Michael Gerson https://www.durangoherald.com/section/michael-gerson/feed/ Stay informed with the latest breaking news, local stories, sports, business, weather, and community events from Durango, Southwest Colorado, and the Four Corners region. Fri, 10 Jul 2026 18:52:00 -0600 en-us 30 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/michael-gerson-we-have-an-american-president-who-doesnt-understand-america/ In a 2017 Oval Office conversation between Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, the president did more than boast that the firing of FBI Director James Comey had relieved “great pressure” on him. Trump also,... Mon, 07 Oct 2019 11:33:48 -0600 941849F0-16D8-0E9B-E053-0100007FF8EB https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/michael-gerson-the-impeachment-process-is-inevitable/ This is effectively what happened when the White House released the readout from Donald Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. There is now no question that Trump asked the leader of a foreign country to investigate Joe... Fri, 04 Oct 2019 05:33:07 -0600 93F03840-8C0D-0DA4-E053-0100007F4614 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/the-case-against-brett-kavanaugh-is-weakening/ What editor, looking to cut down an article containing a new allegation of collegiate penis exposure, would happen to remove the detail that the female object of said exposure has told friends she has no memory of it? Any sentient... Tue, 24 Sep 2019 05:33:26 -0600 933B35DA-44F8-683C-E053-0100007F7ED6 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/trumps-presidency-not-unfolding-its-unraveling/ With the whir of a helicopter engine in the background, Donald Trump veered from topic to topic with utter confidence, alarming ignorance, minimal coherence and relentless duplicity. President Vladimir Putin, he said, “made a living on outsmarting President Obama” –... Tue, 27 Aug 2019 05:33:15 -0600 90CB03B6-3835-0288-E053-0100007FDB1E https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/civility-doesnt-just-work-it-also-makes-us-noble/ Seated next to Neuhaus was a clean-cut, nicely dressed, well-spoken young man. Following the speech, the young man said of Falwell: “He’s a very great man, and often he’s very vulgar. I would be more hopeful about America if we... Wed, 12 Jun 2019 05:33:07 -0600 8ABFE3AA-35FF-27CF-E053-0100007F7449 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/harriet-tubman-will-always-have-the-last-laugh/ Even so, the Trump administration’s recent snubbing of Harriet Tubman in favor of extending Andrew Jackson’s run as the face on the $20 bill is particularly revealing, and especially damning. It is revealing for who is being kept on the... Tue, 04 Jun 2019 05:33:34 -0600 8A6EB96D-5191-3371-E053-0100007F9FC3 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/harriet-tubman-will-always-have-the-last-laugh-2/ Even so, the Trump administration’s recent snubbing of Harriet Tubman in favor of extending Andrew Jackson’s run as the face on the $20 bill is particularly revealing, and especially damning. It is revealing for who is being kept on the... Tue, 04 Jun 2019 05:33:15 -0600 8A343202-137E-7EC8-E053-0100007FB043 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/book-shows-how-reconstruction-was-reversed/ But in some respects, the telling of the American story does not focus enough on the horrors. American history texts dealt with the runup to the Civil War, then the war itself, then the failure of Reconstruction, before moving on... Thu, 09 May 2019 05:33:06 -0600 88632003-57E7-04F2-E053-0100007FDB53 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/the-trumpification-of-pro-life-movement-will-cost/ On the increasingly likely assumption that it is, how would institutions on the right be affected by Trump’s corrupting embrace? It won’t be pretty for the Republican Party. It has become thoroughly braided into Trump’s bigotry. In a nation where... Thu, 24 Jan 2019 10:55:15 -0700 8038E957-7F53-7B49-E053-0100007F97CA https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/the-face-of-michelangelos-david-could-guide-us/ Here a Botticelli. There a Donatello. A single room at the Uffizi that would reward a lifetime of study gets five hurried minutes before lunch. I have no intention of performing art criticism without a license (a capital offense here... Sat, 15 Dec 2018 05:33:34 -0700 7CEB349D-5C30-612E-E053-0100007FE216 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/are-we-sincere-about-second-chances-and-voting/ President George W. Bush was eventually declared the winner in the Sunshine State (and thus the election) by 537 votes out of about 6 million cast. But for 35 long days of counting and challenging and pleading, it was mainly... Fri, 16 Nov 2018 11:14:16 -0700 7ACC1F46-63C8-6076-E053-0100007FFBB8 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/dems-will-do-all-of-these-self-destructive-things/ I urged voters to support reasonable Republican candidates in the Senate, and to vote for every Democrat in House races. And the country rose up in TOTAL VINDICATION of my IDEOLOGICALLY INCOHERENT but PERFECTLY PRACTICAL suggestion for strategic voting. Judged... Fri, 09 Nov 2018 07:03:09 -0700 7A2AD95A-C370-7760-E053-0100007F7AC5 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/afghanistan-shows-security-cost-in-hostile-world/ Following the murder of nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001, al-Qaida’s gracious hosts, the Taliban, could not be allowed to remain in power. But in parts of Afghanistan, every valley is its own kingdom, ruled by tribal leaders who... Fri, 26 Oct 2018 09:03:23 -0600 7912BBC7-38FF-15E2-E053-0100007FDD62 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/we-saw-two-human-beings-flayed-and-for-what/ That now includes the U.S. Supreme Court. It is not, of course, that this process has never been political before. But it has never been more clearly a function of contending culture war narratives. Progressives saw the #MeToo movement come... Tue, 02 Oct 2018 08:03:07 -0600 773362C4-A3F9-55F1-E053-0100007FF61E https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/origin-story-a-marvelous-explanation-of-the-whole/ du1-i-syn Christian has achieved something remarkable: an engaging guide to the physics, chemistry, biology, anthropology, linguistics and sociology that constitute the story of history itself. The author practices what he calls “Big History” – gathering the Big Bang, the advent... Wed, 25 Jul 2018 00:01:26 -0600 71CD8E1F-7C40-6379-E053-0100007FE67B https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/gerson-count-on-kavanaugh-to-stand-against-bullying/ Michael Gersondu1-i-syn Kavanaugh – with whom I worked at the White House – is brilliant, meticulous, fair-minded and unfailingly decent. In a saner political climate, a nominee of this temperament, intellect and experience would be confirmed in the Senate with... Thu, 12 Jul 2018 23:22:17 -0600 70DBA933-ECB7-0255-E053-0100007F1D94 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/gerson-defending-border-cruelty-with-heresy/ Michael Gerson, The Washington Postdu1-i-syn The first claim is a lie. Without the administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy, there would be no surge in detained children at overwhelmed facilities. And President Trump has incurred further responsibility by employing confused, frightened children as... Thu, 21 Jun 2018 09:35:51 -0600 6F29A4B8-3DE9-4FBD-E053-0100007FF062 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/gerson-our-political-moral-and-religious-failure/ Gersondu1-i-syn Ryan went on to talk about Catholic social doctrine, with its emphasis on “solidarity” with the poor and weak, as “a perfect antidote to what ails our culture.” Next, in the Oval Office, according to The Washington Post, President... Wed, 30 May 2018 05:03:08 -0600 6D626D57-D453-6230-E053-0100007F84C1 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/gerson-ice-and-the-bitter-fruit-of-demunization/ The FBI refused to bend to his will. So it is comprised of “hardened Democrats” engaged in a “WITCH HUNT.” The FBI was, according to Trump, too preoccupied with the Russia investigation to prevent the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. Its... Wed, 25 Apr 2018 05:03:34 -0600 6A9CA0BC-5BB3-681E-E053-0100007F434F