From the Left
/Politics
'The Message' and The Interview
On Sept. 30, bestselling author Ta-Nehisi Coates appeared on the "CBS Mornings" show to promote his book "The Message," which is a one-sided critique of Israel as an apartheid state. The book compares Israel to the "Jim Crow South" and calls it out as the "one place on the planet -- under American patronage -- that resembled the world that my ...Read more
What Matters
Bob Woodward's new book, "War," has what we have come to expect as the usual number of blockbuster revelations, proving once again his skill at loosening the lips of those close to power. My favorite is the story that in the midst of drastic shortages at home and abroad, Donald Trump was sending Covid tests off to his authoritarian buddy in ...Read more
Contempt for Democracy
The latest filing by Special Counsel Jack Smith makes clear that Donald Trump and his aides had nothing but contempt for democracy in his efforts in 2020 to subvert the results of a democratic election.
Three days before the election, Person 1, someone who completely matches the biography of Steve Bannon, said that Trump would declare victory...Read more
A Good Enough Debate
J.D. Vance is a smooth talker and a far more disciplined debater than the man he is running with. He knows how to evade answering a question, how to sound more reasonable than he really is, and how to stick to a plan and stay on-script. He made the case that Donald Trump literally forgot all about, notwithstanding his aides having previewed it...Read more
Trump's Antisemitism
At a donor event last week with Miriam Adelson, the widow of Las Vegas casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, Donald Trump promised to be the best friend Jews have ever had in the White House. The event was entitled "Fighting Antisemitism in America." This is what Trump said:
"My promise to Jewish Americans is this: With your vote, I will be ...Read more
Demeaning Women
"I am your protector. I want to be your protector ... you will no longer be abandoned, lonely or scared. You will no longer be in danger. You're not going to be in danger any longer."
That's Donald Trump talking, the man who was found liable for sexual assault by a jury of his peers and ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages -- now ...Read more
The Mixed and Muddled Results of Banning Affirmative Action
In the arguments before the Supreme Court on affirmative action in college admissions, proponents of affirmative action claimed that the number of Blacks admitted to selective colleges and universities would plummet absent affirmative action. And opponents of affirmative action claimed that the number of Asian Americans would increase ...Read more
The Blame Game
The blame game is in full swing, and Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, are the ones using inflammatory rhetoric to fan the flames. "He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it," Trump said of the gunman hiding on his golf course. "Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to ...Read more
Does Donald Trump Really Believe He Won the Debate?
Ever since he walked into the "spin room" at the conclusion of Tuesday night's debate, Donald Trump has been claiming that he won the debate. Does he really believe that? Are his advisers so cowed, or delusional themselves, that they are feeding his own delusions? And what does that say about them -- and him?
The overnight polls -- the ...Read more
Where Is America?
Is America so angry that they will vote for an undisciplined liar who vows to turn back the clock?
Or is the country ready to turn the clock on negativity and polarization and take a chance on a new leader promising to bring about change for the middle class?
Right now, the answer is that America is divided.
We know exactly who Donald Trump...Read more
How Kamala Can Win the Debate
The stakes could not be higher. Tens of millions of people will be watching, hopefully including those who (like me with baseball) tune in just in time for the World Series. Kamala Harris has to do two things: fill in the blanks in her own platform; and let Trump be Trump.
It's hard not to like what you see with Kamala Harris. Since she ...Read more
Back to School
"Welcome to MIT!" the flyers being handed out to incoming students announce, next to a drawing of Tim the Beaver, MIT's mascot. The flyers go on to comment on the conflict in the Middle East and the State of Israel in particular, and they list more than 20 additional resources.
One of the "resources" they list is the Mapping Project, a ...Read more
The Definition of Kamala Harris
What Kamala Harris has managed to do in a month is totally redefine herself in the eyes of American voters. She went from being a mostly disapproved of vice president to being a positively viewed candidate in the space of four weeks. What it proves is what I've suspected all along: that the disapproval of her was not deeply rooted. It was ...Read more
She Nailed It
Kamala Harris did exactly what she needed to do. She introduced herself to the American people. She addressed the most important issues facing our country. She drew sharply the contrast with Donald Trump, a small and unserious man who is a serious danger to American freedoms. She displayed the force and command that qualifies her to be ...Read more
The Obama Magic Can't Change a Close Election
It was that kind of night. The Obama Magic was on prime display.
Warning the country of the kind of attack that they should expect Kamala Harris will be on the receiving end of, Michelle Obama said:
"My husband and I sadly know a little something about this. For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. ...Read more
Beyond Boring
Donald Trump, with his familiar rants and raves, is definitely boring. But it's beyond that.
He is a man who is out of control. He often sounds demented and divorced from reality, raising the question of whether he really is suffering from progressive dementia. It certainly sounds like it.
For weeks now, his aides and allies have been urging...Read more
Religious Freedom on Campus
"Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating."
So wrote Judge Mark C. Scarsi in issuing a preliminary injunction this week to three Jewish students who sued...Read more
Crazy
Donald Trump is clearly flailing. He has reportedly taken to complaining about his campaign, which candidates tend to do when they are looking for someone to blame. He is, in the words of The Washington Post, "steaming" at what has happened to him. This is what he posted on Truth Social on Tuesday afternoon:
"What are the chances that Crooked ...Read more
A Safe and Smart Choice
From my point of view, it was the best night of the 1988 general election campaign. It was the night of the vice presidential debate. With a single comment, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, the Democratic nominee for vice president, skewered Sen. Dan Quayle, his Republican counterpart. "I knew Jack Kennedy," he said. "Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. And...Read more
'Donald Being Donald'
In her 2019 memoir, Kamala Harris wrote, "My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters. She knew her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women."
As she did, when she dismissed Donald Trump's unbelievable attack on her ...Read more