The press coverage has played the tax bill as a steep climb for the Republicans, but we should also pay attention to a possible GOP secret weapon—wavering Democrats. Three Democrats facing re-election in states that Trump carried by large margins have yet to commit firmly against the bill. They would be Joe Manchin of West […]
TAP
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“Hey, Turkey!”
How did “turkey” become a derogatory term? The turkey, after all, is not the most ungainly of God’s creatures, not if you contemplate anteaters or right-wing talk show hosts. The answer, as is the case for many such American slang usages, lies buried in those library stacks that host a collection of the back issues […]
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Better a child molester than a Democrat. So says our president.
Furthermore, Trump declares, “He totally denies it.” Well, that should settle it. Just like Putin. Just like Trump himself, when it comes to sexually assaulting women, or any other convenient lie he cares to tell. There is a poetic justice in the way Trump has recklessly inserted himself into the Alabama Senate election and the […]
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Rupert Murdoch: Troublesome Aussie
Right-wingers occasionally ask people on the left if there are any immigrants who’ve done such terrible things that they should be deported. To which I think we lefties are obliged to reply: Of course there are. I can think of one immigrant who has devoted himself with a single-minded fury to eroding democratic processes, stoking […]
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How Else Might We Use $1.5 Trillion?
The Republicans plan to spend about $1.5 trillion over ten years to finance their tax cuts, mostly for corporations and the rich. How else might we use $1.5 trillion? Here are three ways: First, provide debt forgiveness for most college loans after ten years of repayment, and less for people who are working in a […]
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The Groper in Chief Reigns Undisturbed
With Al Franken added to the list of gropers and Bill Clinton’s sins being revisited, this overdue reckoning for millennia of male sexual predation rings hollow as long as the Groper in Chief reigns undisturbed. Imagine: one case after another being subjected to intense public scrutiny and shaming, while Donald Trump careens on, unmolested so […]
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It’s Judgment Day in the House
It’s Judgment Day in the House, which is scheduled to vote today on its version of the Republican tax reform, while the Senate vote may be upon us soon as well. If nothing else, the squalid deliberations leading up to the vote have shown the historic link of the GOP to corporate America is all […]
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A Heartening Upsurge in Authentic Grassroots Groups
The unmistakable wave of revulsion against Donald Trump includes a heartening upsurge in authentic grassroots groups, with names like Flippable, Run for Something, and a dozen more. It suggests that our Constitution will survive even Trump, and it represents a healing of American democracy. But the wave is imperiled by an undertow of other groups […]
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Inaugural Post
Today, the Prospect’s daily email inaugurates a new feature: our “On TAP” blog posts by two of our editors. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we’ll be including in our daily emails a new blog post, under the heading “Kuttner on TAP,” by Prospect Co-founder and Co-editor Bob Kuttner. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and the occasional Friday […]