The leaders and reprobates in Congress might get the headlines, but the real story lies in its boring, unimpressive middle.AP Photo/Susan WalshReptilian. Shameless. Greedy. Nauseating. Criminal.These are the types of adjectives that every so often—the interval between episodes never lasts long—are inspired by one story or another about this or that member of Congress.As it happens, we are in one of those seasons again. Perhaps you long ago relinquished your faith that most lawmakers are decent, conscientious, responsible people who are concerned first and above all with legislating in...…The leaders and reprobates in Congress might get the headlines, but the real story lies in its boring, unimpressive middle.AP Photo/Susan WalshReptilian. Shameless. Greedy. Nauseating. Criminal.These are the types of adjectives that every so often—the interval between episodes never lasts long—are inspired by one story or another about this or that member of Congress.As it happens, we are in one of those seasons again. Perhaps you long ago relinquished your faith that most lawmakers are decent, conscientious, responsible people who are concerned first and above all with legislating in...WW…

We learned something about ourselves on that street corner in Minneapolis.A decal pasted onto a street sign marks "George Floyd Avenue" at 38th St. and Chicago Avenue on June 18 in Minneapolis. | Stephen Maturen/Getty Images2020 will go down for me as the year I did not travel to Minnesota.Strictly speaking, it is more accurate to say this was the year when I did not travel to my version of Minnesota.My Minnesota is a crisp morning stroll in Northfield — which for decades has billed itself as the home of “Cows, Colleges, and Contentment” — while sipping a steaming cup to go from the Goodbye...…We learned something about ourselves on that street corner in Minneapolis.A decal pasted onto a street sign marks "George Floyd Avenue" at 38th St. and Chicago Avenue on June 18 in Minneapolis. | Stephen Maturen/Getty Images2020 will go down for me as the year I did not travel to Minnesota.Strictly speaking, it is more accurate to say this was the year when I did not travel to my version of Minnesota.My Minnesota is a crisp morning stroll in Northfield — which for decades has billed itself as the home of “Cows, Colleges, and Contentment” — while sipping a steaming cup to go from the Goodbye...WW…

It’s possible many people making the arguments against potential Biden appointees don’t know what they are arguing.President-elect Joe Biden delivers a Thanksgiving address at the Queen Theatre on Nov. 25, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. | Mark Makela/Getty ImagesRahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed are two longtime friends who both had high-level experience in the Clinton and Obama White House and now share another bond: Prominent voices on the left are urging President-elect Joe Biden not to bring them on for yet another tour of government service.As it happens, Emanuel and Reed in 2005 also co-authored...…It’s possible many people making the arguments against potential Biden appointees don’t know what they are arguing.President-elect Joe Biden delivers a Thanksgiving address at the Queen Theatre on Nov. 25, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. | Mark Makela/Getty ImagesRahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed are two longtime friends who both had high-level experience in the Clinton and Obama White House and now share another bond: Prominent voices on the left are urging President-elect Joe Biden not to bring them on for yet another tour of government service.As it happens, Emanuel and Reed in 2005 also co-authored...WW…

Could the daughter of one of the more reviled leaders in recent GOP history become the face of the party as soon as next year?Photo by Tom Williams/CQ Roll CallEarlier this year, Liz Cheney’s ambitions focus.After Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi announced his retirement, Mitch McConnell and his team offered Cheney, the state’s sole House member and the chamber’s No. 3 GOP leader, what they and many of Cheney’s close allies thought was a no-brainer: a mostly clear path to the U.S. Senate seat in a reliably Republican state. The job comes with a larger microphone, they argued, and would set her up...…Could the daughter of one of the more reviled leaders in recent GOP history become the face of the party as soon as next year?Photo by Tom Williams/CQ Roll CallEarlier this year, Liz Cheney’s ambitions focus.After Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi announced his retirement, Mitch McConnell and his team offered Cheney, the state’s sole House member and the chamber’s No. 3 GOP leader, what they and many of Cheney’s close allies thought was a no-brainer: a mostly clear path to the U.S. Senate seat in a reliably Republican state. The job comes with a larger microphone, they argued, and would set her up...WW…

America needs to make a decisive break from the neurotic fixations of this presidency.A POLITICO illustration featuring Keith Richards in the 1970s and President Donald Trump. | POLITICO Illustration: Getty; APThe election was two weeks ago, and the key state projections that made it clear that Joe Biden is president-elect are now 10 days old. But Donald Trump is still coursing through your veins, isn’t he?All the signatures of Trump intoxication — the rush of indignation, the paranoid agitation, the hallucinatory blur of endless news cycles — are still powerfully in effect in American...…America needs to make a decisive break from the neurotic fixations of this presidency.A POLITICO illustration featuring Keith Richards in the 1970s and President Donald Trump. | POLITICO Illustration: Getty; APThe election was two weeks ago, and the key state projections that made it clear that Joe Biden is president-elect are now 10 days old. But Donald Trump is still coursing through your veins, isn’t he?All the signatures of Trump intoxication — the rush of indignation, the paranoid agitation, the hallucinatory blur of endless news cycles — are still powerfully in effect in American...WW…

