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…
Can Kamala Harris escape the ‘Hubert Humphrey problem’?
When the sitting president is not running for reelection, the party typically turns to his vice president as the “natural”…
Vance vs Walz was what a debate should look like
The most important takeaway from the vice-presidential debate between Senator J.D. Vance and Governor Tim Walz is that this is…
What if the Electoral College vote is tied?
America has a peculiar — indeed, unique — way of deciding national elections. Instead of a cumulative national vote, the…
How Donald Trump lost the debate
If Kamala Harris is elected president – and that’s a big ‘if’ since the race is still tight – she won it…
How to score the Trump-Harris debate
This Tuesday’s debate is the most consequential moment of the “second” campaign, just as Trump’s debate with Biden was the…
Two successive 2024 campaigns in a very strange election year
This is one very strange presidential campaign. That’s not just because it seems to go on forever. This one seemed…
A glitchy X/Twitter conversation between Donald Trump and Elon Musk
The great Dr. Johnson was once asked what he thought about John Milton’s famous work, Paradise Lost. His reply, “None…
Kamala Harris and that new car smell
If you felt the ground shaking, it was Democrats jumping for joy after dumping Joe Biden and settling on a…
