Gail continues to prove with humor that we get the government we deserve. That we have descended into a swamp seems fitting since Washington D.C. was built on a swamp.
So mosquitoes do what they do. They have to eat too. While there are protections against mosquitoes the 'no see 'ums' rule.
Here we are, infested as it were. Doomed to keep repeating the mantra, why do you continue to vote against your own self interests?
I'm believing that 40% of us don't have a clue as to what their self interests are and they are easily swayed by values voting because like mosquitoes they have only one focus. And they have a short life because it is their nature.
How very sad that once we were a country that believed in more than the taste of blood and spreading dis-ease.
3
It's time we stop letting Trump frame the discussion around swamps. Was Washington a swamp? If so, it's being drained into a cesspool of this administration's making.
I am not the first to note that swamps have high ecological value. They also filter polluted runoff and blunt floods. Positive roles, analogous to, say, what the EPA used to do.
And cesspools can still breed mosquitoes.
3
Time for Swamp alerts. Really, these candidates need to be identified for the public. To be a congressional swamp resident one must always only look out for their own best interests to the point where they are filthy rich and they advocate cuts to social programs for the middle class and poor. Medicare, social security, medicaid, Chip for kids, housing help, food stamps, you name the helpful program and the swampmates want to cut it.
Republicans are for the rich, and the Democrats are for the people. Follow the money.
2
The 2016 right wing coup conducted by the Republicans with Russian help placed Donald Trump, the most ignorant despicable person, to ever sit in the Oval Office. These Republicans must be made to pay for their contempt for the American people
Trump was greased into office as so-called president by a mere 24% of the total US electorate. If the daily humiliation and nausea which accompanies every Trump-filled news day does not motivate a massive voter backlash against the the treasonous Republicans then there is no hope for this country's future. Its that bad.
Work to get out the vote in every election going forward across the country and restore dignity to the United States. We shall overcome!
2
It is hilarious, Gail. Trump people like Trump but they can't nominate Trump extremists like Blankenship. They have one Frankenstein running amok in the village and don't want any more like that; they just want, uh, Trumpians in name only. It's all a tale told by an idiot anyway, so just saying he admires Trump gets a candidate on the Republican ballot.
It's funny how Trump can control a primary via Twitter. Intelligent people would just mutter, "What did that idiot tweet now?", but evidently Trump supporters are attuned to Trump's every word. No wonder their minds are putty.
Greg Pence's bid is interesting. I think that Trump inspires mediocre people to get into politics. Trump can't run an organization. Pretty soon Trump will have converted the entire Republican Party to mediocrity... or worse.
Trump's business career has been such a disaster that he won't release his tax returns. But in his mind, Trump's business has been a huge success. His followers believe it. So future Republican multi-millionaire candidates could employ this exceedingly mendacious model of campaigning. They'll need Fox News, of course.
It makes me feel I'm living in the movie "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", in a town like that where the people shoot up the meeting hall to show their approval of a candidate. I think that Trump is the Lee Marvin Liberty Valance. We need a John Wayne to take care of him. And more politicians like Jimmy Stewart.
6
Mosquitoes are victims of malaria too. They don't seek it out. They are infected just like the humans are. The poor starving mother mosquitoes are just trying to get a meal and raise their children. Male mosquitoes don't bite, so don't blame them for diseases spread by the females.
1
"We choose to go to space, and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard." -JFK
Alas, America.
4
"We choose to go to the moon ...." Apologies.
1
Hi Gail: Great column, and somebody may have already asked this question, but weren't the Harrisons and you from Ohio; or is there another Benjamin Harrison?
1
Joe Manchin is a Democrat like Louie Gohmert is a ballerina. You can call yourself whatever you want; that doesn't make it so.
3
It's agony reading about any of these half-baked candidates for office and knowing that many of them will get elected because the majority of the electorate is dumb or lazy or both.
3
Re politicians in pajamas: it doesn't seem to have helped Blake Farenthold.
2
Sadly, what’s going on in America is funny anymore. I’m going to ask Mitt Romney to drive me to Canada - even if it’s in a crate strapped to the top of his car.
3
Citizens United = The SCOTUS inspired blood supply for its 21st century's swamp critters. Until this law's demise is history we should not expect "swamp drainers" to appear any time soon. Hint: especially true if we once again forget to VOTE.
1
Speaking as a poor person, I yield to no rich man when it comes to venality, dishonesty, rapacity, and a well-honed iniquity.
Rich guys are just people with money and power. In America, most of us want both; we just don't know how to get them. And when we try, lacking cunning, connections, and legal resources, we end up in the slammer. (Okay, not you; for thou art as noble as thou art rare.)
If only ethical, generous, intelligent, and kind people can run for public office, our government would soon resemble the current State Department: darned-near empty.
If the wise staff of the NYTimes were thrust into our highest offices, would that solve our problems?
It's easy to criticize, but difficult to create anything worthwhile, especially a large republic. We could all work together, but that's not how we roll.
3
A vote for (A). Seeing someone who caused the death of innocent coal miners walking around, after only one year in prison is a confidence builder about life in The Mountain State for those who favor lower expectations.
1
Best legislatures money can buy. Reelect your favorite incumbent who got nothing done the last time they were in Washington. Replace a swamp dweller with a lobbyist. Lobbyists already know how to write beneficial legislation. Just ask a republican. The cliches are endless and all too true.
7
Notably, Trump's opinion on Blankenship was given in only one tweet that merely said that Blankenship would lose in the general election.
If Blankenship had won the primary, Trump would have been standing with him, just as Trump was standing with Roy Moore, because the only thing Trump cares about is party, because he figures, and probably correctly, that every Republican congressman is going to doff his cap to him.
5
Hey! You don't seem to realize what a blessing we folks who MUST drink the stuff have in non-alcoholic beer; besides, it is becoming quite the thing across the pond where they really know how to make the stuff. Give it a try! Live it up a little. It's even better than Coca Cola for providing a pause for refreshment. (Sorry, Coke. But 12 oz. of non-alcoholic beer is only 66 calories, and it doesn't give me a headache.)
I read in another NYT opinion column that it is Democratic women of all ages who are "seizing the mid-term elections" with their organizational skills learned in community "hard" boards-- those boards where all the work of a community is done which few notice, which require tough decisions and hours of listening to community members while gaining valuable information.
Trump has never listened to another person in his life. This is one reason he thinks he is the first person to discover how complicated it is to give US voters "beautiful" healthcare and how stressful it is to spend time in a building like the White House which has been maintained for decades on Congressional budgets and the rare donation from a donor with an agenda. Who knew presidents actually were expected to live in the White House?
The four Trump candidates lost this week's group of primaries 3 to 1, but Trump had a distraction ready: 3 heroes freed from North Korea.
Along the lines that it takes one ego-manic to know one, Trump's secret plan is to give the boy wonder of North Korea-- who dislikes travel as much as Trump-- the summit he has been dreaming of since coming to power. All the responsible diplomats have been cautioning against giving into the wishes of a desperate despot by allowing him to meet one on one with no pre-conditions with a US president. Trump knew better. Guess we will see what the results are. Maybe they will both want to stay in Singapore; it is so clean.
6
What makes you so sure that there's no sex scandal lurking in the Pence family??
10
"What do Tuesday night's primary results mean to you?"
D) Republicans admire, respect and pledge allegiance to Trump.
Republicans admire Trump's drive (on the golf course) to drain (refresh and enlarge) the swamp and his dedication to stamp out (like a printing press) fake news.
They admire his reality TV spray-on tan, his million dollar (literally) coiffure, his willingness to not only tell it like it is(n;t), but say it like they can understand it: that he is the only-est, the greatly-est, the best-est, the bigly-est non(sense)-politician cometh to sacrifice (something, anything, everything) to make America greatly-est again-est.
Republicans respect Trump's values. Trump is proud of being a proud man. You can't say enough about how greed motivates Trump. Trump's lifelong lust of flesh is every evangelical Christian's indecent fantasy. Trump demonstrated how envy can get you ahead. His gluttony is only exceeded by his wrath (for anyone who dares not adore him). His sloth teaches that spending most of your time on a golf course, in someone else's bed, choosing pictures over print, and having a 'fixer' fix what you are too lazy to correct, will not prevent you from becoming a Republican god.
And last of all, Republicans love Trump over country. The midterm primaries show that they will/do pledge allegiance/loyalty to Trump; America is just a convenient, useful opportunity and background for worshiping Trump.
Most of us wrongly assumed Trump would mortify Republicans.
12
In a country of more than 320 million people, that we end up with jerk-loser liars in public places in the majority of our federal offices begs the reality that our democracy is broken and we had better fix that sooner rather than later, or else.
10
Porn stars, playboy bunnies, convicts, fraudsters and complete lack of principles. Exactly what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they broke off from England.
14
Salt of the earth, Godfrey. Salt of the earth.
1
Mr Trump and the Republicans love the hashtag#Drain the Swamp!The truth is that Washington was not built on a swamp.It was damp because three waterways, The Potomac, The Anacostia, and Tiber Creek converged here.It was not a swamp until Mr Trump started digging and exposed a lot of mud and debris and invited his wealthy friends to inhabit the swamp and make the mosquitoes(lobbyists) happy.Trump and swamp are synonymous!
