Jon Perr – The Politicus

Sorry, Republicans, but a majority of American Catholics are pro-choice

It is one of the GOP’s tried and untrue slanders, deployed every time a Republican President nominates an anti-abortion Catholic to the federal judiciary. The GOP and its amen corner claim Democrats are waging a “war on Catholics” and requiring a “religious test” for office. This week’s confirmation theater for...

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October 12, 2020

/ 2008 / America / Black / Black Lives Matter / Blue / Capitol / CindyHyde-Smith / Civil Rights / CivilRightsActof1964 / Confederacy / Confederate / ConfederateStatues / Congress / Conservative / Conservatives / Cornyn / DanCrenshaw / Democrat / Democrats / Dixiecrats / FannieLouHamer / Fraud / Gohmert / GOP / History / Hoax / JesseHlems / John / JohnCornyn / KuKluxKlan / McDaniel / Media / Mississippi / News / Party / Press / Protests / Republican / Republican Party / Republicans / Scam / Secession / Senate / Senators / Slavery / Strategy / Ted Cruz / Texas / triggered / Vote / Voters / Voting / Voting Rights

In three quotes, Republicans admit the 'great party switch'

Republicans and their amen corner in the right-wing media are trying to perpetuate yet another hoax on the American people. In a nutshell, they claim that history ended in 1865 or, at the latest, 1965. But sadly for them, three of their leading lights past and present—Cindy Hyde-Smith, Trent Lott...

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July 31, 2020

/ 2020 / Amendments / Americans / Antifa / Cannabis / carnage / Cars / ChadWolf / Citizens / Constitution / Crisis / Dead / demonstrations / DepartmentofHomelandSecurity / Family / Federal / Governor / hanging / Italy / Local / Love / Mayor / Memo / Mob / Oregon / p / Police / Portland / President / REAL / Riot / Security / Shopping / siege / Snark / supporters / Terrorism / Trump / unknown / Wolf

On the ground update: Acting DHS Secretary Wolf understates Portland crisis

Over the past 24 hours, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf has faced a firestorm of criticism for his over-the-top rhetoric and grandstanding regarding the ongoing demonstrations in Portland, Oregon. In his memo justifying the deployment of federal marshals that neither the mayor nor the governor requested or...

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July 17, 2020

/ 14thAmendment / AbrahamFranklin / AbrahamLincoln / AhmaudArbery / Americans / AntoninScalia / Black / BlackLivesMatter / Blacks / BLM / BreonnaTaylor / Capital / Children / Cities / CivilRightsAct / CivilWar / Commutation / Crime / Death / Deaths / Fight / Floyd / Georgia / Gettysburg / Hell / Horror / Justice / Killed / Louisville / Lynching / Manhattan / Massacre / Military / Minneapolis / Mississippi / new york / New York Times / Newspapers / Police / Protesters / Protests / Publishing / Rich / riots / Service / Texas / Troops / Union / War / Wealthy / Workers

'No offence but that of negritude'

NOTE: I would like to apologize for the use of some archaic language and painfully explicit descriptions in what follows. Difficult as it is to read, I believe it helps highlight true horrors in our past that Americans must confront. Even before the first protesters demanding justice for all took...

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June 7, 2020

/ 2020 / Advice / America / AR-15 / Beer / Brown / businesses / Choice / Commerce / Constitution / contract / CoronaVirus / Court / Courts / COVID / Covid-19 / COVID19 / Crisis / Daddy / damn / Decision / Emergency / English / ERA / EXTRA / Fear / Federal / Freedom / friends / Governor / Health / Help / JacobsonvMassachusetts / Law / Legal / Liberty / lockdown / Mandates / mask / masks / Massachusetts / Mother / new york / Oregon / Pain / Pandemic / person / Police / policepowers / Power / President / Public / Quarantine / Questions / Refuse / Republic / safe / SecondAmendment / semi / Service / shelterinplace / Shopping / shutdowns / smallpox / Snark / spread / SS / Starbucks / State / Trump / Ukraine / Workers

You can't put a mask on my liberty

Today I took a short break from my home Coronavirus lockdown to restock at a nearby grocery store. Heeding the advice of friends, I first made sure I was protected before heading out. So, I loaded my AR-15 and slung it over my shoulder. It rested comfortably over my Kevlar...

