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Walter Shapiro

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It is a strange position when an incumbent president suddenly announces he’s the Great Outsider, Shapiro writes. Above, Joe Biden speaks during an event on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4.

The sad folly of Joe Biden’s defiance

By Walter Shapiro
Posted July 9, 2024 at 6:00am
Electoral models can’t account for the idiosyncratic factors that are shaping the current presidential race, Shapiro writes. Above, Donald Trump leaves a campaign rally at Sunset Park in Las Vegas on June 9.

Ten rules for understanding the 2024 elections

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 11, 2024 at 6:00am
This is not a year when any rational voter should believe in ticket splitting, or that a Democratic Congress could contain a President Trump bent on vengeance, Shapiro writes. Above, the Capitol is seen at dusk in October.

Will the last ticket-splitting voter please turn out the light?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 14, 2024 at 6:00am
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie sound off on Speaker Mike Johnson in a May 1 news conference. They got the attention they wanted, Shapiro writes.

Republicans can’t stop threatening their speaker? Take away their TV!

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 6, 2024 at 6:54pm
President Barack Obama delivers his first State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Jan. 27, 2010. He warned about the influence of big money in politics.

Is this the year that no one watches political spots?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted April 30, 2024 at 6:00am
Former President Donald Trump, center, sits with his attorneys Todd Blanche, left, and Emil Bove before jury selection in his trial on 34 felony counts in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday.

Avoid hot takes on Trump’s supposed trial of the century

By Walter Shapiro
Posted April 16, 2024 at 6:00am
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas prepares to testify during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last November.

Mayorkas impeachment is a portrait in partisan posturing

By Walter Shapiro
Posted April 9, 2024 at 6:00am
A forced sale of TikTok could, by some estimates, bring in as much as $150 billion.

The election-year dance over ByteDance and TikTok

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 19, 2024 at 6:00am
Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt has been criticized and praised for her delivery of the Republican response to the State of the Union.

Katie Britt and the folly of fake fearmongering

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 12, 2024 at 6:00am
President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address to Congress on Feb. 7, 2023, as Vice President Kamala Harris and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., listen. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

President to deliver ‘State of Joe Biden’ address as he seeks reelection

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 5, 2024 at 6:00am
Former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., along with Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on the House floor on Oct. 17, 2023.

A tour of the Capitol Hill ‘Hall of No Shame’

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 27, 2024 at 6:00am
Then-President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Osaka, Japan, on June 28, 2019. As a candidate for a new term in the White House, Trump is siding more with Putin than with America’s allies in Europe. (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

Finally, a glimmer of hope on Ukraine aid — maybe

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 13, 2024 at 6:00am
U.S. law enforcement officers guard migrants that crossed into Shelby Park as they wait to be picked up for processing on Feb. 4 in Eagle Pass, Texas.

The best politics on immigration is to forget about politics

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 6, 2024 at 6:00am
Migrants walk along razor wire after crossing the Rio Grande onto U.S. soil on Jan. 28 in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Trump makes a bull in a china shop look tame on immigration and other matters

By Walter Shapiro
Posted January 30, 2024 at 6:00am
Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik attend a news conference on Jan. 17.

Will voters punish total incompetence? House Republicans are about to find out

By Walter Shapiro
Posted January 23, 2024 at 6:00am
Holiday decorations line a hallway in the Longworth House Office Building on Dec. 4. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Congress at Christmas: A debacle of democracy

By Walter Shapiro
Posted December 12, 2023 at 6:00am
Supporters of Wendell L. Willkie outside the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium during the 1940 presidential campaign.

Coupling Ukraine aid with border security is like juggling flamethrowers

By Walter Shapiro
Posted November 28, 2023 at 6:00am
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., concludes a news conference on Capitol Hill on Nov. 2. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Enough with ‘gotcha votes’ in Congress — they just don’t work

By Walter Shapiro
Posted November 7, 2023 at 6:00am
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., conducts a news conference on the House steps with members of his conference on Oct. 25.

