Republicans

The Slow Demonization of Bernie Sanders

Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Bernie Sanders has gone from a charming, engaging, provoking, and supremely principled Democratic presidential candidate to a scheming, conniving, devious, supremely unprincipled Democratic presidential contender. In quick succession, Sanders has been accused of being a tax cheat, a special-interest money-grabber, a foreign policy dimwit, a Nixonian dirty trickster, and a racial bigot. 

Can Donald Trump Get the African-American Vote?

Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Even more than Romney, Trump’s violence driven, race-baiting crusade that nakedly appeals to largely white lower-income, less educated, rural and strongly male crowds drive the point home that blacks are not even an after-thought in his drive to snare the White House. But there’s more to the picture about Trump and black voters as the punches that the black assailant delivered to the Trump protester showed.

Donald Trump, the GOP, and the Failure to Disavow Racists

Earl Ofari Hutchinson

The GOP would cut its throat if it denounced its racists and racism, and really meant it. The shouts, taunts, spitting, catcalls, Obama as Joker posters, n-word slurs, Confederate and Texas Lone Star flag waving by some Tea Party activists, and the deafening silence from GOP leaders during Obama’s early years in office, was and still very much is an indispensable political necessity for the party.

Why the GOP Dislikes Donald Trump

Earl Ofari Hutchinson

They fear that he will actually be the party’s nominee. And if so, what will that do to the party? GOP leaders from House Majority leader Paul Ryan to Arizona Senator John McCain sweat that Trump could not only cost the GOP any shot at the White House but blow their majority hold on the Senate as well. The one thing that would almost certainly insure that is if the sentiment voiced by the conservative activist about Trump is not just a bad case of momentary blowing smoke.

Donald Trump’s Inexplicable Appeal Explained

Louis Nevaer

Trump has now emerged as the likely Republican nominee come this fall’s election. The Republican establishment — through Super PAC's supporting Jeb Bush — burned through more than $130 million in an effort to stop Trump, yet he continues to surge in the polls. Donald Trump’s appeal, however, should not come as a surprise if it is seen in sociological terms.

Trump and Cruz Are the GOP's Worst Nightmare

Earl Ofari Hutchinson

The election walk-over for presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is the nightmare that has haunted the GOP party leaders from the moment that Trump and Cruz declared their candidacies. Both men are the most polarizing presidential ticket candidates since Sarah Palin turned the GOP White House bid into a running Comedy Central riff. This election go-round it’s far worse than when Palin was on the ticket in 2008 and later made some soundings about a 2012 presidential bid. 

Obama’s SOTU Address: The End Equals the Beginning

Todd Steven Burroughs

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” That’s from Martin Luther King’s 1964 Nobel Prize acceptance speech. This is the King whose bust is in Obama’s Oval Office. This is the King the president paraphrases after bombing seven countries in as many years, which he did after a 2009 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in which he said as head of state, he could not follow King or Mahatma Gandhi alone.

How a 'President' Trump Will Probably Govern

Earl Ofari Hutchinson

So the question that once seemed absolutely ludicrous to think let alone ask is now a question that can be seriously asked and even to an extent answered. Just how would Trump govern? There’s little reason to think Trump is suited to patient, give-and-take negotiation and compromise to get his initiatives through Congress. His style is to bellow, bully, and harangue to get his way. As for the issues, Trump has been on the political scene long enough to have enough of a paper trail to piece together from his statements in debates and interviews and speeches a fairly accurate picture of what he will say and do on the big-ticket issues. 

Sometimes Only Donald Trump Can Trump Donald Trump

Sandip Roy

Put simply, Donald Trump, once the Clown Prince of American politics has become the Most Important Person of American politics today. Outrageous as he might be, he is not just setting the cat among the pigeons. He is the cat among the pigeons. He is setting the agenda and everyone else gets to react to it. As testimony to that, the Republican Party’s leaders, while trying to distance the party from Trump’s outrageousness, are nervous about going the full distance. 

Explaining Our Cautious, Caustic Congress

Jim Jaffe

Inevitably those whose power was constrained by these new rules gradually figured out ways to use them and at least partially reassert control.  As a result it is nearly impossible to make a credible Senate race in most states without a big bankroll, arguably returning control to those who selected Senators under the old system.  The initiative process, which spread to other states, has also been distorted by those with money who focus on parochial concerns while obliquely attempting to elect their candidates.  

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Republicans