James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington

Blue Monday

New Blood Brings New Energy to the Democratic Party

Defeating Trump Politically Part 2

February 20, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

“I really like the new crop of young people who were just elected to Congress. They now need to stop acting like young people. It’s time to do that.”--Aaron Sorkin, self-important screenwriter of television shows about politics “What . . . really distinguishes this generation . . . is its determination ...

Blue Monday

Defeating Trumpism Politically, Part 1

Trump’s ‘national emergency’ over a border wall

February 18, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

I started writing my Blue Monday column a little over a year ago. I’ve been so gratified by the many regular readers the column has attracted, and the comments, and criticisms, the column has elicited. The column began as an effort to weave together my passions for politics and music. Over ...

Blue Monday

The Attacks on Ilhan Omar Must Stop

Why criticizing AIPAC is not anti-Semitism

February 11, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Ilhan Omar, the recently-elected Democratic Congressperson who represents Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District, has come under fire for her recent comments about AIPAC, the American-Israel Political Action Committee. The Times headline puts it well: “Pelosi and Democratic Leaders Condemn Omar Statements as Anti-Semitic.” It is important to be clear about the comments that ...

Blue Monday

Mitch McConnell and the “For the People Act of 2019”

Thoughts on power grabbing and democracy

February 4, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

This is the Democrat plan to restore democracy? A brand new week of paid vacation for every federal employee who’d like to hover around while you cast your ballot? A Washington-based, tax-subsidized clearinghouse for political campaign funding? A power grab. It’s smelling more and more like exactly what it is. Thus ...

Mitch McConnell and the “For the People Act of 2019”

Blue Monday

To Hell With Maduro and With Trump

Thoughts on Socialism, Venezuela, and Freedom

January 28, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

The Venezuelan system has been in crisis for some time. This crisis, like all crises, is no doubt overdetermined. It has global, regional, and domestic dimensions. And its primary victims are the ordinary people of Venezuela. If you have any doubts, I recommend a look at Amnesty International’s 2018 report, ...

Blue Monday

Thoughts on Martin Luther King, Jr., Birmingham, and Fractious Unity

Lessons from the civil rights movement for today’s political debates

January 21, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

“I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues.” - Duke Ellington Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a classic of American political thought and of American literature more generally. I’ve taught it countless times in my almost four decades of teaching political ...

Thoughts on Martin Luther King, Jr., Birmingham, and Fractious Unity

Feature

It was no President Who Colluded with the Russians, it was Trump

Anniversary Thoughts on Telling it Like It Is

January 20, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Today is the anniversary of that awful day, two years ago, when Donald Trump placed his hand on a bible, took the oath of office, and was officially inaugurated as president of the United States. And so today is a good day to declare that it is no longer appropriate to ...

It was no President Who Colluded with the Russians, it was Trump

Education

University Faculty Should Welcome “Foreign Influences,” Not Police Them

Indiana University instructs faculty to comply with all laws and regulations regarding foreign influences

January 14, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

I just received the letter at bottom in a mass e-mailing to Indiana University faculty. It instructs faculty about the importance of complying with all laws and regulations regarding the disclosure of “foreign influences.” The sender, a high official of the University, is also a smart colleague who I respect. And ...

University Faculty Should Welcome “Foreign Influences,” Not Police Them

Blue Monday

Why a Green New Deal is a Great Idea

It links public responsibility, ecological sanity, and economic justice at a moment of manifest political irresponsibility

January 14, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

We are now entering the fourth week of Donald Trump’s most recent historic achievement in the ongoing horror show that is his presidency: the federal government has for all intents and purposes ceased to function. Damon Linker summarized it well in a recent column: In a little under three weeks, the shutdown has ...

Feature

Why We Need to Listen to Rashida Tlaib

Defending liberal democracy from Trumpism is not a distraction for the Left

January 10, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Last week saw the swearing in of the new, Democratic-controlled Congress, the fruit of the “blue wave” that swept across the country last November. The 116th Congress has been rightly hailed as “historic” for its demographic diversity. The country’s first female speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was re-elected, and ...

Blue Monday

On Calls to Impeach the Motherfucker

The Democratic Party needs a “dialectic” between the words of Tlaib and the words of Pelosi

January 7, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

“We’re gonna impeach the motherfucker.” Thus declared Rashida Tlaib last Thursday night while speaking at a MoveOn event just hours after being sworn in as a new Congresswoman. A shitstorm of controversy ensued. Across the political spectrum Tlaib was denounced for her “vulgarity.” The New York Times headline reporting on her statement neatly summed up the response of ...

Blue Monday

Trump Unleashed

End-of-Year Thoughts on the Chaos That is Trumpism

December 31, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

“Yes, Trump’s foreign policy is a chaotic, incoherent, dangerous mess. Yes, he is clearly and manifestly unfit for office, and should have been removed a long time ago . . . But I find Trump’s persistence in following his electoral mandate against so much Establishment pressure in this particular respect ...