I was overwhelmed and grateful to have received more than 20 comments on my three-part series, Trust and Confidence, about Secret Service Director Lewis Merletti’s 1998 principled battle with Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. I have discussed this story with a handful of friends who kept wondering when I was going to write-up an analysis of a story that I had...

Paul Ryan missed his moment, a seminal moment, a “come-to-Jesus” moment. It could’ve been a Reagan moment: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” As the leader of the House and his party, Ryan should’ve called Trump out, by name, as a misogynist, bully, bigot, demagogue, inciter of violence. Instead, the man whose name was raised as a possible presidential candidate...

Fact-checking isn’t a perfect discipline, but it has become a somewhat reliable tool for individuals who wish to separate the absurd from the reasonable in political rhetoric. On January 27 (Why do People Ignore Facts?), regarding presidential candidate Donald Trump I wrote, “If 77 percent of what comes out of Trump’s mouth on the stump is patently false, why do...

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain In their 2010 report, When Corrections Fail: The Persistence of Political Misperceptions, Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler write, “To date, the study of citizens’ knowledge of politics has tended to focus on questions like veto override...

According to the most recent CNN/ORC poll, billionaire Donald J. Trump is leading the field of Republican candidates for president with 41 percent. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is a little more than 20 points behind. This, in spite of the fact, that when it comes to the facts, Mr. Trump has the most appalling record all candidates, Republican and Democratic....

Yup! Even the great sport of tennis has been affected by sports gambling (as if gambling were a sport). The BBC reports (Jan. 18), “Over the last decade, 16 players who have ranked in the top 50 have been repeatedly flagged to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) over suspicions they have thrown matches. “All of the players, including winners of...

In this first month of a new year, The Take examines a few stories from the sane… to the inane. Where’s Colin!? — Former Joint Chiefs Chairman and Secretary of State Colin Powell has been conspicuously absent from all the activities surrounding the GOP presidential candidates. I kept wondering, what’s his take on all this. Wonder no more. According to...

Working families can’t compete with billionaires. Let’s stop the flood of dark money into our political system and do it now.   – Harry Reid, Senate Democratic Leader Dark money is the term used to describe funds given to non-profit organizations that are permitted, by law, to receive unlimited donations from individuals, unions, and corporations. These non-profits, typically 501(c)(4) and (c)(6)s,...

In Monday’s commentary (Those Clinton Emails), I began looking at the continuing issue regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. The fallout from inconsistent information from the Democratic candidate has caused her poll numbers to drop and led to a loss of trustworthiness among potential voters. But what’s the genesis of this controversy? Wikipedia...

How many ways can Donald Trump embarrass the American political process and the Republican Party? (He’s clearly immune from embarrassing himself.) Let’s count the ways: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” — Trump referencing Senator John McCain who spent more than five years as a POW...