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 Award-winning journalist Jill Lawrence is commentary editor and a columnist at USA Today. A former columnist for U.S. News and World Report and Creators Syndicate, she is the author of the 2017 book The Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock and a contributor to The Surge: 2014's Big GOP Win and What It Means for the Next Presidential Race. She co-authored Governors and the Presidency: How They Campaign, How They Govern, for the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, and Phoning It In and Failing to Show: The Story of the 2014 House Primaries, for the Brookings Institution. | More about Jill Lawrence
Selected articles:
January 6 Commission Defeat Previews Dangerous Failures to Come on Voting and Elections
Shameless Liars for Trump or Out-of-Touch Reagan Relics? Republicans Have Bad Choices.
Mastio & Lawrence/Biden's Speech to Congress: Liberal Road to Ruin or Popular Fixes to Festering Problems?
Yo-Yo Ma Talks COVID, Hope and Anti-Asian Hate: 'Why Is Anybody Surprised?'
Mastio & Lawrence/Joe Biden's First Press Conference Answers at Least One Question
Trump Is Gone and Biden Is Gathering Steam. But Now's Not the Time to Stop Worrying.
Mastio & Lawrence on CPAC 2021/Is Donald Trump a Declining Parody Or a Terrifying Threat?
Spare Us: After Trump, Seven Republican Lectures Democrats Never Need to Hear Again
Trump Legacy: Personal Responsibility Is for Suckers and GOP Means 'Grievances On Parade'
Mastio & Lawrence/Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Reaching for Normal at the Inauguration
A Republican in Joe Biden's Cabinet? The President-Elect Should Just Say No.
Waiting for Joe Biden: How to Make It Through the Final, Awful Days of Donald Trump
Georgia, If You’re Listening, Ignore Conservatives Peddling Socialist Senate Hallucinations
Stacey Abrams Would Be a Great Democratic Party Chair If She Could Be Talked into It
Mastio & Lawrence/Trump-to-Biden Transition Is Already Unhinged and It Won't Get Better
The Trump and Never-Trump Eras Could End Soon. Thanks for the Memories and Inspiration.
Mastio & Lawrence/Trump Soldier Mike Pence Faces Off with an Impressive Kamala Harris
Mastio & Lawrence/Trump-Biden Presidential Debate in Cleveland: Once Is Enough. Please Make It Stop.
Will Democrats Grow Backbones Amid Trump-Republican Rush to Replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg?
Mastio & Lawrence/Donald Trump's Big Convention Speech Was Filled with Lies and Gall
Lawrence & Bloom/Is Kamala Harris the Future of the Democratic Party? Yes and No.
Joe Biden's VP Choice of Kamala Harris Signals Return to American Values and Competence
Mastio & Lawrence/Kamala Harris Is a Living, Breathing Rebuke to the Trump Presidency
Resolve After Appalling Roger Stone Commutation: Don't Let Donald Trump Break Us, America.
Biden's Vice Presidential Choice Just Got Simpler. He Needs Kamala Harris or Val Demings.
Joe Biden's Trump Card: Death, Disease and Economic Pain Are Real. They Can't Be Spun.
Trump's Chaotic Coronavirus Presidency: Historically Divisive and, for Some, Fatal
Mastio & Lawrence/Sanders Keeps Arguing for a Revolution Most Democrats Don't Want
Warren, Klobuchar, Harris, Gillibrand: Did Gender Sink Democratic Women in 2020? Nope.
Mastio & Lawrence/Joe Biden Won Because Money Couldn't Buy Bloomberg Super Tuesday Love
Mastio & Lawrence/Debate Grades for Sanders, Bloomberg and the Rest of the Democrats
Mastio & Lawrence/Grading Bloomberg, Sanders and Other Democrats at the Las Vegas Debate
Washington's 'Rules of Civility' Could Teach Trump Lessons on Insults and Fake News
Mastio & Lawrence/New Hampshire Democrats Spurn Biden and Warren in Quest to Beat Trump
Forget Iowa in 2024, Don't Nominate a Socialist in 2020, and Time for 5 Democrats to Go
I Used to Cover Republicans Who Are Cowering to Trump. I Don't Recognize Them Now.
