March 7, 2017

Wiretapping Trump’s Reality Detachment, One Tweet At A Time

In a series of reckless tweets over the weekend, President Trump accused President Obama of tapping his phone at Trump Tower. “How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy,” said Trump via his favorite form of communication. Of course Trump offered no evidence, and worse, it seems he received the “intel” from Breitbart News and the cranial hemorrhage conservative radio host, Mark Levin.

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March 5, 2017

ACLU: Transgender 101: A Glossary Of Terms

On February 22, 2017, President Trump directed the Education and Justice departments to revoke guidance prohibiting transgender discrimination in public schools. Under the now defunct guidance, schools could not bar students from using bathrooms and locker rooms matching their sexual identity. Transgender people already face discrimination, harassment, violence and worse, and this move by the Trump administration effectively allows schools to legally discriminate against transgender students, singling them out in an environment that should instead foster inclusiveness.

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March 1, 2017

Counterview: Trump’s Cynical Exploitation Of Navy SEAL’s Wife

During President Trump’s congressional address on Tuesday night, he offered a tribute to William “Ryan” Owens, the Navy SEAL killed in a raid in Yemen, a raid Trump approved at a dinner that included his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Owen’s wife Carryn, seated next to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, was seen looking up to the ceiling in tears while applause carried on for several minutes.

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February 28, 2017

End The White House Press Briefing

Last week when Sean Spicer expelled CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and others, apart from the habitual antics of a juvenile administration, perhaps it was a harbinger of a new post-briefing era. While this administration’s anti-First Amendment frolicking is repulsive, it could just be President Trump and Sean Spicer did us all a favor. I say we end the White House press briefing.

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February 27, 2017

Will Trump’s War On The News Media Work?

With President Trump’s “fake news” crusade now turned up to eleven, we are left little choice but to assume it is part of a broader de-legitimizing strategy. And strategy is the job of Steve Bannon, Trump’s White House Chief Strategist. Bannon told the New York Times in January that the “media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while.” Bannon was talking about how the media was wrong about the 2016 election, never mind that the polls were not all that far off from the popular vote tally. “The media here is the opposition party,” said Bannon in the Times interview. “They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.” If it is a blueprint, Trump’s anti-media bombast is a plan likely architected by Steve Bannon.

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February 26, 2017

Fox News Seeded Trump’s ‘Fake News’ Paranoia

The Fox News and conservative talk radio war against the mainstream media seeded Donald Trump’s “fake news” paranoia. There is nothing new about politicians going after the news media, but Donald Trump takes this time-honored practice to an absurd level made possible by his uniquely narcissistic personality. When it comes to what people say about him, Trump has an uncontrollable obsession. And now he has a new tool for his bravado, anything less than flattery is “fake news.”

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February 24, 2017

Steve Bannon Vows ‘Deconstruction Of The Administrative State’

The shadowy figure pulling the strings within Donald Trump’s White House, Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon, appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday. He vowed the Trump administration would work toward the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” In other words, unwinding regulations that exist to protect Americans. Little things like consumer financial protection, a clean environment, and anti-discrimination, to name a few.

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February 24, 2017

Are Trump Voters Irredeemable?

Reflecting on Trump voters in the midst of Donald Trump’s presidential hell-scape, my mind ping-pongs between ridicule and bewilderment. Do we risk reinforcing the notion of liberal arrogance by saying Trump voters are irredeemable? And if we already believe they are a lost cause, does it even matter? I’m not exactly sure where I’ll end up, but I’m always seeking levelheaded arguments, meaning a degree of compassion for Trump voters might yet be conceivable.

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February 21, 2017

Trump’s Shrinking Malignancy

It might not feel like it right now, but President Donald Trump is a symptom of a shrinking malignancy in America. This is what we must remember as we move forward. In hindsight we should have expected a backlash in response to Barack Obama’s historic presidency, especially in a nation with much work to do on race relations. That malignancy wasn’t going to fade away without a fight.

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