Feature stories on major topics, in which the author begins a multi-paragraph description of a person or scene before offering a substantive consideration of the topic, have today little use in newspapers. These stories are meant to set a scene, and perhaps evoke emotions in readers who are, the author presumes, indifferent or ignorant of…
Trump
Trump
The Myth of Trump as a Great Dealmaker
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Impeachment, Trump
The Trump Train and the Treason Track
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
CDA, Economy, Trump, WEDC, Wisconsin
Trumpism Brings Economic Decline
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It was supposed to be jobs, jobs, jobs for the WEDC and miniature versions of it like the Whitewater Community Development Authority. Gosh darn it, the former chairman of the Whitewater CDA even thanked (in person!) multimillionaire gerrymandered congressman F. James Sensenbrenner for part of the Trump tax bill. And yet, and yet, one reads…
Bad Ideas, Foreign Affairs, Sen. Ron Johnson, Trump
National TV Program Ridicules Ron Johnson’s Defense of Trump
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America, Congress, Elections, Federal Government, Foreign Affairs, Impeachment, Poll, Presidential race 2020, Sen. Ron Johnson, Trump, Wisconsin
Sure enough…
by JOHN ADAMS • • 5 Comments
Ron Johnson really is America’s Dumbest Senator™: MIDDLETON – U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Thursday there’s nothing improper about President Donald Trump’s call on Chinese officials to investigate his top political rival in his 2020 re-election bid. Trump extended the invitation Thursday to the foreign country as he faces impeachment over a similar request of the president of…
Foreign Affairs, Open Government, Trump
What else did Trump say on his call with Ukraine’s president?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Carol D. Leonnig, Craig Timberg, and Drew Harwell report Odd markings, ellipses fuel doubts about the ‘rough transcript’ of Trump’s Ukraine call: President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about…
Bad Ideas, Boosterism, Mendacity, Politics, Trump, Waste Digesters
Saying and Believing Anything
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Adam Serwer, writing on Twitter in response to a series of distortions from the conservative Federalist website, states plainly the truth of Trump-supporting lies: There is no incentive to correct because the targeted audience will believe anything pro-Trump they are told, whereas acknowledging error would signal weakness and insufficient devotion to the Great Leader. Yes,…
Disinformation, Mendacity, Propaganda, Putin, Trump
Kasparov on Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63), the former chess champion and longtime human rights activist, recently described the role of propaganda in creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt. The thread from Twitter is below (linked here from the first tweet) in the thread: As you watch Trump’s defenders lie, deflect, and distract today and in the coming weeks, remember…
America, Federal Government, Law, Trump
Hear or Read the Whistleblower Complaint
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Ethics, Mendacity, Trump
Reminder: Trump Admin Has History of Falsifying Documents
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Trump
Right & Necessary
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America, History, Liberty, Never Trump, Politics, Trump
After This Conflict Is Won
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
These last years have been difficult, and one can reasonably expect worse from Trumpism before that ideology is consigned – as it will be – to the political outer darkness. A necessary condition for optimism is an understanding of the present from which one can build a better future. (Local boosterism and babbittry are failures…