Twenty minutes into his presidency, Donald Trump, who is always claiming to have made, or to be about to make, astonishing history, had done so. Living down to expectations, he had delivered the most dreadful inaugural address in history.

One radical free spirit nonconformist is pretty much like another.

Capital punishment, like the rest of the criminal justice system, is a government program, so skepticism is in order.

Americans complain a lot about the government and they voice a generalized suspicion of the government, but they constantly clammer for more of it.

Childhood is frequently a solemn business for those inside it.

I say statecraft is soulcraft. Just as all education is moral education because learning conditions conduct, most legislation is moral legislations because it conditions the action and the thought of the nation in broad and important spheres in life.

Mitt Romney's losing at this point in a big way. If something's going to come out, get it out in a hurry. I do not know why - given that Mr. Romney knew the day that [Sen. John] McCain lost in 2008 that he was going to run for president again - that he didn't get all of this out and tidy up some of his offshore accounts and all the rest.