What should be the work of government for the next two years? It’s clear from last night’s results in Georgia that the Democrats, having flipped two more Senate seats, will have a slim majority (50/50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking ties). It’s also clear that despite the protests of the president and a dozen…
On Wednesday, the Congress will count Electoral College votes and declare Joe Biden the next US president. Some Republicans have joined the president in desperate attempts to overturn this result. Senator Ben Sasse was one of the first Republicans to release a statement decrying their efforts. I found his statement effective and clearly argued. How…
Donald Trump reluctantly signed the bill that provides Coronavirus relief payments and funds the government for the next nine months — but released a petulant statement along with it. The statement’s a little confusing, so I’ll provide a translation. First, some context. Democrat and Republican congressional leaders negotiated the bill with Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s Treasury…
The attorneys general of 46 states, plus DC, filed a federal antitrust suit against Facebook yesterday. The same day, the Federal Trade Commission announced a separate suit alleging anti-competitive practices. I think these suits will be hard to prove, and any remedies won’t fix the bigger problems with Facebook’s abuse of data and damage to…
In a one-sentence ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States rejected the Trump administration’s plea to overturn the election result in Pennsylvania. But what a sentence! The background: U.S. Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania filed a document to overturn the decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and nullify the election result in Pennsylvania, where…
Former national security advisor and confessed felon Michael Flynn tweeted his support for a manifesto that had been published as a full-page ad in the Washington Times. This ad, by the “We The People Convention,” is one of the most unhinged statements ever embraced by anyone close to power in America. It’s sedition. What is…
I have questions for the person who set up this Thanksgiving Day press opportunity for President Trump. Who thought a tiny desk and chair would look presidential? Who imagined that putting the presidential seal on the front of the desk would help? Who imagined that the taped-together mike stand and scuffed carpet would enhance the…
I chose to spend five weeks writing about politics leading up the election, in a collection of posts I called “The Rationalist Papers.” The posts succeeded in their goals. Now that the stress and excitement of the election is (mostly) behind us, I’ll take you inside what happened and why it worked — and what…
Weeks after the networks declared the presidential election for Joe Biden, the administrator of the US General Services Administration made the decision to release congressionally appropriated resources and cash to fund the Biden transition team. This required her to take two contradictory positions at once: that Biden won, and that Trump had not yet lost….