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THE LATEST ARTICLES
NEWSLETTERS
The qualities that have insulated Ramaswamy from the usual MAGA backlash were all on display during last week’s debate.
WASHINGTON August 30, 2023
The Ramaswamy Show is reconfiguring the essential dynamics of the Republican primary, threatening to push DeSantis out of the right-of-Trump culture warrior lane into the moderate-ish territory occupied by MAGA milquetoasts like Nikki Haley and Tim Scott.
The deck seems stacked against Ron DeSantis, who has the most to prove, and the most to lose.
WASHINGTON August 16, 2023
As Milwaukee beckons, big questions loom: Will Trump and Tucker counterprogram the stage? Is Vivek really a MAGA player? And is DeSantis truly cooked—not just this time around, but for the next cycle, too?
In the MAGA-fied G.O.P., Frank Luntz has found himself on the outside for criticizing Trump and Trumpism, as well as for trying to prop up the conservative principles that once defined the party.
WASHINGTON August 9, 2023
The legendary G.O.P. pollster apostate discusses the party’s latest apocalyptic turns: the martyrdom of Mike Pence, why voters are souring on DeSantis, and whether Tim Scott (or Joe Manchin!) can win Iowa.
The DeSantis campaign can fire as many people and hit as many reset buttons as they’d like, but DeSantis campaign watchers are pessimistic that things will improve unless the attitude at the very top changes.
WASHINGTON August 2, 2023
The DeSantis campaign was supposed to be executing the “reset” it promised donors after weeks of gut-punch headlines. Instead he’s spending his time talking about purging the Justice Department—and still getting labeled a squish. Can anyone but Casey reach him?


Ron DeSantis’s boosters have frequently invoked McCain’s come-from-behind, early-primary-state-targeting, momentum-slingshotting strategy as their new lodestar after his national polling faltered.
WASHINGTON July 26, 2023
News and notes on the political erogenous zones of the modern right: Is Jeff Roe or Generra Peck to blame for the DeSantis slump? And Is Kevin McCarthy really going after the president?
At the outset of his campaign, Ron DeSantis made a conscious decision to bring as much of his political apparatus in-house as possible, avoiding vendors and other third parties.
WASHINGTON July 20, 2023
Amid the recent reckoning over expenses and cutbacks, some close to DeSantis wonder if he and Casey can get past their paranoia and let the political pros do their jobs—so that the candidate can do his.
Capitol Hill has been consumed by the internecine drama surrounding the status of MAGA darling Marjorie Taylor Greene.
WASHINGTON July 13, 2023
M.T.G.’s ouster from the House Freedom Caucus over the Boebert spat, among other things, has become a telling reflection of the G.O.P. (and the MAGAplex) during the Trump interregnum.
Kevin McCarthy presides over a paper-thin G.O.P. majority, which is continually under threat of falling apart.
WASHINGTON July 6, 2023
Notes on McCarthy’s dilemma as the Capitol returns from recess: Freedom Caucus infighting, a new shutdown showdown, the Greene-Boebert spat, the impeachment vote count, and the swing members to watch.


Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
WASHINGTON June 29, 2023
House Republicans are coming to the realization that in order to appease the base, heads will have to roll on the floor. And while a Biden impeachment is ludicrously far-fetched for members, Garland has become a real sweet spot.
WASHINGTON June 22, 2023
Dueling claims to a quarter-baked impeachment push, quickly shunted off into committees, spotlights an escalating MAGA food fight. Plus notes on Tucker Carlson’s legal battle with Fox News.
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