Ron Elving

Perhaps it was fitting.

Donald Trump was touting his (now globally famous) proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. — and he was standing onstage at an event commemorating Pearl Harbor.

Trump and his supporters rallied this week on the deck of the USS Yorktown, anchored off the shoreline ...

In light of Donald Trump's statements on Muslim immigration, NPR recalls other national figures who advocated excluding ethnic, religious or political groups from entering or operating freely in the U.S.

Americans say they like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton the most for president, but they don't think they're honest and trustworthy.

Such a lack of trust, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, might be astonishing if we were not already accustomed to hearing about it — about our politicians ...

A clear majority favors the government taking "a major role" in fighting terrorism, and Republicans are much more likely to say they're angry with the government, according to Pew Research Center.

Political leaders in the national and state capitals this week began raising barriers against refugees coming to the U.S. from Syria and Iraq. They were responding to a sense of fear in the land that refugees might bring with them some of the dangers they were fleeing.

Such fears escalated ...

Hillary Clinton entered the second debate of the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination with far less to prove than she had in the first, and, in the end, she probably achieved far less as well.

But for the time being, at least, she may be able to afford it.

...

NPR has the latest on the attacks in Paris that have left up to 60 people dead. We revisit the Charlie Hebdo attack in January and the similarities to today's events.

The fourth debate among the leading Republican candidates for president filled the historic Milwaukee Theatre with cheers, laughter and occasional boos, but it probably did not alter the dynamics among the eight featured contestants.

No one seemed to stumble or scintillate so notably as to change the pecking order with ...

The first presidential debate broadcast lasted one hour, and was broadcast without commercial interruption. Dewey and Stassen debated whether the Communist Party in the U.S. should be outlawed.

Whatever else Jeb Bush's campaign for president might need right now, it doesn't need a renewal of the controversies about his father's and brother's years in the White House.

Yet the release of a new biography of the elder President Bush by journalist and author Jon Meacham has reopened some ...

In excerpts from an upcoming biography of George H.W. Bush, the former president offers criticism of key members of his son's administration who were key architects of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Sanders concedes that he trails Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, but also notes that some polls show him doing better than Clinton in matchups against the Republicans.

Nebraska's Ben Sasse was elected to the U.S. Senate a year ago this week, one of a dozen Republicans who first won seats that day as their party captured its first majority in the storied chamber in eight years.

And like many of the 5,000 men and women who preceded ...

The Republican presidential race entered a new phase Wednesday night as the outsider candidates, who dominated the first two debates, were upstaged by several of their office-holding rivals — and by a budding controversy over the conduct of the third debate itself.

Ben Carson, Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina were ...

When John Boehner announced his resignation last month, he said he wanted to "clean the barn" before he left. What he is accomplishing this week should put him in the Barn Cleaning Hall of Fame.

If the votes go as planned — always a question mark in the current House ...

On Wednesday, GOP presidential candidates will debate on CNBC and a new House Speaker will be elected. Congress also needs to raise the debt ceiling so the federal government can pay its bills.

Joe Biden summoned the attention of the nation at noon Wednesday in the Rose Garden of the White House, where he shared his thoughts and feelings about running for president.

"Unfortunately," the vice president said, "I believe we're out of time — the time necessary to mount a winning campaign ...

Updated 10:40 a.m. EST

Paul Ryan made it all but official Tuesday night.

He told his fellow Republicans he had returned from a 10-day recess visit home to Wisconsin with a new attitude toward being speaker of the House.

After weeks of being ostensibly uninterested and even hostile to the ...

The House is back for its first business day after a 10-day break, and the first item of business is a big one: finding a leader.

Speaker John Boehner has said he is resigning at month's end. The Republican conference met to choose a successor, but Boehner ended the session ...

Though it holds immense power, the House speakership seems like the worst job in Washington these days. Current Speaker John Boehner wants to leave, but after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suddenly dropped out of the contest, it could be anybody's race. Rep. Paul Ryan doesn't want to ...