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Wesley Pruden

Wesley Pruden

wpruden@washingtontimes.com

Wesley Pruden would have wanted to spend his final hours at his keyboard, deftly deflating the pompous, entitled and arrogant of the political establishment, and he came awfully close. The venerable Washington Times editor, columnist and journalism institution was found dead July 17, 2019, at his home, after putting in a full day at the newsroom on New York Avenue in Northeast D.C., where he had worked since 1982, four months after the newspaper's founding. He was 83.
His remarkable career began 67 years ago as a teenage copy boy in Arkansas, making him among the few old-school newsmen whose sharp political acumen, elegant writing style, and keen sense of the absurd allowed him to remain as relevant in the digital age as he was in the days when the rumpled shirts of reporters were splattered with ink.
To read his obituary, please CLICK HERE

Articles by Wesley Pruden

Barry Goldwater campaigning in 1964     Associated Press photo

Donald Trump mental illness diagnosed by untrained public

Witch doctors are not necessarily more skilled than psychiatrists and psychologists, but they're sometimes harder on the pocketbook. A group of "mental-health professionals" have offered to resolve the Donald Trump "problem" for free. In the learned and precise professional language of their trade, they think he's "nuts."

October 9, 2017
President Donald Trump listens to Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo during a meeting with first responders at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017, in Las Vegas. Associated Press photo

Donald Trump is a presidential president

Donald Trump promised in his barnstorming campaign for president, with bombast and bravado, that once elected he would tone everything down and be "presidential." He was elected and we learned that, candidate or president, the Donald doesn't do presidential.

October 5, 2017
Members of the Oakland Raiders take a knee while others stand during the national anthem. (Associated Press)

NFL players taking a knee distracts from North Korea

There's a lunatic in Asia credibly threatening the world with a hydrogen bomb. Congress can't pull itself together to do anything. But enough of that. We're all obsessed now with what a few tubby athletes think about the flag, the national anthem and the country others have shed blood and lives to defend and protect.

September 25, 2017
George McGovern. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Republican and Democratic parties both are finished

We've heard the words and music of this song before. The hoariest cliche in American politics, presented as accomplished fact by every wise head in academe and media after every wipe-out election, is that the losing party is finished. Kaput. Destroyed. Done for. Dead, as in the graveyard.

September 21, 2017
Rep. Nancy Pelosi. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Donald Trump deal with Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer a difficult dance

Summer's almost gone, but romance is still in the air over Pennsylvania Avenue. Nancy Pelosi's dancing the night away with the devil at the White House, and Chuck Schumer, the chaperone, is making himself right at home on Donald Trump's sofa. That's Mitch McConnell sitting off to the side by himself, trying to figure out whether to look chagrined or cheery. Or at least not as superfluous as he feels.

September 14, 2017
Sen. Chuck Schumer. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Democrats’ aim at midterms must come with concessions

Scenting blood, some of the Democrats dreaming of success in the midterm congressional elections are beginning to talk sense. The season of insult and abuse of the president is winding to a close, not because of regrets but the party grown-ups have concluded that making asses of themselves doesn't work.

September 7, 2017

When nothing deters the clever brutal tyrant

If words were bullets, the crazy fat kid in Pyongyang would have been dead a long time ago, with his ample carcass on display now within a shrine of marble, plaster and tears. But under that goofy haircut there's a brain that is not so crazy at all.

September 4, 2017
In this Dec. 18, 2013, file photo, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks at a news conference at the sheriff's headquarters in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Sheriff Joe Arpaio finds a little justice

A president's pardoning power is absolute, as every judge knows, and just as absolute is the certainty that every pardon will be met by a hail of hosannas and a howl of complaint and grievance from someone.

August 28, 2017
P.T. Barnum was an entrepreneur, museum owner, politician, journalist, impressario and creator of his circus "The Greatest Show on Earth" in 1871. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will end "The Greatest Show on Earth" in May 2017, following a 146-year run of performances. Kenneth Feld, the chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus, told The Associated Press when the company removed the elephants from the shows in May of 2016, ticket sales declined more dramatically than expected. (AP Photo, File)

Fake news bedevils once proud newspapers

The daily newspaper was not so long ago the king of the mountain, only to become in many places a pale, wrinkled princeling with tired blood, run over by not-so-great entertainers and pipsqueak purveyors of the shallow and the silly -- and sometimes the fake -- on the internet. As the president might say, "sad."

August 24, 2017
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gives a speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, May 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) ** FILE **

Donald Trump gets blamed for everything

We owe Chicken Little an apology. Maybe the sky really is falling. Evidence is everywhere. Cries and whimpers suddenly grow deafening as the landscape is dusted with snowflakes, who imagine they're unique and have in common with other snowflakes only an extremely low melting point.

August 21, 2017
Sen. Elizabeth Warren. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Confederate statues gives the Democrats another lost cause

Union scouts have already discovered Robert E. Lee at the gates of the city, lining up the gallant Pelham's artillery to fire the opening round, and Stonewall Jackson and Jeb Stuart are expected to arrive on a night train from the Shenandoah Valley.

August 17, 2017
Benjamin Franklin. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Media blames Charlottesville riot on Trump

The media mob wasted no time in descending on Charlottesville, and the first order of business was to exploit the bigotry, tragedy and evil to make it the work of the Republicans, conservatives, and above all, Donald Trump.

August 14, 2017
Former Vice President Al Gore. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Al Gore climate documentary turns out to be overblown

Life is tough, as the man said, and three out of three people die. It's apparently a lot worse than we thought. The world is coming apart at the seams, just like the naysayers said it would. Times have got so tough that you can't even trust fake news.

August 7, 2017
Special counsel Robert Mueller (Associated Press) **FILE**

Robert Mueller investigation still comes up empty

There's new news that Robert Mueller has expanded his investigation again into Whatever, and has empaneled a grand jury to indict someone once he and his team of expensive lawyers can find someone to indict.

August 3, 2017