Meanwhile, on Planet Tucker
You won’t learn anything about Ukraine from watching Tucker Carlson, but as a jaw-dropping demonstration of a biased vacuousness, it can’t be beat.
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.
Putin, NATO, Kennan and the Cold War
I was taken aback by a Thomas Friedman column in the New York Times, in which he dug up an interview with George F. Kennan, a great sage of Cold War politics and history.
An alarming answer to an alarming question about political violence
The New Republic asked scholars how worried they are about political violence increasing ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Trump’s accountant needs to be held accountable
Mazars bears at least some accountability for those financial statements, on which various parties relied in doing business with Trump.
The amount of attention given to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s latest gaffe is puree nonsense
I grant Greene half a point for making fun of herself while acknowledging her garble.
Dancing with the bear
Political scientist Ivan Krastev developed his insights — and presumably his views of Russian-ness — from neighboring Bulgaria, where he grew up.
Donald Trump and the detritus of formerly ordinary politicians
Because Lindsay Graham was the friend and sidekick of the late Sen. John McCain, Graham was, long ago, considered a relatively candid pol. That’s over. Waaay over.
The ‘Party of Lincoln’ is just the Party of Trump now
And it’s getting harder and harder to see whether, when or how it gets to being anything else.
Trump shows how susceptible the Electoral College system is to tampering
One of the weak spots in the system is the vagaries of an old and inadequate federal statute called the Electoral Count Act of 1887.
Trump might not be the only one potentially disqualified from office by the 14th Amendment
A lawsuit seeks to knock North Carolina U.S. House Rep. Madison Cawthorn off the ballot over his actions on January 6, 2021.
Reminder: The filibuster is not part of the Constitution and was hardly ever used for most of the history of the U.S.
At the outset of the Senate, a simple majority could vote to end debate and force a vote. But that was so rarely necessary that such a power was left out of subsequent revisions of Senate rules.
Is Donald Trump disqualified from ever serving as president again?
According to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution … probably.
Republicans should be concerned about Gen Z voting patterns
In 2020, Biden had some of the strongest Gen Z support of any recent Democratic candidate.
A recent Gallup poll shows people shifting toward the Republican Party
Republicans haven’t held a quarterly advantage this large since 1995.
On the reliability of forecasts
Whether economic, meteorological or political.
On U.S. ‘anocracy’ and the possibility of a coming civil war
An anocracy is a form of government that is neither a full democracy nor a full dictatorship, but has elements of both.
Agreeing with Trump on one thing: the truth is coming out
Trump’s reaction to President Joe Biden’s most direct criticism yet is as predictable as it it fantastical.
Some sad thoughts on January 6
Everything President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said this morning about the January 6 insurrections falls into the category of true-but-not-new.
Two-term president? It’s not the historical precedent
If you had to guess, of the 45 men who have been president of the United States, how many of them would you say served two and exactly two full terms, then retired?
Robert Reich explains our current economic situation in six minutes
In a video, the former labor secretary illustrates — with pictures and captions — his analysis of modern U.S. politico-economic history.