it hard to believe. Politics often feels like an ideological blood-sport, with pundits mercilessly bludgeoning one another to entertain the agitated masses. But while the godfather … Continue reading
How to Stop a Second Insurrection
One year after the US Capitol attack on January 6, the chief plotters of the attempted coup still have not been brought to justice. And just as truth must proceed reconciliation, legal accountability and legislative remedies must be imposed to … Continue reading