While a fellow traveler – however detestable – is merely someone who sympathizes with an adversarial foreign power, a fifth columnist is someone who actively cooperates – colludes, one might say – with a hostile foreign state. For all the talk of no collusion (styled as NO COLLUSION in a bigoted authoritarian’s tweets), Trump at…
Never Trump
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Mendacity, Misconduct, Never Trump, Trump, Trump-Russia, Unfit
‘A cancer on the presidency’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Attorney George Conway III writes Trump is a cancer on the presidency. Congress should remove him. Although I would describe Trump more broadly as a blight on the country, Conway’s assessment is spot on: So it turns out that, indeed, President Trump was not exonerated at all, and certainly not “totally” or “completely,” as he…
Bigotry, Immigration, Misconduct, Never Trump, Trump
Unforgotten, Unforgiven
by JOHN ADAMS •
What any given person thinks about Trump is hardly a source of useful criticism. The proper focus of criticism is Trump, His Inner Circle, Principal Surrogates, and Media Defenders and this includes Trumpism Down to the Local Level. Predictably, these Trumpists think that if they leave his employ, perhaps they might recover from the stain…
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Herrenvolk, Never Trump, Trump
What Never Trump Means
by JOHN ADAMS •
Those libertarians (as I am) and conservatives who declared themselves Never Trump (written on Twitter as #NeverTrump) are those who took that position when considering Trump’s career and his presidential campaign. On the ample record of Trump’s business career and political campaign, we found him unfit: a bigot, a would-be authoritarian, and an avowed friend…
Culture, Freedom of Speech, Never Trump, Resistance
The Middle Lane is a Dirt Road to Decay
by JOHN ADAMS •
Media critic Margaret Sullivan writes that The media feel safest in the middle lane. Just ask Jeff Flake, John Kasich and Howard Schultz: One of the supposed golden rules of journalism goes like this: “If everybody’s mad at your coverage, you must be doing a good job.” That’s ridiculous, of course, though it seems comforting. If…
Culture, Never Trump, Ocasio-Cortez, Politics
Why Won’t You Smile?
by JOHN ADAMS •
One can guess that libertarians oppose the anti-market economics of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. It’s odd, to me, though, how much time conservatives have spent complaining, critiquing, and analyzing that democratic socialist from New York. In those conservative critiques, however, one sees more than an economic or foreign policy disagreement: some of these conservatives are upset that…
Economy, Federal Government, Never Trump, Transportation, Trump
Commerce Slows
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update, Friday afternoon: Trump folds under pressure agrees to a three-week re-opening of the federal gov’t. Of his Rose Garden address this afternoon (one that I watched in full), Jennifer Rubin observes “[m]aybe this is part of an insanity defense for the Russia probe.” One reads that under the shutdown, interstate commerce now slows: Significant…
Kakistocracy, Never Trump, Presidential race 2016, Resistance, Trump, Unfit
Yet Go He Will…
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ted Koppel cautions Don’t expect Trump to go quietly: There is a disarming innocence to the assumption that whether by impeachment, indictment or a cleansing electoral redo in 2020, President Trump will be exorcised from the White House and that thereby he and his base will largely revert to irrelevance. Truthfully, there are few among the…
America, City, Federal Government, Fellow Traveler, Fifth Columnist, Local Government, Never Trump, Russia, Trump, Trump-Russia, Unfit
Trump-Russia Roundup
by JOHN ADAMS •
While the proper focus against Trumpism involves a zealous lawful effort against Trump and his leading operatives, there is also a problem of Trumpism down to the local level. In both cases, officials advancing Trumpism ignore the overwhelming evidence of his betrayal of our own people to the benefit of a hostile foreign power. As…
America, Never Trump, Putin, Russia, Trump, Trump-Russia
On Trump-Russia, Right from the Very Beginning
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embed from Getty Images Virginia Heffernan reports Early on, Trump-Russia obsessives were marginalized; they’re prophets now: “I felt like the guy in ‘Rear Window,’ ” David Corn, the coauthor of “Russian Roulette,” told me this week. Corn was referring to his affinity for James Stewart’s character, L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies, in Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece film. Jeff witnesses…
America, Elections, Freedom of Speech, Good Ideas, Law, Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump, Politics, Trump
Jennifer Rubin on ‘Three big ideas to bolster democracy’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jennifer Rubin writes of three ideas to bolster democracy (enhanced voting rights, independent and non-partisan justice, and robust speech rights): First, Republicans, in an effort to hang on to their declining electoral advantage based on white voters, have tried every trick in the book to limit voting by those they suspect will favor Democrats. Hence,…
City, Elections, Never Trump, Politics, Trump
Hyper-Local Politics is Finished (It’s Just That Not Everyone Sees it Yet)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Hyper-localism in politics has affected – and harmed – Whitewater and countless other small towns. The idea that there were better local standards on economics, open government, and politics than the best American standards was always a truly risible conceit. The best standards on these matters were always broad and wide. (See How Many Rights for…
43rd Assembly District, Authoritarianism, Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Immigration, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Never Trump, Politics, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
The ‘Republican’ Candidate’s Meet and Greet
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that the self-described Republican candidate for the 43rd Assembly District will hold a meet and greet next week at a private establishment in town. Good for him – free speech is a core political right. (He’s also scheduled to appear at a local candidate’s forum this week. See The First & Last Questions.) He’s a…
Bigotry, Law, Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump, Politics, Trump
Never Means Never
by JOHN ADAMS •
Among the vast numbers who oppose Trump, those who are libertarian or conservative have often – as I have – signaled that opposition as part of Never Trump. (On Twitter, this is often written with a hashtag, as #NeverTrump.) Funny, but even after years since Never Trump began (and many of us were opposed to…