Jill Lawrence

Opinion: One smart way to win over working-class voters — and help the economy

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has held his job for less than a month, so it’s probably too early for him to think about running for president. But it’s not too soon for other governors considering a White House run to do what he did with a splash on…

What the ‘Weaponization’ Committee Is Really After

U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) (R) shakes hands with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) as Representatives cast their votes for Speaker of the House on the first day of the 118th Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol Building on…

McCarthy speaker spectacle is no joke. It shows the Republican Party will damage America.

If you’re a Republican, the last few days have been a humiliating disgrace. If you’re a Democrat, they’ve been a frustrating farce. For all Americans, this GOP – a motley collection of traditionalists, extremists and chaosmongers failing repeatedly…

Moderate Democrats Are the Future of the Party

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) participates in a reenacted swearing-in with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in the Old Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol January 3, 2017 in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day Biden swore in the newly elected…

Liz Cheney has been a godsend for democracy, but she doesn't fit anywhere in US politics

Rep. Liz Cheney sounded like she was giving a farewell address at the history-making public finale of the Jan. 6 committee, but I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of her. The great mystery now is whether she has a future in American politics. The…

Black Santa isn't woke opportunism gone rogue, it's just good old American capitalism

I saw a TV ad for Target gift cards recently and realized I was watching it as if I were an own-the-libs conservative (which, dear reader, I assure you I am not). “Woke! Woke!” I thought as conventional Christmas cheer gave way to a Hanukkah menorah,…

Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is GOP

(Composite / Photos: GettyImages / Shutterstock) Reagan-era Education Secretary William Bennett had a moment last week: On November 29, Simon & Schuster released a thirtieth-anniversary updated edition of his 1993 bestseller, The Book of Virtues. The…

Twitter was never a hellscape for me. It's a community I hoped would last my whole life.

As people close to you grow older, it’s wrenching to see their worlds shrink. Physical limitations are part of it, but so is the passing of their friends, one by one by one, until there’s hardly anyone left for them to talk to. For a while now I…

Nancy Pelosi made the right call

As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said herself, quoting scripture on the House floor Thursday: “For everything there is a season — a time for every purpose under heaven.” For Pelosi, the season to be leader of House Democrats has passed. She made the…

If our political and legal systems worked, there wouldn't be a Donald Trump 2024 campaign

There’s no more definitive indictment of the U.S. legal and political systems than Donald Trump’s entry into the 2024 presidential race a week after his Big Lie candidates crushed Republican hopes and dreams nationwide. You’d think by now there would…

Ron DeSantis has a messiah complex. Will it do him in?

In 2008, when he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama said he wanted to bring about “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” In 2016, discussing his superior knowledge of our…

Op-Ed: The midterm results (so far) show that old political narratives don’t apply

As Republicans gloated in recent weeks about the red wave they expected to wash over America, Democrats and their allies were, as usual, beating themselves up for blowing the election before it happened. The actual outcome? It could have been worse —…

Michelle Obama's comments under fire

— -- Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, is taking heat for saying Monday at a Milwaukee rally that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country — and not just because Barack has…

The right to control our own fates is at stake in 2022. Can suburban women save it?

The progressive political organization Red Wine & Blue offers “Troublemaker Training” sessions for suburban women and a logo with a cartoon wine bottle that, intentionally or not, brings to mind mommy wine culture. I fled the suburbs where I grew up…

What Joe Biden's memory lapse about the late Jackie Walorski really told us

President Joe Biden calling out late congresswoman Jackie Walorski seemed like a memory fail.At White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, he was trying to commend her work, crossing party lines.After a Trump presidency that lacked…

If you care about your country and your rights, don't vote for any Republicans in 2022

Now that primary season is over there is a simple test for voters, especially Republicans and independents: If you care about the future of America, democracy and your own rights, don’t vote for Republicans. Any of them. Even the officeholders who…

Op-Ed: Sarah Palin lost her bid for Congress. But we may not have seen the last of her yet

When Fox News canceled Sarah Palin’s contributor contract in 2013, I wrote that it was “the end of an era.” I was, of course, wrong about that. Not only did Fox give her another contract six months later, her divisive brand of insults and…

Op-Ed: Democrats try a new campaign strategy — getting things done

The most worried political junkies in America these days may be those never-Trump former Republicans who put their hopes in the Democratic Party. They’re terrified that Democrats are incapable of winning when and where it matters most. Right now that…

GOP says no to helping Americans, coddles Trump. Now the FBI has searched his home.

In another time, say a John McCain presidency, Republicans might have been enthused about a drive to ensure corporations and the wealthy paid their fair share of taxes, and future voters would be around to care because America had finally started…

The Democrats' new deal could help save planet Earth – and struggling West Virginia

I started my career in West Virginia, covering floods, coal and corporate exploitation. New investment and hope could bring change, for the state and the planet. Donald Trump won West Virginia by nearly 42 points in 2016 after promising to stop…