Joel Mathis

  A common refrain at this week's Republican National Convention was that Donald Trump "is the most pro-life president we've ever had." No matter where you stand on the topic, I think there's a fair case to be made that's the truth. He has appointed judges who emboldened state legislatures to take a fresh run at knocking down Roe v. Wade. The right to abortion may never be entirely stricken from precedent, given how Chief Justice John Roberts likes to operate, but it seems likely to be greatly narrowed into near-oblivion over the next few years. We'll see. I grew up in small town Kansas. I attended an evangelical Mennonite Brethren college. A number of people I care about -- and love -- are passionately anti-abortion. This makes things uneasy between us: I don't much love abortion and I think the decision carries moral weight, but I think there are substantial issues of women's freedom and autonomy involved. So I end up on the pro-choice side of

 So: Of course, millions more jobs were lost before those three months started. And employers hiring back workers isn't exactly job creation so much as it is job recovery -- a process that still has a long way to go. But honestly, this isn't even a lie, really, because it's so obvious and stupid. I'm not sure why the Trump Administration can't admit that there are big challenges facing the country when there are obviously big challenges facing the country. They're hoping you're too stupid to notice, I guess.

I grew up in a small town of about 3,000 people. I don't want to live there anymore, but I also don't want to see it disappear. I suspect a lot of Americans are like me. So it alarms me that President Trump seems hellbent on destroying the effectiveness of the Post Office. (In this, he has been aided by years of work from Congressional Republicans.) That will hurt the small, rural towns that provide so much of the president's support. Vox reported on this in April: The USPS is legally required to deliver all mail, to all postal addresses in all regions, at a flat rate, no matter how far it may have to travel. The service’s accessibility and affordability are especially important to rural communities that live in poverty and to people with disabilities, who can’t afford the cost of a private business to deliver their daily necessities. (In 2017, the rural poverty rate was 16.4 percent , compared with 12.9 percent for urban areas.) And while some may argue that the USPS is

Politico reports that Republicans are worried they'll lose their Senate majority because Democrats are throwing money into the Kansas race in support of Kris Kobach winning the nomination. “The Senate majority runs through Kansas,” we're told. I've already suggested that Democrats are playing with fire. Some of my Democratic friends tell me he's not actually all that much worse than Roger Marshall, the GOP establishment pick for the nomination, so it's a wash if he wins. But it seems to me that notion is belied by the fact that Dems are trying to get him nominated -- the things they perceive as making him more obviously politically poisonous will be poisonous if he somehow parlays that Democratic cash into a US Senate seat. Even Republicans don't believe that can happen, apparently. But I don't love this kind of political maneuvering -- call me naive if you want. At the very least, I'm a Kansas voter -- and I don't want Kobach occupying any of my me

Back in 1991, as the Iraqis were being routed from Kuwait by US and coalition forces, they set fires to a number of oil wells along the way. There was not strategic purpose to that action, as far as I can tell. It was simply a churlish and cruel decision that signaled: "If Saddam can't have this, nobody can." Which brings me, naturally, to Donald Trump. Big story in the NYT this morning asks: "Does Trump Want to Save His Economy?" It tries to explain the seemingly inexplicable -- while this president is dithering on getting a new economic package passed for Americans who have lost their jobs and face losing their homes because of the pandemic. Lobbyists, economists and members of Congress say they are baffled by Mr. Trump’s shifting approach and apparent lack of urgency to nail down another rescue package that he can sign into law. The president’s strategy to help the economy “is hard to decipher,” said Michael R. Strain, an economist at the conservative Americ

Even if he wins in November, he will claim the vote was rigged against him. How do I know? He's done it once already.

David Graham on Donald Trump's increasingly racist reelection effort: While it’s true that a lot of the media coverage made a Clinton victory seem like a foregone conclusion, there were warning signs of her weaknesses for some time , and Biden is already doing better on several of those fronts. The presumptive Democratic nominee holds a larger lead, and a more consistent one, and he’s eating into Trump’s edge in key demographics including white voters and older voters. The reason for this, as I wrote last week , is that voters are horrified by Trump’s handling of race issues and of protests. The president’s unfavorability rating remains high, though within its normal range, and voters still give him high marks on the economy, but there’s been an immense shift in opinion on race. White voters have changed their minds, and they’re no longer with the president—but he’s sticking to the same talking points. I wonder if we're seeing an inversion of the " Bradley Effect "