4
I could almost feel sorry for the mosquitos, except for the fact that the ones nesting in the warm dark nether regions of The Best Mosquito are going to be complete pariahs (if they survive st all) when the swamp gets drained.
1
Cesspool is a better term than swamp for what is going on in Congress.
6
I find the news so grim even Gail can't make me laugh.
4
And please do not forgot about Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, now Utah, who is running for Senate. He once tied his dog to the top of his car and drove all the way to Canada.
2
Seamus is barking down on his former master who thinks he can still cut the mustard in Utah.
1
All you have to do is watch a rally run by the president to realize that we’re in for a lot of swamp and hogwash for a long time. His base cheers wildly at every offensive name call or outright lie, not realizing they are the ones who will be paying the most when it eventually all goes south. Washington played games with the public for a long time, and the democrats were stupid in not standing up for themselves and picking the wrong candidates to back, so we come to the ‘party of stupid’ in control as a result. Welcome to the new American dream.
2
"... sooner or later there’s going to be a candidate desperate enough to show up in pajamas."
Isn't there a photo of a Republican Congressman or Senator in pajamas? I suppose I should search for a link. Wait a minute. Here it is.
http://gawker.com/5665630/politician-stands-next-to-a-lingerie-model-whi...
3
Unlike the tweeting slurring Donald Trump style of fighting, Vladimir Putin's foes end up in hospitals, mental institutions, prisons, urns and coffins. And Putin fights and defeats bears and eagles. Trump can't even fire his help face to face
The draining the swamp metaphor reflects scientific ignorance and stupidity. Along with coral reefs, tropical rain forests, swamps are among the most diverse and important environments on Earth. Draining a swamp is the absolute worse thing that can be done. But comparing the Trump team to a blood sucking swarm of mosquitos is accurate.
5
So zany, and so exactly on the mark! I nominate Gail Collins for the Nobel Prize in Literature!
2
a mosquito is an unwitting carrier of malaria..... the republican candidates/lobbyists are very aware of the sickness they are spreading.
8
I've lived in the United States for 24 years, dutifully studied to pass my citizenship exam, been attentive to politics and social issues, and there's something I still don't understand: can any old convicted felon, alleged child abuser or financial failure run for office as a Republican? Does the Republican Party not vet candidates running for their team? Does the GOP never say "Nope"?
Baffling.
8
As to what outfit the candidates wear to garner the most talk, It would behoove them to skip formal attire altogether. A suit, a short sleeve shirt or pajamas is too dressed up. I feel that voters long to see more transparency from their representatives. Therefore the candidates should all resolve to show up for debates and speeches naked. Sure, it would cost some of them votes, but if Trump does it first It would clear the way for greater transparency. He should at least test it as a talking point. Only the haters and fake news would be upset. His supporters would see exactly what it is that they're supporting and know exactly what it looks like after the swamp has been drained. Besides it's a better ploy than shooting someone in Times Square...unless Jeff Sessions volunteers for that role.
1
For Indiana and the Pence's I think the Quale Dynasty is a more apt; same charisma but without the deep intellect.
3
Ms. Collins, you are a true joy! Thank you!
4
Republicans are mistakenly promising a cure when all we need is a preventative measure. If only someone would invent the political equivalent of DEET, we might get out of this mess. More accurately though, there's a better analogy than malaria. Republican policy more closely resembles HIV/AIDS than malaria. They are specifically evolved to attack the defenses of our own nation. They are a virus rather than a disease. Republicans are also dissimilar to malaria in another way. Only female mosquitoes spread malaria. No one can accuse the Republican party of too much femininity.
2
I'm trying to still laugh. I really am. But nothing seems funny anymore.
8
Mosquitoes gather around still waters, and no water runs so still as that of Congress even the rare times it is in session. Thus, there will always be a swamp and plenty of mosquitoes and other vermin, both human and insect, infesting the swamp DC was built upon.
DD
Manhattan
3
Warning! The Pence "Antique Malls" in worn out old warehouse buildings filled with rented-out booths selling odds and ends ranging from used furniture to Elvis figures may just be a crafty scheme to dodge a Jeff Bezos take over.
4
I think to be a true swamp-drainer GOP Congressional candidate one has to have a net worth of at least 100 million, have paid no taxes during the past decade, have paid hush money to at least two mistresses, and preferably be a member of the Military Service and Well-Regulated Militia Combat Avoidance Club of the NRA.
2
the greatest thing about this administration is that everything is in full view this is America all blue chip companies and a white shoe law firm could not wait to give Michael Cohen money the people and companies (including but not limited to TV networks) are all on the gravy train at least we know the parties with the most money will get the most
1
TrumpKochEtcLand is more like an open sewer. And to add insult to injury, they charge a bundle for access.
Criminalizing poverty, science and knowledge, other races and religions, and Democrats is par for the course. If you want to get ahead, only one way: hold your nose and dive in!
5
Leaders from abroad who wish to hurt or overcome the US have it all figured out. While they play Trump like a violin, they boost him and hurt us all.
Making America small and mean
5
I keep wondering --
Ten years from now, are we going to look back to today and say, "Man, that was weird."
Or are we going to look back to today and say, "Man, that was when all this weirdness began."
Because it could go either way.
14
You nailed it.
4
There's a swamp alright and we're all dog paddling in it. It just gets swampier and swampier and stinkier and stinkier.
10
With the Trump administration and the GOP Congress, we now have a country run completely by alligators, oops, I mean lobbyists.
1
"Your honor, not only do I deny the allegations. I resent the alligator."- George K. Stevens
When Trump said he would drain the swamp, people (People!) heard what they wanted to hear.
Those lefties like me thought that he would go after the Lobbying-Industrial Complex. How wrong we were! That Complex are his homies. He's *not* going after them; he's appointing them to head the EPA.
What Trump actually meant, we're chagrined to discover, is that for him the Swamp is what it was/is for Steve Bannon: the Federal Bureaucracy or "The Deep State" which has a life of its own and can successfully hide what it's doing from Congress, the Judiciary, and, if necessary, the rest of the Executive. And this is where, Gail, it becomes confusing. If the Swamp is the Deep State, what is Trump?
And why can't we be drained of him and soon? Where is Congress? We thank the members of the Judiciary who have stood up to his lying self. And we also sit with clenched teeth and other parts, too, on whether the Justice Dept. will retain its spine.
Hello, Mr. Mueller?!
Hello, is anyone out there?!!!
7
No Republican candidate for anything is talking about the "lobbying-industrial complex" when he or she says it's time to clean up Washington, the state of/capital of XYZ, etc. etc. They live by the lobbying-industrial complex. It's like what they really mean when they say they're fighting for "ordinary Americans." Anyone not part of the 1% doesn't qualify.
4
We are just whetting our appetites for the midterms. In six months, we must go to the polls, come hell or high water, and take Congress from Republican hands.
8
That was over the top funny and disturbing. Blankenship is scum, no doubt. But the others are just as bad if not worse. They just haven't ostensibly destroyed as many lives yet. A lobbyist married to another lobbyist! The book they wrote together sells at Barnes and Noble in the thinnest works ever written section. Pence's brother, what a joke that is. If he does as well for Indiana as he did for a convenience(Sack and Pac) empire that state can safely merge with Illinois, Michigan and Ohio without a loss of face. This country peaked along time ago. Time to go our separate ways. Regional confederations are the way of the future. Good ole USA, stick a fork in it. This turkey is done.
3
The middle class knows it has been screwed, it's just that they've believed the Fox News lies about who did it. Prior to elections in 2018 and 2020, we need to clarify:
1. It wasn't the Mexicans, and it wasn't excessive regulation.
2. When Ronald Reagan started the process of reducing the power of the Federal Government by reducing taxes and taking away their regulatory authority, the states were not the next in line to fill the void in power, it was the corporations. Then Reagan started the dismantling of unions starting with the Air Traffic Controllers, and finished by making propaganda legal through getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine.
If you have any doubt about how powerful and arrogant the corporations are now, read the articles about how much Novartis and AT and T spent on Michael Cohen, just for grins.
8
Republicans seem enamored with lobbyist and wealthy businessmen, you know the ones that screw the average Jo and Jill. They seem to think that if they vote for enough of them enough times that their wealth and influence will somehow rub off on them. You know what they call doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
3
The trouble is the mosquitos have been put in charge of the swamp.
They have their own TV stations and media outlets that promoted them taking over the swamp, promising to bite and even kill the people who are trying to clean up the swamp.
A big old lying mosquito managed to put himself in charge, although the people did not vote for him, but he got some strategic states to support him in the Electoral College and he won the swamp vote.
The Big Mosquito did promise to clean up the swamp and claimed the system was rigged against him. But once the mosquitos were in total charge, the swamp has become a breeding ground for all kinds of mosquitos without any character, sense of ethics, or concern for people and the cleanliness of the swamp, which is increasingly polluted and toxic.
Civilized, fair-minded, caring people from other countries will be spending their tourist dollars elsewhere, and cleanup efforts are becoming more difficult every day.
The swamp is now at a tipping point, and if the people who want to clean up the swamp are not elected to office in 2018 and 2020, the swamp cannot be reclaimed, and for sure the if the mosquitos stay in charge, they will disband the EPA, the government Superfund, and every agency intended to serve as a check on mosquitos.
