The Trump approach to politics may have captured the GOP permanently

… Recent work by political scientists characterizes the struggles within conservative parties as key for democracy. Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson’s book “Let Them Eat Tweets” addresses what they call “the conservative dilemma.” The core of this dilemma is that in modern democracies, the conservative party tends to be more […] Read more »

Trump’s Parting Gift to Joe Biden

Donald Trump’s chaotic final days in the White House could present President Joe Biden with a historic opportunity to broaden his base of public support and splinter Republican opposition to his agenda. Recent polls have repeatedly found that about three-fourths or more of GOP voters accept Trump’s disproven charges that […] Read more »

Trump leaves America at its most divided since the Civil War

Donald Trump ends his tumultuous presidency with the nation confronting the greatest strain to its fundamental cohesion since the Civil War. The January 6 assault on the US Capitol capped four years in which Trump relentlessly stoked the nation’s divisions and simultaneously provided oxygen for the growth of White nationalist […] Read more »

Americans, braced for violence at the inauguration, see democracy damaged after Trump

Most Americans are braced for violence at President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration Wednesday, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll finds, amid an overwhelming consensus that the nation’s democracy has been weakened since the last president was sworn in four years ago. The survey finds an anxious and embattled electorate, the divisions from […] Read more »

Biden wins wide approval for handling of transition, but persistent GOP skepticism on issues will cloud the opening of his presidency

Two-thirds of Americans approve of President-elect Joe Biden’s handling of the transition ahead of his inauguration Wednesday, but mixed confidence in his leadership on major issues along with President Trump’s hold on the Republican Party present sizable challenges for the early days of the new administration, a Washington Post-ABC News […] Read more »