Published June 28, 2017 in Washington Monthly ( link to article) With the normalization of Trump’s antics, it is unfortunately all too easy to overlook the sheer rottenness of Mitch McConnell. Gage Skidmore/Flickr Recently, I broached the “T” word (treason) with respect to Donald Trump’s actions. Strange and wonderful to relate, the heavens did not fall and lightning did…
When Should We Use the ‘T’ Word?
Published in Washington Monthly ( link to article) The mainstream media is skittish about invoking treason. The presidency of Donald J. Trump, with its ludicrous inauguration crowd estimates, 4 AM tweets, and non-stop gaffes, is sometimes difficult for grownups to take seriously in any sort of sustained way. But with the allegation that Jared Kushner,…
How the Chattering Class Bully-Worships Trump
Published in Moyers & Company (link to article) ‘I, for One, Welcome Our New Insect Overlords!’ How the Chattering Class Bully-Worships Trump Claiming the media doesn’t “get” Trump is just another sorry excuse for his dangerous disregard of truth and democracy. Newsman Kent Brockman welcomes his new insect overlords in the “Deep Space Homer” episode…
The Media’s Latest Campaign to Normalize Trump
Published in Washington Monthly ( link to article) After the Syria strikes, the press has mistakenly found new respect for Trump. One of the more annoying features of the most annoying presidential campaign in history was the mainstream media’s attempts to normalize candidate Donald Trump. Possibly this treatment arose because the press didn’t initially take…
Did Nunes Actually Recuse Himself?
Published in Washington Monthly ( link to article) This morning we were greeted by the news that the chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Devin Nunes, finally agreed to step down from leading the committee’s investigation into evidence of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. The headline in the Washington Post…
Yes, There Is a Deep State—But Not the Right Wing’s Caricature
Published in the lobelog.com on March 16, 2017 Link to article The heated controversy over the right wing’s characterization of Donald Trump’s chronic conflict with the U.S. intelligence community as the machinations of “the Deep State” has inevitably generated political pushback from more establishmentarian figures. Paul Pillar on this site and David Remnick in The New…
“Surprisingly Presidential”
How the GOP became the party of affirmative action for chronic under-achievers. “The soft bigotry of low expectations.” In the last two decades, this has become a catch phrase among Republicans seeking to deceive the public into thinking that it is they, not the Democrats, who are the authentic foes of discrimination. Since Michael Gerson,…