Dana Milbank
@danamilbank.bsky.social
đ€ 9008
đ„ 208
đ 73
Searching for humanity. Columnist for
@washingtonpost.com
.
pinned post!
We are losing our humanity. I am searching for an antidote -- and I need your help. My column about my new
@washingtonpost.com
column. Gift link.
wapo.st/472i9Gz
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Opinion | We are losing our humanity. I am searching for an antidote.
The challenge of our time is to recover what we have lost: in nature, and in our communities.
https://wapo.st/472i9Gz
7 months ago
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I went into phone-free silence. What happened was disturbing. My latest column, on our addiction to distraction. Gift link.
wapo.st/40aadyg
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Column | I went into phone-free silence. Something disturbing happened.
Suddenly shutting off external signals and focusing inward can demand a startling amount of energy.
https://wapo.st/40aadyg
3 days ago
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Good news: We saved the bees. Bad news: We saved the wrong ones. My latest column, on how our well-intended plans to heal nature sometimes go awry. Gift link:
wapo.st/3ZhkdWf
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Column | Good news: We saved the bees. Bad news: We saved the wrong ones.
Honeybees have never been in danger of extinction. But scientists are finding that they can accelerate the demise of native bee populations.
https://wapo.st/3ZhkdWf
10 days ago
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For this week's column, I hung out with members of the rescue squad and other retired super-volunteers. Turns out they are not only enhancing their wellbeing -- they are extending their lives by slowing aging. Gift link.
wapo.st/4t9F8rK
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Column | Hereâs a proven way to slow aging. Any volunteers?
New research shows that you can lengthen your own life by improving someone elseâs.
https://wapo.st/4t9F8rK
17 days ago
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6
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Neuroscience is finding that even the smallest amount of time noticing nature -- 10 observations over 14 days -- significantly improves our sense of hope. In this dark winter for our nation and for our planet, we need that. Gift link to my latest column.
wapo.st/3NsnT4T
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Column | Try this 14-day exercise to strengthen hope, even in darkest winter
This intervention is straightforward, but its results might surprise you.
https://wapo.st/3NsnT4T
24 days ago
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What does not kill us really does make us stronger. My latest
@washingtonpost.com
column, about how I set my farm on fire and did other questionable things. Now with $4 day pass for non-subscribers.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
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Column | I just set my farm on fire. It was thrilling.
This has been my winter of living dangerously, and my experiences have boosted my sense of well-being.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2026/01/16/risk-psychology-wellbeing/?&utm_campaign=jtk-flex&utm_content=dmilbank
about 1 month ago
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Humans since Socrates have been asking how to live the good life. Now AI is trying to answer the question. My latest column, on a startup by chastened founders of Twitter and Pinterest. Gift link.
wapo.st/3Yw7yyk
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Column | A new approach to living a good life comes from a most unlikely place
A group of unexpected guides is asking whether digital life has pulled us off courseâand whether thereâs a way back
https://wapo.st/3Yw7yyk
about 1 month ago
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The National Gallery of Art worked with UC Berkeley psychologists to help people find more awe and wonder in their lives. Try some of these prompts. Gift link:
wapo.st/49kHrQT
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Tips for finding awe from the National of Gallery of Art
Prompts paired with paintings are designed to spur a sense of wonder.
https://wapo.st/49kHrQT
about 2 months ago
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Daily experiences of wonder improve your health -- and it isn't hard to achieve this state. My latest column, from the National Gallery of Art, explains how. Link with $4 day pass offer for nonsubscribers.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
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Column | Feeling wonder every day improves our health. Hereâs how to do it.
Research has established the power of awe. I experienced it myself in a way I never thought I could.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/12/19/finding-awe-wonder-health-art/?utm_term=jtk-flex-day&utm_content=dmilbank
about 2 months ago
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How has the Mormon church produced so many conservative political leaders who defy Trump on matters of decency and compromise? The answer points to a way out of our political crisis. Link to my latest column includes a $4 day-pass offer for nonsubscribers.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
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Column | Why Mormonism may have an answer for our toxic politics
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox draws on teachings from his Mormon faith to âdisagree better.â Studies show his approach could change public attitudes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/12/12/spencer-cox-mormon-political-violence-civility/?utm_term=jtk-flex-day&utm_content=dmilbank
2 months ago
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Would having a full-body MRI cure my medical worries -- or make them a whole lot worse? Here's what I found. Includes a $4 day pass offer for non-subscribers.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
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Column | A full-body MRI can reveal hidden killers. Do we want to know?
