Political analyst Kevin P. Phillips in September 1970.

The GOP’s ‘Southern Strategy’ Mastermind Just Died. Here’s His Legacy.

Kevin Phillips help set the Republican Party on the path that led it to Trump.
Engraving of "We the People," in which the words "We" and "the" are painted over.

How Do We Survive the Constitution?

In “Tyranny of the Minority,” Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argue that the document has doomed our politics. But it can also save them.

Republicans Are Moving Rapidly to Cement Minority Rule. Blame the Constitution.

Democracy is in trouble, but a lawless coup isn’t the real threat.

The Inner Life of American Communism

Vivian Gornick’s and Jodi Dean’s books mine a lost history of comradeship, determination, and intimacy.

The Tyranny of the Minority, from Iowa Caucus to Electoral College

The problem of minority rule isn’t Trumpian or temporary; it’s bipartisan and enduring.

The Obamanauts

What is the defining achievement of Barack Obama?
Clarence Thomas.

The Conservative Black Nationalism of Clarence Thomas

A new book discusses the black nationalism at the heart of Thomas’s conservative jurisprudence.

Eric Hobsbawm, the Communist Who Explained History

Hobsbawm saw his political hopes crumble. He used that defeat to tell the story of our age.

Why Has It Taken Us So Long to See Trump’s Weakness?

There’s a bad synergy at work between the short-termism of the news cycle and the longue durée-ism of the academy.
A picture of the White House

Forget About It

Warnings against "normalizing" outrageous political acts misstate the problem. It’s never the immediate present that gets normalized — it’s the not-so-distant past.

Democracy Is Norm Erosion

Sometimes you have to break the rules to create a more democratic system.
Donald Trump

Triumph of the Shill

The political theory of Trumpism.