American Politics and the World… Post #149: Fighting Back 7 Feb 201727 Feb 2017 Since Inauguration Day, the streets of US cities have been filled with protesters. Major demonstrations are being planned to follow up on the hugely successful Women’s March. Environmental, science, human…
American Politics and the World… Post #148: Bannon’s Coup 31 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 Stephen K. Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief strategist, has been elevated to the Principals Committee of the National Security Council, the top tier of national-security policymakers.* It is the first…
American Politics and the World… Post #147: Fake News? Fake President! 29 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 The Donald Trump “way” is to shout foul any time he is criticized, for as we have discovered, this man is innately incapable of acknowledging error, much less apologizing. The…
American Politics and the World… Post #145: Trump’s America—and Ours 21 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 Abraham Lincoln once said: “My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.” Donald J. Trump’s…
American Politics and the World… Post #144: Donald Trump’s Lies and Team Trump’s Headaches 19 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 We are all aware that Donald Trump lies—repeatedly, and without remorse. That is outrageous enough; but equally outrageous is the insistence of some of his handlers that truth no longer…
American Politics and the World… Post #143: Donald Trump’s Fake News Conference 12 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 The media waited with baited breath for Donald Trump’s first news conference in 167 days. But I’m sure many journalists knew what was coming: a show, orchestrated by The Apprentice…
American Politics and the World… Post #142: Unfit to Command 9 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 During the presidential campaign a significant number of former senior foreign policy and national security officials from both parties spoke in no uncertain terms about Donald Trump’s qualifications to…
American Politics and the World… Post #141: Can Donald Trump Be Contained? 5 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 There’s just no getting around it: the president-elect of the United States is a pathological liar. He is also a terribly insecure individual who is desperate for attention and spiteful…
American Politics and the World… Post #140: The Diplomacy of Donald J. Trump 27 Dec 201627 Feb 2017 Oblivious to Tradition and Good Sense Those of us who appreciate the unconventional have to have second thoughts after watching Donald J. Trump in action. All the more so when…
American Politics and the World… Post #137: The National Interest and the Trump Interest 21 Nov 201627 Feb 2017 As the Trump administration takes shape, one fact seems unassailable: We have an unprecedented situation in which, step by step, a president’s business interests—past, present, and future—are inseparable from the…
American Politics and the World… Post #135: Our Worst Nightmare Has Come to Pass 9 Nov 201627 Feb 2017 The American people voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by nearly 800,000 votes.* But Trump was right: the system is rigged, meaning that thanks to our outdated and illogical…
American Politics and the World… Post #133: Left Unsaid at the Third Debate 21 Oct 201627 Feb 2017 Donald Trump waited one day before delivering the punch line to his sad joke, “I will keep you in suspense” about respecting the election results. “Unless I win,” he said…
American Politics and the World… Post #132: America’s Dangerous Moment 18 Oct 201627 Feb 2017 On the eve of the third and (thank God!) final presidential debate, the main item still in question is not who will win the election but whether Donald Trump will…
American Politics and the World… Post #131: The Final Days of Donald Trump 9 Oct 201627 Feb 2017 Heading Into the Second Debate Until a few weeks ago, historians of the US presidency were fixed on Donald Trump’s meteoric and unpredictable rise. Now they will have to focus…
American Politics and the World… Post #130: Notes from the First Debate 28 Sep 201627 Feb 2017 Now that a few days have passed since the first Clinton-Trump debate, I want to offer a few evaluations. Prior to the debate, pundits said that Trump needed to moderate…
American Politics and the World… Post #126: How Trump Deals 16 Aug 201627 Feb 2017 The revelation from a New York Times investigation that Donald Trump’s chief campaign adviser, Paul Manafort, was on the take with the former pro-Russian Ukraine president should come as no…
American Politics and the World… Post #124: Break-in: The Kremlin-Trump Connection 26 Jul 201627 Feb 2017 Richard Nixon had “The Plumbers.” Donald Trump, it seems, has the Russians—either the FSB (Federal Security Service, formerly the KGB), the GRU (military intelligence), or some pro-Moscow outside group. Nixon…
American Politics and the World… Post #123: Donald Trump—A “Unique and Present Danger” 23 Jul 201627 Feb 2017 “There can be no prosperity without law and order.” If you saw Donald Trump delivering those words—he repeated “law and order” three more times—you had every reason to think you…
American Politics and the World… Post #118: Cowgirl Diplomacy? Foreign Policy Under Hillary Clinton 24 May 201627 Feb 2017 America’s mainstream media, ever attracted to the splashy rather than the serious, has a new topic to occupy the time until Election Day: President Trump. What will he do first? …
American Politics and the World… Post #113: Nuclear Insecurity 5 Apr 201627 Feb 2017 The fourth Nuclear Security Summit, hosted by President Obama, has just ended. The focus was on terrorism, a perfectly reasonable topic. But the larger question, not taken up by the…
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 