Donald Trump could kill me: The biggest reason I’ll vote for Joe Biden

Donald Trump could kill me: The biggest reason I’ll vote for Joe Biden

Got a beef with establishment Democrats? I do—more than a few. I worked for a once-thriving factory town newspaper in Ohio that today operates out of a hamburger stand. Bipartisan trade policies over the years were toxic to the local steel industry without the workers getting the much-ballyhooed retraining that free trade boosters talked about. […]

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‘Trump Virus,’ please–not ‘Chinese’ one

‘Trump Virus,’ please–not ‘Chinese’ one

Herbert Hoover didn’t singlehandedly cause the Great Depression, but he fumbled in his efforts to fix the American economy. One upshot was the name given the shantytowns housing hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken Americans. “Hoovervilles” popped up near free soup kitchens. Should Donald Trump now face similar obloquy, by way of the term “Trump Virus”? […]

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A billionaire ban? No. Tougher regs and more taxes? Yes.

Billionaires are not always the most lovable people. Remember the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who said wealthy Americas were victims of persecution, just like Jews in Nazi Germany? Oh, the horrors! Our super-rich are so jeopardized that only three billionaires, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, are together wealthier than the lower half of our population if we […]

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Rachel Maddow’s ‘Blowout’ book plumbs the toxicity of the oil and gas industry

Rachel Maddow’s ‘Blowout’ book plumbs the toxicity of the oil and gas industry

In Blowout, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow plumbs the toxic influence of the oil and gasoline industries on the economies and governments of Russia, the United States and other countries. Energy companies free of constraints can be harmful to your homeland’s economic and civic health, and Vladimir Putin’s Russia just might be Exhibit Number One. Here’s a […]

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The wealth gap and two other anti-Trump themes: How Dems can woo young voters in critical states

The wealth gap and two other anti-Trump themes: How Dems can woo young voters in critical states

Oh, the fickleness of Trump-era news cycles! I was going to write about how the Democrats could defeat Donald Trump in part by wooing young voters in critical Electoral College states. And then along comes the Ukrainian bombshell raising serious questions about whether Trump will even be around to run against. But let’s suppose Trump’s […]

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How a Biden-Harris ticket could wallop Trump—if ‘Middle-Class Joe’ truly lives up to his name

How a Biden-Harris ticket could wallop Trump—if ‘Middle-Class Joe’ truly lives up to his name

A brilliant thinker like Elizabeth Warren would be copacetic if electability weren’t Criterion #1, but the best anti-Trump defense would be, yes, exactly what some have already called for: a Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket. How might this and other actions unify the Democrats before it’s too late? What follows is in the realm of “could and should” rather than “will.” But an old Biden friend just may be reading this column—I won’t go into the details—and I fervently hope she passes it on to him.

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Mitch the Snake: How to defeat Mitch McConnell, the second evilest man in town

Mitch the Snake: How to defeat Mitch McConnell, the second evilest man in town

How to defeat Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the second-evilest man in town—Donald Trump’s main enabler? The cause gained even more urgency Tuesday when McConnell denied that Trump was a racist despite clear evidence such as his bigoted smears against four nonwhite Congress members. Here’s my suggestion. Democrats should out-McConnell the Senate majority leader at the […]

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