The guilty plea of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — the fourth official from President Trump’s campaign implicated in criminal activity — is in several ways even more damaging to the president than special counsel Robert Mueller’s charges earlier this fall against Paul Manafort, who actually ran Trump’s campaign for a time. In short: […]
President Trump and his backers have recently drawn a lot of attention — and outrage — by threatening something akin to a party purge: Republicans who don’t sign on to Trump’s agenda won’t be endorsed or funded. The uproar isn’t surprising in that it’s yet another violation of political norms in the Trump era. But […]
Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited. micah (Micah Cohen, politics editor): Welcome, friends! I hope everyone had a thankful Thanksgiving! 🦃 harry (Harry Enten, senior political writer): I had turkey. I wish I had duck. clare.malone (Clare Malone, senior political writer): “#sex-misconduct-2020” — what a name for a […]
As Trump tweets, government acts. Welcome to Meanwhile, our recurring look at what federal agencies are up to and how their work affects people’s lives. The bizarre situation at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — in which two different people are claiming that they are its acting director — could easily be addressed by President […]
At about 11:15 this morning, an hour or so after Leeann Tweeden published an allegation that Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota had groped and kissed her without her consent in 2006, I assumed that Franken was headed toward resignation. I didn’t necessarily expect Franken to resign immediately or without putting up a fight. But […]