"Finally, there’s nothing wrong with some dismissive scorn among sensible voters. These people are not 10 feet tall. They are, in fact, small and ridiculous."
The whiplash of Ron DeSantis's rise and fall against Trump in the polls could be nothing in comparison to the political shockwave that would result if the Florida governor succeeds in taking the GOP nomination, but Trump doesn't go quietly—the falling-out between Roosevelt and Taft shows how it might go.
The former FBI director blamed Trump for the growing Republican hostility toward the FBI, among other government institutions. But the belief that major institutions are compromised by un-American elements has a long and deep history on the right that won't be eliminated whenever Trump happens to leave the political stage.
Any Republican candidate will need to lean in to the politics of white Christian nationalism ascendant on the right; Trump has needed the MAGA movement as much as it's needed him.
Despite the conviction of leading organizers of the January 6 attack on the Capitol (which aimed at overturning Joe Biden's election), the extreme right will remain a threat, partly because of the flourishing of online channels for hate and partly because the Republican Party has framed the insurrection as legitimate political expression.
Deferential treatment given to Richard Nixon after his resignation, including not only his pardon but also lenient treatment by the Watergate grand jury, set precedents for impunity that the nation suffers from today.
The committee's report will never be able to create or sustain closure on the Trump era or the hard right turn of conservatism; only voters and political organizers can do that.
The appropriate response to Trump's disregard of the rule of law isn't to replicate it in "34 half indictments," a filing that fails in terms of law and politics.
The lack of clear precedent about the relationship between the federal and state law enforcement systems and the timing of Trump's indictment and potential trial mean that the election will be ensnared in a potential constitutional crisis.
Although some had dismissed his warnings of an autocratic seizure of power as "doomerism," the events of January 6 and the Russian invasion have made the historian a widely-read public intellectual.
NPR's A Martinez talks to presidential historian Douglas Brinkley about the historical significance of the indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Trump's familiarity with commanding attention—even, or particularly, negative attention—and penchant for grievances mean that being indicted in any of the cases against him would put him in a comfortable role on the campaign stage.
By rallying in Waco at the 30th anniversary of the Branch Davidian siege and killings, Trump has signaled to the far right and the militia movement that he's their candidate.
News organizations' standards of objectivity have long allowed public figures and politicians to proclaim lies without pushback, leaving the public to be arbiters of truth and falsity.
In the past, Evangelicals and other apocalypse-minded constituencies have projected their views onto Donald Trump. Now, Trump seems to be fully embracing the bit, suggesting that violence above and beyond politics will usher in the Kingdom.
The revelation that Fox hosts promoted what they knew were lies about the 2020 election reflects what Nicole Hemmer calls a 70-year effort by the right to sow distrust in mainstream media.
After Trump's CPAC speech promised that he'd be an instrument of retribution against his followers' enemies, it's time to stop tiptoeing around the historic parallels, writes columnist Will Bunch.
Ron DeSantis can bolster his standing with the right by governing. Donald Trump, still the leader of the party, must invoke conspiracies and cartoonishly evil enemies. Historian Jeffrey Herf helps Thomas Edsall understand if there's an off-ramp.
In the wake of disastrous overreach by House Republicans in impeaching Bill Clinton, the party cohered around George W. Bush as a candidate without Beltway baggage. If the party can't do the same thing in 2024, they risk being dragged down by Donald Trump.
