Outside the Beltway

An absurd theory for an absurd time.

Recent poll numbers suggest that the President is vulnerable in the part of the country that assured his Electoral College victory in 2020, but Democrats are going to have to work hard to flip these states.

A panel of three Federal Judges has found Ohio’s Congressional District map to be unconstitutional, but a case currently pending before the Supreme Court could mute the impact of this decision.

A months-long standoff is stopping hurricane relief.

A new poll shows President Trump struggling against four of his potential 2020 challengers. Should Republicans be worried and Democrats elated? It’s too early to tell.

Ballot measures across the country would deny access to those who refuse to release tax returns.

A Federal Court in Michigan has found several of that state’s Congressional and state legislative districts to have been subject to extreme partisan gerrymandering.

Trump campaign officials are worried about the President’s chances of holding onto a state that was crucial to his win in 2020. They should be.

Donald Trump speaks largely just to his base, ignoring the nation as a whole. Whether this will be enough to win re-election in 2020 is an open question.

President Trump has not surprisingly vetoed a Congressional resolution to limit American support for the Saudi war on Yemen. His defense for doing so is utterly absurd.

Well, that can’t be good.

Howdy, folks. I’m Butch Bracknell.

Very little of our vast landmass is densely populated with humans.

Princeton historian Sean Wilentz lays to rest a pernicious idea propagated by . . . Princeton historian Sean Wilentz.

Oral argument hints that we may have a 5-4 ruling allowing state legislatures to continue stacking the deck.

Only the best people, dontcha know.

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

How finite is prestige?

Congress is doing its damned job for a change.

For their 2020 convention, Democrats are headed to the Midwest.

Republicans are blindly loyal to this President in a way we have not seen before. They are likely to end up paying a price for that.

There appear to be enough votes in the Senate to pass the resolution disapproving President Trump’s border wall “emergency,” but there’s not enough Republican support to override an expected veto.

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to block the President’s declaration of an “emergency” at the southern border. Now the matter goes to the Senate.

Based on his job approval numbers, President Trump could face an uphill battle in 2020.

While not subject to filibuster, it’s still subject to Presidential veto.

After a decade of using the alleged problem of “voter fraud” to justify things like Voter ID Laws, Republicans are remarkably silent in the fact of an actual example of fraud and election tampering.

A North Carolina Congressional Election that was tainted by Absentee Ballot Fraud will be redone.

Thanks mostly to it’s complete and enthusiastic embrace of Donald Trump , the Republican Party faces a bleak demographic future.

The ignominious saga of Anthony Weiner appears to have reached its end.

Walter Jones, a former supporter of the Iraq War who became one of the most prominent anti-war voices in Congress, has passed away at the age of 76. He will be missed.

William Barr was easily confirmed as Attorney General in a 54-45 votes that included three Democrats crossing over to support him.

Another Friday, another political mess for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Looking ahead, the political landscape does not look well for the President.

Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a case that could make it easier to order and ship wine from out-of-state retailers.

After twenty-five days, there’s no end in sight to the Federal Government shutdown. You can thank the President for that.

As the government shutdown enters through its twenty-fourth day, attention is shifting to Senate Republicans who could be pressured to break ranks and potentially force a resolution.

The Supreme Court is taking up the issue of partisan gerrymandering. This time, though, they’re likely to reach the merits of the cases rather than punting like they did last year.

As the shutdown continues, there’s little sign of progress on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

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

California is set up throw a huge curve ball into the 2020 Presidential nomination fight.

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.

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

An argument against “bothersiderism” in this case and, yet again, noting the problem with single seat districts.

Trump has selected current Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to replace John Kelly as Chief of Staff, but that’s unlikely to change how the West Wing operates.

Gerrymandering. It’s not just for Republicans.

Jacob T. Levy has a column worth a read.

President Trump’s first choice to replace John Kelly as Chief of Staff turned the job down, leading one to wonder why anyone would want the job.

Republican lawmakers in Michigan and Wisconsin are responding to their party’s losses at the Gubernatorial level by attempting to restrict the powers of the incoming Democratic Governor.

Mia Love, recently narrowly defeated in her bid for re-election, has some parting words for her party. They probably won’t listen, but they should.

Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has made several mistakes since Election Day, but she’s likely to win tomorrow’s runoff election.