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May 16, 2020

/ Affordable Care Act / AffordableCareAct / anniversary / BarackObama / Base / Beck / BillOReilly / BritHume / carnage / Children / ChuckGrassley / CoronaVirus / COVID / Covid-19 / COVID19 / DanPatrick / Death / DeathPanels / Debate / DonaldTrump / Economy / Election / Financial / Fox / GOP / Governor / Legs / Love / March / Message / News / Obamacare / Politifact / President / Republican / Republicans / Sick / Survival / Texas / Trade / Trump / Truth / Voters / Wall / Wall Street / Wisconsin / World

GOP’s Coronavirus death panelists urge pulling the plug on grandma

As both the body count and the financial misery from the American coronavirus outbreak continue to grow, the fierce debate over whether, when and how to “reopen” the U.S. economy is starting to boil over. Many of President Trump’s allies are apparently so eager for people to return to work...

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April 13, 2020

/ 2007 / Access / Affordable Care Act / AffordableCareAct / alone / America / AmericanRecoveryandReinvestmentAct / Americans / AntiStimulus / ARRA / BarackObama / Budgets / Burr / Bush / Congress / CoronaVirus / COVID / Covid-19 / COVID19 / Crisis / Dead / Deficits / DonaldTrump / Eligibility / Emergency / Federal / GOP / Government / Health / Health Care / Health Insurance / HealthCare / Help / Hospitals / Insurance / Layoffs / Medicaid / Obamacare / Poverty / President / Republican / Response / State / Tax / Trump / War

U.S. COVID-19 response must expand and federalize Medicaid in all 50 states

Six years before he was outed as the Coronavirus equivalent of a war profiteer, Republican Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) summed up the GOP’s health care plan. “The American system has access to healthcare for everybody,” Burr said, “It's called the emergency room.” Of course, that go-to Republican ER talking point...

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March 29, 2020

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FDR's words of resolve: 'We are now in this war. We are all in it–all the way'

If you need a break from the current American confusion, fear and loathing surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic, let me suggest as an antidote reading President Roosevelt’s December 9, 1941 “fireside chat” radio broadcast to the nation. At a time of far greater peril than we face today, FDR delivered a message...

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March 15, 2020

/ AbrahamLincoln / AdolfHitler / America / Americans / Army / BattleoftheBulge / berlinwall / BS / BunkerHill / CDC / CivilWar / ColdWar / CoronaVirus / COVID19 / Disease / France / Germany / Hayes / History / Hitler / Invasion / Killed / Media / MSNBC / Normandy / person / Poland / President / presidents / Reelection / Refuse / Stuff / Trump / Vice President / Washington / Washington Post

Trump joins past U.S. presidents who 'like the numbers being where they are'

President Trump ignited a firestorm of criticism following his comments Friday at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). After Trump explained, “I’d rather have the people stay” on the 3,500 person cruise ship anchored near San Francisco with 21 coronavirus cases “because I like the numbers being where they are,”...

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March 8, 2020

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GOP’s Cornyn repeatedly threatened judges; now demands Schumer apology

Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Thursday expressed regret that he “used the words I used yesterday” in warning Supreme Court Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch of the public backlash their reproductive rights rulings will produce. While Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proclaimed, “There is nothing to call this except...

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March 7, 2020

/ 2008 / Americans / Barack Obama / BarackObama / Bernie / Bush / Business / calm / Candidates / Carrier / CharlesPayne / CNBC / Collapse / Conservative / Convention / CoronaVirus / COVID19 / Democrat / Democrats / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / DowJones / Economic / Economy / Financial / Fox / FoxBusiness / FoxNews / Fraud / GeorgeWBush / GOP / History / King / LarryKudlow / Media / Obama / Pandemic / President / Press / Propaganda / Recession / Republicans / State / Trump / Wall / Wall Street / Water

Protecting Trump now, Limbaugh and Kudlow blamed Obama for 2008 bear market

Furious over the Dow’s 1,900 point plunge over the past three days, President Trump held a press conference Wednesday to try to calm markets. Echoing the comments of his National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow that “we have contained” Coronavirus and the American economy is “holding up nicely,” Trump declared...

