Robert Kuttner

In classic form, President Trump concluded his hollow trade deal with Xi Jinping Thursday—and then changed the subject and the headlines. With no clear plan or rationale, he announced that the U.S. could resume nuclear testing.

President Trump left town last weekend for a six-day Asia trip, partly to change the subject and partly to score some cheap symbolic victories. As always, his goal was short-run successes, with foreign leaders fawning in his presence.

President Trump, with the help of his Treasury secretary, just pulled off a rescue that few thought possible, promising $40 billion to Argentina. What’s notable is not the novelty of Trump’s inter-American imperialism but the broad continuity with past U.S. policies.

The seemingly not-too-bad Trump economy is living on borrowed time. Both inflation and employment are getting worse, and the booming stock market is in AI bubble territory.

No Kings is a terrific recruitment force—for everything from local actions against National Guard and ICE incursions, to coordination with courageous governors and mayors, to engagement in this year's and next year's elections.

The more that young people focus on supposed generational injustices rather than the real injustices of class and power, the less likely they are to embrace a politics that might make a real difference.

No university has agreed to his latest extortion plan. And his vindictive partisan shutdown of the NY-NJ Gateway tunnel project could be a life preserver for Democrat Mikie Sherrill in the close New Jersey governor’s race.

The Supreme Court will soon rule on whether Trump’s aggressive and impulsive use of tariffs is an illegal usurpation of Congressional authority spelled out clearly in Article I of the Constitution. The right to levy tariffs is reserved to Congress, except where explicitly delegated to the president. Congress has done this in three laws, each […]

Could the cure be more economic populists running as independents?

In his campaign for president, Trump promised to protect Social Security and Medicare. On paper, Social Security, which has its own revenue sources via payroll taxes and trust funds, is protected from both the budget cuts of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and from the impact of the government shutdown. But Trump keeps trying to […]