Trump’s ethical squalor is worse than you thought By Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post, April 19 President Trump speaks this month at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press) This post was updated at 2:02 p.m.  President Trump’s ethical sloth and financial conflicts of interest are unique in American history. (The Harding and Grant administrations were rife […]

By early December the American public knew that Vladimir Putin tried to influence our presidential election, and the evidence has only increased since then. Yet the current president of the United States has shown no interest whatsoever. And why not? Six federal agencies are investigating possible connections between Trump associates and Russian agents; President Obama […]

Donald Trump’s big problem is he doesn’t know what he’s talking about At least it’s one of his problems. First posted on Vox Updated by Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesiasmatt@vox.com  Apr 17, 2017, 8:30am EDT  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)   Donald Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about. This became clear when he said he realized dealing with North Korea was “not […]

In Putin’s Moscow, a Pliant Press That Trump So Craves Jim Rutenberg, The New York Times, APRIL 16, 2017 Roman Badanin of TV Rain in Moscow. He was one of three editors at the independent media company RBC who had to leave after its flagship newspaper reported on sensitive financial arrangements of members of President Vladimir V. […]

WHAT TRUMP COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND ABOUT PUTIN As their bromance dwindles, history could teach a bewildered president a major lesson about one of America’s most significant adversaries. By PETER SAVODNIK, Vanity Fair, APRIL 13, 2017 6:45 PM Vladimir Putin during a joint press conference, 2001. By Antoine Gyori/Sygma/Getty Images. In 1946, George F. Kennan, then a 44-year-old American […]

Trump’s weather-vane presidency gyrates wildly with the winds By E.J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post, April 12 at 7:09 PM President Trump rose to power on a combination of meanness, incoherence and falsehoods. His strategy depended almost entirely on playing off the unpopularity and weaknesses of others. Every aspect of his approach has blown up on him since […]

Trump administration moving quickly to build up nationwide deportation force A U.S. Border Patrol agent scans the U.S.-Mexico border while on a bridge over the Rio Grande on March 13 in Roma, Tex. (John Moore/Getty Images) By David Nakamura, The Washington Post, April 12 at 4:51 PM The Trump administration is quickly identifying ways to assemble the nationwide […]

Donald Trump finally said something slightly negative about Vladimir Putin. It is notable only because it’s the first time since becoming a presidential candidate that he has said anything less than bootlickingly positive about the Russian dictator. What shall we make of it? Not much. Not yet. Here’s what he said: Speaking of Syria’s Bashar […]

Why Is Trump Fighting ISIS in Syria? By Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, APRIL 12, 2017 President Trump arriving at the White House on Sunday. CreditAl Drago/The New York Times  The Trump foreign policy team has been all over the map on what to do next in Syria — topple the regime, intensify aid to rebels, respond to any […]

Trump’s foreign policy is dangerously impulsive Trump needs a foreign policy, not just reactions to what he sees on cable news. By Ezra Klein@ezraklein  Apr 7, 2017, 10:10am EDT First posted on Vox JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images The cruise missile strikes President Donald Trump launched in reprisal for Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapon attack in Syria are well within the norms […]