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February 27, 2020

/ AbrahamLincoln / Abuse / AbuseofPower / articlesofimpeachment / Atlantic / BarackObama / Becoming / Benghazi / Censure / Character / CivilWar / Constitution / Conviction / Corrupt / Courage / Decision / Democracy / DmitriMedvedev / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Evidence / Exercise / Fear / God / GOP / History / impeached / Impeachment / impeachmenttrial / juror / Justice / Mitt Romney / Moving / Nominee / Partisan / Party / Peril / President / Presidential / romney / Speech / State / supporters / Threat / Trump / Union / Utah / Vote

Two cheers for Mitt Romney’s Lincolnesque moment

One day after he cast his historic vote to remove President Donald Trump office, Utah Senator and former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has continued to receive accolades for his principled and lonely stand. But Romney didn’t merely buck his Party of Lincoln in becoming the first Senator to ever vote...

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February 7, 2020

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A look back at the impeachment and conviction of Barack Obama

As President Trump’s legal team wrapped up its impeachment defense on Tuesday, all eyes turned to the issue of witnesses. But whether or not the mounting revelations surrounding former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s upcoming book are sufficient to spur Republican defections in the Senate, there is little doubt Donald...

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January 29, 2020

/ 2020 / AbuseofPower / ambassador / Americans / BenjaminNetanyahu / Blessed / Bribery / Catholic / Christianity / Christmas / Clinton / Defense / Dems / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Election / Faith / Family / Fox / friends / Giuliani / GOP / Hanukkah / HillaryClinton / Hiroshima / Holiday / Holocaust / House / Humiliation / Impeachment / Israel / JerryFalwellJr / KevinMcCarthy / KimJongUn / Liberty / Message / Nagasaki / Nature / News / Nuclear / Party / Peace / President / Reflection / Republican / Republican Party / rudy / School / Science / Speaker / Trump / Truth / Water / Women / World

The Republican Party brings you holiday miracles

The holiday season is a special time of year for Americans of all faith traditions. The arrival of Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s brings good cheer and joy to family, friends, and even perfect strangers. Above all, it is for many a time of reflection on the miracles that define the...

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December 30, 2019

/ 14thAmendment / 1stAmendment / 2016Election / 2019 / 2020 / 2020election / AbuseofPower / AndrewJohnson / BarryGoldwater / Base / BillClinton / BuckleyvValeo / Campaign / CampaignFinance / Capitol / Clinton / Democrat / Dems / Election / GOP / House / Impeachment / letter / MAGA / Media / Nancy / Partisan / Persecution / Protest / Race / Representatives / Republican / Republicans / Senate / Speaker / supporters / Suppression / Trump / Truth / Voter / Washington

The impeachment letter Trump could have sent to Nancy Pelosi

December 22, 2019 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Madam Speaker: I wrote you this past Tuesday to protest in the strongest possible terms the partisan impeachment charade you and your Democrat conspirators were about to perpetrate in the House of Representatives....

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December 22, 2019

/ 2019 / 2020 / 2024 / Abolitionists / ambassador / Army / BattleoftheCrater / Capitol / Charleston / Civil Rights / Columbia / Confederacy / ConfederateFlag / Constitution / Death / DeclarationofCauses / Defense / DemocraticParty / DonaldTrump / Flag / forrest / FortPillow / Future / haley / Hate / Hollywood / Honor / Irony / JeffersonDavis / JohnBellHood / letter / Memorial / Party / Presidential / Pride / Secession / Service / Sick / Soul / State / supporters / Values / Virginia / War / Writing

An open letter to Nikki Haley from the briefly reanimated corpse of Jefferson Davis

Sunday, December 15, 2019 Hollywood Cemetery Richmond, Virginia Dearest Ambassador Haley, I am writing from the distant past to offer some modest thoughts about your exciting future. I understand congratulations are in order as you embark on the journey to seek the presidential nomination of the party of states’ rights,...

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December 16, 2019

/ 2016 / 2016 Election / 2019 / 2020 / Abuse / AlexCranberg / AndrewFavorov / AndriyKobolyev / AngelaMerkel / Berlin / biden / Burisma / caught / Conspiracy / Cooperation / Corruption / DmytroFirtash / DNC / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Election / Energy / EU / Europe / Firtash / foreign / Fruman / gain / Gazprom / Germany / Giuliani / Hearings / Hunter / Impeachment / interference / Investigation / Joe / Kyiv / Law / LNG / Military / Moscow / National Security / Parnas / Perry / person / Power / President / Rich / rudy / Russia / Russian / Security / Stop / Testimony / Trump / Ukraine / Vice President / Washington / Zelensky

Is Trump trying to block the Nord Stream 2 pipeline so his Ukraine cronies can cash in?

