Belief among Republicans that Donald Trump is their next likely presidential candidate continues to rise despite his condemnation by nearly all the other GOP candidates for proposing a temporary ban on immigrants from Muslim countries.
Calling for a moratorium on Muslim immigration "until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on," Donald Trump this week ignited a firestorm of historic proportions.
President Obama claims that restricting immigration in order to protect national security is "offensive and contrary to American values." No-limits liberals have attacked common-sense proposals for heightened visa scrutiny, profiling or immigration slowdowns as "un-American."
As the week began, I planned to write this column about some implications of Barack Obama's Sunday night Oval Office address. I noted that he devoted about one-fifth of this 13-minute speech to pleas that Americans not discriminate against Muslims.
"It is the responsibility of all Americans -- of every faith -- to reject discrimination," he said. "It's our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim Americans should somehow be treated differently."
Following the horrific attacks in Paris and California, belief that the terrorists are winning the War on Terror is near its highest level ever in regular surveying since 2004.
Americans are putting a lot more stock in religion this Christmas season.
The Donald Trump Show continues to dominate the airwaves and the polls, and the other candidates seem mere apprentices by comparison.
The billionaire’s appeal is very disproportionately tilted to the blue-collar half of the Republican electorate — many are the old Reagan Democrats who have long since defected from the party of their fathers. Much of the college-educated half of the party, by contrast, views Trump with disdain, but they are fractured and split among the rest of the contenders.
Despite an international uproar and condemnation by President Obama and nearly all of those running for the presidency, Donald Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims coming to the United States has the support of a sizable majority of Republicans – and a plurality of all voters.
Americans are embracing the holiday season this year and are in the giving spirit.
Calm down and think, America.
Voters are far more likely to think the media is biased against Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump than against his chief Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
On Dec. 2, as Islamic terrorists in combat gear strode into a San Bernardino Christmas party and began methodically executing Americans for their religious beliefs, the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces started ruminating on all the political angles and consequences.
President Obama on Sunday, in an address to the nation about the recent shooting massacre in San Bernardino, California, described the incident as terrorism but also said it highlighted the need for more gun control. Voters place far more importance on the terrorism aspect in this case, but they are slightly more supportive of a federal database listing all gun owners in the country.
When the President of the United States asks the television networks to set aside time for him to broadcast a speech from the Oval Office, we can usually expect that he has something new to say. But President Obama's speech Sunday night was just a rehash of what he has been saying all along, trying to justify policies that have repeatedly turned out disastrously for America and our allies.
Following the first major attack by radical Islamic terrorists on American soil in several years, President Obama sought to reassure Americans in a speech to the nation Sunday night that the federal government has things under control. He outlined the measures being taken to fight the radical Islamic State group (ISIS), called for more gun control and cautioned against anti-Muslim bias.
The Republican Party certainly has its problems: a chaotic presidential race; a despised congressional party; unpopularity among the rapidly growing number of non-whites.
In Sunday's first-round of regional elections in France, the clear and stunning winner was the National Front of Marine Le Pen.
Her party rolled up 30 percent of the vote, and came in first in 6 of 13 regions. Marine herself won 40 percent of her northeast district.
Most believe the gun policies of the National Rifle Association make this country safer, perhaps in part because Americans tend to think more gun control will only hurt law-abiding citizens.
