Ronald Brownstein
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Win McNamee / Getty The Eye-Popping Cost of Medicare for All
According to new figures: more than the federal government will spend over the coming decade on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid combined.
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James Lawler Duggan / Reuters The Swing-District Factor in Impeachment
Vulnerable House Democrats may think they can boost their reelection chances by bucking their party, but that isn’t how recent elections have played out.
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Carlo Allegri / Reuters Why Trump’s Favorite 2016 Map Should Scare Him
Dirt doesn’t vote.
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Carolyn Kaster / AP The Risks of Impeachment Are Overblown
The release of an internal whistle-blower complaint about President Trump’s relationship with Ukraine immediately appeared to harden House Democrats’ determination.
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Mike Blake / Reuters Trump’s War on Blue America
The president’s move to revoke California’s authority to set car-emission standards is part of a broader push to stymie the states that voted against him.
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Carlos Osorio / AP How Pundits May Be Getting Electability All Wrong
Democrats are obsessing over which candidate is most capable of beating Trump. But how voters gauge that is far more complicated than it may seem.
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Mike Segar / Reuters Texas Is Changing—Quickly
The wave of House Republican retirements from the Lone Star State is exciting Democrats who want their party to compete more aggressively there.
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Lucy Nicholson / Reuters L.A.’s Health-Care Reform Is a Lesson for Democrats
In 2013, Los Angeles County implemented its own version of a “public option.” It’s delivered change, but not the revolution some advocates want.
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Aaron Bernstein / Reuters Abolishing the Filibuster Is Unavoidable for Democrats
Even if the party sweeps Congress and the White House in 2020, the Senate rule would let a faction of the reddest, whitest states stymie its agenda.
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Mike Roemer / AP The Limits of Trump’s White Identity Politics
The president is casting Democrats as the real racists to energize his base, but in doing so he’s hindering his capacity to reach beyond it.
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Carlos Osorio / Paul Vernon / AP / ... Joe Biden Is the Big Winner of the Democrats’ Leftward Shift
In the latest debates, Warren, Sanders, and Harris all vied for the party’s progressives rather than testing the front-runner’s support with moderates.
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Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP Will Trump’s Racist Attacks Help Him? Ask Blue-Collar White Women.
His strategy rests on a bet: that these voters will respond just as enthusiastically to his belligerence as working-class white men.
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Rachel Jessen Trump’s Base Isn’t Enough
The president needs the voters who approve of his record on the economy but disapprove of him overall. His racist attacks this week only hurt that cause.
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Jeff Chiu / AP The Democrats’ Gamble on Health Care for the Undocumented
Several 2020 candidates are proffering moral and policy arguments for providing coverage, but the politics of the move are another matter.
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Jordan Gale / Reuters The Most Critical Argument Democrats Will Have in 2020
Expect way more fighting over health care before the next set of presidential debates.
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Filip Bjorkman / Shutterstock / Arsh Raziuddin / ... A Single Day Exposed the Central Tension Driving American Politics
The Supreme Court’s census ruling and the second Democratic debate both wrestled with the same question.
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Evan Vucci / AP The Biggest Obstacle to Trump’s Victory in 2020
There may be an unprecedented level of discontent with the president among voters satisfied with the economy.
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Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Brace for a Voter-Turnout Tsunami
Even with a surge in overall participation, white working-class voters could still remain decisive in the 2020 election.
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Doug Mills / AP Democrats Learned the Wrong Lesson From Clinton’s Impeachment
It didn’t actually cost the GOP all that much.
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Mike Blake / Reuters A New Age of Conflict Between Washington and the States
Kamala Harris wants to use federal oversight as a check on local anti-abortion laws—the latest example in a bipartisan pattern.
