Mort Report is a labor of love by old-style correspondents with lifetimes on the road and young ones with fresh eyes. Our philosophy is simple: we report at first hand with analysis based on non-alternative fact, not opinion. If we get something wrong, we fix it.
TUCSON — With Thanksgiving over, Americans need to drop despair cold turkey and unite behind a single stage of grief. Anger. The others lead to acceptance, the final triumph of a creeping coup d'etat that plutocrats and ideologues began in the 1980s.
Voters have only two years to begin rescuing America, calmly but persuasively and without letup. After 2026, solid majorities in Congress and statehouses can start steering a ship of fools back toward sanity. Consider what is at stake.
An Islamist terrorist with a $10 million bounty on his head just rallied fractious Syrians to end 53 years of indescribably cruel al-Assad family rule in a week-long blitz.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani promises democracy to Muslims of all sects, Christians, Jews and the rest. Syrians who fought him bitterly in a free-for-all uprising after the 2011 Arab Spring are now delirious with joy. Many hold out hope that he means it.
American diplomacy and sparing use of military options is crucial now to referee Middle East turmoil with a massive impact on global order. Donald Trump says it is not his problem. Leave it to Russia and China.
By 2028, Syria could end up being closer to democratic principles than the United States. Not likely. But even that possibility ought to snap awake Americans who are sleepwalking toward tyranny.
Trump envisions an amoral, hate-fueled autocracy that spurs on climate chaos, enflames conflicts and further separates rich from desperate. Legislators, generals, civil servants and journalists and educators could be locked away for doing their jobs.
He insults allies with punitive tariffs while courting despots who muzzle the press, stamp out human rights, encroach on neighbors and plunder dwindling resources as Earth's ecosystem collapses.
He hands power to big donors, corrupt relatives and incompetent sycophants who snivel at his feet. His crass money-spinning schemes flout the law — and human decency. Hardly a president, he is a p-word with a last syllable that rhymes with loot.
TUCSON — I flew direct to Phoenix from Paris just before elections. Barely seconds after approaching a Global Entry face-recognition camera, an immigration guy 100 feet away yelled, "Mort?" I nodded. He waved me through.
Cool, I thought. With such streamlined technology, new leaders could help steer America and the world beyond toward prosperous sanity. But voters chose authoritarians with different plans.
I flashed back to all the times some uniformed goon studied my passport, ran his thumb down a list, and said, "Step this way." Whether that was followed by sir, monsieur, señor or just a hard look, bad days would likely follow.
Gloating buffoons who think they "own the libs" need to read Orwell. Pigs who walk upright rule an Animal Farm by duping beasts of burden. They expel unwanted species and keep order with free-rein attack dogs rewarded for their zeal.