Mastio & Lawrence/Get Ready for the Trump Senate Impeachment Trial as Partisan Farce
From Scott Brown to Donald Trump, Can Democrats Recover from the Traumas of the 2010s?
Mastio & Lawrence/What We Learned About Trump and 2020 from the 2019 Democratic Debates
Democratic Debate in Atlanta: From A to F, Mastio & Lawrence Grade the 2020 Candidates
A Mayor? Who's 37? What Are Democrats Thinking? Maybe that Buttigieg Could Beat Trump.
Impeachment Hearings Are Democrats' Last, Best Chance to Show How Trump Endangers America
Mastio & Lawrence/In Virginia, a Vote Against Trumpism, but the Rest Is Up for Debate
Elizabeth Warren's Choice: 'Medicare for All' Purity or a Path to Beating Donald Trump
Wyoming, Monaco, Voting Rights and Taxes: All the Reasons Washington, D.C., Should be a State
Democratic Debate in Houston: From A to F, Mastio & Lawrence Grade the 2020 Candidates
Celebrate the Diverse 2020 Democratic Candidates and Don't Fret About 'Electability'
Valerie Harper's Death Reminded Me of My Rant About 'Rhoda' and the Great Response I Got
Joe Biden Isn't the Boringly Reassuring Candidate Democrats Were Hoping For
Dayton and El Paso Won't Change Trump. He's Bet His Future on Division, Cruelty and Guns.
Mastio & Lawrence/Will 2020 Democrats Target Biden or Trump on Race at CNN Detroit Debate?
What If Robert Mueller Decided to Tell Congress What He Really Thinks?
3 ways for Elizabeth Warren or Another Democratic President to 'Deal With' Mitch McConnell
Republicans Are Eating Our Lunch. I Want a 2020 Democrat Tough Enough to Eat Theirs.
Mastio & Lawrence Grade the 2020 Democratic Debates: Kamala Harris at the Head of the Class
6 Ways Democrats Can Ease America Into Thinking About Impeachment and Donald Trump
Trump-Era America Needs Biden's Campaign Even If He Doesn't Win the Democratic Nomination
You Don't Have to Be 37 Like Pete Buttigieg, but Age Should Matter in the 2020 Campaign
Mastio & Lawrence/Trump's Tweets Read Like Your Crazy Uncle in the Attic, but We'll Only Worry If He Shuts Up
Amy Klobuchar's Bad-Boss Flaws are Disturbing. Should Democrats Write Her Off for 2020?
Mastio & Lawrence/State of Trump's Union: America is Coping with its Ethically Heedless President
BuzzFeed Michael Cohen Report: Will It Hold Up? Will It Change the Game for Trump and GOP?
Mastio & Lawrence/Reasonable Facsimile of a President Delivers Expected Cascade of Distortions, but No News
Elizabeth Warren Didn't Miss Her Presidential Moment. Win or Lose, 2020 is Her Time.
No Exit: America's Not Only Trapped in Trump's Legal Reality show, We're Paying for It
You Don't Bring a Novice to a Knife Fight. That's Why Democrats Need Nancy Pelosi.
Can Republicans Fix Their Woman Problem? Only If They Change Practically Everything.
Democrats Need to Be Ruthless on Fixing Voting. They're Paying a Steep Price for Neglect.
Mastio & Lawrence/Election Results 2018: Bragging Rights for Everybody and Nobody
It's Too Late for Trump to Be Credible on Uniting US Against Hate
Trump and Republicans Have Put America in Crisis. 'Mob' and 'Socialism' Won't Erase That.
Mastio & Lawrence/Should We Trust Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh or Accuser Christine Blasey Ford?
McCain Wanted to 'Raise Hell' and Leave It All on the Field. Mission Accomplished, Senator.
What Donald Trump Can Teach Democrats and Barack Obama About Politics
My Grandfather Wouldn't Be Allowed into America Under Donald Trump's Policies
Anthony Kennedy Retirement Latest Reason Democrats Risk Losing Supreme Court for Generations
Immigration, Ethics, Russia: Welcome to Trump World, Where All scandals Are Above Average
What If Hillary Clinton Had Won? A Thought Experiment for Republicans
Would the Founders Want Our Kids to Die in School Shootings Like Santa Fe? I Doubt It.
