President Biden will lock arms with two of his Democratic predecessors at a campaign fund-raising event on Thursday evening in New York City, a public display of support from the two men who understand like few others what he faces. Yet in one key way he will be standing alone. Of the triumvirate of recent […]
Read MoreTag: Presidents and Presidency (US)
Don’t Think of It as a Contest Between Biden and Trump
It’s official — we have a rematch. This week, both Joe Biden and Donald Trump officially secured the delegates needed to win renomination in their respective primaries. This will be the first contest since the 1892 race between Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland where a former challenger, now incumbent, faces off against a former incumbent, […]
Read MoreDemocrats Need to Stop Playing Nice
There is a moment in the 2008 HBO movie “Recount” that illuminates an essential difference between Republicans and Democrats. The film was a fictionalized account of the mayhem that followed the 2000 presidential election in Florida. Warren Christopher, a courtly former secretary of state, represents the Democratic candidate Al Gore. “The world is watching,” he […]
Read MoreWhat History and Economics Suggest About Biden-Trump, Round 2
Politics and economics have always been intertwined, often in ways that were mystifying in real time. We’re living in another of those perplexing moments. With the Super Tuesday primary results and a couple of important Supreme Court rulings behind us, it looks as if voters will face an election rematch between President Biden and his […]
Read MoreMajority of Biden’s 2020 Voters Now Say He’s Too Old to Be Effective
Widespread concerns about President Biden’s age pose a deepening threat to his re-election bid, with a majority of voters who supported him in 2020 now saying he is too old to lead the country effectively, according to a new poll by The New York Times and Siena College. The survey pointed to a fundamental shift […]
Read MoreTrump Should Lose. But the Supreme Court Should Still Clarify Immunity.
The Supreme Court has never squarely resolved whether a president’s in-term conduct is immune from criminal prosecution because, before Donald Trump, there were no indicted ex-presidents. But there are four such indictments now, including Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution in Washington, D.C. — a case built around Mr. Trump’s fraudulent attempt to subvert the 2020 […]
Read MoreSex and the Capital City
“The Golden Bachelor” showed that sex is not just for spring chickens. Hearing aids and making out in a hot tub can go blissfully together. Now comes the Golden President. Even though fretful questions about his age have engulfed Joe Biden’s campaign, one thing is clear: His romance with Jill is still crackling. I have […]
Read MorePoll Ranks Biden as 14th-Best President, With Trump Last
President Biden has not had a lot of fun perusing polls lately. He has a lower approval rating than every president going back to Dwight D. Eisenhower at this stage of their tenures, and he trails former President Donald J. Trump in a fall rematch. But Mr. Biden can take solace from one survey in […]
Read MorePutin Says He Prefers Biden Over Trump
President Vladimir V. Putin said on Wednesday that it was in Russia’s interest for President Biden to win a second term, calling his American counterpart experienced and predictable, and dismissing concerns about Mr. Biden’s age. It was the first time that Mr. Putin had directly expressed a preference ahead of the U.S. presidential election in […]
Read MoreThe Biden Problem Democrats Can No Longer Ignore
The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion […]
Read More5 Presidential Libraries That Offer Culture, History and ‘Labs of Democracy’
As repositories of valuable historical documents and other records, U.S. presidential libraries have long been important destinations for scholars. But you don’t have to be an academic or even a history buff to appreciate these destinations, as many increasingly offer museums, special exhibitions and unique programming — ranging from interactive situation room experiences to musical […]
Read MoreTrump Is Losing It
It is unclear whether Donald Trump has forgotten the precise nature of NATO or whether he ever fully grasped it in the first place. What is clear, however, is that Trump — who ostensibly spent four years as president of the United States — has little clue of what NATO is or what NATO does. […]
Read MoreFinland’s New President Faces Unexpected First Test: Not Russia, but Trump
Educated in the United States and deeply pro-American, Finland’s president-elect, Alexander Stubb, looked perfectly poised to lead his nation into a stronger trans-Atlantic partnership and redefine its role in the global order as a newly minted NATO member. Instead, he will enter office next month at a time when U.S. politics has once again thrown […]
Read MoreHow Old Is Too Old to Be President? An Uncomfortable Question Arises Again.
When Dwight D. Eisenhower weighed the pros and cons of running for a second term, one factor that concerned him was his age. Arguing against a re-election campaign in his mind, he wrote in his diary in November 1954, was the need for “younger men in positions of the highest responsibility” at a time of […]
Read MoreThe Challenges of an Aging President
Because of his age and his determination to run for a second term, President Biden is taking the American public into uncharted waters. He is the oldest person ever to serve as president, is the oldest ever to run for re-election and, if he is successful, would be 86 at the end of his tenure. […]
Read MoreFor Voters, When Does Old Become Too Old?
