‘Triumph of Injustice’ lays out how the richest pay the lowest taxes
David Leonhardt’s most recent New York Times column lays out the details.
Eric Black Ink
In confrontation with Trump, maybe Mayor Frey is just putting Minneapolis First
Frey’s stance on the city paying a huge bill for extra police work in connection with Donald Trump’s use of the city-owned Target Center is that it is hilariously Trumpy in its way.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson tries to rewrite the rules with his ‘Meet the Press’ meltdown
Johnson declared his independence from the norms that govern appearing on MTP or other similar shows, one of which is that you are supposed to at least pretend to respond to the questions you are asked.
An update on Trump’s approval numbers
Trump’s numbers are not the lowest they’ve been since taking office. In fact, they’re right where they were when the impeachment mess started to take over the world.
Why Trump relies so much on racist stereotypes
Racism seems like a core Trump feature.
George Conway weighs in
My purpose is to encourage you to read an article that was published yesterday by The Atlantic, which I have read and admired and for many decades.
What, exactly, was wrong with Minneapolis leaders’ comments on Trump’s upcoming visit?
I politely disagree with my friends on the Star Tribune’s editorial board, who rebuked the Minneapolis mayor and city council president for being, in the board’s view, insufficiently welcoming to President Donald Trump.
A quaint, almost calming take on how impeachment got into the Constitution
The thinking was that if presidents has done nothing wrong — but had fallen under suspicion of wrongdoing — they might welcome the opportunity to clear their name.
Frontline report leaves little doubt about who was behind killing of Saudi journalist Khashoggi
The piece pretty much nails down the case that Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia known as MBS, was behind the brutal murder of Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post.
Trump’s approval rating amid Ukraine scandal is perfectly predictable
Trump cannot seem to grasp how anyone could think there was anything wrong in anything he said in the call with Ukraine’s president. At least he acts like he can’t grasp it.
Rose Brewer on the ‘ongoing struggle’ for real democracy in the U.S.
Race, class and gender still matter, Brewer said. They challenge our society to think about Americans who are on the less-advantaged side of all three of those divides, those who are poor, female and of color.
Historian Kathleen Belew describes the ‘leaderless resistance’ of the white power movement
In her Westminster Town Hall Forum talk, Belew’s main point was that many actions that look random and unconnected are part of a white supremacist movement that is “organized to overthrow the U.S. government” and replace with a regime dedicated to white power.
On Trump’s dirt-digging in Ukraine, hyperbole — and rarely changed approval ratings
Trump’s fivethirtyeight.com average approval number sits at 42.6 percent, still roughly 10 points below his disapproval number (53.5 percent).
Ben Toff on Americans’ news consumption — from ‘avoiders’ to embracers
Toff’s work raises a troubling question: How much difference does good or bad journalism make if people don’t want to read, watch or listen to it?
Fatih Guvenen on why Trump struck a chord with white working-class males
“Tens of millions of white males are poorer than their fathers were. And they heard nobody [in the political realm] speaking to them or about them.” Guvenen said. Trump offered solutions.
What do Trump’s Obama-era tweets on Iran tell us about his thinking?
On Oct. 22, 2012, two weeks pre-election, Trump’s thumbs said: “Don’t let Obama play the Iran card in order to start a war in order to get elected – be careful Republicans!”
Mondale, NYT reporter Savage analyze limits of presidential power
Both Walter Mondale and Charlie Savage are experts and have followed those issues for years; they updated their analysis to reflect the latest (Trumpian) developments.
Erika Lee on the enduring history of American xenophobia, drawn ‘from a place of fear’
“You cannot understand Trump’s America, or the history of how we got here, without specifically understanding the role of immigration in our history, and the history of its use as a political issue,” Lee says.
Would any one of the 10 Democratic nominees be an improvement over Trump?
Though I don’t claim to know who is the most electable one.
Howard Lavine on ‘democratic inversion’: When party loyalty is stronger than a person’s values or beliefs
Instead of having values and beliefs and policy instincts that determine which party or candidate one will support, the theory of “democratic inversion” suggests that more and more voters have turned over what you might call their values and priorities calculator to their party.