James Comey Is Back to Remind Us How Donald Trump Got Elected. Some Leader.
Next Up for Trump White House, Judge Jeanine and Lou Dobbs? Nothing Should Surprise Us.
Mastio & Lawrence/Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump and '60 Minutes': Shame Is So Over
#MeToo and Inclusion Riders Are Great. But Should I Worry About My Son?
Freakout-onomics: Trump and Republicans Making Every Bad Economic Choice Possible
Mastio & Lawrence/Donald Trump and the State of Our Reality TV Union
On Medicaid Work Requirements, Who Will Judge the Character Judges?
Democrats Must Play Republican-Style Hardball in 2018
If Only Our Fake President Acted More Like the 'Fake' News Media He Hates So Much
Obamacare Repeal is an Ideological Crusade Past Its Sell-By Date. Give It Up, GOP
Trump Shows GOP How It's Done: Scrap Absolutism, Deal with Reality
Checkers vs. Chess: Donald Trump's Fateful Insistence on Instant Gratification
Hillary Clinton Still Stuck in '16
Donald Trump to America: Please Impeach Me
Trump is a Nightmare Negotiating Partner
Mastio & Lawrence/Bill O'Reilly Forced Out But Will Fox Change?
Putin's Mission Is Already Accomplished
The Republican Reckoning on Health Care
Mastio & Lawrence/Trump is the Real Teleprompter President
The Michael Flynn Problem Starts at the Top
Mastio & Lawrence/Billionaire Trump Promises Power to the People
Sternberg, Mastio & Lawrence/@Cliffs_Notes Constitution for @realDonaldTrump
Mastio & Lawrence/Is President Obama's Real Legacy Donald Trump?
Mastio & Lawrence/When a Cartoon Is Not Just a Cartoon
8 Gifts for the President-Elect Who Has It All
Mastio & Lawrence/Family Ties Between Trump and Pizzagate
The Real Voices that Aren't Heard
Mastio & Lawrence/Congrats America. You Blew It.
Mastio & Lawrence/Obamacare's Shocking Premium Hikes
Trump Gets His Poetically Just Desserts
Mastio & Lawrence/Trump Implosion Goes Way Beyond Politics
Mastio & Lawrence/Trump Teeters on the Precipice
Mastio & Lawrence/Trump Sex Video Apocalypse
Mastio & Lawrence/Who Won that VP Debate?
Trump Debate Debacle Should Sink Him
The Public Trump Is All that Matters
Change Is Not Your Friend This Year
Clinton Owes Nothing to the Party of No
Raw Racism Revealed in GOP Voter Law
Bernie Bros in the Family: Jill Lawrence & Sons
9 Ways Trump Is Worse than the GOP Caricature of Obama
Sanders Waited Too Long to Join Real World
Hillary's Pretty Darn Good Campaign
Melania, Puffery and Plagiarism at TrumpCon
5 Words that Could Sink Trump
Clinton Needs a Conscience for Vice President
Clinton Deserves Credit for Making History
Trump v Clinton Is (Almost) Official
Trump's GOP Won't Be Party of No
Rubio Campaign on Brink of Death Without Dignity
Democrats Are Blowing It Again
Imagining Trump's Reality-Show America
Hillary's New Hampshire Nightmare
GOP Debates Ignore Real Life
Even a GOP President Might Not Kill Obamacare
It's Time for 9 Republicans to Go
Terrorism, Guns and the Right to Life
Should Democrats Gun for a Shutdown?
Why the Democrats Are in Such Shambles
The Great Immigration Crackup
Need a Reason to Keep Trump Away from Nukes? Paris.