96
So given a choice between a candidate who manifests his disdain for the welfare of the citizens he hopes to represent by getting them hooked on opioids and suing to overturn environmental and mine safety regulations and one who does so by actually blowing them up in one of his mines, West Virginia Republicans had the good sense to go with the former. These days I guess we should count that as progress.
5
Ask Trump what constitutes the rich threshold. Remember, he first rejected Pence as a running mate because he wasn't rich. Then there was the matter of the pets....
2
You'd think these wealthy businessmen and lobbyists were salivating in anticipation of an even greater slice of the pie for themselves, wouldn't you? Imagine the over-budget ostentatious furniture they will order for offices, the unnecessary travel they'll scam for their spouses, the regulations they'll stampede to keep their fellow cronies enriched. Life is good. How do you say "what's in it for me" in Latin? You're right, Ms. Collins, they are swamp mosquitoes.
3
Swamps are beautiful natural areas; they don't deserve to be slurred. Trump and his ilk are from the moral equivalent of a sludge pond at a waste treatment. Although I even have a problem comparing a sludge pond to a Republican. Sludge ponds, after all, are vital to our health and safety.
4
Mosquitos combatting Malaria! I do love that.
This is rich:
T-Millionaire
H-Millionaire
Billionaire
Scrap the Millionaire term. No longer relevant. Use these instead.
Swamps in the past have been given a bad name, it appears. Wallowing around with Trump in that lovely green slime, feeling the nipping of snakes and the gaze of hungry gators, or simply playing with that lovely bubbling white pollutant foam seems to be what some candidates think voters want to see, want to vote for. Drain the swamp? C'mon, jump in! The water's fine.
You go Gail!
1
I hold my strongest measure of contempt—and it is a depressing state—not for Trump. Everybody knew, and knows, and will know, what he is. Were I a medievalist I would suspect some midnight pact signed in blood. He has been very lucky in most all things: the vibrant economy, the greed of tax-cut happy Wall Street, rocket strikes, insults. He is as canny with his cult as L. Ron Hubbard. No, my bile really churns at the mere sight of his “utensil,” as Churchill called Mussolini, and I mean Mike Pence. Here is a character so bereft of complex moral thought, so profoundly hypocritical in the face of his supposed Faith, and so oleaginous in praise of his true master, that he would stupefy even so verbally gifted a cynic as Mark Twain. My God, even H. L. Mencken would find his jaw slackening, his thoughts despairing, and his feet wandering toward the nearest Baltimore dive at the mere mention of the words Mike Pence.
16
I'm so grateful that the poles in West Virginia were not swamped with Don Blankenship supporters!
2
Trump is not ‘the swamp’. Trump is the newest Alligator-in-Chief, though. And credit where credit is due, Trump has made the swamp much ‘swampier’ than it has been in the recent past. “Now deeper than ever, and with more and slimier much!” can be the slogan. Maybe Trump can claim a Chemistry Nobel. Cohen’s influence peddling is ‘new and innovative’, call it a reinvention of government success. Give the credit to Jared, so he’ll have an accomplishment.
3
Without a doubt, Trump and his sycophants ARE the swamp, hence the millions of dollars in payments by Columbus Nova, AT&T, Novartis, and other influence seekers to Trump's henchman Michael Cohen.
1
Sorry Gail- I found this column very depressing. I love you most days but not today.
Come on Gail. Can you please talk about that dog on roof going to Canada?
I'll go with a billion for the average member.
BTW here's a handy way of visualizing the difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars.
Let's say you have a pile of bills a foot tall that equals $10,000; whatever denomination works. Wrap 'em up and lay them in horizontal bundles and it takes 100 of those or 100 feet of nice bundles to make a million dollars.
A billion is almost 19 miles of bundles. Clear over the horizon. The end of the line hidden beyond the curvature of the earth.
4
Its lots of fun to make fun of the GOP however I keep reading how the "Blue Wave" is turning out to be a dry stream bed. As much as these people sound like losers, think trump, they seem to win. To save the USA, the World, our planet and even space aliens we need to control at least one chamber of Congress come January. We need to take these people serious and beat them!!!!!!
2
tRump has no coattails. Candidates he has backed have lost more than won.
Ah, Gail, you missed the obvious pun: Indiana will now be sending tuppence to Washington.
10
What in the name of K Street is an "antique mall?" A mall from the Fifties? A mall with a Borders, a Licorice Pizza, a video rental outlet and a David's Cookies, anchored by a Korvettes? A mall that has not yet barred the former Republican candidate for US Senate from the state of Alabama?
Or is 'antique' the new retail term of art for stores that only sell locally sourced, organically grown, gluten free, micro brewed, artisinal...stuff.
'Cause it's old. So, you know, it's like 'antique'.
2
The swamp isn't going anywhere.
Turns out you can fool about 40% of the people 100% of the time and just let gerrymandering handle the rest.
168
No wonder the EPA wants to make DDT legal again.
3
The more that Stormy Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti reveals about the sordid business relationship between Michael Cohen and Donald Trump, the more likely that Mike Pence becomes President. Of course, Pence will have to have a personality transplant.
I like the part where Gail Collins says Pence lacks any charisma. How boring is he? He's so boring that he watches nothing but Fox News and listens to his audio Bible (Have you seen that commercial?) when he exercises.
5
The ability to make one laugh while he/she is crying. What a gift you have, Gail.
1
I always appreciate the therapeutic balance to the mornong’s news. Did you see Sundays’s “Don’t Drain the Swamp” op-ed? Southern denigration in mass culture contributed to Trump’s appeal (ironic since New York, not Alabama, gave us Trump.) Please consider dropping this figure from your humor. To me, it stands for ecological stupidity and rural self-hatred/scapegoating. Don’t buy in.
"The new Republican Senate nominee, meanwhile, is Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a former pharmaceutical lobbyist married to a current pharmaceutical lobbyist."
My lord, are these pharmaceutical lobbyists breeding? I wondered how there could be so many of them.
2
Money is speech and talk is cheap.
Essential Consulting's morning "Insight" brief to president trump each day needed only three words to convey the whole speech: Novartis,
AT&T,
Korea Aerospace.
Insights...Essential...Delivered
1
A year ago today, Trump fired Comey. May Comey continue to be a gadfly irritating Trump until Trump jumps back into the swamp from which he and the Russo-Republicans emerged. Long live the gadflies getting at the truth of how corrupted these swamp monsters are.
2
I still think a million still cuts it as well-heeled. Especially because that's all the $ they admit to having. Doesn't count the art on the walls and the Cayman bank accounts and the IOU's they've collected along the way. Corruption and graft and undue influence? PACs should be outlawed. Lobbyists should be banned from Congress. They can submit their ideas in writing. Thats change I can believe in.
2
America is treading water in the swamp. Bad enough what you can see above but one can only imagine what is wiggling its way toward you down below.
3
It is inappropriate for any reason to make light of the deaths of 29 miners, be jokey.about it,. Very insensitive on author's part.Am surprised that EB did not intervene to inform Ms. Collins not to go there!Remarks needed a rewrite! Malaria, or paludism is Africa's greatest killer. Author should have chosen another analogy.In my view, Ms. Collins really dropped the ball in the end zone on this one!
"We need a new marker. Ten million? A hundred? A billion? Discuss among yourselves and send me your vote.)" I brought it to the crew; three out of four chihuahuas say"morally bankrupt"; the fourth held the opinion that one fifty pound bag of kibble was plenty.
2
Swamps are actually wonderful eco systems teaming with life and vegetation....draining them destroys all of that natural beauty. Republicans thrive on destroying things of value and beauty.
6
Never thought I would yearn for the days when the hallmark of an unsavory candidate was a dog on the roof of his car.
6
Good work on flim flam USA...Thanks.
3
Trump actually learned a lesson. In the bi-elections he endorsed candidates way too soon. When in the final weeks they looked to be losers, he did his usual about face slagging his choice during the last week of campaigning. This time he waiting until the last minute to decide who he would endorse - the coal guy was a loser. Trump jumped on the no go train.
I have a question, how and why has Trump been able to get away with his trick of taking all sides and then declaring he is the winner when the dust clears? Most of us learned early on that sitting on the fence, let alone betting on all the horses, was a loser's game. As a kid you won no friends that way.
The red flag of drain the swamp has got to go. We will never recover our country if every candidate spews forth hate towards the government. Mosquitoes have their place in the eco-system and so do lobbyists. What needs to be drained is the empty rhetoric of status hungry fake Christian values candidates that muck about in our society.
5
The Republican party needs to change its name to the Hypocrites. That or the Gullibles. You have to be a lot of both to want to be a part of it, and their strength comes from the ubiquity of highly gullible hypocrites across this country clinging to their delusions of what a great nation should be.
7
The term millionaire has become as every day as the mosquitoes you were talking about, only the mosquitoes take a seasonal break.
I don’t know what to suggest instead, but I’ve just about gotten to the point where if I hear mil, I tune out.
1
In answer to your question, Gail, a friend in finance told us that to be considered "rich" you need about $25,000,000 available to play with nowadays. And remember, "rich" isn't the same as "wealthy" to the big players. You'll have to ask the Kochs about that one.
Maybe Manchin should start wearing Groucho glasses. It won't make any difference to the informed citizens in West Virginia, but dazed Trump worshipers might him confused with the swamp-creature Mnuchin. And a vote is a vote.