Democrats can demonize Johnson, but should they in 2024?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted October 31, 2023 at 6:00am
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., center, Conference Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., and House Minority Whip Katherine M. Clark, D-Mass., conduct a news conference earlier this year.

Speaker race: Crossing the river Jordan with advice for House Democrats

By Walter Shapiro
Posted October 17, 2023 at 6:00am
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, is escorted by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., left, and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., to the Old Senate Chamber for a meeting with U.S. senators in the Capitol on Sept. 21.

Forget the high-fives — Congress just sold out Ukraine

By Walter Shapiro
Posted October 3, 2023 at 6:00am
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., walk in the Capitol earlier this year.

House Republicans marching toward ‘Cloud-Cuckoo Land’

By Walter Shapiro
Posted September 12, 2023 at 6:30am
The private plane of former President Donald Trump is parked on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., on Aug. 3 before taking him to Washington, D.C., for a court proceeding.

The trials and tribulations of Trump’s Capitol Hill enablers

By Walter Shapiro
Posted August 9, 2023 at 6:00am
Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a "Farmers for Trump" campaign event on July 7 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Nine ways the 2024 campaign could go haywire

By Walter Shapiro
Posted July 25, 2023 at 6:00am
In this photo illustration, the logos of Threads and Twitter are seen displayed on a smartphone.

‘Caveat emptor’: 2024 will be the biggest stealth campaign in US history

By Walter Shapiro
Posted July 11, 2023 at 6:00am
A pot sits on a gas-burning stove, an appliance the House is seeking to protect.

When push comes to stove, silly season is just getting warmed up

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 13, 2023 at 6:00am
Reps. Garret Graves, R-La. (left), and Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., speak to reporters about debt ceiling and spending negotiations on May 23.

The ultimate no-win debt deal for McCarthy, House Republicans

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 31, 2023 at 6:00am
Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and other Republicans are a big reason why government is so inefficient, columnist Walter Shapiro writes.

Why can’t we run government like a business? Start by blaming Congress

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 16, 2023 at 6:00am
Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and other House Republicans during a March 30 press conference.

The GOP’s march of folly on the debt ceiling

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 2, 2023 at 6:00am
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and other GOP members at a news conference on March 30.

What McCarthy, GOP should fear about the never-ending abortion controversies

By Walter Shapiro
Posted April 25, 2023 at 6:00am
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan is seen during a field hearing on violent crime in New York on Monday.

House Republicans’ NYC violent crime hearing was a political farce

By Walter Shapiro
Posted April 18, 2023 at 6:00am
Demonstrators gather outside the Capitol to demand action on gun safety on May 26, 2022, in the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Texas.

Mass shootings show ‘Stein’s Law’ has sadly met its match

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 29, 2023 at 6:00am
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., conducts a news conference at the Capitol on March 7.

Why this liberal is calling for a (muted) cheer for Mitch McConnell

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 21, 2023 at 6:00am
A sign outside the Capitol on Jan. 10, 2022, reminding people to wear a face mask because of COVID-19.

State of the COVID-19 union: Honing our selective memories

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 7, 2023 at 6:00am
Sen. J.D. Vance delivers remarks alongside former President Donald Trump at the East Palestine Fire Department on Feb. 23. Virtually every House committee — with the possible exception of Ethics — is poised to weigh in on the Ohio train derailment, Shapiro writes.

The limitations of the House GOP’s power to probe

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 28, 2023 at 6:00am
The conventions of political journalism suggest that politicians are in constant flux. Usually, they are not, Shapiro writes. Above, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene yells during last week’s State of the Union.

The unchangeable Marjorie Taylor Greene

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 14, 2023 at 6:00am
As Katie Porter and others announce their bids for California’s Senate seat, Democratic donors should resist the urge to play along, Shapiro writes.

The siren song of the California Senate race for out-of-state Democrats

By Walter Shapiro
Posted January 31, 2023 at 6:00am
No one believes Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans would have the good sense to let a rewrite of the 1887 Electoral Count Act ever reach the floor in 2023, Shapiro writes.

