Ronald Rabin, a Donald Trump delegate from North Carolina, is tired of the GOP’s internal critics. He’s annoyed at the anti-Trump delegates who wanted to change the rules at the Republican National Convention so they could vote their consciences rather than being bound to candidates they might personally oppose. He has no patience for the […]
Barry Yeoman
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The Republican National Convention, Day Two: “Hillary Is a Foreign Agent of the Communist Chinese!”
Alex Jones, presumably, isn’t used to losing control of the stage. The syndicated radio host, dubbed “the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has a gift for energizing crowds. Before he spoke a single word at Monday’s America First Unity Rally—an unofficial Donald Trump lovefest on the first […]
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The Republican National Convention, Day One: “There Will Be an End to the Earth”
On the eve the Republican National Convention, the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee threw a welcoming party for several thousand delegates and guests. It was held at the North Coast Harbor, a recreation area—closed to the public for the evening and heavily secured—between downtown and Lake Erie. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame threw open […]
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The 30 Years That Brought Us HB 2
Last year, when the Reverend Mykal Slack was preparing to move south to Durham, nearer to his and his wife’s families, some of his closest friends questioned his judgment. Slack had left rural Georgia twenty years earlier, and it was up north that he had built a career and an identity. He earned a law […]
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Why North Carolina’s Bathroom Bill Debate Feels All Too Familiar
I lost a couple of hours yesterday in front of my computer, watching North Carolina’s culture wars unfold in real time. The state legislature had convened a one-day “emergency” session with the explicit purpose of stripping local governments of the right to pass their own antidiscrimination measures. WRAL’s web site was live streaming the entire […]
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A good death: Like Sue Otterbourg, more people are taking control of the end
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Ron Paul delegates find dissent is unwelcome within the GOP ranks
It was just a few years ago that Bret McGraw began his political conversion. The 30-year-old cook, who lives in Durham and works at Whole Foods Market, once considered himself a liberal. In 2008 he voted for Barack Obama, a decision he has come to regret. “I’m almost ashamed to say it,” he told me […]
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RNC Day 5: Tossed from the Art Pope-David Koch cocktail party
When I learned that Americans for Prosperity was hosting a cocktail party honoring Art Pope and David Koch during the Republican National Convention, it seemed like a natural event for me to cover. I used to write about Pope for the Independent, back when he was a state legislator from Raleigh and often the smartest […]
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RNC Day 4: In his speech, Paul Ryan doesn’t let facts get in the way
In 2009, I was researching an article for AARP The Magazine about the impact of factory closings on older employers. Traveling around the country, I talked with unemployed workers who had skimped on food, lost health insurance, even suffered strokes because of the stress. During that time I kept a thick file of newspaper clippings, […]
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RNC Day 3: Preparing for armed revolution
I’ve covered national political party conventions since 1980. I know how amped-up the rhetoric can get on both sides. But I have never heard so much fear of an incumbent as I’ve witnessed during this week’s Republican National Convention. “Every election we hear that this is the most important election in our lifetime,” Sharon Day, […]
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