A Paradoxical War
The American debate about the campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Jeffrey Herf
· 17 min read
US Politics
A collection of 73 posts
Collision with Reality
The Supreme Court has just invalidated Trump’s tariff agenda. But the economics were already doing that.
Phillip W. Magness
· 10 min read
Melania at the Mic
The first lady’s surreal act of geopolitical theatre did little to explain how the ongoing US–Israeli military campaign against Iran’s brutal theocrats will make the world safer.
Brian Stewart
· 5 min read
Ezra Klein’s Feeble Liberalism
Liberals must act aggressively to uphold the values of free society.
Brian Stewart
· 10 min read
Populism’s Self-Defeating Trap
Populist rhetoric is exceptionally effective for pursuing and gaining power, but it provides no program for the complexities of actual governance.
Tomislav Kardum
· 7 min read
American Liberalism and Illiberalism
Americans who may have ferocious disagreements about the size of government, foreign policy, and a wide range of other issues must find a way to unite around their shared commitment to the liberal idea.
Matt Johnson
· 15 min read
Who Got the Camera?
The right-wing response to recent events in Minneapolis indicates that MAGA conservatives are determined to repeat the mistakes made by Daryl Gates 35 years ago.
Dilan Esper
· 6 min read
Stormclouds Over the Capitol
Mary Clare Jalonick’s oral history of the 6 January riot is an important corrective to the second Trump administration’s vandalism of the historical record.
Ron Capshaw
· 7 min read
The Warmth of Collectivism
Zohran Mamdani wants to institute “collectivist” governance, but NYC already has a collectivist problem—a coordinated veto system that blocks development and progress.
John Aziz
· 6 min read
The Conned Artist
David Mamet’s new polemic is filled with muddled prose and muddled thought.
Graham Daseler
· 11 min read
The Limits of American Progressivism
History and the constraints of American federalism suggest the euphoria and catastrophism that have followed Zohran Mamdani’s election victory are misplaced.
John Aziz
· 8 min read
Appetite for Destruction
Trump and the art of the demolition, from Bonwit Teller to the White House.
Julia Friedman
· 8 min read
The Masses and the Market
If liberalism is to recover it must find a way to create the conditions for a better future.
Joel Kotkin
· 11 min read
Working for the Company
The modern CIA is everything its enemies and friends say it is—by turns heroic, villainous, duplicitous, servile, and frequently ineffective.
Ron Capshaw
· 9 min read
The Post-Kirk Clampdown
The current frenzy of right-wing cancel culture recalls the progressive lunacy that followed the murder of George Floyd. But the current iteration is more dangerous because it is backed by state power.
Patrick Frey
· 22 min read