In the debate over U.S. immigration policy, MAGA conservatives begin with the premise that anyone who crosses the border into the U.S. without advance permission is breaking the law. Therefore, the very act of entering the country is a crime….
RFK Jr. and the perfect storm of idiocy threaten us all
What would it have been like to be on a fishing trawler in the Atlantic in the perfect storm? A “perfect storm” is a meteorological event aggravated by a rare combination of circumstances. The phrase became the title of a bestselling book in…
Let’s change how we talk about immigrants
Conversations about immigration, especially on social media, reveal hard lines in the sand, a closed binary line of thinking, along with disgust, anger and outrage. Bring up immigration at the family Thanksgiving gathering, and the turkey may burn in the…
What if your father talked about women the way Trump does?
Aboard Air Force One, Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey asked President Donald Trump about being in the Epstein emails. Trump responded, “Quiet, quiet piggy.” The president also wagged his finger at her to give verbal backup to his insult. Why does…
Here’s the real context for understanding Charlie Kirk
Charlie Kirk supporters have spent the better part of a week lambasting writers like me for allegedly quoting him “out of context,” so I’m giddy at the prospect of discussing context. The No. 1 criticism received at BNG over the…
If you want to criticize Jasmine Crockett, you better criticize Trump first
President Donald Trump has unleashed a torrent of vileness against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D- Texas, for calling Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “Governor Hot Wheels.” Whether you like what Crockett said or not, Trump and his allies have ceded all…
‘These people!’
President Donald Trump, at his smirking, scoffing, bragging best, spent his State of the Union address making a campaign rally speech. He could not conceal his rage at the Democrats who are duly elected members of Congress but won’t bow…
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump face-to-face tells the story
The words flying in the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were fierce, but the center of attention should be the visual rhetoric of Trump’s and Harris’ faces, with special attention to how images of their faces are…
Trump’s perverted and violent rhetoric requires a response
Donald Trump reposted a video to his personal social media website depicting President Joe Biden with his hands and feet tied together in the back of a pickup truck. Disgusting, but what’s new? Observing Trump’s perverse rhetorics — visual and…
Why did the Tennessee Congressman shout, “Goodbye to Palestine”?
What possessed Republican U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann to shout he would support Israel forever and “Goodbye to Palestine”? In a video shared widely on social media, Rep. Fleischmann is shown shouting, “Goodbye to Palestine,” amid an array of stridently pro-Israel declarations….
‘Vermin’: Trump crosses fully into Nazi territory
One of the most dangerous things about Donald Trump is the way he has normalized hate speech. The venom and vitriol come so often that even when it is reported, its extremism fails to register with a fatigued and desensitized…
The rhetorical genius of Rick Warren
I look forward to Rick Warren addressing the Southern Baptist Convention at its annual meeting in New Orleans, June 13-14. Warren deserves more credit for his decision to publicly dissent from the SBC ruling expelling the church he founded from…