Outside the Beltway

What the shutdown should have been about.

There are real life consequences.

A lot of pain for . . . not much.

The octogenarian Speaker Emerita will not seek re-election.

Democrats are digging in.

A bad night for Trump.

And what it means for 2024 and beyond.

The standoff is in its 35th day.

The former Defense Secretary and Vice President is gone at 84.

He’s making a major admission.

The Trumpian Twilight Zone.

It turns out that mandatory spending is, well, mandatory.

The light at the end of the tunnel is a train.

How party change actually works in the US. Plus more on messaging and organzing.

Lies about past White House upgrades. It all start with Jesse Waters, but also heads to the op/ed pages of the NYT and WaPo.

A commercial has hurt the CINC’s fee-fees.

Millions turned out in support of basic ideals.

All 20 living hostages have been released and the bodies of others are slowly being returned.

The health agency has been gutted under RFK Jr.’s reign.

Congress, Schmongress.

A dramatic escalation of the standoff.

A pause in fighting, release of hostages, and then . . . ?

She was not amused by the administration’s workaround.

A No masquerading as a Yes to Trump’s peace deal.

Passing a budget the President can ignore creates a dilemma.

A long and unusual speech has implications for civil-military relations.

Here we go again.

SCOTUS continues to favor the executive over the legislature.

Colombia’s President said the wrong thing and had his visa revoked.

Serious abuses of power alongside an almost cartoonish set of behaviors.

A massive memorial service showed two divergent paths forward.

Reality is easier to ignore if you just pretend it isn’t there.

Ramping up the H-1B fees is not a good idea.

An attempt to connect higher education and political violence.

“He that spits against the Wind, spits in his own Face.”

A little bit more than the law would allow.

Can Democrats do anything?

The Shadow Docket strikes again.

Trump’s lack of focus may spare us the worst outcomes in this one instance.

A meme that is as muddled and authoritarian as the President who posted it

E-I-E-I-O

A historically inaccurate bit of symbolic silliness.

The former White House physican (and current Congressman)’s demotion for misconduct has been reversed.

Stephen Miller and Fox News.

Former VPs get only six months of protection?!

Wildly unpopular policies in hyperpolarized times.

Following the Dear Leader.