Donald Trump’s not the first American president who lied or viewed himself above the law, but he’s in a league of his own in terms of narcissism and an insatiable appetite for power.
Politicians have long used the phrase ‘I misspoke’ when backpedaling for verbal inaccuracies or blunders. Now it’s used as a euphemistic recasting of lying as an inadvertent mistake.
President Gerald Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon 50 years ago is seen as a damaging precedent establishing presidential impunity. Now, the Supreme Court has affirmed that impunity.
Mark Robert Rank, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis
For all the energy, creativity and money presidential candidates pour into their campaigns, it turns out that the ‘subtle power of irrelevant events’ can also shift an election’s outcome.
With the huge task of a late presidential run against Donald Trump, Kamala Harris faces challenges distinct from those faced by Vice President Hubert Humphrey after LBJ decided not to seek reelection.
While people now reflect on how or whether Nixon’s sweaty, haggard appearance during the debate cost him the election, the view in 1960 was that the debate was a draw.
Critics are decrying the long time the Supreme Court has taken to rule in a crucial Trump case, charging that it’s politically motivated to help Trump. A scholar of the court says they’re wrong.
Both sweeping immunity and overzealous prosecutions of former leaders can undermine democracy. But such prosecutions pose different risks for older democracies like the US than in younger ones.
Former US secretary of state, Henry Kissinger has died, aged 100. His legacy, including his involvement in the Vietnam war, is long, complicated and divisive.