The president sets a tone for the nation. Whether he likes it or not, every president's words have to be carefully selected and choreographed, not just for political impact but primarily for avoiding the dispatching of the wrong message...   To continue reading this article, ...read more

In a head-to-head competition over who can be the bigger assholes, liberal activists or Trump supporters, the Red Hats will win every time. As the War Games computer simulation "Joshua" said, "The only winning move is not to play." The anti-Trump protesters who've been verbally ...read more

Do you believe that women should have access to contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies? Do you believe teens should be taught comprehensive sexual education in school to prevent unwanted pregnancies?.... To continue reading this article, please go here. As a Banter Member ...read more

The Banter Long Read: For the past eight years, a civil war has been waged for control of the Republican Party. It has been "The establishment" versus "The extremist fringe of white nationalism", and the fringe has been winning over and over and over again... (UPDATE: We have ...read more

The Banter Long Read: If there's one constant in the Trump administration, it's that the press will go to any length to normalize Trump and give cover to the Republican Party. This week's contrivance concerns Trump stabbing the GOP in the back by working with the Democrats to ...read more

By now, you've surely heard about the ridiculous reaction of Trumpsters to NPR tweeting out the entire Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July. If not, enjoy your bliss for a few more seconds (and I'm still calling you Shirley): Some supporters of President Donald ...read more

Just a decade or two from now, white conservatives will have been rounded up and put into concentration camps... To continue reading this article, please go here. A Banter Membership gets you access to the magazine and all our Members Only content. Your membership also directly ...read more

Right now, the conservative movement in America is so far beyond salvaging that the only solution is to put it into a box away from the rest of us and let it self-destruct. After the survivors rebuild and show that they can act like responsible adults, they can come back and ...read more

Update: Here we are, four months later in July, and even though the House managed to force through an abomination on their second or third attempt, the Senate fell prey to exactly the same problem the House had: The bill was too extreme for the moderates and too moderate for the ...read more

The NRA has a Trump problem. With an ally in the White House, it's impossible to convince even the most gullible of gun nuts that the government is about to swoop in and steal their precious guns. Right wing fear drives the gun industry and without it, sales tank: Michelle Leder ...read more

As you're probably aware, right now dozens of self-styled American "militia" members are holed up deep inside an empty federal nature preserve in Oregon, claiming that they've taken it back for the people (as is their supposed Constitutional right). Led by two sons of racist, ...read more

By Robert Parry One reasonable way of looking at democratic governance is that it carries out the collective will of a society, especially in areas where the private sector can’t do the job or needs regulation to prevent it from doing harm. Of course, there are always many ...read more