6
"One is that if the shirt-sleeve idea catches on, sooner or later there’s going to be a candidate desperate enough to show up in pajamas."
That would be Blake Farenthold, trying to win back his old seat in Congress. I still can't erase that memory of him in his onesie partying with party girls. What a poster-boy for Family Values!
3
I vote for a hundred million which should be renamed a hillion because it will force the Republican Congressmen ( yes the men ) to earn less so as not to be associated with a unit on money that sound like Hillary.
7
Yes, it's a mosquito-ridden fever swamp, but it's not malaria we have to fear, it's racism, jingoism, and fascism. The only antidote is an awakened American public and the medicine of democracy administered by informed citizens exercising their civic duties in defense of justice and the rule of law over the rule of men.
7
As an Ohio voter, I am not sure I want a guy who grew up in the swamp and benefited from the swamp (Renacci) to be in charge of the swamp as Senator.
8
If Mike Pence's brother owns antique malls, I bet he's not a millionaire. I speak from experience.
7
Not yet. That’s why he’s running for Congress.
4
Hey, watch it--I LOVE antique malls!
4
The days of wine and roses are here for criminally corrupt conmen. The swamp has been drained and now these creatures are free to walk among us.
Congratulations, Trump voters, you've made the entire country sick.
12
All those candidates are too late. We drained the swamp - fired all those people who knew what they were doing in various government departments, and replaced a few of them with cronies crashing incompetents. And, most likely, crooks, but that has yet to be proven.
We found, unfortunately, that the toxic ooze that was underneath the swamp was far worse than what now looks like a rather benign wetland with a few gators and snakes. I'd rather have a surfeit of nutrias, glorified swamp rats, than the Swamp Thing creatures we unearthed.
We should all be shouting for Washington to flood the swamp again. ("Fill 'er up!" can replace "Lock Her Up! as a slogan.) Anyone running on a Drain the Swamp platform has missed the last two years of governance. We are smaller, leaner, less effective and more corrupt. What more can they want?
6
Perfect.. lobbyist married to lobbyist for the underpaid CEOs of and over regulated pharmaceutical industry now running for Congress.... It used to be that the former Congressman became the lobbyist... but whatever....
Personally I think what any thinking person thinks about pharmaceuticals.. Frankly, taxpayers should perhaps NOT pay for other people's drugs.. just their own... then what would happen with the market for the recently overpriced drugs (drugs on which prices were recently raised) and those that addict??
Of course, who should be blamed and the answer starts with C not with T -- but it may be related to R as well.. Unbelievable.. what these people will do for ten cents. Sell Granma's gold teeth while they are in her mouth?
Medicare is not allowed to negotiate drug prices unlike say National Health in th UK.
1
Gail! What would I do without your columns? Laughs are in short supply these days. Thanks.
5
I didn’t pay any attention to the primary results. I just didn’t care.
I will get excited in mid-October when the mid-terms begin to draw blood. The blood before then will be the mosquito bites, those thirsty blood-suckers from The Swamp.
Ms. Collins, the bar for qualifying for public office is on the street. There aren’t many quality individuals—of either party—who could stifle a yawn. Greg Pence? Joe Renacci? Or was it Mike? I forgot.
The endangered Democrats in West Virginia and Indiana are very likely done. Claire McCaskill in Missouri is no lock. The Red State malarial epidemic is making its way across the political landscape. And I don’t seriously think Americans are in the mood to send a message to the Big Mosquito Himself—the Mar-a-Lago buzzer. He’s a terrible president but people get lazy; I guess it has something to do with a short attention span.
Don Blankenship can always return to Nevada. Isn’t there a Trump casino in Sin City? If not, they can build one and call it Stormy ‘s Monday Blues. It’ll do a great business.
2
It’s looking like if Trump were a mosquito he will be getting swatted down before too long. In any case I don’t know how he can last given the trouble his “fixer” Cohen is in. Even Cohen should be able to figure out that saving “The Donald” is not worth a lifetime in prison especially since apparently Trump shows Cohen no respect.
I wonder if Pence’s brother is more charismatic than Mike? An average mosquito has more charismatic than Mike Pence.
1
the best way to deflect attention away from one's bad behavior is to publicly appear to be against it. again, it
starts at the top. what a role model, huh? welcome to the hypocrisy of the politic. sometimes we're (democrats/republicans, liberals/conservatives, right/left, religious/non-religious) just a nasty little bunch, aren't we?
let's find our way back to the world of the noble, the honorable, the virtuous, the good. it seems so far way now, but we can do it. one vote at a time.
2
As long as America refuses to do anything about reform of campaign finance laws, which shamelessly allow almost unlimited cash from plutocrats like the Kochs, the Mercers, the Adelsons, their corporations and their lobbiests etc. etc. to basically “buy” elections to further their own commercial interests, the swamp will only grow.
The “Citizens United “ decision by the Supreme Court has been an unmitigated disaster for American democracy and continues to dredge up a slew of the most “reprehensible “ (and I’m being kind here) candidates for high political office this country has ever seen. It has also indirectly given us the Trump cabinet of people like Pruitt, DeVos, Mnuchin et al. working 24/7 for their vested interests.
We are the only western democracy which permits money to “run riot” in our neverending (re)election campaign cycles. The first and biggest step we can take for drying up the swamp is to repeal “Citizens United.”
142
Citizens United makes the United States exceptional. Americans with no moral compass ranks a close second.
14
Don't forget that foreign agents/companies/actors can funnel dark money into campaigns as well. It seems more and more likely that the GOP is largely bankrolled by the Russians, funneled through organizations like the NRA. American Democracy is dead. 1776-2016
13
One good thing about the Trump presidency is he is not going to drain the swamp, as promised, but has exposed the swamp. The left leaning media is finally doing their jobs and investigating the corruption and graft paid to a great majority of politicians on both sides. The problem is the people have gravitated to news that they agree with. The majority of Trump haters only watch MSNBC, Trump supporters only watch FOX. Therefore liberals only think Repubs are corrupt and and conservatives only believe dems are corrupt. They are all corrupt. There has always been a swamp and their will always be a swamp. Trump will become the richest person in the world at the end of his 8 years.
1
By now, it should be evident that Republicans have a winning set of slogans: Drain the Swamp! Lock Her Up! America First! We'll See! The key to their success is that they mean whatever you want them to mean. The "swamp" could refer to the miasmic bog on which Washington was built (by slaves). Or the White House swimming pool. Or any Democrat. "Lock her up" could refer to any woman who opposes Republicans. Or complains about sexual harassment. "America First" could mean an impenetrable wall to prevent foreign people, imports and ideas from contaminating our swamp-free nation. "We'll see" could mean we have no idea what will happen, but we're going to do whatever we want anyhow.
7
With apologies to Groucho: “Once, I shot a politician in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I’ll never know.”
6
Campaigning in pajamas, Gail? What cavernous halls will they fill in this outfit? Walmarts? Kinda like attending concerts where everyone is wearing rock group paraphernalia. I'll hold out until these Wealthy Guys hit the dais in Speedos or, better yet, thongs. What better way to demonstrate there is nothing hidden in their, ahem, agendas?
Until Greg Pence, I never realized there was such a thing as an antique mall mogul. I've known a few people involved in the antique store business. Nice people. Drove second-hand cars. Lived upstairs. I had no idea they were really phenomenally wealthy.
3
Same amendment that protects journalists protects lobbyists. No reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to run for office
Ethics and morals aside, of course....
3
I didn't see any reference to lobbyists being banned from running for office. Just that you might want to think twice about VOTING for one as a way to drain the swamp (of lobbyists).
5
"... sooner or later there’s going to be a candidate desperate enough to show up in pajamas."
Or savvy enough. Come back, Blake Farenthold, all is forgiven.
How could Donald Trump, who loves the poorly educated ("I love the poorly educated") believe that cherished GOP voters in WV might select a greedy felon for their nominee? Have they ever voted for a greedy felon before? Now hush.
2
At some point, don't we have to take a cold hard look at why so many who run for office these days, especially in the GOP, have serious moral, ethical and/or veracity challenges?
Don Blankenship is horrid man whose business practices were responsible for killing 29 men. He spent time (probably not enough) in jail and was utterly unrepentant. Yet he has so much support among West Virginians (and remember, it is their residents who died in Blankenship's mine) that the POTUS feels the need to send out a message against his candidacy. But not because Trump is offended by Blankenship being responsible for 29 deaths or because feels he is unworthy of the office--it is because Trump is afraid Blankenship will have no chance to defeat the Democratic candidate. So if Blankenship could win, Trump would have been all for him!
Same with Roy Moore. He was a bad candidate to Trump because he couldn't win--not because he likely tried to bed down underage girls.
At this point, the GOP and Trump would support Charles Manson against any Democrat, so long as he pledged his allegiance to tax cuts for corporations and billionaires, overturning Roe v. Wade and armed teachers in schools.
When did our country become a real life episode of House of Cards and Scandal rolled into one?
9
Between this Blankenship guy and the Moore guy in Alabama, the bar to run for public office is getting pretty low in the Republican Party.
9
I have never understood the allure of public office especially to be a congressman or senator, if you are already filthy rich. For some reason spending millions of my own money so I can hold town meetings where I stand on a stage being flogged by my constituents and neighbors just doesn't appeal to me.
