One of the most controversial figures in world history has passed away: Fidel Castro, the fiery apostle of revolution who brought the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere in 1959 and then defied the United States for nearly half a century as Cuba’s maximum leader, bedeviling 11 American presidents and briefly pushing the world to […]
D.R. Tucker
D. R. Tucker is a Massachusetts-based journalist who has served as the weekend contributor for the Washington Monthly since May 2014. He has also written for the Huffington Post, the Washington Spectator, the Metrowest Daily News, investigative journalist Brad Friedman's Brad Blog and environmental journalist Peter Sinclair's Climate Crocks.
Posted inPolitical Animal
We Won’t Normalize
We’re horrified too. Not just by the ascension of the most unqualified individual ever to capture a major American party’s nomination to the White House. Not just by the Confederate coalition that will comprise his Cabinet. Not just by the hate crimes that have occurred nationwide since November 8. We’re horrified by the mainstream media […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Ryan’s Hopeless (Updated)
Remember the controversy from last summer over the whites-only photo House Speaker Paul Ryan took with Republican House interns? At the time, I noted that Ryan’s mentor, the late Republican Congressman Jack Kemp, would have been embarrassed by Ryan’s photo, since he tried in vain to diversify the former “party of Lincoln.” That loud sound […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Uprising: Part II
Two weeks ago, I noted that virtually no Republicans supported the self-described “water protectors” making their voices heard about the threat posed by the Dakota Access pipeline. The outcome of the 2016 presidential election demonstrates just how little Republican voters care about environmental protection. However, those who do recognize the importance of safe drinking water–and […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Uprising: Part I
It was so beautiful to see. I feared that in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s dark victory over Hillary Clinton, those who were horrified by the bombast and buffoonery of the bigoted billionaire would sustain an emotional blow from which they would never recover. The psychological impact of the words “President Donald Trump” would be […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Courting Disaster
I noted yesterday that blue-state-level action on climate change is only near-term hope for those who don’t want to see the planet cook under a Trump Administration. Unfortunately, some climate activists are embracing false hope from the federal courts–and like those who thought Hillary Clinton would win the Electoral College last Tuesday night, these folks […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Music is My Sanctuary
Ten years ago, when John Mayer released the single “Waiting on the World to Change,” I thought it was one of the corniest songs ever recorded, a hyper-earnest lament about the social and political repression of what we now call “Millennials.” I couldn’t believe that the single was successful, and considered it just one more […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Drowned World
Among the many reasons why the “Progressives must reach out to Trump supporters!” argument is so questionable is that it’s hard to reach out to people who have made it quite clear that the health and safety of future generations doesn’t interest them much. If you’re a progressive who spent years fighting the threat posed […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Trump Card
As long as I live, I will never forget the horror I saw on the faces of disappointed John Kerry supporters outside of Faneuil Hall in Boston on the afternoon of November 3, 2004, just prior to the delivery of his concession speech. The realization that George W. Bush would stay in office for four […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Way It Is
Just as there are virtually no Trump supporters who plan to watch Before the Flood and Years of Living Dangerously on the National Geographic Channel tonight, there are virtually no Republicans who support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others who object to the highly controversial Dakota Access pipeline (which Trump reportedly has financial ties […]
