Professor of History, Boston College

Politics

What is Behind the Ghislaine Maxwell Arrest?

Geoffrey Berman’s forced resignation from SDNY and Maxwell’s arrest may not be a coincidence

July 3, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

Yesterday Jeffrey Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested. Epstein was a super-shady socialite and convicted sex offender who had lots and lots of cash and hobnobbed with elites in the political and financial world. Maxwell was his socialite companion and is alleged to have procured and groomed young girls for ...

What is Behind the Ghislaine Maxwell Arrest?

Politics

Who Would Kick Americans Off Their Health Insurance in the Midst of a Global Pandemic?

Donald Trump, frantic to deliver for his base as his numbers slip, attacks the Affordable Care Act again

June 26, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

Just before midnight on Thursday, July 25, 2020, the Department of Justice filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act-- also known as Obamacare—the health care law that has enabled millions of Americans to get health insurance. In addition to making healthcare affordable, the law prohibits ...

Who Would Kick Americans Off Their Health Insurance in the Midst of a Global Pandemic?

Politics

How Fast Can a President Tweet? Once Every 7.5 Minutes

In a morning tweetstorm, the President seems consumed with his own safety

May 11, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

Trump appears to be upset about the recent prominence of former President Barack Obama in the news. On Friday, a tape of Obama talking to about 3000 former staffers leaked. In it, the former President expressed dismay over the Justice Department's decision to drop the case against former National Security ...

How Fast Can a President Tweet? Once Every 7.5 Minutes

Democracy

Donald Trump Advocates the Overthrow of (State) Governments

Is Republican populism approaching its Thermidor moment?

April 20, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

“LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” The media has been on fire ever since. A president advocating a violent overthrow of three states with Democratic governors is unprecedented and quite possibly illegal—Mary McCord, acting US assistant attorney general for national security from 2016-2017 ...

Donald Trump Advocates the Overthrow of (State) Governments

Politics

Can Donald Trump Adjourn Congress?

The Constitution says no, but judges appointed in the last three years might say yes

April 16, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

There is no such disagreement between the House of Representatives and the Senate; they have agreed to end the session on January 3, 2021. Trump is unhappy because members of Congress have left Washington due to the pandemic, and the Houses are staying open through “pro forma” sessions. These sessions consist ...

Politics

Pardon Me — Are You Richard Burr, Sir?

Senators profiting off insider knowledge are not giving away their shot to make money from a crisis

March 20, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

The same day that Trump told the nation, “It’s going to disappear. One day, like a miracle. It will disappear,” Burr told members of an exclusive club that the novel coronavirus was fast-moving, like the 1918 pandemic, and could lead to school closings and military mobilization to combat it. Thirteen ...

Democracy

Coronavirus Testing Lag? Not My Fault, Says Trump

The president who insists that he alone can solve all problems runs away from this one. It could be fatal.

March 14, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

This quotation, from Trump’s answer, when a reporter asked him if he took responsibility for the lag in testing for the novel coronavirus, will be in every single history book written about this era. He went on. When PBS White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked why he doesn’t take responsibility for ...

Coronavirus Testing Lag? Not My Fault, Says Trump

Politics

COVID-19 and the End of a Political Era

New stages of history are inevitably ushered in by chaos

February 28, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

The coronavirus is grabbing the headlines, and it is a huge story in its own right, but it also lays bare the rot in the Republican Party that has put Trump in the White House. The coronavirus is a pandemic now, meaning it is a disease that has appeared on ...

Politics

Social Programs Are Not Socialism

Conservatives have been gunning for New Deal programs for decades

February 9, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

One of the reasons the nation’s deficit and debt is soaring is that Trump’s 2017 tax cut slashed tax revenues. And rather than helping regular Americans, “the plumbers, the carpenters, the cops, the teachers, the truck drivers, the pipe-fitters, the people that like me best,” as Trump put it, 60% ...

North America

The Trump Party Rises from the Ashes of the GOP

Retribution against those who sought to make Trump accountable begins

February 6, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

“The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a ‘high crime and misdemeanor,’” Romney said. “Yes, he did.” The fact that Romney voted yes on one of the articles was really the ...

The Trump Party Rises from the Ashes of the GOP

North America

In Trumpland, Trials Have No Evidence

As Republicans scramble to justify their votes, the evidence against Trump and his aides continues to drip, drip, driplessly

February 1, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

Republican Senators scrambled to justify their votes. As I wrote last night, Alexander said that the Democrats had proven the charges against the president but those actions were not impeachable. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) said that Alexander spoke for him, as well as for other senators. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said ...

North America

John Bolton Speaks

Avoiding new evidence of Trump’s crimes, the President’s lawyers continue to hammer the Bidens

January 28, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

Republicans have insisted that there is no direct evidence that Trump himself ordered the hold, and that, therefore, there is no evidence that the president had abused his power, as the first article of impeachment charges. The leaks from Bolton’s book, cheekily named The Room Where It Happened (this is ...

Heather Cox Richardson

What is Behind the Ghislaine Maxwell Arrest?

Geoffrey Berman’s forced resignation from SDNY and Maxwell’s arrest may not be a coincidence

Who Would Kick Americans Off Their Health Insurance in the Midst of a Global Pandemic?

Donald Trump, frantic to deliver for his base as his numbers slip, attacks the Affordable Care Act again

How Fast Can a President Tweet? Once Every 7.5 Minutes

In a morning tweetstorm, the President seems consumed with his own safety

Donald Trump Advocates the Overthrow of (State) Governments

Is Republican populism approaching its Thermidor moment?

Can Donald Trump Adjourn Congress?

The Constitution says no, but judges appointed in the last three years might say yes

Pardon Me — Are You Richard Burr, Sir?

Senators profiting off insider knowledge are not giving away their shot to make money from a crisis

Coronavirus Testing Lag? Not My Fault, Says Trump

The president who insists that he alone can solve all problems runs away from this one. It could be fatal.

COVID-19 and the End of a Political Era

New stages of history are inevitably ushered in by chaos

The Trump Party Rises from the Ashes of the GOP

Retribution against those who sought to make Trump accountable begins

In Trumpland, Trials Have No Evidence

As Republicans scramble to justify their votes, the evidence against Trump and his aides continues to drip, drip, driplessly

John Bolton Speaks

Avoiding new evidence of Trump’s crimes, the President’s lawyers continue to hammer the Bidens

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