For example, I remember when Jon Corzine years ago spent 60 million dollars of his own money just to win the New Jersey Democratic Senate Primary, and another 15 million of his money in the general election for a total of 75 million to just to be one of the 100 U.S. Senators (and one with no seniority at that). Corzine is now so detested in New Jersey that he long ago moved away after embarrassingly losing a re-election for Governor (to Chris Christie, BTW).
Seriously, I don't get it. What's the point?
2
Many of the problems in this country are caused by the lack of term limits for elected officials. Over decades, we have created a new class of citizen, the professional politician. They enjoy a level of entitlements above those of the average citizen. They opt out of laws that they feel do not apply to themselves ( ACA) and when caught, their cronies bail them out. They full well know that the millions they spend on winning an election will be recouped 10 fold. Until this flaw in our democratic process is addressed, we will continue to see voter apathy.
Trump represents a refreshing change from the status quo. He stumbles on occasion but overall has positively changed the process. NK is now (hopefully) negotiating in earnest. The Iran agreement was flawed and will be renegotiated. Our lack a clear and enforced immigration policy has created the current quagmire and is being challenged. Our tax structure made us less competitive globally. Our trade deficits are staggering. The Obama era of entitlements and governing though presidential edicts is over and the liberal left is screaming. Unemployment is below 4% and the economy is showing signs of recovering. Trump is unwinding the pathetic deals made by Obama and we're finally seeing real progress. The simplest way to gage the success of the current administration is by counting the number of attacking articles and opinion pieces in the Times. Trump is going strong and the liberal media is furious!
1
You were doing fine until the paragraph that started with “Trump”. He is undoing everything done by Obama simply because it was done by Obama. Paris accords, gone. Trans Pacific Partnership, gone. ACA, still around but under constant attack. Iran nuke agreement, USA bails out.
This isn’t statesmanship, it’s thoughtless change implementation by a guy who wants his name on everything and the adoration of all. He claims to be “America first” but those days ended with WW2. It’s a world community now and Trump has decided to leave it, not lead it. He has no Plan B for any of these messes he has created and opened the door to China and Russia to look like partners to the world.
It will take years to reverse the damage he’s done.
4
The simplest way to gauge tRump's failures is to read posts like yours desperately trying -- and failing - to defend the misguided actions, immorality, ignorance, arrogance and childish antics of a man totally unsuited for office.
Trump "stumbles?"Please. He falls down more often than a drunk descending the stairs. You have no evidence of how the Iran deal is flawed, but the experts doing the ACTUAL inspections verify they are in compliance. The tax giveaway to the wealthy and corps has EXPLODED deficit projections. Illegal immigration has been at net zero for several years, making tRump's call for a fence a purely political bone for his racist base. Leaving TPP was a huge win for China, and leaving the Paris accord irresponsible. The trade deficits are partly the result of China's funding of our huge budget deficts (which Obama reduced and tRump is increasing). And you comically evoke presidential "edicts" when Rump has issued one after another, and been overruled in court on nearly all of them. tRump's own team (which shuffles like a car deck) has referred to him as a moron, and his lies, ignorance and flip-flopping have damaged the office and lost him credibility with our allies and 60% of American citizens. He failed BIGLY on promises to improve the ACA, support sensible gun safety, protect DACA, pass a responsible budget, or crack down on Wall Street. The only "progress" being made is in proving that, indeed, you can fool some of the people some of the time.
4
Renacci has done absolutely zero for the people of Ohio. He now has hitched his cart to the Trump train. Same tired vile rhetoric. Make people afraid of the "other." Cut taxes until we have no civilization left. How pitiful is that? Se. Brown is the voice of the people. Decent and fair and compassionate.
Wake up folks, we are all in this together.
14
I wish your colleagues would stop interviewing the people who are managing campaigns to make the so-called Swamp even more dank and dangerous.
How about some articles on the progress Democrats are and can make if given the opportunity to undo some of the evil deeds the Republicans have done :
Repeal the evil tax
Secure health care for all of us (look at France !)
Reinstate consumer protections in many agencies that protect our places we live, our clean air and water and the animals and wildlife that are as much a part of our heritage as the 2nd amendment. Especially get rid of the evil cabinet members who are stealing our tax money with their trips and paranoia about their personal security à la EPA head... Get sometimes paranoids are right... He is despised.
Tell us what you know democrats need to do and we can do it...
4
Actually the swamp can not be drained. The current EPA administrator won't allow it.
8
As someone who moved to Hoosierland (from a more liberal state) some 40 years ago, this column encapsulates what has been evident for some time. An electoral college portion of the country has become Hoosiers. It's all very frustrating... Columns like this, highlighting the obvious, only send the Hoosiers to their trenches. Satire is not an invitation for self-reflection; it's only seen as an attack... Anything that has a hint of progressivism, or intellectual honesty, or moral decency has to be banished. Richard Lugar had to be replaced on the state and national level. ... Of course the system is broken, the Hoosiers of the country have systematically removed the men of dignity.
10
Make America great again by taking her back to the good old days. Final destination on her trip to the past, 1860!
History has no final destinations. 1860 was succeeded by 1861. Those who have ears, let them hear.
1
Don't forget that one of the very first executive orders issued by Trump severely weakened Obama-era ethics and lobbying constraints, also permitting the White House to issue *secret* waivers. Nor is the list of visitors to the White House under scrutiny, ever since Trump sealed the visitor logs, allowing any and all lobbying in the West Wing to go unobserved. Let's face it, the American people just tried to drain the swamp by hosing it from above with unfiltered sewage.
14
Should we be concerned that Mr. Trump actually found a Republican candidate that he could not support? Oh, it was just a primary -- never mind.
If Mr. Blankenship had somehow won the primary, Mr. Trump would be jetting down to West Virginia (or at least a bordering state) to rally the voters and urge them to send Mr. Blankenship to Washington.
(Side note: I would've paid good money to see "Cocaine Mitch" swearing in the newest member of the Senate.)
4
Pence II isn't another Wealthy Businessman.
He is another Bankrupt Businessman, however. Will he be sleeping in his office too?
Oh - I think it's fine to call Congress members wealthy at $1MM. It's only 4% of the country that makes this cut, after all.
5
I have, over the years, appreciated your sardonic humor. Sometimes, we could not have survived without it.
But the Trump attempt at dictatorship is not a laughing matter, anymore.
3
West Virginia loves its colourful characters just so long as they're not characters of colour. Andy Griffith, a character dreamed up in Hollywood by blacklisted screenwriters may be the last nominal West Virginian who demonstrated any kind of moral or ethical compass. Well, give these folks another couple of hundred years, or so, they'll catch up eventually.
3
Our government has been for sale for a while now. And this (business?) model calling itself Democracy is not sustainable. I dislike it that I have to fight new cynicism every day.
3
The probability is that these Republicans who showed slavish devotion to Trump during the primaries will be unable to wash themselves of that stink when to try to persuade independents to vote for them in the general election. Everything points to independents breaking for Democrats this year in all but the most ruby red states.
2
Vice-President Pence's brother "rebounded as the owner of two 'antique malls'". In the U.S., 'antique malls", that means a collection of junk shops (getting their 'antiques' perhaps from whatever Purple Heart cannot sell nor use). Look twice before buying (or voting)!
4
This is a brave new world. The pajama idea has already caught on. My students routinely show up to class in pajama bottoms and slippers. We should all learn from the younger generation so I've taken to going grocery shopping in the same. And you know what? Noone even looks twice. I remember the day when walking the streets in pajamas was one of the hallmarks of mental illness.
9
But remember that some bozo Congressman touted the tax act by saying it would give voters $4,000 to buy a new car! How rich you are depends on which alternative fact reality you inhabit. And so Trump's $4 billion net worth should be the minimum required for any Republican to run for office. They won't have any trouble at all reaching that figure, at least in their own minds. Democrats, on the other hand, need contributions of $5 from a cajillion people in order to run, so their wealth will be only in the millions.
2
$4000 for a car? That would be a used car, one in very bad shape.
Kind of hard to follow this piece but maybe not your fault. I understand that: Lobbyists are now becoming Congressmen while marrying lobbyists. Also, that may not drain the swamp, although, Republicans happily vote for anyone throwing out that phrase. Remember when real Republicans actually worried about National Debt? Oh for days gone by.
3
What do you have against Beagles? Mosquitoes yes, Beagles no!
1
Trump and McConnell can claim a political, but not moral, victory over Blankenship's defeat. To have right on their side, they would have denounced his candidacy for his callous disregard to human life.
They don't have another Roy Moore on their hands, but they don't have the high road.
47
Funny that the Republican's call to arms is to destroy a vital natural resource. Swamps are wetlands. Wetlands are good! But a swamp don't do nothing to make no money, so let's fill it and build a Trump property on top.
5
"Or maybe in the swamp."
Ms. Collins, I call to your attention the excellent op-ed that appeared on May 5, just 5 days ago re the use of swamp:
Stop Calling Washington a Swamp. It’s Offensive to Swamps.
By Martha Serpas
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/opinion/sunday/stop-calling-washingto...
And especially the conclusion of Ms. Serpas: "This is the swamp’s true lesson: We must learn to wade through the complexities of our world with a receptive mind, rather than pave over what we don’t understand."
