Section: New Republic (USA)
Biden’s Super PAC Buddy Has a Paul Manafort Problem
Earlier this week, Joe Biden’s campaign, struggling on the polling and fundraising fronts alike, finally dropped its reservations about relying on super PACs for support. The details of the new Unite the Country PAC, both in terms of reach and fundraising efforts, remain scant; a bland ad for the PAC featured little more than stock photos...
Trump’s Claims About Fighting Corruption Are a Joke
In February of 2017, just a few weeks into President Donald Trump’s reign, GOP legislators employed powers granted to them under the 1996 Congressional Review Act (CRA)—a legislative tactic described, charitably, as “rarely used”—to repeal a number of rules and regulations established by federal agencies, with a laser focus on those enacted...
Facing Up to the Past, German-Style
A compulsion to find meaning in chaos has produced many Theories of Trumpism. Initially shocked by such an erratic candidate and a startlingly racist campaign immediately following the United States’ first black president, some observers have, with hindsight, deemed the anomaly not only explainable, but even predictable. Backlash to Obama,...
Trump’s Empty Claims About Fighting Corruption Are a Joke
In February of 2017, just a few weeks into President Donald Trump’s reign, GOP legislators employed powers granted to them under the 1996 Congressional Review Act (CRA)—a legislative tactic described, charitably, as “rarely used”—to repeal a number of rules and regulations established by federal agencies, with a laser focus on those enacted...
Mega-Donor Ambassadors Are Corrupting American Diplomacy
Those who’ve followed the Ukraine scandal are familiar by now with Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. He’s a key player in the alleged scheme to subvert President Donald Trump’s political opponents by coercing Ukraine into launching sham investigations. Unlike many of the other figures in the scandal,...
Trump Is Using His Ukraine Playbook Against the Senate
There was an intriguing recurring theme in Bill Taylor’s testimony for the impeachment inquiry earlier this week. The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine laid out in his 15-page opening statement how President Donald Trump and his allies manipulated U.S. foreign policy to undermine his domestic political opponents. Time and time again, Taylor...
Why Anonymous’s Trump Tell-All Is a Sham
A whistleblower may very well end Donald Trump’s presidency. The administration official who flagged Trump’s attempt to get the Ukrainian president to target one of his potential opponents in the 2020 race set off a cascading series of events that has resulted in an impeachment inquiry. The official’s identity remains unknown,...
The Senate Has No Good Reason To Acquit Trump
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is preparing for the first impeachment trial of a president in two decades. There are plenty of details to work out, but the overarching structure will likely be familiar. A group of House lawmakers will first present the articles of impeachment to 100 senators and lay out their case for convicting President...
The Weapons America Is Leaving Behind in Syria
Less than a week after President Donald Trump formally ordered the U.S. military to withdraw the majority of its forces from Syria, the Pentagon carried out an unusual mission in the northeastern part of the country. A pair of F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets delivered a precision airstrike, not to protect a joint U.S.-Turkish patrol on the border...
The Easiest Impeachment Inquiry of All Time
President Donald Trump had a pretty bad week. Multiple current and former officials defied his defiance of the House’s impeachment inquiry to give damaging testimony about his Ukraine scheme. Rudy Giuliani, his legal fixer of sorts, is reportedly under investigation by federal prosecutors for lobbying without registering as a foreign agent....
