On the 48th anniversary of Nixon’s resignation, the presidency and the law
Boston University historian Heather Cox Richardson reminds us Nixon “never did admit wrongdoing, and he was never held accountable.”
Eric Black
Veteran journalist Eric Black writes Eric Black Ink for MinnPost. His latest award is from the Society of Professional Journalists, which in May 2017 announced he’d won the national Sigma Delta Chi Award for online column writing. Email him at eblack@minnpost.com.
Why we (still) need to get rid of the Electoral College to decide presidential elections
The Electoral College system has almost nothing going for it and introduces many unnecessary flaws and distortions into our poor, dear old nation’s effort to choose a leader.
‘Trumpism’ actually grew out of Newt Gingrich’s ’94 ascendance, argues Dana Milbank’s new book
And neither will the sickness in the Republican Party disappear with the former president.
What Trump and enablers did to his Arizona electors was despicable
Personally, I doubt they would have faced treason charges. More likely some form of election fraud, which is nonetheless a felony.
And now, a choice serving from Bret Stephens
The New York Times columnist considers the 2022 Arizona U.S. Senate contest.
Klobuchar and Walz for president? New Washington Post list has them as possible candidates
Tim Walz was included, after nine likelier contenders each got their own paragraph, in a collective 10th ranking with Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina and U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (who is currently running for Senate in Ohio).
Poll shows some shift in views of former President Trump since hearings on Jan. 6
I wouldn’t get carried away with this. But it’s encouraging that the group that best represents the presidential swing vote has moved steadily in favor of holding Trump accountable.
Yale historian Snyder: Ukraine most likely will win the war
“The Ukrainians have to demonstrate resolution of every kind. All [Americans] have to do to see things as they are, show some patience, and support the democracy that is under attack — with the right attitude, and the right weapons.”
Why Biden shouldn’t run again — and should tell us that now
Conventional wisdom always held that, even if Biden doesn’t plan on a 2024, he should postpone saying so, in order to avoid lame-duck status any sooner than he must.
Gerrymandering and partisan division in the U.S., as seen by a British-based paper
If one party controls the state, its political manipulators are expected to design district boundaries once every decade to maximize their party’s ultimate yield.
The results are in, and they’re (still) pitiful
The Gallup Poll has been tracking confidence, and lack of it, in the news media since 1972.
The first NYT poll of voter sentiment before midterm elections, with a cautionary note
The poll shows an impressively close division on the question of which preference for which party should control Congress in 2023-24 (Dems 41; Repubs 40).
Let’s make a deal: I’ll give you your U.S. attorney if you give me my judge
It’s how Republicans, mainly, have successfully rigged the game of judicial nominees — with a little help from the Electoral College.
Legitimate protest, riot or insurrection: Republican views of Jan. 6 are shifting
Many admirers of the former president have reverted to the Trumpian explanations of what occurred that terrible day.
Esteemed Gallup Poll has grim report about public confidence in institutions
Just between the 2021 and the 2022 surveys, confidence in the presidency and the Supreme Court went down by the biggest numbers, but police, the military, the medical system and the public schools all took a hit from the previous year’s approval number.
Marist Poll shows 10-point swing toward Democrats since April and after abortion ruling
But will the June numbers hold up until midterm elections in November?
Cassidy Hutchinson further damages Donald Trump’s reputation; your scribe apologizes to former president
The latest testimony makes clear that Trump really wanted to accompany his rioters to the Capitol and had to be physically restrained and dispatched back to the White House to watch the carnage he had inspired.
The Battle of the Little Big Horn, 146 years later
They don’t make movies lionizing George Armstrong Custer any more, a small step in acknowledging the historical crime.
Latest hearing on coup attempt relied heavily on Republican witnesses, including Trump supporter and AZ House Speaker Rusty Bowers
“The President’s lie was — and is — a dangerous cancer on the body politic,” testified Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat.
Eastman’s scheme: arrange for neither Trump nor Biden to win a majority of the electoral votes
If the Electoral College had not produced a majority winner, and if all Republican legislators had backed Trump over Biden, Trump would actually have won a second term even though he lost both the national popular vote and the national electoral vote.