The Curiously Cavalier Carly
The GOP Future Is Here
Tea Party Budget Flameout
Trickle-Down Economics on Trial
Joe Biden Saves Himself
Six Ways the House GOP Leadership Crisis Could End
Hillary's Helper: Bernie Sanders Proved a Perfect Debate Foil for Hillary Clinton
The Republican Brand Is Tea Party
A Trump In Republican Clothing
John Boehner Gives Up
Amateur Hour in the GOP Presidential Race
Why Scott Walker is Out
Let's Judge the GOP Debate on Substance
Kim Davis And The Iowa-Or-Bust Syndrome
The Migrant Crisis Doesn't Mean Obama Was Wrong on Syria
The Four-Time Bride Who Won't Let Gays Get Married
Republicans Need what Carly Fiorina Will Bring to the Main Debate Stage
Could Pope Francis Be Donald Trump's Undoing?
Republicans Aim for Their Own Feet
The Education of Donald Trump
How Hillary Clinton Squandered a Savvy Campaign on an Idiotic Scandal
So, The Donald and Angela Merkel Walk into a Bar
Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, and Ignoring The Past
The 45th President Will Owe Obama Big Time
The Year of Trump or the Year of the Governors?
Governors and the Presidency: How They Campaign, How They Govern
The Donald's '47 Percent' Moment
A Roiling Republican Party Is Ready for Its Close-Up
Too Late for the New, Improved Clinton And Perry?
Obama’s Best Iran Role Model Is The First President Bush
What Democrats Should Fear Most About Scott Walker
Taking Down that Flag Is Just the Start
Blame Congress If Obamacare Subsidies Die
Chris Christie Is No John McCain
Right on Voting Rights
Scott Walker and the GOP Are Wrong About the Safety Net
The Trouble With The Huge Republican Field
"Survivor" Hillary Clinton Edition
The Wrong Questions About Iraq
Bernie Sanders' Siren Song
The Legacy We Could Create for Freddie Gray
An Explosion of Substance in the 2016 Democratic Race
Will Hispanics Reject the GOP Once Again?
Still the One: George W. Bush's Foreign Policy Lives On in Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Other Prospective 2016 GOPers
What Conservatives Get Wrong on Medicaid
It's Not Always Hillary's Fault
Racial Pain that Just Won't Quit
Hillary’s Path to Victory?
Will Hispanics Ever Love Republicans Back?
A Glimpse Into the GOP's Backward Bubble
Hey, Governors: You Didn't Build That
Whoever Wins the White House, We'll Be Tired
Hold the Alarmism on Hillary
A Tale of Two States
How Hillary Clinton's Rivals Could Make a Difference
Who's Plan B? Democrats Are Making a Mistake Counting So Completely on Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Profiles in Negotiation: the Murray-Ryan budget deal
Obamacare Faces the Abyss. Again.
How Republican 'Success' Could Sink the GOP Presidential Nominee
The Race Up Macho Mountain
What Hillary Clinton Could Learn from Scott Walker
Would-Be Presidents Flunk the Vaccine Test
Bold or Bully? If Republicans Like Barack Obama's Executive Privilege Problem, They'll Love Jeb Bush's
Still 'No Way Out' for Saudi Women
They Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
The True Confessions of Mitt Romney
Why Elizabeth Warren Won't Run
Punishment Fit for a Politician
Republicans and the Siren Song of the Past
A Brutal Holiday Season on Cable and Social Media
Ready For Hillary and Jeb to Declare Their Independence
We Need to Talk About Guns, Whether the NRA Likes It Or Not
The Unfair Scapegoating of Obamacare
In Praise of Politics (Talking to You, Ferguson and Washington)
Imagine a World Without 'Obamacare'
The Democratic Comeback Plan
Obama's Immigration Conundrum
The Midterms Road Map To 2016
Mitch McConnell's Plan to End Gridlock
A Wasted Opportunity For Democrats
Can Women Save Democrats in a Republican Year?
The Coming Republican Retreat On Obamacare
Voter ID Laws Make the Poll Tax Look Good
Republicans' Complete Dereliction on Climate Change
Does Professor Obama Need a Dash Of Cowboy Bush?
