Over at the National Review, Peter Nordlinger, a conservative anti-Trumper of the highest water, has these words to say about Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), who has announced that he will not run for reelection in 2022: Portman knows things — a lot of them. He has a strong commitment to the American system, undergirded by…
Tag: Republican Party
Please, Mr. Beinart, try harder
Over at the New York Times, Peter Beinart has a column, “Why Are There So Few Courageous Senators?”, which takes as its text—well, in its first half, anyway—John F. Kennedy’s “famous” book, Profiles in Courage, citing two profiles, “two legendary Southerners, Thomas Hart Benton and Sam Houston, who a century earlier had become pariahs for…
The Republican Party Has Its Reward
After kissing Donald Trump’s ass for more than four years, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell finally noticed his mouth was getting dirty. Said McConnell, shortly before all Hell broke loose: We’re debating a step that has never been taken in American history, whether Congress should overrule the voters and overturn a presidential election. I’ve served…
Andrew McCarthy is shocked, shocked to discover that Donald Trump hath no bottom
Writing more in sorrow than in anger, “The Risky Wager of Betting on Trump”, the National Review’s Andy McCarthy has had it up to here—okay, maybe not all the way up to “here”, but almost all the way—with Donald Trump: Since the election, we’ve had two months of a president publicly insisting the election was…
Eugene Volokh, brilliant and noble champion of the First Amendment or just another brick in the wall?
Both, actually. At the age of 10, in 1978, Mr. Volokh took the Math “Aptitude” SAT and scored 780 out of 800. He graduated from UCLA at 15, later graduated from UCLA Law, and now teaches there, and also runs the estimable, largely libertarian “Volokh Conspiracy” website. Here is what someone who is quite reasonably…
Some “conservatives” are whistling past the graveyard of American democracy; others are busy swinging a shovel
I like to keep track of what the “responsible right”, as I like to call them, is up to, a task that I perform by rounding up the usual suspects—Ross Douthat, Jay Nordlinger, Kevin Williamson, Ramesh Ponnuru, David French, and Jonah Goldberg, among others—finding most of them at either the National Review or the American…
Yes, Donald Trump is destroying American democracy and the Republican Party is helping. Surprised? You shouldn’t be.
Only eight years ago—how time flies!—Republicans were actually embarrassed by the fact that since 1988 their nominee for president had won more votes than his opponent only once, compared to five second-place finishes. Now if you ask a Republican “strategist” about the fact that it’s now one out of eight, he’ll explain to you genially…
Donald Trump must really be in trouble, because Ben Sasse is kicking him
You know a pimp is hurtin’ when his whores start to turn. Anyone who reads this blog—all three of you—know that I’m, well, basically terrified of thinking that Uncle Joe Biden has it in the bag, despite what the polls say. But here’s a real sign that Donnie’s ship is sinking: Nebraska Sen. Ben “Sassy…
Will “Race” Sink the Democrats?
Well, I hope not. But one has to worry. Images of New York, Portland, Minneapolis, and Kenosha burning can have a strong impact on the “I’m no racist, but” crowd, who are not charmed by Trump’s general boorishness but don’t like riots. Smart phones are bringing home the ubiquity of racism in police departments across…
Yo, Max Boot! Here’s your explanation! Donald Trump is simply the cherry on top of a pre-existing GOP sh*t sundae!
Max Boot is confused. Noting that nothing Donald Trump says or does, not even pissing on those who die for their country, has any effect on the president’s “base”, he wonders Why do Trump supporters even go through the motions of trying to discredit the latest allegations? Their support hasn’t been shaken by all of…