After this week’s testimony in the impeachment hearings, the contours of President Donald Trump’s abuse of power for personal advantage have become crystal clear. Trump violated U.S. law when he solicited the interference of a foreign power in an American election. Looking ahead to 2020, Trump demanded the new Ukrainian...

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November 24, 2019

/ 2016 / 2016Election / 2020 / Administration / AlbertoGonzales / BarackObama / Barr / biden / BillBarr / Bipartisan / BruceJensen / Campaign / Clinton / Community / CondoleezzaRice / Cover-up / DavidAddington / DavidIglesias / davidmitchell / DickCheney / Donald / Donald Trump / Election / Enforcement / Evidence / foreign / General / Government / Hillary / Hillary Clinton / Impeachment / Intelligence / Investigation / Investigations / Joe / Justice / Kremlin / Law / Legal / Military / Mueller / Nominee / Obama / Obstruction / President / Presidential / Reelection / Republican / Response / Russia / Russian / Senate / Spying / Trump / Trump-Russia / Ukraine / Vice President

Barr turns to familiar faces for bogus probe of Russia investigation

This is the legal landscape now before the man who must be identified as the attorney general of the United States: The unanimous consensus of the American intelligence community, the findings of the Mueller investigation, and the bipartisan conclusion of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence all agree that the...

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October 27, 2019

2018 / 2019 / America / BarackObama / Border / Deaths / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Erdogan / Fight / Fine / Help / Invasion / Iraq / Isis / IslamicState / Kurds / Losing / October / President / Press / Raqqa / RecepTayyipErdogan / Russia / September / Soldiers / Syria / Trump / Turkey / World

Trump betrays Kurds one year after promising “I don’t forget” their sacrifices for the U.S.

That Donald Trump betrayed America’s Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS should come as no surprise; Trump betrays everyone sooner or later. But Trump’s treachery in codifying Turkey’s ethnic cleansing of the Kurds across the Syrian border is different in kind and degree. After all, agreeing with President Erdogan...

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October 17, 2019

2012Election / 2020 / America / Americans / AnnRomney / Attacks / Barack Obama / BarackObama / BasharalAssad / Benghazi / BillClinton / Campaign / China / Choice / ChrisMurphy / code / Conservative / Crazy / Defense / DmitriMedvedev / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Election / Elections / Family / foreign / GOP / Government / Health / Health Care / House / Impeachment / Investigation / Kyiv / Massachusetts / Media / Military / Mitt Romney / Murphy / Nominee / Obama / pioneer / President / Presidential / Pro-Choice / Pro-Life / Public / Republican / Republicans / Responsibility / romney / Russia / Tax / Trump / Ukraine / Utah / Voters / White House / Zelensky

Why Mitt Romney must demand Trump’s impeachment

Mitt Romney has never missed an opportunity to be an opportunist. Romney the leveraged buyout pioneer took advantage of the U.S. tax code to pocket tens of millions of dollars from investments in companies that failed. Mitt the mythical Massachusetts moderate transformed himself into the “severely conservative” 2012 presidential nominee...

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October 14, 2019

Abortion / AbrahamLincoln / Americans / Apology / BarackObama / Catholics / ChristiansUnitedForIsrael / CivilWar / civilwar2 / Conservative / Constitution / Convention / CUFI / Culture / Dallas / dangerous / Democrats / Destroy / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Election / Evangelicals / focus / Fox / FoxNews / God / Government / Hate / heaven / House / Impeachment / inaugural / Jeffress / MAGA / March / Moloch / Music / News / Party / policies / President / Press / Radio / Secession / Slavery / Threats / todd / Trump / Violence / War / White House / World

Robert Jeffress is Donald Trump’s minister of hate

By now, Americans have grown accustomed to incendiary rhetoric from the raging right. Nevertheless, the past week witnessed some truly explosive eruptions from some of the leading lights of the conservative movement. Last Sunday, Donald Trump warned that his impeachment and removal from office could trigger a second civil war. Three...

