Outside the Beltway

The President issued an incredibly confusing order that contradicts the advice of his generals and is probably illegal.

Americans actings as agents for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been working hard to manipulate the President.

Will Bunch wildly exaggerates the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The Trump presidency is the latest step in treating commentators like policy experts. It is all a manifestation of how the modern GOP is a populist party.

Service members deployed to Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tunisia, and Uganda qualify.

Anderson Cooper has interviewed adult film star Stormy Daniels for 60 Minutes, but lawyers for President Trump are apparently considering legal action to stop the report from airing.

There won’t be any tanks, but it looks like President Trump will get his military parade.

A disturbing report in the Miami Herald highlights the farce into which this trial has descended.

Staffers are fleeing the administration like rats from a sinking ship.

President Trump has announced that he’ll be imposing significant tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. This is an unwise decision.

The Defense Department will reportedly recommend to President Trump that transgender members of the service currently serving in the military be allowed to continue serving.

Continuing a long-standard tradition, the Trump Administration claims it doesn’t need to get legal authorization to keep American troops in Syria.

National Security Adviser H.L. McMaster is the latest person rumored to be considering moving on from the Trump Administration.

Donald Trump’s dereliction of duty in response to clear evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election is a staggering and flagrant dereliction of the duties he agreed to take on when he took the Oath Of Office more than a year ago.

WaPo is overhyping things a bit.

Congress seems likely to pass a budget deal today that will massively increase spending, putting to rest once and for all the rank hypocrisy of Republicans when it comes to claims that they are “fiscally conservative.”

Of course Donald Trump wants a military parade, it would be consistent with his delusions of grandeur.

With Republicans fully in control in Washington, their concerns about the budget deficit seem to have disappeared.

The military options thus far presented for dealing with the DPRK have not been satisfying.

The current budget deal expires in six days and Congress doesn’t seem to know what it’s going to do about it.

Democrats in the Senate appear ready to de-link DACA from the budget. That would remove the threat of a government shutdown, but it could anger their base.

As the Federal Government shutdown moves into the work week, there are some rumors of a possible deal, but nothing concrete and the lack of trust between the two parties could make a deal hard to achieve.

With less than two days to go, the prospects for Congress finding a way to prevent a government shutdown aren’t looking good.

Three U.S. cities are suing the Federal Government over the failure to properly report military convictions to the national gun background check database.

Transgender Americans will be able to enlist in the military beginning January 1st thanks to a ruling from a Federal District Court Judge.

Big problems for the Air Force.

North Korea tests another missile, and sends another message to the United States and its allies in Asia and the Pacific.

For the second time in as many months, a Federal Court is blocking the Administration’s ban on transgender troops in the military.

Is it time to reexamine Presidential authority to launch a nuclear strike?

The shooter in the Texas church shooting was apparently able to get his weapons because the Air Force failed to report his domestic violence conviction.

A Federal Judge in Washington, D.C. has blocked the Trump Administration from implementing its ban on transgender soldiers.

America has become involved in conflicts around the world, largely without the knowledge of the American people or the consent of their representatives, and it doesn’t appear that’s going to end anytime soon.

The widow of Sgt. La David Johnson spoke out about the death of her husband and the controversy over the phone call she received from President Trump. And Trump proceeded to attack her and call her a liar.

The capital of the purported caliphate declared by ISIS has apparently fallen, but that doesn’t mean the end of ISIS. In fact, it may make the group more dangerous.

President Trump sinks even lower.

Now Donald Trump is using the death of American soldiers to tell lies about his predecessor.

Iraqi military forces begin to crack down against Iraqi Kurds after last month’s independence referendum.

Donald Trump is continuing to up the ante in his rhetorical war against one of America’s most fundamental freedoms.

Donald Trump continues to be as astoundingly ignorant about the most powerful weapons the U.S. military possesses as he was as a candidate.

Tensions continue to rise between the White House and Foggy Bottom.

Donald Trump’s increasingly confrontational rhetoric regarding North Korea is leading to similar rhetoric from the DPRK, and concern among top diplomats.

Once again, Congress is abdicating its Constitutional responsibilities.

At some point, it will be time to move on.

More provocative action from North Korea, and another reminder that there are no easy answers to the problems represented by the Kim regime.

Contrary to reports, Secretary of Defense Mattis is not defying the President on his order to bar transgender Americans from serving in the military.

President Trump’s effort to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military faces two new legal challenges.

President Trump’s shameful decision to ban transgender Americans from the military has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with pandering to his far-right base.

The Trump Administration has reportedly finalized its order to the Defense Department regarding a ban on military service by transgender soldiers.

President Trump’s Afghanistan policy sounds awfully familiar, and it’s likely to lead to the same results.

Based on initial reports, Trump’s Afghanistan policy looks a lot like what we’ve seen for the past sixteen years.