ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- A friend describes me as a "belligerent centrist." I consider myself an honest umpire who calls balls and strikes regardless of who is standing at the plate.

By the way, I got to the center because I dislike both political parties and often can't tell them apart. Republicans and Democrats go through the motions and argue over hot...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Fonzie is about to jump the shark.

Presidents are not kings. It's amazing how many chief executives from both parties tend to forget that -- often at their own peril. The minute presidents start acting like royalty, their presidency is done.

President Donald Trump seems poised to go to war against an institution that chief ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- As a Mexican American journalist who had to struggle and work extra hard for the last 35 years to succeed in an industry that was built for others, I can't swallow white whine. It's way too bitter. Maybe that's because it is made from sour grapes.

Of course, that particular blend does have a fanbase. It is the official beverage ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- President Donald Trump's recent spate of deportations means different things to different people.

For conservatives, the glorious sight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents hauling away immigrant workers in handcuffs is evidence of -- in MAGA lingo -- "promises made, promises kept."

Of course, it's likely that some ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- The relationship between Americans and the millions of undocumented immigrants who live in the United States is complicated.

Contrary to the whine served up by President Donald Trump and other right-wing politicians eager to score points with the nativist wing of the Republican Party, our country is not undergoing an "invasion" ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- My brain works in threes. So now that President Donald Trump is back in the White House, here's a trifecta of things I'm experiencing. As I watch Trump abuse executive power and weaponize the federal government, my head is spinning, my heart is breaking and my blood is boiling.

It's disturbing how many of Trump's recent actions, ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Well, this is revealing. The Republican Party has no clothes. Due to a splattering of executive orders by President Donald Trump, conservatives are totally exposed. Everyone can finally see who they really are as opposed to who they pretend to be.

The first hint came this week when Trump issued a blanket pardon for more than 1,...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- My wife and I have tried to teach our kids to be good losers but also -- and just as importantly -- gracious winners.

Apparently, President Donald Trump never learned either lesson. His brattish reaction to his defeat in 2020 showed us that he's a terrible loser. And now that he has reclaimed the White House, we see that he's ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- There has been a lot of talk lately about the need to return respect and civility to politics.

Although I'm not sure I buy into the premise that those things were ever really part of politics, I welcome the sentiment nonetheless.

We should start with Senate confirmation hearings, if it's not already too late. There is too much ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Hyperbolic conservatives have long claimed that Mexico is staging an "invasion" of the United States.

For more than three decades, I've mocked these fools for their ignorance. But now I stand corrected. It's really happening. The Mexicans are actually invading, and they're starting by reclaiming the stolen parcel of land known as...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- The media was too quick to move on from a recent MAGA civil war over H-1B visas, which allow companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers to fill specialty occupations.

We're not done yet. This is just the beginning of an argument that is likely to last all through President-elect Donald Trump's final term in office.

As will...Read more

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- I try not to criticize my country, or my countrymen, while standing on foreign soil. But I'll make an exception.

A lot of Americans have an annoying habit of feeling really passionate about subjects they don't really understand. What we lack in knowledge and wisdom, we make up for in ego and self-confidence.

In that ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- There are three things you need to know about the media and how they approach anything that is complicated.

First, as storytellers, we're drawn to the complicated.

Second, as journalists, we're paid to simplify the complicated.

Third, as mostly linear thinkers, we often struggle to break down and explain whatever is complicated...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- As a Mexican American, my loyalties get questioned. Some folks offer a hypothetical. If war breaks out between Mexico and the United States, they ask, which side would I be on?

That's a no-brainer. My family and I owe everything to the country that took in my grandfather as a legal immigrant 100 years ago. And we owe nothing to ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

For the purpose of this discussion -- which will be guided not by nativist outrage but by common sense --"it" shall be defined as the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Adopted in 1868, the amendment has been in good working order ever since.

In Section 1, it declares: "All persons born or ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- The liberal media will spend the next four years criticizing everything that President-elect Donald Trump says and does.

That's not fair. But, very often, the criticism will be justified.

Trump and his underachieving cabinet of misfit toys are not about to let the fact that they don't understand certain topics -- national ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Even as a Mexican American who supports immigrants and opposes President-elect Donald Trump, I'm eager to see the incoming administration deliver on mass deportations.

During a recent appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Trump was asked by host Kristen Welker if he planned, over the next four years, to deport everyone who is in ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- More evidence has just rolled in proving once again that the American people and the two major political parties that claim to represent them really do live on completely different planets.

At a time of deep political acrimony, when American voters have divided themselves into teams -- one blue, one red -- it is increasingly ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- What a strange time.

Americans are embroiled in a heated national conversation about whether the phrase "rule of law" actually means anything as long as there are presidential pardons. And the major political parties -- both of which have corrupted the pardon process for their benefit -- are pretending their hands are clean and ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Since he entered politics, President-elect Donald Trump has been called lots of names. But there is one label that doesn't quite fit, and it never has. Looking at his Cabinet picks and his plans for a second term, you can't very well call him a Republican.

To compare his Cabinet selections to a clown show would be an insult to ...Read more