KRYSTAL BALL

If there is any state that typifies prototypical 'Murica' where the trucks and the guns are big and the social safety net is oh so small, it's Texas.

But the truth is the meritocracy is a lie. Those born into wealth and privilege will always be able to game the system for their own benefit and their children's own benefit.

If you want to understand why something is happening in America just follow the money.

I can assure you that women all over the country are paying close attention to the GOP 'War on Women.'

We can all mouth the words that every human is fundamentally worthy, but we don't act like it. We don't even believe it about ourselves.

Maintaining an employer model of healthcare means handing bosses another weapon they can use against their workers. One more way they can drain union strike funds. One more way that the power dynamic is asymmetric.

In politics, you're safest when you're saying as little as possible. You're safest when you've got your talking points and you stick to them like glue, even if it means repeating yourself over and over.

When you've been told in ways large and small your whole life that your voice doesn't matter and that you don't count, it's not an easy thing to get over.

Voters do not choose candidates because of their ideological fit. They choose them because of their cultural fit.

I find it so astonishing how poorly a lot of politicians handle negative whatever in the press. You have to just get it all out there. You have to be totally, uncomfortably honest.

A preliminary agreement in principle is not a deal.

Conversely, conservatives assume that humans are fundamentally lazy and prone to immorality. In this view, the entitlement system coddles and rewards laziness. This cynicism spills over into their view of government and government 'bureaucrats.' It also spills over into their political tactics.

And if you are going to truly stand with workers, it also means embracing solidarity, not attempting through lame talking points to pit union workers against non-union workers.

Kentucky has long been Democratic at the state level but that trend had completely reversed in the Trump era.

I've lived in the state almost my entire life, so I think if I ever wanted to come back and serve in Virginia, it would be pretty hard to paint me as a carpetbagger.

The Republicans abandoned the pretext of democracy to fight a war for power long ago.

Being a host or a guest or a pundit, you really want to say something that's interesting and potentially provocative, that's going to stick with people. The last thing you want to say when you're a politician is something provocative.

While President Obama assumes that at their core the Republican leadership team is just trying to do what's best for America, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner assume that the president is cynically trying to secure his own reelection, power, and legacy.

If you hang around political talkers or strategists much, you're likely to hear a lot about authenticity. This is supposed to be the golden currency which we all look for in our leaders.

Especially in a rich nation, there is absolutely no reason why everyone couldn't and shouldn't have a life of dignity.

The Trump administration has been quietly moving to systematically undermine health care putting lives at risk and offering no alternative solution.

The American people are incredibly generous and even playful when you open yourself up and feed the media beast until it goes away satisfied.

Once we accept our own basic worthiness we cannot help but see the basic worthiness of every other human.

To my friends on the right, Katie Hill's national shaming is as much an example of an out of control cancel culture as anything that we've seen.

I deeply admire and respect Hillary Clinton. I think she is a great intellect with great fortitude. I think she was a strong secretary of state and a hardworking and effective senator.