Column: Charlie Kirk preached ‘Love your enemies,’ but Trump spews hate
As one way to keep tabs on President Trump’s state of mind, I’m on his email fundraising lists. Lately his 79-year-old mind has seemed to…
Column: We need more champions for the powerless like John Burton
Newsletter You're reading the L.A. Times Politics newsletter Anita Chabria and David Lauter bring insights into legislation, politics and policy from California and beyond. In…
Column: What came of Trump’s Putin summit? Nothing good
Remember the vaunted Trump-Putin summit? It was just a month ago this week, but Americans could be excused for having forgotten. Nothing good has come…
Column: Biden was supposed to be a bridge. He became a roadblock
From the outside looking in, Gov. Gavin Newsom unofficially announced he was running for president on Thursday, March 30, 2023, the day he transferred $10…
Column: Democrats should force a shutdown to save the government
Democrats have to change their ways. Ideally yesterday.The Democratic Party is the pro-government party, simply speaking, and Republicans the antigovernment party. Democrats want to make…
Column: Trump’s brand of war is killing more civilians than before
WASHINGTON — The United Nations mission in Afghanistan reported recently that U.S. airstrikes and Afghan security forces killed more civilians in the first half of 2019 than…
Column: On immigration, California Republicans still haven’t learned
Newsletter You're reading the L.A. Times Politics newsletter Anita Chabria and David Lauter bring insights into legislation, politics and policy from California and beyond. In…
Slain L.A. Times columnist Ruben Salazar matters more than ever
The afternoon sun glimmered off the ocean as I drove down MacArthur Boulevard in Newport Beach to fulfill a promise.This September marks five years since…
Column: When the president has to say ‘I’m not a dictator,’ we’re in trouble
“I am not a crook,” President Nixon said in 1973.“I’m not a dictator,” President Trump insisted on Monday.And with that, another famously false presidential proclamation…
Column: Trump is a redistricting bully, not a wizard
Newsletter You're reading the L.A. Times Politics newsletter Anita Chabria and David Lauter bring insights into legislation, politics and policy from California and beyond. In…
Column: The Big Lie is back and coming for American elections
Like most Americans, including White House reporters apparently, I’ve tuned out Donald Trump’s incessant Big Lie that he won the 2020 presidential election — “by…
Column: Newsom’s redistricting plan is a power grab. But the GOP objections are rubbish
Newsletter You're reading the L.A. Times Politics newsletter Anita Chabria and David Lauter bring insights into legislation, politics and policy from California and beyond. In…
Column: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s embrace of unchristian Christian nationalism
Pete Hegseth, widely considered the least qualified Defense secretary in American history, is hardly anyone’s version of the ideal Christian husband and father.Only 45 years…
Column: Trump’s D.C. takeover is a desperate distraction from Epstein files
Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi’s decision to appoint an “emergency police commissioner” in Washington is just the latest attempt to change an increasingly uncomfortable subject for…
Column: Donald Trump makes America worse than tacky
For President Trump, it’s all about appearances.He’s busy with so many makeovers: The Versailles-ification of the Oval Office, which seems to sprout more gold leaf…
Column: Vance is right to call out warped partisan representation
Believe it or not, Vice President JD Vance has said a number of things over the years that I agree with.For example, when he suggested…
Column: Kamala Harris won’t cure what ails the Democratic Party
William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, was the last commander in chief born a British subject and the first member of…
Column: Will Trump weaken the federal judiciary with specious accusations against judges?
Last week, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, who shows more fealty to President Trump than to the U.S. Constitution she swore to uphold, filed a complaint…
Column: Of course the Lakers’ 2020 win counts as a real championship
It’s been quite the summer for Lakers jealousy, hasn’t it?For example, in July, Bleacher Report left Kobe Bryant — the fourth-leading scorer in NBA history…
Column: Why MAGA’s ideologues can’t always get what they want
MAGA has a problem, in the form of Donald Trump. Put simply: MAGA wants to define what MAGA (or “America first”) means, and Donald Trump…