The Trump Trials: Sidebar

The White House is in a tough spot as Democratic governors begin lifting mask mandates. How long will President Biden hold out while facing pressure from his own party? And what accounts for the discrepancy between state governments and CDC guidance?

• Biden mandates vaccines for millions. Can he do that?
• Biden vs. the delta variant
• Mask mandates continue to fall as Fauci says U.S. may be approaching ‘normality’

New details emerged about former president Trump's actions in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Plus, he made some new claims about the electoral process. How might the week's news affect a potential 2024 run and the cracks in American democracy? 

• The state of Trump’s affairs
• McCarthy walks the Trump tightrope
• American democracy in ‘Peril’

What’s likely to happen next with this intensifying U.S.-Russia conflict? How is Biden’s approach with Ukraine different than past presidents? And why does Ukraine seem to come up over and over again in modern American politics?

• Biden faces no easy options on Ukraine 
• The presidential power to strike
• Biden vowed a smooth exit from Afghanistan. Now what?

After one year in office — with the country still facing several historic crises, simultaneously — Washington Post reporters set out to answer this question: What has Biden done about the four crises he pledged to address?

Related reading and episodes

• After one year in office, what has Biden done about the four crises he pledged to address?
• ‘A lack of decorum’: Congress in 2021
• One year (almost) of Biden’s America

President Biden once said the filibuster was an important part of the legislative process. Now, he's urging changes to get legislation passed. How far will his words go in convincing Senate Democrats? Can he change the future of our election laws?

• ‘A lack of decorum’: Congress in 2021
• One year (almost) of Biden’s America
• Biden promised unity. Voters are still divided.

On Jan. 5, 2021, Rep. Jamie Raskin buried his only son. The next day he witnessed firsthand the attack on the Capitol. As we mark a year since the insurrection, we look at how Raskin dealt with his son’s death while serving on democracy’s front lines. 

Where things stand one year after the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol? How much has Biden’s administration done to understand what led to the events of that day? And how far has it gone to prevent another major attack on our democracy?

Related reading

• A year later, are the guardrails that protect democracy real or illusory?
• The attack on the Capitol: A guide to what we now know

In the last episode of our series from October about President Biden and the War in Afghanistan, he takes the reins as commander-in-chief and withdraws U.S. forces. Biden rethinks his stance on military intervention and America’s role in the world. 

In the second episode of our October series about President Biden and the War in Afghanistan, we look at the years after the Sept. 11 attacks when Biden called for a major nation-building effort. Over time, though, he begins to doubt his own instincts.

On the 20th anniversary of the first U.S. strikes on Afghanistan, this three-part series explores President Biden's career as it intertwines with the war there. He ultimately chose to end the ‘forever war.’ But what role did he have in starting it?