The roiling blackface scandal in Virginia continues. It not only includes Gov. Ralph Northam (D) but now also Attorney General Mark Herring (D), who says he dressed in blackface at a college party. The scandal has put renewed focus on how this racist depiction of African Americans has endured well […] Read more »
Trump Is Walling Off the GOP
The most misleading line in Donald Trump’s State of the Union address this week might have also been the most revealing about how he is reconfiguring the Republican Party and reshaping America’s electoral alignment. “Legal immigrants enrich our nation and strengthen our society in countless ways,” he declared at one […] Read more »
Yes, Virginia, This is Chaos
Saying that anything in the annals of American political history is “unique” or “unprecedented” is dangerous, for the simple fact that the past is filled with so many oddities from which we can draw parallels. That said, we’re struggling to come up with something equivalent to what we’ve seen in […] Read more »
Why No One Should Be Surprised By Democratic Calls For Ralph Northam’s Resignation
Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is under intense pressure to resign his office in the wake of the publication of a racist photo that appeared in his medical school yearbook. And most Virginia Democratic leaders and groups have called for him to resign. But if you’re surprised by these calls […] Read more »
An early look at the 2020 electorate
The 2020 U.S. presidential election is rapidly coming into view – and so is the electorate that will determine its outcome. While demographic changes unfold slowly, it’s already clear that the 2020 electorate will be unique in several ways. Nonwhites will account for a third of eligible voters – their […] Read more »
The ‘Rotten Equilibrium’ of Republican Politics
One clear lesson from the elections of 2016 and 2018 is that President Trump and his fellow Republican candidates win where white voters are losing ground. Take a look at the 2018 congressional results in the upper Midwest and Pennsylvania, states that provided the Electorate College votes crucial to Trump’s […] Read more »