People say strange things. They think strange things. They do strange things. Accepting this fact is the first step to getting along in the world and not being constantly surprised and discomfited. I just read this article/interview with Leon Wieseltier in the Times of Israel, an English language Israeli paper catering to anglophone Israelis and American Jews. The gist of the article is that Leon continues to really, really dislike Benjamin Netanyahu but thinks he’s for once right on the Iran nuclear deal. As you’d expect, I entirely agree with him on Netanyahu and almost as resoundingly disagree with him on the Iran deal. His arguments are ones you’ve heard before on both sides and aren’t really what concern me in this case.
It’s this line down at the bottom about Obama being “the first US president who doesn’t really have a special feeling for Israel.”
Jimmy Carter: “Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body.”
Trump now crushing rivals in Iowa too. Jeb in 7th place. Walker’s numbers tumble. Rubio in 9th place.
I heard from a reader yesterday who said, in so many words: I support President Obama and I support the Iran deal. But what’s with the 24-day notice to do inspections? That sounds bad to me. What’s the story with that?
Mainly, I think this is a demagogued and phony issue. Here’s my take.
It started as a dispute over the AP American history curriculum, but a Colorado school board recall is shaping up as a proxy fight for national groups, including the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, over a whole range of contemporary public education flash points.
How Donald Trump has modeled his campaign around professional wrestling. Really.
Here’s another example of the Trump pattern, how his candidacy has this uncanny ability to trigger explosions in virtually every part of the conservative ecosystem it touches.
We were told it was a fight Trump could never win – a picked battle with the most trust institution in conservative America: Fox News. The numbers made it clear. Trump was done. It was only a matter of time.
And yet here we have it: Fox’s unconditional surrender. Fox Capo Roger Ailes was forced to choose between star anchor Megyn Kelly and Trump. And he made his choice: Beg Trump for forgiveness, mend fences and welcome Trump back into the fold.
We now have a handful of national and state polls out after Thursday night’s Fox/GOP debate. And they all tell the same story: Donald Trump either maintained or expanded his lead in the GOP primary race. Hats off to the sage commentators who predicted this turn of events. But there’s another part of the story that is actually more important for the eventual outcome of the nomination process.
I take it as a given that for any variety of reasons Donald Trump will not be the Republican nominee. So someone else will need to be. But look at the numbers that came after Trump’s. Bush, Walker and possibly Rubio – the candidates who actually represent plausible national candidates – are actually falling as Trump rises. Along with him, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina are moving up.