Charles P. Pierce

Charles P. Pierce

Charles P. Pierce is a writer-at-large for Esquire and his work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the LA Times Magazine, the Nation, the Atlantic, Sports Illustrated and The Chicago Tribune, among others.

Articles by this author

Somebody who’s still in the race should say it as bravely as Julian Castro did. (Photo: Chip SomodevillaGetty Images) Views
Thursday, January 02, 2020
Julian Castro's Story Should Cause the Democratic Party to Reflect on How It Chooses Candidates
Julian Castro announced on Thursday that he was suspending his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. This means that there is no longer a Latino presence in the field. This means that there is no longer a Latino presence in a field that still includes two no-...
Read more
This letter has nothing to do with the law. (Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKIGetty Images) Views
Wednesday, October 09, 2019
The White House Stonewall Letter Is a MAGA Rally Draped in a Toga
I guess if you stay in this racket long enough, you get to see it all. Gaze in awe, now, at The Constitution According to Camp Runamuck. Point One: The president can't be indicted for his crimes because there is a constitutional remedy for crimes in office. Point Two: The constitutional remedy is...
Read more
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., joined by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. (Photo: Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) Views
Wednesday, October 02, 2019
Schiff Makes Clear All Trump Efforts to Obstruct House Inquiry Will Be Added to Articles of Impeachment
On Wednesday morning, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, conducted a preemptive autopsy on the presidency* of El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago. They held a press conference that laid open the prospective cadaver like a Thanksgiving turkey. In response...
Read more
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Attorney General William Barr in the Oval Office. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/White House) Views
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Trump's Ukraine Call 'Not-a-Transcript' Proves This Is 'Stupid Watergate'
Jesus H. Christ on work-release, this is what they thought they could put out there? What's next? Digging up John Stennis and having him "review" the actual transcript? (Just so we're on the same greasy page, something that is "not a verbatim transcript" is not a transcript. Thank you.) I would...
Read more
A protest group called "Hot Mess" hold up signs of Jeffrey Epstein in front of the Federal courthouse on July 8, 2019 in New York City. According to reports, Epstein will be charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors. (Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images) Views
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Nobody Will Ever Believe the Official Story of This Epstein Suicide
Absolutely nobody is going to believe any official story that comes out about this. From The New York Times : Mr. Epstein hung himself and his body was found this morning at roughly 7:30. Manhattan federal prosecutors last month charged Mr. Epstein , 66, with sex trafficking of girls as young as 14...
Read more
The president*, hard on the heels of his apartheid cosplay on the electric Twitter machine, announced a unilateral change in the country's asylum system. (Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM/Getty Images) Views
Monday, July 15, 2019
The President* Is Now Arguing He's the Real Victim of His Own Bigotry
And another week in hell begins. The president* is demanding an apology from the members of Congress at whom he directed his racist slanders. He also has a new way to save us all from the "invasion" —one that is going to get him sued. And Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross woke up to find himself at...
Read more
This whole fandango has been about scaring poor and desperate people. (Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/cc) Views
Friday, July 12, 2019
The Fear, Like the Cruelty, Is the Point
El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago, it appears, has decided that there isn't any more fun to have when you've pulled the wings off the last bug. At least for the moment, via The Hill : President Trump on Thursday is expected to issue an executive order directing the Commerce Department to collect...
Read more
Occasionally, he hit something of substance and, more often, he just lit up the sky for a second and was gone. (Photo: Wally Mcnamee/Getty Images) Views
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Ross Perot Was a Big, Loud, Transformational Crank
The biggest contribution to American politics made by H. Ross Perot was that he took the messianic shine off the wonders of "free trade" as it was being sold by All The Right People in the 1990s, including a Democratic President. He opened a space for politicians to examine critically NAFTA and...
Read more
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks from the State Department briefing room on June 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. Pompeo said, "It is the assessment of the U.S. government that Iran is responsible for today's attacks in the Gulf of Oman. These attacks are a threat to international peace and security, a blatant assault on the freedom of navigation, and an unacceptable escalation of tension by Iran." (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Views
Thursday, June 13, 2019
I Don't Trust This Administration* With a Lemon Zester, Let Alone a War With Iran
I am not buying this in the least. I remember the Iraq lies. I know this administration is truthless from top to bottom and all the way out both sides. I don't trust the Saudi government as far as I can throw a bone saw. And this president* feels very much like he's being run to ground at the...
Read more
What is being attempted here is the de facto redefinition of the powers of the Legislative Branch by members of the Executive. (Photo: CHIP SOMODEVILLA/Getty Images) Views
Friday, May 24, 2019
This Is Pure Authoritarian Audacity
Right now, every couple of hours, the United States starts lurching toward some sort of military confrontation with Iran, and then it lurches back. It's what The Guns of August would have read like if it had been written by Tom Robbins. It makes the high diplomacy portrayed in Duck Soup look like...
Read more

Pages