Republicans have a very strange idea of self-interest

By Walter Shapiro
Posted December 13, 2022 at 6:00am
COVID-19 funding should be a top priority, but instead it’s a political football in the lame-duck Congress, Shapiro writes. Above, a pharmacist administers a vaccine last November in Washington, D.C.

It’s time for a Christmas truce in the COVID wars

By Walter Shapiro
Posted November 29, 2022 at 6:00am
In the Democratic playbook, saying you intend to vote is not enough — you have to make a plan, Shapiro writes. Above, Sen. Maggie Hassan speaks at an election eve event in New Hampshire, joined by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Chris Pappas.

The biggest enigma of 2022? How voters actually decide

By Walter Shapiro
Posted November 8, 2022 at 6:00am
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, seen here in 2021, have very different visions of how they would run the House next year, writes Shapiro.

Impeach Biden or investigate Trump? Voters have a choice to make

By Walter Shapiro
Posted October 25, 2022 at 6:00am
It will be hard to forget the courage of Cassidy Hutchinson, who spoke up while her political elders cowered, Shapiro writes. Above, Hutchinson prepares to testify on June 28.

The powerful legacy of the Jan. 6 committee

By Walter Shapiro
Posted October 12, 2022 at 6:00am
Can the polls showing a Democratic comeback be trusted? There is quite literally only one way to find out, Shapiro writes. Above, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at the Capitol this summer.

For those tempted to predict the midterms — don’t

By Walter Shapiro
Posted September 27, 2022 at 6:00am
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi could well have the last laugh, Shapiro suggests.

Why the conventional wisdom about 2022 has been so wrong

By Walter Shapiro
Posted September 13, 2022 at 6:00am
As an antiwar graduate student in the 1970s whose only vehicle was a three-speed bicycle, Walter Shapiro did not fit the mold of typical political striver. Above, demonstrators in Washington protest the Vietnam War in 1970.

A bike, a suit and a dream: How I lost a race for Congress 50 years ago

By Walter Shapiro
Posted August 10, 2022 at 6:00am
A bipartisan group of senators, led by Joe Manchin and Susan Collins, wants to overhaul the Electoral Count Act. The biggest problem is timing, Shapiro writes.

Don’t let the Electoral Count Act rewrite go down for the count

By Walter Shapiro
Posted July 26, 2022 at 6:00am
The next presidential election could have us all quoting “rage, rage against the dying of the light,” Shapiro writes. Above, Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate in 2020.

Rage, rage against the octogenarian steel cage match

By Walter Shapiro
Posted July 12, 2022 at 6:00am
The Biden administration is taking a series of steps aimed at minimizing the impact of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.

These days, the Supreme Court shapes the election returns

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 28, 2022 at 6:00am
As President Joe Biden’s approval rating continues to dip, that spells trouble for Democrats. But the key to the midterms may be EGAD, Shapiro writes.

Egad! It’s a guide to the 2022 midterms

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 15, 2022 at 6:00am
Video screens display an image of Donald Trump before his speech to supporters near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021.

What did Trump know, and when did he know it?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 7, 2022 at 6:00am
John Fetterman is hardly the first politician to omit details about his health, Shapiro writes. Above, the Pennsylvania Senate candidate campaigns on May 10, days before suffering a stroke.

An Rx for politicians — full medical disclosure

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 25, 2022 at 6:00am
President Joe Biden and his party believe that some political phrasemaker will invent a magical five or six words that will transform the 2022 election, Shapiro writes.

Biden’s ‘MAGA Republicans’ is a meh-ga slogan

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 17, 2022 at 6:00am
Last September, volunteers placed more than 640,000 flags in front of the Washington Monument to remember those who died in America during the pandemic. Now that number is at the 1 million mark.

The worst pandemic in a century has outlasted our attention span

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 10, 2022 at 6:00am
In the battle for democracy, you take your allies where you can find them, writes Shapiro. Above, independent candidate Evan McMullin waits to speak to supporters at an election night party on Nov. 8, 2016 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Democratic message from Utah — of all places

By Walter Shapiro
Posted April 26, 2022 at 5:00am
A health care worker conducts a COVID-19 test last September in Washington, D.C. Now is the perfect time to negotiate a cease-fire in the battles over the deadly virus, Shapiro writes.

