Political words are meaningless. They’re powerful. But meaningless. Democracy, patriotism, fascism, socialism, American, homeland, heartlamd, the flag, identity politics, freedom, liberty. All of them. Political actors work to fill these words with meaning and, in turn, motivate people to follow so that they can implement their version of what the words mean. (This isn’t a […]
So, Donald Trump did not spend 90 minutes calling for a civil war last night. That was nice. After the assassination attempt, his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention – and the entire week – easily could have become a literal call to arms. (Literally literally, not figuratively literally.) Instead last night, we got […]
How has your day been? Today, going about daily life, it seemed pretty normal for me. Work, some errands. Keeping various family needs going in the right direction. There was some construction at one point where there isn’t usually, but the lanes are well-marked, so it was okay. Meanwhile, in the political sphere, we’re supposedly […]
So, a Pew Research Center poll out today seems to show Trump pulling ahead. Another from NPR/PBS/Marist has it at dead even. The battleground states – which are absolutely required to win the Electoral College – don’t look nearly as good for Biden, but hey, anything can happen. He could still win. Should he do […]
In a podcast with Tim Miller on the Bulwark Podcast, New York Times writer Ezra Klein said many Democrats privately tell him Biden should leave the presidential race, while publicly supporting him. In a New York Times podcast, Democratic U.S. Representative Adam Smith of the 9th Congressional District in Washington said the same thing. Other […]
An interesting sub-story to the fallout from Biden’s debate performance – well, interesting to me as a journalism professor and journalist – is why his capabilities, or lack thereof, came as such a shock to so many people (including me). One explanation often put forward is “the media”. A side note – I teach my […]
He’s staying in the race. That’s the message that Biden has delivered several times now, from the ABC News interview on Friday to recent campaign appearances to an interview on Morning Joe on Monday to a letter he sent to Congress. And there’s no way he will get replaced by the Democratic Party, either. There’s […]
Happy Independence Day, America. This is a fraught time for the republic. We have two presidential candidates who are clearly unfit to serve. Biden has declined. Trump leads a cult of personality that cows all other Republicans and proved on Jan. 6 that it’s willing to ignore the courts and use violence to advance political […]
This past Saturday was the third anniversary of the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to block the finalization of the 2020 election. It marks the only time in U.S. history that we did not have a peaceful transfer of power. It was only the second time our Capitol was successfully attacked. (The […]
So, I don’t consider myself a partisan – that is to say, not a Democrat or a Republican. It’s true – I vote overwhelmingly Democratic. I mean, come on – in a democracy, you’ve got to vote for somebody*. But I’ve never been much of a joiner. And while passion for any issue makes you […]
Bill Poorman 