OK, at first it was just a sly hint, a trickle of wishfulness, but it’s become a pretty serious subject of open discussion now, both on social media and on the street: How long do you think Trump will last as president? Some say he’s going to commit an apparently impeachable offense, and Congress will go after him. If that’s …
It did not go unreported that Kevin Cramer might run for Senate in 2018, but the news was largely lost in the fog of the scandalous AMC miniseries, “The Case of the White Pantsuits and Other White Outfits,” based on the true story of a primitive male, with a bad combover, and his faithful miniature poodle, Port, named for the …
We used to tell our children, “When you grow up, you could be president.” Now we know you don’t have to grow up. Many folks think I am focusing on political activities because I am a Democrat. The fact is, I consider myself an American. I’ve voted for Republican presidents as well as Democrats, since I try to select the …
Donald Trump delivered a 16-minute inaugural address January 20. Some have called it “the most divisive in American history.” I did not hear it — with Trump tone and delivery matter greatly — but on the page it certainly does not seem to me to be that divisive. Here are my thoughts about reading it quietly in my library. Donald …
I find it interesting that for eight years the anti-Obama legions kept their eyes open at all times for signs that Barack Obama was “an angry black man.” If at any time, he showed the slightest impatience or raised his voice above a certain level, or spoke in something that could be thought to resemble black street English, the conservative …
With all the news over the weekend, it is odd, that The Forum, the largest newspaper in North Dakota, paid no attention (at least through Monday) to Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, when she said a lie is “an alternative fact.” She was, of course, referring to the size of President Trump’s inauguration crowd and disputed the estimates published …
One who writes for the Fargo newspaper (not to be confused with Moorhead’s No. 1 publication, The Extra) had some sharp advice to citizens who have issues with laws being proposed in North Dakota. Apparently, he believes those who oppose some legislation coming before the North Dakota Legislature as a “waste of time” are typical groaners and usually “lightly informed.” His advice: …
“Orv, are you still fuming about not being invited to perform at the inauguration?” asks Stan. “You can still do that thing, right? Very entertaining, as I don’t recall. Was it a card trick? Was it an egg yoke? Hee hee.”” “I told you to shut up,” grouses Orville. “I’m busy drinking and thinking.” “That was three minutes ago, if …
Many people don’t know that POTUS is short for President of the United States. Well, it is … and for the current president-elect, we can shorten it even better: POS. (Since this is a family newspaper, use your imagination about what that’s short for.) After the election was over, I waited for Diaper Donnie to enter the world of adults. …
Well, hell, the Golden Retriever caught the Chevy. In less than a month, an unqualified senior citizen playboy, wife collector and renowned sex offender will become president of the United States. And I thought Millard Fillmore stuck in my craw. Russians playing games in our business won’t matter. It’s still going to happen. Obama is meting out punishment, but Trump, …
Lee Harvey Oswald would be proud. Not one, but a disturbing number of Americans, including Donald Trump, are choosing to believe Vladimir Putin over our intelligence agencies. Some even believe that the Russians did us a favor. Kneeling during the National Anthem causes a huge amount of angst among a swath of citizens, but siding with Russia in a case …
You know we live in very uncertain times. While reading this for the next few minutes, please take off your Democrat, Republican or Independent hat and consider what the recent election means to our children and their future. Of course, I am speculating here … but my speculation is based upon what I know, not what I think. For purposes …
“Hey Orv!” shouts Stan. Orville swallows the lime wedge previously floating harmlessly in his vodka gimlet. After almost wrapping up his coughing and gagging jag, he finds enough air, to hoarsely wheeze,” Gat dang it, you commie creep! Quit it with the sneaking up on people. Crimony.” “Who snuck?” objects Stanley. “Have you zero peripheral vision, you old blind goat? …
The Electoral College is with us forever. Barbara Boxer can introduce bills to abolish it until the cows come home, but ending it requires a constitutional amendment, which would require 37 state legislatures to approve it. At least 12 of those state legislatures would have to volunteer to reduce their impact in the presidential election by more than 50 percent. …
I knew he would win. I’ve known it since last fall when I heard two stories on NPR in the same week. One was on the use of language in the power of persuasion — a rhetorical feat Trump has mastered. The other story focused on how people turn to authoritative power when they are uncertain or scared. After hearing those …
To my friends who are feeling frightened and damaged by the election of Donald Trump to the presidency in 2016, I offer the following thoughts. First, the people have spoken. Virtually the entire American establishment —mainline politicians, the media, the major religious leaders, Hollywood, the pundits of both parties, former and current national security personnel, the diplomatic corps, the leaders …
By the time you read this, the world will probably have ended. Not that I’m against that. I am convinced that 65 million years ago, faced with an election between a T-Rex and a Velociraptor, all the other dinosaurs prayed for that sweet meteor of death to strike the planet. But since I will send this column out to newspapers …
I’m a little older than our two presidential candidates. Unlike many people I know, I really do watch the news as it relates to each of them and their spokespeople. I read the local newspapers, online stories by the national press and, last but not least, countless Facebook posts. I think Facebook has to be why the host of fact-checking …
As the election lurches toward us, I find myself in a deep sadness, even a depression. Probably Hillary Clinton is going to win. If she does, it will not give her a mandate or even a reasonably good chance of proving herself as president. She will be wounded from the moment she declares victory. If you think the conservatives did what …
By now, we all know that Donald Trump is a loose cannon. He says things he cannot possibly mean in order to whip his national constituency into a frenzy of xenophobia, islamophobia, race hatred, American-firstism and the zeal to depart 11 million to 15 million illegal immigrants. Every rational person now has to decide whether President Trump would try to …
