Outside the Beltway

An attempt at defining the conversation.

Top positions in the State Department are vacant, and there’s only one person to blame for that.

After eight months in office, the pressures on Chief of Staff John Kelly continue to mount under a President who cannot be controlled and whose behavior will not change.

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.

While the nature of Rex Tillerson’s firing as Secretary of State was shocking in its abruptness, taken in context with the rocky nature of his tenure it was hardly surprising.

Rex Tillerson was an awful Secretary of State who simply had to go, It’s quite possible his successor will be an even greater disaster.

Next up: Pompeo

The statute of limitations has expired. But he should never have been asked the question to begin with.

National Security Adviser H.L. McMaster is the latest person rumored to be considering moving on from the Trump Administration.

President Trump’s tweets, other public statements, and actions are causing world leaders to doubt the reliability of the United States on the world stage.

Despite what his own intelligence chiefs are saying, President Trump still does not believe that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Administration officials are admitting that it’s likely that Russia will try to interfere in the midterm elections just as it did in 2016, but they don’t seem inclined to do anything about it.

Will Joe Arpaio cause the GOP to lose an otherwise winnable Senate race?

Once again, President Trump is going soft on Russia. Why? I’ll leave that up to the reader to decide.

Donald Trump is wildly unpopular in the United Kingdom, and that’s apparently causing him to eschew visiting the United States’s most important ally.

Donald Trump spends an inordinate amount of time watching television and regurgitating what he sees on Twitter. That’s not healthy.

It appears that Rex Tillerson’s days at the State Department may be numbered, but his proposed replacement leaves a lot to be desired.

More indications that Donald Trump Jr. was heavily involved in Trump campaign efforts to coordinate with foreign contacts regarding damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

On North Korea, there are two options, deterrence and war. And only one of those options makes sense.

Another day, another Trump lie.

America’s longest war seems likely to soon turn into America’s never-ending war.

The Harvard Kennedy School pulled its Visiting Fellowship from the controversial figure after predictable outcry.

At a time when our alliance is more important than ever, President Trump is responding by attacking our ally.

A new report indicates that Trump campaign officials were seeking contact with Russian officials earlier than we thought.

Reports are indicating that President Trump may cancel or delay his trip to the United Kingdom due to planned protests.

Former C.I.A. Director John Brennan testified before a House Committee today, and what he had to say was not good news for the Trump Administration.

Roger Moore, who played James Bond for a longer period and in more films than any other actor to date, has died at the age of 89.

Yet another report that the President of the United States sought to undermine an ongoing F.B.I. investigation.

The Russia investigation seems to be getting closer to the Oval Office.

Republicans held on to Mike Pompeo’s seat in the House, but the outcome was closer than many expected.

Two big admissions from the Director of the F.B.I. today are likely to lead to real political headaches for the Trump Administration.

A majority of Americans support appointment of an Independent Counsel to investigate Russian influence in the 2016 election and the Trump’s campaign’s ties to Russia, but we should be careful before taking this step.

The 117 CIA officers who have died in our service should not be used to score cheap political points.

The first full day of Donald Trump’s Presidency consisted largely of obsessions with irrelevant facts and outright lies.

What is the deal with the love-fest for Julian Assange?

Delegating the morning briefing to advisors isn’t actually that unusual.

The head of the biggest energy company in the world is reportedly Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of State.

New information raises serious questions about the integrity of the 2016 elections, and about Donald Trump and his supporters.

One of the Cold War era’s last dictators has finally died.

For Donald Trump, it appears that ignorance is bliss.

More evidence that Trump would be a terrible president.

House Republicans are vowing to continue their investigations even if Hillary Clinton wins the White House.

Evan McMullin’s quixotic campaign for President continues.

The latest desperation bid from anti-Trump Republicans is guaranteed to make a GOP civil war more likely.