Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen believes that Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the House Democrats, should be Speaker of the House. Why? Because she believes there are actually THREE parties in the House: The Freedom Caucus, the Old Republican Party, […]
GOP
Any House member who voted to certify the 2020 election has no real chance of being Speaker of the House in today’s GOP
Earlier today, the GOP caucus chose Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer as its candidate for Speaker of the House. Hours later Emmer dropped out of the running. This leaves five candidates: Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee Mark […]
Speaker of the House George W. Bush?
As of the publication of this post the House of Representatives has been without a Speaker for 13 days and roughly 17 hours. Later today, the House will convene to vote on Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s candidacy. Last night, Kentucky […]
Steve Scalise drops out of Speaker race
Yesterday the Republican Party nominated Lousiana’s Steve Scalise as their choice to replace Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. Today Scalise withdrew his name from consideration. Here is CNN: Rep. Steve Scalise announced he was dropping out of the speaker’s race […]
Political thinkers weigh-in on the ousting of Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy is no longer the Speaker of the House. What happened? Politico has gathered some experts to discuss the current state of the Republican Party. Contributors include historians Mary Frances Berry, Joanne Freeman, and Joshua Zeitz. Here is Freeman: […]
The GOP clownshow rolls on
In 1910, the House of Representatives voted to remove Speaker of the House Joseph Cannon, an anti-progressive Republican (as opposed to the progressive Republican presidents Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft) from Illinois. Here is Hillsdale College historian Joseph Postell: […]
Every candidate on the stage at tonight’s GOP debate should go after Trump
Tonight is the second presidential primary debate. Donald Trump will not be there. He really doesn’t have to be there. He has a massive lead in the polls. Why would any political adviser suggest that the former president attend this […]
Conquering the wilderness, building a city on a hill, and tonight’s GOP debate
Historian Peter Mancall will be looking for references to the Puritans in tonight’s GOP presidential primary debate. He found several in the first debate. Here is a taste of his piece at Zocalo Public Square: The second Republican debate will […]
Who will be on the GOP debate stage tomorrow night?
The second GOP presidential primary debate on Wednesday night will include Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tim Scott. Donald Trump will not attend. Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson did not make the […]
Prolifers are outraged about Trump’s abortion comments on “Meet the Press”
I wrote yesterday: Essentially, Trump is throwing the pro-life movement under the bus. He and his team believe that they can win in 2024 with a more moderate pro-life view on abortion. To put this more crudely, pro-life conservative evangelicals […]
Cornel West is at 2% in a new Wall Street Journal poll
According to a new poll released today by The Wall Street Journal, Joe Biden (46%) and Donald Trump (46%) are running neck and neck in a potential 2024 presidential matchup. But when support for Green Party candidate Cornel West is […]
Trump’s 2024 calendar
It’s going to be an interesting year. CNN has mapped it out: January 15 – E. Jean Carroll civil defamation trial begins; Iowa caucuses January 23 – Possible New Hampshire primary February 8 – Nevada caucuses February 24 – South Carolina primary February […]
Trump’s court trials are his campaign
This morning we learned that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has scheduled Donald Trump’s election interference trial to commence on March 4, 2024. The next day fourteen states will hold GOP primaries. This day is often called Super Tuesday and […]
Vivek Ramaswamy: The United States won World War II because FDR got polio
Watch GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on the Jordan Peterson Show: I like to teach my students that two things can indeed be true at the same time. But not in this case.
Did New York Times columnist David Brooks just endorse Nikki Haley for the GOP presidential nomination?
It sure looks like it. Here is a taste of his column today: I have a bunch of friends and acquaintances who are Never Trump, maybe-Trump or kind-of-Trump Republicans. They’ve been looking around for the candidate they can support and […]
Could Vivek Ramaswamy pass his own citizenship test?
I think the upstart GOP presidential candidate would get at least one question wrong. Here is College of the Holy Cross historian Ed O’Donnell: Here is the full context: See our take on Ramaswamy’s recent GOP debate performance here. George […]
Tonight’s GOP debate: Winners, losers, and Vivek
My favorite tweet about Vivek Ramaswamy’s performance at tonight’s GOP debate came from conservatvie William Kristol: Vivek Ramaswamy has no political experience. Tonight it showed: Ramaswamy’s schtick works well on cable news, but tonight he made every candidate on the […]
The GOP candidates debate abortion tonight
The GOP presidential candidates came out swinging tonight: Once these candidates got their prepared zingers out of the way, they settled down to have a fairly civil debate on abortion. (This may be becacuse the loud-mouthed Vivek Ramaswamy was not […]
New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu: Narrow the GOP field and beat Trump
A new presidential poll is out today. NBC News and the Des Moines Register show Trump with a 23 point lead in January 2024 Iowa caucuses: Yesterday CBS News dropped a national poll. It looks like this: New Hampshire governor […]
While the GOP candidates debate next week, Trump will be doing an online interview with Tucker Carlson
It is actually a brilliant political move. Trump does not need to debate the other candidates. Nothing good can come from an on-stage tussle with Chris Christie and Mike Pence. By doing an interview with Carlson, Trump can avoid debating […]