Donald Trump will be our very worst president, by a very wide margin, because Donald Trump is the apotheosis of the Tea Party, the culmination of Republican lawlessness—that is to say, an impatience and contempt for “rules” that eventually transforms itself into a delight in their violation—that has been growing stronger and stronger since the…
Search Results for: Hillary Clinton
One for Bob
I lambasted, pretty much, Robert Samuelson last week for a dumb-ass column he wrote claiming that we don’t spend enough on defense. Well, this week, Bob gets it right, in a column praising President Obama’s handling of the Great Recession, which was in fact his greatest achievement, though not quite great enough to allow Hillary…
Why did Comey fold?
Glen Thrush has a “nice” look-back at the 2016 presidential campaign (nice if you have the stomach to revisit what for me is a gaping wound) up at Politico, “10 crucial decisions that reshaped America”. Near the end of the piece, commenting on Hillary’s reluctance to engage in non-stop campaigning (in part, one suspects, a…
Did Obama “Create” Trump? No. Did he make his election possible? Sort of.
President Obama did not create the candidacy of Donald Trump. “Responsible” Republicans like Ross Douthat have been pushing that banal meme since the Donald first reared his ugly head back in the primaries, a falsehood that received a proper beat down from Slate’s William Saletan at the time. As Bill put it, “Obama is an…
Finger-Pointing in the Dark: The Rout of Neo-Liberalism
It is, appropriately enough, gray and wet in Washington, DC this morning. Brilliant sunshine would be almost more irony than one could bear. Brexit was a stunner. Compared to Donald Trump, it was a popgun. It’s become overwhelmingly clear that the real cost of the Great Recession was not the cost of fighting our way…
The Republican Party: Civil War or Hostile Takeover?
Over at New York Mag, Jonathan Chait has an unfortunately challenging and well-argued piece, strongly suggesting that my cozy analysis of a Republican Party sliding inexorably into ever-increasing disarray is not, you know, accurate.1 Chait sees Trump, or, rather, Trumpism, as similar to one of those Alien critters that first infects you and then sort…
News on the Right: the Splinters Splintered!
Okay, only by a generous stretch of the imagination (mine) is the Washington Post “on the right”, but in fact the Post’s editorial page has been aggressively “neocon”, bordering on Likudist at times, what with George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Richard Cohen, Jennifer Rubin, Anne Applebaum and Fred Hiatt ramping up the room in favor of…
Dying Elephant, Struggling Donkey: Politics for the 21st Century
As of this writing, the odds favoring Hillary Clinton’s election stand at 92%, almost enough to allow me to breathe easily. I wish it were higher, but just think how I’d feel if it were only, say, 75%! Yes, Donald Trump’s big mouth, and his tiny, groping hands, have made life much easier for Nervous…
More Kudos for the K-Man
What is the deal with Charles Krauthammer? Yeah, sometimes I hate him, and sometimes I love him. Well, today I’m feeling all lovey-dovey, thanks to a column by Charles pointing out that Donald Trump’s recent threat to jail Hillary Clinton once he’s president is perhaps the worst thing he’s ever said, which, of course, is…
Harvard douchebaggery not exclusively a left-wing phenomenon, study reveals
Well, it did. I did the study, and I’m revealing it. In fact, I already revealed it last week, with my takedown of right-wing Harvard douchebag N. Gregory Mankiw for trying to make us feel sorry for trust-fund babies. Well, now I have a new study, and it seems that there’s a goddamn outbreak of…