America, President Donald Trump vowed during his State of the Union in February, “will never be a socialist country.” Well, we have some good news and some bad news about that. First, the bad news. A new Gallup poll finds that four in ten Americans are favorably disposed to socialism in “some form.”
Citizenship matters. Or, at least it used to. The question of who is a citizen and who is not is at the foundation of what makes a nation. As a practical matter, however, knowing who is a citizen and who isn’t shapes the way policies get made and resources get allocated. Which is
Our friend Roger Kimball—editor and publisher of The New Criterion and Encounter Books, and a regular contributor to these pages—is one of three recipients of the prestigious 16th annual Bradley Prize. The award “recognizes individuals whose outstanding achievements reflect The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation’s mission to restore, strengthen and protect the principles and institutions
The scandal du jour is a claim by a "White House whistleblower" that the Trump Administration overruled the recommendations of various agencies and granted top-secret access to two-dozen or so staffers who had been denied security clearances. As Politico reported on Monday: A White House Personnel Security Office employee is alleging that senior Trump administration
Attorney General Bill Barr on Sunday afternoon released a summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and the Russian government. The long and the short of it: there wasn't any. Here's the full text of Barr's letter (via Legal Insurrection). Bottom line: “The Special Counsel’s investigation did
Robert Mueller's investigation is done. There will be no more indictments and the existing indictments have nothing to do with his warrant—namely, claims that Donald Trump's presidential campaign "colluded" with Russia to sway the 2016 presidential election. You're hearing and reading a lot of spin (and wishful thinking) right now. (Just read all of Ace from Friday
Campaign finance reform is all about “getting money out of politics.” Just ask any proponent and they’ll tell you. At eye-rolling, mind-numbing length. As memes go, however, “getting money out of politics” is effective. It resonates. It sticks. But it isn’t entirely true. Money is, as Jesse Unruh famously said, “the mother’s milk
How dumb is the 2020 presidential election campaign going to be? Unfathomably dumb. Breathtakingly dumb. Seriously; pretty dumb. And that’s just among the mainstream candidates. Just wait and see what happens if an independent billionaire jumps in the race. Exhibit A this week: Howard Schultz, the former chief executive officer of Starbucks, is
The longest-lasting partial federal government shutdown in U.S. history affords President Trump the opportunity to kill off an over-the-hill political spectacle, drain some of the swamp and maybe—just maybe—build the wall. Trump is a disruptor and a breaker of political norms that need to be broken. Among the more irritating contemporary norms is
Oh, great. Mitt Romney is lecturing us about character and decency now. The new year is already shaping up to be a hectoring and annoying one. Romney, the new U.S. Senator from Utah (by way of Michigan, Massachusetts, and California), took to the opinion pages of the Washington Post on Wednesday to chide
