Kentucky has become a favored dateline for many of President Donald Trump’s fervent critics. They collect evidence there of betrayal, such as the ABC News item featuring a coal truck driver, “one of the Trump faithful,” attached to a breathing tube and weeping over his expected loss of coverage for deadly black lung disease. “Look […]
Froma Harrop
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web, Uncategorized
Dump the myth that Obamacare froze out Republicans
It’s true. The Affordable Care Act was passed without a single Republican vote. Republicans repeatedly cite this fact as Obamacare’s original sin, a fatal flaw that justifies their efforts to dismantle the ACA. But let’s set that record straight. Obamacare was a bipartisan plan. It just didn’t get a bipartisan vote. Despite rumors to the […]
advertisement
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web, Uncategorized
Republican plan favors wealthy areas
“Trumpcare is really a tax break for the rich, not a health care program,” Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said about the Republican House bill to decimate the Affordable Care Act. He was right. Sen. Rand Paul, meanwhile, panned the bill for not cutting those taxes fast enough. “It keeps the Obamacare taxes for […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web, Uncategorized
Trump has turned his last corner
That speech to Congress now seems forever ago. Reading the words off a teleprompter, Donald Trump sounded normal, even presidential. Stern critics opined that he had “turned a corner” and transformed into a serious president. Come the weekend, however, Trump turned another corner, this time into a dark dead end. Trump was back to his […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Straight talk needed on immigration
Donald Trump’s roundup of undocumented immigrants is cruel and racist in its execution. His plan to build a wall along the Mexican border would be a massive waste of at least 14 billion taxpayer dollars. But that doesn’t give Democrats a free pass to fudge on the issue of illegal immigration. They need to say, […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Trump coverage pushes media resurgence
Donald Trump’s tweet about the media’s being “the enemy of the American people” was a classic distraction — in this case, from questions swirling around his team’s troubling ties with our Russian adversaries. While the FBI, CIA and Senate Intelligence Committee investigate, a few thoughts on how news sources under Trumpian attack should respond. When […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Trump's image fraying at the edges
Why does President Trump rush off weekend after weekend to his Mar-a-Lago palazzo in Florida? Because Mar-a-Lago is totally under his control. There he can play the prince, favoring a wedding party with a cameo or entertaining the Japanese prime minister in lavish Palm Beach style. Why does he also spend so much time in […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Let's not confuse cruelty with being tough
Donald Trump says his ban on people entering the country from seven predominantly Muslim countries wasn’t a Muslim ban. But it was a Muslim ban, according to Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani. Let’s get something straight. Most Americans, your author included, want stringent vetting of immigrants entering the country. I can easily envision Islamic terrorist groups […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Centrist coalition best bet to fight Trumpism
Here’s a little story from the bad old days of the New York subway: On seeing a well-dressed man drop a wrapper on a subway platform, a well-dressed woman urged him to pick it up. “What’s the use?” the man said, gesturing at the filthy surroundings. “If people like us don’t maintain standards,” the woman […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Taking comfort where it can be found
It’s still hard wrapping my brain around the words “President Donald Trump” — but there are strategies for moving in that direction. Indeed, I’ve come up with three comforting thoughts about the next how-many years. 1) Trump has no fixed principles. He’s not a real conservative, which presents some interesting possibilities for those of a […]