Commentary
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Our commentary partners will help you reach your own conclusions on complex topics.
The vehemence with which the right – including newly-elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy – have latched onto the “Biden steals classified White House documents” narrative is predictable, ironic… and exhausting. The thing is, no one except the most rabid Fox-watchers actually think Biden’s documents drama and Trump’s are even in the same neighborhood, when it comes to culpability.
I mean….right? Biden’s removal of classified documents from the White House shouldn’t have happened, but it was a pretty clear case of unfortunate mishandling paired with very unfortunate timing.
Biden has stated that he had no knowledge of the presence of the documents, and immediately notified the National Archives upon their discovery, handing them over voluntarily. Trump’s situation was…something else. Like, multiple ignored FBI requests, lies, subpoenas, false assurances, all ending with “oh, no, I declassified them all in my head so it’s cool.” He had nuclear information marked top secret. In his hotel. On purpose! One was a mistake, and the other was a deliberate – and ongoing – act of malice, done with criminal intent.
That said, it’s still not a great situation for Biden. McCarthy suggested earlier this week that Congress should launch its own probe into the president, and Representative James Comer, the newly-installed chair of the House Oversight Committee, also indicated that an investigation into Biden is on the way.
You guys, this was supposed to be it! The Mar-a-lago documents were supposed to be The Thing that finally got Trump indicted. I believed it. But I also believed that Bob Mueller would save us, and look how that turned out.
The problem with the Biden documents is that they’re a super-valuable – for the right – distraction and take a lot of air out of the tires of the Trump indictment, especially since more documents keep trickling out. This very much appears to be another mistake by the Biden team – let’s hold on announcements until we’ve got it all sorted, my friends – but a mistake is what it is. And yet the right is all over this opportunity to bang the gongs and yell “impeachment,” essentially creating a mirage in which the two events are equivalent.
Like I said, it’s exhausting. And to me, what all this speaks to is the American people’s fundamental distrust of the entirety of the political machine – on both sides.
We’re about to enter a presidential race where the most likely candidates will be white men in the sunset of their lives, both of whom are embroiled in scandals that call into question their trustworthiness, and at this point, I think that’s all we want: To finally feel confident that someone – anyone – is telling us the truth.
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Careful Left, campus protests will end up benefiting Trump
Protests against the Israel-Hamas war have flared up at universities across the United States and around the world. Some universities resorted to calling the police to break up larger protests, leading to mass arrests at places like the University of Southern California and the use of tear gas in Florida, among others. At the University…
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Portraying far-left and far-right as equal in ‘Civil War’ is wrong
The movie “Civil War,” which depicts Texas and California seceding from the nation to wage war on Washington, D.C., reflects a what-if scenario fueled by memories of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. But as the presidential election looms, discussions about civil war have moved beyond theoretical debates to become a serious consideration among some voters.…
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Why I doubt Trump will be convicted in hush money case
Donald Trump is the first former president to face trial on criminal charges. In the first of potentially four trials, Trump entered a plea of not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. These charges stem from a $130,000 payment made to the adult actress and stripper Stormy Daniels, which aimed to keep her…
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Political comedy has a role to play in Gaza
Political comedians in the U.S. have sometimes struggled to cover the war in Gaza, which has been defined by tremendous human suffering and high political polarization, none of which seems particularly funny. Comedian Ramy Youssef attempted to tackle some of those issues in an opening monologue of a recent “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) episode. Straight…
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Republicans don’t care about female voters
Women make up the largest demographic among registered voters in America and consistently participate in elections, with over 68% turning out to vote in the 2020 presidential election. Some political analysts suggest that with the recent reversal of Roe v. Wade, abortion has become a key issue among voters, benefiting Democratic candidates. However, in the…
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