MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Ed Kilgore

  1. john lewis
    John Lewis’s Lifelong Struggle for Voting Rights Isn’t OverOnce it looked like Obama’s election represented the culmination of John Lewis’s career. A new documentary shows battles for old causes persist.
  2. vision 2020
    Rove Giving Trump Advice He Cannot TakeThe Boy Genius seems to be explaining in advance why Trump lost.
  3. california
    Affirmative Action and Voting Rights Are on California’s November BallotAs always, the California airwaves will be full of ads for ballot measures that have nothing to do with who wins what office.
  4. politics
    Another QAnon Sympathizer Knocks Off GOP Congressman in Colorado PrimaryDespite a Trump endorsement, Scott Tipton was no match for the owner of a gun-themed restaurant called Shooters Grill who defied public-health orders.
  5. supreme court
    Trump Wants Another Supreme Court Nomination Fight Before NovemberTrump thinks a confirmation battle could excite his base, but it would work both ways, particularly among Democrats who remember Merrick Garland.
  6. vision 2020
    Trump’s Plan: Run As Outsider Against ‘Incumbent’ Non-President BidenTrump of all people cannot overcome his incessant claims of presidential greatness and campaign for reelection as some sort of insurgent.
  7. coronavirus stimulus
    As the Pandemic Persists, Mitch McConnell’s Senate DawdlesAs vacation looms, Senate Republicans haven’t even begun work on their version of a second stimulus bill, despite a new spike in coronavirus cases.
  8. supreme court
    Roberts Rejoins Supreme Court Conservatives to Boost Religious SchoolsIt was a relatively narrow decision but it showed where a future Supreme Court committed to expanding religious privileges might go.
  9. vision 2020
    Mask Requirement Imposed by Jacksonville, Trump’s Handpicked Convention CityIt’s looking like Trump’s dream for an acceptance speech in a packed hall of unmasked fans is running into local opposition again.
  10. supreme court
    Supreme Court Restricts Independence of CFPB, But Doesn’t Kill ItIt was a glass-half-full, glass-half-empty decision that displeased those who want to kill or insulate independent agencies.
  13. supreme court
    Supreme Court Rejects Louisiana Abortion RestrictionsIn the end, Chief Justice Roberts couldn’t go along with a quick reversal of a recent precedent.
  14. 2020 elections
    Biden’s Surge Could Flip the Senate — and Boost His PresidencyA rising tide from the top of the ticket may lift Democrats to control of the Senate, which would make a successful Biden administration more likely.
  15. vision 2020
    Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Force Texas to Let Non-Seniors Vote by MailTexas Democrats had a novel argument based on the 26th amendment’s ban on age discrimination in voting. But the Supreme Court’s not ready to go there.
  16. monuments
    Georgia Politician Argues for Keeping All Statues — Even of Hitler or SatanGOP congressional candidate Marjorie Greene shows that floodgates arguments over removing monuments cut both ways.
  17. obamacare
    Trump, Intent on Self-Destruction, Asks Supreme Court to Kill ObamacareWhen you’re struggling in the polls amid a pandemic, renewing your fight to strip health coverage from millions of Americans isn’t a great move.
  18. vision 2020
    Are Trump’s Rallies for an Audience of One?With no evidence that his rallies make any real difference, you have to wonder if they are held strictly for him to charge up on the crowd’s cheers.
  19. vision 2020
    Texas Republicans Holding in-Person Convention in a Coronavirus Hot SpotIf things go wrong in Houston, it could be an omen for the packed hall Trump is insisting on for his convention in Jacksonville.
  20. police reform
    Senate Democrats Stall Republican Police-Reform Bill to Force NegotiationsBipartisan negotiations will have to occur unless both parties are satisfied with their positions on this subject going into November.
  21. vision 2020
    Democrats Pull Trigger on a (Mostly) Virtual ConventionBiden will speak in Milwaukee, but without delegates. Neither, Democrats hope, will a coronavirus outbreak be present, which Republicans can’t assure.
  22. vision 2020
    Trump Needs an Opponent to Demonize. It’s Hard to Do That to Uncle Joe.Trump has tried and failed so far to undermine Joe Biden the way he did Hillary Clinton. He may get really desperate.
  25. vision 2020
    Trump Is Now the 2020 UnderdogThe incumbent’s path to reelection is decidedly narrowing.
  26. 2020 elections
    On a Big Primary Night, It’s Time to — WaitGet used to it, media. With voting by mail rising, knowing the results of an election an hour after the polls close is over.
  27. vision 2020
    Biden Ally Chris Coons Cracks Open a Door to Filibuster ReformIt’s possible that a President Biden wouldn’t have to spend too much time begging Republicans not to remain obstructionists.
  28. coronavirus stimulus
    Will We Get a Second Round of Coronavirus Stimulus Checks?Support for a second check has dropped in the Senate, particularly after the May Jobs Report, and the timetable for action has slowed down.
  29. abortion
    Is the Constitutional Right to Choose Abortion Doomed?Any day now, the Court will announce a decision on a Louisiana law designed to shut down abortion clinics. John Roberts holds the swing vote.
