President Donald Trump announced a new strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan last night. But before he got to the substance, he spent 481 words on his feelings about soldiers. When you hear words like these, your heart may stir, but ask yourself: would anyone ever say anything different? Am I being manipulated? The speech last…
I feel for Michael Surbaugh, Chief Scout Executive for the Boy Scouts of America. He got the thankless job of apologizing for Donald Trump’s remarks to the scouts’ Jamboree. But his padded and swaddled apology misses the mark. Even if a problem is not your fault, you are responsible for apologizing as briefly and clearly as…
The repeal of the Affordable Care Act has gone down to defeat. Democrats are cheering. Trump and Republicans have now failed at everything significant they’ve attempted, except for confirming a single Supreme Court Justice. Trump will now find success with a middle-class tax cut, an effort that will remake the political framework of Washington. Let’s…
At the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia yesterday, Trump gave a speech including remarks more appropriate for a political rally. To see why this matters, consider all the groups of scouts he rejected or excluded with his remarks. The Boy Scout organization has rules about politics. As an official Boy Scout blog on scouting…
The New York Times published a far-ranging and, in places, incomprehensible Oval Office interview with Donald Trump. It’s rambling and strange. As a result, there can be no definitive interpretation — like a Rorschach test, you see in President Trump’s words whatever you want to see. Here’s one interpretation — what I think I heard….
John McCain has an aggressive form of brain cancer. After 31 years of high-visibility leadership in the Senate, he’s due a lot of sympathy. The sincere and personal notes that his colleagues have written impressed me. The prognosis for McCain’s cancer is poor. Like many Americans, I’ve admired him for years. His heroism as a…
Reddit user “HanAssholeSolo” posted a meme video of Donald Trump beating up on a figure whose face is the CNN logo. Trump reposted it on Twitter. The original poster’s apology reveals how trolls think. Analysis of the troll’s self-serving apology Buzzfeed’s Brandon Wall took a screenshot of the Reddit poster’s apology and shared it on…
Josh from 2007: I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m talking to you ten years in the future. Josh 2017: Yup. I’m here to tell you that you were right about social media blowing up. Even politicians are using it. But it turns out that connecting a politician’s brain directly to millions of voters…
According to the Washington Post, FBI special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Donald Trump for obstruction of justice. The Post’s White House Bureau Chief Philip Rucker tweeted a picture of the Republican National Committee’s talking points to rebut the story. It’s a good case study in the difference between blowing smoke and actual counterarguments. Talking…