Every day, the 45th President of the United States finds a new low to which he can drag down the country, whether in eviscerating the rule of law, subverting our international relations, wantonly pandering conflicts of interest, or rapaciously using his presidency for unbridled personal gain. Every day, the headlines pummel us into submission, as …
Tag: Donald Trump
Markey fights Trump assault on Massachusetts – and beyond
"All politics is loco," Senator Ed Markey told a gathering of the New England Council on Monday, paraphrasing a favorite saying of House Speaker Tip O'Neill of Cambridge. Just part of the craziness this week is the President's unilateral decision to activate the California national guard and use active duty Marines to control crowd protests …
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Margin of error won. We lost. A first look.
This time the pollsters were right. They had held all along that the election outcome was within the margin of error. It could go either way. And so it did. But in the wrong direction. Donald J. Trump won on a campaign of lies and grievances, fear and loathing. We’re a deeply divided nation, preferring …
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VP Debate: slick Yalie lawyer edges out Minnesota-nice coach
Most Vice-Presidential debates are a two-day story, quickly forgotten. I hope that this one follows suit. Viewers who appreciated the largely civil tone of the debaters appear to rate it largely a draw, with a slight edge to J.D. Vance. The Vance who showed up to the debate, burdened by dramatically underwater favorability ratings, sought …
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Will Tuesday’s debate change the race?
Tuesday night's debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President (and convicted felon) Donald Trump put a smile on the face of anyone who has ever felt degraded or dismissed as weak, inconsequential or otherwise put down by a bully. Harris was "presidential." Not only did she stand up to Trump verbally, but she …
Biden stands tall in standing down
Our phone has been ringing off the hook; our electronic mailboxes flooded. Friends, even staunch supporters of Joe Biden, have come to accept the idea that he is not well enough to serve another term. Worse, that he didn't have the stamina even to win a second term. The stakes could not be higher. Now, …
Remind me, why did we fight our Revolution?
Remember when we scoffed at Richard Nixon telling David Frost that the President couldn’t be prosecuted for Watergate because “when the President does it, that means it’s not illegal.” We thought that our Constitution established “a government of laws, and not of men” and that no person, even the President of United States, was above …
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Presidential debate: Oh no, Joe!
It wasn't long ago that I wrote that I thought there was nothing to be gained by a Trump-Biden debate. Knowing that presidential debates are usually more about style than substance, I said that, if there were to be a debate, there should be real-time fact checking. Without it, I feared that Trump's repeated falsehoods …
Books: non-fiction, early spring reviews
How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion by David McRaney offers what could be an eye-opening look at how to talk to “the other.” It’s about much more than when every day becomes Thanksgiving Day and seemingly reasonable people turn out to be crazy Uncle Harry. McRaney shares what he has …
Will raw politics kill immigration reform?
Do we really need to arm the Statue of Liberty? It’s no secret that there is an immigration crisis in this country. Since Biden became President, more than three million migrants have crossed the border, and an estimated 1.7 million more have snuck in or overstayed their visas. The influx is now a problem for …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 