Outside the Beltway

I find it hard to take.

(While murdering people without due process because of [checks notes] drugs.)

Mamdani visits the WH; MTG resigns.

Michelle Obama thinks so.

Newly-Sworn-in-Rep. Grijalva provides the final signature.

Some questions to consider as you evaluate congressional leadership.

Why blaming “the Democrats” or even “leadership” ignores a basic fact of American politics.

There are real life consequences.

The octogenarian Speaker Emerita will not seek re-election.

A bad night for Trump.

Although it is still on life support.

And what it means for 2024 and beyond.

The standoff is in its 35th day.

Lee Drutman does the math.

Grumpy old man grumps about democracy.

We need to be focused on the system, not fantasies about messages and organization.

Upcoming milestones that could force a deal.

Lack of understanding and poor institutional design=bad political outcomes.

Thoughts and photos from downtown Montgomery, AL.

SCOTUS appears ready to supercharge gerrymandering.

This time: North Carolina

And why I think future presidents will use the powers that Trump has demonstrated exist.

A four-pronged test.

The reality is, I can’t say no.

Democratic leadership still keeps playing normal politics in times that are anything but.

Netanyahu will take it.

What democratic backsliding looks like.

Our current round of speech repression may prove worse than McCarthyism.

Cancel culture on steroids.

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

Town hall meetings are a relic of a different age.

Since I was thinking about 2016

The disconnect between perception and reality about elections.

None of this is good for the quality of our democracy (not that it was great to begin with).

And threatening states.

Elections, the states, and the presidency edition.

Authoritarianism is popular.

Thinking about the evolution (or is it devolution) of the GOP since the 1990s.

Are Red and Blue states even part of the same country anymore?

Politicizing scientific inquiry is a bad idea.

Colbert asks Harris a question about leadership.

Here we go again.

Tit-for-tat is maybe good power politics, but is any of this good for democracy?

Trump asks Texas to further gerrymander the state.

Trump is not popular.

A long exposé misses the mark.

An unserious idea from an unserious man.

They’re talking a big game now, but they’ll likely bend a knee. Again.

Of course you realize this means war.