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Drawing fire

Admittedly, Democrats have problems, but take a gander at MAGA. With the Epstein affair heating up, President Donald Trump has become increasingly testy. So irritated, he has become nasty to some of his earliest and best supporters. One backer that has drawn his fire is Marjorie Taylor Greene. Her crime in Trump‘s eyes was that she signed the discharge petition, which forced a vote on the release of the Epstein files. Now, despite her old status as a heroine of the MAGA movement, Greene is now denounced by Trump as “wacky” and, to put a finer point on his view, “a traitor”. ...

No sense of excitement

I’ve said it before, but energy is going to be a huge issue heading into the 2026 legislative session in January. But walking around the Governor’s Energy Summit last Thursday, I didn’t get a sense of excitement. That was very clear during Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s remarks last Thursday morning. It had already started off on a somber note with the announcement of the death of miner Steve Lipscomb after rescuers found him in a Nicholas County mine. Morrisey pivoted to his energy economic development announcements that have come to fruition since October, but many of the applause ...

Writers hit Trump for ‘sportswashing’ at game

Even the sports pages can be a platform for anti-Trump editorializing. After the Washington Commanders were drubbed by the Detroit Lions, the front page of The Washington Post sports section carried a piece by columnist Barry Svrluga trashing Trump’s appearance at the game, and in the Fox broadcast booth. He called it “sportswashing.” “What played out Sunday was a microcosm of Trump’s presidency and his relationship with American sport. It’s sportswashing, using these games to distract from the important matters of our times,” he wrote. There was “something rich about ...

Taking a good thing too far

Success breeds failure. Policies and practices well suited to society at one juncture in history are often poorly suited to the world they have beneficially transformed. If you carry a good thing too far, it can turn out not to be a good thing anymore. Case in point, one of the most successful public policies in U.S. history, the World War II G.I. Bill, which financed college educations for military veterans. Signed by former President Franklin Roosevelt, it embodied New Deal generosity even as its chief backers included the racist Democratic Mississippi Rep. John Rankin and the ...

EPA, EPW Collaboration

When you reflect on the history of the Mountain State, the words “West Virginia” and “energy” are inextricably linked. Coal was first discovered in West Virginia in 1742, natural gas was first struck in 1815, and the state’s first oil-producing well was completed in 1860. Each of these discoveries happened before West Virginia was recognized as the nation’s 35th state. In fact, West Virginians were enjoying public electric streetlamps a full three years before electric lights were installed in the White House in 1891. When it comes to energy, West Virginia has always led the ...

Then and now

Given the political tensions in the United States, perhaps it might be useful to revisit the dilemmas of the 1850s. During that period, “moderates” labored mightily to avoid slavery. Usually, “compromise” meant acceding to anything favored by the South. One of the casualties of such maneuverings was the party system. The Whigs particularly come to mind with their leaders, most notably Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, trying to forge faux unity. Webster, more than Clay, attempted to avoid the “impending crisis”. His support of the fugitive slave law, part of the Compromise ...