Source: Orange County Register
by Rafael Perez

“A year ago, to the day, I wrote a column (‘Americans really need to relax and stop taking national politics so seriously’) in which I argued that modern Americans are far too concerned with politics and too emotionally invested in what politicians say and do. … Relax, I said. Everything will be fine, I assured the toiling peasants from my ivory tower, naive and jolly, hands brown but never soiled. That is at least how many of our readers received it. … we are now seeing how wrong I was – Trump’s second term has been an ugly disaster. We have acquired a self-inflicted wound in the form of a global trade war. This administration is spreading medical misinformation, weaponizing the Department of Justice, destroying the separation of powers, and blatantly selling political favors. Ex high school benchwarmers are roaming the streets abducting mestizos.” (11/30/25)

https://archive.is/p8I2d

Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut

“The Mamdani-Trump meeting was the embodiment of what I’ve long predicted and feared. The populist right swept away conservatives’ traditional belief in limited government and market-based reform — and replaced it with a cultural agenda fueled by anger and dependent on the wiles of a Dear Leader. It’s been successfully politically (although not economically and it’s dangerous to the health of our democracy). It was only a matter of time before Democrats gave up on their flaccid approach and embraced left-wing populism in return. This is the dictionary definition of the Horseshoe Theory, where extremes on the right and left are not divided at the far ends of a long line but at the ends of a horseshoe. Populists on both sides believe in an activist government, although they have different motivations. As fundamentally collectivist, both movements are remarkably similar.” (11/28/25)

https://archive.is/HXQnR

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos

“The Trump administration has literally killed more than 80 suspected drug smugglers by blowing their small boats out of the water since September, but this week the president has reportedly decided to pardon one of the biggest cocaine traffickers of them all. If that doesn’t make any sense to you, then join the club.” (11/29/25)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-pardon-drug-trafficker/

Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman

“What work does democratic perform in the phrase democratic socialism? It’s a fig leaf intended to conceal what would presumably be repugnant to most people: the coercive regimentation inherent in socialism, whether international (Marxist) or national (fascist). Socialism has a nasty record dating back to 1917, so socialists have felt compelled to clean up its image. Democracy is supposed to do the cleaning up. But does it? Could it? Before we get to that, we should remind ourselves that no single conception of socialism exists.” (11/28/25)

https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/tgif-socialism-with-fig-leaf.html

Source: The Bulwark
by Mona Charen

“To be unmasked as an Epstein crony is about the most embarrassing revelation for a public figure one can imagine at this moment, and sure enough, former treasury secretary and Harvard president Larry Summers, who exchanged scores of emails with the convicted pedophile, has seen his reputation shredded. … Summers has withdrawn from the Center for American Progress, the Yale Budget Lab, the board of directors of Open AI, the Center for Global Development, the Brookings Institution, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and has taken a leave of absence from Harvard. … Why has there been no similar accountability for another of Epstein’s pen pals — Steve Bannon?” (11/30/25)

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/steve-bannon-jeffrey-epstein-comeback-consultant