Outside the Beltway

It’s good to be king.

Informed, somber voices in these perilous times.

The legendary actor is gone at 95.

The inevitable happened, inevitably.

It certainly isn’t how the US Constitution functions.

The Curtis Yarvin interview.

The Majority Leader has a bigger role than previously reported.

There are 800 or so of them in the United States alone. Where the hell did they come from?

Could Democrats replace their oldest Justice before it’s too late?

Here we go again.

Trump, Bezos, and the slippery slope of authoritarianism.

It’s logical, maybe even inevitable. But is it a good idea?

Trump’s second term would be much worse than his first.

There’s something for everyone in the post-debate surveys.

The far right won the first round. The far left won the second. It’s a mess.

The big interview did little to ease doubts that he’s up to another four years.

The Replace Biden bandwagon continues rolling. Evidence is mounting that he needs to get on it.

Too little, too late.

A second Trump presidency got much more likely last night.

Will the first President convicted of crimes be the first convicted felon re-elected as President?

Compared to any available alternative, yes.

A longstanding project inches forward.

Punditry, complexity, and democracy.

A narrow ruling in a civil case could have huge consequences.

The problem that won’t go away.

No big surprises from the dumbest recurring contest in American politics.

When checks and balances aren’t enough.

A bad column is worse than expected.

A stroll through the archives.

What if one of the candidates is Hitler?

The ongoing Republican debacle and what it says about representative democracy in the US.

A satisfying but unlikely explanation.

A trip through comparative democratic reform.

The base is remaining loyal to the only candidate they think can beat Biden.

West Virginia University may be the canary in the coal mine.

The oldest state institutions of higher education are spending money to make money.

Updating the political saga of Newbern, Alabama.

The one we’ve all been waiting for.

A deep tradition rightly under scrutiny.

The Electoral College is holding a nation of millions back.

The North Dakota governor really, really wants to be on TV.

When we do it, it’s negotiation. When they do it, it’s hostage taking—and terrorism.

Things finally got too weird for his benefactor.

A no-brainer that’s brainless.

A look back at two decades of blogging.

Is this how the cult ends?