Trump triangulates on trade
President Trump campaigned like a populist but has mostly governed like a plutocrat. On trade, he’s decided to follow his populist id.
Episodes
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Episodes
Trump’s rejection of due process for gun owners points to his disdain for the rule of law
President Trump’s comments on Wednesday showed a startling disregard for foundational rights that are enumerated in the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The legal concept of due process is as old as the Magna Carta.
Hope Hicks's evasiveness highlights how far Trump is pushing the envelope on executive privilege
Hicks is just the latest administration official to refuse to answer questions on topics she thought the president might later want to put off limits by invoking executive privilege.
Trump gets a seminar on federalism as governors push back on arming teachers
President Trump crossed his arms and looked annoyed as Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington State, spoke out against arming teachers during an event at the White House on Monday.
Trump is driving a surge in public support for stricter gun laws since Florida shooting
President Trump shows his ability to move GOP opinion, but voters remain pessimistic that Congress will act.
President Trump’s push to arm teachers gives the NRA what it wants
After signaling earlier in the week that he was serious about doing something on guns in the wake of last week’s massacre at a Florida high school, Trump’s promises to take meaningful action on guns look increasingly hollow.
Trump tries to show empathy for gun violence victims, but don’t expect him to cry
Trump’s Alpha Male brand is built around projecting toughness and strength, but braggadocio becomes a liability against the backdrop of tragedy – when Americans yearn for their leaders to show that they feel their pain.
Jury still out on Trump’s seriousness about banning bump stocks
The president might be having a true change of heart after Florida, but this could also just be political posturing.
The kids are alright.
Florida shooting aftermath shows a generation that’s more impressive than typically portrayed.
Ideologues are ascendant in the Trump White House
President Trump could've gotten the border wall. Democrats were more than willing to cave on that in exchange for saving the dreamers. But instead, Trump moved the goal posts.
Trump still hasn’t nominated a director for the Violence Against Women office
This opening has become especially glaring against the backdrop of the White House’s botched response to revelations that former senior aide Rob Porter allegedly assaulted both of his ex-wives.
A pragmatic Bernie Sanders seeks out an immigration compromise to protect ‘dreamers’
Democrats are so eager to shield young foreign-born “dreamers” from deportation that they’re now offering to make concessions that might have been hard to imagine a year ago.
Trump budget highlights disconnect between populist rhetoric and plutocrat reality
Many of his proposals are dead on arrival in Congress, but the blueprint nonetheless speaks volumes about the president’s values – and contradicts many promises he made as a candidate.
A freewheeling immigration debate in the Senate will test the power of conservative outside groups
The open immigration debate that Mitch McConnell promised to end last month’s government shutdown will begin Monday night. It may be the most consequential story of the week, but even the wisest insiders are unsure about how it will play out.
Republicans are all Keynesians now, but not Rand Paul
Rand Paul’s short-lived shutdown is ending, but his warning about GOP deficit hypocrisy reverberates
Improving poll numbers give Republicans hope that the midterms might not be so bad
If it looked like a tsunami was headed for Republicans at the end of the year, now it's looking more like a normal wave. And some congressmen who looked like they'd get wiped out not long ago now may be able to surf it.
Stopgap spending bills epitomize congressional dysfunction and hurt the military
Jim Mattis tees off on continuing resolutions, just as Ash Carter did before him, while Trump says he’s open to a shutdown.
Trump's accusation of "treason" against Democrats debases discourse
A president loosely accusing the opposition party of “treason” represents a far greater danger to the long-term health of the American system than a 4.6 percent drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
More memos are coming. Will they matter?
The memo published Friday may have been the most overhyped dud since Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone's empty vault in 1986.
Is Mitt Romney the future or the past of the Republican Party?
He’s tan, he’s rested and he’s ready.
Washington is consumed with the Nunes memo, which could come out today
The long-simmering feud between President Trump and the Justice Department erupted into open conflict Wednesday.
The State of the Union underscored why Trump is his own worst enemy
People have come to terms with the idea that there will always be a teleprompter Trump and a Twitter Trump. And everyone knows its not a question of if, but when, he goes back to his polarizing ways.
The Koch network is getting very worried about 2018
Top strategists briefed their mega donors at a strategy session on Monday about how bad the environment is becoming for Republicans and outlined their top targets.
How the Koch network learned to thrive in the Trump era
The Kochs have boarded the Trump train.
Another data point for Mueller
Another bombshell suggests that the special counsel could be building an obstruction of justice case against the president.
Trump says he's "looking forward" to speaking with Mueller
The comments came during an impromptu meeting with reporters in the West Wing.
Updates on the Russia investigation
There's new evidence that Robert Mueller’s team is focused as much or more on potential obstruction of justice as possible collusion with Russia.
This is the way the shutdown ends
It took Republicans two weeks to come around during the 2013 shutdown. Democrats could only hold out for two full days.
This shutdown foreshadows a 2018 of inaction and gridlock
The failed efforts this weekend by moderates to end the government shutdown underscored how poisoned the well has become.
A blame game begins as a government shutdown looms
Public and private polling is giving both sides something to hang their hat on if the federal government partially shuts down.