Last month, the U.S. Department of Education posted an image to Facebook styled like an old woodcut print, with President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon above the words MEGA and “Make Education Great Again.”

The slogan reminded me of a poem I read in high school: Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again.” ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s planned 250-foot-high triumphal arch at the foot of Arlington National Cemetery, which he has proposed outfitting with armed drones and manning with snipers, is easy to shrug off as nothing more than a malignant daydream. The absurd whim of a mad king. But to indulge that temptation would be a mistake.

The arch has to...Read more

What if we got it all wrong? That’s the question that usually goes through my mind at this point in every election cycle. Because 25 years of experience in analyzing elections has made me more humble, rather than more cocky.

Political handicapping has a way of knocking people down a couple of notches. Do it long enough, and you’ll have a �...Read more

Former federal prosecutor Jack Smith, who led the Justice Department investigation into Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference and the purloining of classified documents, laughed off a GOP Senate Judiciary Committee trap, part of their years-long effort to deny the basic truth that what Smith was investigating was real: Trump did in fact ...Read more

Summer rarely ends all at once. It slips away by degrees. Neighborhood pools close, backpacks replace beach bags, and daylight shortens. The U.S. Open tennis classic gives way to football as families rearrange weekends around school activities and kickoff times. Then another season arrives.

Political ads interrupt television viewing. Campaign ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said his administration would soon send checks of “nearly $100” to more than 20 million older Americans to “help pay for their Medicare Part B premiums.”

The president, who made the announcement in a post on Truth Social late Friday, said the money would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is now facing a bevy of federal lawsuits over its effort to claw back about $810 million in federal funding without Congress’ approval.

The administration announced the cancellation last week, through a maneuver known as a “pocket rescission,” days before the funding expired at the end of the fiscal...Read more

A federal judge has dismissed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit brought by the Trump Justice Department against pro-Palestinian activists who opposed a New Jersey auction of land in Gaza and the West Bank, partly finding the government’s legal logic — hinging on a law created to protect abortion providers — sought to “demonize” protesters ...Read more

California is leading a coalition of states and local governments in suing the Trump administration over its rollback of federal vehicle mileage standards, alleging the new rules illegally weaken fuel-economy requirements for cars and light trucks.

The lawsuit, filed Friday by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and a group of 26 states, counties ...Read more

DENVER — A state hearing officer recommended Friday that Victor Marx’s campaign pay more than $57,000 in fines for “a pattern of knowing indifference” to Colorado campaign finance rules.

The case stems from donations accepted by the Republican gubernatorial nominee’s campaign during the primary race. The fine is one of the largest ...Read more

MIAMI — Former U.S. Rep. David Rivera was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison for secretly acting as an agent of Nicolás Maduro’s government, moments after his voice broke as he pleaded with the judge for leniency, saying his cancer diagnosis made him fear he will die behind bars.

“I only beg for your mercy in not letting me ...Read more

WASHINGTON — National Democrats on Friday tapped the race between Republican Rep. Michael Baumgartner, of Spokane, and Democrat Carmela Conroy as a “race in play,” signaling that the party views an opportunity to flip a House seat in Eastern Washington in its pursuit of House control.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in a ...Read more

National Democrats added U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s South Jersey district to a list of their target races to flip on Friday, signaling that they’re taking Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock’s candidacy much more seriously than before.

Mullock decisively won a crowded primary in June to face Van Drew, a Cape May County Republican.

Van Drew has ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Democrats are adding eight more House districts in deep-red terrain to their offensive target list, another sign of the party’s growing confidence that it will reclaim the House majority.

Among the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s new targets are seats in Kansas, Michigan and Virginia that Donald Trump carried by...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court begins its new term Monday facing cases on Americans’ civil rights, federalist struggles between states and the federal government, and the looming specter of more last-second litigation over the coming midterm elections.

The court, currently controlled by six conservative appointees, has stocked its docket ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Opponents of abortion have pounced on a recent influx of out-of-state donations to a campaign to expand access to the procedure in Idaho.

In late September, Idahoans United for Women and Families — the political committee leading the campaign for Proposition 1, a citizens initiative to expand abortion access — received ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday once again had Texas on his mind, stumping for state Attorney General Ken Paxton a day after leaked audio added to the awkwardness between the president and a Senate candidate he called a “pain in the ass.”

He used an official White House event to tour a Peterbilt heavy truck plant in Denton...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump expressed frustration with his Supreme Court picks, complaining about votes against his policies and lamenting what he said was a lack of loyalty.

Asked in a Time Magazine interview if he regrets nominating Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Trump said, “Yeah. What can I do? I ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Legislation reversing a decade of Medicare payment policy that made it too expensive for many seniors to buy ultra-lightweight manual wheelchairs is on its way to President Donald Trump’s desk after the Senate quietly cleared it late Wednesday night.

As one of the chamber’s last acts before adjourning for the midterm recess, ...Read more

Christa Pike survived an execution attempt in Tennessee on Sept. 30, 2026, after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, a lethal drug. Gov. Bill Lee has temporarily suspended executions in the state.

Pike became the first person ever to get full doses of the drugs intended to kill her and to live nonetheless. But she is not the only ...Read more