Like many emerging technologies, this one can improve our lives, make us miserable or both. Nobody knows yet which it will be.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/12/05/full-body-mri-scan-experience/?&utm_campaign=jtk-flex&utm_content=dmilbank
2 months ago
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Politics has frozen our brains. Here's a way to reboot. My latest column, with new research on how we can use curiosity to defang political foes and detoxify the discourse. Link includes $4 day-pass offer for non-subscribers.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
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Column | Defuse political tension in your family with one simple question
This research-backed technique can increase open-mindedness and reduce political polarization, improving conversations at family gatherings and in daily life.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/21/curiosity-politics-polarization-arguments-thanksgiving/?&utm_campaign=jtk-flex&utm_content=dmilbank
3 months ago
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Scientists have found 2,000-year-old plant communities that offer answers to the biodiversity crisis and climate change. If you're not a subscriber, use this link for a $4 day pass to read the column.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
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Column | Scientists discover an ancient landscape â in our own backyard
Newly recognized patches of undeveloped grassland are accidental time travelers from a distant past, and they offer answers for our 21st century problems.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/11/14/remnant-prairie-grass-trees-store-carbon/?&utm_campaign=jtk-flex&utm_content=dmilbank
3 months ago
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These ancient time travelers have answers to our 21st century problems. Newly discovered landscapes that are thousands of years old offer remedies to climate change and Earth's shrinking biodiversity. Gift link to my latest
@washingtonpost.com
column.
wapo.st/49Rtfzu
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These ancient time travelers have answers to our 21st century problems
Newly discovered patches of ancient landscape have somehow managed to survive without being turned into a farm, forest or subdivision.
https://wapo.st/49Rtfzu
3 months ago
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At a time when only 31 percent of us feel engaged at work, we could all learn from Willie Shanks. He earns just $38k running the local dump. But he loves his work and has become a local celebrity for turning the dump into a community hub. Gift link.
wapo.st/47L8iE0
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Column | The guy who runs the dump knows the secret to finding meaning at work
Willie Shanks has turned a refuse and recycling center into a place where people come to hang out and laugh, even when they donât have trash to drop off.
https://wapo.st/47L8iE0
3 months ago
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I had feared forest bathing might be another goofy wellness fad like Tucker Carlsonâs genital tanning. But evidence suggests time in the woods could prevent cancer, fight infection and protect against dementia. I went to investigate. Gift link to my latest
@washingtonpost.com
column.
wapo.st/3Jzxq8x
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Column | Forest bathing sounded silly. Then I did it with 8 Harvard doctors.
Doctors are looking to a remedy with ancient origins to treat modern stress and burnout. I joined them to see how it works.
https://wapo.st/3Jzxq8x
4 months ago
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How can we stay happy in an age gone mad, when it feels as though all is unstable? Results from a new study suggest a practical way to keep ourselves on a meaningful path â a sort of happiness hack for our chaotic times. Gift link to my latest column.
wapo.st/4nlKw7c
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Column | A 6-year research project found a surprisingly simple route to happiness
We are living through highly uncertain times. But a study out of Cornell has identified a happiness hack that can lead you toward a life of purpose.
https://wapo.st/4nlKw7c
4 months ago
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Boy meets girl meets moth: a many-legged love triangle. My column on the very passionate community of iNaturalist, which is showing that social media and AI can be used to bring people together for a common good rather than tearing us apart. Gift link.
wapo.st/4n7T2GI
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Column | Boy meets girl meets moth: A many-legged love triangle
Their romance began with a shared fondness for counting bugs. Their story offers potential hope for the role that social media and AI could play in our lives.
https://wapo.st/4n7T2GI
4 months ago
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If you care about the future of our planet, one of the best things you can do is go fishing. Better still, take your child or grandchild. My latest column, on how to build a consensus to combat climate change: more "boots on the water." Gift link.
wapo.st/4n1Umee
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Column | Why you should go fishing, even if you think youâd be terrible at it
There are ecological and political reasons to try fly-fishing in the rivers of America.
https://wapo.st/4n1Umee
4 months ago
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When I asked readers how they "rehumanize," more than 500 responded with deeply personal accounts. They pointed me to the one thing AI will never be able to do. Gift link to my latest column.
wapo.st/4pYbpRk
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Column | How can we be more human? I asked ChatGPT â and you.
