Ayatollah Trump

Posted by on Apr 13, 2019 in Articles, Featured, US Domestic Policy | 0 comments If Donald Trump goes to church regularly, he’s kept it a pretty good secret. He and his wife have made sure to alert the press on the few times he does attend services, for instance on Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day. Otherwise, the president seems to worship regularly only at the Church of the Hole in One. Since inauguration, he has made 165 visits (and counting) to golf courses, often on...
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Will Trump Rule by Decree

Posted by on Jan 8, 2019 in Articles, Featured, US Domestic Policy | 0 comments The Republican Party, since its takeover by Reaganauts in the 1980s, has long favored shrinking the federal government to the point at which it can be “drowned in the bathtub,” to use Grover Norquist’s colorful phrase. Tax cuts reduce the federal budget. Budget cuts weaken social programs. Even cutting remarks have their effect. Reagan got plenty of laughs when he said, “The nine most...
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Peak Trump

Posted by on Jan 8, 2019 in Articles, Featured, US Domestic Policy | 0 comments As he nears the end of his second year in office, Donald Trump has reached the high point of his influence and power. For the last two years, the president has relied on a Congress controlled by the Republican Party. He took advantage of this congressional control to appoint two Supreme Court justices. He also achieved one principal legislative victory: the enormous tax cut in 2017 that largely...
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Review: Trump Presidency Season Two

Posted by on Jan 7, 2019 in Articles, US Domestic Policy | 0 comments Even popular series can hit rough spots in their second seasons. Take The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the Amazon breakout about a young Jewish housewife in the late 1950s who improbably establishes a connection with Lenny Bruce and becomes a hilarious, foul-mouthed stand-up comedian in her own right. The first season sparkled. The second season brings together all the same elements but somehow forgot...
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Say Goodbye to the Guardrails of Governance

Posted by on Jan 3, 2019 in Articles, Featured, US Domestic Policy | 0 comments During a lifetime of make-believe, Donald Trump has never pretended to be a conventional politician. When he finally decided to make a serious bid for office, he built his presidential aspirations on the flimsiest of foundations: a wild conspiracy theory about Barack Obama’s birthplace. His leadership bona fides were equally laughable, having presided over bankrupt casinos and...
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The GOP Wants Trumpism without Trump

Posted by on Jan 3, 2019 in Articles, Featured, US Domestic Policy | 0 comments The recent anonymous op-ed in The New York Times about the resistance to Trump within his own administration was supposed to reassure the American people. Don’t worry, the writer was saying: We the “steady state” are making sure that an unhinged president doesn’t blow up the world. Behind the scenes, the “adults in the room” are hoodwinking the president so that Americans can sleep...
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