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October 6, 2019

2008 / 2018 / Abortion / Administration / Affordable Care Act / AffordableCareAct / birth / Cancer / Census / cervicalcancer / Contraception / Data / Disease / DonaldTrump / FamilyPlanning / GagRule / GuttmacherInstitute / Health / Health Care / HealthCare / Insurance / International / Medicaid / Obamacare / President / Republican / School / Trump / Washington / Women

Health clinic closures put women’s lives at risk

What happens when clinics providing healthcare services to women close? Among other things, American women will needlessly die. That’s the horrifying conclusion from a recent study published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology. Designed to gauge the impact of the closures of 100 women’s health clinics nationwide between 2010...

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September 29, 2019

2016Election / Agriculture / Americans / Candidate / China / Debt / Deficits / Democrats / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Economic / Economy / Evidence / Fiasco / GDP / History / JFK / Jobs / MarkZandi / Mexico / plans / President / Tax / Trade / Trump / Wall / War

The 'Everyone could have predicted' president: Trade war fiasco edition

Among other things, Donald Trump will go down in history as the “everyone could have predicted” president. That is, it’s not just that the 45th president of the United States has failed to deliver on pretty much every promise that he made to the American people; it’s that the fact that Trump’s guarantees...

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September 15, 2019

2020 / America / autorescue / BarackObama / Boom / Budget / Canada / Carrier / China / Chrysler / Crisis / Debt / Deficit / Deficits / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Economy / Election / Elkhart / Farmers / Future / GDP / GOP / Health / Helping / Indiana / Jobs / Manufacturing / Michigan / Obama / President / Republicans / State / Tax / Trade / Trouble / Trump / Unemployment / War / Warning / Wealthy

Is Trump killing the Obama boom in bellwether Elkhart?

With the unemployment rate still at 3.7% and GDP growth at 2.0%, the American economy remains solid, if not spectacular. But with more warning lights flashing yellow, Team Trump is growing more concerned about the direction of the so-called best economy ever just as the 2020 election heats up. The president and...

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September 8, 2019

2019 / 2020 / Administration / Barack Obama / BarackObama / Boom / Budget / Campaign / CBO / China / ChuckSchumer / Congressional / DebtCeiling / Deficit / Deficits / Democrats / Domestic / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Economic / Economy / Ego / Election / ERA / EricCantor / expansion / Fake / Federal / FederalReserve / Future / GDP / Germany / GOP / Guilty / House / Income / Jen Psaki / Jobs / McConnell / Media / Nancy / News / Obama / President / problem / REAL / Reality / Recession / Recovery / Selfish / Senate / Speaker / Tax / Trade / Trump / Truth / Unemployment / War / Warning / Wealthy / White House

After GOP sabotaged Obama, Trump looks to scapegoat Democrats for slowing economy

As Donald Trump’s bragging about the economy reached a crescendo last fall, former Obama White House communications director Jen Psaki provided a helpful reality check for the American people. “A buffoon could have kept the recovery going,” Psaki explained, “and in fact one has so far.” That Trump had inherited...

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August 25, 2019

2016 / 2016Election / 2019 / Administration / bannon / Broken / Budget / Campaign / Candidate / ChuckTodd / contract / Conway / Cut / Debt / Deficits / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Economic / FactChecker / FAIR / Fire / Health / HillaryClinton / House / Insurance / KellyanneConway / Lies / Media / Meta / Mexico / new york / New York Times / Obama / PamBondi / Politifact / Presidency / President / Presidential / Speech / SteveBannon / Tax / Trump / Truth / Updated / Wall / Washington / Washington Post / Wealthy / White House / Writing

Three years ago today: Trump promised “I will always tell you the truth”

Presidential candidate Donald Trump made a lot of promises on his way to the White House. Most ranged from the outright laughable to the literally impossible. Predictably, very few of Trump’s guarantees came to pass. He did not “build a wall” and have Mexico pay for it. President Trump did...

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August 18, 2019

2016 / 2016Election / 2020 / 2020election / AffordableCareAct / America / Americans / Atlanta / Baltimore / BarackObama / Base / Bigotry / Birtherism / Black / Blue / Brown / Campaign / Candidate / Chicago / Cities / Confederate / Conservatives / Detroit / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Dreams / effort / Election / ElijahCummings / Ferguson / Flag / focus / Gay / Geography / GeorgeWallace / GOP / Hate / Health / Health Care / Immigrants / Immigration / inaugural / Judge / Kids / Party / policies / President / Race / Racist / Rage / rainbow / ramps / Reelection / Republican / Republican Party / safe / sin / Speech / Strategy / supporters / Tax / Trump / Undocumented / Voting / Xenophobia

Donald Trump’s color-coded geography of hate

“When I am president, I will work to ensure that all of our kids are treated equally, and protected equally,” Donald Trump declared on July 22, 2016, as he accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for president. “Every action I take, I will ask myself: does this make life better for...