Lay the offensive use of swamp to rest.
3
Wasn't there an old B-movie called "The Curse of the Swamp Creature"? It's beginning to feel strangely relevant.
4
It's clear that a lot of Republicans haven't got the message that "Drain The Swamp" is so last-year. Trump promised that he'd do exactly that, and by golly, he's kept that promise.
Of course, he's replaced the swamp with a cesspool, but don't expect any Republicans to tell you that.
6
The proof of the Primaries will be in the November 2018 Mid-Term Election pudding. Notwithstanding pesky Republican mosquitos promising to drain the swamp to fight malaria in Trump's Washington, D.C.
1
What could be worse then one Pence? Two. It makes me shudder just thinking of it.
7
Oh good, I didn't know much about Pence but more failed business men turned politicians, that's what we need! Who better to lie, cheat, steal and bankrupt the country?
Being "old school" they think a war will turn the economy around and so are working to put one together where the US has just breached yet another agreement.
6
This makes me smile. The world might be on its way to Trumpageddon, but at least future alien visitors can pull articles like this out of the rubble and say: "Huh, look at this. Serif type face."
Keep the faith, Ms. Collins.
3
Maybe America did something really horrible in a past life. Do nations have past lives? Maybe we were ancient Egypt. Incoming pharaohs sometimes erased the record of the previous pharaoh's accomplishments. Sound familiar? They also expected to be worshiped and they didn't tolerate dissent. I'm pretty sure they had pets, though. Cats and dogs. At least one was brought down by plagues. Our leaders are plagued by scandals. Not much has changed.
2
My first thought was, let's stop electing millionaires to Congress. Then I realized that millionaires are the only ones who can afford to run a campaign in this ridiculous world of spend more/get more votes.
The unfortunate reality is that as long as we conflate money with speech, this trend will continue. The most confusing thing I see in my inbox at this time is countless e-mails from progressive politicians asking for me to send "just a few" dollars to fund their campaigns, so they can compete with the millionaires they're running against - and then "drain the swamp."
The implication seems to be that the way to get money out of politics is to send money to a politician.
How about this: no advertising until a specified time before an election - say, 1 month before a Congressional election. Advertising must be limited to a presentation of facts regarding the candidate's platform and record, with limits to the length and number of ads. And funding is equally distributed to all viable candidates from a taxpayer-funded source.
Yes, I know - pipe dreams. The millionaires control the system and the only way for that to change is for Congress to kill the goose that keeps laying their golden eggs, and most of them are not willing to do that.
If only voters would step up and make the needed changes! Unfortunately, I suspect they will just continue to vote for the millionaires and convince themselves they have no choice.
6
We now know that "Draining the Swamp" was just a piece of red meat Trump threw to the crowd at his campaign rallies, working them like like it was a game show. Trump never had a plan. There were no details. It hadn't even been thought through by Trump. Instead, Trump knew his crowd simply wanted to vent their anger by hooping and hollering and laughing at the insults he hurled at Washington. Otherwise, why aren't they angry that there's no follow-through, angry that he hasn't fired Scott Pruitt or Ben Carson?
5
Considering how Republicans try to prevent former convicts from even voting, it's pretty ironic that they had one with blood on his hands running for the Senate.
7
Also, Gail, we DO need a new marker for defining Rich. After all, if Trump can call himself a " Billionaire " based on specious, fantastical estimates and appraisals, then many can. Maybe he's actually referring to Monopoly Money, as he once ran a huuuge Casino in Atlantic City, the site of the original game. Ran the Casino into the ground, as in Bankruptcy. And it takes an extreme level of incompetence and sheer stupidity to accomplish that feat, as running a Casino is the nearest (legal) means possible of a license to print Money. Henceforth, I am establishing my very own scale of fantasy wealth. I'll call it the Dalmatian scale. Anyone that has adopted actual canines OR felines is hereby declared and recognized as a millionaire. For EACH animal. You're welcome. Points deducted for placing said animal(s) on the roof of any moving vehicle. Seriously.
7
Rich is when your kids have healthcare; rich is when you don't have to worry if your car's gonna make it to work; rich is when you can go out to eat, or to a ballgame on a whim and never worry about leaving a decent tip, or covering the cost of babysitting.
Rich is your kids going to College, and not ending up forever in debt to the usurers. Rich is living freely.
18
I never understood the opposition. If he violated safety rules then his comrades should have been behind him 100%.
1
Sure hope that whatever worth the other Pence has, it will loosen some of the ideological rigidity of his brother, the vice. Shall wee find another name instead of swamp, if you please? We don't want to remove nature's way to act as a sponge to avoid flooding by us humans trying to cementing over it, nor the marvelous zest for life within, of which we depend...while deciding if nuclear annihilation is in the cards or not.
" the swamp is Trump"
Truer words were never spoken. I still wake up every morning and have to realize anew that Donald Trump is President of the United States.
Donald Trump.
And what a mess he is making nation and world wide. It will take Democrats many election cycles to get things back in order - trade, international relations, allies, the environment etc.
Please do not let complacence take over - vote in 2018 and 2020.
7
What mystifies me about Joe Manchin is, by what tortured logic, he's even considered a Democrat? He plays it safer than the most ardent Trump acolyte. Looks to me, the Democrats should test the waters in WV, and aside from finding coal toxins, see if a progressive candidate might actually gain some traction. Those striking school teachers seem ripe for someone who doesn't consider them a drag on society.
3
Former lobbyists are running for office because all they see are millionaires in Congress and former lobbyists working for the Trump administration. Many are now tasked with dismantling the government agencies they were chosen to lead. The swamp is not only undrained, it has turned into an ocean of slime where lobbyists promote tax cuts to further enrich the Robbing Hoods of the Republican Party at the expense of the poor. And that's okay with a supposedly populist president as long as he gets his cut.
76
I think an income of $1.2 million a year certainly would be one good definition of "wealthy"; that's roughly 20X the U.S. median income of about $59,000. And maybe net assets around $20 million, which is 20X the median net worth of about $100,000.
Why 20X? Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the "good old days" that conservatives yearn for, the average top executive earned about 20 times as much as the average worker. In 1965, for example, CEOs earned an average of $832,000 annually compared to $40,200 for workers (in 2015 inflation-adjusted dollars). Today, of course, the top executives are making 300 times the average worker, which seems totally unnecessary and warps the entire economy and politics.
20
20 x $100,000 = $2 million.
Say what you will about lobbyists, but they are the ones who really know how Washington works. How's that, you ask? Because lobbyists fund the work of Congress and set the priorities of government in good times and bad.
I offer as proof the GOP recently enacted tax plan. Did you honestly think this legislation arose from citizens marching on Washington to demand more and better tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy? At a time when the last thing America -- the falling apart in disrepair America -- needed was larger tax cuts, it was the phalanx of lobbyists who drafted the bill and made sure there were enough Republican votes to pass it.
That's what lobbyists do. As long as they are paid, and paid well, for their services.
155
A swamp is an integral and important part of the natural ecosystem. Ever since The Donald invoked this metaphor many ecologists and naturalists have written numerous times defending the swamp. On the other hand, people think of a swamp negatively only because they see it as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. One does not need to drain the swamp to get rid of the mosquitoes; all we need to do is to swat them dead.
So, how about an alternate metaphor. Swat the mosquitoes in the swamp dead. And all it takes to achieve this goal is to vote them out of office.
71
Ms. Collins drops flip jokes about the Republicans while her colleague interviews the Republican in charge of House elections. Said Republican claims that his party will keep the House in the midterms.
I wish Ms. Collins could write a straight column for a change--she is more than capable of doing it. We need her wisdom---not her humor ----now.
We live in a silos in this country and I am hoping the Democrats are not in one of their own making.
9
And I wish Michelle Wolf had read her doctoral dissertation on “The Effect of Newspaper Editorials on 18th Century Presidential Elections” at the White House Correspondet’s Dinner but that’s not what Ms. Wolf does. Nor is it what Ms. Collins does. Ms. Collins writes humor. There are plenty of other Op-Ed writers to do the serious stuff but we need Ms. Collins’ light touch to help us through this nightmare I can’t seem to wake up from.
7
Yes, but a teaspoon of sugar helps the medicine go down. As a yellow dog Democrat, even I grow tired and run from the constant rants.
4
Her humor IS wisdom.
3
In reality, mosquitoes have no interest in spreading malaria and do not benefit in any way from it. To the extent that the disease kills people, it reduces the supply for the mosquitoes.
Perhaps the appropriate analogy would be "like malaria parasites campaigning on a vow to combat mosquitoes"
32
Just to be clear, in a somewhat murky area, prison is reserved for federal crimes and/or for crimes for whose sentences are a year or longer. Blankenship was sent to PRISON, not jail, although he spent his time behind bards at Club Fed. for his handing murdering 29 miners. Jared Kushner's father went to prison.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio was sentenced to six months in jail, administered by the sheriff's office, if I've read it correctly. He's still has committed a federal crime, not yet sentenced, for which he was pardoned. Under his supervision, prisoners in his jails died of dyhydreation and lack of medical attention.
So; Jail and prison. Two different places with presumably different levels of punishment. Unless the President gets involved.
