John Stoehr

I have a pitcher full of ice water and I'm ready to use it on liberals and Democrats who are prematurely celebrating the Senate primary victory of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

I didn't want to talk about this today . I had planned on writing a very clever and highly nuanced commentary on American patriarchy. But the man who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the Affordable Care Act, forced my hand.

Either the nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump believes a cognitive test is an intelligence test or he's lying about his mental health. I don't think there's a gray zone here. If it's the first, he's demented. If it's the second, he's hiding something (probably dementia). Either way, it's bad.

You have probably heard the news about journalist Scott Pelley. This week, CBS News, under the leadership of Bari Weiss, fired the longtime anchor and 60 Minutes correspondent. What you may not know about is his parting shot . Here's the section that stood out to me

Some progressive Democrats are of the opinion that Donald Trump has changed American politics so fundamentally – that the system is now so corrupt and the dangers to liberal democracy are now so severe – that questions of moral character no longer count like they used to. As one progressive Democrat recently told NOTUS , "I get really tired of Democrats being held to some lofty moral standard when Republicans are just ‘boys will be boys.'"

This week, the president canceled a planned attack on Iran intended to pressure the regime into making a deal. Donald Trump said he canceled, because a deal was already close at hand. It was the 39th time he said peace was imminent since the war started. CNN ran a super-cut:

The Post today : "Iranian leaders said Sunday that the terms of the deal would be published only after it is signed Friday — a decision that insulates the agreement from outside lobbying but may also increase the risk it falls apart as negotiators continue to discuss details."

I will not repeat what that UFC fighter said about Michelle Obama. Instead, I will say Josh Hokit did more than reiterate a "conspiracy theory," as USA Today put it . It cannot be "debunked," as there is no real question about the former first lady's gender. What he did was defamation, plain and simple. He wanted to discredit the good name of a revered Black woman. Moreover, he and others like doing it. It's fun. As I often say, sadism is the point

Glenn Beck put up a long post Thursday justifying the ways of Donald Trump to men. He came to the conclusion that with the Iranians, the president had no choice but to play "the cards that were actually on the table." "He did exactly what a leader of a Republic should do: he listened to the people and found a way to end this. A dictator would have kept on going . At the end of the day, a president can only go as far as the people will carry him" (my italics).

To put it mildly, the Democrats have had a complicated relationship with the white working class at least since passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But things are going to be simple in the run up to November's midterm elections. Democrats don't need to offer much. White working-class voters who supported Donald