Outside the Beltway

We still don’t know what President Trump and Vladimir Putin talked about or agreed to during their two-hour meeting on Monday.

Three new polls show that Republicans basically agree with the leader of their party when it comes to the issue of Russian interference in American elections.

It took less than twenty-four hours for President Trump to essentially repudiate his purported attempt to walk back the appalling comments he made in Helsinki.

Initial polling on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court find the public more divided than they have been for other recent SCOTUS picks, but that’s unlikely to impact the fate of his nomination.

One day after an embarrassing performance at the Helsinki Summit, President Trump an absurd, completely unbelieve walk back of things the entire world heard him say loud and clear.

Rick Scott is pulling in impressive fundraising numbers, giving Democrats reason to worry that they’ll have another Senate seat to worry about in November.

Mariia Butina, a Russian “gun rights activist, is accused of being an unregistered agent of the Russian government and attempting to influence Republican Party policies regarding Russia in an operation that pre-dates the Trump Presidential campaign.

The midterm elections are still four months away, but Democrats are already making moves to prepare for the race for their party’s Presidential nomination in 2020.

Forget the “republic v. a democracy” abstraction. The numbers show some serious flaws in translating popular will into government.

Even if all he gets out of the Helsinki Summit is a handshake and a photograph, Vladimir Putin has already won.

California’s Democratic Party endorsed “progressive” upstart Kevin de León over Senator Dianne Feinstein, but this is unlikely to stop Feinstein from winning election to a sixth term in office.

The Strzok hearing provides a return to this timeworn favorite.

The Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller has issued indictments against twelve Russian intelligence officials for election-related hacking, and in the process has shown most of the arguments made by the President and his surrogates regarding the Russia investigation are nonsense.

The Democratic National Committee is one step closer to adopting a rule change that would make superdelegates largely irrelevant to the party’s nomination process.

At least in these early days, Democrats appear to lack a coherent message, or a coherent strategy, to propel any effort to block Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

A new poll lends credence to the suggestion that Democrats should be careful about rallying behind the call to “Abolish ICE.”

A selection that is likely to keep the Senate GOP united and red-state Democrats up for re-election under pressure to vote to confirm.

A new poll finds that most Americans oppose key elements of the immigration policies that the President and Republicans in Congress support.

Some considerations on the politics of Roe v. Wade.

Democrats are rallying around the “Abolish ICE” slogan in response to the Trump Administration’s immigration policies, but it could end up backfiring on them.

Democrats are making largely meaningless appeals to the so-called ‘Merrick Garland Precedent” to argue for a delay in confirming the President’s next Supreme Court nominee. The American people feel differently.

The National Debt has passed $21,000,000,000,000 for the first time in history just as the nation begins its return to the era of trillion dollar budget deficits.

Recent polling finds that Americans aren’t feeling quite so patriotic right now. It’s understandable, but we shouldn’t give up hope.

Jim Jordan, who heads the powerful House Freedom Caucus, is being accused of ignoring reports of sexual abuse by a team doctor while he was a coach at The Ohio State University.

In November, Michigan voters will be able to make their state the tenth state to legalize marijuana. This is just the latest step in what seems to be an irreversible trend.

The calls to “Abolish ICE” are spreading to potential candidates for the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a populist from the left, rode a wave of populism and public disdain for the outgoing President to a landslide win in Mexico

There is a frustration and a growing sense that the American political system is illegitimate.

A really weird detail buried in a New York Times story about President Trump’s efforts to get the Justice to retire.

The White House is hoping for a relatively quick turnaround time to pick a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy.

The Presidents of the United States and Russia will meet next month and there’s reason to worry about what Trump might give away.

After thirty years on the bench, during which he played a central role in some of the Supreme Court’s most significant rulings, Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring.

Convicted leaker Chelsea Manning lost a bid for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maryland, to the surprise of nobody.

Joe Crowley, widely considered in line to replace Nancy Pelosi as party leader in the House, has been defeated.

The Supreme Court has largely rejected a challenge to state and Federal redistricting maps in the State of Texas.

Some activists on the left are calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be abolished. While that may be a great sound bite, it doesn’t really accomplish anything.

Turkey’s authoritarian leader is going to be around for a long time.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia last night, and the incident raises questions of how far we should let politics infiltrate everyday life.

Madison was right about politicians and ambition. He just didn’t see the how it would all play out.

The dean of conservative columnists argues that the Republican Congress must be taught a lesson.

The odds of an immigration bill passing the House were already low. This morning, President Trump pretty much guaranteed failure.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces what could be a scandal that will quickly push him out of office.

The former New York City Mayor is prepared to spend $80 million to help Democrats take back Congress this year.

Pending the mere formality of approval by the Governor-General, Canada will soon become the largest nation in the world where recreational use of marijuana is legal.

Donald Trump wants Republicans to make his immigration policies the centerpiece of the midterm campaign. What could possibly go wrong?

The Supreme Court avoided ruling on the merits of two partisan gerrymandering cases, but the issue will be back before them sooner rather than later.

A federal trial court has ruled the practice an unconstitutional infringement on suffrage.

A 9-0 ruling side-stepped the broader issue of to what extent purely political considerations may be applied.

The President continues to enjoy enthusiastic support from the over-65 set.

Colombia is currently choosing its next president.