To this day, I have no idea about Dad’s political leanings. When you run a business in a small town, you don’t want to give people a reason to find another place to do business, he said. Dad’s response to political comments was, “Oh? Is that so?” A well-chosen phrase that suggests both surprise and agreement to someone immersed in …
Grand Old Party Born March 20, 1854 Died October 9, 2016 Epitaph: “Victim of Cowardice” Dearly beloved, we are called here to mourn the passing of the Republican Party, a tragic victim of cowardice. Do not be fooled by the dead-eyed zombie shuffling toward the election. Its heart stopped working long ago. A party that knew right from wrong, people …
What do evangelical leaders Ralph Reed and Tony Perkins have in common with Roman Catholic Bishop Samuel Aquila — now bishop in Colorado, previously in Fargo? Notwithstanding Donald Trump’s recent lewd, debasing sexual comments and behavior, all three of them endorse him for president. To be sure, many evangelical congregations have condemned Trump and withdrawn support for him. But Aquila …
For me, about the only good thing to come out of the whole sorry, sordid Donald Trump/Billy Bush/”Access Hollywood” tape affair is that I have new respect for Nancy O’Dell. O’Dell is the anchor of “Entertainment Tonight.” She is clearly talented, classy and — even by Donald Trump standards — beautiful. But until this past weekend, I’ve always been a bit ambivalent toward her, good at her …
The conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton won the first presidential debate Monday. I was less certain. She was clearly better at talking policy, but I doubt that she really drew many undecided voters to her side. If she had been debating an inspired or charismatic opponent, she would come off as dull and uninspiring. My own study of American …
Once upon a time, there was a legislator who had to report campaign donations by amount and by donor … one who had to disclose how his funds were spent … one who would explain why a donor was not creating a conflict of interest. Once upon a time, this same legislator was bound by a code of ethics. It …
It’s time for the GOP, both nationally and in North Dakota, to invest in some funding and common sense so that they can get their elevator out of the basement in a 10-story building. Der Fuhrer Trump once again showed his detachment from common sense when he released the names and photos of his nine financial advisers. All of them …
It is done! Last week, I gave my unsolicited opinions on the clown show that was the Republican convention. I promised to do the same after the Democrats met. I have to admit: It was more than I anticipated. The Democrats, whether you like it or not, were organized, prompt, factual, entertaining, efficient and “told the truth.” Now, for all …
Robert F. Kennedy once said, “All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don’t. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.” I don’t have the date he made that statement, but it certainly does ring true today, in view of all recent …
Donald Trump, the media talking heads and the media in general have their collective heads up their behinds. While this might seem a little harsh, I can’t use the language I would like to use. Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow of MSNBC have done their homework. Here’s what I’m talking about. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, aka “the notorious RBG,” expressed …
Have you ever just turned on the TV and watched — really watched — how the cable news channels discuss issues? I’ve been paying close attention lately, and I sure hope our youth of today are doing the same … and see exactly how the supposed “adults in the room” go about it. Intelligent discussion and debate? Not-t-t! The first …
The press is in a pickle. By their own guidelines for what constitutes news, journalists have to report on Donald Trump, aka The Donald, or, as I like to think of him, Big D. But every time they do, he gets more free exposure for his message. Even so, the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States has been beating up …
Once again, I set off to write an article, and once again, I was so distracted by something on TV that I had to leave the room to finish this in silence. Silence — a term Donald Trump wouldn’t recognize if it bit him in his bum. I thought I had some great ideas. I wrote my first draft and …
It’s becoming difficult to determine whether many people are the new “normal,” bigoted, uninformed, fully informed, hateful, uncaring or just plain stupid. I’m referring to the uproar surrounding the U.S. attorney general taking action to enforce the constitutional rights of transgender people. Unlike the uninformed believe, being transgender is an act of birth, the same as being gay or lesbian. …
Every time I start to think that the politicians at the national level can do no more “stupid,” they pull another rabbit out of their hat full of “dumb.” I’d like to share examples of this from both political parties, but it’s the Republicans who just can’t leave well enough alone. Each day, they make the Democrats in Congress and …
My wife was a very happy woman last week. If you’ve been paying attention to what I’m doing with this column, you may remember I did a very long column. Right after I finished the article, I came down with a bug that, among other things, took my voice away. One and one-half weeks of silence, as best that term …
You can’t make these things up. We live in Edina, a Minneapolis suburb in a 392-unit condo complex. My husband, a retired Mayo Clinic administrator of 32 years, is ever conscious of people’s tendencies to throw away perfectly useful items and rescues them from the dumpster. When he first did this a few years ago, I questioned his motives despite …
To quote the ’90s dance music group C+C Music Factory, which quoted former television talk show host Arsenio Hall, there are just some things that make you go “hmmm.” (I know, I know. At some point, I’m really going to have to start updating my references. But I digress.) These things that make you go hmmm are things that are …
Can Donald Trump keep it up? When will he implode? What explains his rise in the polls? How do we stop him? The pundits wring their hands. Josh Marshall thinks Trump is a doofus who uses sophisticated military strategy. Peggy Noonan, who penned the phrase “1000 points of light” for George H. W. Bush, declares Trump to be a sign of molecules …
CBS said it, so it must be true: Donald Trump now leads the rest of the dozen-odd Republicans who’ve announced their presidential ambitions. And I do mean “dozen-odd.” An implied horde of Americans on the political right are vigorously bobbing their heads as he expounds, pounding the bar and invoking the time-honored rebel blessing, “an honest man who really speaks …
