From the Left

In Wisconsin, Musk Turned Fame and Wealth Into Votes but Not Victory

From the Left / Clarence Page / Apr 07, 2025

Lately Elon Musk has been looking like a good candidate for Washington’s unofficial “So Sorry to See You Go” award.

We used to hand it out annually on “The McLaughlin Group,” among other deliberately dubious honors, as a snarky salute to the formerly powerful and influential who, in the inevitable way that Washington cycles through ...Read more

The Real Reason We’re in a National Emergency

From the Left / Robert B. Reich / Apr 07, 2025

It’s hard to remember that only 10 weeks ago, the American economy was quite good, our foreign relations were on the whole positive, we were on the way to dealing with climate change with subsidies for wind and solar energy, and we still lived in a democracy.

Today, all that is disappearing. The economy is in acute danger, our relationships ...Read more

Five State and Local Entities Safeguarding Our Civil Rights

From the Left / ACLU / Apr 01, 2025

State and local officials play direct and crucial roles in shaping and safeguarding our civil rights and civil liberties, especially amid the Trump administration's ongoing attacks. These offices and officials -- governors, state legislatures, attorneys general and mayors -- influence countless parts of our daily lives but, most importantly, ...Read more

‘Signalgate’ Reveals Trump’s Backward-Looking Military View

From the Left / Clarence Page / Mar 28, 2025

A hard-won Senate confirmation was not enough to keep the aroma of scandal away from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for long.

As labels like “Signalgate” or, as I call it, “the Big Ooops” struggled for dominance in headlines, Hegseth’s fellow Republicans struggled to ignore calls, mostly from Democrats, for him to resign.

One ...Read more

Can Border Agents Search Your Electronic Devices? It's Complicated.

From the Left / ACLU / Mar 24, 2025

The government has long claimed that Fourth Amendment protections prohibiting warrantless searches don't apply at the border. The American Civil Liberties Union takes issue with this position generally, especially when it comes to electronic devices such as smartphones and laptops. Our smartphones store detailed accounts of our conversations, ...Read more

Trump Loves Free Speech, As Long As It's His

From the Left / Clarence Page / Mar 24, 2025

President Donald Trump and the GOP have called themselves the party of free speech. But since taking office, the president has been tightening up his definition of freedom like a hangman’s noose.

We could hear it in the White House’s Orwellian decision in February to revoke the Associated Press’ long-held access to the White House, ...Read more

Trump's Attack on the Department of Education, Explained

From the Left / ACLU / Mar 17, 2025

This week, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a statement saying it would cut nearly 50% of the department's workforce. These new layoffs occur at a moment when President Donald Trump has vowed to eliminate the ED and withhold funding from any other entity that incorporates diversity, equity and inclusion in educational practices ...Read more

Trump’s Labeling Dilemma

From the Left / Clarence Page / Mar 17, 2025

Amid the blizzard of breaking news, a familiar irritation poked through: ethnic labeling.

The issue unexpectedly emerged this week while the Senate considered a stopgap federal funding bill to keep the federal government running and avoid a possible shutdown,

After Trump said Democrats would be blamed and taxes would surge if Democrats didn’...Read more

Where Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Nominee Harmeet Dhillon Stands on Civil Liberties

From the Left / ACLU / Mar 10, 2025

President Donald Trump has nominated Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney, media personality and Republican Party official, to lead the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. If confirmed, Dhillon will lead the division of the DOJ charged with upholding core civil rights and liberties in many aspects of American life.

Dhillon is known ...Read more

Let Facts Get in the Way of Performative Politics

From the Left / Clarence Page / Mar 10, 2025

My advice to congressional Democrats: If you’re going to embrace performative politics, be sure you give a good performance.

Instead, the Dems at President Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress looked like an angry and lonely clown car.

They looked the very portrait that they have become in Donald Trump’s second term: angry, ...Read more

Welcome to the World of MAGA Machismo, Where Muscles Trump Brains

From the Left / Dick Polman / Nov 16, 2023

Ladies and gentleman, here is your United States Senate, then and now:

Sen. Daniel Webster on March 7, 1850: “It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United States (with) a just sense of its own dignity, and its own high responsibilities, and a body to which the country looks with confidence for wise, moderate, patriotic, and healing ...Read more

A totally fixable budget impasse involving a potential presidential candidate

From the Left / John Micek / Jul 17, 2023

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, Pennsylvania’s three-week-old budget impasse is the ultimate, binge-worthy summer drama.

There are great storylines, with real-world implications with fascinating characters in leading roles. And, like any addictive warm-weather series, the chances are pretty good that politics-watchers ...Read more

Trump and his lawyers think he can get away with anything. It's outlandish.

From the Left / Ruth Marcus / Oct 25, 2019

WASHINGTON -- "The king can do no wrong." That is the ancient legal maxim used to explain why a sovereign should not be held to account for misdeeds. President Trump and his lawyers are now making arguments that make this legal doctrine look wimpy. Their vision boils down to: The king can do whatever wrong he damn pleases, and there's nothing ...Read more