Outside the Beltway

Given a choice between Robert Mueller and Donald Trump, most Americans are siding with Mueller. Unless they’re Republicans that is.

Hang on, the ride on the Trump Train is about to get a lot bumpier.

Without Congressional authorization, any attack on Syria would be illegal, but don’t expect Congress to do anything about it.

Once again, President Trump’s foreign policy tweeting is causing problems.

President Trump took to Twitter this morning and decided poke a stick in the eye of the Russian bear.

The United States has several options in Syria. None of them are good and one of them would be disastrous.

A response to one of the most deadly chemical attacks in the Syrian civil war has come, probably from Israel. What’s next?

Just about a year after President Trump attacked Syria over the use of chemical weapons, the Assad regime has again used chemical weapons. There’s not much we can do about, nor should we.

President Trump’s call for National Guard troops isn’t going over well even with Republican Governors.

The FBI committed gross malfeasance in building a case against the widow of Omar Mateen. She nonetheless bears significant blame for 53 deaths.

Leland Bohannon objects to same-sex marriage on religious grounds. What rights should he have to act on that belief?

President Trump is talking about pulling American troops out of Syria, but his own White House is contradicting him.

President Trump wants to send the military to the Mexican border. This is both unnecessary and a bad idea.

President Trump seems intent on walking away from the nuclear deal with Iran. If he does, he’ll be handing a gift to Iran and harming American national interests significantly.

He cooperated with the FBI. He was arrested by ICE.

Under the proposal certain visa-seekers (such as China and India) would have to have their social media presence scrutinized.

After initially praising the completion of a trade deal with South Korea, President Trump is now suggesting he may withhold final approval contingent on progress on talks with North Korea. This makes no sense whatsoever.

As a general rule, Presidents are entitled to have a Cabinet and advisers he is comfortable with, but a Cabinet full of “yes men” is not ideal with any President, and certainly not with this one.

Within hours after being fired as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, David Shulkin was fighting back.

As expected, Russia has retaliated for the retaliation against it in connection with the attempted murder of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom.

Another significant development on the Korean Peninsula.

Descriptions of Robby Jackson as “Trump’s personal physician” mischaracterize his qualifications for the job.

Much of Atlanta city government has been forced to rely on pen and paper this week thanks to a Ransomware attack.

After several days of speculation, it was confirmed that the leaders of North Korea and China had met in Beijing. This was meant as much for external consumption as it was the relationship between the two nations.

In selecting John Bolton as his National Security Adviser, Donald Trump has signaled to the world that he’s likely to take action that will only serve to make the world a more dangerous place.

Fourteen months into his presidency, he has no idea how the federal budget works.

The United States has joined Great Britain and much of Europe in retaliating against Russia for the attempted murder of a former Russian spy on British soil.

Not surprisingly, John Bolton has some links to particularly shady people on the right.

The President’s new attempt to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military is as legally defective as the original ban was.

The incoming National Security Advisor reportedly wants to purge those who aren’t sycophants.

The President issued an incredibly confusing order that contradicts the advice of his generals and is probably illegal.

From Europe to the Middle East, to Asia, America’s allies are concerned about what the selection of John Bolton as National Security Adviser means going forward. They should be, and so should every American.

Is Google acting as a good citizen here? Or abusing its market dominance?

Top White House staffers were preparing to fire several troublesome figures at once when the President suddenly upended the plan.

Uh oh.

Republicans on Capitol Hill worried about all the leaking coming from the Trump White House would be wise to actually do the oversight the Constitution compels them to do.

A new report confirms that the White House has indeed required staffers to sign non-disclosure agreements that are clearly not enforceable.

President Trump continues to obsequiously praise Russian President Vladimir Putin

The network’s longtime “strategic analyst” is “ashamed” of his association because they’ve become a “propaganda machine.”

The Nigerian terrorist group has released an unknown number of the 110 girls kidnapped from a boarding school last month.

A package exploded in San Antonio overnight. It was believed bound for Austin. It would be the fifth in a spree of bombings in the city this month.

The head of the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation admitted yesterday that the committee was never focused on any potential evidence of collusion.

Local and federal authorities are investigating a spree of explosions terrorizing Austin, Texas.

Not unexpectedly, Russia has retaliated for Great Britain’s retaliation for Russia’s apparent assassination attempt on British history.

The FBI’s former deputy director was shamefully fired late Friday night, after which President Trump gloated on Twitter.

H.R. McMaster appears to be on the way out as National Security Adviser. The important question is, who replaces him?

ProPublica has retracted an explosive but erroneous report about the nominee to be the next CIA Director.

The selection of Mike Pompeo as the next Secretary of State makes it more likely that President Trump will take the foolish and dangerous step of withdrawing the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran.

The nominations of Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel could be in trouble in the Senate.

By all accounts, Gina Haspel is exceedingly well qualified to be the next C.I.A. Director, but she has a troubling past that the Senate will need to at least force her to answer questions about.