Uh, it’s probably not a great idea for Democratic leaders to play Trump’s game of pretending to have serious budget negotiations on live TV. This is nothing if not Trump’s terrain. Trump uses the others as props, to demonstrate his swagger and their supposed lack of concern for “border security,” spelled W-A-L-L. In this case, in line with Trump’s own short attention span and penchant for changing the subject, the stunt was also intended as a diversion from his [...]
A year ago, I bet a pint of Guinness with an old friend that Britain would never leave the European Union. I’m beginning to think I just might collect. My point, then and now, was that as the degree of likely damage sank in, British voters would come to their senses. Both major parties, in their own ways, colluded to prevent that salutary outcome, but history sometimes has its own logic. Last week, the European Court of Justice, the [...]
Oh, those Dems. You’d think they’d be feeling pretty good, but no. It’s more than a year before the first primaries, and the fratricide has already started. Actually, the opening gun was more like sororicide, which the dictionary defines as the act of killing one’s sister. Sister Nancy Pelosi beat back the naysayers handily, and more power to her. But in the next ring of the circus, we have nasty infighting between the party’s center and left about whether [...]
You would think this moron would savor what passed for a trade victory before immediately raining on his own parade. In Buenos Aires, Trump managed to paper over deep differences with the Chinese, faking progress on trade talks and achieving a deferral of immediate sanctions. He also appointed his chief trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, to lead the talks. Lighthizer is one of Trump’s few competent appointees, with extensive experience as a negotiator. He’s respected as both tough and pragmatic, [...]
In case you’ve been vacationing on Jupiter, you may have missed the fact that acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is under fire on multiple fronts. He’s been sued on the long-established premise that a senior constitutional officer who has not been confirmed by the Senate cannot assume his duties when someone who has been duly confirmed (Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein) is available. He’s also been the subject of an investigative piece pointing out that the Federal Trade Commission has [...]