John Judis

|
Editor at Large
 Have a tip? Send it Here!
John Judis is editor-at-large at Talking Points Memo. He is the author of The Politics of Our Time: Populism, Nationalism, Socialism.

The Democrats Need to Get Their Act Together

I found the first two series of Democratic presidential debates painful to watch, and I don’t think it was simply the result of the format or of the questions asked. It was because in their preoccupations, I don’t think the Democratic candidates have developed the message and the language that can win the White House for the party.
Read More 

Trump Is No George Wallace. He’s Worse.

I keep seeing comparisons between Trump’s racial appeals and George Wallace’s 1968 campaign. Here’s the AP’s Steve Peoples and Zeke Miller: “Not since George Wallace’s campaign in 1968 has a presidential candidate — and certainly not an incumbent president — put racial polarization at the center of his call to voters.” Someone here can correct me if my memory is failing me, but in 1968, Wallace did not make explicit racial appeals.
Read More 

Some Thoughts on Buttigieg Taking Off and Warren Seeming to be Grounded

To me, the most surprising developments in the Democratic presidential race have been the rise of South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and the failure of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign to catch hold.  According to betting sites, Buttigieg is a six to one favorite to win the nomination, and Warren a distant 25 to one.  There is a long way until the caucuses and primaries, but here are some guesses why Buttigieg has caught fire and a few thoughts why Warren’s flame has flickered. Read More 

Trump, the Wall and … well yes.. Hitler

I’ve always resisted comparisons between Adolph Hitler and Donald Trump and between Trump’s election and the onset of fascism.  Trump is not plotting genocide. The geopolitics are entirely different.  But as I was recently reading Volker Ullrich’s terrific biography of Hitler (Hitler: The Ascent, 1889-1939), I was reminded of a certain similarity between the men, and it’s relevant to the current battle over the border wall. Read More 

UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 25: Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., attend a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in in Emancipation Hall to honor Filipino veterans of World War II on October 25, 2017. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) Trump, the Democrats, the Shutdown and the Wall

There are issues that divide Republicans and Democrats that sometimes benefit the GOP and at another time the Democrats.  Universal healthcare and abortion are issues like this. And so might be the issue of the border wall.  If so, the Democrats should be very careful. What follows is a comment on politics, not policy.

Read More 

The Weekly Standard’s Closing Should be Mourned

I didn’t want to write about The Weekly Standard’s closing until it was official. I was hoping that an angel would descend from the heavens, but it seems that the magazine’s owner, who was eager for the subscriber list for a magazine version of the Washington Examiner, did not want to sell.  You ask: Why should I – whose disagreements with the Standard’s editorial stances would fill a short book – care?  It has to do with the valuable role that opinion magazines like The Weekly Standard have played in American politics.
Read More 

George H.W. Bush and the Quest for a Realistic Foreign Policy

George H.W. Bush’s death, like that of John McCain, has brought forth glowing tributes that are veiled critiques of our current president.  In response, some commentators on the left have pointed to Bush’s flaws and failures – from his rejection of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to the Willie Horton ad in the 1988 campaign and from the Iran-Contra scandal (of which he was an unnamed conspirator) to his tacit acceptance of the Tiananmen Square massacre.  I want to sidestep this debate to say something 80 percent positive about one aspect of Bush’s foreign policy that most clearly came to the fore in his dealings with Europe, the Soviet Union and the Middle East.
Read More 

WASHINGTON, DC - Senators Corey Booker (D-NJ) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) speak quietly during Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Tuesday September 4, 2018. (Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Very Provisional Thoughts on Who will be the Democratic Nominee in 2020

I am on a book tour for The Nationalist Revival: Trade and Immigration and the Revolt against Globalization, and I invariably get asked whom the Democrats should run in 2020, and I thought on a quiet weekend when the President is (thank God) out of the country, and I am sitting around a hotel room in Berlin waiting to give a talk, I might run through my answer.

Read More 

What Needs to be Done in the Wake of Kavanaugh’s Confirmation

In the wake of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination and confirmation as a Supreme Court justice, several liberals have argued that if the Democrats win a majority again in the White House and Congress, they should consider packing the court and even limiting the tenure of court justices. I agree with these proposals by Paul Starr in The American Prospect and Barry Friedman in The New York Times. But the court’s role as a reactionary institution – one that desparately needs reform – began before Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Read More 

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's signatures is seen on new dollar bills, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. The new Mnuchin-Carranza notes, which are a new series of 2017, 50-subject $1 notes, will be sent to the Federal Reserve to issue into circulation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) And Now for Something Completely Different: the Dollar Challenged

While the country’s attention is riveted on Florence, Kavanaugh’s confirmation and Manafort’s plea deal, certain other developments around the world may in the end prove more significant. At a meeting earlier this month in Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to bypass the dollar and use their own currencies in commercial relations.

Read More 

Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: