Eighteenth century French philosopher Voltaire once observed, “Common sense is not so common.” In Washington, it’s virtually extinct. But if you travel Northwest to Columbus, Ohio, you will find one man who reflects the kind of practical intelligence we need right now. In case anyone forgot, among the hodgepodge of hopefuls trying to overtake The Trump Reality show in 2016,...

With Two Updates — Last night, before the close of the Senate’s business, before reading the FBI report that is scheduled to be available to Senators as early as 8:00 am this morning, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “I am filing cloture (closure) on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination this evening, so the process can move forward, as I indicated...

In Friday’s commentary (Right Message, Wrong Moment), I sided with Serena Williams’s point about a double standard that women are held more accountable for their bad behavior than men. I was wrong. Near the end of this year’s women’s U.S. Open final, Williams was fined $17,000 for three code violations in the finals against Japan’s Naomi Osaka, her first Grand...

When President Trump addressed a group of evangelical leaders at the White House recently, he offered this stark warning: “This November 6 election is very much a referendum on not only me, it’s a referendum on your religion, it’s a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment. … “It’s not a question of like or dislike, it’s a question...

Halfway through the comedy City Slickers, Curly – the irascible, tougher-than-leather cowboy played by tough guy Jack Palance – unexpectedly dies on the trail. At his burial, the cook offers this short admonition to the Almighty: “Lord, we give you Curly. Try not to piss him off.” Given Senator John McCain’s somewhat regular bouts of anger, the Almighty would be...

Richard Painter served for two years as George W. Bush’s ethics counsel. Since Donald Trump took office however, he’s frequently spoken out about Trump’s ethical lapses on cable news shows. Painter, along with Norm Eisen, Obama’s ethics counsel, have made clear that this president is perhaps the most ethically conflicted of the past 100 years. Last Sunday’s (July 1), New...

“What really makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other kind of dictatorship to rule is that the people are not informed. If everyone always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but that no one believes anything at all anymore.” German-born American political theorist and philosopher Hannah Arendt spoke those words in a...

Who is David Brody and what makes him so special? Continuing my series to answer to two questions: How do we reconcile the divisiveness of Trump with our values as Americans? How does the country come together, again? Of all the journalists — from mainstream media to Breitbart — David Brody enjoys unprecedented access to the Trump administration like no...

The genesis for this series began when I read a Forbes article, Trump’s Support Is More About the Personal, Not the Ideological (May 6), authored by pollster and friend John Zogby. It led me to search for the answer to two questions: How do we reconcile the divisiveness of Trump with our values as Americans? How does the country come...

Much has been debated about former FBI Director James Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, regrettably most of it focused on Comey’s interactions with Donald Trump, which amounts to 64 pages out of 277, only 23 percent. At the Trump Tower meeting, Comey, along with the other heads of the intelligence community, meet the president-elect to brief...