When a reporter asked President Biden on Thursday night about concerns about his age, his first instinct was to reject the premise. He replied in part: “That is your judgment. That is not the judgment of the press.” The question was about the public’s concern, not the press, but either way the concerns over his […]
Read MoreKamala Harris Calls Special Counsel Report on Biden ‘Politically Motivated’
Vice President Kamala Harris pushed back forcefully on Friday against a special counsel report that questioned President Biden’s memory, describing it as “politically motivated.” “The way the president’s demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly politically motivated,” Ms. Harris said in response to questions from reporters […]
Read MoreTrump’s Fever Dream of Immunity Meets Its Match
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit announced its decision in the case of the United States v. Trump, on the question of the former president’s immunity — or lack thereof — to federal criminal prosecution. The panel isn’t having it. “We cannot accept that […]
Read MoreForceful Opinion Repudiates Trump’s Immunity Claim in Election Case
Former President Donald J. Trump’s claim that he was immune from being prosecuted for any crimes he committed while trying to stay in office after losing the 2020 election was always a long shot. But in an opinion on Tuesday eviscerating his assertion, three federal appeals court judges portrayed his position as not only wrong […]
Read MoreHow Trump Uses the Power and Imagery of His Presidency
Only five days after Donald J. Trump left office, one of his aides emailed a lawyer to request approval of a formal-looking seal for use on statements from the office of the 45th president. Margo Martin, one of his closest personal aides, told the lawyer, Scott Gast, that consultants had designed a subtly-modified seal for […]
Read MoreTrump and Biden Get Ready for the Very Long Haul
With Donald J. Trump rapidly closing in on the Republican presidential nomination, the 2024 general election campaign is set to be one of the longest in modern history, pushing President Biden and Mr. Trump into unfamiliar territory as they struggle to engage an electorate that seems numbed by the prospect of a 2020 rematch. For […]
Read MoreTrump Claims Immunity Extends Even to Acts That ‘Cross the Line’
Former President Donald J. Trump said on Friday night that American presidents deserve complete immunity from prosecution even for acts that “cross the line,” contending for the second time this week that the holder of the nation’s highest office should effectively remain beyond the reach of criminal law. Mr. Trump’s remarks on his social media […]
Read MoreThe Silent Glamour of Melania Trump’s Mother, Amalija Knavs
Throughout the Trump presidency, Amalija Knavs — mother to first lady Melania Trump — was something of a mysterious figure. Mrs. Knavs, who died earlier this week, rarely made public comments or gave interviews. Striking and perfectly coifed, Mrs. Knavs was a recurring but almost entirely silent presence during the Trump presidency, much like her […]
Read MoreThis Election Year Is Unlike Any Other
At the outset of this election year, with Donald Trump leading the race to be the Republican presidential nominee, Americans should pause to consider what a second Trump term would mean for our country and the world and to weigh the serious responsibility this election places on their shoulders. By now, most American voters should […]
Read MoreIs Trump an Agent or an Accident of History?
In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels, a “psychohistorian” in a far-flung galactic empire figures out a way to predict the future so exactly that he can anticipate both the empire’s fall and the way that civilization can be painstakingly rebuilt. This enables him to plan a project — the “foundation” of the title — that will […]
Read MoreThree Years After Jan. 6, Trump’s Immunity Claims to Take Center Stage
Three years after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol, former President Donald J. Trump will make his latest and potentially most consequential argument in the coming week for why he should not be held responsible for seeking to overturn the 2020 election. Impeachment proceedings, the House Jan. 6 committee’s inquiry and two separate […]
Read MoreOnly Congress Can Exempt Trump From Disqualification
Many Americans are convinced that the disqualification of Donald Trump from Colorado’s primary ballot is a terrible idea and want the Supreme Court — which agreed on Friday to take up this question — to find a way to let the former president run. Mr. Trump’s supporters are eager to vote for him and argue […]
Read MoreTrump Is Not the Only Reason to Fix This Uniquely Dangerous Law
The Insurrection Act is a dangerous centuries-old federal statute that authorizes the president, with few restraints, to deploy the U.S. military inside the United States to suppress threats the president perceives to the constitutional order. Commentators have recently proposed tightening the law following reports that former President Donald Trump and his advisers are planning to […]
Read MorePush to Disqualify Trump Pits Democracy Against the Rule of Law
The Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that Donald J. Trump is constitutionally ineligible to run for president again pits one fundamental value against another: giving voters in a democracy the right to pick their leaders versus ensuring that no one is above the law. Mr. Trump’s status as the Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination, despite […]
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