Few figures have been subject to more demonization over the last few months than FBI director James Comey. When Comey refused to indict Clinton over her emails, outraged conservatives treated it as a coverup. When he lashed Clinton verbally over them, liberals were incensed. When Comey released the letter to Congress last week informing them […]
David Atkins
Follow David on Twitter @DavidOAtkins. David Atkins is a Washington Monthly contributing writer, activist, and research professional living in Santa Barbara as well as an elected DNC Member from California. He is president of The Pollux Group, a qualitative research firm.
Posted inPolitical Animal
Could Hillary Clinton Keep Daylight Savings Time Permanent?
It’s that time of year again: the time to–for some reason–switch our clocks ahead an hour, gaining an hour of sleep but losing an hour of daylight. Daylight Savings Time is a long-obsolete wartime observance designed to save energy spent on artificial light. While there might have been some merit to the idea in the past, in […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
2nd Amendment Republicans Freak Out Over Nonexistent Gun at Trump Rally
Donald Trump got a scare tonight and was rushed off stage at a rally in Reno, Nevada, after some of his fans thought an assassination attempt was being made. Someone apparently thought they saw a firearm and shouted “gun!” after which secret service agents responded quickly and professionally. No gun was ever found, and the whole […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Trump Would Be a Radical Policy Disaster
This dyspeptic election is finally coming to an end in just a few days amid ugliness the likes of which has not been seen in modern American history. This nastiness has focused on the personal and the irrelevant, from the ridiculous non-scandal of Clinton’s emails to the revolting but ultimately superficial fact that Donald Trump […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Polls are Tighter…But Democrats Should Be Optimistic
National and state polls have certainly tightened in the last week between Trump and Clinton. CBS and YouGov have Clinton +3, ABC/WaPo has Clinton +2, and IBD/TIPP is tied. GOP outlier Rasmussen has Trump +3, and the wacky LA Times/USC tracker has Trump +5. What’s important isn’t so much what the absolute values of these numbers are, so […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
A Hunch About Republicans, Cities and “Voter Fraud”
There has been much alarm and amusement about the fact that apparently over 70% of Republicans think that the election could be “stolen” from Donald Trump. As Trump ratchets up the rhetoric claiming the election is “rigged” against him and the GOP continues to pound the “voter fraud” drum despite the evidence showing that it basically […]
Posted inFeatured, Political Animal
It’s All About the Downballot Now
The presidential race looks over — but there are plenty of other important ones to care about.
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Left and the Right Agree: Stop the AT&T / Time Warner Merger
One of the few positives to come out of this ugly election cycle is the emergence of a truly bipartisan anti-corporate populism. Whereas the 1990s saw both Democrats and Republicans come together in support of financial industry deregulation, corporate vertical integration and harmful free trade deals, this decade has seen an about face in which […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Trump’s Toxic Personality Destroyed His Last Chance for a Comeback
This morning I wrote that Donald Trump’s only prayer of turning the presidential race around lay in shifting to the double-sided populism he should have employed all along, instead of wallowing in the bigoted morass of the alt right. Today Trump delivered a speech at Gettysburg designed to tap into some of that populist potential. […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Battle for Clinton Administration Personnel Begins Now–Not After the Election
I have long noted that with the Senate likely to be nearly evenly divided and the House still in GOP hands, the greatest good a Democratic administration can do will be via the Executive Branch. When Clinton used the notion that she could better shepherd legislation through Congress as a talking point against Sanders during […]
