Donald Trump has always reveled in being an outsider. His candidacy was a sharp rebuke to the elites, the establishment and status quo. Instead of relying on tired and dysfunctional institutions to bring change, Trump boasted at the GOP convention, “I alone can fix” the challenges facing the country. But, […] Read more »
Success Has Eluded Trump, But He Could Win a Republican Civil War
Amidst all the daily developments during what is usually a slow news month, some of the most consequential are those that indicate a continued deterioration in the relationship between President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress. … Trump may not get the ACA repeal bill or border wall that he […] Read more »
Mitch McConnell’s Favorables Down Among Republicans
As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s unsuccessful attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act have provoked the ire of many in the GOP, Republicans’ views of McConnell have become less positive. CONT. Justin McCarthy, Gallup Read more »
Trump Triangulates
… We’ve seen presidents triangulate before –alienating parts of their own coalition to attract a coalition of more moderate members of the other party. See, Bill Clinton post-1994. But, this is different. Trump has no desire to expand his coalition to include Democrats. This is a zero-sum game for him. […] Read more »
A Republican Party at war with itself hits the wall on health care
By any measure, the collapse of the Senate health-care bill represents an epic failure for the Republican Party and a major embarrassment for President Trump. The crusade that animated — and bound — conservatives for seven years proved to be a mirage, an objective without a solution. Power comes with […] Read more »
The Demise of the Health Care Bill Shows That Policy Still Matters
Over the past few years, it’s become fashionable among many political experts to deny that policy substance plays much of a role in motivating the electoral choices of the American public. The dominant picture of citizen behavior in contemporary accounts is that of a crude tribalism, in which individuals’ salient […] Read more »