Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) speaks to the 2020 Republican National Convention in a live address from the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., August 24, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) Senator Tim Scott on Monday rebuked Democrats for what he described as their bleak outlook on race relations in the U.S. and shared his family’s story as a

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) speaks by video feed during the 2020 Republican National Convention broadcast from Washington, D.C., August 24, 2020. (2020 Republican National Convention/Handout via Reuters) Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) criticized Democrats’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic and widespread national protests and rioting over police brutality in his speech at the virtual Republican

The Charlotte Convention Center is set for 2020 RNC delegates to gather in Charlotte, N.C., August 24, 2020. (Travis Dove/Reuters) On the menu today: The coming week promises four nights of pure, concentrated President Trump at the 2020 Republican National Convention; the GOP heads into 2020 with no formal platform, and sorting out whether or

President George W. Bush speaks from the White House via satellite to the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., September 2, 2008. (Mike Segar/Reuters) On political conventions, teleprompters, populists, Russians, Golden Domers, and more NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE A t last week’s Democratic convention, all three former presidents — former Democratic presidents — spoke.

Jocelyn Bush, a poll worker at the Edmondson Westside High School polling site, cleans each station after a ballot is cast during the special election for Maryland’s 7th congressional district seat in Baltimore, Md., April 28, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Reuters) Older poll workers fear catching the coronavirus, and younger Americans, many of whom have never taken

Laura Loomer and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Loomer: Campaign ad via Vimeo; Greene: Campaign ad via YouTube) Laura Loomer and Marjorie Taylor Greene notch victories for conspiracism and religious bigotry. NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE L aura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist who has promoted religious bigotry, won a House primary election in Florida on Tuesday with 42.5 percent

Former Vice President Joe Biden accepts the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination during a speech for 2020 Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., August 20, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) On the menu today: Joe Biden went out and gave the speech he needed to give — but you can already see signs that

Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach talks about the Kansas voter ID law in Topeka, Kansas, May 12, 2016. (Dave Kaup/Reuters) The pro-abortion group EMILY’s List and a PAC run by allies of Senator Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) funded a Democrat-linked PAC that attempted to boost Kris Kobach in the Kansas GOP Senate primary,

Joe Biden in South Carolina in February, President Trump at the White House in April (Elizabeth Frantz, Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Joe Biden delivered a solid, if overhyped, speech last night accepting his party’s nomination for the highest office in the land. It effectively put a cap on the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and summed up the

Political journalists, including myself, are watching, analyzing, and debating the Democratic convention, produced with unparalleled restrictions and complications from the pandemic and trying to assess its effectiveness. I have tried to keep in mind that in a lot of cycles, the convention is not much of a factor … Read More

Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden waves next to Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) after she accepted the vice presidential nomination during the 2020 Democratic National Convention at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., August 19, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) If you watched Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the other big, headline speeches at

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden accepts the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination during a speech delivered for the largely virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., August 20, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Biden’s speech was affecting, but the Democrats were awfully vague about what they

Former Vice President Joe Biden accepts the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination during a speech delivered for the 2020 Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., August 20, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) If there is one overwhelming message from the Democratic convention and Joe Biden’s acceptance speech, it’s that Democrats want to make this

House GOP conference chair Liz Cheney issued a statement on Thursday condemning a conspiracy theory promoted by House GOP candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene, who won a runoff election in northwest Georgia last week. “QAnon is dangerous lunacy that should have no place in American politics,” Cheney said. Cheney’s comment came a day after President Trump

National Review has already ably covered the improbable victory of conspiracy theorist — mass-shooting truther, migrant-death wisher, and Muslim-excluding-Uber seeker — Laura Loomer in the Republican primary for Florida’s 21st congressional district. Even though she is likely to lose, this will surely not be the last we hear of or from this noxious personality. It

Former President Barack Obama speaks by video feed during the 2020 Democratic National Convention, August 19, 2020. (2020 Democratic National Convention/Pool via Reuters) It’s hard to ascribe much importance to the conventions this year; the reported TV ratings are terrible for the Democrats so far, and even if that’s hard to measure — the audiences

Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, admitting that he altered an email that he used to apply for a FISA warrant against former Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page. Clinesmith changed the email, which was originally sent to him by the CIA and … Read More

Voting booths at a voting center at the Placerville Town Hall in Placerville, Calif., March 3, 2020. (Gabriela Bhaskar/Reuters) Last night, Republican primary voters nominated an infamous conspiracy theorist for a House seat . . . again. Unlike Marjorie Taylor Greene running in the heavily Republican House seat in Georgia, Laura Loomer is running in

Among the subjects touched upon in the latest Capital Note are some new proposals to increase taxes in California (yes, it’s a day ending with a y). They are all bad, and in all likelihood, self-defeating (yes, it’s a day ending with a y), but it’s worth noting that they include a wealth tax, something

The control room in operation for the first night of the virtual Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wis., August 17, 2020. (Scott Olson/Reuters) Milwaukee was sleeping on the first day of the Democratic National Convention. Wisconsin, the land of cheeseheads and tight political contests. Historically a purple state that votes

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) speaks during the Democratic National Convention at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisc., August 17, 2020. (Scott Olson/Pool via Reuters) As someone who is — stifles groans — obligated by journalistic duties to watch all nights of the Democratic convention this week and the GOP convention next week, it is an

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks in a live video feed to the all-virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention, August 17, 2020. (Democratic National Convention/POOL via Reuters) Senator Bernie Sanders (D., V.T.) said “authoritarianism has taken root” under President Trump’s leadership during his speech at the virtual Democratic National Convention Monday night, citing recent controversies with voting, the

Postal Service trucks in Manhasset, N.Y., in 2012. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) The latest five-alarm fire in Washington is over a supposed plot to disfranchise voters centered on the United States Postal Service. Speaker Nancy Pelosi states flatly that President Trump is waging a “campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters.”

Joe Biden signs the documents needed to receive his party’s official nomination during an event in Wilmington, Delaware, August 14, 2020. (Carlos Barria/Reuters) This stuff is all out there. NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE T he Democrats’ pundit class has a Joe Biden agenda problem. On the one hand, they are devoted to reassuring centrist voters that

President Donald Trump talks to reporters from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., May 15, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) President Trump used his Thursday press briefing to promote a claim that Senator Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) is not a U.S. citizen, despite the fact that she was born in California. Earlier that

Sister Loraine McGuire with Little Sisters of the Poor speaks to the media in Washington, D.C., March 23, 2016. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) In a new campaign ad, Joe Biden discusses his 2016 meeting with Pope Francis in Rome and says that, on his way out of St. Peter’s Basilica, he happened to run in to a

Sen. Kamala Harris at the Democratic presidential primary debate in Atlanta, Ga., November 20, 2019. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters) The New York Times called Senator Harris a “pragmatic moderate” when Biden chose her, a description that makes sense only if you’ve been reading too much Jacobin. Janet Hook labeled her a “centrist” in the Los Angeles Times.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, April 17, 2020. (Leah Millis/Reuters) Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor for the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, said this week that he sees “no reason” Americans should avoid voting in-person

In December 2015, I sat with about 10,000 other students in Liberty University’s Vines Center for one of the thrice weekly Convocations, this one featuring remarks by Jerry Falwell Jr., the school’s president, chancellor, and son of its famous founder. It was already well-known by the student body that for … Read More

Frank Rich writes in New York: The deploying of race and gender to try to diminish Harris’s stature and achievements is not the sole province of Trump, his sons, and the Fox prime-time thugs who go right for the jugular. There’s also a subtler form of this animus among conservative commentators who almost to a man