In an age in which machines have intellectual capacities superior to our own, we no longer have the market cornered on thinking. Feeling, though, is a different story.
https://wapo.st/4pYbpRk
5 months ago
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The animal most in need of "rewilding" is us. I spent some time tracking mountain lions in the Pacific Northwest, getting close to these frightening but magical apex predators. Here's why bringing them back to the East would be good for us. Gift link.
wapo.st/3KksTqC
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Column | I got nose-to-nose with a mountain lion. It was scary â and magical.
Restoring these big cats to their historical range in the United States could help the environment and us.
https://wapo.st/3KksTqC
5 months ago
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As America points fingers, these MAGA faithful link arms with liberals. My latest column, on a kaffeeklatsch in rural Virginia that has found an alternative to our toxic politics-- and an antidote to the epidemic of loneliness. Gift link.
wapo.st/4gAmDHg
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Column | Together, these MAGA fans and liberals fight a common foe: Loneliness
A daily meetup at this rural coffee shop has helped create a sense of belonging and connection, even among people who are political opposites.
https://wapo.st/4gAmDHg
5 months ago
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In ugly times, we need to seek beauty in tiny things. The first of my new column on how we rehumanize focuses on the sublime beauty in grass flowers and other ordinary things -- as long as we pause to look. Gift link.
wapo.st/4pm7wVU
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Column | In ugly times, we need to seek beauty. Hereâs how to find it.
The first installment of a new weekly column about reclaiming our humanity, restoring our connections and reviving our sense of awe.
https://wapo.st/4pm7wVU
5 months ago
7
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We are losing our humanity. I am searching for an antidote -- and I need your help. My column about my new
@washingtonpost.com
column. Gift link.
wapo.st/472i9Gz
loading . . .
Opinion | We are losing our humanity. I am searching for an antidote.
The challenge of our time is to recover what we have lost: in nature, and in our communities.
https://wapo.st/472i9Gz
7 months ago
18
90
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My
@washingtonpost.com
column will be moving later this summer to Futures, a new Post section devoted to grappling with the forces shaping the 21st century.
7 months ago
6
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My night in the forest with the Heebie-Jeebie, the Big Dipper, the July Comet, the Spring 4-Flasher, the Creekside Tree Blinker and other fireflies. Insects could hold the secret to human survival -- if we allow them to survive. Gift link to my latest column:
wapo.st/46yYuh9
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Opinion | On a dark night in the forest, I met the goddess of youth
With firefly scientists, I watched a fireworks show more intricate than any human-made pyrotechnics.
https://wapo.st/46yYuh9
7 months ago
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This wasnât just another routine cave-in by conservatives. This was probably the last chance to make a dent in the trajectory of the federal governmentâs finances â and they surrendered utterly. Gift link to my latest column.
wapo.st/4kpBmFc
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Opinion | The last gasp of small-government conservatism
As the GOP budget bill rushed toward passage, one so-called principled objector after another lost their nerve.
https://wapo.st/4kpBmFc
8 months ago
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Oslo: Give Trump the %@$&)! Nobel Peace Prize already â or heâs sending the B-2s. Gift link to my latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column.
wapo.st/4ekP76G
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Opinion | Trumpâs Nobel Peace Prize odds are bombing
Has there ever been a more belligerent peacemaker than the American president?
https://wapo.st/4ekP76G
8 months ago
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Oslo: Give Trump the %@$&)! Nobel Peace Prize already â or heâs sending the B-2s. Gift link to my latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column.
wapo.st/4ekP76G
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Opinion | Trumpâs Nobel Peace Prize odds are bombing
Has there ever been a more belligerent peacemaker than the American president?
https://wapo.st/4ekP76G
8 months ago
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Will America go to war against Iran? Let us ask Donald Trump, human Magic 8 Ball. Gift link to my latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column.
wapo.st/3I6CakI
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Opinion | War with Iran? Letâs run it up the flagpole!