58
The mystical wisdom of autocorrect. The idea of a miscreant spending time behind bards is too good to fix.
4
What Rudy learned in 1989 for his $110 per vote, that still saw a loss to Dinkins by about 2%, was how to characterize Dinkins successfully enough as the worst thing to hit NYC since Nathan’s Famous became a chain operation (1958), and thereby win by about 2% over Dinkins in 1993. I know: I was there both times, crying AND laughing, helping to evangelize the demonization (and licking envelopes). Consider the $110 vote in 1989 as a successful investment in saving the city beginning 1 Jan. 1994.
Gail’s column today seems a bit … tentative. Could it be that she’s sensing a growing and profoundly disturbing inevitability about the midterms that doesn’t favor her ideological interests? After all, Trump may be handed credit for denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula before November, and we have this peachy economy wherein “unemployment” has dipped below 4% for the first time since Achilles walked among women. And now he’s apparently the only world leader who looks at Iran, cocks his head, sees a nation led by superannuated religious berserkers and who have energetically explained for almost forty years how they’re going to incinerate Israel … developing powerful warhead delivery systems and only a few years from being free to put nukes on them.
And ask … what could POSSIBLY go wrong with this arc?
If there is any nation on Earth (besides North Korea) that has no business with a nuclear arsenal … it’s Iran.
7
Yet because our Euro friends have sunk money in Iran and want to buy their oil, they’re willing to ignore all this, confident that should Iran point nuclear-tipped ICBMs not JUST at regional capitals but also at London, Paris, Belin, Rome and Madrid while excoriating the “infidels”, America will come to their rescue, on our dime. Yet again. So Trump is telling the Persians that they can’t have their toys NOW, instead of in less than a decade when we might need to invade to stop them, spilling not Euro blood but our own, spending a trillion or two of OURS and not of anyone else’s. While for less than a decade they made their money and bought Iran’s oil.
Despite the liberal MSM’s manic efforts to deny Trump ANY credit for all the good things that are happening, stemming from decisions and actions he’s taken, and to blame him for everything bad that happened in the world since Eve sat down with Satan, it’s getting thin, rather obviously ideologically interested. It may be that Trump succeeds in the months that follow at making clear that Iran is now on a path to agreeing to a permanent, verifiable nuclear ban after he killed possibly the worst deal we’ve ever struck in our history. It could even happen by November. He should start calling his adversaries “Nevilles”, because they argue for more Munichs.
He’s already done a lot. If he does this, too, overwhelming Republican majorities could come in on his coattails in November.
Maybe Gail has good REASON to be … tentative.
3
Richard, the column clearly states that Giuliani spent $110 a vote in his presidential run, not his race for mayor. But you were going to change the subject anyway, so it hardly matters that you didn’t read the column carefully. The question posed is, what about the GOP’s internalization of grift and lobbying as its governing philosophy? The answer will never be to point to a bunch of accomplishments that never happened.
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@Yeah: He also seems to believe that he has unique, much more informed perspectives on Trump and Giuliani because he happened to live in New York City during their respective heydays. He “watched” Trump make deals in the 1980s. He licked envelopes for Giuliani in the 90s. Big deal. He was one among 7 million.
His analysis of the Dinkins era makes clear he wasn’t paying close attention. Crime began to fall dramatically toward the end of Dinkins’s tenure as the use of crack cocaine abated. Giuliani reaped the benefits, and of course claimed all the credit. That and a booming national economy and rocketing stock markets were the major drivers of his “successful” terms as mayor.
Meanwhile, race relations hit rock bottom.
15
A barefoot candidate with a beagle sounds very appealing these days. Even just the beagle would be an improvement on what we've got.
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Looks like Republicans are about to gain ten senate seats and dozens of house seats. After a year of failing to repeal Obamacare and delivering a watered-down tax cut that nobody really cares about, Trump is finally winning. Democrats have failed to dissociate themselves from the Mueller investigation (led by registered Republicans) and dismiss the impeachment fantasy. Republicans have successfully convinced the American People that the investigations are a Democrat-led effort to remove Trump, rather than a necessary non-partisan measure to reinforce our national security and prosecute the treasonous felonies committed by certain individuals associated with Trump's campaign.
America is and has always been a man's country, for better or for worse. The Democrats have nominated a wave of female candidates who cannot win, thereby shooting themselves in the foot and likely guaranteeing our descent into Soviet-style one-party rule. It's only a matter of time before the remaining Democrats are driven out of power, rounded up and imprisoned. It was a nice country while it lasted.
23
Bleak outlook aside, there is truth to this in the extent that the GOP can solidify its hold long enough to eliminate fair elections (with the help of Russian money). Otherwise, the changing demographics will spell doom for them. The angry white rural voter (notice I am from Oklahoma, I know of what I speak) are going to be too addled by opioids to mount any real effort to actually vote in the numbers that will be required to maintain their majority. This is even more true now that trump won't be on the ticket. They are enthralled by him, but ultimately, their terrible lives will distract them from their current, destructive obsession with right wing politics. You can only stay interested in politics if you either love the politician to the point that HE is all that matters to you, or you live a comfortable enough life that you have the time to pay attention. We are seeing the decline in the energy of the tea party types while simultaneously seeing a rise from the left's equivalent movement. It COULD be very bad for the GOP.
1
Yes politicians all millionaires, can very definitely understand the problems of the majority of citizens trying to live on less then $60,000 a year. No need to give them medical help, no need to help with education, no need to help with child care and yes, cut those food stamps.
Meanwhile lets discuss another one of those wonderful tax cuts!Now thats a legislation that we definitely need.
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I can't imagine how any more creatures can fit in the swamp Trump has filled to overflowing, where many of his appointees and associates do take up much of the space.
However, my own Congressional representative, a Republican, is a former lobbyist whose firm was involved in a pay-to-play scandal that cost it $550,000 and a 5-year lobbying ban.
He was easily elected twice, is running again and seems to be quite happy with his own place in the swamp.
49
Most Repubs would vote for anyone ,regardless, if they were not a hated democrat and liberal. Yes he's a crook and a corrupt guy but he's one of us!
1
What do Tuesday night’s primary results mean to you?
(D) That we are FINALLY beginning to talk about candidates that are trying to '' out left '' one another in primaries.
There is still the ''talk'' from the usual ''pundits'' in the media of progressive candidates not being electable, but that is changing. ( especially with so many women candidates )
If republicans ( especially in red states ) STILL want to vote again their own interests time after time, then what Democrats need to do is show them decisively all around the rest of the country what actual progressive policies mean. ( not republican lite )
That EVERYONE is included.
47
While I would not want Blankenship in Congress-- or even working behind a counter at a fast food restaurant-- I must say that I will miss his charismatic delivery and unique campaign ads. They were so unusual, that no comedian would dare attempt to parody them, they simply ran snippets and let the laughs follow.
37
No one has ever explained logically or with clarity why anyone without a substantial amount of money would vote for billionaires or millionaires?
Equality?
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Indeed. It would be impossible to pass and equally impossible to impose, but I've long thought that all members of Congress, the Cabinet, etc., should be required to give up all access to all personal wealth for the entire time they serve. They should be provided a modest private room in a dorm (with a modest en suite bathroom and shower) and access to shared kitchen. Their transportation to and from work (the Capitol) would be in fifteen-passenger vans, each filled with a mix of colleagues from both sides of the aisle. (Each floor of the dorms should also have a bipartisan mix.) If we could slip in a codicil that airline executives were only allowed to fly sitting middle seats of full flights in economy on their own airlines, we will have done much to advance the cause of humankind.
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Many people see wealth as a sign of ability and evidence of success. They want to vote for a
"winner" who they believe can "get things done". They are charmed when a successful person appears to
agree with their prejudices and pet peeves.
Of course, voting decisions, like most decisions, are
not made on a logical or rational basis, as they are made by humans.
35
Reply to Red Lion: This is what Dems should talk about every day to make sure all the people understand whats at risk in this so called democracy. Thank you for your comment.
Trump can not even talk about the natural world without insulting it.
Swamps are magical places full of wildlife, strange and exotic plants, they filter the water that runs into them. No, what needs cleaning up it the cesspool called the GOP. Cesspools stink, they are full of that stuff Republicans excrete. Occasionally a Democrat joins them, usually one from a state like Louisiana, or close by.
We even have some out here in the west, like Tom McClintock and Dana Rohrabacher,and the pride of Bakersfield Kevin Owen McCarthy, so we are not free of cesspools here either. Still I have to hold my nose when Rump appears on the telly, I think there should be some kind of optical filter to hide his disgusting visage during the dinner hour,it should be reserved for after 23:00 so as to not upset ones stomach.
Pence, what can be said about such a "Real Christian" who will not even share a diner with the boys without his wife? Right out of the old testament, but it says nothing about bankrupting businesses other than not steal. His family involved in the antique business,makes sense so is his mentality. That also tells you something about the mentality of the rural Illinois electorate, call it the country cafe society where they reinforce each others perceptions of those tax and spend, atheists liberals.
Vote Democrat and God will get you, oh that is a Yiddisha mama expression, can't use that in Middle America, but OK in Chicago.
42
Having wept through several pieces--both news and a no-point-in-mentioning op-ed--in the Times earlier today, I am relieved to find Ms. Collins offering hope that reason, integrity, and humor are not gone from the shores of the American experiment.
