This Week in Impeachment: Why Can’t Republicans Agree on What Happened with Ukraine?

According to a durable truism of American politics, Republicans find it much easier than Democrats to unite around a single political message. Not all nuggets of conventional wisdom are reliably accurate, but this one has substantial truth behind it: the collective self-definition of the Republican Party as the agent of […] Read more »

Law-and-order or conspiracy? How political parties frame the impeachment battle will help decide Trump’s fate

Tallies are displayed as House members vote on a resolution on impeachment procedure on Oct. 31, 2019. AP/Andrew Harnik Jennifer Mercieca, Texas A&M University The presidential impeachment battle moves to a new stage on Wednesday, when the House will conduct the first public, televised testimony. The nation is divided: Although […] Read more »

How the Trump Campaign Used Facebook Ads to Amplify His ‘Invasion’ Claim

President Trump’s re-election campaign has harnessed Facebook advertising to push the idea of an “invasion” at the southern border, amplifying the fear-inducing language about immigrants that he has also voiced at campaign rallies and on Twitter. Since January, Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign has posted more than 2,000 ads on Facebook […] Read more »

What’s Missing from the “Ideology vs. Electability” Debate

We’re still in the early stages of the 2020 presidential campaign, but a common media frame has emerged already: will Democrats prioritize pragmatic electability when selecting a challenger to President Trump, or will the party instead prize ideological purity? Again and again, news coverage of the Democratic nomination contest has […] Read more »