American politics turned hyper toxic several years ago, and ever since commentators have raised the specter of a second civil war. No other historical parallel, it seems, captures so viscerally today…

Many of the supposedly unprecedented features of contemporary politics have familiar echoes in earlier American history, and so the best mirror in which to see our present moment clearly could be our…

PDF Version. A review of Michael Beschloss, “Presidents of War” (Crown Books, 2018).  *** The U.S. Constitution vests the president with “executive power” and provides that “The President sh…

The latest Saudi explanation of what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi — that his murder was premeditated by his assailants — is no more acceptable an explanation than the earlier versions, that…

A “blue wave” in November isn’t likely to provide an off-ramp for what is shaping up as a years-long struggle between the United States and China over trade policy.