The era of laissez-faire COVID-19 prevention

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 29, 2022 at 6:00am
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address Congress via Zoom on Wednesday.

The mark of Zelenskyy: History awaits his address to Congress

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 15, 2022 at 6:00am
Supporters of Ukraine demonstrate outside the White House on Saturday to oppose the Russian invasion.

Ukraine — it’s our fight too

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 1, 2022 at 6:00am
Ukrainian border guards patrol Monday at the Three Sisters crossing with Russia and Belarus at Senkivka, Ukraine.

The sad but true limits of American power

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 15, 2022 at 6:00am
Mike Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion to run for the Democratic presidential nomination and only won American Samoa.

Money still can’t buy you love — or an election

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 1, 2022 at 6:00am
We expected President Joe Biden, here with Senate leader Charles E. Schumer in July, to be a trifle cynical about the realities of 21st-century Washington, but his first-year actions say otherwise, Shapiro writes.

Joe Biden and the dangers of inbred optimism

By Walter Shapiro
Posted January 19, 2022 at 6:00am
President Joe Biden, Charles E. Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and are seen in the Capitol on Thursday. Exaggerated fears of gerrymandering contributed to the biggest political mistake of the Biden presidency, Shapiro writes.

Democrats’ early panic over gerrymandering could prove costly in November

By Walter Shapiro
Posted January 11, 2022 at 6:00am
With his gracious concession to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential race, Richard Nixon set an honorable example that many in his party are finding hard to emulate today, Shapiro writes.

Where have you gone, Richard Nixon?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted December 15, 2021 at 6:00am
The politics of pique exhibited by Republicans such as Rep. Lauren Boebert, here at a House Freedom Caucus news conference in July, may not represent rock bottom for Congress, Shapiro writes.

In game of congressional limbo, how low can the GOP go?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted November 30, 2021 at 6:00am
President Joe Biden, here with Speaker Nancy Pelosi in October, allowed left-wing Democrats for months to dream of a $3.5 trillion social spending bill, even though it had no plausible route through the Senate, Shapiro writes.

With Democrats in the doldrums, just how much is Biden to blame?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted November 16, 2021 at 6:00am
Municipal workers rally in New York City on Oct. 25 against vaccination mandates. The state of the mask and vaccine wars next year would be a better midterm predictor than 2021 election results, Shapiro writes.

What the elections in Virginia and New Jersey won’t tell us

By Walter Shapiro
Posted November 2, 2021 at 6:00am
Many see President Joe Biden’s public tolerance for the meandering ways of Congress as a weakness, Shapiro writes.

You can take Joe Biden out of the Senate, but …

By Walter Shapiro
Posted October 5, 2021 at 6:00am
Mitch McConnell and Charles E. Schumer at a 9/11 commemoration last week. McConnell’s refusal to provide any GOP votes to prevent a government default is as ineffective as it is irresponsible, Shapiro writes.

The world has moved on from debt ceiling gamesmanship

By Walter Shapiro
Posted September 21, 2021 at 6:00am
Lawmakers gather on the Capitol steps on the evening of 9/11. The outpouring of we-are-all-in-this-together patriotism that followed the attacks is unlikely to be replicated anytime soon, Shapiro writes.

The brief, shining moment of national unity after 9/11

By Walter Shapiro
Posted September 8, 2021 at 5:30am
Opponents of the filibuster rally outside the Supreme Court in June. Anger at the GOP has blinded Democrats to the reality that Congress is on the cusp of approving unprecedented spending to rebuild America, Shapiro writes.

Democrats are poised for big wins in Congress. So why the doom and gloom?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted July 27, 2021 at 6:00am
Roger Towberman, the senior most enlisted in the US Space Force, displays the service insignia.

