« Trump won’t just go away; he'll have to be defeated. And Haley can’t defeat him because she has no answer for the central problem: She needs the support of a group of voters who are religiously devoted to him.

However, I do believe that the longer she stays in the race, the more damage she’ll do to Trump’s bid.

[ … ]

It's probably not her intention, but Haley is providing a service to the nation: a soft launch of reminding voters that Trump is a chaos agent of the highest order who put the nation through a dizzying series of unnecessary crucibles that tested the very durability of our institutions and our ability to withstand his anti-democratic onslaught.

Haley has begun to do the work that Biden and his campaign team will greatly expand on — if they're smart. »

— Charles M. Blow writing in the New York Times.

For some bizarre reason, candidates for the GOP presidential nomination thought they could make headway without criticizing the deeply flawed frontrunner.

When Nikki Haley belatedly started slamming Trump, the public attention devoted to her campaign shot up. It's certainly too late to do her much good, but her attacks on Trump do increase the possibility of him responding in such a way that women voters would find offensive.

If Trump loses this year, the GOP will be in shambles. If the party doesn't disintegrate like the Whigs, it will be looking to somebody who was not tied too closely to Trump. By publicly creating some space between herself and The Orange One, Nikki Haley could be looking ahead to 2028.

In the meantime, the more people attacking Trump from different directions – the better. There's already some indication that Biden, or at least his surrogates, are stepping up attacks on Trump's economic record. Reminding voters that Trump's fumbling of the early pandemic response led to economic meltdown should get more emphasis.

Charles M. Blow for nytopinion

There is no wrong time to do the right thing.

Charles M. Blow

Charles Blow has written several novels about his bisexuality. Read more about Charles here: https://bi.org/en/famous/charles-blow

This Isn't The First Time ...

This Isn’t The First Time …

Opinion writer Charles Blow, writing for the New York Times, gives us some historical precedents to the extremism we are seeing today and it makes for an interesting and thought-provoking read. Extremism Is on the Rise … Again By Charles M. Blow 02 November 2022 After all this country has been through — from Donald Trump and his election denial, to the insurrection, to what prosecutors call the…

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The first library I ever entered was in my elementary school. We were allowed to go for one hour once a week. I remember being in awe of the space: a rectangular room lined with wooden bookshelves, stacked floor to ceiling with books.

I remember thinking as a small child that I was in a cavern of tomes written by people across time and around the globe, that each volume probably contained thousands of ideas, and I wondered how could I get all of those ideas into my mind.

  —  Thankful for Libraries

Thankful for Libraries

Drew Angerer/Getty Images This Thanksgiving, as we reflect on family, friends, food and the joy and necessity of communal congregation, I want to take a moment to say thank you for some of the most meaningful time I’ve spent in my life, time alone in quiet space: my time in libraries. In an era of increased book banning, library defunding and even bomb threats, it seems that now more than ever…

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Absence of empathy

If there’s another thing besides both being from Boston that Trapper and Charles have in common, it’s the fact that both managed to set off a landmine at some point while participating in a sport/activity. Trapper blows up a landmine while golfing near the minefield in the beginning of the pilot episode. Charles sets off a landmine by shooting down a bird while out hunting with Klinger in Dear Uncle Abdul.

They also each had a larger man wanting to fight them at one point (Requiem for a Lightweight/Promotion Commotion) and it was said that both guys punched out jeeps.

I’m probably biased because they’re my top two favorite MASH characters, but I would have loved to see them on the show together.

Trump’s strategy from the very beginning of his political foray has been to discredit or destroy the gatekeepers, in politics and the media, who might one day be called upon to expose him. (“Low-energy” Jeb Bush, anyone?) He continues to brand them as weak, dishonest and out to get anyone who supports him.   And every time an attempt to hold him accountable falls short of delivering the most fitting consequences, he counts that as a victory, and the effort’s “failure” as proof of its illegitimacy. Then he rolls all this together in his rhetoric to bolster his contention that all investigations of him and members of his inner circle amount to a campaign of political harassment.

Charles M. Blow at the New York Times with a useful two paragraph description of Trump’s modus operandi.

With authoritarians like Trump who lack shame and morality, it’s necessary to hit back hard and quickly while undermining their standing.

Trump’s GOP primary opponents in 2016 mostly came across as inert punching bags placed on stage for his benefit.

You’re never going to beat somebody like Trump by using logic or slick arguments. Somebody like that can only be brought down by being treated with heavy ridicule – with special attention to personal hypocrisy. You have to make them look like idiots to their followers, not just to NPR listeners and Whole Foods shoppers.

You don’t win by sticking to Marquess of Queensberry rules when your opponent is kicking you below the belt with spike-pointed shoes.

As Mel Brooks put it: “You make your enemy look ridiculous, you’ve won, and the best way to do that is with wit.”

The highest form of knowledge is empathy.

watching South to Black Power. it’s about this NYT columnist who moves back down to the South and proposes a second Great Migration where black folks move down South to gain more influence in politics. I like this idea as a southerner lol. but I understand the roots people have to where they’re from.

but I’d never want to permanently live anywhere else. the South is the best place in the world to me. i just started the documentary though so I want to see his argument

One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient. In fact, a man convinced of his virtue, even in the midst of his vice, is the worst kind of man.

Charles M. Blow

Charles M. Blow is a talented writer, TV commentator, and columnist who has written novels detailing the experience of a black bi man.