NEWS AND OPINION:
So what kind of political and cultural event are we looking at when former President Donald Trump faces a courtroom in the near future?
“The Trump trials will be an O.J.-level media frenzy,” predicts Jim Geraghty, a National Review columnist.
He is referring, of course, to the 11-month murder trial of football legend O.J. Simpson in Los Angeles almost three decades ago. Some 2,000 reporters covered the event, and 150 million viewers tuned in to watch a broadcast of the verdict, according to a 2015 Time magazine article on the trial.
“There’s a decent chance that the trial of the sprawling racketeering case that charges former president Donald Trump and 18 allies will be televised or streamed, and we are on course for the presidential-year equivalent of the O.J. Simpson trial. Those of us old enough to remember the year 1995 will recall how the saturation coverage of that trial effectively squeezed all kinds of other big events out of the news cycle,” Mr. Geraghty writes.
IVY-COVERED HALLS
“College is now an overpriced scam,” declares columnist John Stossel, who is troubled by the federal government’s involvement with student loans.
“Government loans encourage everyone to go to college, even if they’re not very interested in academics. Government’s handouts also invite colleges to keep raising tuition. Over the past 50 years, college costs rose at four times the rate of inflation. Four times!” he writes in a column for PJ Media.
He noted that his alma mater Princeton University charged $2,000 for yearly tuition when he attended the school in the late 1960s. The tuition is now $60,000.
“College students take on loans and spend decades in debt because they believe they must get a degree to be hired. But that’s no longer true. IBM, Accenture, Dell, Bank of America, Google and other big companies, recognizing the uselessness of many undergraduate degrees, recently dropped college-degree requirements. So have state governments in Maryland, Utah, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Alaska, North Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia,” the columnist said.
“Good jobs in the trades, like welding and plumbing, don’t require a college degree. Trade school programs often take less than two years and cost much less than college. To have a good life or get a good job, you don’t need fancy dining halls, video game auditoriums or a college degree. College has become a government-subsidized rip-off,” he declares.
AN UNEASY ANNIVERSARY
Wednesday marked the first anniversary of President Biden‘s signing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
The Republican National Committee is not celebrating the occasion.
“As Biden celebrates one year of his tax hike, American families are paying more for less. Biden is so out of touch with the American people that he thinks higher gas prices, lower real wages, surging interest rates, and sky-high costs on everyday goods warrants a victory lap,” noted committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in a written statement.
“The Bidenflation Scam effectively raised taxes on Americans making as little as $20,000/year, with more than half of the tax burden falling on middle-class American families. It was filled with giveaways for the rich, including tax credits for expensive electric vehicles (using parts made in China) — subsidized by low- and middle-income Americans. The far-left wishlist goes on and on — and it’s no wonder why most Americans don’t support it,” advises a brief “rapid response” written report from the committee itself.
“Now, Americans are overwhelmingly concerned about their current economic situation. Prices are up 16.9% and real wages are down around 3% since Biden took office as Americans — whose credit card debt is at a record high — are being punished by the highest interest rates in 22 years,” the report said.
AN ‘ECONOMIC DISASTER’
There are other reactions, meanwhile.
“Only in Washington would spending $750 billion that we don’t have be considered an ‘Inflation Reduction Act.’ It’s Orwellian and the American people are not fooled by it,” declared Jenny Beth Martin, honorary chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action, an organization that supports economic and personal freedom.
“One year after signing his signature bill, inflation continues to be an albatross around the necks of the American people. We’re continuing to experience the worst inflation since the Jimmy Carter era,” she said in a written statement.
“President Biden and his Democrat allies in Congress who passed this bill on a party-line vote should be embarrassed to publicly celebrate this economic disaster,” Ms. Martin added.
MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Voters in the Granite State are fond of their “first in the nation” status for presidential primaries. There is, in fact, a state law that requires New Hampshire to vote first. The ceremonial event — staged in the picturesque town of Dixville Notch at midnight — attracts much national media coverage.
The status is still dear to much of the citizenry.
“When asked if they support state legislation that requires New Hampshire’s presidential primary to be held seven days or more prior to any other state primary, a majority (65%) of voters support the law, while 10% of voters oppose the law and 26% are unsure,” reports an Emerson College poll released Wednesday.
“Republican voters are more likely to support legislation that maintains New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation status: 73% of Republicans support the law, compared to 59% of Democrats,” the findings said.
POLL DU JOUR
• 91% of U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” support establishing addiction treatment centers in their community.
• 92% of Democrats, 94% of independents and 86% of Republicans agree.
• 81% strongly or somewhat support making Narcan, a medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose, freely available in such places as bars, health clinics and fire stations.
• 89% of Democrats, 83% of independents and 73% of Republicans agree.
• 45% strongly or somewhat support establishing “safe consumption sites” where people use illegal drugs but there are trained personnel on hand in case of emergency.
• 61% of Democrats, 49% of independents and 23% of Republicans agree.
SOURCE: A Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll of 1,327 U.S. adults conducted July 11-19 and released Wednesday.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.