Last Thursday, in a speech delivered at the University of Utah, Mitt Romney blindsided Donald Trump in what amounted to a scathing indictment of the billionaire’s ability to lead the country.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/video/players/offsite/index.html
The Turkish government has seized control of another news agency just days after the seizure of the popular opposition newspaper Zaman. The Chian news agency reported on its website on Monday that the operation had been carried out on the orders of a state prosecutor and that a court in the city would designate its current administrator’s replacement. The repressive move comes amid criticism from European officials over its crackdown on opposition media.
Michael Lind argues that the Trump phenomenon is the result of neoconservatives’ abdication of responsibility. According to Lind, figures like Irving Kristol once defended (white) working class interests. But:
Submitted by Pater Tenebrarum via Acting-Man.com,
A Serious Contender with a Plan
Donald Trump has obviously become a serious contender for the Republican nomination (in spite of the fact that he has suffered a slight setback on Saturday). He has morphed from a “joke” that the pundits were absolutely sure “would soon flame out” to the leader of the pack. Funny enough, the only candidate who still might have a chance to catch up to him is Ted Cruz – whom the Republican establishment reportedly doesn’t really like all that much either.
David Brooks doesn’t want either of the top two candidates in the Republican field to be the nominee. That’s not new, but this part of his argument is very questionable:
This isn’t about winning the presidency in 2016 anymore. This is about something much bigger. Every 50 or 60 years, parties undergo a transformation. The G.O.P. is undergoing one right now. What happens this year will set the party’s trajectory for decades [bold mine-DL].