Commentary By Daniel McCarthy

When Character Assassination Becomes the Real Thing By Daniel McCarthy

If Democrats didn't believe they'd put former President Donald Trump in an assassin's crosshairs the first time, they have no excuse for pleading innocent now.

Kamala Harris Runs Like a Republican -- and Misleads on Tariffs By Daniel McCarthy

Kamala Harris is losing the fight for the American middle.

On Abortion, Trump Is Moderate -- While Harris Is Maximalist By Daniel McCarthy

        There are two uncompromising sides in the abortion debate -- and then there's the middle, which is where most Americans are.

Donald Trump Is Reagan's Heir By Daniel McCarthy

   As Donald Trump fights what now looks like an uphill battle against Kamala Harris, many Republicans find themselves thinking back to their high-school sweetheart.

Will Voters Settle for Joe Biden's Understudy? By Daniel McCarthy

   This week's celebration of Kamala Harris in Chicago faces an embarrassing fact: Until now, Democrats themselves thought she was less cut out to be president than Joe Biden.

Donald Trump Has to Run Like It's 2016 Again By Daniel McCarthy

   If Donald Trump wants to return to the White House, he has to get serious about winning the "ground war."

Is Trump Running Against Harris -- or Donald Trump? By Daniel McCarthy

   Donald Trump and Kamala Harris may be rivals for the White House, but they're not exactly competing in the same race.

Kamala Harris' 'Mean Girls' Election By Daniel McCarthy

Is Kamala Harris running for president or prom queen?

Are Republicans Ready for Biden's Counterattack? By Daniel McCarthy

Donald Trump has a lot of things to celebrate this week, but a foregone conclusion in November isn't one of them.

Joe Biden is down in the polls and losing the unwinnable war against time's toll.

But he's nothing if not tenacious, and the president has a trick ready to turn Trump's latest triumph -- over an assassin's bullet -- into a political defeat.

Joe Biden Faces Richard Nixon's Choice By Daniel McCarthy

   Joe Biden has come to the same dead end Richard Nixon arrived at half a century ago.

Should President Biden Drop Out -- or Resign? By Daniel McCarthy

   If Joe Biden is unfit to run for president, how can he be fit to continue serving as president?

Separate Sexual Identity and State By Daniel McCarthy

A new crime wave has gripped the country, and this time progressives are calling for harsh penalties, even charging teenagers with felonies.

Nigel Farage Makes the Trump Moment Permanent By Daniel McCarthy

   First came Brexit, then came Trump -- and now it's happening again.

1984 in 2024: Orwell Was Right By Daniel McCarthy

Americans still read George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four," 75 years after it was first published on June 8, 1949.

Virginia Turns Toward Trump By Daniel McCarthy

Donald Trump became president by flipping states no Republican nominee had won in nearly 20 years.

The Free-Market Populism of Javier Milei By Daniel McCarthy

   Javier Milei is a rock star.

   The president of Argentina was, in fact, in a Rolling Stones cover band as a teen.

   But now he plays stadiums -- like Buenos Aires' 8,400-capacity Luna Park -- as a political phenomenon, a charismatic cross between Donald Trump and Milton Friedman.

Trump's Sun Belt Hopes and Rust Belt Needs By Daniel McCarthy

Donald Trump's first election redrew the map of American politics; suddenly Pennsylvania and Michigan were in the Republican column for the first time since the 1980s.
But they didn't stay there: The Rust Belt states that made Trump president in 2016 sent Joe Biden to the White House in 2020.

What Trump Sees in Doug Burgum By Daniel McCarthy

   Donald Trump knows how to run a talent show.

The Vietnam Era Never Ended for Biden's Party By Daniel McCarthy

   "This may be Biden's Vietnam."

Nationalists of the World, Unite? By Daniel McCarthy

        The historian John Lukacs used to say all the old "isms" of politics were defunct.