Delay, Deny, Defend
The reaction to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is one more demonstration of just how angry and unhappy many Americans are—and understandably so. Among all the explanations for Donald Trump’s reelection, none is more salient than the pent-up rage people experience in so many aspects of their lives. As ugly as it may […]
“Your Body, My Choice”
There’s no pretending the Trump Campaign’s hateful misogyny wasn’t just that, blatant hostility toward women. And not surprisingly, now that he’s been elected, it’s on display with a vengeance. It’s more than coincidence that two of his most important cabinet picks (Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth) are plagued by accusations of sexual assault. With the […]
Maslow’s Hierarchy
The media pundits are currently obsessed with slicing and dicing the election results, because, after all, that’s their livelihood. I’m not sure what there is to be gained by rehashing and/or refuting all the finger-pointing and recrimination, but my own thinking is as simple as applying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. According to Maslow, people’s most […]
Cultural Heroin
“Cultural Heroin” is how J.D. Vance described Donald Trump before tech billionaire Peter Theil made him a rich man, paid for his Senate campaign, and helped him become Trump’s 2024 running mate. As Tom Nichols so insightfully describes it in The Atlantic, the deadly addictive drug, for which so far there is no antidote, is […]
America’s Natural Disaster
Sadly, all the absurd and dangerous “misinformation” about the two recent hurricanes, Helene and Milton, distracts attention away from the fact that our poorest citizens usually suffer the most from natural disasters. Not only do they tend to live in less desirable, more vulnerable locations, quite frequently they don’t have the means to escape (money, […]
American Crisis Unfolding
Along with just about everyone else, this humble spirit fears that he’s spent too much time writing about Donald Trump. Unfortunately, the man provides an almost bottomless pit of material, and he’s getting worse as the election approaches. No one looks forward to the country “getting past” Trump more than I do, but until then. […]
Racist Hate-Mongering
It would appear that Trump has nothing left to say to the American people but to spread ridiculous conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants eating pets, babies being killed after birth, and rampant sex change operations, whether they be transexual immigrants in prison or children going to school and coming home a different sex. Your humble […]
Trump Violates Hallowed Ground
Given that Donald Trump violates everything and everybody, most especially women, it’s not very surprising that he and his campaign staff violated the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery. Trump using the 13 fallen heroes and their grief-stricken parents to score political points is once again a new low for the former president. His behavior […]
Trump’s Greatest Hits
Despite what his advisers tell him, Trump refuses to abandon his tried-and-true (if always false) play list—which primarily centers on drumming up irrational fear and hatred of the “other.” From the start, Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign regularly highlighted stories about migrant crime, using pictures of Black and brown men who have immigrated to the U.S. […]
Freedom!
No matter what happens in November, the Democrats finally have a viable candidate in Kamala Harris. After the frustration of feeling powerless to stop Donald Trump from winning back the presidency, at least now it’s a fair fight—people are energized and volunteering, money is flowing into the campaign, and states are in play that looked […]
Yes, We Have Work to Do
This humble spirit would like to join the crowd in commending President Biden on passing the torch. Even avid Biden supporters should acknowledge that what we saw wasn’t a “bad debate”; it was a sad and painful display of significant cognitive decline. On the chance that he defeated Trump, the odds of which were getting […]
The Second (Third) American Revolution
Kevin Roberts, president of the far-right-wing Heritage Foundation, the organization responsible for the equally far-right-wing “Project 2025” announced last week on Steve Bannon’s War Room webcast (after Bannon was finally sent off to jail) that “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to […]
“Trumponomics”
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has suggested enacting a foolhardy and frightening fiscal policy that one commentator has aptly dubbed “Trumponomics.” “Bidenomics,” which is serving to reduce America’s economic inequality, has suffered from bad branding and poor communications, but Trumponomics would most certainly be a disaster that increases economic inequality—and very possibly destroys America’s economy. […]
Billionaires’ Retribution
It’s both shameful and depressing how many billionaires, including much of the Silicon Valley crowd, have been “coming back” to Donald Trump in recent weeks, regardless of his 34 felony convictions in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial or fascist-like threats of “retribution.” With Nicki Haley having fallen by the wayside and Trump becoming the […]
Feeling Helpless to Stop Trump
Will anyone do anything to stop Donald Trump from becoming president again? Journalists and commentators have been regurgitating the threat he poses to our democracy for months, but inevitably addressing the same limited audience and talking mostly to themselves, helpless in the face of impending disaster. When I say “anyone,” I’m referring to the Democrats […]
Stormy Daniels and Cricket the Dog
Two events in the news last week highlight MAGA’s ugly machismo tendencies, its pent-up anger and readiness to engage in violence: ambitious up-and-comer Kristi Noem, Governor of South Dakota, shooting her dog, Cricket; quickly followed by more information than most of us cared to know about Donald Trump’s affair with adult movie actress Stormy Daniels. […]
Conspiracy Against Democracy
This humble spirit hates to sound like a wacko QAnon conspiracy theorist, but that’s how I’m feeling lately. I’m not so concerned that everything is “rigged” (although it most certainly is for working-class Americans these days), but rather America feels like a white Christian nationalist nightmare combining Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Handmaid’s […]
Make America 1864 Again
An abortion ban dating back to 1864? Are you kidding me?! That’s only a year after this former Confederate officer lost his life fighting (on the wrong side) in the Civil War. Back then our knowledge of medicine was so limited that army doctors didn’t even know enough to sterilize their knife before starting the […]
Snake Oil Salesman… in Chief
Surely you’ve already heard all about it, but it’s impossible not to comment on the aspiring snake oil salesman in chief. Donald Trump was, is, and always will be America’s greatest snake oil salesman, and in his vulgar way, as American as apple pie. As if his gold high-top sneakers weren’t enough, Trump is now […]
Nibbling at the Edges
How did the Democratic Party become the party of college educated “elites”? What happened to the party of the American middle class, the working people? That’s what it used to be and should be again. Unfortunately, MAGAs and too many swing voters don’t see it that way. Democrats not only have a messaging problem, but […]