Political scientist Seth Masket’s new book explains how history and party mechanics made Donald Trump’s ascent inevitable. The party may never recover.
Politics
Posted inBooks
The Washington Monthly Announces Finalists for 2026 Kukula Award Book Review Prize
One-of-a-kind journalism prize, named in honor of the late Monthly book editor, honors exemplary nonfiction book reviewing that elucidates key issues of our times.
Posted inPolitics
Inside Colbert’s Success
My wife, Emily Lazar, worked at both The Colbert Report and The Late Show and she helps me look under the hood.
Posted inNovember/December 2025
How the Democrats Can Play Offense
The November/December issue is here.
Posted inPodcast
How Regional Inequality Explains Our Polarized Politics
Nearly 1 in 6 Americans lives in a “distressed” community. Where they live and what they experience could explain a lot about the rise of Trump.
Posted inPolitics
The Washington Monthly Newsletter: March 19, 2024
How the Washington Monthly came to publish the piece Guernica killed.
Posted inPolitics
Trump, DeSantis Say They Just Want Peace in Ukraine. Don’t Fall for It.
Like Charles Lindbergh and the original “America First” crowd, they love what the authoritarians are selling.
Posted inPolitics
“A New Model of Democracy”
Yale scholar Hélène Landemore has helped France with their government-established but citizen-run panels that recommend policies to the country’s legislature. One day, Landemore hopes, these assemblies will enact policy, too. Will her “open democracy” ideas sell in America?
Posted inHealth Care
A Veterans Health Commission Dies an Early Death
The panel was supposed to weigh in on the fate of VA hospitals, but threats to close facilities led senators to kill it.
Posted inNovember/December 2021
The Deal of a Convert
What public figures gain, or lose, when they switch religions.
