News that the national debt has risen above $40 trillion resonated like a ringing bell in my mind. It registered that America is 16 times deeper in its fiscal hole than it was when I first reported on this chronic ailment back in the late 1980s. I’ve just reread one of my dispatches from Wall […]
The Democratic Party as we know it is on the verge of collapse, nearly ready to capitulate to the ideology responsible for more deaths in the 20th century than 10 COVID-19 pandemics. It’s not just a small fringe of leftists anymore — according to a new poll, 58% of Democrats have a positive view of […]
In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony stands over the murdered leader’s body and repeats with cold irony: “For Brutus is an honorable man; so are they all, all honorable men.” The line works because the audience understands that the repeated claim of honor is itself the accusation. We have been living inside our own version […]
I arrived at the Pentagon in February 2003. Whenever I could, I followed the official tours, learned every corridor, and later guided colleagues and friends through the building myself. Rank rules the real estate. The highest officials claimed the outside windows on the Potomac side. The office that allocated space sat on the inside ring, […]
Brazil has had a complicated relationship with the United States throughout its history. The American Revolution inspired Brazil’s own Independence, and Brasilia was a reliable ally throughout both world wars and the Cold War. In recent times, U.S. rhetoric and exceptionalism have given rise to paranoia about Brazil’s natural resources, namely a fear of U.S. […]
Just as Congress is moving toward finally providing greater regulatory certainty for cryptocurrencies with legislative progress on the CLARITY Act, the state of Illinois is moving in the opposite direction. Earlier this summer, Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) signed a $55.9 billion budget that includes the nation’s first state tax aimed specifically at digital asset transactions […]
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) wants you to believe his lawsuit to kill the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is a principled stand for consumers. Look closer, and a different story emerges: political favors that benefit leftists and one company that will profit the most — Netflix — not the taxpayers footing the bill. On […]
Antisemitism has become an increasingly visible part of America’s political conversation. While criticism of Israel is a legitimate part of the democratic debate, some rhetoric has crossed the line from disagreement with Israeli government policy into language that many Jews view as hostile to their identity and the legitimacy of the Jewish state. That shift […]
There is an old adage in international politics: There are no eternal friends, nor eternal enemies — only eternal national interests. North Korea and Russia’s recent, rapid rapprochement brings this time-honored maxim back to the forefront. North Korea’s Foreign Minister, Choe Son Hui, recently visited Moscow to hold talks with her Russian counterpart and met […]
Willie Nelson has spent decades earning the affection of Americans across political and cultural lines. His music is part of the national soundtrack, and his advocacy for family farmers has given him genuine credibility when he speaks about rural life. That is what makes his recent attack on data centers so disappointing. Nelson urged communities […]
Diplomacy is often an exercise in willful blindness, but there comes a point when reality completely shatters the fiction. For America’s foreign policy establishment, that moment has arrived in Spain. The July 30 collapse of Ceuta shattered the fiction of Spanish sovereignty, exposing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s sanctimonious strategic deterrence. For years, he lectured allies […]
While the Trump administration spends 2026 tearing down federal diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, the Massachusetts legislature is building a new one sized for exactly one religion. Senate Bill S.2134, “An Act promoting the civil rights and inclusion of American Muslims in the commonwealth,” would create a permanent 11-member commission whose duties include identifying and […]
When Americans think about competition with China, they usually think about artificial intelligence, semiconductors, or advanced manufacturing. Yet another strategic race is quietly underway — one that could prove just as consequential to America’s economy, healthcare system, and national security: regenerative medicine. For decades, the United States has been the world’s unquestioned leader in biomedical […]
At the beginning of the Iran war, I argued that whatever one thought of President Donald Trump’s justifications for striking Iran, the more consequential strategic consequence was to target China’s access to Iranian energy at a moment of maximum vulnerability. In a great power rivalry, every part of the globe interacts with and is dependent […]
In the summer of 2008, as Russian tanks rolled toward Tbilisi, the woman who is today the symbol of Georgia’s pro-Western opposition was writing the book that Russia would later carry into a courtroom in The Hague and read aloud against my country. That sounds like a polemic. It is a matter of record, and […]
