Paul Fanlund

Madison

Columnist and Publisher at The Cap Times

Publisher and Columnist at @CapTimes. #CapTimesIdeaFest

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Articles

Opinion | If Donald Trump’s voters suffer too, I can live with it

6 days ago | captimes.com | Paul Fanlund

In the days after Donald Trump won in November, columnists assessed the coming carnage and made resolutions. The next-day thoughts of Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times were headlined: “My Manifesto for Despairing Democrats.”Kristof walked through his 14 prescriptions, impressive in bulk and insight. My favorite Kristof point might displease the “we-should-always-go-further left” crowd.
Opinion | Trump’s attack on ‘Black Smithsonian’ is appalling

1 week ago | captimes.com | Paul Fanlund

Shortly after being inaugurated as president in 2017, Donald Trump crossed 15th Street from the White House to tour the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “This is a truly great museum,” Trump said then, calling it the “Black Smithsonian.”“I’ve learned, and I’ve seen, and they’ve done an incredible job. What they’ve done here is something that probably cannot be duplicated. … It was done with tremendous love and passion and that’s why it’s so great.”That was then, of course.
Opinion | A loss for Elon Musk, a huge win for Wisconsinites

3 weeks ago | captimes.com | Paul Fanlund

My first reaction to Susan Crawford’s resounding Wisconsin Supreme Court victory excluded Elon Musk, which made me an outlier given my reading of mainstream and social media. My thoughts instead went to how her election marks a last step in moving Wisconsin beyond 15 years or more in which Republicans have dominated the statehouse, even when they lacked the public’s support in our famously 50-50 state.
Opinion | Even for Trump, this attack on a journalist is a new low

3 weeks ago | captimes.com | Paul Fanlund

Donald Trump’s reflexive response to the bombshell reporting that his cabinet endangered national security by sharing military secrets via a leaked online chat was utterly predictable. He tried to shoot the messenger. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, was mistakenly included on a group chat among top administration officials describing a military attack in Yemen. Goldberg’s response was professional.
Opinion | Wisconsin voters could pop Elon Musk’s bubble

1 month ago | captimes.com | Paul Fanlund

For weeks, surprised Republicans in Congress have returned to their dependably red districts to face town halls filled with angry voters demanding they stop the dismantling of federal programs by the unelected billionaire Elon Musk. It’s quite a sight to see Charles Grassley, the 91-year-old Iowa senator first elected to the House in 1975, seem shaken and disoriented that his people would turn on him so vociferously.
Opinion | UW-Madison voices seem muted in the Trump era

1 month ago | captimes.com | Paul Fanlund

When one writes a weekly column for over 15 years, one notices patterns. The one I see today is at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I sense an atmosphere of caution — and deep sadness — more pronounced than at any time in my decades observing and writing about the state’s flagship university. To be fair, UW’s professors and administrators probably resemble many of us who feel stunned, appalled, depressed and furious at the Make America Great Again tide rolling across our government.
Opinion | The optimism and wisdom of Heather Cox Richardson

1 month ago | captimes.com | Paul Fanlund

It was only six months ago, though it feels like six years. Heather Cox Richardson, the brilliant essayist and scholar of American history, was explaining to her Madison audience why she was optimistic about America’s future based on her immersion in its past. She was on stage at Cap Times Idea Fest with author and journalist David Maraniss last September. The previous evening, Kamala Harris had electrified a huge crowd across town at an Alliant Energy Center campaign event.
Opinion | Donald Trump could teach a master class on how to lie

1 month ago | captimes.com | Paul Fanlund

Today’s topic is lies, and the lying liars who tell them. Some will recognize those words. They mimic a book title by Al Franken, comedian and later a Democratic U.S. senator, written more than two decades ago. Those were comparatively subdued days for political lies. Today we are witnessing a pinnacle of lying by an American president. How has political lying evolved during our lifetimes? Let’s begin with this.
Opinion | Madison Peace Corps alums work to counter Trump policies

2 months ago | captimes.com | Paul Fanlund

Can you imagine anything more antithetical to the monumental jingoism of Donald Trump than the mission and spirit of the nation’s Peace Corps? Neither can I. Many of us these days are hunkering down, avoiding most Trump and Elon Musk news and quietly grieving our nation’s direction. So, when I learned that a local group of Peace Corps alums is working to actively push back, I took notice.
Opinion | Racial equity in Madison - what progress have we made?

2 months ago | captimes.com | Paul Fanlund

It’s been a decade since a movement focused on racial equity emerged in Madison, one that put a bright spotlight on the topic. It feels like it was longer ago. It was before Donald Trump descended his New York escalator to build a political dynasty built on dividing people over race. Before critical race theory morphed from an academic concept to a phrase to ridicule. Before there was a right-wing backlash to protests after George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer.