By RAHN ADAMS
BOONE, N.C. (March 4, 2026) – This morning as I wake and check the news on my phone, I’m thinking about two people on the world stage — well, three, but that third guy kinda goes without saying these crazy days.
The third man — and, yes, all three are men — is Donald Trump, of course, who has now pushed the penultimate panic button of his putrid presidency in order to divert attention from his criminality and incompetence.
There’s only one more button for him to push, and I have no doubt that he will if given the chance. Do I have to tell you what that last button does? OK. It’s the one that blows everything up, figuratively as well as literally.
How would that be for a distraction? Nope, we won’t be voting for Democrats or sensible Republicans after that happens. But it’s what 77 million Americans apparently want, right?
Before I forget, next week I want to write specifically about the twisted white evangelical overreaction to the war in Iran. But for right now let me just ask those simple-minded folks, “So, how do you like gasoline prices now?”
But they aren’t reading this. I know that. I’m preaching to the choir. And that’s OK. At least we’re singing out of the same hymn book and in tune.
Back to my original topic… This morning I’m thinking about Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, who won yesterday’s Democratic primary and will face either the long-time GOP incumbent or a corrupt, Trump-style Republican in November.
Whichever one he faces, Talarico will win in a fair election, even in Texas.
That’s because 36-year-old James Talarico reminds me of another James from America’s political past. This other James also had a squeaky clean image and a big toothy smile.
They both profess to be Christians — real ones, not phony Trumpian ones. History books will show that they both took the stage following the most corrupt presidencies our nation had ever seen.
Also, both men came of political age in time for America’s big birthdays — James Talarico in 2026; and, yep, James Earl Carter in 1976.
Jimmy Carter. Think about him for a second — and remember that hindsight is 20/20.
Who was the better president in terms of pointing the USA in the right direction, and, more importantly, who was the better man?
Yes, answering the first part of that question is complicated, but we now know that Jimmy Carter didn’t get a fair shake at running foreign affairs. The Republicans were up to no good in Iran and Central America even back then. Look it up.
But here’s the kicker. I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian household, and so I was predisposed to respect so-called conservative politicians and office holders — like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Liberal was a dirty word to my father, a Baptist preacher.
I found out later, though, that even Dad voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976. He didn’t let anyone know that in the congregation of his little Baptist church in rural Caldwell County, N.C. He didn’t even hint at his support for Carter from the pulpit, as well as I can remember.
But that’s why James Talarico will be a U.S. Senator after the November election, and why I think he will be our President after the election in 2028 if we still have the right then to vote in a free and fair election.
That’s what we’re really fighting for now. And don’t you forget it.
I wonder, Talarico is impressive.
I never have been able to trust, or believe in, a person who aspires to be a preacher. But, I didn’t grow up in a home with one.
Except, Jimmy Carter. I can listen to him as he truly lived his faith.
Yeah, that’s what I meant by hindsight being 20/20. Propaganda and gaps in what we know skew our perspective when things are happening. But Carter’s life after his presidency proved he was a good man, also one who had us on the right track environmentally and in other respects while he was president. About trusting preachers or even seminary students, I think there’s a big difference between truly educated ones and just indoctrinated ones. When I attended — kind of by chance — a week-long course on the parables of Jesus at Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, N.M., under a founding member of the Jesus Seminar, I was a bit taken aback by some of his statements that seemed to question or deny the divinity of Jesus. Most of the other “students” in the class were retired Presbyterian ministers, at least one of them being a well-known writer within his denomination (Presbyterian Church USA), and they didn’t seem to be offended in the least by the teacher’s comments. That is, after all, the crux of Christianity — whether or not Jesus was divine, and whether or not he died and was resurrected. Since then (my week at Ghost Ranch, not the first Good Friday), I’ve tried to become somewhat less superstitious about things that defy the natural order of things, if you know what I mean.