Outside the Beltway

Much like it did during the McCarthy Era, the Republican Party has to decide what side of history it wishes to be on. The right side, or the wrong side.

Contrary to the hopes of some, getting rid of Trump isn’t going to purge the GOP of Trumpism.

Far-left Democrats in Arizona want to punish Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema for being exactly the kind of Senator she said she’d be when she ran for office a year ago.

Staring in 2020 the winner in Maine will be the majority preference.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that states cannot punish electors who fail to follow the will of the majority of voters n their state or state laws purporting to direct how they should vote.

The failure of Republicans and conservatives to denounce the President’s racism reveals everything that has gone wrong with the “right” in the Trump Era.

The Trump Administration is warning Congress that we will need to raise the debt ceiling by September. Congress should take this as an opportunity to eliminate it entirely.

Susan Collins hasn’t officially announced her intentions for 2020 just yet, but she looks like she’s running for re-election. If she does, she appears to be facing some political headwinds.

The Kaine-Udall amendment has met its predictable end.

Maine has become the eighth state to pass a law allowing terminally ill the choice to bring their lives to a dignified end.

Texas has become the latest state to eliminate red-light cameras amid increasing evidence that they are largely counterproductive.

For 2020, Kansas Democrats are making some interesting changes to how they will have a say in he race for the Democratic nomination.

Further progress for advocates of marijuana legalization from the Land of Lincoln.

Republicans nationwide are trying to discourage Roy Moore from running for Senate again. Roy Moore doesn’t care.

The House of Representatives has not even acted on impeachment, but Senate Republicans have already made up their mind.

Yet another violation of norms by the 45th President.

More proportional than the GOP, but perhaps not as proportional as one might think.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared “case closed” on the Mueller Report and the Russia investigation. This is far from the truth.

Ballot measures across the country would deny access to those who refuse to release tax returns.

Sanders’ position on felon voting is logical, yet politically suicidal.

As Democrats at the state level seek to limit the ability of parents to decline to vaccinate their children. they are facing resistance from Republican colleagues.

Sanders’ suggestion is not as outside democratic norms as one might think.

As many states contemplate restoring voting rights to felons who have completed their sentence, a leading Democrat wants to go further.

Princeton historian Sean Wilentz lays to rest a pernicious idea propagated by . . . Princeton historian Sean Wilentz.

While polarization in our national politics gets the most attention, several states also face serious rural-urban tensions.

Some basics on the US party system.

Congress is doing its damned job for a change.

Democratic candidates for President are quickly voicing support for marijuana legalization.

Republicans are blindly loyal to this President in a way we have not seen before. They are likely to end up paying a price for that.

There appear to be enough votes in the Senate to pass the resolution disapproving President Trump’s border wall “emergency,” but there’s not enough Republican support to override an expected veto.

Once again, President Trump proves that in the face of evil he is a coward and a disgrace.

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to block the President’s declaration of an “emergency” at the southern border. Now the matter goes to the Senate.

While not subject to filibuster, it’s still subject to Presidential veto.

The American Civil Liberties Union has joined the list of groups with lawsuits against the President’s declaration of a “national emergency” at the southern border.

The lawsuits against President Trump’s “national emergency” have begun. Except more.

The President will sign the bill to fund the government and avert another government shutdown, but in doing so he’ll also lay the groundwork for another showdown with Congress.

…there is only one plausible pathway to get there.

The White House isn’t ruling out the idea of a second government shutdown, but Senate Republicans have other ideas.

The Senate rejected Republican and Democratic proposals as expected but there are some signs of movement forward.

As the shutdown enters its thirty-fourth day and the Senate gets ready to vote on proposals that have no chance of succeeding, Democrats are preparing a new proposal.

After twenty-five days, there’s no end in sight to the Federal Government shutdown. You can thank the President for that.

As the government shutdown enters through its twenty-fourth day, attention is shifting to Senate Republicans who could be pressured to break ranks and potentially force a resolution.

Several states are getting rid of caucuses in favor of primaries, a move that could be to the disadvantage of candidates like Bernie Sanders.

As the shutdown drags on, Mitch McConnell finds himself facing pressure from the White House and from members of his own caucus.

In a late first-day session, Congress passed a series of bills designed to reopen most of the government, but they’re already ‘dead on arrival’ in the Senate.

California is set up throw a huge curve ball into the 2020 Presidential nomination fight.

In what clearly appears to be a rebuke of the President, Defense Secretary James Mattis is retiring as Secretary of Defense.

New York State seems likely to join the list of states where marijuana has been legalized sometime next year.

George H.W. Bush,, who served his nation as a warrior, Congressman, Ambassador, Vice-President, and President, has died at the age of 94.

Another part of the country that was once a Republican stronghold is now almost completely blue.