As recently as one month ago, Donald Trump was merely losing. Now he is flailing, trudging into the Independence Day weekend at the nadir of his presidency, trailing by double digits in recent polls and in danger of dragging the Republican Senate down with him. But there are still four […] Read more »
Why the Dukakis 1988 analogy is baloney
Most observers writing about President Donald Trump’s weak reelection standing note that George H.W. Bush was in a deeper hole yet managed to crawl out to win comfortably in 1988. They make the point that November is still months away, and things can change. But the 1988 case isn’t useful […] Read more »
How Front-Runners Can Fail
Former Vice President Joe Biden is the early front-runner in the 2020 Democratic presidential race — for the moment, at least. He leads in national polls and most surveys of the early primaries and caucuses, but if Biden were to falter, he wouldn’t be the first early primary front-runner to […] Read more »
How George H.W. Bush enabled the rise of the religious right
Following Wednesday’s state funeral for George H.W. Bush at Washington National Cathedral, the former president’s casket will be flown to Houston where a memorial service will be held at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church the following day. Unlike his son George W. Bush, the elder Bush, a lifelong Episcopalian, was less […] Read more »
Bush Made Willie Horton an Issue in 1988, and the Racial Scars Are Still Fresh
The tributes to former President George Bush in recent days have focused on his essential decency and civility, and his embrace of others, including even his onetime opponents. But the “last gentleman,” as he has been called, was not always so gentle. Mr. Bush’s successful campaign for the presidency in […] Read more »
Dissecting George H.W. Bush’s Unusual Electoral Record
President George H. W. Bush, who passed away last week, achieved a number of important accomplishments in public life: He signed into law both the Americans With Disabilities Act and Clean Air Act, and negotiated for the North American Free Trade Agreement. But his political career is also marked by […] Read more »