Outside the Beltway

As it has since 2007, the Democratic National Committee is barring Fox News from hosting a debate featuring the party’s candidates for President.

A new report demonstrates that the relationship between Fox News Channel and the Trump Administration is much closer and more pervasive than previously believed.

In a two-hour rant before an adoring crowd of CPAC sycophants. President Trump displayed everything wrong with him and his Presidency.

President Trump’s impending decision to declare a national emergency to get funding for his border wall will quickly face serious legal challenges. It may be more vulnerable than the White House suspects.

When it comes to the shutdown and border wall showdown that started back in December, Donald Trump is the biggest loser.

President Trump now appears to accept the compromise worked out by Congress to avoid another shutdown even though he’s not pleased with it.

Congressional negotiators have reportedly reached a budget deal, but it’s not clear if the President will agree to it.

President Trump appears to be backing away from the idea of declaring a national emergency to get his wall built. But the other options he’s considering aren’t much better.

The government shutdown has now entered historic territory, and the Trump Administration is moving closer to a “national emergency” or other extra-legal means to get money for his wall.

Thanks apparently to the fact that it remained unwilling to get in line behind the Trumpidians, the conservative owner of The Weekly Standard has shut the magazine down.

The continued problem cause by a lack of shared reality.

Even as its leader continues to deny the reality of Global Climate Change, the Trump Administration has released an utterly devastating report on the impact of such change over the course of the coming decades.

When do we stop pretending that Fox News Channel is anything other than State Run Media for the Trump Administration?

America’s tradition of unlimited free expression increases the danger of violence.

President Trump’s private phone calls are apparently a major source of intelligence for foreign nations.

Those rambling campaign rally speeches the President loves to give aren’t getting the kind of coverage they used to, not even from his favorite news channel.

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.

Trumpism is a direct by-product of the poisonous populism of the Tea Party movement, and they’ve both taken over the Republican Party.

Mid-terms are coming.

Jon Huntsman, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, is rejecting calls that he should resign in the wake of what everyone seems to agree was a disastrous summit meeting with Vladimir Putin.

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.

With the President’s “Spygate” allegations standing largely discredited, his attorney and at the moment chief spokesperson Rudy Giuliani admits that the entire conspiracy theory was created to discredit the Mueller investigation.

President Trump has been tweeting up a storm since Sunday, raising a question. Should we view his Tweets as the rantings of a cranky old man, or as something more serious?

Another data point demonstrating that a distinguished military career doesn’t preclude being an awful human being or a crackpot.

To paraphrase the late Dennis Green, he is who we thought he was. 

Rudy Giuliani tried to clean up the mess he created for his client earlier this week. He failed miserably.

In addition to his admissions about the Stormy Daniels matter, Rudy Giuliani also confirmed what we’ve known for awhile, that James Comey was fired because of the Russia investigation.

Rudy Giuliani threw a live grenade into the middle of the Stormy Daniels affair last night, and he’s made things much, much worse for his client.

Sean Hannity was Michael Cohen’s “secret client,” but it’s not clear that should matter to anyone.

Controversies involving Jimmy Kimmel and “The Simpsons” highlight a perennial question.

Thanks to a combination of sensationalism and outright lies, a fairly conventional story about an annual protest march in Mexico was turned into Fox News fodder that raised images of an invading army of illegal immigrants.

The network’s longtime “strategic analyst” is “ashamed” of his association because they’ve become a “propaganda machine.”

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.

Having journalistic integrity at the Fair and Balanced network has never been more challenging.

CJR’s Dan Mitchell has a tiny quibble with a recent viral NYT thumbsucker. 

Two seemingly contradictory essays out today highlight the exhausting political conversation environment.

The former Trump campaign official made the most of his 15 minutes of fame.

The guy who found Al Capone’s vault wishes we had a guy like Sean Hannity back in the Watergate era.

And the evidence for obstruction of justice continues to mount.

Donald Trump spends an inordinate amount of time watching television and regurgitating what he sees on Twitter. That’s not healthy.

This continues to be a highly credible story, and Moore himself has helped that credibility.

The woman who says Ray Moore assaulted her when she was just 14 spoke out this morning at the same time that the White House effectively endorsed Moore’s candidacy.

The differing reactions among Republicans in Washington and the base of the Republican Party to the charges against Roy Moore have enhanced a civil war inside the Republican Party.

A Fox News host has debunked the Uranium One conspiracy theory being pushed by his own network.

Roy Moore’s most die-hard defenders are living in a world of their own, and it’s unlikely they’ll change their minds.

It’s been two years since John Boehner stepped down as Speaker, and he’s got a few things to say about his former colleagues and the state of American politics.

Squirrel!

Former Trump aide Steve Bannon is declaring war on Republicans in the Senate.