There's a disjunction between political sentiment and action from the White House.
Read morePresident Trump Has Done Almost Nothing
Just weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, you would think that everything had changed. The uproar over the president’s tweets grows louder by the day, as does concern over the erratic, haphazard and aggressive stance of the White House toward critics and those with different policy views. It is the illusion of a presidency, not the real thing.
Read moreTrump’s Economic Team of Rivals
Donald Trump ran his company and campaign, as many have observed, like an episode of “Game of Thrones”: Pit various factions against one another and see who comes out on top. It may be an inelegant and crude way to manage, but it has a certain logic if you are interested in power and who can wield it effectively.
Read moreIt’s Not Just Trump. People Freaked out Over Nixon and Reagan, Too.
Donald Trump’s election has been greeted by a considerable portion of the country with panic. Large swaths of commentators have described his victory as a potential disaster for the nation — placing a “xenophobic racist” and “clown” in the Oval Office. One Hillary Clinton supporter outside her hotel in New York the morning after the election said, “I’m feeling physical pain. I’m shocked. I’m sad.”
Read moreThe GOP is Breaking. It’s not Trump’s Fault.
We now have something like consensus: The rise of Donald Trump portends the end of the Republican Party as we know it. As longtime GOP operative and commentator Steve Schmidt said last week, “The Republican Party has an outstanding chance of fracturing.” Trump’s opponents, inside and outside the party, are united in the belief that he has almost single-handedly undone an institution founded on the eve of the Civil War that has lasted for more than 150 years and has immeasurably shaped the United States.
Read moreHow the GOP Made Obama one of America’s Most Powerful Presidents
Republicans have come to view Barack Obama not just as an ideological enemy but as a “dictator” — a president who has unconstitutionally abused his executive power with an array of unilateral actions.
Read moreWhy America’s Youth Loves Bernie
This is not the 1960s. There is no war to fight; Sanders is not George McGovern. Hippies have become aging boomers, the parents and grandparents of today’s youth. The question is why an aging, rumpled socialist from earthy-crunchy Vermont is so popular right now.
Read moreObama and Xi's weekend getaway
This weekend, President Obama and China's new leader Xi Jinping will meet at a retreat outside of Los Angeles. The two men are scheduled to spend six to seven hours covering a range of issues that confront the two countries, from the increasingly fraught issue of hacking and cybersecurity to what to do about an evermore unpredictable and rogue North Korea.
Read moreLife and Career of Chester A. Arthur
Zachary Karabell examined Chester Alan Arthur, who was propelled into the presidency by the assassination of James Garfield and turned his back on the patronage system that had nurtured him. Mr. Karabell argued that in creating a professional civil service he set America on a course toward even greater reforms in the decades to come.
Read moreLibrary Event Trailer: Candice Millard and Zachary Karabell - Hail to the Chiefs
Historian, economist, and journalist Zachary Karabell talks about how Garfield's vice president Chester A. Arthur created professional civil service and ushered in a new era of reform in America.
Read moreLesser-Known U.S. Presidents
Historian Arthur Schlesinger, editor of Times Books' “American Presidents Series,” moderated a panel discussion of the lives of some of America’s lesser-known presidents. The panelists were the authors of some of the biographies in the series. Ted Widmer was the author of Martin Van Buren, Jean Baker was the author of James Buchanan, Josiah Bunting was the author of Ulysses S. Grant, and Zachary Karabell was the author of Chester Alan Arthur. All of the panelists answered questions from members of the audience following their presentations.
Read moreThe Turning Point for a Reluctant White House
When many people think about the March on Washington 40 years ago this week, and the civil rights movement in general, the images that remain strongest are of Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of grass-roots activists who took to the streets, organized protests and fought county by county in the South to force change.
Read moreThe Imperial Presidency
Authors of books on modern U.S. Presidents discussed Chief Executives from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush in a forum titled “The Imperial Presidency.”
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