David Atkins

One of the challenges in writing about gun violence in the United States is the repetitive nature of it. Every time one of these preventable massacres occurs, writers of reasonable political intelligence point out some basic obvious and commonsense truths. Then nothing is done. Then the next entirely predictable massacre takes place, and the Right […]

There is a broadening schism in the activist community between those who focus on nuts-and-bolts electoral and legislative politics, and those who spend their energy on issue-area visibility and engagement. Much like the storied separation between hacks and wonks, the rift between the two camps has been growing wider over the years. Within the Netroots […]

A few months ago I was adamant in my belief that Scott Walker would be the GOP nominee. Despite my consistent stance that political professionals underestimate Donald Trump, I’m also not inclined to believe he’ll be the nominee in the end. Republicans tend ultimately to gravitate back to an establishment figure after making flirtations with […]

Billions of pixels have been spilled about Trump, Fiorina, the radical extremism of the GOP base and the fecklessness of Republican establishment candidates. But while numerous ad hoc explanations exist for the bizarre way the GOP primary is playing out, the simplest story is often the most overlooked. Traditionally, hardcore movement conservatives find themselves split […]

In the wake of county clerk Kim Davis’ refusal to give out marriage licenses to same sex couples a series of internet memes circulated with individuals in jobs that required them to do things they preferred not to do, but did their job anyway. It’s a funny concept, but one that doesn’t apply to Republicans […]

While many political prognosticators continued to underestimate Donald Trump after the second GOP debate, one thing was clear to everyone: Carly Fiorina delivered a deeply impressive performance. It was only superficially impressive, of course: almost everything she said during the debate was false. But then again, that could be said for almost every GOP candidate […]

Political professionals and pundits on both sides of the aisle must by now realized how disastrous for their interests and for American democracy the last two Republican debate spectacles have been. Establishment Republicans have watched as two debates in a row have elevated the stature of opportunistic outsiders like Trump, Carson and Fiorina at the […]

Ed Kilgore covered some of this ground yesterday, but it bears repeating: the majority of pundits continue to woefully misunderstand the Republican base, leading astray most of their predictions and analysis about Republican campaign politics. As Donald Trump continued to rise in the polls, most talking heads dubbed it an evanescent phenomenon, calling it the […]

Two related stories cry out for attention today. First, that Jeb Bush is struggling to regain the perception of inevitability within the Republican field that he once had, and that Mitt Romney enjoyed in 2008. Second, that according to the latest NBC poll, Bernie Sanders now leads Hillary Clinton by 9 in New Hampshire and […]

There aren’t many tools in the arsenal of the powerless to to affect the actions of the powerful. One of them, of course, is the ballot box. Another is public protest. But when the power of money is so great that public outrage fails to get results and legislators are unable to create enough change […]