  30. vision 2020
    Trump Puts the Fear of the Coronavirus Into JacksonvilleThe city to which the president moved his big convention celebration isn’t entirely happy about the risk to public health it poses.
  31. vision 2020
    The Tulsa Rally Was a Really Bad Sign for TrumpThe fiasco in Oklahoma sent a lot of terrible messages about the president and his prospects for reelection.
  32. what's past is prologue
    What Will It Take to Make Juneteenth a National Holiday?The long struggle for Martin Luther King Jr. Day offers lessons that could ease the path to making Juneteenth a federal holiday.
  33. politics
    Republicans Defend Confederate Statues in the CapitolWhile Democrats say that 11 traitors who fought their country to defend and expand slavery don’t need to be commemorated in the Capitol.
  34. supreme court
    Supreme Court Thwarts Trump’s Effort to Kill DACAThe Court rebuked Trump for the second time this week, blocking him from ending the program that protects Dreamers from deportation, for now.
  37. vision 2020
    Republicans Will Fight to Stop Expanded Voting by Mail in NovemberDue to the coronavirus, most state primaries featured expanded vote-by-mail options, which Trump opposes. They may be nixed for the general election.
  38. police reform
    Competing Police-Reform Bills Quickly Emerge in CongressThe biggest potential deal-breaker is the Democrats’ call for stripping police officers of “qualified immunity” against lawsuits.
  39. intelligencer chats
    Should Biden Throw Election-Map Calculus Out the Window With His Veep Pick?What the Democratic nominee should be considering as he ponders his big decision.
  40. vision 2020
    In Trump Years, It Feels Like Late in His Second TermThe intensity of the Trump presidency may mean he is wearing out his welcome in just one term — which took Bush two terms, according to polling.
  41. d.c. statehood
    Congress to Vote on D.C. Statehood for the First Time in DecadesIt would likely take a Democratic Senate plus filibuster reform to become law, but the cause of making D.C. the 51st state remains alive.
  42. police reform
    Trump Signs Police Reform Executive Order, But Calls for More ‘Law and Order’The president’s rambling remarks about his modest police reform executive order left the impression that his heart wasn’t quite in it.
  43. vision 2020
    Why Do Trump Supporters Act Like His Reelection Is Certain?For reasons varying from a Trumpian infatuation with “winning” to thoughts of contesting a loss, many Republicans act as though it’s a done deal.
  44. 2020 elections
    GOP Congressman Who Officiated Same-Sex Marriage Ousted in Drive-Thru ConventionVirginia’s Denver Riggelman offended conservatives so badly, even support from Trump and Falwell couldn’t save him.
  45. lgbtq rights
    Supreme Court: LGBTQ Workers Protected by Anti-Discrimination LawsThe 6-3 decision is a big win for equality, and a big loss for the Trump administration and the Christian right.
  46. vision 2020
    What We Can Do to Stop Voting Chaos in NovemberTime is running out and options are limited, but there are still steps we can take to protect voting rights.
  49. vision 2020
    Biden Shouldn’t Obsess Over Checking Boxes for His Veep PickBiden should look at the whole person and her character and qualifications for the job — unlike what John McCain did when he picked Sarah Palin.
  50. black lives matter
    Trump’s ‘Baby Lives Matter’ Onesies Part of Tradition of Pro-Life Co-optingThe merch was designed to both disrespect BLM and please the anti-abortion movement, which has a history of appropriating civil-rights rhetoric.
  51. vision 2020
    Why Biden Needs to Win BigGiven Trump’s Electoral College advantage and the need to win Senate races, Biden must have as big a national popular vote lead as he can get.
  52. vision 2020
    Republicans Will Just Recycle Their 2016 Party PlatformWho needs a platform when Republicans have a leader whose every erratic step defines them?
  53. vision 2020
    Jon Ossoff Wins Senate Primary in GeorgiaThe 2017 wunderkind is back, having won a Senate primary without a runoff. He’s part of the most promising Georgia Democratic ticket of this century.
  54. george floyd protests
    Republicans May ‘Defund the Police’ With Budget Cuts Forced by the CoronavirusRepublicans blocking aid to state and local governments are hurting their friends in blue.
  55. racism
    Trump Angrily Overrules Talk of Changing Confederate Names on Army BasesIs Trump returning to the sympathy for neo-Confederates he showed during the Charlottesville violence?
  56. 2020 elections
    GOP Extremists Advance Toward CongressOne runoff qualifier, Matt Gurtler, is out there, but another, Marjorie Greene is a QAnon ally and runs ads so violent that Facebook banned one.
  57. vision 2020
    Report: Republicans Moving Trump’s Convention Celebration to JacksonvilleBoring parts of the event will still be held in Charlotte, but Trump wants the big moment to be in a place run by his party.
  58. george floyd protests
    The Army Is Finally Taking the Names of Traitors Off of Its BasesAmerica may finally be repudiating the idea that the Confederacy — and the Neo-Confederacy — were honorable parts of the national legacy.
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