The Trump budget’s full-out assault on social democracy may galvanize the left, writes Paul Waldman in The Washington Post.

Despite Trump’s populist appeals, the author of this Washington Post column places the president squarely in the neo-liberal tradition of laissez-faire capitalism.

Writing in the New York Times, columnist Thomas B. Edsall discusses recent research on the effects of family structure, income levels and other factors on a child’s successful development.

Current research indicates a “sea of despair” among Americans with less than college degrees.

Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman finds a ready model for Trump’s political vision: the American South, where unions are despised, the Bible taught in schools, the natural environment ravaged and statues of Confederate generals grace town squares.

Is Macron of the center-right, the center-left, or both, this article asks? By American standards, Macron would be considered a liberal Democrat, but in the social democrat dominated politics of Europe he is considered a centrist. This piece on the Social Europe site provides context.

Trump may be the focus of attention these days, but concerned social democrats should keep their eyes on state legislatures, where newly emboldened right wing Republicans are planning a massive assault on social democratic principles and programs. This Washington Post article outlines the threat.

Germany is one of Europe’s economic success stories, but some feel that its prosperity has been achieved at the expense of its partners in the EU. This Cambridge lecturer, writing in the New York Times, lays out the anti-German critique.

The right claims that social democratic measures destroy prosperity, but in a recent ranking of the world’s economies, social democracies monopolize the top ten spots.

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair discusses the challenges facing social democracy. “For the progressive wing of politics, the correct strategy is to make the case for building a coalition out from the center. To do so, progressives need to acknowledge the genuine cultural anxieties of those voters who have deserted the cause of social progress: on immigration, the threat of radical Islamism and the difference between being progressive and appearing obsessive on issues like gender identity.”

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown talks about the need to focus on jobs and incomes for working Americans.

A former party official looks at Labor’s low standing and analyzes the causes.

The EPI sums up the Trump assault on ordinary Americans at 100 days.

Trump’s proposed elimination of the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Delta Regional Authority and the Northern Border Regional Commission will hurt the very hinterland voters who supported his presidential bid.

Social democracy, the standard mode of political action across Western Europe for generations, is considered by many knowledgeable observers to be facing an existential crisis there.