2019-04-27 14:45
Hey, folks. So, we've passed the Rubicon on this site. We've done the final migration of posts. This includes over 18,000 posts I've written over the last 14 years myself, plus another 28,00… Read More
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A Progressive Community
2019-04-24 14:40
Volodymyr Zelensky is a Jewish-Ukrainian comedian. He’s known for his role as a teacher on a popular television program called “Servant of the People.” The premise of the s… Read More
2019-04-24 14:40
On April 1, 2019, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a long memorandum based on the whistleblower testimony of Tricia Newbold, an 18-year veteran of the the White… Read More
2019-04-24 14:40
During Barack Obama’s presidency I probably wrote more than a dozen pieces begging him not to intervene in Libya, and I watched bitterly when he later said that his biggest mistake in… Read More
2019-04-24 14:40
According to Greg Stohr of Bloomberg Politics, the conservative Justices on the Supreme Court sounded very supportive during oral arguments on Tuesday of the Trump administration’s eff… Read More
2019-04-22 10:35
In an effort to lighten the mood as we head into the Easter weekend, and also to avoid giving you one more Mueller-related post, I bring you hilarious news about Republican member of the Hou… Read More
2019-04-22 10:35
In some ways, I really like this this piece by Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post, but I also find it infuriating. On the plus side, it’s clever how Jaffe sets the scene for a discussio… Read More
2019-04-22 10:35
Since I’ve been hammering on this issue for months and months, you’ll understand why I am so gratified to see this piece by Joshua A. Geltzer and Ryan Goodman published in the&nb&hell…Read More
2019-04-22 10:35
Writing for Lawfare, Susan Hennessey and Quinta Jurecic find themselves coming to the same conclusion I reached after reading the Mueller Report. The Office of Special Counsel reached t… Read More
2019-04-19 10:10
At the Washington Monthly, and here at Political Animal, we’ve written from time to time about the Trump administration’s efforts to defang the Consumer Financial Prote… Read More
2019-04-19 10:10
I’ve been sticking my neck out a bit in my early analysis of the Democratic presidential nominating process. For one, my warning that there’s a decent likelihood of a brokered co… Read More
2019-04-19 10:10
While the nation reads through the highly redacted Mueller Report, here’s something else to ponder from Philip Bump of the Washington Post: “Shortly before the election, we look… Read More
2019-04-19 10:10
In 2004, when I worked as a county coordinator for ACORN/Project Vote, I had the responsibility of hiring and training people to go out canvassing in a major voter registration and get out t… Read More
2019-04-19 10:10
You won’t hear me defend him often, but President Trump is being unjustly ridiculed for a Tweet he sent out while the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris was ablaze. He wrote “Perhaps… Read More
2019-04-19 10:10
In the excerpt below, which I’ve taken from Volume 2, page 8 of the Mueller Report, we can clearly see that the Office of Special Counsel believes that Congress can and presumably shou… Read More
2019-04-16 10:00
Over the weekend, I wrote that Joe Biden has developed a smart strategy and will be branding himself as the representative of the Obama coalition. He will attempt to convince people that he… Read More
2019-04-16 10:00
Ronald Reagan wasn't really that popular when he was president except when he needed to be. He peaked in 1984, during his reelection bid, but he was a major drag on Republicans in the 1982 a… Read More
2019-04-16 10:00
It’s tragic that a fire has ravaged the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, burning through it’s roof and collapsing its spire. The cause is as yet unknown, and it will be a while bef… Read More
2019-04-16 10:00
President Trump's plan to bus immigration/asylum applicants to major U.S. cities as political retribution, which he is still considering, is premised on dubious assumptions. As Philip Bump p… Read More
2019-04-13 10:00
Before the filibuster was eliminated for most presidential nominees, the White House needed to negotiate with the other party to assure that their candidates were at least minimally acceptab… Read More
2019-04-13 10:00
Maybe it’s because my family is dominated by academics, but I’m fortunate not to have any close or even remote relations that watch Fox News or regurgitate the network’s to… Read More
2019-04-13 10:00
I am hopeful that the upcoming presidential cycle will have a little less content-free horse race coverage than the cycles we’ve had in the past. It just seems like people in the media… Read More
2019-04-13 10:00
When looking at the dumpster fire we call the American political environment, I think we can all agree that the last thing we really needed was more Herman Cain. As I explained yesterday in… Read More
2019-04-13 10:00
Back in May 2018, I wrote On Stefan Halper and Carter Page in an effort to settle whether the FBI counterintelligence unit had been justified in keeping tabs on Page during the 2016 campaign… Read More
2019-04-13 10:00
There are so many things about the modern world that are different from the 1920’s and 1930’s that I’m reluctant to make comparisons between the two eras. But there is one… Read More
