What’s flying over New Jersey?
The nightly news is replicating Orson Welles’s 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds, which scared Americans by describing an…
What Trump’s appointments tell us
Donald Trump may have a four-year term, but he has far less time to make a real difference. In practice,…
What disputes about trans athletes say about Democratic politics
In the minds of many progressive Democrats, Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Dem, just committed an unpardonable sin. He told…
What comes after Trump’s decisive victory?
The candidate who said Americans should be “unburdened by what has been” is now a has-been. The irony will be…
A consequential, divisive, troubling election about big issues
Republicans and Democrats, who disagree so virulently on so much, at least agree on two things. Both say it is…
Biden scores another ‘own goal’ over Trump’s ‘garbage’ supporters
The latest wisdom from our tottering, angry president was to call Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage.” He was responding to the…
Contrasting the candidates’ closing arguments
It’s easy to summarize the two sides’ closing arguments. For Kamala Harris, the closing argument is “Trump is really, really…
Can Kamala Harris escape the ‘Hubert Humphrey problem’?
When the sitting president is not running for reelection, the party typically turns to his vice president as the “natural”…
Vance vs Walz was what a debate should look like
The most important takeaway from the vice-presidential debate between Senator J.D. Vance and Governor Tim Walz is that this is…
What if the Electoral College vote is tied?
America has a peculiar — indeed, unique — way of deciding national elections. Instead of a cumulative national vote, the…
How Donald Trump lost the debate
If Kamala Harris is elected president – and that’s a big ‘if’ since the race is still tight – she won it…
How to score the Trump-Harris debate
This Tuesday’s debate is the most consequential moment of the “second” campaign, just as Trump’s debate with Biden was the…
Two successive 2024 campaigns in a very strange election year
This is one very strange presidential campaign. That’s not just because it seems to go on forever. This one seemed…
A glitchy X/Twitter conversation between Donald Trump and Elon Musk
The great Dr. Johnson was once asked what he thought about John Milton’s famous work, Paradise Lost. His reply, “None…
Kamala Harris and that new car smell
If you felt the ground shaking, it was Democrats jumping for joy after dumping Joe Biden and settling on a…
How Trump and Kamala can have a good debate
On Thursday, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris agreed to debate September 10 on ABC. That’s good news for voters. They…
Joe Biden delivers his own eulogy
Joe Biden delivered a eulogy for his presidency and his political career from the Oval Office Wednesday evening. It was…
Biden withdraws from the 2024 race
After weeks of pressure from Democratic party insiders, Joe Biden has finally said he won’t seek re-election. ‘I have decided…
The logic of the J.D. Vance selection
The best way to understand Donald Trump’s choice of J.D. Vance for vice president is to ask how different choices…
Joe Biden, naked emperor
Sometimes, a fairytale provides the best description of a real-world crisis. That’s true of President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. The…
The political impact of the Trump assassination attempt
The conventional wisdom is that the race for the presidency fundamentally changed with the assassination attempt on former president Donald…
The Democrats caught between the dog and the hydrant
The Democrats are not just caught between one dog and one hydrant. They are caught between three — and the water…
Joe Biden’s interview with George Stephanopoulos could have been worse
Joe Biden didn’t make any major mistakes in his Friday interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. That’s the best you can…
Slowly, then suddenly: the sad story of Joe Biden’s decline
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” Those were Hemingway’s words in…
If Joe stays in…
After Thursday’s fiasco in Atlanta, Joe Biden faces two hard choices. The hardest — and grimmest — is whether to…
