Outside the Beltway

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she’d like to stay on the Court at least until she turns 90, but it’s unlikely she’ll go anywhere voluntarily as long as Donald Trump is President.

President Trump is suggesting he may force a government shutdown over his immigration policies just a month before the midterm elections.

Senate Democrats appear to be recognizing that there’s basically nothing they can do to stop the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

A Federal Judge in Maryland ruled last week that a lawsuit against the President based on a rather obscure provision of the Constitution could go forward.

The natural intuition of the aluminum tariff is that it would help Alcoa, the largest manufacturer of aluminum in the U.S. But apparently these things are a bit more complicated that one’s intuition would indicate.

The Secretary of State of West Virginia has barred Don Blankenship, who came in third place in the GOP Primary, from mounting a third-party bid on the November ballot.

Senator Corker provided a pretty damning run-down last week.

Mid-terms are coming.

Trade deals take more than an afternoon chat.

A new poll suggests that Governor Scott Walker could be in trouble as he seeks a third term as Governor of Wisconsin, but he’s been counted out before only bounce back and confound the doubters.

One of the biggest names in Hollywood stands accused of sexual misconduct by a number of women in yet another ground-breaking report by Ronan Farrow.

I have heard Trump supporters offer the following rationale for Trump’s tarris, “It is a bargaining strategy.” Then they sit back and smirk, and tell me, “Trump really wants zero tariffs, but to get these other countries to come to the table he has to get their attention. And once he has softened them up, they’ll be willing to reduce their tariffs.”

Trump’s trade war will claw back 25% of the growth in GDP, slightly more than 20% of the wage growth and more than wipe out all the jobs his tax cuts would provide.

Going my way?

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly looking at the President’s Twitter feed as part of his ongoing investigation.

The economy grew at an exceptionally strong pace according to the first estimate of GDP growth, but several caveats remain.

Former Trump lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen is reportedly ready to tell investigators that the President is lying about his knowledge regarding the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer.

President Trump and the President of the European Commission announced an agreement late yesterday on trade issues, but it’s long on promises and short on results.

New polling shows that the ground looks fertile for Democrats in the fall.

A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down part of a Hawaii law barring open carry of weapons, but this win for gun rights advocates may turn out to be short-lived.

Deficits continue to rise.

Contrary to last week’s reports, we won’t be seeing a second summit with Vladimir Putin in the near future.

A new recording of a conversation between Donald Trump and his one-time attorney/”fixer” Michael Cohen appears to put the President in a more difficult position than he has already been in.

Notwithstanding his dismissive public rhetoric about the former Vice-President, Donald Trump apparently sees Joe Biden as his biggest potential threat in 2020.

Don Blankenship, who came in third in the Republican Primary in West Virginia earlier this year, is moving forward with plans to run as a third-party candidate in the General Election.

A fourth poll in less than a month shows that most Americans support keeping the rights protected in Roe v. Wade alive.

The Trump’s Administration’s rhetoric and actions have given the Iranians no reason to trust the United States going forward.

If President Trump’s trade war continues, it could have a serious impact on the political fortunes of President Trump and his party.

Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, who challenged Nancy Pelosi for a leadership spot in 2016, is telling supporters he’s running for President in 2020.

Based on what can only be described as pure vindictiveness, the President is apparently planning on revoking security clearances of former officials who have been outspoken against the Administration and its policies.

The President is apparently getting ready to take yet another ill-advised step in his ill-advised, economically illiterate trade war.

Most Americans disapprove of the President’s handling of our relationship with Russia, and foreign policy more generally, in the wake of the Helsinki Summit. That’s not having much of an impact on his overall job approval, though.

To the surprise of nobody other than, apparently, the President of the United States, the North Koreans are dragging their feet after getting what they wanted out of the Photo Op Summit in Singapore.

The President was up late last night sending an incredibly over-the-top tweet directed at Iran.

Jon Huntsman, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, is rejecting calls that he should resign in the wake of what everyone seems to agree was a disastrous summit meeting with Vladimir Putin.

In trying to assess the Helsinki press conference, a blast from the past deserves a second look.

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is running for a third term under a dark ethical cloud. That probably won’t matter.

Donald Trump wants a flashier looking Air Force One. What could possibly go wrong?

For example, Turkey’s Erdogan.

At a minimum, Trump is betraying his oath of office. That is one hell of a minimum.

New York and several other states have filed an incredibly dubious lawsuit against the Republican’s new tax law.

Republicans will hold their 2020 National Convention in the same city that hosted the Democrats back in 2012.

Donald Trump’s military parade will cost roughly the same as military exercises in South Korea he has previously called “tremendously expensive.”

The 95-year-old elder statesman is slowly shedding his public reticence at the risk of the access on which he has built his fortune.

Donald Trump’s longtime attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen apparently recorded a conversation where the two men discussed paying off a Playboy model who claims she had an affair with him.

In the wake of a grievance filed by the union representing players, the N.F.L. has suspended the new National Anthem policy it announced earlier this year. This guarantees even more cynical political exploitation by the President.

The Trump Administration is inviting Vladimir Putin to Washington, D.C. for a second summit in the fall. What could possibly go wrong?

We still don’t know what President Trump and Vladimir Putin talked about or agreed to during their two-hour meeting on Monday.

Three new polls show that Republicans basically agree with the leader of their party when it comes to the issue of Russian interference in American elections.