Michelle Cottle

Congress is dying in real time.

Mike Johnson, the speaker, won’t swear in the Democratic representative-elect from Arizona.

On this week’s round table: courts, Congress and chaos under Trump.

When the president starts rigging the system for his own benefit, no one is safe.

The Democratic Party is counting on a new type of leader to counteract Trump.

Creative obstructionism in the Senate, says Tina Smith of Minnesota, has become “a fine art” that has nearly paralyzed the institution.

The Republican redistricting effort in Texas has emerged as a clear opportunity for Democrats to prove they have the stomach for a fight.

The state leaders may be the party’s best shot at reconnecting with the American people.

And why Democrats still need a strategy.

In this episode of “The Opinions,” the Times Opinion politics correspondent Michelle Cottle speaks to the columnists Jamelle Bouie and David French about the rise of “toxic empathy” and how the right has turned compassion into weakness.