Outside the Beltway

The anti-Muslim rhetoric Donald Trump has been using on the campaign trail has shown up in a recruitment video for an al Qaeda off-shoot group.

Jim Webb’s recent criticism of Hillary Clinton is renewing speculation about an independent bid for the White House, but he hardly seems like a viable candidate for such a run.

Former President Clinton is set to hit the campaign trail for his wife in the New Year, and that could make things quite entertaining.

Rand Paul is throwing a bit of a temper tantrum. It’s not very Presidential.

In a new Gallup poll, Republicans say they want a “conservative” as their Presidential nominee, but they may regret what happens if they get the kind of hard-right conservative they seem to be thinking of.

Donald Trump remains firmly at the top of of the GOP field in what is likely one of the last polls of the GOP race for 2015.

To nobody’s surprise, the third Democratic Debate received the lowest ratings yet of any debate so far this election cycle.

A debate schedule that seems designed to limit the ability of viewers to see candidates, and other incidents, has led Hillary Clinton’s opponents to allege that the D.N.C. is favoring Hillary Clinton.

Another set of solid ratings for the latest debate.

Donald Trump displays some appalling ignorance about an important part of America’s military, but his supporters are unlikely to care.

A new poll shows that a majority of Americans oppose a ban on so-called ‘assault weapons,’ a marked change from two decades ago.

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

Previewing the fifth Republican debate, and the last Republican debate of 2015.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul got a break today when CNN included him in the prime time debate on Tuesday even though he fell short of meeting the criteria.

Ted Cruz surges to a lead in the latest Iowa poll, setting up a seemingly inevitable showdown between the Texas Senator and Donald Trump.

Rand Paul is likely to miss the main stage for next Tuesday’s debate, so his campaign is already calling on CNN to change the rules.

Donald Trump continues to have a commanding lead in the Granite State, but it’s unclear whether he can translate poll support into votes when the primary rolls around.

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have mostly avoided attacking each other, but if the polls are any indication that detente may be about to come to an end in the Hawkeye State.

Donald Trump’s plan to bar all Muslim immigration to the United States is being widely condemned by his fellow Republicans and others, but the proposal probably won’t hurt him politically in a Republican Party that is deeply bigoted against Muslims in general.

Yesterday, cable news networks, and most especially MSNBC, showed their profession at its most pathetic.

Donald Trump just keeps leading in the polls, and Republicans keep arguing that it can’t last.

The probability that the shootings in San Bernardino were at least inspired by ISIS and/or other Jihadist terror networks is increasing.

Donald Trump’s speech yesterday at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition was as bizarre as anything else we’ve seen from him.

Multiple victims, and possibly multiple shooters, reported in San Bernardino, California.

The latest national poll of the Republican race shows Trump continuing to lead, Ben Carson fading, and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio rising while the rest of the field is stagnant or sinking.

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.

A gunman is holed up in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs after shooting multiple people, but it’s unclear what if any motive may be involved in the shooting.

France’s President has spent the week trying to forge and agreement on an anti-ISIS policy, but the two nations that matter the most also disagree the most.

Tensions between Russia and Turkey remain high in the wake of yesterday’s incident, but there are some signs that things are starting to cool down.

A former staffer for the House Select Committee investigation the attack in Benghazi is suing the Committee for improper employment practices, and Chairman Trey Gowdy for defamation.

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.

Even as the focus of the Presidential race shifts to national security, Donald Trump continues to lead the race.

Another European capital is on edge over fears of a terror attack.

Different criteria than in the past, but there may not be much of a change in the participants.

An apparent ongoing terrorist attack in Central Africa.

Republicans insist that uttering the words “Radical Islamic Terrorism” is somehow important in the fight against ISIS and other terror networks, but it is entirely unclear what doing so would accomplish.

In the wake of the attacks in Paris, there’s a strong impulse to do “something,” but that doesn’t mean we should do something utterly foolish. And a no-fly zone would be utterly foolish.

Hillary Clinton’s attempt to explain her relationship with Wall Street and banking interests makes it sound like she’s channeling Rudy Giuliani.

The news that at least some of the men who were involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris were among the refugees who have arrived in Europe since the summer is likely to complicate an already complicated situation.

This was not only predictable but predicted.

A Saturday night debate wasn’t likely to get much attention to begin with. A Saturday night debate in the wake of a major terrorist attack, and a major football game for Iowa’s premier college football team, likely got even less attention. That’s probably good news for Hillary Clinton, and bad news for her two remaining rivals.

France’s President blames ISIS, vows response, as death toll from Paris terror attacks stands at at least 127.

Reports of at least up to sixty dead, a hostage situation, and attacks at multiple locations in Paris.

Ratings slipped for last night’s debate, but the numbers were still very respectable.

Last night’s debate in Wisconsin was arguably the most substantive we’ve seen so far between the Republican candidates, and one that displayed quite starkly the policy differences between them.