Jackie Calmes is an opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times in Washington, D.C. Before joining The Times in 2017 as White House editor, she worked at the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, covering the White House, Congress and national politics. She served as the chief political correspondent and chief economic correspondent at each paper. In 2004, she received the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Reporting on the Presidency. Calmes began her career in Texas covering state politics and moved to Washington in 1984 to work for Congressional Quarterly. She was a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. She is the author of “Dissent: The Radicalization of the Republican Party and Its Capture of the Court.”
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Latest From This Author
To the delight of Vladimir Putin, further U.S. support for Ukraine is in real doubt for the first time since Russia invaded 21 months ago.
Dec. 8, 2023
California’s formerly powerful representative has to choose this week whether to run — and stick with the Orange Jesus — or be his own man.
Dec. 4, 2023
The Constitution gives Congress wide discretion to deal with bad-boy members like Santos and Menendez. In practice, though, it must balance institutional integrity against the voters’ will.
Dec. 1, 2023
Donald Trump is the only U.S. president in history to be so damned by so many who were part of his inner circle. Here’s an anti-Trumper cheat sheet.
Nov. 21, 2023
Republicans’ fiscal brinksmanship has real consequences, adding to the deficit and downgrading U.S. credit.
Nov. 16, 2023
Speaker Mike Johnson and his fractious Republican majority in the House won’t govern. Too bad the country can’t fully function until they do.
Nov. 13, 2023
This week’s scary 2024 polls only get scarier when you contemplate what the former president and his allies have in mind for a Trump presidency 2.0.
Nov. 9, 2023
If Elvis’ cousin Brandon Presley can win the governorship in blood-red Mississippi, it will be a shot in the arm for Joe Biden and company. It’s all about the Black vote.
Nov. 2, 2023
The new House Speaker Mike Johnson is little different from Matt Gaetz and the rest of the ‘Crazy 8s’ who ousted Kevin McCarthy three weeks ago.
Oct. 25, 2023
You may think Democrats should offer up votes to get the House running again, but in reality, there’s no Republican to negotiate with.
Oct. 24, 2023