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August 4, 2019

14thAmendment / 1stAmendment / 2020 / 9thCircuitCourtofAppeals / Abortion / AffordableCareAct / America / AnthonyKennedy / AntoninScalia / appellatecourts / BarackObama / Base / Bernie / Bernie Sanders / BernieSanders / biden / Blue / bluenomatterwho / Border / College / Conservative / Contributions / Court / Courts / Debates / Democrats / Domestic / Donald / Donald Trump / Economy / Education / Election / Elizabeth Warren / Environment / Equality / Extreme / Facebook / Federal / Federalist / focus / Fuel / Gallup / GOP / Government / Health / Health Care / Health Insurance / Immigration / Insurance / Jeopardy / Judiciary / Leadership / Legal / Marriage Equality / Media / Medicare / Military / Nominee / Obstruction / Party / Poll / presidents / problem / Republicans / sanders / Security / Seniors / Strategy / supporters / Terrorism / Threat / Trump / Twitter / Voters / War / warren / Women

The most important issue for Democrats in 2020? The courts

As the 2020 election season heats up, voters’ priorities are coming into sharper focus. As in years past, there is a great divergence in what each party ranks as its top issues. Earlier this year, the Pew Research Center found that Republicans identify terrorism, the economy, Social Security, immigration, and...

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July 14, 2019

1939 / Administration / AlbertoGonzales / America / Appropriation / bars / Campaigns / Capitol / CivilService / Congressional / Conservative / Conway / Crime / criminalizationofpolitics / DarrellIssa / Dictators / DOJ / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / enablers / Fascist / Federal / FourthofJuly / GeorgeWBush / Germany / GOP / Government / hatchact / HenryKerner / Hitler / Independence / Investigations / Italy / Law / Legal / Legislation / Media / Mexico / Mother / Partisan / Politics / Power / President / problem / Propaganda / Pundits / Republican / Republicans / Rubin / Scott / Trump / Workers / Writing

Republicans routinely ignore GOP Hatch Act violations

Writers, bloggers, commenters, and pundits nearly exhausted the dictionary in the runup to the president’s July 4th Trumpapalooza™. With his tanks, parades, flyovers, and personal address, Donald Trump’s appropriation of America’s Independence Day rightly earned descriptions ranging from inappropriate, disgusting, and self-serving to grotesque, Orwellian, and masturbatory. But word that...

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July 7, 2019

2016 / Administration / AffordableCareAct / Atlantic / BarackObama / Border / Business / Campaign / Catastrophic / ChuckTodd / Destroy / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / EdRendell / Failure / Family / familyseparation / Fear / FoxNews / Fraud / Gaslighting / HealthCareReform / Hell / Immigration / Interview / Iran / Lies / Media / News / Nuclear / Obamacare / Presidency / President / presidents / Press / Questions / REAL / Response / Rubin / Separation / September / todd / Trump / Voter / Washington / Washington Post / Writing

Meet the Press host disappoints serious journalist Chuck Todd

In late May, President Donald Trump shocked many when he rejected the assessments of his own administration and U.S. allies about recent North Korean violations of United Nations resolutions regarding its ballistic missile program. In response to Trump’s support for the “very smart man” in Pyongyang, Meet the Press host...

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June 30, 2019

ArthurLaffer / BarackObama / BillClinton / BruceBartlett / CharlesColson / Coffee / College / Conservative / DavidStockman / Debt / Deficits / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldRumsfeld / DonaldTrump / Economist / Freedom / give / GOP / Honor / Income / Local / Money / Oil / President / Presidential / presidents / Public / Republicans / Tax / Taxes / Trump / worry

Heavy medal

Imagine you’re in a coffee shop when a man you don’t know sits down uninvited next to you. Scribbling on a napkin and spouting something about “tax cuts pay for themselves,” the man then confidently proclaims: “You really can't collect much money from upper-income people. They know how to get...

