Outside the Beltway

Wherein I explore the notion that ignorance is bliss.

White House aides asked the Navy to keep the USS John McCain “out of sight” while the President visited a Navy base in Japan earlier this week.

Justin Amash spoke out against the President and Attorney General. Unsurprisingly this is not being received well by his fellow Republicans.

Other than confirming a lot of Trump Judges, the Senate has not been getting much work done so far this year.

Patrick Shanahan, who has been serving as Acting Defense Secretary since James Mattis left in December, is being selected to replace Mattis in that position.

He’s tan. He’s rested. He’s ready. But is the Democratic Party going to buy what Joe Biden is selling?

The Wall Street Journal tries, and fails, to defend President Trump’s indefensible veto of the Congressional resolution regarding the war on Yemen.

Democrats in South Carolina seem to think they have a shot at beating Lindsey Graham in 2020. I wouldn’t be so sure of that.

In 2016, a crowded Republican field yielded an unlikely nominee. Could history repeat itself in 2020?

The consolidation of Super Tuesday makes the current system even more broken than before.

In what was basically a throwaway line, Joe Biden said something nice about Mike Pence. The reaction from his fellow Democrats says a lot about our current political culture, and none of it is good.

The President of the United States and the most-talked-about freshman Representative in ages could not be more different.

Former Vice-President Joe Biden isn’t officially running for President yet, but says his family is on board if he does.

Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld is preparing for a primary challenge against Donald Trump. He won’t win, but he could still have an impact.

Based on his appearance on CNN last night, Howard Schultz appears to be running a campaign about nothing.

Former Astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of Gabby Giffords, is running for Senate in Arizona against Martha McSally.

The President’s second State of the Union began and ended with calls for unity. In between, it was filled with the divisive partisanship that has marked his Presidency.

Lindsey Graham is telling his fellow Republicans that they better back the President if he decides to declare a national emergency to get funding for his border wall.

A WaPo data analyst gives it a shot.

Tulsi Gabbard was born in American Samoa, an American territory whose residents are generally not American citizens from birth. However, she is nonetheless a “natural born citizen.”

Despite their rhetoric, Republicans in Congress have shown through their own inaction that they don’t really support the President’s border wall.

As the shutdown drags on, Mitch McConnell finds himself facing pressure from the White House and from members of his own caucus.

Before even taking office, Mitt Romney is taking on the President. It’s a good sign, but we’ll see what it leads to.

President Trump announced today that James Mattis would be out as Secretary of Defense by the end of the year.

The latest entry in the unity third party presidential candidate genre is just as bad as they always are.

Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema will end up representing Arizona in the Senate together.

Thanks apparently to the fact that it remained unwilling to get in line behind the Trumpidians, the conservative owner of The Weekly Standard has shut the magazine down.

Jon Kyl was named to replace John McCain back in September, but as expected he’s already announcing that he’ll be leaving at the end of the year.

Honoring the 41st President cast a poor light on the 45th.

Washington said farewell to George H.W. Bush today in a service that both remembered his spirit and his heroism, and stands as a sharp rebuke to what politics has been reduced to in America today.

A nation says farewell to a war hero, public servant, former President, and great American.

George H.W. Bush,, who served his nation as a warrior, Congressman, Ambassador, Vice-President, and President, has died at the age of 94.

Preliminary figures indicate that voter turnout in the 2018 midterms was higher than it has been for any midterm election in fifty-two years.

Starbucks Founder Howard Schultz is apparently considering running for President.

Democrats have flipped the Senate seat currently held by Republican Jeff Flake.

With most forecasts assuming that Republicans will at least lose control of the House, the odds are that the GOP will react to that by moving further to the right.

The Russians are interfering in our electoral system again, and they’re using our own hyperpartisanship to accomplish their goals.

Former Arizona Sheriff and Senate candidate Joe Arpaio is suing The New York Times for defamation. He doesn’t appear to have much of a case.

The Kavanaugh fight is just another indicator of our national divide.

Former President Obama took on his successor in his first major political speeches since leaving office.

The nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh is, effectively, assured. Democrats should be careful about how much further they push their opposition.

The first significant post-primary poll of the Florida Senate race shows a dead heat between Governor Rick Scott and Senator Bill Nelson.

In an extraordinary anonymous Op-Ed, a senior White House official describes a White House in chaos.

The first day of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings was much ado about pretty much nothing, but then that can be used to describe a process whose outcome is pretty much foreordained.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has selected former Senator Jon Kyl to replace John McCain in the Senate.

The confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh begin today, but the outcome seems foreordained.

Jennifer Rubin wants to build a new political party from scratch.

He’s tan. He’s rested. He’s ready.

Washington said farewell to John McCain today in a service that both remembered his spirit and his heroism, and stands as a sharp rebuke to what politics has been reduced to in America today.

Former Vice-President Biden’s eulogy for his friend John McCain is a lesson in what has gone wrong with American politics.