Of the many reactions to the recent attempt on Trump’s life at his rally in Butler, PA, surely the most misguided is the need on the part of investigators and the media to assign a motive to the would-be assassin, to discover what “ideology” might have driven him to fire upon the rally, nick Trump … Continue reading The Hunt for “Motive” in the Attempt on Trump

With the upheaval surrounding the attempted assassination of Donald Trump — for that’s what it was— much remains unclear this following night. How could security at a political rally for a presidential candidate of Trump’s provocativeness (if that’s the right word) have broken down to the extent that such an obvious line-of-sight, long-range attempt on … Continue reading The Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump

Well at least now we know. No waiting in agonizing suspense till November. Donald Trump will win the presidential election. We know this because most of America watched Joe Biden debate Trump last night, and we all know what we saw: two old men, one of whom has aged much more profoundly and rapidly than … Continue reading The Biden Debacle

Who runs for the position of Vice President is a matter of importance in any election year, but in this one the question looms particularly large. Both presidential candidates are of an age that neither can be counted on to live out his next term. Biden’s presumptive running mate, Kamala Harris, is one of the … Continue reading “What J.D. Vance Believes” is Rather Unbelievable

We all love to complain about politics and politicians, especially in an election year as fraught as this one. But occasionally we need to raise our sights above the immediate fray and consider the structural defects in our electoral system that we can actually do something about. It’s already clear that the 2024 presidential election … Continue reading The Unnecessary Tyranny of the Electoral College

Israel’s military action against Hamas is now in its sixth month. While numerical measures of its consequences are in constant dispute,[1] at least 100 people remain hostages of Hamas, some of them almost certainly undeclared dead, and Israel's response has claimed over 33,000 civilian casualties and caused untold billions in damage to homes, buildings, and … Continue reading Israel in the Present Tense

My fellow Republicans: I stand before you as a distant runner-up in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. I’m here to concede those losses to Donald Trump, but also to take a step back and refocus on what we’re in the process of doing as a political party, and as a country: we’re in the … Continue reading The Concession Speech Nikki Haley Should Give

Barring an intervention of fate or an uncharacteristic spasm of political sanity, the 2024 presidential election will likely be a rematch of Trump v. Biden. Many of us greet this prospect with renewed dread, like having one’s house and family survive a Category 4 hurricane only to be told that there’s a Cat 5 coming … Continue reading The Coming Cat 5 Presidential Election

As any observant American is all too aware, hypocrisy is the very air in which our national discourse transpires. But sometimes that hypocrisy reaches levels that simply take your breath away. In my home state of Ohio, a truly breathtaking exercise in political cynicism is unfolding. This November, the voting citizens of the state will … Continue reading How (Not) to Amend a Constitution

We’re approaching the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overruled Roe v. Wade and nullified what had been, for over 50 years, a woman’s constitutional right to abort her pregnancy in the first trimester. Since then, Republican-dominated state legislatures across the country have been busily criminalizing … Continue reading The Pro-Life/Pro-Gun Paradox