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June 24, 2019

13thamendment / 14thAmendment / Abolitionists / Abortion / abused / Alabama / Alexander / AlexanderStephens / alone / Americans / Black / Blacks / Book / Brutality / Capitalism / Children / Choices / Christian / Churches / CivilWar / Confederacy / CornerstoneSpeech / Crime / Debt / DueProcess / Economy / expansion / Georgia / God / gun control / Hate / History / Ideology / Justice / Killed / Men / Missouri / moral / Nature / Obamacare / Ohio / President / Religious / Republicans / Respect / Safety / Scott / sin / Slavery / State / Truth / Vice President / Violence

Republicans peddle grotesque abortion-slavery comparison

In the great and proud history of the United States, no failing, no appalling ideology, no perverse institution—no national tragedy—compares to the American sin of chattel slavery. Codified in the nation’s founding documents in a grotesque mockery of the Declaration’s self-evident truth that “all men are created equal,” the 250-year...

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June 9, 2019

2007 / alQaeda / America / Asia / BarackObama / Becoming / BenjaminNetanyahu / Border / Bush / Catastrophic / Change / China / Climate / Climate Change / Computing / CyberWar / DavidPetraeus / Destroy / DickCheney / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Economic / Energy / Fight / foreign / Future / GDP / GeorgeWBush / History / Ideas / Intelligence / International / Iran / IranNuclearDeal / Iraq / Isis / Korea / Military / National Security / Nuclear / Party / Plague / Power / President / Russia / Russian / Security / Space / State / Technology / Terrorism / Threat / Trans / Trump / War / World

Wrong-way Trump is on a one-way road to war with Iran

The United States was the world’s lone “hyperpower” when President George W. Bush launched his disastrous and unnecessary war with Iraq in 2003. An economic and military hegemon unchallenged by any single enemy or collection of rivals, the U.S. could and did act with impunity in swiftly toppling Saddam Hussein’s...

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May 20, 2019

2016 / 2020 / 2020 elections / Amazon / America / Americans / Apple / Business / capitalexpenditures / ChrisVanHollen / Congress / Cops / CorporateTaxRates / Cut / Debt / Deficits / Dividends / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Economic / Economy / effort / Elections / Financial / focus / Fox / GOP / Helping / History / Integrity / InternalRevenueService / Jobs / Kentucky / Law / March / McConnell / mnuchin / News / Obama / Polling / President / problem / Public / Reality / Republican / Republicans / Rich / Rules / Senate / September / Tax / Taxes / Teachers / Trump / Voters / Wages / Workers

Did 80% of GOP corporate tax cut benefits go to workers? Try 6%

So another tax season has come and gone. In this case, that means Americans can render their verdict on the first year of the signature legislative achievement of Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Thus far, the reviews are not kind....

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May 5, 2019

Apocalypse / ArthurLaffer / BarackObama / BobDole / books / BruceBartlett / Bush / CBO / CongressionalBudgetOffice / Culture / Cut / DavidStockman / Dead / Debt / Deficits / Donald / Donald Trump / DonaldTrump / Economy / Engineering / Films / Forbes / GOP / Government / House / Money / Nightmare / Politico / Prejudice / presidents / Pride / REAL / Reality / Republican / Stop / Strategy / Survival / Tax / Trump / Trust / Washington / Wealthy / White House / World

The four zombies of the supply-side apocalypse

Zombies have gripped American popular culture for years. In books, television shows, and films, the undead are regularly resurrected for your entertainment. (Even Jane Austen fans were treated to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy butchering those from beyond the grave in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.) But whatever their reanimation...

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April 28, 2019

2016Election / 911 / Administration / Affair / AlbertoGonzales / America / AttorneyGeneral / BarackObama / Barr / BillClinton / Bush / Cheney / CIA / CondoleezzaRice / Congress / DavidAddington / Defense / DickCheney / Dictator / DOJ / effort / Facts / Farce / FBI / General / GOP / Investigation / Iran / Law / Leaders / Legal / letter / March / Marx / Media / Memo / Mueller / Obstruction / Pardons / Power / Presidency / President / Presidential / Republican / Republicans / Russia / Scandal / Testimony / Torture / Trump / Trump-Russia

Trump and Barr bring three decades of GOP criminality full circle

Historical events occur twice, Karl Marx famously said, first as tragedy and then as farce. But when it comes to the rampant lawlessness of Republican presidential administrations, the record is a succession of national tragedies for the United States. And the damage to America’s democratic institutions is no laughing matter....

