So much for the notion that the Supreme Court, with its 6-3 majority of justices appointed by Republican presidents, was going to be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump. That is a frequently voiced charge by partisan Democrats, and a fear of many ambivalent voters who find many of Trump's policies agreeable but worry about his overreach on policy and personnel.
— In 41 of the 50 states, every statewide executive office is held by the same party—a striking indicator of the scope of political polarization today. In another six states, one side has a clear edge.
— This leaves only three states that have a relatively balanced mix of Republican and Democratic statewide officeholders: Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina.
— Overall, the stronger party’s dominance has grown in recent years. In March 2020, the last time we conducted this analysis, 16 states had at least some degree of bipartisanship in their ranks of statewide executive offices, which is almost twice today’s level.
During his State of the Union, President Donald Trump declared himself wonderful.
Gavin Newsom won't be the Democrats' 2028 presidential nominee unless he wins a significant share of the African American vote.
Here's a depressing but all too predictable headline from The Wall Street Journal last week: "Detroit's EV Pullback Is Costing $50 Billion."
My first reaction to Secretary of State Marco Rubio's speech, delivered on Valentine's Day, at the Munich Security Conference, was, "Last year, President Donald Trump sent the bad cop, Vice President JD Vance. This year, he sent the good cop, Rubio. Progress." In February 2025, the audience at Munich took Vance's comments as insults. In February 2026, the audience, as evidenced by its standing ovation, took Rubio's as compliments.
— More than 50 members of the U.S. House of Representatives are not seeking another term in the House this year.
— The number of incumbents running again is going to be one of the lowest totals in any House election cycle since World War II.
— However, the vast majority of these retirements don’t mean anything for the November election because they are coming in safe seats.
— The open seats, collectively, feature a smaller share of truly competitive seats than the House as a whole does.
A recent Rasmussen Reports survey indicates that FBI Director Kash Patel’s popularity is declining. Only 40% of likely U.S. voters view Patel favorably. Even more revealing, just 32% believe he is performing better than most previous FBI directors, while 37% think he is doing worse.
Environmental scholar Bjorn Lomborg recently calculated that across the globe, governments have spent at least $16 trillion feeding the climate change industrial complex.
Anti-ICE activists in Minneapolis are setting up blockades.
As British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces calls to resign for his appointment of Epstein-tied Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States, one is struck by the sudden instability of British governments. In the 28 years between 1979 and 2007, Britain had only three prime ministers, while in the 19 years since 2007, it has had seven, and may soon have eight. Only one of those, David Cameron, carried his party to a reelection victory, and he resigned a year after being beaten in the Brexit referendum.
— Midterm elections often act as a brake on presidential power, but extreme partisan polarization calls into question whether the 2026 midterm will serve its usual role.
— However, despite growing partisan polarization, large partisan swings in the House and Senate still appear to be possible.
— This is truer of the House than the Senate, though, as nationalization has helped Republicans realize an advantage on the overall Senate map.
— States with Senate seats up for election in 2026, in aggregate, vote several points to the right of the nation, so even a substantial Democratic lead in generic ballot polling would not necessarily translate to a Democratic Senate majority, even though it very likely would in the House.
Americans want to help people in need, but when government does that, about 500 billion taxpayer dollars get stolen.
When I first arrived in Washington in 1982, the Dow Jones hit a low of 800. You may not believe that, so feel free to look it up.
The contrast between America's great island allies on opposite ends of the world couldn't be more drastic.
George Orwell was on to it almost 80 years ago -- the problem of below-replacement level birth rates. In a short book written for the Britain in Pictures series in 1947, written just as Britain was emerging from wartime rigors into an uncharted postwar future, Orwell noted that despite an upward blip in birth rates during the war, "the general curve is downward. The position is not quite so dangerous as it is sometimes said to be, but can only be put right if the curve not only rises sharply but does so within ten or at most twenty years."
— In the 2024 election, just 16 congressional districts voted differently for president and for U.S. House. Democratic House candidates carried 13 Donald Trump-won districts, and Republican House candidates carried 3 Kamala Harris-won districts.
— Redistricting, however, has altered the picture and expanded the number of crossover districts. Based on the maps in place now, there are 24 crossover districts: 16 Trump-district Democrats and 8 Harris-district Republicans.
— Many of these newly-created seats are designed to flip to the party that won the district for president. If 2026 is like 2018, Democrats may have a more lopsided number of crossover districts than they did in 2024.
— Further redistricting moves in states like Florida, Maryland, New York, and Virginia could expand the number of crossover seats.
— Democrats in the Maryland House of Delegates recently passed a map recommended by Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) Redistricting Advisory Commission.
— The potential new map seriously imperils the delegation’s sole Republican, Rep. Andy Harris (R, MD-1), while firming up Democrats’ most marginal seat on the existing map, western Maryland’s MD-6.
— Despite the lower chamber’s vote, state Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) has emerged as a major opponent of mid-decade redistricting; he says he will not prioritize passing a new map.
— Even if the commission’s map passes the entire legislature, state courts could take steps to block its implementation, as was the case with a similar 8-0 proposal in 2022.