2019-04-10 09:55
I often see a statistic cited that only two percent of the American population is Jewish, and it kind of startles me every time I encounter it because I’ve spent most of my life living… Read More
2019-04-10 09:55
Nancy has already written two pieces today about President Trump’s purge at the Department of Homeland Security, but I also have a few things to say about this fiasco, For starters, th… Read More
2019-04-10 09:55
The phrase “drain the swamp” has been around for a while but it’s current usage probably began in 1976 when Ronald Reagan, who was then unsuccessfully running for the Repub… Read More
2019-04-10 09:55
The New York Times simply will not stop documenting all the foreign labor and undocumented workers the president employs at his golf courses, hotels, and resorts. As a result, he’s bas… Read More
2019-04-10 09:55
After a contentious interagency debate, the United States government has designated the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and many of their affiliates and subordinate organizations as… Read More
2019-04-07 09:35
In my last posting, I wrote Trump Doesn’t Understand Game Theory, and I used the current debate in Congress over a disaster relief bill as my example. There were four main critiqu… Read More
2019-04-07 09:35
You’ll often hear people say that someone is playing chess (or even multi-dimensional chess) while their opponents are playing checkers, which is meant to convey that one strategy is m… Read More
2019-04-07 09:35
I cannot agree with Washington Post columnist Henry Olsen that the Republicans’ Tuesday victory in a Wisconsin Supreme Court election means that Donald Trump “is becoming a sligh… Read More
2019-04-07 09:35
When I saw that the president of the United States said in a speech that the noise from wind turbines causes cancer, my first thought was that 2018 U.S. Wind Champion Award winner Chuck Gras… Read More
2019-04-07 09:35
The Speaker of the House is feeling confident. She's in full #NancySmash mode: Barely three months into her second turn in charge, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already mapped out a pl… Read More
2019-04-03 18:35
Shortly after the 2016 president election, the Guardian reported that Donald Trump’s grandfather had been banished from the Kingdom of Bavaria for failure to fulfill his military servi… Read More
2019-04-03 18:35
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved toward using the nuclear option reluctantly, haltingly, and with baby steps that provided plenty of warning. After Barack Obama was elected pre… Read More
2019-04-03 18:35
I hope I live long enough to see the day when we again have a Democratic administration and a Republican Congress. It will be quite the spectacle when the Republicans try to conduct oversigh… Read More
2019-04-03 18:35
Let’s remember what the Russian hacks of the DNC accomplished for Donald Trump and the Republican Party back in the summer of 2016. Here is how the New York Times reported on the immed… Read More
2019-04-03 18:35
You may have heard that radio/tv shock-jock and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is being sued for causing emotional distress to parents of the children who were massacred at a Newtown, Connec… Read More
2019-03-31 19:30
My brother helped set up the Iowa Heartland Forum which you can stream at Huffington Post. HuffPost is teaming up Saturday with Open Markets, as well as the Iowa Farmers Union and the St… Read More
2019-03-31 19:30
Here's a man who has over 200,000 deaths on his hands who has nothing but contempt for those he slaughtered. In early 2001, Purdue Pharma LP executives discussed how to respond to abuse… Read More
2019-03-31 19:30
The associate attorney general position is the number three spot in the hierarchy at the Department of Justice. There has not been a Senate-confirmed person in that job since February 2… Read More
2019-03-31 19:30
One way to determine if a political party cares about people like you is to see if they have any interest in whether you have access to quality, affordable health care. If they’re indi… Read More
2019-03-31 19:30
In order for President Trump's new plan to curb Central American immigration to be effective, the governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador will have to respond to the loss of $450… Read More
2019-03-28 19:25
Chris Cillizza says, “the danger for [Joe] Biden in this [presidential] race is clear: He runs the risk of coming off like Don Draper in a Peggy Olson world. And, unfortunately for him… Read More
2019-03-28 19:25
I haven’t seen the Mueller Report. No one I know has seen it. None of the columnists and pundits were are opining on it have seen it. What they and I have seen is a self-serving memora… Read More
2019-03-28 19:25
According to Rob Tornoe of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the federal government spent $18 million on the Special Olympics last year. That’s a very tiny line item in the context of the siz… Read More
2019-03-28 19:25
The paperback version of Old Man and the Sea is 128 pages. The paperback version of The Great Gatsby is 180 pages. The paperback version of Catcher in the Rye is 240 pages. The Mueller Repor… Read More
2019-03-28 19:25
I don’t really understand why Trump has an affinity for the world’s most horrible leaders or why he picks fights with our allies. Back on November 13, 2008, I argued th… Read More
