Outside the Beltway

There are two sides in this war between Trump and the media, but only one of them is the right side.

There are growing signs that the Deep State is seeking to thwart legal orders from President Trump. This is dangerous.

Trump’s combination amateur hour/tough guy approach is not going to make the world a safer place, nor will it advance US national interest.

As with so many things, the President is demonstrating that he really doesn’t know what he is doing.

The first full day of Donald Trump’s Presidency consisted largely of obsessions with irrelevant facts and outright lies.

Trump’s populism, personalism, and irresponsibility are on display.

Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech on Middle East peace was largely correct, but his words are pointless given the fact that neither Israel nor the Palestinians seem serious about peacefully resolving their differences.

A controversial member of George W. Bush’s foreign policy team is up for a post in Donald Trump’s State Department.

Three of the top four national security positions in Donald Trump’s Cabinet will be filled by retired Generals. This isn’t necessarily a good thing.

For Donald Trump, it appears that ignorance is bliss.

Canada is phasing out coal as a source of electricity production by 2030. The same thing will happen in the United States no matter how much politicians try to stop it.

A surprising name is emerging as the likely pick for the nation’s top diplomatic position.

Even if you’re not sure who you should vote for, it’s obvious who you shouldn’t vote for.

I’ve been something of a political news junkie for 40 years now. This year has burned me out.

Even if Donald Trump loses next month, the political forces inside the GOP he tapped into are likely to remain very powerful.

The sense of national ‘unity’ that existed in the wake of the September 11th attacks didn’t last for very long.

In a ruling that could have a real impact on the 2016 election, the Supreme Court has declined to grant a stay to a lower court ruling striking down a North Carolina law that tightened Voter ID laws and restricted early voting.

A Federal Court has barred the Federal Government from enforcing guidelines on the rights of transgender students in public schools.

President Obama is being criticized for remaining on vacation while Louisiana deals with historic flooding.

President Obama will leave office as the first two term President who presided over eight years of war. It didn’t start with him and it won’t end with him.

Donald Trump has insinuated that President Obama is not fighting the War On Terror aggressively because he somehow identifies with terrorists.

Primary turnout is not predictive of general election outcomes.

A renewed internal GOP fight to stop Donald Trump seems to be doomed to fail.

Notwithstanding polling that indicates the American public disagrees with them, Senate Republicans emerged from a meeting today largely united on the idea of not giving any Supreme Court nominee named by President a hearing, or even the courtesy of a meeting.

The President has another plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. It’s as likely to be well-received on Capitol Hill as all of his other previous plans on this issue.

Another hopeful step forward, thanks to diplomacy.

The Fifth Republican Debate, and the last of 2015, was marked by expected clashes between the candidates, and one that never happened.

The no-fly list is a flawed, arbitrary mess that has kept innocent people from flying for years. Using it to deny people rights recognized by the Constitution is, quite honestly, insane.

Disturbing reports over the weekend that American leaders may not be getting the kind of unbiased intelligence analysis about ISIS that they need to make decisions.

John Kasich wants the United States Government to create an agency to spread ‘so-called ‘Judeo-Christian values.’

To a large degree, the narrative you believe will govern the 2016 elections depend on which party you want to see win. But what’s the most likely outcome?

Much more so than in the past, the race for the Republican Presidential race has become a battle to define what it means to be a ‘conservative.’ Especially on issues like immigration and national security, one side seems to be winning the battle.

A new Gallup poll shows public approval of Congress once again approaching historic lows, but it means far less than anyone thinks.

Republicans haven’t really moved beyond the legacy of George W. Bush’s failed Administration as much as they’d like to think, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting them very much.

President Obama has apparently come to the same realization as many of his predecessors, that trying to craft a legacy by single-handedly bring about “Middle East Peace” is largely a waste of time.

In a new book, former President George H.W. Bush is highly critical of two of his son’s closest advisers in the White House.

President Obama came to office inheriting the legacy of one unnecessary war, and another that had faded from memory. He will leave office with Iraq and Syria in crisis, Europe uneasy, Yemen and Libya unstable breeding grounds for terrorism, and China doing whatever it is they’re doing.

A man with one of the more unique political and personal resumes in recent memory has passed away.

With the exception of Rand Paul, the foreign policy discussion at last night’s debate was about as bad as you’d expect.

Even if Donald Trump isn’t the Republican nominee in 2016, he could still end up causing real harm to the party’s chances of winning the White House and holding on to the Senate.

To lose something one has to have it in the first place. (It is pretty basic logic).

Like many Republicans, Jeb Bush continues to be willfully blind to the truth about the Iraq War.

Any discussion of the Iran deal has to be about realistic alternatives, not fantasies.

Was this simply ordinary intelligence collection? Or something more insidious?

Starting tomorrow, we can expect to see the Supreme Court hand down decisions in some of its most high profile cases. Here’s a preview.

Rand Paul is out with one of his more forceful attacks on Republican hawks to date.