Trump says no one knows whether the U.S. will attack Iran. Apparently, neither does he.
https://wapo.st/3I6CakI
8 months ago
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How nature improves our cognition, our mood and much else. Lessons from the Appalachian Trail â and from scientists studying natureâs impact on our wellbeing. Gift link to my latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column.
wapo.st/4kJERXT
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Opinion | We know time in nature fixes our brains. Hereâs why.
Experimental science is proving what humanity has known, intuitively, for generations.
https://wapo.st/4kJERXT
8 months ago
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The spectacular Musk blowup is just another day in Trump's reign of error. My latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column finds there is no sanctuary from this administration's buffoonery. Gift link:
wapo.st/43vKwe9
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Opinion | They are not good at this
Nearly five months into Trumpâs new reign of error, his administrationâs mistakes are multiplying.
https://wapo.st/43vKwe9
8 months ago
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Here are the 3,515 things the Democratic Party must do -- immediately! Gift link to my latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column:
wapo.st/4kt1JuR
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Opinion | Let us count the 3,515 ways in which Democrats are lame
With all this free advice, the Democratic Partyâs to-do list is getting exceedingly long.
https://wapo.st/4kt1JuR
9 months ago
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The targets of Trumpâs bullying rarely win him over with obeisance. The better course is to follow (metaphorically speaking) Elon Musk's advice: âIf I had punched them hard in the nose, they wouldnât come after me again.â Gift link to my latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column:
wapo.st/3ZItCqe
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Opinion | The bully gets punched in the nose
More and more Americans are summoning the courage to fight back against President Donald Trump.
https://wapo.st/3ZItCqe
9 months ago
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I cringe for my country when I look back on all the Trump administrationâs embarrassing episodes over the last week. Gift link to my latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column.
wapo.st/4kuCrfh
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Opinion | This is just embarrassing
Everywhere I looked this week, I cringed for my country.
https://wapo.st/4kuCrfh
9 months ago
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Uncovering the secret lives of turtles, we also discover ourselves. A
@postopinions.bsky.social
column on my time in the fields and streams of Virginia, tracking box turtles, river herring and American kestrels. Gift link.
wapo.st/4moW1LV
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Opinion | Uncovering the secret lives of turtles, we also discover ourselves
Breakthroughs in tracking animalsâ movements through GPS, radio frequency and acoustics have exploded.
https://wapo.st/4moW1LV
9 months ago
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This is what happens when we have a morally lost president. My latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column, on the Trump administration invoking eugenics, taking Medicaid and food stamps from the poor, celebrating Jamaal Khashoggi's killer and more. Gift link.
wapo.st/3EVWAfp
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Opinion | Trump will never understand that America is great because it is good
Whatâs needed more than anything at this moment is to make the country moral again.
https://wapo.st/3EVWAfp
9 months ago
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Trump needs that Qatari 747Â â for all his evasive maneuvers. Gift link to my latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column, on Trumpâs reversals on tariffs, China, Iran, Israel and more.
wapo.st/4khCvz3
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Opinion | Trump needs that Qatari 747Â â for all his evasive maneuvers
Trump said Monday that he invented a new word that is very old. But it is the best word for him.
https://wapo.st/4khCvz3
9 months ago
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As the world goes to hell, Trump is living his best life. My latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column, on how Trump and his family are pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars while he talks about rationing dolls and pencils. Gift link.
wapo.st/3ZcXpaj
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Opinion | As the world goes to hell, Trump is living his best life
The president has no permanent alliances, only personal financial interests.
https://wapo.st/3ZcXpaj
9 months ago
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Could Trump incompetence save the Republic? My latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column, on the administrationâs attempted sabotage of the VA, led by a guy who doesnât know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. Gift link.
wapo.st/4m5jxNF
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Opinion | Could incompetence save the Republic?