2019-03-25 19:20
Well, the Mueller investigation did not find that "the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presiden… Read More
2019-03-25 19:20
Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico announced on Monday that he will not seek reelection in 2020. He offered no specific explanation for his decision, saying merely that, “the worst thing… Read More
2019-03-25 19:20
I want to hate on this column, but then again I don't want to hate on it because it is in many respects quiet incisive. But let me tell you what I don't like about it. I don't like it w… Read More
2019-03-25 19:20
There are few people I know who have written more about the Mueller investigation than I have, and in all that time, I don't think I've talked much about who might be indicted other than the… Read More
2019-03-25 19:20
Congress has been notified that the Mueller investigation is complete and that Attorney General William Barr has the report. Apparently, Congress can expect to hear what Mueller's "primary c… Read More
2019-03-25 19:20
On May 9, 2017, President Trump fired James Comey. At that point, Andrew McCabe became the acting head of the FBI and, by his own account, he immediately ordered a full counterintelligence i… Read More
2019-03-22 19:00
Since I wrote What the Mueller Report Should Look Like on February 25, 2019, I’ve seen the conversation shift in the direction I suggested it should. On St. Patrick’s Day, former… Read More
2019-03-22 19:00
In February 2017, Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina’s 7th congressional district introduced the Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act. Devin Nunes is listed as one of the 65 co-sponsors of… Read More
2019-03-22 19:00
On Saturday, July 2, 2016, Hillary Clinton walked into FBI headquarters and submitted to a three and a half hour interview about her handling of emails and classified information while she w… Read More
2019-03-22 19:00
If you old enough, you surely remember when Katie Couric interviewed Sarah Palin shortly after she had been named as John McCain’s running mate back in 2008. It didn’t go well, p… Read More
2019-03-22 19:00
Jonathan Chait found nine reasons why it’s a great idea for Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams to join together at the outset of the Democratic primaries and run as ticket. As I read his piec… Read More
2019-03-22 19:00
I’m going to crib off of Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog a little bit in this post, but first I am going to quote him. In 2000, if Gore had won the Electoral College while losin… Read More
2019-03-22 19:00
This is just a casual observation on a Friday afternoon when I’ve come down with a cold and the media seems convinced that the Mueller Report is coming any second. If it does, I might… Read More
2019-03-19 19:00
Donna Brazile should know that if you need to write a 900-word essay to rationalize taking your new job, you’re probably not going to convince your critics. If she wants to pay the mor… Read More
2019-03-19 19:00
I want to go back into the time machine for a moment, all the way back to late-September 2016. Donald Trump’s campaign rolled out a coordinated new attack on Hillary Clinton in an atte… Read More
2019-03-19 19:00
It’s rarely been more clear that our system has a big flaw in that the attorney general of the United States works for the president of the United States rather than at the pleasure of… Read More
2019-03-19 19:00
Barbara O'Brien quoted me in support of an argument that I wouldn't have made in precisely the same way, so I thought I'd offer a brief counterpoint. Her thesis is that no matter who the Dem… Read More
2019-03-16 18:55
Sometimes news in the #TrumpRussia matter comes at you like a firehose and it’s easy to miss some things. I did not realize, for example, that Felix Sater is being sued by television p… Read More
2019-03-16 18:55
In his post at the Washington Examiner, Byron York has taken it upon himself to become the thinking man’s defender of Donald Trump on anything related to the Russia probe. During Trump… Read More
2019-03-16 18:55
I normally try to avoid making predictable takes on the news, but sometimes there really isn’t more than one take. The ringleader of a deadly terrorist attack on two New Zealand mosque… Read More
2019-03-16 18:55
The Republicans usually surprise me by coming up with new ways to do appalling things, and part of trying to game out American politics involves making a real effort to anticipate things too… Read More
2019-03-16 18:55
It’s not easy to figure out how the Democratic Party is going to allocate its delegates to the 2020 convention. I have had to use several sources to satisfy myself that I understand th… Read More
2019-03-13 18:40
There have been two deadly crashes of Boeing’s new 737 Max 8 airplane in the last five months, both of which were highly unusual. Until they can figure out what is causing the problem… Read More
2019-03-13 18:40
Paul Manafort was sentenced for a second time in a week on Wednesday. Last Thursday evening, in Alexandria, Virginia, the former Trump campaign chairman was given an absurdly lenient punishm… Read More
2019-03-13 18:40
I don’t often disagree with Greg Sargent, but I don’t think he’s got the right take on Nancy Pelosi’s decision to announce that she’s not for impeaching the pre… Read More
