Republican notions of ‘progressive’ and ‘populist’ don’t match reality

When it comes to fighting for real American values, progressives have been leading the charge since day one. 

Who got women the right to vote? Progressives. Who stood up to end segregation? Progressives. And who created the lifelines of Social Security and Medicare? You guessed it — progressives.

But today, we've got venture capitalist Republicans masquerading as working-class heroes, dragging the word progressive through the mud.

Don't be fooled by th...

Kamala Harris makes the perfect choice with Tim Walz

Choosing a running mate is the first and most important test of any presidential candidate. And Kamala Harris aced it. 

In a sense, Harris could do no wrong, because she had such an outstanding bench to choose from, including several governors. Any one of them would bring more executive or legislative experience to the table than JD Vance (R-Ohio), who never ran for office before being elected to the Senate in 2022 and has nothing to show for his time spent there.&nb...

Want fewer abortions? Vote for Harris.

One consequence of Kamala Harris’s newborn presidential candidacy is that abortion has become an even bigger campaign issue. Harris has been talking about it for months, far more than Biden did. She aims to mobilize pro-choice voters on her side.

But pro-life voters, who want more than anything else to minimize the number of abortions, also ought to vote for her. They should try to elect Democratic congressional candidates, as well. A Trump presidency, particularly if he gets ...

It’s time Washington listen to Sen. McCain’s warning on the broken status quo

This week marks seven years since Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) historic vote to save ObamaCare. I will never forget a phone call I had with him just moments before he gave the big thumbs down on the Senate floor. He was reaching out about a statement I had issued opposing the Republicans’ effort to repeal ObamaCare. He thanked me for putting people over party and confidentially let me know he was going to do the same.

Although we shared the same concern that our health care sy...

With Biden out, Trump is still the favorite

It’s official. After mounting calls from the Democratic establishment, President Joe Biden has exited the 2024 race. The American public had long called for it. For at least the last two years, even a majority of Democrats have wanted the president to step aside.

Biden leaving the race is not just significant but historic. No president has willingly exited this close to an election. It’s humiliating to be the first. But many progressives, some of whom formerly supported Biden,...

Taxing the rich is no silver bullet for saving Social Security

“Make the very wealthy begin to pay their fair share.” That was President Biden’s response when asked at last month’s presidential debate what he would do to address the looming insolvency of the Social Security trust fund. Combined with his opposition to benefit reductions of any kind, the implication is that Social Security’s finances should be stabilized by taxing the rich alone. In practice, this tax-only approach is like trying to patch a cracking dam with duct tape. Indeed, rather...

Preventive care is under threat: PrEP now or pay later 

A long-awaited court decision has finally arrived, with disturbing health implications: The ruling exempts select employers from fully covering a daily pill that can prevent a person’s chances of getting HIV by up to 99 percent.

But the effects of the Braidwood Management v. Becerra case extend beyond HIV care. The case could invalidate a startling range of free preventative services, and lead to a big jump in patient’s payments for cancer screenings, preventive drugs for hear...

Mindfulness, meditation can help calm American political anger

Twelve years ago, before the MAGA movement emerged on the right and the streets erupted in progressive protest from the left, we noticed something troubling in Congress: Our colleagues and constituents were getting angrier.

We saw it in the flushed faces at our town halls. We heard it in expletive-laden phone calls opposing the Affordable Care Act. We felt its toll in the increasing turnover of our burnt-out, battle-fatigued campaign workers. Most of all, we sensed it in the c...

Bet on Nancy Pelosi to show Joe Biden the door

Nearly 50 years ago, Richard Nixon resigned the presidency. Now, another presidency is in crisis.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has signaled to her colleagues in Washington and beyond that doing nothing about President Joe Biden’s obvious mental acuity decline is not an acceptable course of action. The irony of this situation is that Pelosi is nearly three years older than Biden.

Pelosi watched as Biden ran for political cover to t...

Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity is more limited than it appears

The Supreme Court’s new presidential immunity rule, announced in Trump v. United States, seems on its face to cut against the grain of the court’s recent jurisprudence.

This court has deliberately curtailed executive power, has shown a strong preference to decide only questions before it and no more, and has strong institutionalist and textualist leanings. A new, broad presidential immunity rule, which is how many commentators understand its ruling in the Trump case, seems in...