Two cheers for Michele Bachmann’s exit-right from Congress. Though Bachmann’s unsavory politics (and money) have left the building, Nation editor-in-chief Katrina vanden Heuvel says, “Bachmannism is far from finished.” Bachmann perfected a style of slander and falsehood that, “in the cult of false equivalence that distorts too much of our media coverage, has been quasi-legitimized.” Appearing on The Young Turks, vanden Heuvel breaks down Bachmann’s legacy.

—James Cersonsky

From the ashes of Senator Frank Lautenberg rises a new authoritarian politics. Read John Nichols’s take on Chris Christie’s most recent machinations.