Outside the Beltway

There are real life consequences.

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

Grumpy old man grumps about democracy.

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

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

As well as the politics that have followed.

When empathy goes too far.

On politics, guns, and people killing people

Can Democrats do anything?

And other tales of subverting knowledge and expertise on the altar of a preferred mythic narrative.

There are no satisfying answers.

Preaching to the choir only works if the choir is in the audience.

Thoughts on the election and on the electoral rules used.

More from the annals of unrealty.

Budgets are choices and choices reveal values.

Trump’s weird rhetoric on trade.

There may be no exit.

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Elite American universities are surrending at an astonishing pace.

Just a little comparison of 2017, 2021, and 2025 plus more thoughts on tariffs.

Deciphering the meaning of a vague slogan.

America is getting screwed by playing by the rules it created.

The 47th President is flooding the zone.

Some quotes to ponder.

Appointing unqualified loyalists is only the start.

There’s a glaring gap in my information consumption.

One thread that runs through most explanations for Tuesday’s result.

A modest disturbance in the force.

They won’t tell you who’s going to be President. They’re still useful.

Going solo has its disadvantages.

From Juiceboxer to arguably the most important media figure on the left.

Ezra Klein on Manliness, Cat Ladies, Fertility Panic and the 2024 Election.

Too many! Too few!

It’s logical, maybe even inevitable. But is it a good idea?

Efforts to oust him from the race have picked up steam.

A clash of possibilities.

Why public attitudes are lagging real world performane.

“The Rise of ‘Middle-Finger Politics’”

Ezra Klein makes a compelling case.

A fascinating conversation between two queer journalists.

What if one of the candidates is Hitler?

When the intellectually correct answer isn’t politically possible.

A poll on Israeli support.

When the obvious is controversial.

The best statement on the complexity of the Israel-Hamas conflict that I have heard/read.

Our surroundings quite literally change how we see the world.

Affluence comes with a cost.

Ezra Klein has some thought on the Republican Party.