Outside the Beltway

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

The NATO Summit is going about as well as can be expected.

On the eve of the NATO Summit, President Trump continues to engage in tactics that seem to serve no purpose other than to undermine America’s most important and successful alliance.

America promised immigrants who volunteered to serve in our military a fast track to citizenship. Now, we’re throwing them out.

Donald Trump had to be talked down from considering military intervention in Venezuela.

The National Debt has passed $21,000,000,000,000 for the first time in history just as the nation begins its return to the era of trillion dollar budget deficits.

Recent polling finds that Americans aren’t feeling quite so patriotic right now. It’s understandable, but we shouldn’t give up hope.

Donald Trump continues to do something that Russian and Soviet leaders likely only thought possible in their wildest dreams, drive a wedge between the United States and its NATO allies.

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

In a ruling that largely relies on the authority granted by Congress to the President to regulate immigration on national security grounds, the Supreme Court has upheld the final version of the Administration’s travel ban.

In a 5-4 party-line vote, the High Court declared that the Constitution and Federal Law give the President broad authority over immigration.

Turkey’s authoritarian leader is going to be around for a long time.

The Vietnam memorial helped heal a gaping wound. What purpose will this one serve?

A towering figure gone much too soon.

Seemingly out of nowhere yesterday, the Commander-in-Chief ordered the Pentagon to create a fifth service.

With the start of the Singapore Summit just hours away, it’s not at all clear what the respective parties can possibly agree to other than what amounts to a photo opportunity.

Political columnist and commentator Charles Krauthammer has weeks to live.

Echoing the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration is arguing that it did not need Congressional authorization to attack Syria earlier this year.

The Republican Governor of Missouri is resigning amid growing accusations related to an extramarital affair, blackmail, and sexual assault.

South Korea’s President is saying that Kim Jong Un has renewed his supposed commitment to ‘denuclearization,’ but it isn’t at all clear what that means.

Conservatives claim to support freedom of speech and freedom of expression, but they’ve utterly failed that test when it comes to their reaction to players who peacefully and respectfully kneel during the National Anthem.

Seemingly out of the blue, the June 12th summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been canceled by the United States.

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.

Not surprisingly, the North Koreans are pushing back against American efforts to force them into a corner on denuclearization.

It was never going to be as easy as the administration thought.

The Leader of the Free World is, sadly, enabling atrocities.

61 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of a man who left office a failed president.

Does the administration know what it is doing?

Another data point demonstrating that a distinguished military career doesn’t preclude being an awful human being or a crackpot.

The date and location of the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un has been set, but there’s as much chance of failure as their is hope for success.

Israeli Prime Minister gave a speech yesterday designed to undermine the nuclear deal with Iran. The evidence was unconvincing, but the speech was really only aimed at an audience of one.

The United States is apparently looking to Libya as a guide for upcoming talks with North Korea. The DPRK most likely sees the fate of that nation and its leader as a warning.

Is everyone critical of President Trump by definition on the Left?

President Trump may be looking to push Chief of Staff John Kelly aside by giving him a next to impossible job.

The meeting between Kim Jong-Un and Moon Jae-In was historic, but many questions and caveats remain.

French President Emmanuel Macron predicts, correctly, that President Trump will pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran for the worst possible reasons. This will be a disaster for America’s national interests.

For better or worse, Mike Pompeo will be confirmed as the 70th Secretary of State by the end of this week.

An essay from earlier in the year by Jacob T. Levy underscores some of the points I recently tried to make about democratic norms in the current era.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Tammy Duckworth recently became the first sitting Senator to give birth. Thanks to a rule change, she’ll be allowed to bring her baby on the floor of the Senate if she needs to.

Barbara Bush, only the second woman in history to be the wife and mother of a U.S. President, has died at the age of 92.

The next time you sign a credit card receipt could be the last.

The United States can’t do any good in Syria, but we can do a lot of bad.

Out of the blue, President Trump plans to pardon Dick Cheney’s former Chief of Staff, but the move seems to have more to do with James Comey than it does Scooter Libby.

Without Congressional authorization, any attack on Syria would be illegal, but don’t expect Congress to do anything about it.

Once again, President Trump’s foreign policy tweeting is causing problems.

President Trump took to Twitter this morning and decided poke a stick in the eye of the Russian bear.

The United States has several options in Syria. None of them are good and one of them would be disastrous.

The FBI committed gross malfeasance in building a case against the widow of Omar Mateen. She nonetheless bears significant blame for 53 deaths.

President Trump is talking about pulling American troops out of Syria, but his own White House is contradicting him.