Opinion
What Was Maria Butina Doing at the National Prayer Breakfast?
Does it seem strange that, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Monday by the Justice Department, a Russian woman stands accused of “acting as an agent of a foreign government” in part because she hoped “to establish a back-channel of communication” with American politicians at the …
National Prayer BreakfastA cancer lives among us
Surely, now, we can concede that letting President Trump be Trump has exhausted itself — even among the smugly credulous.<p>For a year and a half, we’ve heard his supporters say: Watch what he does, not what he says. Sure, he’s rude and crude, they’ve said, but he’s going to make America great …
Donald TrumpTucker Carlson's racist attempt to deflect outrage over the Trump-Putin saga
<b>(CNN) —</b> When in doubt, blame brown people. That's what one leading voice on the right is doing in response to the fallout over President Donald Trump's disastrous summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.<p>In an interview with "The Five," Fox News host Tucker Carlson said that Russia had …
Donald TrumpMueller’s indictment timing wasn’t improper
In the wake of last week’s indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for interfering with the 2016 election, some have suggested special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s timing is suspicious. In a piece in the Wall Street Journal, former attorney general Michael Mukasey questioned why Mueller …
Donald TrumpDonald Trump thinks you're stupid
<b>(CNN) —</b> President Donald Trump appears to think we are all idiots.<p>He just tried to fix what could be the biggest crisis of his presidency -- and he failed disastrously.<p>Trump returned from his world tour to a country where the word "treason" was trending on Twitter, and where members of his own …
Donald TrumpA New Reason for Trump to Release His Tax Returns: Helsinki
In case you've forgotten about them, President Donald Trump's personal income tax returns still matter. So do the Trump Organization's business relationships and finances. If you ever doubted either of those things, consider the president's meeting in Helsinki on Monday with Russian President …
Donald TrumpThis sad, embarrassing wreck of a man
America’s child president had a play date with a KGB alumnus, who surely enjoyed providing day care. It was a useful, because illuminating, event: Now we shall see how many Republicans retain a capacity for embarrassment.<p>Jeane Kirkpatrick, a Democrat closely associated with such Democratic national …
PoliticsPlano is politically paralyzed, and Dallas and Frisco should be licking their chops
From the outside looking in, Plano is doing great.<p>There are shining high rises along the toll road, a hot property in Legacy West and the prospect of …
TexasMarc Thiessen: Trump isn't the first president to embarrass America by cozying up to Putin
WASHINGTON -- The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting to get a different result, which is one of the many reasons President Trump's news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed so insane. Trump is trying to do something that both of his …
Conservative ViewTrump’s Road to American Martial Law
This time, Trump’s crossed the line! He’s done! He’s finished! He’s toast!<p>How many times do I remember this refrain, all the way back to the Mexican “rapists” remark more than three years ago that established Trump to the right of all his Republican rivals on immigration and so launched his …
Donald TrumpTrump’s Trade War May Spark a Chinese Debt Crisis
There’s no chance China will cut its trade surplus with the U.S. in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff threats. For starters, Washington has made no specific demand to which Beijing can respond. But its efforts may have an unexpected side effect: a debt crisis in China.<p>The 25 percent …
EconomicsAnother sickening smear against Kavanaugh from the Left
Democrats are so desperate to torpedo Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the US Supreme Court that they’re resorting to scare tactics, telling …
Health CareTrump endorsement helps Rep. Martha Roby win Alabama runoff
When it comes to President Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Martha Roby – a Republican now in her fourth term representing Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District – hasn’t always been full-throated in her endorsements.<p>In October 2016 Roby called on the former New York real estate developer to quit as the GOP …
Conservative ViewDan Coats' remarkable rebuke to President Trump
<b>(CNN) —</b> Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats spent over a decade in the House and Senate and served as ambassador to Germany during the George W. Bush administration before reluctantly answering his friend Vice President-elect Mike Pence's pleas to join the Trump administration. It is a …
Donald TrumpA Pile of Gold Is Enough. Unless You're Swatch
Swatch Group AG has called time on the downturn in the Swiss watch industry.<p>Group net sales increased by 14.7 percent at constant exchange rates in the first half of its financial year, the company said Wednesday. Swatch's operational gearing is high – unlike rival Cie Financiere Richemont SA, it …
WatchesTrump’s Tax Cut Hasn’t Done Anything for Workers
A few months ago, I cautioned that Americans should be patient before deciding what effect President Donald Trump’s tax cuts have had on the economy. It takes a while for companies to make investment decisions, more time for those decisions to be implemented and even more time for the resulting …
EconomicsPresident Trump does a great job and doesn’t let America down at all
<i>Better to serve in Helsinki than reign in heaven, or however the saying goes.</i><p><i>President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Monday in Helsinki because we are trapped in this timeline. It went unexpectedly well! Trump did not embarrass America on the world stage. He was able to get a</i> …
Donald TrumpTrump is incapable of seeing past his own ego
Last week, I wrote that the best way to think about a Trump Doctrine is as nothing more than Trumpism on the international stage. By Trumpism, I do …
Conservative ViewTrump and Russia: One Mystery, Three Theories
My official pundit’s opinion on Donald Trump, Russian election interference, collusion, kompromat and impeachment is that I’m waiting for the Mueller investigation to finish before I have a strong opinion. This allows me to cultivate the agnostic’s smug superiority, but it also leaves me without a …
Donald TrumpNobody believed Trump’s ‘would-wouldn’t’ explanation. And that’s another victory for Putinworld.
