Outside the Beltway

Our present-day politics reminds us that the “unfinished work” of democracy is never fully complete.  

Tucker, Fuentes, and Heritage. Oh My!

Data? How quaint.

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?

A natural evolution in American foreign policy, albeit a concerning one.

It certainly isn’t how the US Constitution functions.

A different take on our political realignment.

Some direct evidence of the effects.

A chilling feature from the Wall Street Journal.

Ignorance, it turns out, isn’t bliss.

It’s the only one that puts all the piece together.

Tommy Tuberville’s stunt is now impacting the highest levels of the military.

Beyond who her spouse is, the texts to Meadows reveal a deeply concerning situation.

It would appear to be the case.

Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion. Alas.

When procedures lead to more rejected ballots and fewer voters, what else is there to call it?

What’s smaller than minuscule?

And what GOP opposition says about the party.

The politics of bait-and-switch.

A CPAC speaker and the return of the problem of the Heritage electoral fraud database.

Large chunks of a hackish report were lifted from previous works of Commission members.

Wherein I detail evidence of fraud and take the Heritage Foundation’s database of fraud to task.

Barr finds no fraud.

Mark Esper has been confirmed and sworn in as the next Secretary of Defense, ending a period of nearly 100 days during which the Pentagon was headed by a succession of Acting Secretaries.

The Pentagon has been headed by Acting Secretaries for an unprecedented period. Does it really matter?

Just days after being named the next Acting Secretary of Defense, the President is appointing Mark Esper to be full Secretary of Defense.

Patrick Shanahan is out as nominee to be Secretary of Defense after questions were raised during his background investigation.

Despite similar paths to the Supreme Court, it turns out the two don’t share the same style and approach.

Nein. Nein. Nein.

Only the best people, dontcha know.

A WaPo writer takes a round-about path to demonstrate the obvious.

The initial reaction to President Trump’s proposal to reopen the government is not going over well on either side of the aisle.

Doctors have declared Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cancer free but she is still expected to miss one more week of oral argument as she recovers from her surgery in December.

The Trump Administration appears to think that the Budget Deficit and National Debt aren’t a big deal because we can just grow our way out of the problem. This is highly unlikely to happen.

Donald Trump is talking about a tax cut that appears to exist only in his own mind.

The Trump Administration is preparing a policy change that will essentially define transgender Americans out of existence.

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

There’s a reason President Trump’s Supreme Court picks are “normal” in a way his national security and economic teams are not.

There are good arguments as to why progressive Senators should vote against his confirmation. Let’s stick to those.

The supposed promises made at the Singapore Summit don’t appear to be working out in the real world.

The Administration is going to unveil a plan for a major reorganization of government agencies today.

A POLITICO story pushes a plausible narrative with an example that’s almost certainly not evidence of it.

President Trump has issued another controversial pardon.

How far should judicial confirmation hearings go in asking potential Judges and Justices their opinions about issues that may come before them?

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a bombastic speech on Iran yesterday that reveals just how empty and dangerous the Trump Administration’s policy toward Iran actually is.

Dueling data on civil service compensation belie the adage that you can’t choose your own facts.

Trump’s tariff plan isn’t going over well in farm country, and that could cause problems for the GOP in November.