If President Donald Trump were to issue an executive order to abolish mail-in voting, as he announced he would on social media on Monday, it would almost certainly be unconstitutional. It would also be baffling — because eliminating vote-by-mail would probably hurt Republicans more than it would help them in next year’s midterm elections.

...Read more

In the 1963 war movie "The Great Escape," 76 prisoners make it out of their camp in what begins with hope and elation, but ends with all but a handful killed or recaptured. Monday’s meeting between the U.S. and its worried Ukrainian and European allies felt a little like those first exhilarating moments of escape, as the meeting passed off ...Read more

If President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Alaska was designed to bring some clarity to conflict-ending diplomacy, it failed. The talks generated more questions than answers, with the Russians insisting on a Ukrainian withdrawal from the Donbas region, Trump claiming that significant progress was made...Read more

When Hurricane Katrina touched down near New Orleans 20 years ago on Aug. 29, 2005, I was just beginning my journey as a first-year medical student. I remember watching the footage of families stranded on rooftops, hospitals submerged, and the bodies of people and pets floating in the floodwaters.

I had not yet developed the language of public ...Read more

In 1874, during the brief era of Reconstruction, white people staged a racist uprising in New Orleans. Angered by the presence of African Americans in law enforcement and other government posts, members of the Crescent City White League stormed the local customs house and killed 11 police officers.

Two years later, a contested presidential ...Read more

King Gavin is at it again!

That’s the cry coming from Republicans across California as Newsom pushes the state Legislature to approve a November special election like none this state has ever seen. Voters would have the chance to approve a congressional map drawn by Democrats hoping to wipe out GOP-held seats and counter Texas Gov. Greg ...Read more

Some of President Donald Trump’s ill-advised actions would be more shocking if there weren’t so many of them. But how much consternation can you expend over Trump’s firing of the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he didn’t like the labor statistics, while, shortly thereafter, he mobilizes the National Guard and takes...Read more

Nearly nine months after Donald Trump’s reelection, Democrats still can’t make sense of it. Only the faintest glimmers of a reset are visible. The only thing that might pass for a strategy seems to be the hope that, given time, voters will finally come to their senses: It’s the people who need to think again, not the politicians who are ...Read more

There can be wisdom in cliche. More than 120 years after philosopher George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” his well-known phrase remains an essential guide for national defense. Case in point: The French failed to draw the proper lessons from the brutal trench warfare of World War I and ...Read more

Without access to data that’s both objective and seen to be objective, financial markets and government policy are dangerously compromised.

So alarm over the recent firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer and the nomination of EJ Antoni, chief economist of the conservative Heritage Foundation, to succeed her is ...Read more

For leaders in business, failing to learn the lessons of a crisis can be disastrous. For leaders in government, when millions of lives are at risk, such disasters can be catastrophic. Unfortunately, that’s where the US is heading, thanks to the disagreement that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has with his boss, President Donald Trump.

A little ...Read more

For an early look at the culture wars, we suggest listening (if you can find it) to the 2002 interview with Gene Simmons, the Israel-born bass guitarist of Kiss, conducted by Terry Gross, the dignified host of NPR’s “Fresh Air.”

Things jumped the shark when the chat turned to the topic of the codpiece routinely worn on stage by Simmons, ...Read more

The democracy field is asking itself hard questions about direction, strategy and impact. This summer, I’ve had one-on-one conversations with over 25 professionals across the space as I sought to answer these questions for myself.

These professionals spanned generations, political affiliations, and domains of work: civics education, ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One accusation hurled at Gov. Gavin Newsom for his retaliatory redistricting move against President Donald Trump and Texas Republicans is that he’s overriding the will of California voters. Rubbish.

The flawed argument goes like this:

Californians — once upon a time — voted overwhelmingly to ban partisan ...Read more

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast, overwhelming levees and swallowing neighborhoods. The storm displaced some 1.5 million people, claimed over 1,800 human lives and left tens of thousands of animals either deceased or stranded.

Scenes in the media from that time—dogs pacing on rooftops and cats perched on...Read more

Vladimir Putin came to Alaska and got the red-carpet treatment, complete with a fighter-jet flyover and a warm presidential handshake. The state was an ironic location for a summit given Russia’s continuing seller’s remorse over having sold it to America in the mid-19th century. While expectations were low for a full ceasefire, most ...Read more

Let’s unpack our need to unpack the whole “woman on TikTok who fell in love with her psychiatrist” saga.

First the facts: Kendra Hilty recently posted 25 videos on TikTok in which she discussed her decision to end four years of 30-minute monthly sessions (most of them on Zoom) with a male psychiatrist who prescribed her medication. At ...Read more

When comedian Mike Birbiglia asked actor Bob Odenkirk whom he’s jealous of, the Chicago-area native gave an answer that left the podcast host speechless.

“Anyone who has little kids at home,” Odenkirk said.

“There’s no question,” he continued. “I knew what I was doing when I had kids growing up. I was being a dad. I mean, that ...Read more

Democrats, bless their hearts, keep trying to figure out the magic formula to stop President Donald Trump. But here’s a cold splash of reality: If Trump’s popularity ever collapses, it will probably be because of something completely beyond their control.

In 2020, it wasn’t some brilliant strategy that defeated Trump. It was COVID. A ...Read more