In the last mile of our battle against COVID, the enemy is us

By Walter Shapiro
Posted July 13, 2021 at 6:00am
Former President Donald Trump’s vengeance tour against his GOP critics that began with a Saturday night stop in Ohio proves he will never willingly give up the limelight, Shapiro writes.

The man who will never go away

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 29, 2021 at 6:00am
The roles played by Arlen Specter and Martha Coakley leading up to the 2010 midterms have been forgotten by many Democrats in their reimagining of history, Shapiro writes.

Democrats are adopting wrong lessons from Obama’s early failures

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 15, 2021 at 6:30am
Many, like President Joe Biden, have spoken about democracy being in peril “here at home,” but there are reasons to believe voters will come to the rescue next year, Shapiro writes.

My uphill battle not to worry about our democracy

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 2, 2021 at 6:15am
A protester demonstrates in front of the White House in April 2020. The tens of millions of Americans who refuse to take COVID-19 seriously are indicative of something deeper than partisan divisions, Shapiro writes.

Can victory over the pandemic bridge the trust gap?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 4, 2021 at 6:00am
An Afghan woman walks past a U.S. soldier keeping watch outside Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in February 2009. Twenty years of U.S. involvement in the country should bring with it moral obligations, Shapiro writes.

Afghanistan: No road map for success, just an exit ramp for failure

By Walter Shapiro
Posted April 20, 2021 at 6:00am
The debate over raising corporate taxes to pay for an infrastructure plan returns us to familiar ground, Shapiro writes.

It’s spring, the sap is rising — and Congress turns its thoughts to taxes

By Walter Shapiro
Posted April 7, 2021 at 6:00am
Republicans may be spreading every conceivable fear about unaccompanied children at the border, but there’s no guarantee they will make immigration a defining issue in the 2022 midterms, Shapiro writes.

The phantom danger of being judged soft on children at the border

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 23, 2021 at 6:00am
Tourists at the Capitol on March 9, 2020, days before the suspension of normal life. When the histories of the pandemic are written, the virulence of the anti-masking frenzy will seem baffling, Shapiro writes.

P is for pandemic — and other lessons of the past year

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 9, 2021 at 6:00am
The Biden White House’s playbook on immigration is emblematic of a new approach to legislating that avoids playing for opposition votes with provisions your own base hates, Shapiro writes.

Biden’s newfangled theory of legislating

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 23, 2021 at 6:00am
House Democrats talk to reporters Friday after meeting with President Joe Biden on his COVID-19 relief plan. Opposing the $1.9 trillion measure, they say, will hurt Republicans, but 2022 may not be a normal political year, Shapiro writes.

Parties already playing games over votes. But will it matter in 2022?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 9, 2021 at 6:00am
Seventeen GOP senators could permanently change the trajectory of their party if they voted to convict Donald Trump for inciting the mob attack on the Capitol, Shapiro writes.

Trump v. democracy — Round Two

By Walter Shapiro
Posted January 26, 2021 at 6:00am
There’s nothing more important than bipartisan cheers for Joe Biden as he takes office next week, Shapiro writes.

Errant Republicans must loudly hail Biden’s legitimacy

By Walter Shapiro
Posted January 13, 2021 at 6:00am
The logic governing opposition by progressives to Neera Tanden is shaky, Shapiro writes. Above, Tanden speaks at a pro-impeachment rally on Capitol Hill in December 2019.

The vaporous case against Neera Tanden for OMB director

By Walter Shapiro
Posted December 1, 2020 at 6:00am
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office should have anticipated how bad a celebratory indoor meal in the Capitol would look when Americans are being begged to forgo large Thanksgiving celebrations, Shapiro writes.

Pelosi, Democrats should take lasting lessons from the dinner that wasn’t

By Walter Shapiro
Posted November 17, 2020 at 6:00am
President Donald Trump rallies Monday in Traverse City, Mich. Republicans need to speak out if Trump starts making unjustified charges about the way votes are being tallied, Shapiro writes.

Don’t let Trump subvert democracy on election night

By Walter Shapiro
Posted November 3, 2020 at 6:00am
Senate Republicans, including secret Trump dissenters like Texas’ John Cornyn, may have had a different 2020 had they not spent years demonstrating public fealty to the president, Shapiro writes.

