ArcaMax

The United States is in a constitutional crisis with scant historical precedent. President Donald Trump has launched a power grab, through executive orders and proclamations. He's installed the world's richest man, his principal campaign donor Elon Musk, to run the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Musk (who some now call the "X ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Only three weeks old, the new Trump presidential power in town knows the price of everything (except eggs) and the value of nothing, as Oscar Wilde observed of fools and cynics.

Let's add "shameless." Shame has left the stately building at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The city on the hill feels occupied.

Donald Trump, president, and ...Read more

Here's something I had never given any thought to: the price of fire trucks. Plus, a worrisome fire truck shortage!

Huh? What would cause any town or city to run short of this essential piece of its community infrastructure? Answer: old-fashioned greed, coming from a modern-day monopolistic construct called "private equity."

Essentially, ...Read more

"The key to success," George Burns observed, "is sincerity. If you can fake that, you've got it made." Donald Trump has established himself as far and away the most successful faker in American history, conning half the country plus a bit more in battleground states into believing that he is all about Making America Great. Motivated instead by...Read more

As Elon Musk takes a jackhammer to American institutions, Democrats seem frozen in confusion. That's in part because Donald Trump serves as wingman, diverting attention from the sabotage of government services through a carpet-bombing of bizarre plans, most recently, having the U.S. empty Gaza of Gazans to build a Mediterranean resort for "the...Read more

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order barring transgender girls and women from playing as girls and women at federally funded schools, colleges and universities. Nearly all schools receive federal funds.

A day later, the NCAA, the governing association for college sports in this country, followed suit, barring ...Read more

I've been unpersoned. Here, in the United States of America.

The censor? OpenAI, the huge tech company run by Sam Altman, famous for creating ChatGPT.

Open ChatGPT and ask it: "Who is Ted Rall?"

ChatGPT will answer: "I'm unable to produce a response."

Unable? Unwilling is more like it.

ChatGPT had all sorts of things to say about me a few ...Read more

While President Donald Trump signed executive orders to strip diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs from the federal government, Aretha Fuqua traveled to Atlanta to accept the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Champion award on behalf of the West Louisville Tennis Club at the United States Tennis Association Southern Division ...Read more

A few years ago, some people acted like they were horrified when a poll showed that a lot of high school and college students wanted to work for the government when they grew up.

"No ambition, these little punks," grumped people who would soon be voting for Donald Trump, the working man's friend. "They just want to work for the government ...Read more

During the campaign, Donald Trump stood before a table of groceries, a box of eggs included, and promised: "When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one." It's now past day 14, and eggs prices are hitting record highs. Or to use a Trumpian locution, egg prices are the worst they've been in history.

You surely ...Read more

In an insightful column last week entitled "Don't Believe Him," Ezra Klein unearthed an old interview with Trump whisperer Steve Bannon, who summarized what would become the first two weeks of Trump's reelection administration. Bannon told "Frontline" in 2019:

Steve Bannon: "The opposition party is the media. And the media can only, because ...Read more

"We'll own it," President Donald Trump announced at a news conference this week, speaking about Gaza, standing next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House.

Trump's stunning declaration, that "the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip," was not off the cuff, but read from prepared notes. Palestinians who live there would ...Read more

The president's war with the nation is well underway.

Shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development was taking the smallest lamb from the flock. Other vital parts of the government may soon follow in a flash.

At least three departments face a strange Cabinet member in charge: Kash Patel at the FBI, Bobby Kennedy at Health and ...Read more

Corporate chieftains are giants, even geniuses -- right?

Years ago, laissez-faire ideologue Ayn Rand hailed them as society's supermen, comparing them to Atlas, the mythological Greek god who "holds the world on his shoulders."

But look, here comes one of her modern-day gods now -- Timothy Wentworth! He stands astride Walgreens, the ...Read more

For anyone doubting whether America is ailing and headed for an unhealthy next four years, President Donald Trump's exquisitely characteristic blaming of a midair collision of an airplane and a helicopter over the Potomac River on the promotion of racial diversity should be a wake-up call. Unfortunately, it won't be; Americans decided fair and ...Read more

Never mind how Donald Trump's threatened trade war ultimately pans out. Though a 25% border tax would hurt the economies of Canada and Mexico more, Americans would also feel the ill-effects. But America is already suffering. Start with the shame of menacing and sliming our good neighbors with lies.

Even if it's part of a twisted game of ...Read more