Who else but Donald Trump, the Sun Tzu of the nuclear age, could express his foreign policy using the structure of teh toddler’s ditty “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly“? I explain in Anatomy of Stupid in a Trump Truth Social Post. Link here.
Category: Donald Trump
Charlie Kirk’s Murder and the Danger of Asymmetrical Political Violence Unacknowledged
Charlie Kirk put me on his “Professor Watchlist” -a list expressly designed to facilitate the harassment of those listed- because I connected the dots between Donald Trump’s violent and hateful rhetoric (which Kirk parroted for a living) and real life violence. Kirk rejected my hypothesis as well as the broader notion that violent rhetoric and…
Moms for Liberty Summit Infiltrated by Sexual Predator!!!
Dear Ms. Tina Descovich and Ms. Tiffany Justice, As spokespersons for Moms for Liberty, you know there is no group that has done so much to protect the innocence of America’s children as you! Whether it’s disappearing LGBTQ teens or exposing communists’ scheme to turn American children into “little sexual weirdo(s)” you’ve led our nation’s…
The Utter Futility of the MassGOP: Not New, Just More Obnoxious Lately.
The ongoing conflict within the MassGOP between Trumpist wingnuts and politically rational conservatives is as crazy and counter-productive as virtually every political analyst has indicated. It is, indeed, absurd for state Republicans to oppose Charlie Baker’s brand of conservatism. What it is not, however, is surprising or unexplainable. The most interesting thing about anti-Baker wingnuttery…
Baker’s Re-election Depends on Pols, not Polls.
Charlie Baker’s decision about whether to seek an unprecedented third consecutive four-year term in the Corner Office is a lot more interesting and consequential than most people realize. If you really want to know whether Baker will run and whether he would win if he does run, pay attention to the words and deeds of…
Abuse of Power is Fueled by Abuse of Context
The difference between reasonable and unreasonable analysis or argument can very often be found in the treatment of context. The University of Iowa Law Professor who wrote the NYT op-ed published yesterday arguing that “Democrats have been shameless about your presidential vote too” clearly understood that he was playing fast and loose with context. He…
Battenfeld swings and misses in swipe at Healey
I haven’t read a Joe Battenfeld column in years, but yesterday’s effort to throw shade at the likely 2022 Democratic nominee for governor caught my eye. According to Joe, “[p]artisan politics has permeated the office of the state’s top cop to an unprecedented level – whether it’s the scores of lawsuits she’s filed against Trump…
Polito’s Gubernatorial Prospects are Out of Her Control
Shira Schoenberg’s excellent CW piece about Karyn Polito’s political future is thorough and fair. Lt. Governor Polito has been a good Lt. Governor to Charlie Baker. Under different circumstances, and despite her former profile as an aggressively conservative Republican legislator, Karen Polito could have been an excellent candidate for the Corner Office in 2022. Unfortunately…
Police Reform: Cooler heads need 20/20 vision to prevail
Former state police detective Robert Long’s Boston Globe op-ed is clearly intended to be a call for cooler heads to prevail in the effort to advance meaningful reform of policing in America. While this is certainly a laudable sentiment, Mr. Long’s presumably sincere effort is marred by an outdated and inaccurate understanding of partisan politics…
“You ain’t black” should become 2020 speak for “you ain’t bright.”
The effort of those on the right (and the left) to make an issue of Joe Biden’s penchant for awkward comments is a product of political desperation, not discernment. He told a black radio talk show host who was giving him a hard time that if he was having trouble deciding between Trump and himself…