Articles by Grady Means

COVID-19 is the latest “pop-quiz” that the cosmos springs on us periodically and unexpectedly. This quiz was designed to test the so-called “clash of civilizations” that so many historians have opined about for the past 100 years, speculating on how well the “American experiment” would do in comparison to fearsome rivals such as global communism and socialism, Islamic fundamentalism and, most recently, China.

So far, the chaotic, contentious, unpredictable and, at times, outright nasty American open society, instant communication, 300-plus million opinions, free market model has done very well.

Regardless of the source of the coronavirus, it is now a roadmap for future bioterrorism. The damage has been quick and enormous — much greater than 9/11 — and worldwide. The responses have been predictable and ineffective. And the cost of a potential weapon such as this is close to zero. It represents the perfect asymmetric warfare strategy, and there should be little doubt these lessons are being studied carefully by military planners in North Korea, Tehran, Moscow, Beijing and desert caves throughout the Middle East.

A potentially brilliant foreign policy strategy unfolded last week during President Trump’s trip to India. Hardly anyone in America knows that, or has been talking about it, because it’s hard to find a journalist who filed an interesting or insightful story from New Delhi.

Trump’s visit to India reflected a complex approach for strengthening America’s hand in South Asia and triangulating Russia, China and India in Central Asia.

Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have trapped the Democratic Party. The Titanic is sinking and smart politicians should save themselves before it’s too late. The lifeboat is a third party.

In “Peter and the Wolf,” Prokofiev’s Russian “symphonic fairy tale for children,” Peter, “a young Soviet pioneer,” tries to protect a little duck from a prowling wolf. In the end, the naive duck gets eaten by the wolf, and Peter captures the wolf and takes him to the People’s Zoo.

In the tragic opera that is the Democratic presidential primary season, reality following the New Hampshire primary reflects fiction as young Peter is hot on the wolf’s tail, hoping to catch him, stuff him and put him in the Democrats’ political museum.

In his State of the Union message, President Trump focused on giving all American schoolchildren the chance to succeed. Unfortunately, Sonny Perdue, his secretary of Agriculture, is doing just the opposite. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) proposed “School Meals Flexibilities” rule for school menus is a disaster for millions of children. It is a full retreat from science-based health and nutrition principles, is severely misaligned with today’s research, and could be considered a human rights violation of young Americans.

During this weekend’s Super Bowl, fans will be inundated with commercials for Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign. But, as opposed to watching the amusing beer and snacks commercials, fans probably will restock their beer and snacks during the former New York mayor’s commercials.

In spite of spending a reported hundreds of millions of dollars, the Bloomberg campaign, such as it is, already is on the rocks because of a terrible strategy, poor execution and a weak candidate.

The National Football League’s Super Bowl will be played on Feb. 2 and the Iowa Caucuses kick off the national Political Super Bowl on Feb. 3. Both will make you sick.

During the college football bowl season, giving way to the professional football Super Bowl, American companies will spend more than $2 billion in television ads … to eventually add an estimated $200 billion to America’s annual national health care costs.

A subterranean, subliminal rumble is building across America, although large populations in the West and Northeast seem deaf to it. At first blush, American politics might seem polarized, breaking neatly along left and right political fault lines. But even a cursory look at the 2020 presidential race presents a very different picture. Eighty percent of the American public is fed up and prefers candidates who are well outside the traditional political ruling class, be it left or right.

I thought it odd in 2016 when not a few Americans voiced the view that their first choice for president was Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — but their second choice might be Donald Trump. After three years of President Trump, it’s becoming clear: Americans are solidly rejecting the ruling class, be it the Northeast liberal “establishment,” the mainstream media, or the Hollywood elite. And Trump, Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), leaders of the not-traditional-ruling-class show, represent 80 percent of the voters.

It doesn’t actually take 20/20 vision to see what 2020 will be like. To quote a well-known personality, it will be “perfect,” it will be “beautiful,” it will be “huge.” It will be all about Donald Trump.