I’m on all the mailing lists, electronic and otherwise. The communications from the MassGOP have never been particularly impressive, but under its current leadership the MassGOP has become a laughingstock. The MassGOP, perennially ineffectual, has understandably employed snark and disingenuousness as a regular feature of its rhetorical portfolio for a long time, but the strategic…
Category: Republican Party
President Trump’s Attack on the Legal Immigration System
“I believe [immigrants are one] of the most important sources of America’s greatness. We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past,…
Conservative Coping Strategy in the Trump Era: Taking Refuge in Theory
Jeff Jacoby’s recent Boston Globe column [“Price gouging’ during natural disasters isn’t a problem — it’s a solution”] neatly illustrates the dilemma of conservative political commentators in the Trump Era. Jacoby’s endorsement of price gouging is a freshman Econ 101 essay that relies entirely on classical economic theory. It contains absolutely no empirical evidence whatsoever,…
Mass Politics After the 2018 Elections: Still “Safe Harbor for Old School Pols & Politics”
Last spring I wrote a piece called “MASSPOLI#: Safe Harbor for Old School Pols & Politics” that began as follows: “American politics in 2018 is a hot mess. The Age of Trump will almost certainly be understood as a chaotic and terribly destructive time in American politics when our institutions were strained to the limit…
Trump, Cruz, and the Shriveling Masculinity of America’s White Male Party
Last night Donald Trump visited Texas in an attempt to save a red Senate seat by campaigning for his one-time punching bag, Ted Cruz. The surreal scene underscored the plummeting testosterone levels plaguing the Republican Party, America’s shriveling symbol of white male manhood. The Trump-Cruz tolerance-by-necessity fest was well-captured in a tweet from Princeton historian…