We don’t yet know who will replace retiring Paul Ryan as House speaker or when. What we can say, though, is that whoever wants the job should be prepared to see his or her popularity tank. The American public has a tendency to turn on whomever is elected to the […] Read more »
Is Nancy Pelosi unpopular because she’s a woman — or because she was speaker of the House?
On March 13, Conor Lamb delighted most Democrats with his apparent upset win in the special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District. But one of Lamb’s campaign promises had raised eyebrows: The candidate openly endorsed replacing Nancy Pelosi as leader of the House Democrats, perhaps because she has long been […] Read more »
The Shutdown Lesson People Seem To Have Trouble Learning
… The idea that every shutdown has political “winners” and “losers” is an oversimplification; historically, the compromises that emerge from these standoffs have often allowed people on both sides to point at something that they could claim as at least a small victory. That said, the side that has consistently […] Read more »
The Two Cracks In The Republican Party
Donald Trump promised to come to Washington and get government working again. But the stunning failure of President Trump and Paul Ryan’s first legislative priority, the American Health Care Act, reveals that he underestimated a unique fracture of the modern Republican Party. Yes, moderate and very conservative Republicans were against […] Read more »
Maybe Republicans Really Are In Disarray
… We’re inclined to give more attention to theories of the 2016 campaign that (in the manner of testable scientific hypotheses) were proposed before it began. And we give more credence to narratives that rely on evidence other than polls, since polls just aren’t very predictive of much at this […] Read more »
Republicans Like Paul Ryan, But Will They Turn on Him?
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan is expected to step into the role of speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives later this week, and he will do so as a fairly well-known and well-liked figure within his own party. This could be a disorienting change from outgoing speaker, John Boehner, who […] Read more »