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To him, winning above all else

On Saturday, Trump opened his speech at the airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, with 12 minutes of reminiscences about the golfer Arnold Palmer, who grew up in Latrobe and for whom its airport is named. As The New York Times reported, “His monologue culminated in lewd remarks about the size of Mr. Palmer’s penis.” What historians may term Trump’s “penis speech” — the climax, as it were, of his final days seeking the votes of Americans to put him back in the Oval Office — was actually far more revealing about Trump than were his “lewd remarks.” Trump began his ...

Harris appeals for the anti-Catholic vote

A political rule of thumb is that candidates should never offend a large group of voters, especially close to an election. Harris ignored that rule, not once, but twice last week. First, she disrespected the annual Al Smith dinner in New York, which raises money for Catholic charities and has been attended by every modern presidential candidate with one exception - Walter Mondale in 1984. We saw how that worked out when Mondale lost 49 states to Ronald Reagan. Harris sent a video to the dinner which many people found unfunny. Comedian Jim Gaffigan roasted Harris for not showing up. ...

Trump simply likes to scam little people

With the election upon us, many voters are focused on Donald Trump’s unravelling mental state and his radical plans to kill off the democracy. But there should be space to recall his scams victimizing ordinary people and his joy in pulling them off. That speaks to character. Trump’s latest fishy deal involves a crypto operation. But let’s start about three decades earlier, in 1995. Trump’s Atlantic City casinos were going under, and he needed suckers to bail him out. He thus hawked shares of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts. Sophisticated investors regarded a company built on ...

Faith in news media tanking

In her 2021 book “Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy,” journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon argued that arrogance and addiction to political fashion has tanked Americans’ faith in the news media. There’s reason to think she’s right. Former National Public Radio editor Uri Berliner described NPR’s “unspoken consensus about the stories we should pursue and how they should be framed” in an essay disclosing that NPR’s editorial staff consisted of only Democrats. Berliner was promptly disciplined by his oh-so-devoted-to-the-First-Amendment bosses for writing the ...

Trump, Harris keep making promises

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris keep making new promises. Trump fans applauded when he said he’ll eliminate taxes on tips. Then Harris proposed that, too. Her audience applauded. Trump then proposed not taxing overtime. More applause. But narrow tax exemptions are bad policy. In my new video, Economist Allison Schrager explains how they create nasty, unintended consequences. “No one likes tipping,” says Schrager, “but all of a sudden, you’ll have to pay tips for everything. ... More people will be paid in tips.” I want lower taxes, but awarding specific exemptions ...

Democrats pay the price

There used to be a time when Republican elected officials and candidates shied away from talking about trans issues. They didn’t want to appear extreme or intolerant. Why bother wading into a fraught cultural issue when there were so many other things to talk about? Deferring to “medical professionals” or “the experts” seemed the easy way out. Now, though, Republicans have emphatically found their voice. Across the political landscape, GOP Senate candidates are hitting their Democratic opponents on their trans-radicalism and have them on the run, while the Trump campaign ...