Donald Trump

Trump’s legacy, such as it is, will be massively tarnished by his climate change denialism

It's virtually certain that Trump will go down in history as one of the worst American presidents. Probably the worst'est of them all. His first term was horrible. His second term is an even scarier horror show of incompetence, immorality, incoherence, and incessant lying. But other than that, he does seem fairly capable of remodeling White House bathrooms. There will be a lot of competition for Trump's greatest failure. Tariffs, Iran war, inflation, election interference, killing of innocent protesters, decimating science programs, attacking journalists -- to name but a few of Trump's least favorite hits. I suspect that one issue…

Hines Brian August 29, 2026No Comments

Why Trump’s vote by mail executive order is both unconstitutional and a horrible idea

Trump thinks he's a king. Thankfully, he's just a lousy president. Kings can issue edicts that their subjects must obey. Presidents can't. Especially when an edict is unconstitutional. Like Trump's newest fantasy -- that through an executive order he issued in March 2026, the postal service won't deliver a ballot unless the voter is on a list generated by the federal government of people who are eligible to vote in federal elections. The Supreme Court likely will decide whether this scheme is constitutional. That should take about ten seconds. All the justices need to do is remind themselves of what…

Hines Brian August 27, 2026No Comments

More idiocy from Trump as he issues new childhood vaccine recommendations based on his feelings

Sometimes I see Trump saying something ridiculous and I get angry. Other times I'm amused. And frequently, like today, I'm embarrassed to be a citizen of a country that elected an incompetent idiot as president. Watching CNN on my iPhone as I was exercising on an elliptical machine at our fitness club, I saw clips of Trump announcing his executive order regarding childhood vaccines. A Politico story, "Trump redoubles effort to shrink recommended vaccines ahead of midterm elections," says: President Donald Trump on Monday reignited his effort to overhaul the government’s vaccine recommendations with an executive order directing federal agencies…

Hines Brian August 10, 2026No Comments

Trump gives boring speech at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

I can't stand Trump. But usually my anger at his antics keeps me interested in what he's saying. Last night was different. His hour long speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was so boring, it should be sold as a sleep aid. Thankfully, I'd recorded it on CSPAN. So after twenty minutes or so of watching this Lesson in How to Make Your Audience Wish They Were Watching Paint Dry Instead of You, I started pressing the 30 second advance on my remote in a vain attempt to find some genuine humor or even just some fresh insults. Didn't work.…

Hines Brian July 25, 20261

Trump is tolling the Strait of Hormuz to prevent Iran from tolling the Strait of Hormuz

I just checked. Sadly, The Onion satirical news site doesn't seem to have a story yet about Trump announcing today that he plans to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz a 20% toll after the United States takes control of the Strait, because Trump is upset that Iran has been seeking to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz a smaller toll when they had control of the Strait. This absurdity would be funny if it wasn't so deadly serious. After all, Trump's Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said just a few weeks ago: No country is…

Hines Brian July 13, 2026No Comments

Trump screws up World Cup soccer by interfering in red card decision

I should have known. Not to say to people, "I'm enjoying the World Cup, in part because soccer is one place where Trump isn't mentioned." Except now he is, having interfered in FIFA's, the soccer (football to the rest of the world) federation's, decision to issue a red card to a star American player that disqualified him from the United States team's match in the round of 16 against Belgium tomorrow. Trump screws up everything. So I guess it isn't surprising that he has screwed up the World Cup. It's just another reason for the rest of the world to…

Hines Brian July 5, 2026No Comments

Patriotism means seeing the United States as it is — both flawed and fabulous

I don't have an American flag. I'll stand for the Pledge of Allegiance but I don't say the words. For me the Fourth of July means our dog is going to be scared by fireworks, nothing more. I'm proud to have never served in the military, having gotten a high lottery number in Vietnam War days. Yet I consider myself patriotic. Not because I think the United States is the best country in the world. Because I love our country in spite of its many flaws. Which I'm confident is how non-Americans view their own countries: they love India, Brazil,…

Hines Brian July 1, 2026No Comments

2028 election Donald Trump National politics

Supreme Court just gave Trump more power. Also the next Democratic president.

No one ever could accuse Trump of being a genius at predicting the long term outcome of his actions. Trump acts, or rather reacts, emotionally in the heat of the moment on the basis of gut feelings, not on any sort of deep analytical understanding. So it isn't surprising that Trump is glorying in a victory given to him by the Supreme Court today, as described in a BBC story. Nearly 100 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not have unchecked power to replace commissioners on regulatory agencies set up by Congress…

Hines Brian June 29, 2026No Comments

UFC bouts at White House were entertaining, even as setting was beyond disturbing

Yesterday I belatedly realized that the highly controversial UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) bouts at the White House were being shown on Paramount+ at no extra cost, and we had a Paramount+ subscription. So I fired up our Apple TV at 5 pm Oregon time, 8 pm Washington DC time, because I was curious to see the spectacle that had caused so much justified uproar among progressives like me. It did seem outrageous that the UFC folks could basically rent the White House grounds for MMA (mixed martial arts) fights in an especially built octagon that was plastered with ads for…

