Today at The New York Times, David French lets loose on the upstart GOP presidential candidate. Here is a taste: As The Times has documented in detail, Ramaswamy is prone to denying his own words. But his problem is greater than […]
2024 presidential election
Trump’s 2024 calendar
It’s going to be an interesting year. CNN has mapped it out: January 15 – E. Jean Carroll civil defamation trial begins; Iowa caucuses January 23 – Possible New Hampshire primary February 8 – Nevada caucuses February 24 – South Carolina primary February […]
Trump’s court trials are his campaign
This morning we learned that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has scheduled Donald Trump’s election interference trial to commence on March 4, 2024. The next day fourteen states will hold GOP primaries. This day is often called Super Tuesday and […]
Cornel West vs. Bernie Sanders
Democratic socialists disagree over Joe Biden in 2024: I am a West fan, but I lean toward Sanders here. There are certain times in one’s life–hopefully only a few times–when doctrinal purity must be set aside for the greater good […]
Vivek Ramaswamy: The United States won World War II because FDR got polio
Watch GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on the Jordan Peterson Show: I like to teach my students that two things can indeed be true at the same time. But not in this case.
Did New York Times columnist David Brooks just endorse Nikki Haley for the GOP presidential nomination?
It sure looks like it. Here is a taste of his column today: I have a bunch of friends and acquaintances who are Never Trump, maybe-Trump or kind-of-Trump Republicans. They’ve been looking around for the candidate they can support and […]
Could Vivek Ramaswamy pass his own citizenship test?
I think the upstart GOP presidential candidate would get at least one question wrong. Here is College of the Holy Cross historian Ed O’Donnell: Here is the full context: See our take on Ramaswamy’s recent GOP debate performance here. George […]
A conservative federal judge and liberal law professor say the Constitution prohbits Trump from ever being president again
I am guessing that Michael Luttig and Lawrence Tribe don’t agree on much about the law. But they do agree that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits Trump from running for public office, including the presidency. Lutting is a retired George W. […]
The political folly of the Iowa State Fair
Here is a PBS report on the GOP candidates in Iowa:
It was only a matter of time before evangelicals turned on Vivek Ramaswamy because of his Hindu faith
I’m no Ramaswamy fan, but he is one of the most interesting candidates in the GOP primary for presidency. I was talking about him to a reporter a few months ago and said that it would only be a matter […]
Pro-Trump heckler to Mike Pence in Iowa: “You are far from a Christian”
It is not going well for Mike Pence at the Iowa State Fair: During a Q&A session someone asked Pence, “My question is this. Why did you commit treason on Jan. 6.” Watch: Here is USA Today: Former Vice President Mike […]
Federalist Society law professors make the case that Trump is ineligible to hold government office
On May 18, 2016, after Donald Trump had all but secured the GOP nomination for President of the United States, the candidate announced a list of 11 judges he would consider nominating to replace the deceased Antonin Scalia on the […]
Has the GOP rejected Reaganomics?
Check out David Leonardt’s interesting piece at The New York Times: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has spent the last few months trying to boost Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign. It has called his legislative record “as impressive as […]
Progressives need to “work their hearts out” for Joe Biden in 2024
Here is Paul Waldman at The Washington Post: Ask a Democrat with a long memory what the numbers 97,488 and 537 represent, and their face will twist into a grimace. The first is the number of votes Ralph Nader received […]
Mike Pence makes the stage for the first GOP debate
The Pence campaign has announced that it has passed the donor threshold needed to qualify for the first GOP debate on August 23 in Milwaukee. It must have been our July 24th call for everyone to donate a dollar to […]
What is it going to take for candidates to get on stage for the second GOP presidential debate?
The second GOP debate will take place at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California on September 27, 2023. Alex Isenstadt of Politico is reporting that it is going to be difficult for candidates to get on the stage. Here […]
George Will gives a bump to Doug Burgum’s presidential campaign
Until I read Will’s column, the only thing I knew about North Dakota governor Doug Burgum was his gift card strategy. Here is a taste of Will’s “Meet the unusually qualified presidential candidate you’ve never heard of“: If he ever […]
GOP candidates were together in Iowa yesterday. Will Hurd won the night.
Last night all of the GOP candidates for president spoke at the Iowa Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Dinner. Most of the candidates delivered shortened versions (10-minutes) of their stump speeches. Watch here. The night belonged to former Texas congressman Will […]
A historian of fascism is ready to use the term to describe Trumpism
Up until this point,Christopher Browning, a historian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, has not used the word “fascism” to describe Donald Trump and the movement he leads. But it looks like he has changed his mind. Browning is […]
Mike Pence may not make the GOP debate stage in August
He needs 40,000 individual donors to qualify for the August 23 debate in Milwaukee. He is not there yet. Here is Marianne LeVine at The Washington Post: HUDSON, N.H. — As he finished up his remarks at an outdoor garden […]