What POLITICO reporters who cover politics from the ‘bottom up’ think about the election.More voters came out than ever in American history to dislodge Donald Trump from the White House. At the same time, his party largely preserved and, in many cases, fortified its advantages deep in the states. | Stephen Voss for PoliticoThere are two different ways of looking at how change happens in American politics. Some people put the emphasis on “top down,” while others think the better way to ponder long-term trends in government is “bottom up.”Students of top-down analysis typically look at the...…What POLITICO reporters who cover politics from the ‘bottom up’ think about the election.More voters came out than ever in American history to dislodge Donald Trump from the White House. At the same time, his party largely preserved and, in many cases, fortified its advantages deep in the states. | Stephen Voss for PoliticoThere are two different ways of looking at how change happens in American politics. Some people put the emphasis on “top down,” while others think the better way to ponder long-term trends in government is “bottom up.”Students of top-down analysis typically look at the...WW…

They could have changed the course of history, but slip-ups, flukes and freakish events intervened.Defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive Jan. 20, 2017, for the inauguration of Donald Trump. | Win McNamee via AP, PoolThe visitor looked to his left as he stepped onto Fifth Avenue but forgot that in America traffic flows the opposite direction than in his native England. He never saw the car coming.“I do not understand why,” Winston Churchill later said of being hit by a car that night in New York City in December 1931, “I was not broken like...…They could have changed the course of history, but slip-ups, flukes and freakish events intervened.Defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive Jan. 20, 2017, for the inauguration of Donald Trump. | Win McNamee via AP, PoolThe visitor looked to his left as he stepped onto Fifth Avenue but forgot that in America traffic flows the opposite direction than in his native England. He never saw the car coming.“I do not understand why,” Winston Churchill later said of being hit by a car that night in New York City in December 1931, “I was not broken like...WW…

By historical standards, Trump’s coverage is actually favorable, in one critical respect.President Donald Trump talks to the media on Sunday in Reno, Nev. | Alex Brandon/AP PhotoAs President Donald Trump heads into his final sprint to Election Day, nearly every news report notes that he is running behind in the polls. Journalists aren’t shying away from describing his wilder rhetoric as It’s not hard to find examples of anonymous “advisers” lamenting that Trump is not following anyone’s advice but his own.But there’s something easy to miss in the barrage of negative stories: By historical...…By historical standards, Trump’s coverage is actually favorable, in one critical respect.President Donald Trump talks to the media on Sunday in Reno, Nev. | Alex Brandon/AP PhotoAs President Donald Trump heads into his final sprint to Election Day, nearly every news report notes that he is running behind in the polls. Journalists aren’t shying away from describing his wilder rhetoric as It’s not hard to find examples of anonymous “advisers” lamenting that Trump is not following anyone’s advice but his own.But there’s something easy to miss in the barrage of negative stories: By historical...WW…

The president's grip on the party is loosening amid a coronavirus backlash and fears of an electoral bloodbath.Republicans in the main aren’t outright repudiating President Donald Trump. But they are effectively rolling their eyes in exasperation with him. | Patrick Semansky/AP PhotoFor Republicans, fearful of a possible electoral disaster just weeks away, it has become safe at last to diss Donald Trump — or at least to distance themselves from him in unmistakably purposeful ways.A barrage of barbed comments in recent days shows how markedly the calculus of fear has shifted in the GOP. For...…The president's grip on the party is loosening amid a coronavirus backlash and fears of an electoral bloodbath.Republicans in the main aren’t outright repudiating President Donald Trump. But they are effectively rolling their eyes in exasperation with him. | Patrick Semansky/AP PhotoFor Republicans, fearful of a possible electoral disaster just weeks away, it has become safe at last to diss Donald Trump — or at least to distance themselves from him in unmistakably purposeful ways.A barrage of barbed comments in recent days shows how markedly the calculus of fear has shifted in the GOP. For...WW…

His contempt for voters, Senate colleagues and tradition makes him the avatar of the politics of decline.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConell answers questions following a weekly Republican policy luncheon. | Win McNamee/Getty ImagesMitch McConnell may be driving American politics to the brink of insanity, but let’s assume that the majority leader himself is entirely sane.There are two possible reasons why it would be rational for him to act on the Supreme Court vacancy in a way that is so damaging to the reputation of the Senate, and so contemptuous of half of his Senate colleagues and of...…His contempt for voters, Senate colleagues and tradition makes him the avatar of the politics of decline.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConell answers questions following a weekly Republican policy luncheon. | Win McNamee/Getty ImagesMitch McConnell may be driving American politics to the brink of insanity, but let’s assume that the majority leader himself is entirely sane.There are two possible reasons why it would be rational for him to act on the Supreme Court vacancy in a way that is so damaging to the reputation of the Senate, and so contemptuous of half of his Senate colleagues and of...WW…