Thank you, as always.
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This never ending election cycle is maddening. Hopefully we'll show some sense in the next election so that life will settle down into something more mundane except for the occasional tantrums of our darling president as he realizes that the people have hemmed him in and neutralized him. Wouldn't it be lovely if he had to sign legislation that makes our lives better. Would we still get the photo ops or would he sign them off camera silently sulking.
20
A rough estimate, keeping it simple:
House: $10M
Senate: $100M
Presidency: $1000M
These are minimum thresholds. You can play at any level, as long as you meet the requirement. Note that your money has to be liquid.
Or you can try persuading the electorate, convincingly, that you will actually do something to better their lives. Good luck with that.
66
Can the money be in rubles? I’m asking for a friend. Well, more of an acquaintance, really.
3
45's money is not fluid, tied up in debt and real estate, faux billionaire.
2
“Or like the Kennedys except without the sex scandals and charisma.”
Or the commitment to public service. Imagine Donald Trump or any of his acolytes visiting rural Mississippi, as RFK did, to see firsthand the effects of rural poverty, and then running for office on a platform of improving the lives of the least fortunate among us. The very idea boggles the mind.
495
Or the night that MLK was assassinated and RFK who had previously scheduled a campaign appearance in Indianapolis spoke to the largely African American audience, against the advice of the police and without escort, to inform them of his tragic death. It was a speech about uniting in mourning over the death of a great American hero. His words were were genuine, empathetic and loving, given in the moment, in his own words.
207
Thank you so much for the reminder of what REAL public service is about.
NO ONE was more concerned about the poor of this rich country than RFK.
My hero!
47
Can you imagine Donald Trump standing in the place of RFK announcing in front of a mostly black audience that MLK had just been shot and killed, and Donald announcing that both sides bear responsibility for MLK's death?
Dear Gail, You have asked for my vote. First question: How much are you paying? Second question: How much money do I have to give you to make my vote really count? Third question: Is there a space to itemize this on my federal tax return that nobody will ever see? Now for my vote, I vote for, 100 million in real personal wealth to be considered rich if you are running for the house, 250 million for the senate, make that 750 million for the senate. This math only will work in Ohio. So many states, so much money to throw around, what is a concerned voter to do? RAW
47
Washington isn’t a swamp. A swamp would have been drained by now. What we’re dealing with here is more like a septic tank. Swamps are very diverse ecosystems, with all sorts of interesting creatures existing in equilibrium with one another. But a septic tank is pretty much all one thing. And about that, the less said the better.
Most of the Republican politicians that have bubbled up lately have all had the same bouquet. They’re distinguished only by the specific ways in which they offend decency and common sense. Usually, they’re implicated in some outrage against the public trust, or they’re massively unqualified to represent anyone or anything except their own financial interests.
They rally to the president, who is like some pied piper playing a dismal tune that draws them out of their holes and crevices and prison cells and encourages them to emulate his crass disregard for truth and honor. He leads by example, and boy, what an example he sets.
A large swathe of the public seems to respond to the most absurd lies, while ignoring reports of abuse, criminal activity and general unpleasantness among their candidates. As long as politicians castigate the people that they despise it pumps them up and gives them a false sense of superiority. After all, they’ll never get old, never need medical care and can live on the minimum wage for the rest of their lives.
Fortunately, Democrats are making some headway. And all they had to do was crack a window.
578
Gemli, I've long been a fan of your NYT comments. This is certainly one of your best-- concise, acerbic, poetic, and hugely entertaining. Thank you for making NYT comments among the best in the industry. We and the Times owe you.
254
gemli: You need to be on staff here. Better writing than most others on this page. Thanks!
41
Thank you for pointing out the reality of the swamp and it`s positive natural function. The septic tank is a very apt replacement. Especially since the political by product that fills it is everywhere.
42
Gail, you say:
" Maybe someday there’ll be a movie or TV series recounting the story of their rise to world fame "
about Pence & the Mrs., to which we say " What show do you think we've been watching each day since Jan. 20 2016 ? "
We admit the plot has been somewhat overshadowed by an Orangutan in a Rolling Trumpster Fire, but Pence gets up and goes to work every day as far as we know, laboring long and hard with fellow Koch Bros. Inc. acolyte Marc Short to comfort the comfortable, afflict the afflicted, and get McConnell to confirm a Federalist Society dream team of judges.
And speaking of lobbyists and swamp creatures, might you please be able to provide us all with a handy list of what lobbying outfits the departing GOP'ers will be joining, now that they've passed their cretinous legislation, and are running for the exits rather than dare show their faces to voters again ?
We'd just like to have a program so we can keep up with all the players in the game :(
261
I loved you contribution but please, orangutans are great creatures who do all sorts of interesting things. They are well worth preserving. Could you say the same about the one you referred to?
86
Any notion that the swamp would be drained by now has been dispelled. The sad aspect of this is that a swamp is the ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. In other words, if you think things are bad now, they're only going to get worse.
83
Why isn't Don Blankenship doing 20 to life for the murder of 29 miners?
468
Because he's rich, that's why.
19
Because corporations are not people. You can't put a corporation in prison. He had that cover.
19
$$$
16
The swamp drainers are all swamp fillers
And none are known mosquito killers
Hype riddled with tripe
is what's voiced by this type
And each one wary of bean spillers.
And Trump adoration is key
"The POTUS is so dear to me",
Should Trump end in the Slammer
It's Mueller they'll hammer,
To jail Trump is sheer Heresy.
189
Oh, most excellent, Larry.
9
Amazing that the West Virginians were able to resist Blankenship's incredible charm and outgoing charisma.
173
This summer, as gasoline prices spike over $4.00 thanks to Trump's policies, we'll see how the Trumpistas are feeling about that minuscule temporary tax cut. It may be that Trump's trade blustering and diplomatic errors have set the stage for a recession.
And Kim's not giving up his nukes, either.
230
If gas goes to $4 a gallon the Trumpistas will undoubtedly believe it's Obama's fault.
8
Trumpsters fail to notice that like Putin, Kim Jong Un is playing Trump like a banjo. He's figured out at the best way to hurt the US is to give a promo to Trump. Sad.
9
Trump said that he knew how the swamp worked so he would know how to drain it. Republican congressional candidates seem to be saying the same thing.
When they get to Washington, they do not want to drain the swamp. But they also do not know how. They know how the swamp works in the sense that they know how to get things done -- who to give money to, who to get money from and how to get it from them, who to ask for favors and how to get them to grant the favors, and so on. But if the swamp is drained, all this goes away. They will have to decide issues on the merits instead of which people with money to satisfy, and that is not in their skill set. They will be as lost as someone used to driving everywhere is when forced to navigate the subways and buses of public transit.
98
The size of the fortune depends less than how it was earned.
People who got rich by finding creative valuable solutions to real problems -- like CEOs of Apple, Google, Home Depot, etc -- would be fine.
People who think it's none of your business how they made their money, or how much they have and promise to release financial records but don't follow through, should not be trusted.
323
"The size of the fortune depends less than how it was earned."
I agree, except that I would substitute "whether" for "how".
120
And then, of course, there's Donald Trump who "earned" his fortune by inheriting it.
43
Oh you mean people who put local merchants out of business, selling goods now made in China formerly made in the USA?
Oh yes. problem solved!!
I guess you noticed that for the last ten years of so the Fed reserve has thought that .5% is an acceptable interest crippling the bond market// and making the stock market the only game in town.
Nobody from nowhere... hummmm
4
During the summer of 2016, Mike Pence's own poll ratings as Indiana's governor were so far into the toilet that it appeared unlikely he would win reelection there (which was probably why he openly campaigned to become The Donald's running mate). So now he's become the mainstay of a political dynasty. Must be his overload of personal charm and charisma.
411
One thing to be said for having Greg Pence in Congress - a Trump impeachment would make his brother president.
9
I don't know about you, Stu, but I'm looking forward to the release of Mike Pence's autobiographical guidebook, "Failing Up."
8
Trump chose Pence because he was a bland nerd who wouldn't divert the spotlight away from Trump.
7
I vote for 1 billion to be considered a wealthy congressman. It's a nice round number. Besides, what can 10 million buy? A nice home in SF to be sure but still not in the upper echelons. One hundred million? Way to many people make more than 100 million per year. Let's set the bar high and see if that attracts better talent.
46
Pay them in bitcoins not regular currency. Let them spend their bitcoins on the non-necessities... Now Goldman Sachs wants to legitimize bitcoins.. more nonsense.. and where is the Fed... Ostriches with heads buried in the sand... (bitcoin dust.)
2
Pardon the pun, but you can only play the Trump card once. Voters are likely to have either wised up or grown tired of the parade of copycats and hangers-on. Most people are often very reluctant to admit they regret their choices, but that does not mean they are eager to repeat them.
275
sincerely hope you are correct, but I have my doubts! Around here they are putting back up the trump yard signs...the ones that ever got taken down...most of them have just stayed firmly planted. Very disheartening!
20
Hopefully, our democratic republic will not last another 4 years of this self centered obnoxious human being. Working to destroy a pillar of democracy, the free press. He calls "faux" legitimate criticism, like a dictator.
9
Like my Bernie sign and my Indivisible sign - oh wait, the Indivisible sign went up after the election....