In the great and proud history of the United States, no failing, no appalling ideology, no perverse institution--no national tragedy--compares to the American sin of chattel slavery. Codified in the nation's founding documents in a grotesque mockery of the Declaration's self-evident truth that "all men are created equal," the 250-year bondage of black Americans was […]

The United States was the world's lone "hyperpower" when President George W. Bush launched his disastrous and unnecessary war with Iraq in 2003. An economic and military hegemon unchallenged by any single enemy or collection of rivals, the U.S. could and did act with impunity in swiftly toppling Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad. But even […]

So another tax season has come and gone. In this case, that means Americans can render their verdict on the first year of the signature legislative achievement of Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Thus far, the reviews are not kind. Despite an analysis by […]

Zombies have gripped American popular culture for years. In books, television shows, and films, the undead are regularly resurrected for your entertainment. (Even Jane Austen fans were treated to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy butchering those from beyond the grave in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.) But whatever their reanimation story, the zombie's Achilles' heel […]

Historical events occur twice, Karl Marx famously said, first as tragedy and then as farce. But when it comes to the rampant lawlessness of Republican presidential administrations, the record is a succession of national tragedies for the United States. And the damage to America's democratic institutions is no laughing matter. As President Trump, his attorney […]

When House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts demanded the Internal Revenue Service turn over six years of Donald Trump's tax returns to his committee, he was doing so with the law fully on his side. As past Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, former Joint Committee on Taxation chief of staff Edward Kleinbard, […]

For Republicans, the gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has become an annual ritual in their hyperbolic effort to peel away Jewish Americans who overwhelmingly give their votes to Democrats. But the GOP brought an extra sense of urgency to last week's 2019 AIPAC Policy Conference. Less than six months after Democrats […]

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Republican Donald Trump presented a unique conundrum for the public and pundits alike. Simply put, Trump lied at a rate never before seen in modern American politics. No candidate in the 21st century, from either party, even came close. Writing in The Atlantic that September, Salena Zito offered this warning […]

Here are some friendly words of advice to my Republican friends eager to regurgitate Donald Trump's talking point about the Democratic Party being "anti-Jewish." Before you hold up Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar as the poster child for anti-Semitic tropes, note that Trump himself already occupies that space. After all, he told those "good negotiator" […]

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was back in the headlines this week--not for any particular wisdom regarding authoritarian regimes and movements she shared with the House Intelligence Committee, but for this: "I personally owe an apology to now-Senator Romney, because I think that we underestimated what was going on in Russia. I was on […]