Blog - Page 2 of 11 - Robert Kuttner

Live by the Tweet, Perish by the Tweet

You can understand why Republicans want to take away Donald Trump’s Twitter account. After following his minders’ advice to keep far away from the Kavanaugh affair, he couldn’t stop himself from blurting out that if the attack on Christine Blasey Ford was genuine, “charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!” This [...]

By Robert Kuttner| 2018-09-21T14:29:14+00:00 September 21st, 2018|Kuttner on TAP|0 Comments

A Dose of McConnell’s Own Medicine

We don’t know how the Brett Kavanaugh nomination will play out, of course. This depends partly on whether Christine Blasey Ford either testifies or succeeds in getting an FBI investigation. But it does appear that just enough Republican senators are queasy about these accusations and about Kavanaugh’s other dissembling before the Judiciary Committee that his nomination is in serious jeopardy. The way these things usually play out is that the White House pulls the plug, the nominee solemnly declares [...]

By Robert Kuttner| 2018-09-19T11:10:02+00:00 September 19th, 2018|Kuttner on TAP|0 Comments

Trump’s Bastard Children

Political scientists use the word legitimacy to mean a government that is broadly seen as having the right to govern. Consent of the governed was also a prime concern of America’s Founders. For most of America’s history, our government enjoyed broad legitimacy. It look a long time, of course, for the national government to regain legitimacy in Dixie. And if you scratch below the surface, many Southern whites still question its legitimacy. But for most of the post-World War [...]

By Robert Kuttner| 2018-09-17T22:43:53+00:00 September 17th, 2018|Kuttner on TAP|0 Comments

The Warren Surge

As readers may recall from several pieces I’ve written for the Prospect, I’ve been a huge fan of Senator Elizabeth Warren ever since I met her in 2008 when she chaired the Congressional Oversight Panel on the bank bailouts. Not since Bobby Kennedy have I seen an American progressive so skilled at narrating the life situations of ordinary people and relating them to the imperative of drastic reform of capitalism. Like Bobby, she is also superb at bridging divisions [...]

By Robert Kuttner| 2018-09-14T16:15:23+00:00 September 14th, 2018|Kuttner on TAP|0 Comments

A Tale of Two Hurricanes

You can bet that when Hurricane Florence slams into the Carolinas, FEMA will be there with everything possible to help. That is, to the extent that Trump’s inept appointees are capable of managing it. It’s fortunate that the Carolinians are not mostly Spanish-speaking. Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s full accounting that 2,975 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria, not 64 as originally reported, most of them needlessly in the aftermath, the best [...]

By Robert Kuttner| 2018-09-12T23:09:31+00:00 September 12th, 2018|Kuttner on TAP|0 Comments

Why Nancy Pelosi Will Be House Speaker

The Republicans are trying to stampede Democrats into dumping Pelosi as House Democratic leader and presumptive speaker if Dems do win back the House. You know, too old, too San Francisco (wink-wink), and, well, too female. My bet is that this ploy won’t work. For starters, the identity of the party leader simply doesn’t affect midterm House elections. Newt Gingrich was monumentally unpopular nationally in 1994, but that didn’t prevent Republicans from gaining a landslide midterm win. In districts [...]

By Robert Kuttner| 2018-09-10T15:27:54+00:00 September 10th, 2018|Kuttner on TAP|0 Comments

In Praise of That Anonymous Times Op-Ed

In the echo chamber that is Beltway Washington, almost every commentator and politician, friend or foe of Trump, has piled on to criticize both the Times and the anonymous author. I beg to differ. Consider the dilemma from the point of view of the Times. A submission from a senior official requesting anonymity comes in. The identity of the writer is confirmed. To publish or not to publish? The fact that the writer wants this information out is a very big deal. [...]

By Robert Kuttner| 2018-09-07T13:15:12+00:00 September 7th, 2018|Kuttner on TAP|0 Comments

Trump Begs to Be Impeached

Have you noticed that the mainstream press keeps running pieces, the not-so-subtle slant of which is that it would be a terrible idea for Democrats in the House to pursue impeachment? According to Trip Gabriel writing in The New York Times, “A chasm has opened in recent days between Democratic voters, who want to see Mr. Trump impeached or held to some political accounting, and Democratic candidates and strategists nationally, who view the ‘I word’ as a red cape that [...]

By Robert Kuttner| 2018-09-05T21:38:13+00:00 September 5th, 2018|Kuttner on TAP|0 Comments

Let’s Make a Deal

Trade policy is an emblematic case of how the bipartisan establishment paved the way for Donald Trump. By behaving as a bully and threatening high tariffs if he doesn’t get his way, Trump has intimidated the Mexicans, Canadians, and Europeans into offering concessions (if only they can figure out what he wants this week). He has even intimidated the Chinese. None of this is a tribute to Trump’s negotiating genius. It simply reflects the fact that the U.S., as [...]

By Robert Kuttner| 2018-08-31T14:04:51+00:00 August 31st, 2018|Kuttner on TAP|0 Comments

NAFTA: More Fake News from Trump

The White House threw together a rushed announcement of a “preliminary” agreement with Mexico on auto industry tariffs and perhaps wages. This was conjured up on short notice to divert attention from Trump’s rising legal woes and the appalled reaction from legislators of both parties to his refusal to keep the White House flag at half-staff to honor Senator John McCain, who passed away on August 25. What makes the NAFTA announcement fake? First, an agreement to raise slightly [...]

By Robert Kuttner| 2018-08-28T09:44:58+00:00 August 28th, 2018|Kuttner on TAP|0 Comments