National

[Editor's Note: I floated this idea on my FB page last night.  I grant that is it naive, so it is abundantly trollable.  But my question is an honest one. …

The New York Times says Trump decided to enter politics after Obama mocked mercilessly at the White House Correspondent's Dinner back in late May 2011. That night was also the night Obama personally ordered the mission to kill Bin Laden. “That evening of public abasement, rather than sending Mr. Trump away, accelerated his ferocious efforts to gain stature within the political world. And it captured the degree to which Mr. Trump’s campaign is driven by a deep yearning sometimes obscured by his bluster and bragging: a desire to be taken seriously.” “That desire has played out over the last several years within a Republican Party that placated and indulged him, and accepted his money and support, seemingly not grasping how fervently determined he was to become a major force in American politics. In the process, the party bestowed upon Mr. Trump the kind of legitimacy that he craved, which has helped him pursue a credible bid for the presidency.” Mein Fuhrer Trump is a very vain man, and he has very little to be proud about, what with his small hands and many failed businesses and many bankruptcies.

I remember the 1980's very clearly and neither Nancy nor Ronald Reagan were in any sense advocates when it came to fighting the aids epidemic. My take is that Secretary…

From Robert Reich's awesome Facebook: I’ve spent the last day in Washington, where Democrats are quietly gearing up to negotiate a “tax amnesty” for American-based global corporations that have parked…

This may be a very short running recurring feature. I doubt it makes it to "Item #2", but for now...Colin Bonini is MUCH better than John Carney in one area: civil forfeiture.

Last night I dreamt that Jeb Bush came up to me wearing a dodgy looking campaign swag style sweat shirt. White with some coffee drips down the front. He was…

A funny thing is happening to President Obama that bodes well for Hillary Clinton in the fall: he is becoming more popular. Libby Nelson:

As President Obama prepares to leave office, Americans are starting to like him a little more. The latest Gallup data on Obama's approval ratings found 50 percent of Americans approve of the job he's doing — the highest level since 2013. That's much better than Obama's average 46 percent approval during his seventh year in office, which ended January 19, and the 43 percent approval rating during his sixth. Obama is also much more popular than George W. Bush was at this point in his presidency, and nearly on par with Ronald Reagan during Reagan's final March in office.

Actually, that Gallup Tracking Poll that Libby cites is out of date. Gallup now finds 52% of Americans approve of the President's job performance, while 44% disapprove. And this is confirmed across all of the polls released this week. Rasmussen has Obama at 50-49. ABC News/Washington Post, 51-43. NBC News/Wall Street Journal, 49-46. CNN/ORC, 50-44. President Obama will go down in history as one of the best Presidents this country has ever had, and the best it has had since Roosevelt. And the American people, faced with the prospect of replacing him, are realizing that.