BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Why is it that the nation’s news anchors/commentators and assorted political pundits don’t seem to possess the journalistic honesty, intestinal fortitude and/or linguistic accuracy to properly tag Trump as “America’s Electoral College President” or, say, “America’s non-popularly elected President” or, maybe, “America’s red states’ President” or, how about, “America’s white malcontents’ President” or, even, “America’s lesser-educated citizens’ President”? Why no verbal asterisk for the illegitimate Mr. Trump? I mean, after all, he LOST the popular/one-man-one-vote Presidential election by some 3 MILLION VOTES … that’s MILLIONS with a capital “M,” folks! I certainly don’t think these […]
Q&A: With Hampton Sides Author Of “Hellhound On His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the International Hunt for His Assassin”
Hampton Sides is an acclaimed bestselling author and a National Magazine Award nominated journalist. He won the PEN USA Award for nonfiction and the 2002 Discover Award from Barnes and Noble for Ghost Soldiers, a historical narrative following the rescue of WWII Bataan Death March survivors that was later adapted into the Miramax feature film The Great Raid. His next book, Blood and Thunder, was adapted into an episode of the Public Broadcasting Service’s American Experience series. Hellhound On His Trail, is a taut and thrilling account of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 65-day manhunt […]
JANE MAYER: Russkies Said ‘Nyet’ To Sec. Romney
NEW YORKER: One subject that Steele is believed to have discussed with Mueller’s investigators is a memo that he wrote in late November, 2016, after his contract with Fusion had ended. This memo, which did not surface publicly with the others, is shorter than the rest, and is based on one source, described as “a senior Russian official.” The official said that he was merely relaying talk circulating in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but what he’d heard was astonishing: people were saying that the Kremlin had intervened to block Trump’s initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR: New York Times reporter Scott Shane discusses special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russians who allegedly participated in a complex social media operation to undermine the 2016 election. MORE
WORTH REPEATING: Thoughts & Prayers
“Prayers without accordant action are silent lies told to oneself, heard by no God, amounting to nothing. Action is the language of truth, the prayers of the Saints.” — MARK RUFFALO
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
Illustration by PAUL PICARELLI FRESH AIR: Though six months have passed since Steve Bannon left his position as White House chief strategist, he continues to follow the drama inside the Trump administration. Journalist Joshua Green says the right-wing provocateur is particularly attuned to the #MeToo movement, which he has dubbed “the matriarchy.” Green notes that Bannon sees the movement as “an existential threat” not just to Trump, but also to Republicans in Congress.”Bannon, despite his many flaws, is a very shrewd analyst of American politics,” Green says. “And what he seemed so upset about was the power of this rising […]
THE RECKONING: Mueller Is Coming
WIRED: President Trump claimed in a tweet over the weekend that the controversial Nunes memo “totally vindicates” him, clearing him of the cloud of the Russia investigation that has hung over his administration for a year now. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, if anything, the Mueller investigation appears to have been picking up steam in the past three weeks—and homing in on a series of targets. Last summer, I wrote an analysis exploring the “known unknowns” of the Russia investigation—unanswered but knowable questions regarding Mueller’s probe. Today, given a week that saw immense sturm und drang […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: In Mueller We Trust
Illustration by TRACIE CHING via POLITICO FRESH AIR: As the investigation into the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election forges on, Robert Mueller, the Justice Department special counsel leading the investigation, has managed to stay largely out of public view. Journalist Garrett Graff says that is in keeping with Mueller’s personality: “This is not someone who in any way has tried to grab the spotlight, but instead has kept his head down and worked hard throughout his career.” Graff’s 2011 book, The Threat Matrix, explores the transformation of the FBI under Mueller’s leadership. Appointed by President George […]
NUNES MEMO: The House’s Un-American Activities
POLITICO: The FBI issued an extraordinary statement on Wednesday, pushing back on the release of a partisan congressional memo alleging the bureau used improper evidence to obtain legal permission to surveil a Trump campaign adviser. We’ve never seen anything like it. “[T]he FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it,” the bureau said. “As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.” The memo, written by Congressman Devin Nunes and barreling toward public circulation at the president’s […]
COMMENTARY: The State Of Our Disunion
BY CLAIR MALENEY Listening to the president’s State of the Union speech last night, I was (once again) struck by two things: his perversion of inclusive language to divide and alienate and his warped notion of politics as a high-testosterone blood sport intended to hurt and humiliate anyone who disagrees with him, and thereby is his sworn enemy. Trump has always had a cruel way with phrases. Consider the closing from last night’s speech: “As long as we are proud of who we are and what we are fighting for, there is nothing we cannot achieve. As long as we […]
WORTH REPEATING: American Hustle
THE ATLANTIC: Shortly before the announcement of his job inside Trump’s campaign, Manafort touched base with former colleagues to let them know of his professional return. He exuded his characteristic confidence, but they surprised him with doubts and worries. Throughout his long career, Manafort had advised powerful men—U.S. senators and foreign supreme commanders, imposing generals and presidents-for-life. He’d learned how to soothe them, how to bend their intransigent wills with his calmly delivered, diligently researched arguments. But Manafort simply couldn’t accept the wisdom of his friends, advice that he surely would have dispensed to anyone with a history like his […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR: If watching President Trump and listening to American political discourse these days makes you feel something’s gone wrong, our guests today will tell you it’s not your imagination. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent years studying what makes democracies healthy and what leads to their collapse. And they see signs that American democracy is in trouble. In a new book, they argue that Trump has shown authoritarian tendencies and that many players in American politics are discarding long-held norms that have kept our political rivalries in balance and prevented the kind of bitter conflict that can lead […]
SMUS: The Sh*tholing Of The American Presidency
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY No doubt this nation does need to be made “great,” (as if we were ever really and truly “great,” but I will grant you that our WWII participation and follow-up Marshall Plan achievements were exemplary exceptions) but for reasons you are about to be made fully aware of, I am extremely reluctant to add the word “again” to any such plea, plan or plaudit. One thing we surely DO NOT need — nor should we EVER become dependent upon — is a bigoted, racist, Russia-hugging, Nazi/fascist-embracing, thieving, bankruptcy reliant, altogether phony, traitorous, money laundering, pathologically […]