The U.S. Supreme Court granted the Trump administration an emergency appeal Aug. 24 allowing the president to implement portions of an executive order that threatens mail-in voting in the midterm elections in November. The action clears the way for the…
Ideology, autocracy and resistance: Assessing our US situation
As the end of the summer approaches, Congress returns to Washington, and the November elections move into their stretch run, it seems a good time to try to assess where exactly we are in terms of this second Trump administration…
America’s Pyrenees
On February 3, 2025, I sent Sen. Roger Wicker, my senator, the senior senator from Mississippi, an urgent email. It read in part: “Sen. Wicker, PLEASE stand up to the President! Shutting down USAID invites China to move into the…
Dorie Miller: Give honor where honor is due
There are moments when changing a name is simply administrative. This is not one of them. The U.S. Navy is reportedly considering removing the name of Doris “Dorie” Miller, one of America’s most important World War II heroes, from the…
Natalie Harp and Fox Connor: Comparison of two aides
Power gathers people. Some arrive through competence, some through devotion, some through accident, and some through the gravitational pull of a leader’s personality. In the modern presidency, aides often serve as extensions of the president’s habits, anxieties and information needs….
MAGA has meltdown over Ossoff mentioning Natalie Harp
At a Sunday rally in Atlanta, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., delivered an attack on President Donald Trump and Republican challenger Mike Collins. He framed this year’s Georgia Senate race as a referendum on the Trump administration’s record. Ordinary political discourse….
Trump approval still underwater in Utah, but his ‘heirs apparent’ rated better
About a year and a half into his second term, President Donald Trump’s approval rating among Utah voters continues to be underwater.
Fewer Americans believe midterm elections will be fair
Confidence in the reliability of 2026 midterm elections is lower than that of any national referendum since Pew Research Center began asking the question. A recent study by Pew found just 55% of Americans believe the November elections will be…
Trump’s Racist Post About Abdul El-Sayed And His Wife Was Very Telling
We have reached the point in Donald Trump’s presidency where his Islamophobia is so recycled and predictable that it hardly registers as news — but one of his recent posts reached a new level of both cluelessness and racism.
Civil rights groups ask judge to block Trump from ignoring birthright citizenship ruling
A coalition of civil rights groups has asked a federal judge to declare that a recent Supreme Court ruling protecting birthright citizenship strikes down two new executive orders President Donald Trump signed to limit the constitutional right he opposes. The…
How one manufactured story becomes a belief about millions
On June 23, the president of the United States stood in a Mack Trucks plant in Macungie, Pa., to give a speech about American manufacturing. Somewhere in the middle of this speech, he purposely manufactured a person. It went like…
The danger of calling Democrats communists and Republicans patriots
As if we were all in the evangelical equivalent of the film Groundhog Day, America awakens in the Garden of Eden every morning. There’s always a talking snake offering us poisonous fruit. And our current snake — President Donald Trump…