What to do about Iran?
China is surely America’s most dangerous threat over the medium term, but Iran is surely the most dangerous right now. The Islamic Republic would be even…
Roadblocks prevent Trump from deporting millions of illegal immigrants
“You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” So goes the bartenders’ refrain to customers at closing…
Another spring, another round of anti-Semitism on campus
The weather is growing warm, which means anti-Semitic demonstrations are blooming at elite universities. The hatred of Jews is no longer hidden, as it was in…
Trump takes a hammer to the universities
President Trump has already dropped the first hammer on Harvard. He’s ready to drop the whole tool chest on a…
How to deal with the student mob
Last week’s violent anti-Semitic protest at Stanford is yet another sign of a pernicious climate on many campuses. The immediate…
Trump’s ‘on-again, off-again’ presidency
To win elections in a two-party system, the victor needs to erect a big tent. He needs to persuade all…
Trump only harms himself by floating the idea of a third term
Donald Trump this weekend floated the idea of running for a third term. Unless he’s doing it in 1940 when…
PBS and NPR should never have received public funding
Congress has been mulling the future of publicly-funded television and radio. Here’s a spoiler alert: that funding is toast. There…
Columbia exemplifies the failure of universities
Yesterday, with growing sadness, I read a wonderful book about teaching and learning, written by one of the great teachers…
It’s morning in Trump’s America
Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night was the most powerful, rousing, and pointed of…
What’s behind the vicious attacks on Elon Musk?
Why are Democrats mounting such a ferocious assault on Elon Musk? Why are mainstream media outlets so eager to go…
The deeper meaning behind Trump’s blizzard of actions
With Donald Trump moving so rapidly on so many fronts, it is hard to grasp the big picture. What are…
When government officials are threatened, they deserve protection
When US officials and former officials face lethal dangers for the work they did in office, they deserve protection from…
Donald Trump is a president in a hurry
“The First Hundred Days” was the iconic phrase for Franklin Roosevelt’s rapid-fire acts as the new president. Donald Trump intends…
Biden opens the jailhouse door
Joe Biden is not going gently into that dark night, politically or cognitively. He is going down with large, bold…
When is a fire an earthquake?
The fire now engulfing whole neighborhoods in Los Angeles will soon engulf the politicians who failed to protect them. The…
The legacy of Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter will be remembered as a decent, honorable man of faith, who lived a productive life according to those…
The winners and losers in the fight to keep the government open
As the clock ticked down late Friday night, the US House and Senate finally passed a stopgap funding bill to…
What’s flying over New Jersey?
The nightly news is replicating Orson Welles’s 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds, which scared Americans by describing an…
What Trump’s appointments tell us
Donald Trump may have a four-year term, but he has far less time to make a real difference. In practice,…
What disputes about trans athletes say about Democratic politics
In the minds of many progressive Democrats, Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Dem, just committed an unpardonable sin. He told…
What comes after Trump’s decisive victory?
The candidate who said Americans should be “unburdened by what has been” is now a has-been. The irony will be…
A consequential, divisive, troubling election about big issues
Republicans and Democrats, who disagree so virulently on so much, at least agree on two things. Both say it is…
Biden scores another ‘own goal’ over Trump’s ‘garbage’ supporters
The latest wisdom from our tottering, angry president was to call Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage.” He was responding to the…
Contrasting the candidates’ closing arguments
It’s easy to summarize the two sides’ closing arguments. For Kamala Harris, the closing argument is “Trump is really, really…
