According to writer Peter Baker, the 2024 general election matchup that “seems likely between President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump is about fundamentally disparate visions of America.” This seems like the understatement of the year, but Baker’s New […]
American politics
The Author’s Corner with Scott Kamen
Scott Kamen is Assistant Professor of History at the University of New Mexico, Valencia. This interview is based on his new book, From Union Halls to the Suburbs: Americans for Democratic Action and the Transformation of Postwar Liberalism (University of […]
What has happened to the “Kennedy name” in American politics?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running as an independent candidate for President of the United States. One recent poll has him at 22% in a three-way race with Biden and Trump. His father, Robert F. Kennedy, was a United States […]
The Author’s Corner with David Houpt
David Houpt is Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. This interview is based on his new book, To Organize the Sovereign People: Political Mobilization in Revolutionary Pennsylvania (University of Virginia Press, 2023). JF: What led […]
The party of nihilism
Nihilism: “the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.” Here is a taste of Peter Wehner’s recent piece at The New York Times titled “Republicans Have Chosen Nihilism”: Mr. [Allan] Bloom believed a truly […]
What is it like to be Nebraska GOP Congressman Don Bacon today?
Don Bacon represents Nebraska’s 2nd congressional district. Yesterday he was the first Republican member of Congress to refuse to vote for Jim Jordan as Speaker of the House. And then this happened to his wife: Here is Jordain Carney, Sarah […]
The Author’s Corner with Melissa Blair
Melissa Blair is Associate Professor and Department Chair of History at Auburn University. This interview is based on her new book, Bringing Home the White House: The Hidden History of Women who Shaped the Presidency in the Twentieth Century (University […]
The Author’s Corner with Kathryn Cramer Brownell
Kathryn Cramer Brownell is Associate Professor of History at Purdue University. This interview is based on her new book, 24/7 Politics: Cable Television and the Fragmenting of America from Watergate to Fox News (Princeton University Press, 2023). JF: What led […]
Liz Cheney on American politics: “we’re electing idiots”
Idiot: “A foolish or stupid person.” Here is John Wagner at The Washington Post: Ex-congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) offered a blunt assessment of her former profession Monday night: “What we’ve done in our politics is create a situation where we’re […]
The Author’s Corner with Claire Arcenas
Claire Arcenas is Associate Professor of History at the University of Montana. This interview is based on her new book, America’s Philosopher: John Locke in American Intellectual Life (University of Chicago Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write America’s […]
Are the political parties realigning?
Yes. Here is Josh Kraushaar at Axios: Shifts in the demographics of the two parties’ supporters — taking place before our eyes — are arguably the biggest political story of our time. The big picture: Republicans are becoming more working class […]
Is fusion voting the answer to our political partisanship?
Here is Blake Hounshell at The New York Times: When Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, writing for the Supreme Court majority in a landmark 1997 case, rejected a minor party’s demand that it be allowed to nominate candidates who were already […]
The future of Trumpism
William Kristol believes Trumpism will be around for a long time. Here is a taste of his piece today at The Bulwark: We are now six years into the Trump era and one clearly sees—in the donor and media ecosystems, […]
“He rose to prominence as an ambitious plodder — as someone difficult for his colleagues to attack because he never had anything remotely interesting to say”
Read more about what Washington Post columnist and Michael Gerson had to say about House majority leader Kevin McCarthy: Let’s take a moment from the lightning pace of the news cycle to reflect on a disturbing fact of American life: […]
On “vicious political disagreement” and civic life
Here is a taste of Quinta Jurecic‘s piece at The Atlantic: Recently, pundits and journalists have tended to frame worries over the presence of violence in American politics as a question of whether the United States is slipping into a second civil war. There are […]
Why the McCarthy anti-Trump audio won’t hurt him politically
In case you missed it, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said some negative things about his supreme commander, Donald Trump, in the immediate wake of the January 6, 2022 insurrection. To quote the New Republic e-mail blast I received yesterday, […]
America’s four-party system
Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon Jr. identifies four political factions functioning within our two-party system: The Trump Party (Trump, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Fox News and other conservative cable outlets, conservative talk radio). The GOP Old Guard (Mitch McConnell, Mitt […]
The Author’s Corner with John Leshy
John Leshy is Emeritus Harry D. Sunderland and Distinguished Professor of Real Property Law at UC Hastings College of the Law. This interview is based on his new book, Our Common Ground: A History of America’s Public Lands (Yale University […]
The Author’s Corner with Jesse Tarbert
Jesse Tarbert is an independent historian. This interview is based on his new book, When Good Government Meant Big Government: The Quest to Expand Federal Power, 1913–1933 (Columbia University Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write When Good Government Meant Big […]
Is there a “Latino vote”?
In a recent piece at The Atlantic, historian Geraldo Cadava debunks the myth of the “Latino vote.” Here is a taste: Americans of all races are engaging in debates about our national origins because we sense that something is broken. […]