ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- As a Mexican American, my loyalties get questioned. Some folks offer a hypothetical. If war breaks out between Mexico and the United States, they ask, which side would I be on?

That's a no-brainer. My family and I owe everything to the country that took in my grandfather as a legal immigrant 100 years ago. And we owe nothing to ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

For the purpose of this discussion -- which will be guided not by nativist outrage but by common sense --"it" shall be defined as the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Adopted in 1868, the amendment has been in good working order ever since.

In Section 1, it declares: "All persons born or ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- The liberal media will spend the next four years criticizing everything that President-elect Donald Trump says and does.

That's not fair. But, very often, the criticism will be justified.

Trump and his underachieving cabinet of misfit toys are not about to let the fact that they don't understand certain topics -- national ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Even as a Mexican American who supports immigrants and opposes President-elect Donald Trump, I'm eager to see the incoming administration deliver on mass deportations.

During a recent appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Trump was asked by host Kristen Welker if he planned, over the next four years, to deport everyone who is in ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- More evidence has just rolled in proving once again that the American people and the two major political parties that claim to represent them really do live on completely different planets.

At a time of deep political acrimony, when American voters have divided themselves into teams -- one blue, one red -- it is increasingly ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- What a strange time.

Americans are embroiled in a heated national conversation about whether the phrase "rule of law" actually means anything as long as there are presidential pardons. And the major political parties -- both of which have corrupted the pardon process for their benefit -- are pretending their hands are clean and ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Since he entered politics, President-elect Donald Trump has been called lots of names. But there is one label that doesn't quite fit, and it never has. Looking at his Cabinet picks and his plans for a second term, you can't very well call him a Republican.

To compare his Cabinet selections to a clown show would be an insult to ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- I knew this moment would come. But somehow, I thought it would feel bigger. And happier.

As it is, I just feel sad. I'm like a disillusioned Michael Corleone tightly hugging his brother Fredo in "The Godfather."

Only, for me, it's an ambitious but rudderless 53-year-old Cuban American senator from Florida who has disappointed me...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- It seems just about every American has an opinion about mass deportations. It's too bad most of those views are so uninformed.

I've been writing about immigration for 35 years, and I still haven't figured it out.

My take is complicated by the branches on my family tree.

I don't have a single undocumented immigrant in my lineage...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Had she won, Vice President Kamala Harris would have broken two barriers at once -- becoming the first woman and the first Indian American to be elected president.

And so, naturally, when the Democrat was defeated, Republicans were quick to deliver last rites to what they call "identity politics."

Not so fast. This election was ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Latinos are the pinata of the 2024 presidential election. So what else is new?

I didn't know who was going to win the 2024 presidential election, which seemed too close to call. But I knew two things for sure: Win or lose, Donald Trump was going get at least 40% of the Latino vote. And Latinos were going to get pummeled, ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Oye, Democratic Party, Latinos sent you a message. Did you get it?

Former, and now also future, President Donald Trump has now set the high-water mark when it comes to Latino support for a Republican presidential candidate.

First, some context. The magic number is "40" -- as in 40%. That's the sacred threshold into the Hall of ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- You know how they say that teachers make the worst students?

A similar contradiction is at work with newspaper editorial boards.

I'm quite familiar with the species. Over the course of a decade, I worked as an editorial writer and columnist for newspapers in two states -- one blue, one red. In all, I wrote more than 1500 ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Gracias, court jester. You may have done the country a huge favor by helping defeat former President Donald Trump.

Who could have known that the October surprise of the 2024 election would be a racist joke about Puerto Rico told by a comic that I would guess few Americans have ever heard of?

As you already know if you saw a clip...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- As a journalist, I've been telling the story of the Latino vote for 30 years. As a citizen, I'm part of that story.

I'm Exhibit A: I'm Latino, and I've been a voter for nearly 40 years. I'm a cafeteria voter who refuses to vote a "straight ticket," often voting for Democrats and Republicans on the same ballot. I vote the person, ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- The media can't get it right. The scary part is that, much of the time, we don't even understand what we're doing wrong.

It would be so beneficial to my friends and colleagues in radio, television and newspapers if we could -- for just one month -- see ourselves and our profession the way most of the public sees us.

It's not a ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- A "man bites dog" story always gets the media's attention. When the unexpected happens, good journalists will be curious about why it happened and wonder what happens next.

That's why many of my colleagues in the Fourth Estate can't look away from a train wreck that a lot of Democrats would like to ignore: Kamala Harris' trouble ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Whether you like him or not, you have to admit that JD Vance is an interesting guy.

For what it's worth, and I suspect it's not worth much to my MAGA friends, I'm in the "or not" camp. I'm not a fan.

I think the Ohio senator, and 2024 GOP vice presidential nominee, is smug, condescending and not nearly as smart as he likes to ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- I'm Team Tony Dokoupil. And anyone in my profession who cannot say the same thing has forfeited the right to call themselves "journalists."

In 35 years on the job -- working at newspapers, but also on television and radio -- you pick up a few things.

Like the fact that it's the duty of those of us in the Fourth Estate to get in ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- My 15-year-old daughter is smarter than her old man. Everyone in the family knows this. So it came as no surprise that, recently, as she tried to pin me down, she wound up figuring me out.

She zeroed in on what I was thinking, and feeling, about this presidential election -- and the mediocre choices on the ballot -- and pointed ...Read more