The route between public outrage and consequences for President Trump seems quite broken. Why? Julian Zelizer and I chew it over in the new Politics & Polls. The opening is especially lively. Later we get into the regular nerdery.
Entries Tagged as 'Politics'
Politics & Polls: Charlottesville and our broken public discourse
August 17th, 2017, 12:09pm by Sam Wang
Sharp cutbacks at HuffPost Pollster
June 15th, 2017, 2:21pm by Sam Wang
Some news about HuffPost Pollster. Due to staff reductions, we have had to dramatically reduce the scope of what we track. — Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) June 15, 2017 This is terrible news. As part of cutbacks at the Huffington Post, the tracking of polls will be curtailed dramatically. As reported by HuffPollster’s Ariel Edwards-Levy, they [...]
Tags: Politics
Overcoming your own brain’s bias in the Comey/Trump case
June 7th, 2017, 6:21pm by Sam Wang
Our brains have powerful biases that help us maintain a coherent world view. However, sometimes those biases prevent us from integrating new evidence well. Today, the release of former FBI director James Comey provides an example. Most readers on the left and the right see it as powerful evidence that President Trump attempted to obstruct [...]
Politics & Polls: Teen Vogue’s Lauren Duca
June 1st, 2017, 3:20pm by Sam Wang
One of the more interesting post-election voices has been that of the magazine Teen Vogue. Normally one might think of Teen Vogue as being purely oriented toward culture and fashion…but the same could be said of Vanity Fair, GQ, and Rolling Stone – all of which have a strong political voice. Julian Zelizer and I interviewed [...]
Tags: Politics
Politics & Polls: Falling Toward Pavement
May 18th, 2017, 1:31pm by Sam Wang
Washington has been hit with a trifecta of catastrophic events in the past week: Trump fires FBI director Comey for investigating Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, then Trump tells secrets to the Russians in the Oval Office, then it emerges that Comey writes memos about all his conversations, including Trump trying to obstruct the [...]
Tags: Politics · President · U.S. Institutions
Politics & Polls #28: Katha Pollitt on The Women’s March on Washington
January 26th, 2017, 7:17pm by Sam Wang
Hailed as one of the largest protests in American history, the Women’s March on Washington gathered hundreds of thousands of people in the District and millions in sister marches around the world. In episode #28 of Politics & Polls, Julian Zelizer and I discuss the march and reproductive rights with Katha Pollitt, a columnist for [...]
Tags: Politics
Politics & Polls #26: Indivisible!
January 12th, 2017, 10:03am by Sam Wang
Since the election, Democrats have struggled with how to respond to a Donald Trump presidency. But one group is starting to get some traction – the authors of an online guide that is going viral: “Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda.” In episode #26 of Politics & Polls, Julian Zelizer and I [...]
Tags: House · Politics · Senate · U.S. Institutions
Constitutional Hardball: Can Senate Democrats Confirm Merrick Garland on January 3rd?
December 25th, 2016, 11:25pm by Sam Wang
On the New York Times opinion page, the editors suggest (“The Stolen Supreme Court Seat,” December 24th) that President-elect Donald Trump could nominate President Obama’s choice, Judge Merrick Garland, as a gesture of goodwill. I myself suggested this on CNN last month (that was the point, you guys, not the bug – go watch). This [...]
Politics & Polls #25: What does the Declaration of Independence say about limited government?
December 22nd, 2016, 9:01pm by Sam Wang
Sometimes the Declaration of Independence is hauled out as an argument for limited government. But historian Steve Pincus points out that the Declaration was actually a complaint that the government should do more to promote and protect citizens’ welfare. Blew my mind. Julian Zelizer and I interviewed him about his new book: “Heart of the [...]
Tags: Politics
What Actions are Shared to All Fascist Movements?
December 21st, 2016, 3:17pm by Sam Wang
Today’s leisure reading is Robert Paxton’s essay The Five Stages of Fascism (downloadable PDF). It’s a followup to my previous post on Umberto Eco’s essay on fascism. According to Paxton (link to biography), even though fascist movements had varying stated goals, the shared elements lay in what they actually did.
Tags: 2016 Election · Politics · U.S. Institutions
