Outside the Beltway

The standoff is in its 35th day.

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

A weird, unnecessary intervention.

Things are not operating as Madison intended.

She’s not likely to ride off into the sunset at 60.

As memory of the Cold War fades, so does support for American primacy.

Capitol Hill Republicans are turning the concept on its head.

Are plurality winners less legitimate than popular vote losers?

The most likely outcome is not a happy one.

The legendary AP politics reporter is gone at 87.

We’re likely to see more instances like the Capitol Riot and the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings.

Democrats and Independents are losing their enthusiasm. But some perspective is needed.

Biden’s America is a place and idea in which the trappings of empire or glory are ephemera in comparison with perennial human relationships—families; friendships; communities; schools; neighbors; partners.

Especially for Joe Biden.

Women didn’t vote for her either. But that doesn’t mean sexism didn’t play a role in her loss.

Ted Cruz is the latest Republican Senator to repeat discredited Kremlin-backed conspiracy theories about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election.

Yes, he was terrible at his job. But one can’t break that which is already broken.

Everything you always wanted in a hearing. And less.

The former #2 official at the FBI is trying to sell a book.

The Senate passed a bill that keeps the government funded through the beginning of February, but fails to provide any funding for the President’s border wall.

After a day of political pressure, Senate Republicans have agreed to hold a hearing regarding the sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh next week.

President Trump has made no secret of the fact that he is displeased with the performance of Jeff Sessions, but he could find it hard to replace him.

Republicans on Capitol Hill and in positions of power are slavishly backing their President over their country. They should be ashamed.

President Trump’s military parade would come with a not insignificant cost.

An unsurprising win in the Pelican State.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is speaking out against several of President-Elect Trump’s proposed Cabinet nominees.

It has become necessary to destroy the party in order to save it.

It’s possible that Mike Pence won and Donald Trump still lost. It won’t matter.

National tragedies, whether man-made or natural disasters, used to bring Americans together. Now they just seem to pull Americans apart.

My latest for The National Interest, “Obama’s Paris Blunder: Part of a Much Bigger Problem,” has posted.

Michele Willens wonders, “When Did We Get So Old?”

Conservatives have their own Kennedy myth to compete with the myth of Camelot.

Don’t blame Dallas, or 60s era Texas conservatism, for what happened in Dallas 50 years ago,

President Lyndon Johnson considered flying to the 1968 convention and offering himself up for re-nomination.

The front page of Sunday’s NYT profiled Valerie Jarrett, the power behind the throne at the Obama White House.

Major metropolitan areas are routinely shut down for presidential fundraisers.

Alex Pareene’s quip that “Aaron Sorkin is why people hate liberals” has gone viral.

David Brooks is wistful for the noblesse oblige of the elites of yore.

Jennifer Rubin accuses Colin Powell of political opportunism for hedging on whether to renew his endorsement of Barack Obama.

Is Mitt Romney the least experienced major-party presidential nominee since1940?

Joe Biden says we can’t afford a president who has to learn foreign policy on the job.

Rick Santorum would do well to listen to the words of the last Catholic to be President of the United States.

Is the United States a serious country? Should we be?

Is the presumptive Republican nominee too handsome, too rich, and too pompous to win the hearts of ordinary Americans?

The speech did exactly what it was supposed to do: kick off Obama’s re-election campaign while disguised as a call for unity.

Do we place too much importance on performance in presidential debates?

The top marginal rate was radically higher in recent memory.