Here is Abha Bhattarai at The Washington Post: The U.S. economy grew by a bustling 3.1 percent in 2023, shaking off recession fears and offering an upbeat picture of consumers and businesses ahead of a pivotal election year. Growth slowed […]
Way of Improvement
Evangelical roundup for January 25, 2024
What is happening in Evangelical land? Christianity Today on the New Hampshire primary. Are young evangelicals “drifting” from Israel? Should we really expect evangelicals to come out looking good in this promotional event for Rob Reiner’s new film? Greek evangelicals […]
Jon Stewart is coming back to “The Daily Show”
This morning we suggested that Taylor Swift has the power to decide the 2024 presidential election. Now we learn that Jon Stewart will try to bring his unique brand of political comedy back to the airwaves. This does not bode […]
How might the New Hampshire primary results look different if we think of Trump as an incumbent?
Today at CNN, morning host John Berman offered a really interesting take on the New Hampshire primary. Here is part of the transcript from his exchange with Pete Seat, vice president of the Bose Public Affairs Group: BERMAN: And then, […]
We now live in a world where a narcissistic sociopath wants to be president again and only a global pop superstar can stop him!
Donald Trump looks like he will be the GOP nominee for president again and only Taylor Swift can stop him from winning in November. OK–that’s a bit dramatic, but we should not underestimate Swift’s potential political power. A recent piece […]
Nikki Haley is moving to South Carolina and Trump is not happy about it
Trump won New Hampshire last night, but he remained obsessed with Nikki Haley. A normal politician would have acknowledged that Haley ran a good campaign and then ignored her in the rest of the speech, knowing she had little chance […]
Nikki Haley’s Dixville Notch lead doesn’t hold up
She took an early 6-0 lead, but couldn’t sustain it. More coming tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Will we see a DeSantis vengeance tour?
A lot of Ron DeSantis loyalists turned on him during his presidential election bid and threw support behind Donald Trump. Now that DeSantis is out the race, and still has three more years left as governor of Florida, will he […]
January 6, 2021: The Shakespeare angle
Today at The Washington Post, Meena Venkataramanan has a piece on a letter the January 6th “Stop the Steal” protesters sent to the Folger Shakespeare Library. This is wild. Here is a taste: While insurrectionists were plotting to storm the […]
Historian Edward Ayers on “The Era of the New Nation”
What should we call the decades of American history between 1800 and 1860? Edward Ayers proposes “The Era of the New Nation.” He and his wife Abby have been traveling the country exploring the way we commemorate these decades. He […]
Nancy Mace’s endorsement of Trump is “more hypocritical than it seems”
Last night we called your attention to South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace’s endorsement of Donald Trump. Over at The New Republic, Tori Otten writes, “You won’t believe the grossest part of Nancy Mace’s Trump endorsement.” Here is a taste: Republican […]
Three cheers for the University of Maryland
Emily Davies has a great article at The Washington Post about the University of Maryland’s practice of sending members of its marching band to inform select students that they have been accepted to the university. Davies tells the story of […]
Nikki Haley takes an early lead in New Hampshire primary
She is leading 6-0, thanks to Dixville Notch. Here is the Associated Press: The six registered voters of tiny Dixville Notch in New Hampshire all cast their ballots for Nikki Haley at midnight on Tuesday, giving her a clean sweep over former […]
Nancy Mace: Trump must be “held accountable” for January 6, 2021. Oh, and by the way, I endorse him.
When South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace is not talking about her sex life at a prayer breakfast, she is endorsing Donald Trump. Here is Mace shortly after January 6, 2021: Here is ABC News: Donald Trump has picked up another […]
Song of day
Polls: Trump still leads in New Hampshire GOP primary race
Washington Post-Monmouth University poll: Trump: 52%. Haley 34%, DeSantis 8%. CNN poll: Trump 50%. Haley 39%. DeSantis 6%. DeSantis dropped out of the race yesterday, after these polls were conducted. Politicos are saying that most of DeSantis’s votes will go […]
Evangelical roundup for January 22, 2024
What is happening in Evangelical land? Sarah McCammon of NPR, a former evangelical herself, on evangelical support for Trump. An evangelical pastor in Kansas calls on Christians to lead the way on immigration reform. Daniel Bennett reviews Tim Alberta’s The […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Rom Brownstein on Nikki Haley’s chances. The “Christian Bubble” Why do all coffee shops look the same? Anne Lamont on aging Samuel Goldman reviews Wilson Carey McWilliams, The Idea of […]
GOP: The “party of malice”
Here is Peter Wehner at The Atlantic: As soon as former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley emerged as the main threat to Donald Trump in the battle for the Republican nomination, it became inevitable that she would be targeted by […]
Steve Garvey for U.S. Senate?
I respected Steve Garvey as a baseball player, but I rarely, if ever, cheered for him. I was no fan of those 1970s and early 1980s Dodger teams that included the likes of Davey Lopes, Ron “The Penguin” Cey, Bill […]