MINOT, N.D. — Gov. Doug Burgum is pouring money into North Dakota’s legislative races again. He spent well over $3 million last cycle, and he’s close to a million in this cycle with the June primary vote less than a month away. And you know what? There isn’t a thing wrong with Burgum spending that…
Former NDGOP state chair candidate pleads guilty to felony DUI charge
MINOT, N.D. — Robert Howard Wheeler of Underwood, North Dakota, pleaded guilty Wednesday, May 18, in McLean County District Court to a felony DUI charge and a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. Wheeler, who was an unsuccessful candidate for chairman of the NDGOP last year, representing the Bastiat Caucus side of the divide in North Dakota’s…
You still have to persuade people
MINOT, N.D. — Politics is the art of persuasion. Or so the old saw goes, though it can be hard to discern the truth of that saying at a time when politics seems to have become the art of destroying those who disagree with you. Is anybody trying to change minds anymore? We tend to…
Economic illiteracy is what may cost Democrats the midterms
MINOT, N.D. — I don’t think all Democrats are economically illiterate. I believe many of our left-of-center friends understand the immutable realities of supply and demand. Their problem is that, at a time when inflation is, without question, the number problem on the minds of Americans , people Sen. Elizabeth Warren and whoever is running President Joe…
Please put Trump back on Twitter
Minot, N.D. — One of my favorite stories from American history is about the time the National Socialist Party of America – an offshoot of the American Nazi Party – tried to march in Skokie, Illinois. That was a largely Jewish community at the time – one out of six Jewish residents there was either a…
Democrats, how can it be that you’re losing?
MINOT, N.D. — “Federal judge rejects RNC lawsuit against Jan. 6 panel,” reads a headline from The Hill that went online just before I began writing this column. The congressional committee investigating the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol building perpetrated by Trump supporters had requested emails from the RNC. The committee wants to measure the RNC’s…
What happens in North Dakota if Roe v. Wade is overturned?
MINOT, N.D. — For the first time in American history, a Supreme Court draft opinion has been leaked to the press prior to the court’s final ruling. And, of course, it pertains to one of the most intractable political issues in our country’s history. First, let’s acknowledge that this is a terrible thing. Continue reading…
Republicans must find the courage to speak out loud about Donald Trump
MINOT, N.D. — Many Republicans know that disgraced former President Donald Trump, and the political movement loyal to him, are a threat to our nation. We know this because many of them have said as much in private. The most recent example is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy who, immediately after Trump’s supporters attacked Congress…
The dumbest thing about the new Disinformation Governance Board is that anyone thinks it will work
MINOT, N.D. — President Joe Biden’s administration has announced a new agency within the Department of Homeland Security aimed at combating misinformation. It’s called the Disinformation Governance Board, or DGB, and since this idea comes from a Democratic administration, the winds of outrage it has inspired are blowing from places like Fox News where commentators have been…
Fractures in the North Dakota Republican Party loom over proposed carbon pipeline
MINOT, N.D. — According to Daryl Lies, president of the North Dakota Farm Bureau, the CO2 pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions is the most pressing issue facing our state right now. I know because a visibly angry Lies shouted this at me during an angry rant at the North Dakota Republican Party’s state convention…