Mulling over President Trump’s mental health has become a national preoccupation, with commentators from Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski to politicians like Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy all eager to weigh in on the issue. But one group of activists hope that their words will hold a little more weight and speed up Trump’s departure […]
Blog_Post
Posted inTAP
Neo-fascism in the U.S and Deadlock
Neo-fascism in the U.S., under Trump, has produced one kind of political deadlock, in which Congress is often stalemated, unwilling to address real problems, and occasionally the right simply steamrolls the opposition, as in the case of the emerging tax bill. In Europe, the rise of the far right produces a different sort of deadlock—governing […]
Posted inTAP
McCain Supports Tax Bill
With John McCain’s announcement this afternoon that he will support the grotesque tax bill now before the Senate, the odds that the bill will pass have improved significantly. In its (and McCain’s) defense, the bill does address one glaring deficiency under which the United States suffers: insufficient inequality. Today, our country still lags behind Mexico, […]
Posted inTAP
What the Tax Bill Says About Mainstream Republicans
Among the many awful things about the tax bill now greased for passage is what it tells us about allegedly mainstream Republicans. Despite their supposed contempt for Trump, one by one they are falling in line—being bought off by last-minute revisions in the bill, most of which will make it even worse, like more tax […]
Posted inTAP
Betsy DeVos Silent on Tax Cut
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has never shown herself to be a shrinking violet, but her silence as the Republican tax cut bill slithers its way through Congress is worth noting. Consider all the bill does for—or more precisely, against—both students and teachers: It ends schoolteachers’ ability to deduct up to $250 for their expenses incurred […]
Posted inTAP
GOP Secret Weapon—Wavering Democrats
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 […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Republicans’ Leninist Respect for Democracy
The Republican Party is the B-team of politics. The B stands for Bolshevik. They strike even before the iron is hot, partly because they fear it won’t stay hot for long, partly because they know how unpopular their moves are, and partly because they believe in the exercise of raw power. The Republican commandos are […]
Posted inCivil Rights in America
Alabama: One More Assault on Voting Rights
Just in case we needed one more thumb on the scale of today’s Alabama Senate election, how about this: The Alabama Supreme Court last night inserted itself to block a lower court ruling requiring election officials to preserve ballots, in case of challenges to voter suppression or even a just plain recount. In Alabama, about […]
Posted inTAP
“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 […]
Posted inTAP
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 […]
