Opinion

During a segment on my SiriusXM program in which we discussed a Houston hospital suspending employees until they get the vaccine, anti-vaxxer Anne from Washington called in.

She claimed that the vaccines are "experimental" and thus are a violation of the "Nuremberg Code." This is a dangerous conspiracy that's gained traction on social media.

I'm struggling to explain why a Fox News host would say to the American people, "they're trying to take down the white culture!"

But first, let me back up.

Last Saturday, Donald Trump made the first stop on his 2021 revenge tour, making his first large-scale public appearance before his cult members since the January coup attempt and his followers' attack on the U.S. Capitol.

During a speech at the North Carolina Republican Party convention, Trump continued telling the Big Lie about the 2020 election, claiming it was "stolen" from him (and therefore from the Republican Party and its voters). He claimed that the Biden administration has already "failed," which is true only to the extent that Biden's agenda has been blocked by Republican intransigence (enabled by misguided Democrats).

It might not seem that way to those of us who worry about how he can still control the Republican Party, but Donald Trump's political power may be more tenuous than it seems on the surface.

The problem?

Over the past few weeks, we've heard from some of the police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from a violent mob on January 6th and their stories have been poignant and quite sad. They clearly feel betrayed by the many elected officials who have publicly dismissed what happened as simply a bunch of rowdy tourists when the officers were the ones left to literally engage in hand-to-hand combat and put their lives on the line to keep those same officials safe that day.

This article was originally published at Salon

For anyone deeply worried about the future of American democracy, nearly all of the focus is on the Republicans and what they are doing in states like Georgia, Texas and Florida to rig elections in their favor with potential for denying the people's will. That's good, but let's not forget the size of the conspiracy against democracy. It isn't just domestic. It's foreign, too. These forces are not working in isolation. At the rate we're going, it won't be long before the Republicans try making it seem wholesome and patriotic to collude with foreign governments to defeat Democrats, who, as I said yesterday, are not real Americans anyway, but instead crimes against real Americans.

This article was originally published at The Editorial Board

On Tuesday morning, a new Senate report revealed even more of what is increasingly obvious: The January 6 Capitol insurrection was both surprisingly predictable and yet widely ignored by the people who had the power to stop it.

This article was originally published at Salon

Leading Republicans in Congress are calling for Dr. Anthony Fauci to resign or be fired as the nation's top virologist.

They have a bunch of different reasons, but what they argue in common is that Fauci should have backed Donald Trump's move to blame China for either accidental or intentional leak of coronavirus from a Wuhan lab. Joe Biden's White House says Fauci is here to stay and live with it.

This morning, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin announced in the Charleston Gazette-Mail that he's a "no" on the For the People Act – and a no for ending the filibuster.

This is a direct in-your-eye response to President Biden's thinly-veiled criticism of Manchin last Tuesday in Tulsa.

Fox News contributor and habitual carpetbagger Dan Bongino has always made a promise to his supporters: At every turn, he will work tirelessly to "own the libs." On Saturday night, premiering his new Fox News program, he fell flat on that singular commitment.

The right-wing media mogul opened "Unfiltered with Dan Bongino" by saying that new Fox venture will lead America into a "great awakening" of sorts. "Tonight, the great awakening is starting in America. Americans are worried about the fabric of our society being torn apart. Kids are being taught critical race theory. This is racist," Bongino stated during his monologue.

It's commonplace and, therefore, uncontroversial to hear stories about "information bubbles." On the one hand are GOP voters who occupy theirs. On the other hand are Democratic voters who reside in their own. The story is neatly balanced and tightly framed, which is desirable for the people telling it. The Washington press corps will insist on equity at the expense of truth. That's why the press corps is anti-moral.

Truth is, these bubbles are not equally moral. Furthermore, they are not equally democratic. (Indeed, the information bubble inhabited by Republicans can't be called that at all.) One bubble functions separately from the rest of the country while the other functions in consonance with it. One defers to the authority of facts and reason. The other defers to no authority not its own. One is open to criticism. The other crushes dissent. One seeks compromise with opponents. One seeks the annihilation of its enemies. Yet both do have something important in common—both are rational.

Last Friday I wrote about how the Democrats plan to spend the month of June deliberately failing to pass their legislative agenda in order to demonstrate how intransigent the GOP is being with their use of the filibuster. It is reminiscent of the House plan to pass "messaging bills" in the last congress as a way of illustrating that the Senate was blocking popular legislation. How'd that work out?

This article originally appeared at Salon.