Hines Brian June 15, 2026No Comments

Trump’s bizarre lie-filled end of his interview with Kristen Welker is astoundingly disgusting

I'm not easily shocked by Trump's utterances. But today Brian Stelter, the chief media analyst at CNN, shared on X a transcript of the final minutes of Kristen Welker's recent interview of Trump at a Wisconsin farm. Welker is the host of NBC's Meet the Press, and is a well-respected journalist. When I read it, I was struck by how this breaks new ground even for Trump in his authoritarian Hall of Shame. Naturally it is beyond embarrassing that the United States has s president who cares so little about truth and facts -- not exactly a good quality for…

Hines Brian June 7, 20261

Chernobyl is a HBO miniseries with a lot to say about truth in these Trumpian times

On the advice of a friend, I just finished watched Chernobyl, a five-episode HBO miniseries about the 1986 nuclear plant disaster in what is now Ukraine, but at that time was part of the Soviet Union. This historical drama aired in 2019 during the first Trump administration. Which is fitting, because a central theme in Chernobyl is how far Soviet authorities were willing to go to keep the truth about the disaster from becoming known. To the people who lived near the nuclear plant. To the workers charged with dealing with the meltdown. To the world at large. Authoritarian regimes…

Hines Brian May 24, 20261

Trump gets $1.776 billion to reward the January 6 rioters, insurrectionists, and police attackers

Today I heard James Comey, the former director of the FBI, say that when he first learned of the $1.776 billion settlement agreement reached between Trump and the Justice Department, he thought it was a satirical piece from The Onion. Which, it wasn't. Pleasingly, today The Onion does have such a piece -- though, sadly, the settlement agreement is utterly real. First, the satire. WASHINGTON—Declaring the financial allocation a matter of utmost urgency, President Donald Trump on Monday requested $1.2 trillion to have. “I’m calling upon Congress today to immediately provide me with $1.2 trillion in funding that I currently…

Hines Brian May 18, 2026No Comments

Gavin Newsom must be the 2028 Democratic presidential candidate. I’m a big fan.

Every time I see Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, I get excited about him running for president in 2028 as the Democratic nominee. There's no other potential Democratic candidate who makes me feel that way. Kamala Harris? Been there and done that. Gretchen Whitmer? She's vanished in the Michigan wilderness. Josh Shapiro? Too calculating and unnatural. Cory Booker? Holier than thou attitude that turns me off. Mark Kelly? Nice guy who lacks charisma. By contrast, Gavin Newsom is appealingly real. He comes across as genuine, a rare quality in a politician of his stature. I just watched a recording…

Hines Brian May 2, 20261

I have no sympathy for Trump, given his vicious threats against his political enemies

When I heard that a gunman had been subdued at the White House Correspondents Dinner last night, I hoped that no one had been killed or seriously injured. After I learned that everybody attending the dinner was fine, I didn't seek out any more news about the attack, largely because I couldn't care less about how Trump or other administration officials were reacting to it. Predictably, today I heard pleas to "turn down the political rhetoric." Fine, good advice. If Donald Trump would only take it. Trump has done more to create a climate for political violence than anyone else…

Hines Brian April 26, 2026No Comments

Trump’s incessant lying is making it difficult to end the Iran war

If you've been in a coma for the past ten years and have just returned to everyday consciousness, here's something important for you to know: Donald Trump is the president of the United States and he's an incessant liar. A world-class liar, in fact. Trump also is a sociopath, since he couldn't care less how his lies affect other people and, indeed, the entire world. For the rest of us, what I've just said is what we've been suffering with for over a decade. Trumpian lie after lie after lie. Many times a day, every day, virtually nonstop. This was…

Hines Brian April 20, 2026No Comments

Donald Trump International issues Uncategorized

Trump wanted a fellow authoritarian to continue ruling Hungary. Hungarians voted differently today. Yay!

Thank you, Hungarian voters. You brought a big smile to my face when I learned that Viktor Orban, the authoritarian who has ruled Hungary for 16 years, had conceded to Peter Magyar -- the leader of a party that is expected to win 138 of the 199 seats in Hungary's parliament, which gives Magyar's party a 2/3 supermajority that will allow them to revise the Hungarian constitution that Orban had meddled with to keep himself and his cronies in power. It was a sweet victory for those of us here in the United States who detest Trump and J.D. Vance.…

Hines Brian April 12, 2026No Comments

Trump is poised to order attacks on Iran that would be war crimes

Unless Trump reaches a deal with Iran's leaders, he says that tomorrow, at 5 pm on April 7, Pacific time, he will order our military to destroy every power plant and bridge in Iran within four hours. That destruction, Trump says, will take Iran 100 years to repair, sending the country "back to the Stone Age." This horrific act would be a war crime. No doubt about it. I only hope that our military leaders have more sense than Trump and refuse to carry out his illegal orders. Unfortunately, that seems unlikely, since Pete Hegseth, the Defense Department Secretary, has…

Hines Brian April 6, 2026No Comments