The mock bravery of the Senate Eye Roll Club

By Walter Shapiro
Posted October 20, 2020 at 6:00am
Sen. Ron Johnson spoke (without a mask) at a GOP dinner back home in Wisconsin last week, while awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test. Such behavior is baffling in light of the high stakes for the GOP’s Supreme Court push, Shapiro writes.

The Heedless Horseman Republicans and their COVID denial

By Walter Shapiro
Posted October 6, 2020 at 6:00am
In their rush to confirm another Supreme Court justice, Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are resorting to the same logic used in the run-up to the Iraq War, Shapiro writes.

The Trump-McConnell doctrine: Bomb them before they bomb us

By Walter Shapiro
Posted September 22, 2020 at 6:00am
It remains baffling why Republicans like Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst continue to serve as Donald Trump’s enablers on pandemic denial, Shapiro writes.

Why is the GOP taking medical advice from Dr. Pepper?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted September 15, 2020 at 6:00am
No ad campaign could possibly compete with the distortions about the coronavirus from a president who revels in being the fabulist in chief, Shapiro writes.

The virus and the fabulist in chief in the White House

By Walter Shapiro
Posted July 21, 2020 at 6:00am
Republicans like Sen. Josh Hawley may be eyeing the Trump playbook for 2024, but a Biden landslide this fall could swing their party back toward rationality, Shapiro writes.

What comes after Trump — the deluge or a rational GOP?

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 30, 2020 at 6:00am
Virginia Rep. Denver Riggleman’s defeat is a reminder that even voting the pure Trump line in Congress is no guarantee of a secure future in today’s GOP, Shapiro writes.

America — Halfway between hope and heartbreak

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 16, 2020 at 6:00am
A man walks past the spray-painted wall of the White House Historical Association in Washington on Sunday after a night of protests over the killing of George Floyd.

Dreaming of a ‘Morning After’ for America

By Walter Shapiro
Posted June 2, 2020 at 5:30am
Older voters were a key part of President Donald Trump’s 2016 coalition, but the incoherent contradictions in his coronavirus response put the allegiance of this vulnerable group in doubt this year, Shapiro writes.

Trump is stuck in 2016, but older voters are panicked by the 2020 virus

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 19, 2020 at 5:30am
As a Missouri senator, Harry Truman launched his special committee to investigate wartime corporate profiteering, even with a president of his own party in the White House, Shapiro writes.

What Sen. Harry Truman could teach today’s Capitol Hill Republicans

By Walter Shapiro
Posted May 12, 2020 at 5:30am
Empty streets in Midtown Manhattan on Sunday. As Congress plays its own game of chicken, neighborhood small businesses in New York and elsewhere face a struggle for survival, Shapiro writes.

The city that never sleeps has met its inner Rip Van Winkle

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 24, 2020 at 6:00am
Congressional Republican leaders must try to convince the president to relinquish any role in managing the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, Shapiro writes.

Memo to GOP leaders in Congress: It’s time for an Oval Office intervention

By Walter Shapiro
Posted March 10, 2020 at 5:30am
Bernie Sanders is not going to quietly fade away, Shapiro writes, and what Democrats do with this unavoidable reality is a choice that will reverberate for years.

If you see something, say something. Leading Democrats should speak out on Sanders

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 25, 2020 at 5:00am
Bill Clinton’s State of the Union address in 1999, made in the midst of his impeachment trial, exemplified his ability to compartmentalize, Shapiro writes, but that’s a skill Donald Trump doesn’t possess. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call file photo)

For Trump, a State of the Union with nothing to say

By Walter Shapiro
Posted February 4, 2020 at 5:30am
Republicans would be wise to ponder the examples of two Watergate figures who died recently, Tom Railsback, left, and Egil Krogh, Shapiro writes. (CQ Roll Call file photo/Courtesy Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum)

The Bolton bombshell and the moral lessons of Watergate

By Walter Shapiro
Posted January 28, 2020 at 5:30am