Dan Rodricks

Now that Bernie Sanders has come out on top in New Hampshire, after a strong showing in Iowa, Democrats are supposedly panic-stricken at the prospect of the senior senator from Vermont getting the party’s nomination. I’m not sure what it is -- that we are approaching the most important presidential election in American history? -- … Continue reading Stop with the panic talk, it’s primary season

It's official: Whatever light leash was on Trump is gone. The “grownups in the room,” the generals, John McCain and the Republicans McCain might have pushed toward the last line of moderation and bipartisanship in the Senate -- all gone. On Friday, Trump started a purge of witnesses who testified in the House impeachment hearings: … Continue reading Trump Unleashed

Headline in today’s New York Times: “Trump Claims End of ‘American Decline’” and isn’t that a lovely thought?  Among the many lies in Trump’s State of the Union speech, his assertion that the nation’s days of decline are over -- and all because of his presidency -- might be the mother of them all. We … Continue reading Under Trump, Senate Republicans hasten a country’s decline

For my Sun column today about Trump's impeachment, I went to former Rep. Wayne Gilchrest. He was a long-time Republican, a thoughtful moderate who served Maryland's 1st District for 18 years, and he was in Washington as the nation became increasingly polarized, bringing us on a 25-year journey to Trump, his corrupt presidency, and now … Continue reading Wayne Gilchrest leaves a party lacking in courage, integrity, morality and justice

A little pop psychology during a break in Trump's trial . . . . An essay in Psychology Today about the lizard brain in all of us got me thinking about the one inside Trump, how it gained him so many zealous followers, and why, as I lamented in my Baltimore Sun column, Republican senators … Continue reading Trump, the Lizard Brain and Survival of the Spineless

Before I leave the subject, until next time, a further thought about the boys and young men who offer to wash car windshields at a few busy Baltimore intersections -- the squeegee workers. This issue is so fraught with race, politics and class dynamics, it’s hard to have a civil discussion about it. On Sunday, after … Continue reading Why some people resent the ‘squeegee boys’ of Baltimore

“Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected. Every war constitutes an irony of situation because its means are so melodramatically disproportionate to its presumed ends.” -- Paul Fussell

A new film, “Just Mercy,” tells the story of the extraordinary efforts of a young attorney, Bryan Stevenson, to save the life of an innocent man, Walter McMillian, who had been placed on Alabama’s Death Row even before his wrongful conviction for murder in 1988. The movie, starring Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan, lands … Continue reading ‘Just Mercy’ and the work of justice crusaders

While Trump’s election was a truly tragic development, it was not until his decision to kill Suleimani and provoke retaliation from -- if not war with -- Iran that we could see Trump’s psychological condition fully deployed and dangerous. The United States has a narcissist for president. The motivation for everything he does is fed … Continue reading The psychological mess of a man in the White House takes us to Code Red

Whenever I wander into pines, either a natural forest or state park or a grove that some landowner planted years ago, I feel a sense of secluded comfort, even with houses and rural roads nearby. Pines grow close and they grow tall, and if you walk among them, or through them, they will protect you … Continue reading The pines at dusk: Joe Meyers’ spirit-home