Outside the Beltway

MAGA Republicans have owned themselves whilst trying to own the libs.

The elite consensus that free trade would bring them around is gone.

A bold new plan for security in the Middle East.

The top ten candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination clashed last night in a debate that made clear the different ideological directions that this race is pulling their party.

The independent who upended the 1992 Presidential race has passed.

We could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.

A possible way forward?

Trump and Iran.

Last night, President Trump announced a new round of tariffs against Mexico for reasons that have nothing to do with trade itself.

Most of us define ourselves largely through our jobs. That’s increasingly a problem.

The cost of Trump’s trade policies are well beyond the cost of soy beans.

The President’s trade policies stand to benefit a lot of other countries, just not the United States.

Based on the early stages of the campaign for the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination, it appears as though the party’s progressive wing has misread the signals being sent by the party’s voters.

As it has in so many other areas, the right has sacrificed it’s previously held beliefs on international trade to feckless obedience toward President Trump.

The former Kentucky coal executive, Republican fundraiser, and Ambassador to Canada would replace Nikki Haley in what used to be a position dominated by more experienced diplomats.

President Trump is claiming he never said Mexico would directly pay for the wall, except for all those times when he said Mexico would directly pay for the wall.

That’s not how it works.

President Trump is now threatening to close the border if he doesn’t get funding for his border wall.

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

After nearly a year, Trump’s trade policies are having their inevitable negative impact inside the United States.

President Trump got his revised version of NAFTA, but Canadians are less positive about the United States than they have been in at least twenty years.

Thanks to a last-minute agreement, the United States and Canada reached an agreement for a revised version of NAFTA. It’s a got a new name, but it’s basically NAFTA 2.0.

President Trump is once again threatening to lower the tariff hammer on one of America’s most reliable allies and biggest trading partners.

President Trump’s much-hyped replacement for NAFTA doesn’t really amount to much and won’t amount to anything unless he can get Canada, and the U.S. Congress, on board.

Trade deals take more than an afternoon chat.

I have heard Trump supporters offer the following rationale for Trump’s tarris, “It is a bargaining strategy.” Then they sit back and smirk, and tell me, “Trump really wants zero tariffs, but to get these other countries to come to the table he has to get their attention. And once he has softened them up, they’ll be willing to reduce their tariffs.”

The President is apparently getting ready to take yet another ill-advised step in his ill-advised, economically illiterate trade war.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a populist from the left, rode a wave of populism and public disdain for the outgoing President to a landslide win in Mexico

President Trump reportedly trashed the NATO alliance in conversations at the G-7 Summit, something that should make Russian President Vladimir Putin quite happy.

Donald Trump’s approach to international trade has nothing to with economics and everything to do with politics and the culture war he loves to provoke.

President Trump is setting off another trade war, this time with some of America’s closest and most important allies.

The new Secretary of State is an improvement over the worst Secretary of State in history.

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.

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.

More than 1200 refugees, mostly from Honduras, are trying to come to the United States. What should we do about it?

In a bizarre Twitter rant, President Trump declared a DACA deal “dead,” blaming Democrats when it’s clear that it’s largely his fault.

Mexico’s President canceled a visit to the United States for the second time since Donald Trump became President due to a continued disagreement over who will pay for Trump’s border wall.

President Trump has alienated America’s allies and friends, and they are acting accordingly.

Just over one year after President Trump’s foolish and ill-informed decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Canada has stepped in to rescue the deal.

Despite the fact that everyone seems to agree that Iran is complying with the nuclear weapons deal, President Trump took steps that will undermine that agreement and do serious damage to American credibility around the world.

No, the deal this week is not Trump becoming an independent.

Trump isn’t going to win any regional popularity awards in LA.

Reports indicate that President Trump is preparing to fulfill a campaign promise and withdraw the U.S. from the accord on climate change reached in Paris in 2015.

Donald Trump’s first overseas trip went about as badly as you’d expect it would.

I am going to construct a complicated mathematical model of the economy, and then I’m going to calibrate it using some actual data, and in the end I will be able to tell everyone how much better or worse off they are given various changes in the economy. And it will be totally and completely true. Trust me, it’s math and therefore science.

One month in, some Trump supporters are starting to wonder if he will actually deliver on what he promised.

As with so many things, the President is demonstrating that he really doesn’t know what he is doing.

Nice work, Mr. President.

Trump’s tweet may have been casual bluster posted while sitting at the breakfast table (presumably eating Wheaties®—The Breakfast of Champions). We can’t know. And finally it matters not because what really matters is that it was taken at face value by President Peña Nieto.

Donald Trump will take some time off after taking the Oath of Office.