Donald Trump and the Lost (or Never Possessed) Art of the Deal
Because the incumbent president of the United States regularly inundates us with boasts about how he is supposedly a clever and masterful negotiator–notwithstanding the overwhelming amount of evidence...
View ArticleDefining Deviancy Down
So, at the end of the 1986-1987 Supreme Court term, Associate Justice Lewis Powell decided to retire from the Court. Accordingly, Justice Powell submitted his resignation letter to President Reagan....
View ArticleMovie Review: “The Death of Stalin”
I suppose it is worth stating anew the observation and fact that few–if any–movies actually tell a historical tale in what can be called a faithful manner. Such is the case with The Death of Stalin,...
View ArticleThe Good and “You’ve Got to Be Kidding” of John Bolton
Now that John Bolton is going to be Donald Trump’s third national security adviser in a little over a year(!), it behooves us to consider what we might expect during Bolton’s tenure. The position of...
View ArticleOf Course Trumpkins Are Latter-Day Chekists. Of Course They Are.
Since June 16, 2015, when Donald Trump announced for the presidency, America has been inundated with a veritable cascade of Trumpian awfulness. The outrageous behavior–consisting of multiple forms of...
View ArticleA Ridiculously Quick Take on the Mueller Report
Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report has finally been released to the Department of Justice, and thus far, the item on which people are focusing the most is the apparent fact that Mueller has...
View ArticleAnd Now, a Hopefully-Not Ridiculously Quick Take on the Barr Letter about the...
William Barr has released his summary of the Mueller report to Congress. The two big takeaways from the letter are as follows: Concerning the question on whether “the Trump campaign or anyone...
View ArticleRegarding the Fix . . .
The more one looks at the Barr letter concerning the Mueller report, the more one is convinced that there is something exceedingly fishy going on. Let us count the reasons why: For one thing, the Barr...
View ArticleBook Party Review–“Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump”
My tremendous jet-setting ways landed me at a book party this evening for Rick Reilly, the celebrated ESPN talent whose new book, Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump, has garnered significant...
View ArticleOn the Mueller Hearings
There was no way that Robert Mueller was going to move the needle today on the issue of impeachment. If you went into the Mueller hearings–before the House Judiciary Committee and the House...
View ArticleHistory Has Its Eyes on You
In the event that there still are a few of you out there who believe that Donald Trump can and will be easily beaten in 2020, let me disabuse you of such silliness right now. Historically, incumbent...
View ArticleIn Memoriam: Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft (Ret.)
The administration of George Herbert Walker Bush featured, without a shadow of a doubt, the best foreign policy team of my lifetime, designing and implementing the best foreign policy initiatives and...
View ArticleBREAKING: National Security Advisers Have Views of Their Own
I am more than a bit confused by the claim that because Brent Scowcroft had opinions–strong opinions, even!–it meant that he didn’t “follow ‘the Scowcroft model.'” My confusion stems in significant...
View ArticleBrent Scowcroft and the Need for a Better Realist Theory of International...
I swear to goodness that I am not trying to turn all of my public writing spaces into All-Things-Scowcroftian-All-The-Time discussion locales, but the death of Brent Scowcroft caused me to go back to a...
View ArticleEric Posner and a Study of American Demagoguery
I am very pleased to have the unexpected and very welcome opportunity to work and write alongside some excellent folks at The Bulwark, which is doing the Lord’s work in helping to create a decent and...
View ArticleLaw and Politics in a Post-Ginsburg World
I’ve criticized Donald Trump savagely and accurately, ever since he descended down his gold-plated escalator on June 16, 2015, announced his candidacy for president of the United States, and caused...
View ArticleMake the Crazy Stop
My latest Bulwark piece discusses the welcome fact that Joe Biden does not seem hellbent on making others think that he is clinically insane; a welcome and stark contrast with the campaign of the...
View ArticleStinking to High Heaven
Michael Flynn is an admitted felon. He pled guilty, and reiterated his guilty plea under oath–twice. He has served no time, he has paid no penalty and he has shown no remorse for his crimes against the...
View ArticleDonald Trump v. The Court System
All-around nice guy Steve Friess interviewed me and a number of lawyers more famous than me for Newsweek regarding Donald Trump’s and the Trump administration’s battles with judges and with the court...
View ArticlePeople Matter. Character Matters.
Ever since I stopped being a Republican–back in May, 2016, when it became clear that Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee–whenever anyone asked me about my politics, I told them that I am a...
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