2019-03-12 14:55
People tend to read a lot into it when our nation's major political parties choose the site for their national conventions. It's not always so obvious why the choice was made, but that doesn… Read More
2019-03-12 14:55
On Wednesday, October 8, 1975, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger held a staff meeting. During this meeting, Assistant Secretary of State Philip Habib announced that “It looks like the… Read More
2019-03-11 04:25
In the cover story of the November/December 2017 issue of the Washington Monthly, executive editor Gilad Edelman chronicled how anti-monopoly politics, including revived antitrust… Read More
2019-03-11 04:25
I generally take a look at all the roll calls of all the votes that take place in the House and Senate because it gives me insight into how politicians strategize on forming their ideologica… Read More
2019-03-11 04:25
Sometimes I don't like to admit how much Donald Trump irritates me because I feel like it's wrong to give him or his supporters any satisfaction, but I can't help myself in this case. On Fri… Read More
2019-03-08 04:10
I’m not going to suggest that Donald Trump doesn’t love his family, but he’s hardly made it a secret that he likes to have extramarital relationships. The fact that he deci… Read More
2019-03-08 04:10
Judge Thomas Selby Ellis III, a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1987, handed down… Read More
2019-03-08 04:10
Former Trump Organization executive vice-president Michael Cohen is on Capitol Hill again on Wednesday, testifying for a second time in a closed session of the House Intelligence Committee… Read More
2019-03-08 04:10
Eric Bolling’s son died at 19 from an apparent opioid overdose, which is something that is far too common in our country right now. I certainly understand that he wants to honor his so… Read More
2019-03-08 04:10
There are several examples of people becoming vice-president after running lackluster bids for the presidency. I’m thinking of people like Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, George H.W… Read More
2019-03-08 04:10
There are some things in Ross Douthat’s latest column that I at least partially agree with, which is rarity for me. I’m pleased that he so readily acknowledges that the center-le… Read More
2019-03-05 04:15
Our country does some stupid things. Consider the case of Jagdish Rai Chadha. Based on his unique circumstances, do you think it was necessary to deport him? Respondent Jagdish Rai Chadha w… Read More
2019-03-05 04:15
Paul Waldman ably describes the two most common fallacies pundits and politicians use to explain how Democratic presidents can get stuff done in Washington. One can be called “the Bern… Read More
2019-03-04 13:10
I don’t think too many people really question the culture of their hometown until they’ve had an opportunity to live someplace for a while. I grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, an… Read More
2019-03-03 07:35
I agree with Greg Sargent that President Trump’s decision to ignore the assessment of his own intelligence community and grant his son-in-law a top security clearance is something that… Read More
2019-03-03 07:35
In May 2010, I wrote a piece about the uninspiring choice Pennsylvania progressives were facing as they tried to decide who they should support as their nominee for U.S. Senate. On one side… Read More
2019-03-03 07:35
Falsely suggesting that you served in a war that you did not serve in is a contemptible thing to do. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut did this on at least three occasions prior to b… Read More
2019-03-03 07:35
If Charles Pierce is correct that yesterday’s Michael Cohen hearing was “as sordid as the worst brothel on the Singapore docks,” it was still nice to see the man brought lo… Read More
2019-03-03 07:35
Here’s one way to make America great again. In the days ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s first visit to the White House during the Trump presidency, in March 20… Read More
2019-02-28 07:30
I have some personal business I have to attend to this afternoon, so this will be somewhat brief. There have been several House Republicans who have complained that the Democrats are forcing… Read More
2019-02-28 07:30
When I wrote How a Trump Emergency Declaration Became the Mother of All Headaches, I explained how the Senate Republicans stumbled into the situation they now face where they’re on the… Read More
2019-02-28 07:30
There are many interesting things in the New York Times’ latest profile of Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. I want to focus on how he talks to Republican voters in his home st… Read More
2019-02-28 07:30
Perhaps it is not shocking that only thirteen House Republicans voted for a Joint Resolution on Tuesday that terminates presidential Proclamation 9844, which Donald Trump issued to declare a… Read More
2019-02-25 07:30
Adam Davidson of The New Yorker writes, "The one thing that is clear is that any declared theory about what Mueller is up to and when he’s going to be up to it is inaccurate." I suppos… Read More
2019-02-22 07:15
In 2013, when Princeton University Professor William Happer co-authored an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that argued that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere woul… Read More
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