People aren’t doing it for the free doughnuts. But they might do it for America. — The great patriotic holiday of July 4 came and went, and so did the brief hullabaloo in the press over our failure to hit Joe Biden’s deadline for getting at least one COVID shot into the arms of 70% of U.S. adults. The president made a speech promising to go…

The talk at a family gathering ventured into the fraught politics of the pandemic, yet bigger truths held us together — I had a conversation recently with a couple of close relatives. Actually, let me back up. They’re better described as lifelong friends who I love like brothers, who also happen to be relatives. One is a brilliant scientist. I remember visiting him in his lab at MIT decades ago when…

While we were getting ready to celebrate July 4th, the Supreme Court had its own fireworks planned — A few years ago I was feeling optimistic on the Fourth of July. I wrote that it feels like the nation is getting reborn on the day it celebrates independence. This year it’ll be a bit harder to get the old optimism going. Over an unsettling two days leading into…

The indicted former president and his party are doing serious damage with their wild attacks on law and order — Here’s a familiar storyline, one that has probably been made into a movie or two in one form or another over the years. A small town high school has a golden boy quarterback who keeps getting into trouble. But he won some big games early on and he does have…

The path to the White House requires dislodging Trumpism, not trying to tip-toe around it — I have some marketing advice for South Carolina Senator and newly announced Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott. Before we go on, you may be asking who Tim Scott is and you wouldn’t be alone. His showing in the polls is not that far from a rounding error. Yet there is…

Take a step back from the immediate chaos of the court fight over abortion pills and you see a larger threat to the republic — Late on Good Friday of this year, perhaps hoping the image of Christ crucified for our sins would put the nation in a forgiving mood, Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued his ruling suspending the decades-old F.D.A. approval of mifepristone, a medication commonly used in abortions. Less than an hour later…

An unexpected case of Covid is keeping me from celebrating with the ones I love — Easter Morning Mass on a laptop is not the same as Easter Morning in the grand nave of a church. Let’s just say the trumpets don’t trumpet with quite the desired exultation. And yet, throughout the weird ebbs and flows of the pandemic I’ve watched a lot of TV church…

The “He Gets Us” ads are controversial. They’re also pretty good. — Like a lot of people, I watch the Super Bowl for the ads as much as for the football. But unlike a lot of people, I do this professionally. I’ve worked in the advertising business for longer than I probably ought to admit. Of course I pay attention to the…

The Republican Party’s culture of lies continues to bring out the worst in humanity — A few weeks ago I wrote about the fleecing of my fellow Americans by the Republican Party. The piece was, for the most, part inspired by the pathological con artistry of New York’s newly minted congressional rep George Santos. But it’s an idea that’s been running through my mind for…