How I Learned to Love the Chamber Of Commerce
The Democratic Presidential Race Might Be Fun After All
The Politics Gap Between the Rich and the Rest
The Importance of Ignoring Dick Cheney
Sending the Right Messages On Terrorist Acts
Rand Paul's Fair-Weather Compassion
A Black President's Burden
Imagining President Hillary: a Possible History of the Future
Obama's Campaign Rivals Resurface on Iraq
When the Best Man for the Job Might Be a Man
The GOP's Mixed Message to Minorities
Democrats Vie to Win Akin Award for Self-Inflicted Damage
Pining for a Swaggering, Bare-Chested President? Get Over It
The President's Three Pinocchios
Don't Let the Border Crisis Go to Waste
Sarah Palin's Immigration-Impeachment Bonfire
Cleveland Wins the 2016 Republican Convention. Who Will That Help?
The Hobby Lobby Effect
The Patriotism Gap and Other Disconnects
How to Run for President as a Capitalist, Hillary Clinton Edition
A GOP Divided Against Itself and Costing the Country Big Time
Hillary Clinton's Elitism Problem
How to Get Sicker, Die Sooner, and Pay More for It
The Republican Party's Goldwater Moment
The Hillary Clinton We Know
Will Cantor's Loss Be a Turning Point for the Tea Party?
The Hillary Clinton Age Trap
Obama Risks Could Lead to Rewards
Surrender on Guns Is Not an Option
Elizabeth Warren Will Be the X-Factor in 2016 — Even if She Doesn't Run for President
What Do Voters Owe a Contender of a Certain Age?
Republican Science-Rejection Syndrome Is Hurting All of Us
Time to Reconsider the Six-Year Presidential Term
Why Won't Obama Protect Gay Workers?
Elizabeth Warren's Biggest Mistake
Why Should Colleges Be Blind to Color and Nothing Else?
The Democrats Have a Mega-Donor Problem
Martin O'Malley's Biggest 2016 Problem (Besides Hillary Clinton)
Republicans Learned All the Wrong Lessons from Bush's 'Read My Lips' Snafu
Is the Minimum Wage Drive a Passing Fancy for Obama and his Party?
Will Democrats Let Obamacare Sink Them Again?
Rand Paul's Mainstream Dreams
Technology is a Whole New Way for Politicians to Fail
Obamacare Subsidies Create GOP Identity Crisis
Stopping Keystone is the Wrong Fight for Obama
The 'Woman Problem' Cathy McMorris Rodgers Can't Solve
The Republican Trust Gap on Poverty
Bully Blowback
How Poverty Stupefies
Is Obama Powerless to Fight Inequality?
How Steve Beshear Became Kentucky’s Democrat Whisperer
The Truthiness of Rand Paul
Virginia Isn't the Place Ken Cuccinelli Thinks It Is
Obama Says He's Not Worried About Style Points. He Should Be.
Business Tries to Tame Tea-Party Conservatives It Helped Elect
Do Women Make Better Senators than Men?
Is It Time to Take Martin O'Malley Seriously?
Terry McAuliffe's Woman Problem
The Most Bogus Argument Against New Gun Laws
Has Washington Given Up on the Economy?
Dennis Miller and Bill O'Reilly Counterprogram the White House Correspondents Dinner
Hispanics Actually Don't Share Republican 'Faith and Family' Values
Why John McCain Is Barack Obama's New Best Friend
How to Shrink the Dangerous Republican Empathy Gap
Obama Just Wasted a Big Chance to Sell His Economic Vision
Paul Ryan's Obamacare Repeal Fantasy
Argo is Great, But 52 Former American Hostages Are Still Looking for Justice
Chris Christie is a Republican Without a Party
Spielberg's Lincoln: A Lesson in Realpolitik for a Squeamish Age
Obama Voters Shake GOP Vision of Electorate
Five Most Surprising Things About the Democratic Convention
Five Most Surprising Things About the GOP Convention (Besides Clint Eastwood)
The Battle of the Bailout
Rick Perry's Jobs Strategy: Raiding Other States
Health Care Law Could Give Rise to Entrepreneurs
Pawlenty's Huge Iowa Gamble
Click here to see Lawrence's columns for Creators Syndicate.
Click here to see her Atlantic archive.
Click here to see her Daily Beast archive.
Click here to see her National Journal archive.
Click here to see her U.S. News archive.
Click here to see her archive for The Week.
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