Ronald Brownstein, a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of presidential campaigns, is Atlantic Media's editorial director for strategic partnerships, in charge of long-term editorial strategy. He also writes a weekly column and regularly contributes other pieces for the National Journal, contributes to Quartz, and The Atlantic, and coordinates political coverage and activities across publications produced by Atlantic Media.
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Pavel Golovkin / AP How Much Do Tax Cuts Really Matter?
The economic records of former presidents hold a lesson for Donald Trump.
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Dominick Reuter / Getty Images The Rust Belt Needs Legal Immigration
President Trump supports a plan that would halve the number of newcomers—and cut off the Midwest’s “demographic lifeline.”
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Sue Ogrocki / AP America's 'Racial Generation Gap' Is Starting to Shrink
And with it, the existing tensions between older whites and diverse young people will begin to ease.
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Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Why Trump's Immigration Gambit Will Likely Backfire
The president’s attempt to pressure Democrats using the status of those brought to the U.S. illegally as children may not turn out as he intended.
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Jae C. Hong / AP Why a Republican Pollster Is Losing Faith in Her Party
“If I pack up my toys and go home, there are people in red MAGA hats who would be saying, ‘Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.’”
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Gary Hershorn / Getty Trump's Trade Agenda Divides the Nation's Cities
The administration has inserted a wedge between the large metropolitan areas known for top-notch services and the small and mid-sized metros focused on manufacturing.
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Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP How Trump's Reaction to Charlottesville Threatens the GOP
Over and over again, the president has explicitly identified his party with white backlash—just as the most diverse generations in American history are gaining power in the electorate.
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Evan Vucci / AP Trump's Immigration Agenda Makes a Fundamental Miscalculation
The president fails to recognize how the financial security of his older white base depends on the people his policies shut out.
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Carolyn Kaster The Executive Branch's Sharp Turn to the Right
A new lawsuit captures the trench warfare unfolding as opposition groups protest the administration’s rollback of regulations government-wide.
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Andrew Harnik / AP What the GOP Doesn't Understand About Its Own Voters
When it comes to health care and entitlements, the party’s policies don't always align with its coalition’s beliefs.
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David Goldman / AP Where Republicans Are Losing Ground
Ahead of the midterms, Democrats may have the chance to attract a broader-than-usual coalition of voters—especially among American women uneasy about President Trump.
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Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images How Medicaid Cuts Could Exacerbate the Opioid Epidemic
Some of the areas hit hardest by the public-health crisis are the most dependent on federal coverage. They also happen to be in Trump country.
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Jeff Roberson / AP Will the 'Trump 10' Pay a Price in 2018?
Ten Democratic senators from states Donald Trump carried are up for reelection next year—and they’re betting that resistance to the president’s agenda will win over voters.
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J. Scott Applewhite / AP Why the GOP's Plan for Health Care Hit a Wall
The House and Senate proposals benefit those at the top explicitly at the expense of the lower middle class—and voters are beginning to notice.
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David Goldman / AP What Democrats' Defeat in Georgia Means—and Doesn't
The party’s recent special-election losses aren’t necessarily a bad omen for 2018. But they show how Democrats need better answers to the GOP’s most effective arguments.
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Cliff Owen / AP The GOP's Risky Calculation for 2018
Congressional Republicans and President Trump are governing in a manner that appeals only to their base, not the wider electorate. That could have consequences through 2020.
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Andrew Harnik / AP Trump’s Economic Gamble
The president is betting on his three favored industries—manufacturing, mining, and construction—to drive growth. But those sectors have been shrinking for decades.
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Jacky Naegelen / Reuters Is Trump's Climate-Change Agenda Politically Sustainable?
It’s difficult to overstate how directly the president’s plans clash with the marketplace and policy at all other levels of government.
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Aaron Josefczyk / Reuters Are Demographics Really Destiny for the GOP?
A new analysis of the 2016 electorate offers warning signs to Republicans, whose base continues to shrink. (There are red lights flashing Democrats' way, too.)
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Lucy Nicholson / Reuters Democrats Need These California Seats to Win Back the House
Seven of the state’s Republican representatives look particularly vulnerable in 2018. And they share a few things in common.