VA Secretary Doug Collins testifies on Capitol Hill. It doesnât go well.
https://wapo.st/4m5jxNF
10 months ago
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War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. And bust is boom. As the grave consequences of the administrationâs policies become apparent, Trump and his lieutenants have retreated to a fantasyland. My latest column.
wapo.st/3RIvtXZ
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Opinion | As wreckage piles up, Trump and his aides retreat to fantasyland
Every remark spins a different strand of make-believe.
https://wapo.st/3RIvtXZ
10 months ago
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Trump invoked Bidenâs name 21 times on Tuesday night, not counting an additional nine references to âSleepy Joeâ and âCrooked Joe,â a transcript shows. By comparison, Trump made just two mentions of the economy in an hour and a half. My latest column.
wapo.st/4jyBrqF
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Opinion | Give âSleepy Joeâ a rest. Trump has nobody to blame but himself.
With little to celebrate about his first 100 days in office, Trump is dwelling on the past.
https://wapo.st/4jyBrqF
10 months ago
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'Meshugge' doesn't begin to capture Donald Trump. My
@postopinions.bsky.social
column on the latest from the bumbling amateurs in the administration. Gift link:
wapo.st/42t676t
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Opinion | For the Trump administration, itâs amateur hour
I wish there was a Yiddish insult that captured the missteps weâre seeing from the White House.
https://wapo.st/42t676t
10 months ago
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The Trump administration, brought to you by the National Demolition Association. My latest column, on Trump's corporate sponsors. Gift link:
wapo.st/4jlEK48
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Opinion | And now, a word from the Trump administrationâs sponsors
The pay-to-play takeover of the Easter Egg Roll could be just the beginning.
https://wapo.st/4jlEK48
10 months ago
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Trump is wrapping up 100 days of historic failure. My
@postopinions.bsky.social
column looking back at a period of destruction unlike any other in American history. Gift link:
wapo.st/3RWUWg8
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Opinion | Trump is wrapping up 100 days of historic failure
America has seen ruinous periods, but never when the president was the one knowingly causing the ruin.
https://wapo.st/3RWUWg8
10 months ago
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To save our trees, we must burn down our forests. My latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column, on the demise of the mighty oak, our national tree, and how to save it. Gift link.
wapo.st/42x4u6n
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Opinion | To save our trees, we must burn down our forests
Fire suppression is causing the oak to disappear from our forests and landscapes.
https://wapo.st/42x4u6n
10 months ago
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Who's afraid of Donald Trump? Fewer and fewer people. My latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column, on growing fratricide in the Republican Party and Trump's attempts to return us to the 19th Century. Beware the Miasma. Gift link:
wapo.st/42qm2RD
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Opinion | Let the fratricide begin!
Trumpâs tariffs crashed the market â and crushed the Republican Partyâs fear of him.
https://wapo.st/42qm2RD
10 months ago
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My
@postopinions.bsky.social
column on the latest week in Trump crazy: Taking an ax to the economy, the Constitution -- and Andrew Jackson's southern magnolia, in preparation for paving the Rose Garden.
wapo.st/4j4HFy7
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Opinion | The economy. The Constitution. Is there anything Trump wonât destroy?
The same day Trump said he would chop down Andrew Jacksonâs magnolia, he swung an ax at the Constitution.
https://wapo.st/4j4HFy7
11 months ago
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To honor Trump's latest executive order, these migrant predators should be deported from the National Zoo: Chinese three-striped box turtle Cuban crocodile Iranian fat-tailed gecko Panamanian golden frog Andean bear Persian onager African clawed frog screaming hairy armadillo
wapo.st/4ca46iV
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Opinion | How Trump can deport all those migrant predators at the National Zoo
The National Zoo can easily be converted into a symbol of American Greatness.
https://wapo.st/4ca46iV
11 months ago
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As Trumpâs parade of horribles marches on, a few on the right locate their spines. Gift link to my latest
@postopinions.bsky.social
column.
wapo.st/3YaYEq3
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Opinion | A few on the right begin to resist the Trump terror
From the Wall Street Journal editorial board to Fox News, capitulation is on the way out.
https://wapo.st/3YaYEq3
11 months ago
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More emojis! Just-released transcript of the group chat has Trump negotiator Steve Witkoff chiming in with a quintuple: đđđȘ followed by two U.S. flags.
add a skeleton here at some point
11 months ago
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