It’s no secret that President Trump sees government regulations as the enemy of business. On the campaign trail he regularly hammered government imposed constraints as expensive, unnecessary, and part of the reason companies fail, or fail to grow. Now that he’s officially taken office, we can begin to sort out the campaign rhetoric from Trump’s true intentions—and there doesn’t seem to be much difference.

The U.S. Supreme Court might be headed toward a major decision regarding partisan open primary elections. In two court cases, the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, have challenged the constitutionality of partisan open primaries.

President Donald Trump gave his first speech before a joint session in Congress Tuesday night, laying out the policy proposals his administration plans to pursue in its first year and first term in office. What stuck out to many across the political spectrum is that the tone was presidential, wasn't divisive, and didn't toe a partisan line.

Until a few days ago, the Wikipedia page, "Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2008" listed Barack Obama as the winner of the popular vote in the 2008 Democratic primary. However, Obama lost the popular vote in the primary, but won the nomination by garnering more delegates.

The Libertarian Party continues to bask in a historic election year, gaining party status and ballot access in more states in 2016. The general platform of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism/tolerance/openness is striking a cord with many voters looking for alternatives outside the two-party political structure.

Much has been said about whether Democrats should pay the Republicans back for their arbitrary blocking of President Obama’s SCOTUS nominee. Or if they should just pay the GOP back for 8 years of obstructionism across the board, which they had to suffer under President Obama.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MzVZE-Mk0U

U.S. Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican representing the 49th district in California, said he was not going to let the Trump-Russia accusations slide and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself for an independent, special prosector should Trump be charged or suspected of wrongdoing.

Donald Trump told 46 of the nation's governors Monday that he has a plan to make the federal government "lean and accountable to the people." His plan includes raising defense spending by $54 billion. He says he will offset the increase in spending by trimming other federal departments and agencies.

Currently, the U.S. spends more on defense and military than the next 7 nations combined, according to a report from 2015.

During Sunday morning's episode of Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd and his panel of political commentators discussed the current state of the Republican and Democratic Parties. The conclusion? Grassroots movements are dominating the discussion and the two most energizing forces on both sides of the aisle, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, are not actually members of their respective parties.

On March 2, 2017, Northern Ireland’s citizens will cast their votes for Members of the country’s sixth Legislative Assembly. In this election, the country’s heavily Protestant Democratic Union Party (DUP), which holds 37 of the 108 seats, will face off with the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein Party (28 seats) for influence over the Assembly’s legislative agenda. Additionally, this election will provide an opportunity for smaller, more moderate parties such as the Ulster Unionist Party and the Social Democratic and Labor Party to gain a voice amongst the larger parties.