September 26, 2017

The Trump arcana

Donald Trump is perhaps the most visible and discussed person in the world today, and yet his presidency and his politics remain a mystery to most both here and (especially) abroad. This paradox is heightened by the apparent fact that Mr. Trump is...

August 10, 2017

Irony of ironies: Leftists got what they wished for

The biggest political irony today is that the generations who protested and opposed the Vietnam War, decried the industrial establishment, called for accelerated social change, and extolled popular democracy are now upset because ...

March 10, 2017

The greatest threat to the free press is an arrogant media establishment

There are numerous complaints being made these days that the Trump administration is a threat to the First Amendment, which protects a free press in the U.S. The complaint is misdirected.  It is true that President Trump has been repetit...

January 15, 2017

The 'News' Media as We Knew It Is Finished

I don't want to shock anyone, even those who already know there is something quite awry in the contemporary news media, but I have come to realize that it is not merely a temporary condition that will soon pass away, and that the...

November 22, 2016

So go 'Minnewisowa' and the Great Lakes

A political realignment takes more than one election.  The 2016 election was close, the losing candidate did win the popular vote, and only one region truly switched its electoral votes from recent  patterns. That region included the tr...

September 29, 2016

Ronald Trump versus Hillary Mondale?

To understand why Donald Trump probably won the first TV debate, it is necessary to revisit comments I made several days ago about the existence of two American English languages and those who speak them. I contended that one of those la...

September 10, 2016

'Minnewisowa' is back in play

The electoral college superstate of "Minnewisowa" (first named by me in 2004) is suddenly in play in the 2016 presidential contest. This superstate, composed of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, has a tradition of voting as a bloc...

September 2, 2016

Who Will Vote in November?

The key factor in any election is almost always who will turn out to vote. Pollsters usually have two categories of potential voters with which to measure anticipated voter sentiment.  The first is registered voters (RVs), and the s...

July 2, 2016

Polls? For now, ignore them

If you begin to read an article that’s based primarily on poll results, my advice is to stop reading and go on to something else. My reasoning is based on the now irrefutable evidence that political public opinion polls in competit...

May 22, 2016

The mutiny of the masses

The Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset  wrote many brilliant books before his death in 1955, but his most famous book still is pertinent almost a century after it was written in 1928.  Its title is The Revolt of the Masses, and it chr...

May 7, 2016

Donald Trump's GOP

The nomination of Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee in Cleveland in July, and his possible election in November, will change American politics indelibly. First of all, it will change the demographics of the Republican Party, late...

December 18, 2015

Trump's real predecessor

Donald Trump's real predecessor in American history was not P.T. Barnum, as some have suggested, but someone in the same line of work who also lived in the early 19th century and became a household name. Dan Rice was born Daniel Macl...

December 4, 2015

Minnewisowa looking competitive for Republicans in 2016

The term “Minnewisowa” as a political megastate made its first appearance during the presidential election of  2004. It was the re-election year for President George W. Bush, and the race was going to be close.  Living i...

September 30, 2015

GOP candidates missing the Minnesota boat

Republican presidential candidates are coming to Minnesota this year, but they don't seem to looking for votes.  Perhaps it is because of the Gopher State's reputation as one of the bluest (most liberal) states, and because the state has...

August 24, 2015

The Most Underestimated Man in DC?

The most underestimated man in Washington, D.C. has a very powerful position, and in an era of political stalemate in the nation’s capital, he has accomplished a relatively great deal.  Nevertheless, his political opponents try to dis...

August 11, 2015

Ignore the poll numbers: Trump's star will fade

As I have been suggesting for some time, the first Republican debate has begun the more serious stage of the 2016 GOP presidential race.  Donald Trump has provided a mixture of entertainment and self-indulgence prior to the curtain going up, but...

November 28, 2014

A Party of Very Old Men and Women?

As a person now of many accumulated  years, I am not one to denigrate anyone being fully active in the senior stage of his career, but I cannot help but observe that one of the nation’s two major political parties is now being run, an...