Politics

Outgoing U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) speaks at this year’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Earlier this year, as Republicans sought to ban books with Black history and LGBTQ+ themes from schools across the country, the nation’s first openly gay Black senator stepped onto the Senate floor and read … Read more

Then-President Trump appears alongside “Fox & Friends” co-host Pete Hegseth at a Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride at the White House in 2017. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) For weeks, President-elect Donald Trump has faced a barrage of criticism over his nomination of Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary. Hegseth, an Army National Guard major and … Read more

Moving swiftly to fill a large and painful vacancy in his Cabinet, President Bush on Friday nominated six-term Republican Rep. Dick Cheney of Wyoming to be his new defense secretary. Cheney, a respected, low-key former White House chief of staff under President Gerald R. Ford, said at a White House press briefing that he “agonized” … Read more

There is a time for partisan politics and there is a time for responsible government. Nowhere is this distinction more salient than with the volatile issue of illegal immigration. For if there ever was an appropriate time for harsh rhetoric –and The Times, which strongly opposed Proposition 187, doesn’t think there ever was and doesn’t … Read more

Rep. Allen West, one of the loosest cannons in the Republican arsenal, believes there are about 80 members of the Communist Partyin the United States Congress. Tuesday night at a town hall meeting in Jensen Beach, Fla., one of West’s constituents asked him how many “card-carrying Marxists or international socialists” there were in Congress. Without … Read more

President Reagan warned Congress on Thursday that he will veto any attempt to tamper with what he considers his major economic accomplishments. In his annual report on the state of the nation’s economy, Reagan said he found it to be performing well in the fifth year of recovery from the recession of 1981-82. He cited … Read more

Invoking the battle against terrorism, political and religious leaders across California joined Sunday to remember the Holocaust and denounce the religious intolerance that led to the annihilation of 6 million Jews. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who gave the keynote speech at the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration near the Holocaust Monument in Pan Pacific Park, described … Read more

When an election ends, victorious candidates look forward to a new challenge, while losers quietly return to careers put on hold during campaigns. But for the political consultants who helped shape a race’s outcome, the job–and, more importantly, the salary–usually ends when the votes are counted, regardless of who won or lost. “For consultants, Election … Read more

Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams Adams won office on a centrist platform, but his rhetoric has taken a noticeable rightward turn in the weeks since Trump’s election victory, particularly on immigration. (Yuki Iwamura / Associated Press) New York City Mayor Eric Adams appears open to switching parties to become a Republican, as he … Read more

French President Emmanuel Macron, center, poses with President-elect Donald Trump, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Saturday. (Aurelien Morissard / Associated Press) French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Donald Trump to Paris on Saturday with a full a dose of presidential pomp and they held an impromptu meeting with … Read more