Over at Politico, Joe Pompeo writes that Wall Street Journal editor in chief Gerry Baker saw fit to “remind” his editors to be “fair” to Donald Trump. And indeed we should be fair to Donald. We shouldn’t forget that he rose to prominence by promising to build a “great wall” between the U.S. and Mexico…
Tag: Donald Trump
Charles Murray, cutting to the chase
I have never written about Charles Murray without the most overt of sneers.1 Well, that has to change, because Charles, writing in the National Review, has just nailed the best right-wing take-down of Donald Trump I’ve ever read, “Why ‘Hillary is even worse’ doesn’t cut it”. Sample quotes: “In my view, Donald Trump is unfit…
Ben Sasse, B.A., M.A., M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.
Yeah, you read that right. Ben Sasse, junior senator from Nebraska, has more degrees than a compass: a BA from Harvard (government), an MA from St. John’s (liberal studies), and an MA, MPhil1, and a Ph.D. from Yale (all in philosophy). Yet he talks just like me and you. Most of the time. Ben has…
What Doth Ryan Want?
I am one of the least known, yet most vociferous members of the Anti-Ryan Club, which is led, more or less, by Paul Krugman and Jonathan Chait. As both Paul and Jon will tell you, Paul Ryan will say and do just about anything, as long as it allows him to maneuver himself into the…
Ben Sasse, Wall Street Tool
Nebraska Junior Senator Ben Sasse recently posted “AN OPEN LETTER TO MAJORITY AMERICA”, bemoaning the fact that neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump offers what the American people—the real American people, the folks down at the WalMart—really want. When ole Ben finally gets tired of patting himself on the back for being the fine, down…
What Hath Trump Wrought?
Which is more decadent, Donald Trump or the Annual Gala of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York? Okay, trick question, because there is no wrong answer. But putting the Donald in perspective does take some work. Yet the sources of the Donald aren’t hard to find: the stumblings and…
Shorter Reihan Salam: I’m an idiot
Over at Slate, Reihan Salam has a post up Why I’m voting for Ted Cruz. Why? Well, as Reihan explains, Ted’s immigration plan is better than Trump’s: “Though I don’t agree with every aspect of Cruz’s position on immigration, it has the virtue of being coherent and defensible, something that can’t be said of Trump’s.”…
John Podhoretz, half right on Trump—okay, make that a quarter
Over at Commentary, definitely not one of my fave rave’s, Editor John Podhoretz has “A New Theory of Trump”, taking another crack at explaining the Donald. Podhoretz’s argument is stated rather elliptically—or perhaps obliquely—but what he’s getting at, basically, is that George W. Bush got a lot of things wrong, but Republicans were so obsessed…
Neocons at the end of their tether
Over at the National Review, Jonah Goldberg has a second, and more anguished, cri de cœur—I discussed an earlier one here—remarking, not simply on the horror that is Donald Trump, but on the horror one feels when one observes one’s friends proudly embracing that horror—if one has such friends as Kevin Williamson, Charlie Cooke, or…
Robert Kagan, hoist on Fareed Zakaria’s bare bodkin
At the Washington Post, Fareed Zakaria notes the long-time silence of “principled conservatives” regarding decades of Republican thuggery in the name of power. Zakaria seems to take particular pleasure in skewering Robert Kagan, whom I skewered earlier for his tardy recognition of Republican sins. Sure, Trump is terrible, says Fareed, but how and why is…