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April 21, 2019

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Congress needs Trump’s tax returns to investigate $400 billion pass-through scam

When House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts demanded the Internal Revenue Service turn over six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns to his committee, he was doing so with the law fully on his side. As past Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, former Joint Committee on Taxation chief...

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April 14, 2019

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Republicans’ message to Jewish Americans: Everything we hate is like the Holocaust

For Republicans, the gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has become an annual ritual in their hyperbolic effort to peel away Jewish Americans who overwhelmingly give their votes to Democrats. But the GOP brought an extra sense of urgency to last week’s 2019 AIPAC Policy Conference. Less than...

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March 31, 2019

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Donald Trump’s 10 most pathetically predictable broken promises

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Republican Donald Trump presented a unique conundrum for the public and pundits alike. Simply put, Trump lied at a rate never before seen in modern American politics. No candidate in the 21st century, from either party, even came close. Writing in The Atlantic that September,...

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March 17, 2019

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The Republicans' Jewish problem

Here are some friendly words of advice to my Republican friends eager to regurgitate Donald Trump’s talking point about the Democratic Party being “anti-Jewish.” Before you hold up Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar as the poster child for anti-Semitic tropes, note that Trump himself already occupies that space. After all, he...

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March 12, 2019

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Mitt Romney deserves no credit and no apologies on Russia

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was back in the headlines this week—not for any particular wisdom regarding authoritarian regimes and movements she shared with the House Intelligence Committee, but for this: “I personally owe an apology to now-Senator Romney, because I think that we underestimated what was going on...

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March 3, 2019

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I’m a billionaire and I’m running for president

As prepared for delivery on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019 at the annual combined meeting of the American Beverage Association and the Nuclear Energy Institute. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity today. I come to you with a simple message. I’m a billionaire and I’m running for president of the United...

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February 17, 2019

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Trump demands Omar resign over anti-Semitic tropes. Himself? Not so much

Never one to miss an opportunity to get his hate on, Donald Trump on Tuesday demanded Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) resign over her unfortunate “all about the Benjamins” comment. Calling her well-received apology “lame,” Trump complained, “Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress. I think she should either...

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February 12, 2019

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Trump accidentally gets it right on expanding legal immigration

Even a broken clock, the old saying goes, is right twice a day. So it was for Donald Trump during his 2019 State of the Union address on Tuesday night. During perhaps the most backward-looking presidential message in memory, the president thundered about a mythical national crisis of undocumented immigration putting...

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February 10, 2019

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Fund the wall or we kill the economy: GOP debt ceiling extortion returns

“Both sides do it” may well be the most dangerous and deceitful phrase in U.S. politics. The lazy analyst’s substitute for actual journalism doesn’t merely misdiagnose what plagues the American body politic, but fails to correctly identify the source of the disease. As Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein put it...

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February 3, 2019

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Steve King broke the first rule of White Club

When Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King lamented that language like “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization” had “become offensive,” GOP leaders like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appeared horrified. But if they were shocked—SHOCKED!—to find Steve King’s racism going on in their Republican Party, they shouldn’t...

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January 20, 2019

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Trump escalates the GOP war on government workers

As the New Year begins, imagine that this is how your 2018 ended: You work at a company where the CEO and the management team are notoriously corrupt. They began the year by taking on $150 million in new debt for the purpose of rewarding themselves and their shareholders with a massive...

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January 6, 2019

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Fed up: It’s time for Republicans to end their hypocrisy on interest rates

As 2018 draws to a close, there is growing concern about what the next year will bring for the American economy. President Trump’s twin self-inflicted wounds of an ongoing trade war with China and a needless government shutdown helped send stock markets into a December panic. The expanding global economy,...

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December 30, 2018

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Deep thoughts, by Paul Ryan

In the future, historians and political scientists will speak of the “Ryan Gap.” That moniker will be used to measure the yawning chasm between the shining image a politician manufactures for him or herself and the brutal truth of their failed ideas and meager accomplishments. Of course, the inspiration for...

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December 23, 2018

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Cut and gut: How Republicans helped the rich raid the U.S. Treasury

And now for today’s thought exercise. Imagine you are a member of Congress. Recent assessments from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warn that the budget deficit for fiscal year 2018, which ended on Sept. 30, jumped to $779 billion and annual trillion-dollar shortfalls will return beginning in FY 2020. But then...

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December 16, 2018