Outside the Beltway

What the shutdown should have been about.

There are real life consequences.

A lot of pain for . . . not much.

The octogenarian Speaker Emerita will not seek re-election.

The standoff is in its 35th day.

The public is much less concerned than you are.

Resisting gaslighting must be social. It’s crucial for those who oppose Trump’s falsehoods to remind each other, again and again, that 2 + 2 = 4.

Budgets are choices and choices reveal values.

Not Gaetz and Hegseth bad, but still, pretty bad.

Elon is on record warning Trump supporters to be prepared for “temporary hardship”

Trump’s core policies will drive inflation

These people are frustrating.

Our fee-for-service system is broken.

The headline wrote itself.

A policy-leaning wing and a political-leaning wing make for an unworkable coalition.

Can the fat man take down the elephant in the room?

The market for competent centrists.

The Democrats have lots of problems. Salesmanship is pretty far down the list.

Crises tend to be distracting.

The longtime Senate leader is gone at 82.

Is the stalwart of Senate bipartisanship interested in governing?

Three days late, $1.2 billion long.

$1.75 trillion ain’t $3.5 trillion but it’s something.

The Catch-22 of passing a massive spending bill in an undemocratic system.

Is the debate over the cost of the “infrastructure” bill a distraction from its content?

Despite a rising groundswell of support, the obvious solution to our crisis has not been implemented.

Are Sinema and Machin going to jump ship?

It’s no better than Joe Manchin’s.

Millions have health insurance who otherwise wouldn’t.

Mostly about how not to do it.

It’s undemocratic and we should get rid of it. But doing so isn’t a panacea.

It doesn’t work like the movies, Senator.

Is a de minimus standard too small?

The lack of common understandings and shared assumptions makes political conversations challenging.

A way-too-early assessment of how it’s going.

The talk radio megastar has died, aged 70.

The hidden wokeness of our new Critical Theory-loving President.

Sigh.

What has the Supreme Court wrought?

It creates a veto gate that they are almost guaranteed to control when they need it.

Is the Chief Justice laying a trap or simply ‘calling balls and strikes’?

An 8-1 rebuke from the nation’s highest court.

A progressive idea that could win conservative support.

Most national pundits saw it differently than I did.

One side is arguing over rules while the other is focused on consequences.

“Medicare For All” is the centerpiece of Elizabeth Warren’s campaign for President, but she’s not talking about it as much as she used to.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the PPACA”s individual mandate unconstitutional but left the fate of the rest of the law unresolved.

Even as candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders continue to base their campaigns on it, Democrats appear to be growing skeptical of ‘Medicare For All.’