Category: Columnists

Will Republicans Take This Opportunity To Break From Trump Over Russia?

Erin Clifford

In light of General Michael Flynn’s resignation over his communications with a Russian official, members of Congress have called for a 9/11 style commission to investigate Trump’s ties with Russia. The term “9/11 style commission” has become the buzzword of Washington, used by top Democrats, even by some Republican members of Congress. With a possible issue of national security looming in the background, Republican leaders need to take this opportunity to publicly and forcefully investigate Trump’s ties with Russia. Despite what Trump said in his recent grandiose press conference, Flynn’s…

Historical Revisionism and Racial Assuagement: In Defense of Yale’s Response to Inveterate Racism

Greg Wagner

In a recent article, FPR columnist Paul Ingrassia shrewdly addressed Yale University’s decision to rename a residential college bearing the namesake of former Vice President John C. Calhoun. Ingrassia made a clear and concise argument positing that historical revisionism is dangerous. I sincerely agree with Paul: history’s importance is second to none and politicizing it is damaging to future generations. As the late, Democratic Party intellect Arthur Schlesinger argued in The Disuniting of America, history should not be subject to “current political fads.” Yet, Yale’s recent decision is not the…

A Deeper Look into Brexit’s “Calamity”

Greg Wagner

One month ago, I boarded a plane headed towards London for a semester abroad. By stepping into the cabin of my Delta airliner, I was leaving one country where the incoming administration was producing a political climate clouded by uncertainty and entering another where the prospect of future European cooperation appeared dismal. At this point in time, the United Kingdom’s “Brexit” moment was the equivalent of the United States’s Donald Trump moment. Both represented the wavering fragility of our current geopolitical state. Yet, today, I find my preconceived notions wrong…

With the Two-Party System Reaffirmed, Onus on Democrats to Bridge Divide

Greg Wagner

Throughout the 2016 election, political pundits claimed that the American people were growing disillusioned with the two-party system. These assertions came as a godsend for many American voters; 60 percent of Americans believe a third-party is necessary for adequate representation, according to Gallup.   Yet, if there was one overarching truth to the 2016 presidential election, it was that all prophetic presumptions were trumped-up miscues. The 2016 presidential election only reaffirmed the two-party system. In an election where the two-party system was seemingly on the chopping block due to a…

Donald Trump is an Existential Threat to Democracy

Greg Wagner

At a Florida rally in mid-October, Republican nominee Donald J. Trump announced that “this election will determine whether we are a free nation or whether we have only an illusion of democracy … our system is rigged. This is reality.” But the true, unnerving reality is the danger that Trump poses to the legitimacy of American democracy. Over the past month, Trump has continuously eschewed our democratic institutions. Onslaught after onslaught, tirade after tirade, Trump has offered a menacing view of the institutions that Americans have valued for 240 years.…

Don’t be fooled. Trump loves the media

Greg Wagner

As the Trump campaign continues to face roadblocks that would normally encumber a presidential nominee’s road to the White House, the business-mogul-turned-politician has accused the media of conspiring against him to deny him the seat in the Oval Office. His crusade against the media, and the democratic institution itself, climaxed in the third debate when he told the nation that he might be unwilling to accept the terms of the election granted a Clinton victory. Since then, Trump’s attacks on the media have run unabated. But does the Republican nominee…

Marisa Holmes’ Message only Fractures Society

Greg Wagner

As a spokeswoman for the Occupy Wall Street movement, Marisa Holmes fights against a financial system that she believes has turned a blind eye to the people on Main Street. She claims that our capitalist economy has become a rigged system, one where those at the top of society continuously rise and where those at the bottom continually fall. She is not wrong. As TIME magazine editor Rana Foroohar argues, banks are investing less and less into new businesses, debt-fueled speculation is on the rise, a single private-equity firm has…

In One Weekend, Trump Shows Why He is Unqualified for the Presidency

Greg Wagner

Some people like the idea of a Trump residency – an outsider, a businessman, a man willing to speak his mind with no concern for political repercussions. Some even argue that he has strengthened democracy by bringing a politically disenfranchised demographic, his “silent majority,” back into the political mainstream. But while certain people like the idea of Trump, it seems difficult to like Trump the person. While speaking his mind, he riles up crowds with racist undertones, and he grossly debases women. As a political outsider, he fights to create…