The only noticeable difference in President Trump’s newest attempt to get us to believe anything he says is how uncomfortable he looked saying it. He had all the contrition and sincerity of a kid sent to the chalkboard to write 100 times, “Vladimir Putin is NOT a good friend of U.S. democracy.”<p>As …
Donald TrumpPresident Trump doesn't really know what makes America great
<b>(CNN) —</b> For the second summer in a row, President Trump stood in front of the press and demonstrated that he doesn't actually know what makes America great. The sounds of shocked gasps were audible from sea to shining sea on Monday as the US President stood next to Russian President, Vladimir …
Donald TrumpRussian nuke
I cried when I saw the utter satisfaction on the face of former KGB/current dictator Putin as he stood next to the weakest, most cowardly American …
Donald TrumpCommentary: Trump’s cost to U.S. credibility
I remember when as an American diplomat I realized my White House was no longer credible. We may be at that same point in the Trump presidency.<p>U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a joint news conference after their meeting in Helsinki, July 16, 2018. …
Donald TrumpThe Trump Administration Caves on Plastic Guns
A rare event occurred on Capitol Hill at the end of 2013: Republicans and Democrats agreed on a sensible, if modest, measure to continue regulating guns made from plastic. Now the Trump administration seems to be taking aim at even that.<p>The Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988, first signed into law …
GunsWe’re finally getting sick of the Kylie Jenners of the world
Last week was a big one for billionaires.<p>Kylie Jenner, kid sister of reality-television star Kim Kardashian, scored a Forbes magazine cover extolling her efforts at the helm of her makeup company, valued by the magazine at $800 million. The feature article suggested that the 20-year-old was on pace …
Kylie JennerA Whiff of Rotten Eggs May Augur an Oil Shock
What’s the most important element in global commodity markets right now? Carbon? Copper? Gold?<p>Wrong on all three counts. Sulfur — the yellow, infernal substance that gives rotten eggs their smell and hardens the rubber in car tires — is quietly roiling the energy industry. The disruptions could …
Fossil FuelsTarget-Date Funds Aren’t the Retirement Bull’s-Eye
The Vanguard Group published recently its “How America Saves 2018” report, a trove of data on more than 4.9 million retirement savers in 401(k)s, 403(b)s and other defined-contribution plans.<p>My colleague Barry Ritholtz has already noted many of the highlights, but one detail deserves more …
InvestingAfter Trump hits self-destruct button in Helsinki, Congress needs to step up on Russia
One of the Obama administration's greatest foreign-policy missteps was the failed "reset" button it attempted to hit with Vladimir Putin's Russia. …
Donald TrumpIs this Trump’s most ridiculous denial yet?
Is there a single person anywhere who believes President Trump’s laughably insincere attempt to walk back his disastrous news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin?<p>We’ve seen this scenario before: Trump says something appalling; his aides scramble to convince him that he needs to do …
Donald TrumpFrance must not squander unity of victory
July 18, 2018 5:00 AM<br>France's recent history with football has been tightly linked to the struggle over its identity. For decades, politicians have …
Emmanuel Macron