The murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have put Trump and his congressional enablers on the back foot. Senate Democrats may refuse to fund the Department of Homeland Security, and it is not even clear that the other appropriations bills will pass. Prediction markets now put the odds of a shutdown this week at […]
On October 1, 2025, the first day of the most recent government shutdown, Donald Trump’s net disapproval was 12 points. By the time the shutdown ended 6 weeks later, his net disapproval had risen to 16 points. Democrats should keep this in mind as the government funding wars heat up again. The Dems do not […]
The election results might pressure Republicans in congress to distance themselves from Trump, and they might pressure Trump himself to change course. I would not expect either factor to lead to an immediate course correction in the short run, but minor course corrections seem possible. The main reason not to expect immediate change by Republicans […]
I took constitutional law from Richard Fallon in the mid-1990s, and he subsequently became my favorite legal theorist. I am currently in the middle of his latest – and unfortunately last – book: The Changing Constitution: Constitutional Law in the Trump-Era Supreme Court. Fallon does a masterful job situating current doctrinal developments at the Court […]
There is nothing more important that regular folks like us can do to protect our democratic institutions than to show Trump and his congressional lickspittles that we oppose what he is doing and we will not be intimidated. For dates and times near you, see here. For an interesting discussion of the logic of protest, […]
Paul Campos has a post up asking: “What are the main sources of the immense amounts of social dissatisfaction that have fueled among other things the political ascent of the worst person in the history of American politics to the presidency?” He lists several factors: Campos’ discussion of these factors is worth reading. Obviously, there […]
We are in the middle of a government shutdown, and one point of contention between Democrats and Republicans is the extension of “enhanced” premium subsidies for policies purchased on the exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Yesterday Tyler Cowen put up a blog post titled “The unraveling of Obamacare?”. I haven’t followed […]
The philosopher Joseph Heath has a critical but thought-provoking review of Kōhei Saitō’s ecotopian book Slow Down. My takeaway is less pessimistic than Heath’s, but there are important lessons here for all of us: It’s discouraging to go into a classroom and find it full of students who believe, almost verbatim, every bad idea that […]
A recurring theme in shut-down commentary is that Democrats cannot trust Trump and congressional republicans to keep any deal they make to fund the government. This seems like a valid concern. Some commentators cite this as one of the main reasons for Democrats to refuse to fund the government. But unless the Democrats have a […]
Political wire: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (R) told MSNBC that President Trump “wants to send troops into American cities is because he wants to be able to take control of the 2026 elections.” Said Pritzker: “Now, if they’ve got troops in cities and it becomes a kind of norm for people, then it won’t be abnormal for […]