Who is Bill Weld? If you aren’t a Libertarian or from Massachusetts, you may not know the former two-term Republican governor and 2016 Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee. Yesterday he announced his intention to oppose Donald Trump for the 2020 Republican nomination, a move easily dismissed as quixotic given the overwhelming support Trump enjoys in his party. And it probably … Read More

It’s been a month since I posted about the second act of the three-act play that is the Trump presidency, which I suggested would be marked by conflict and accountability. Actually, I said that conflict is inevitable and accountability is possible, and in the intervening weeks we’ve started to see what that looks like. Let’s focus on two examples: the … Read More

Michael Cohen’s riveting testimony last week opened Act II of the three-act immorality play that is the Trump administration. Nearly four months after the country handed Democrats control of the House of Representatives, and with it the power to set the House agenda and compel testimony and documents from Trumpland, we had our first glimpse of what it looks like … Read More

“Let’s tell the truth. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes and so will I. He won’t tell you. I just did.” — Walter Mondale, 1984 Presidential Acceptance Speech “The era of big government is over.” — Bill Clinton, 1996 State of the Union Address An epic battle is coming and it doesn’t involve building a wall. We are at a paradigm-challenging … Read More

Every con man knows he has to outrun reality because it will eventually catch up with the lies he tells. A good con man will make sure he’s in the next state before reality clashes with the lies he convinced his victims to believe. Sometimes, though, through hubris or miscalculation, he will stay too long, and circumstances will provide him … Read More

So it comes to this: Mitch McConnell refuses to permit the Senate to consider legislation passed by the House that would reopen the federal government in order to protect Donald Trump from either having to accept it and cave on the border wall or reject it and draw further blame for the shutdown. It’s been this way for weeks and … Read More

Why would Donald Trump find it preferable to shut down the government over congressional refusal to fund his border wall when there was an agreement in place to kick the issue down the road and avoid chaos over Christmas, into the new year, and beyond? Why would he take a position where he has no leverage and where opposition Democrats … Read More

As we entered 2018, I warned of a dangerous time ahead when congressional Republicans would let  Donald Trump get away with anything to stave off challengers during the long spring and summer primary season. Absent a legislative check and with political pressures at their height, I feared Trump’s efforts to consolidate power by delegitimizing every institution that stood in his … Read More

This post is about restoring faith in our institutions. In my previous post, I suggested that Democrats look to 2020 with a message of economic and social justice that, if delivered by a charismatic messenger, could mobilize the progressive base and appeal to swing voters. There is a third leg to this stool, and it is criminal justice or, if … Read More