David Atkins

It’s something of an academic question and mere footnote to the presidential campaign, but there has been an open question whether Donald Trump is truly a racist in his heart, or if he merely plays at being one in order to win votes. Of course, there are many reasons to object to asking the question […]

Obamacare has become one of the great political Rorschach tests of our time. The far right (which now controls the vast majority of the GOP) sees in it a disaster of government intrusion into the private market. Centrists in line with Max Baucus and pre-presidential-run Mitt Romney see a healthy mix of public-private interests that […]

Republicans are wasting no time in showing the country that they’ll do anything to hamper basic governance in the event that Clinton wins the presidency.  While they’re not enthusiastic about helping Trump beat her in November, most Congressional Republicans are giving the signal that there will be unprecedented obstruction and no honeymoon period: That means […]

There are only so many things one can say about Trump’s unprecedented disaster of a presidential campaign before tedium sets in. “Trump just said something awful” is a near daily occurrence, and “Trump surrogate said something worse” could fill endless posts from now until election day. Even so, what’s amazing is that the sheer weight […]

Another day, another series of very bad polling updates for the Republican Party. First and foremost is the new CBS battleground tracker showing Clinton with sizable leads in Florida and New Hampshire, and within four points even in Georgia. Clinton’s lead is outside the margin of error in Florida at 5 points, and in blowout territory […]

One of the curious hallmarks of modern conservative culture is the stubborn adherence to ideology and “known truths” even in the face of obvious evidence to the contrary. A half century ago the stereotype was that liberals were the starry-eyed purveyors of untested ideologies and assertions about the essential goodness of human nature, even as […]

As confidence grows that Trump will lose in November, speculation is already beginning about the first 100 days of a new hypothetical Clinton administration. Top of the list is filling the Supreme Court vacancy left by the passing of justice Antonin Scalia. In theory, a Clinton Administration supported by a Democratic Senate majority should be […]

Donald Trump sees himself as a winner. Success is his brand. His most famous book is about coming out ahead in negotiations. He prides himself on his business acumen and ability to manage organizations as a chief executive officer. So it’s curious that his presidential campaign doesn’t seem to have any strategy to win at […]

Donald Trump can see the handwriting on the wall. The American people have judged him and found him wanting, and it appears that absent a surprising turnaround he is headed for a big defeat. So Trump is doing what he usually does in the face of adversity: dodging accountability, lashing out and fanning the flames of […]