Stephen Gottlieb

The MAGA people are against immigrants. They’re afraid that immigrants are taking their jobs. But every economist on all sides of the isle will tell you that stopping immigration and expelling immigrants will damage the economy, increase prices and reduce available jobs, not increase them.

What ‘s Henry Johnson got to do with War with Iran? Simple, Trump couldn’t stand a Black man’s accomplishments. Johnson was a war hero but Trump had to remove his name from Army installations.

Is an official who denies the fundamental principles of the Declaration of Independence, ignores the obligation to obey constitutional limitations, violates his oath of office, ignores court decisions and uses the office for private gain, a loyal American?

I’m too old for nightmares. So let me tell you about mine.

There are reports that people have been picked up, detained or deported without due process. Why should we care?

I never thought of my birthday as a particularly significant event. Plus it’s pure hearsay because I can’t remember being born at all. And it would be fine with me to keep my current age a couple of more years. But now WAMC has decided to start its Spring fund drive on my birthday. So I’ve decided to treat all contributions to the station as a birthday present and cheer for each one!

We’re just back from some travel in Ohio to see family, friends and even a couple of doctors. One of our hotels was serviced by porters who were refugees from Afghanistan. I was using a cane because of a problem with one of my legs. So, one of the Afghani porters was trying to do everything he could for us. I figured I needed to keep using my arms and legs but this gentleman, with the best of intentions, was preventing me.

Everybody likes to think that individual enterprises built this country. But that confuses a piece of the story with the whole thing.

Trump keeps trying to rule by executive order, including, most recently, defunding public broadcasting. Someone I know was trying to differentiate what Trump is doing by executive order and what other presidents have done. So let me explain.

Trumps’s government efficiency staff went through Peace Corps offices recently. Trump tried to dismantle the Peace Corps in his first term. And he has already “eliminate[d] key pillars of America's soft power,” including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Voice of America and attacked the depth of knowledge and experience at the State Department. Let me draw on my Peace Corps experience to explain why I think Trump’s attack on America’s international agencies is very dangerous.