Matt Bai's Political World

    • Like everything else, the debates are all about Trump
      Matt Bai
      4328

      Like everything else, the debates are all about Trump

      Whether from incompetence or instability, Donald Trump has made himself not the default alternative to a deeply distrusted candidate, but the dominant and more divisive figure of the two.

    • Trump and the nomination Matrix
      Matt Bai
      1742

      Trump and the nomination Matrix

      Any reporter who has ever spent time on a presidential campaign has heard the perennial rant about “process stories.” That’s when the candidate tells you that really he is desperate to illuminate in numbing and nuanced detail his plan to reverse the decline of American manufacturing (which consists of about 500 words of boilerplate blather on his website), but all we in the media ever ask about is how he intends to win, so he can’t. Bernie Sanders rails against a rigged system supported by “superdelegates” and “closed” primaries.

    • Are we getting the leaders we deserve?
      Matt Bai

      Are we getting the leaders we deserve?

      Just recently, the media seems to have latched on to the idea that it has been culpable in enabling Donald Trump’s antic march to the Republican nomination. But the guy who really predicted it was Gary Hart, back in 1987.

    • Why #NeverTrump Will Never Work
      Matt Bai

      Why #NeverTrump Will Never Work

      The problem with the #NeverTrump movement, which aims to keep Donald Trump from clinching the Republican nomination, is that you don’t win campaigns solely by running against somebody else. You have to give voters something — or someone — that they can be for.

    • How Kasich became National Republican Grownup
      Matt Bai

      How Kasich became National Republican Grownup

      After winning the Ohio primary, Gov. John Kasich was the last man standing against Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the only candidate left with governing gravitas. Somehow, the brash, prickly boy wonder of the Gingrich revolution had been elevated to the position of his party’s designated grown-up.

    • What D.C. Republicans will do if it’s Trump vs. Cruz
      Matt Bai

      What D.C. Republicans will do if it’s Trump vs. Cruz

      Now you have a rough idea of how Republican insiders in Washington are feeling this week. With the season of choosing passing its midpoint, governing Republicans are slowly resigning themselves to what looks like a two-man race between the unpredictable Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, a man so universally disliked that if you Google “hated senator,” every single link that pops up is about him. When it comes to Trump versus Cruz at the top of the ticket, most in the so-called establishment would prefer the devil they know to the daredevil they don’t.

    • Knock knock, Marco. It’s a wolf named Trump.
      Matt Bai

      Knock knock, Marco. It’s a wolf named Trump.

      Photo illustration: Yahoo News: photos: Mary Evans/Walt Disney Pictures/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection, Mary Schwalm/AP, Alan Diaz/AP

    • How President Trump would govern
      Matt Bai

      How President Trump would govern

      The real question isn’t whether Republicans have a chance to win with Donald Trump, because they do. The question is what kind of president he would be. My guess is that President Trump wouldn’t actually be the reactionary, often venomous leader we’ve seen rallying the faithful these last few months. He might well turn out to be something worse.

    • If Trump wins, he has Christie to thank
      Matt Bai

      If Trump wins, he has Christie to thank

      If the field of Republican presidential hopefuls not named Donald Trump remains overcrowded after this weekend's South Carolina primary, and if Trump himself cruises to a victory there and ends up winning the nomination, a lot of Republican leaders may look back and conclude that it was Chris Christie who cost them the victory.

    • There is only one way forward for Clinton now
      Matt Bai

      There is only one way forward for Clinton now

      While Bernie Sanders focuses relentlessly on the big themes that preoccupy voters, Hillary Clinton’s campaign feels like it’s all about her résumé, her mettle, her 25 years of suffering through the indignities of public service. She has to stop allowing the campaign to become a referendum on her — and turn it, instead, into a referendum on the guy she wants to replace.