Jess Lahitou

I recognize there are loads of readers who think the Republican Party’s demise is nothing to cry about. I get that. But for centuries, our country has relied on two strong, restrained parties that operate along shared political norms.

Rejoicing or weeping will depend on who you are, but let’s look at what happened either way.

Democrats:

Four years ago, my husband took a job transfer to Bogota, Colombia.

The workings of Congress are pretty fascinating. If you like The Borgias, The Tudors, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, then following the seemingly innocuous happenings in DC is a fascinating enterprise. You know that this is where the real action happens.

It’s early 2008 in Iowa. Hillary Clinton had been leading in the early polls, but her numbers have been steadily dropping when she is suddenly – shockingly – bested by a young, almost unknown senator from Illinois.

Bipartisanship is a rare bird.

Last night, the saga continued. Fox Business Network hosted the fourth Republican Primary debate, with a slightly winnowed set of contenders: the top eight candidates were on stage, compared with ten in the previous showdown.

As Tom Nichols puts it, ignorance has now become a "virtue." And it takes a whole lot of it to claim you can learn 'everything' about a complex subject - like, say, nuclear weapons - in roughly 90 minutes.

McMullin winning Utah's six electoral votes could deny both Clinton and Trump from getting to the necessary 270 electoral votes required to become president. And that opens up a world of odd-ball scenarios for who the next president might be.

Will every story that Trump doesn’t approve of get the “fake news” label, its authors permanently blacklisted forever?