Outside the Beltway

The market for competent centrists.

Crises tend to be distracting.

Whether the delusions of a madman or a deliberate scheme to poison the waters, there’s cause for concern.

Could a blue state governor be the future of the Republican Party?

Despite Pompeo’s assurances, we are already seeing consequences for the Suleimani killing.

Ted Cruz is the latest Republican Senator to repeat discredited Kremlin-backed conspiracy theories about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election.

Mark Halperin, the former MSNBC political analyst who was accused of misconduct during the height of the #MeToo Movement, is trying to make a comeback with a new book.

Everything you always wanted in a hearing. And less.

Robert Mueller didn’t provide a smoking gun yesterday, but the President and his supporters are wrong to claim that the hearing vindicated the President.

Is the Sanders-Warren position too extreme for the general election?

Eight months later, the President and his Administration continue to refuse to acknowledge the truth about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

There are children being held in what amount to internment camps on the southern border under appallingly bad conditions and the President is more concerned with falsely blaming his predecessor for the problem.

In what appears to be a first, Judge Brett Kavanaugh took to the media to defend his nomination. Not surprisingly, he chose a friendly venue.

Orwell lives.

Omarosa Manigault Newman, who used to be a Trump favorite, is out with a book that makes sensationalistic claims about the Trump Administration. The real story, though, is what she has on tape and how she got it.

Rebutting the President’s routine prevarications merely spreads them. Is there an alternative?

Based on a strict reading of the Constitution, a sitting President probably does have the power to pardon himself. That doesn’t mean he should be allowed to get away with it without consequence.

Things continue to look good for Democrats as we get closer to the midterm elections.

The senior Senator from Massachusetts denies interest in 2020 but won’t promise to serve out a new Senate term.

Jonathan Bernstein thinks so and Chuck Todd and company outline a pretty strong case.

Since taking office, President Trump has made an average of 5.5 false claims per day.

A big change appears to have taken place in American cable news viewing habits.

The president’s begrudging condemnation of evil didn’t last long.

White House insiders have renewed efforts to oust Presidential adviser Steve Bannon. Can they succeed?

Senate Republicans released their proposed health care plan this morning, but it could already be doomed.

Could National Security Adviser Michael Flynn be the first to go under Trump?

Today in “Alternative Facts.”

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

In the wake of the Democratic victory in the North Carolina Governor’s race, the Republican-controlled legislature has stripped the Governor’s office of significant power.

Judging 2016 by historical standards hasn’t worked out well thus far.

Clinton stumbles and leaves an event early, leading to the news that her campaign has been withholding health information from the press.

Advisers? Donald Trump doesn’t need no stinkin’ advisers.

We still don’t know very much about Robert Dear, the man who shot and killed three people at the site of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, but that hasn’t stopped the usual suspects from politicizing the case.

The criteria for next month’s third Republican Presidential debate have been announced, and they’re likely to end up being bad news for several Republican candidates.

The next Republican debate is likely to be a lot smaller than the previous two, and that could prove fatal for several candidates.

Did Hillary Clinton mishandle classified information while Secretary of State? Two Inspectors General want to find out.

President Obama gave an interesting and somewhat unusual interview to a podcaster late last week, but the media is obsessed over a single word.

George Stephanopoulos’ s ties to the Clinton’s have always raised questions about his objectivity. Now, there’s further reason to doubt that he can play fair when the Clinton’s are part of the story he’s covering.

The Clinton Foundation’s foreign donations continue to be a problem for the Clinton campaign, and the story isn’t likely to go away any time soon.

Mitt Romney is set to make an announcement at 11 Eastern today. [UPDATE: He’s out!]

Vice-President Cheney’s amoral defense of torture has come to define how most conservatives view the issue, and that’s a problem.

Scott Walker argues that Governors tend to make the best Presidents. He’s largely correct, but he’s not the only Republican who fits that bill.

Sometimes, being evasive in answering a question just makes a politician look silly. This is one of those times.

A desperation move by NBC News?

Todd Akin continues to give Republicans headaches.

More bad poll numbers for the President.