Column

As the race for the presidential nomination enters the pandemonium stage, I take solace in the soothing wisdom of my friend the British historian, Paul Johnson. He writes: "America is a big country, with vast regions and endless opportunities for polycentrism." Another way of putting it is that America is a federalist system with endless opportunities for variation

Donald Trump's lead in the Republican race is real, but far from secure. At the moment, the billionaire has 458 delegates and Ted Cruz has 359. That's a 99 delegate lead with more than 1,400 delegates still to be selected. Cruz has plenty of room to come from behind if he's able to defeat Trump in a head-to-head match-up.

In his continuing effort to pit races and classes against each other, Democratic presidential candidate and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has said that if you are white, "you don't know what it's like to be poor." He should drive some of the roads I've driven in West Virginia, among other places. Some of the homes of the white poor look like throwbacks from an earlier time.

Brace yourselves, parents: Hillary Clinton's Fed Ed jackboot squad is from the government and is here to "help."

Looking for someone -- anyone -- to blame for the rise of Donald Trump? Look no further than the culture beast that is primarily responsible for the fundamental transformation of America.

I wrote a book in 2011 with the felicitous title The Death of Liberalism. The book's title pretty much said it all. By 2011, the ideology of Adlai Stevenson, of Hubert Humphrey, of Daniel Patrick Moynihan had expired. In the book I explained why liberalism was dead. Today the evidence is even more abundant. A socialist and a liberal naysayer as the sole candidates for the Democratic nomination?…

Mitt Romney's condemnation of Donald Trump sounds a lot like his dad George's condemnation of Barry Goldwater.  

In the film Girl, Interrupted, the character played by Winona Ryder is watching TV in a psychiatric hospital. There is a news report about a demonstration and the narrator says: "We live in troubled times. The institutions we once trusted no longer seem reliable." As I begin the laborious process of doing my income taxes, I am again reminded -- thanks to withholding and other payments I must make…

Donald Trump likes to boast about how little he’s spent on his campaign compared to his primary opponents. That may be true. But let’s be honest here; Trump gets millions of dollars in free advertising because the mainstream media is obsessed with him. They’re searching for ratings, and they’ve found their proverbial cash cow.   It has been extraordinarily difficult for other Republicans –…

Trump can win over 50% of the Latino vote by becoming the Patrón, the Boss. His constant theme that he will take care of things really does resonate with Latinos. 

Just what is the Trump movement all about? I've tried to get to the bottom of it by conversing with various Donald Trump supporters on Twitter.

When the dust settles on this wild and wacky GOP primary season, there will be at least one clear Biggest Loser: the Republican National Committee.

I was going to write about how the Republican presidential campaign has become gutter politics, but given Donald Trump's horrid statements, the gutter would be a step up, because things have descended into the sewer.

I am certainly glad that The Washington Post reported on a controversy at Georgetown University last week, which was created by the sad death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Thanks to that informative report, I am canceling my million-dollar bequest to old Georgetown and channeling it elsewhere, probably to Donald Trump's super PAC, if I can find his super PAC.