Berry Craig is a professor emeritus of history at West KY Community College, and an author of seven books and co-author of two more. (Read the rest on the Contributors page.)
“It’s wrong to pretend that GOP history can be divided cleanly between the pre- and post-Trump eras,” E.J. Dionne recentlywrote [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gops-past-election-lies-led-to-trumps-big-one/2021/05/12/83ff231e-b359-11eb-9059-d8176b9e3798_story.html] in theWashington Post. “Before Trump’s emergence, Republicans laid the groundwork for much of what Trump
Murray State University historian Brian Clardy says the right-wing wig-out over Critical Race Theory reminds him of the castor oil he took as a kid. “It tasted awful but you knew it was good for you.” A slew of conservatives, almost all of them white, gag at CRT. “But it’
“[President Ronald] Reagan turned old populism on its head by persuading folks that the real problem was big government,” syndicated columnist Richard Reeves wrote [https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20070812/NEWS/308129911] going on 14 years ago. The original Populists argued exactly the opposite: poor farmers and workers desperately needed
“Elections have consequences,” warns Kentucky State AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan. He’s right. How many times have we heard this baloney? “It doesn’t matter who gets elected – politicians are all the same.” (I can think of a stronger word than “baloney,” but this is a family-friendly website.) Want proof,
No political organization in Kentucky, where I’ve lived all my 71 years, needs more renovation than the once-dominant Democratic party, which is entreating the faithful to get involved at the grassroots. The KDP is in the process of filling local committees in all 120 counties. No political organization in
Will the GOP supermajority Kentucky legislature finally outlaw the barbaric and widely-discredited practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity? Beyond Louisville and Lexington, most of my home state is Bible-belt Trump conservative. Yet a recent poll revealed that 57 percent of Kentuckians favor barring
Some Trump true believers in Congress called [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/us/politics/republicans-capitol-riot.html] January 6th a “1776 moment” in Washington. A “Munich Moment” is more like it. On Nov. 8-9, 1923, Adolf Hitler and hundreds of his armed Nazi stormtroopers tried to overthrow the democratically-elected
It’s way past time to call Trumpism what it is: American fascism. In 1922, Benito Mussolini rendezvoused with his democracy-despising Blackshirt goons in Rome. The “March on Rome” toppled Italy’s hard-pressed constitutional monarchy and made Mussolini dictator of Italy. Today, the Trumpian bully boys had their “March on
QAnon fan and former state representativeC. Wesley Morgancame up way short against Sen. Mitch McConnell in the June GOP primary, but Marjorie Taylor Green, a Georgia Republican and another QAnon devotee, is on her way to Congress. Meanwhile, the president’s defeat isshaking the faith [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/
Trumpism won’t fade out even if Joe Biden wins the presidency, warns Murray State University historian David Pizzo. “Paramilitary violence, domestic terrorism, conspiracy theories – the Trump cult won’t die,” he said. “In fact, it may all increase.” Pizzo is among many scholars, journalists, and others who worry that
Big photos of fellow Kentuckians John Sherman Cooper and Alben Barkley hang on a wall in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Washington office. He considers the Republican Cooper, a senator and his old boss, and Barkley, a Democrat, Harry Truman’s vice president and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Senate
If we can turn back Trumpism in this election, perhaps we can begin the discussion about what sort of nation we really want to be. And that discussion should include democratic socialism.
> The Republican Party has fully become a cult of personality. There’s not even a pretense of a party platform. The party platform is veneration of, complete devotion to, and obedience to Donald Trump. Steve Schmidt on MSNBC’s “The Eleventh Hour with Brian Williams” Murray State University historian
TheWashington Post’s Jonathan Capehart said he invited Jonathan Metzl, author of Dying of Whiteness: How the politics of racial resentment is killing America’s heartland [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1541644980/], back on hisCape Up podcast this month “because the novelcoronavirus [https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/
As we celebrate Martin Luther King Day, contributor Berry Craig reminds us that for Dr. King, the labor movement and the civil rights movement were intertwined. Read this excerpt from his article, or read the entire article at the KY AFL-CIO website [https://ky.aflcio.org/news/unions-and-naacp-go-hand-hand-0]. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My
“What do you think of the Berlin Wall?” a student asked me when my Thursday night history class resumed after our 7:45 break. “The last time I saw it, it was ugly, gray, and had guard towers,” I said. “No, they’re tearing it down!” he exclaimed. “Who is?
