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Panicked POTUS is still flailing around

It’s a pretty reliable rule of thumb that when President Donald Trump calls something a “hoax,” it’s true. He insists that the strong indication, which seems likelier by the week, that he participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s exploitative exploits is another hoax. Assume that on this one, he’s telling the truth. If so, he sure isn’t acting like it. Let’s recap. Of the 20,000 emails obtained by the House Oversight Committee from Epstein’s estate, a reported 1,000 mention Trump. Here’s what Trump told New York Magazine in 2002: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. ...

Republicans have a failure to communicate

In the 1967 film “Cool Hand Luke,” the “Captain” says to Luke (Paul Newman) “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” The same could be said of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress. While they have much to brag about — from a closed border, the deportation of undocumented immigrants and lower taxes — it’s not getting through to especially a younger generation that seems enamored with socialism as we’ve recently seen with the election of democratic socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York City and the disastrous result of that ...

Don’t understand entrepreneurship? You don’t understand U.S.

A few years ago, I was invited to speak at an event in Mobile, Ala. Driving from Indiana, I stopped for the night in Nashville, Tenn., but on the way back, I decided to drive all the way from Mobile to Indianapolis. I had planned an early start, but, enjoying the company of good friends, I didn’t leave until well after noon. That’s an 11-hour drive under the best of circumstances. Add in some traffic, the inevitable construction around Music City and occasional stops for fuel and bathroom breaks, and I was rolling into Indy at about 2:30 a.m.. There’s something remarkable ...

Michelle Obama’s hair-raising theory about Blacks doesn’t hold water

No, this isn’t a satirical Babylon Bee headline: “’Black Women Can’t Swim Because of Societal Expectations’: Michelle Obama’s Viral Claim Sparks Controversy.” The former first lady, in a live podcast, recently said: “Let me explain something to white people. Our hair comes out of our head naturally in a curly pattern. So, when we’re straightening it to follow your beauty standards, we are trapped by the straightness. “That’s why so many of us can’t swim, and we run away from the water. People won’t go to the gym because we’re trying to keep our hair ...

Want lower prices? Red states are more affordable

The buzzword of the month is “affordability,” and based on the election results from New York, New Jersey and Virginia, voters think that’s declining. Democrats think they’ve found a winning issue to win back the hearts and minds of voters. It’s true that people are angry about prices. But who’s to blame? President Donald Trump said he would bring prices down; that hasn’t happened. His tariffs have nudged up prices on certain products like coffee and cars. But since Trump came into office in January, the inflation rate has fallen. If we go back to the start of COVID-19, ...

The Republicans aren’t able to punt on the health care issue

The debate over affordability is now truly and fully joined. After the off-year elections, Democrats are coalescing around a cost-of-living message that makes more sense than their anti-Trump obsessions (not that we aren’t going to hear a lot about those). For its part, the White House has concluded that affordability is a vulnerability, and Trump has thrown out a raft of proposals to address it, from $2,000 tariff rebates to 50-year mortgages. Health care will be a major front in this fight, a traditional Democratic policy strength that the party emphasized during the ...