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Political Commentary

Most Recent Releases

January 2, 2024

Trump, Biden and a Fight for the Heart By Daniel McCarthy

As an election year dawns, Republicans and Democrats should stop to reflect on why our politics seems so stagnant.

December 29, 2023

Startling Surprises in Latest Census Numbers By Michael Barone

How's America doing? Government statisticians provide mounds of data that provide useful clues, and none more so than the Census Bureau's estimates of population, announced in the holiday weeks at the end of each calendar year.

The latest numbers measure the estimated population of each state as of last July 1 as compared to the constitutionally required decennial census dated April 1, 2020.

December 27, 2023

Markets and Miracles By John Stossel

In this season of giving, I'll donate to the Doe Fund, a charity that helps drug abusers and ex-cons find purpose in life through work.

December 22, 2023

The Politics of Incumbent Rejection By Michael Barone

        At a time when voters have rejected the party of the incumbent president in the last two elections, and in which current polling has the incumbent trailing,

both parties seem bent on nominating two men who have served as president and about whom substantial majorities of voters have negative feelings. What gives?

December 20, 2023

Enjoy the Ride By John Stossel

The driverless car is here!

Finally.

December 19, 2023

Trump's Country Party Roots By Daniel McCarthy

Why is Donald Trump so resilient?

December 19, 2023

The Tyranny of the Phillips Curve By Stephen Moore

Repeat after me, class: Growth does NOT cause inflation. Write it on the blackboard 100 times.

December 15, 2023

The Intellectual Elite's Institutional Rot By Michael Barone

Institutional rot. That's the verdict recorded in recent days on the performance of leading institutions by observers not known for pessimistic temperaments or alarmist analysis.

December 14, 2023

Trumpmentum! By Brian Joondeph

With presidential primary season beginning in just a few weeks, former President Donald Trump has the momentum and is running away from the field of second place contenders.

December 13, 2023

Not-So-Scary Truth About Climate Change By John Stossel

United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry says it will take trillions of dollars to "solve" climate change. Then he says, "There is not enough money in any country in the world to actually solve this problem."

December 12, 2023

What Happened to Ron DeSantis? By Daniel McCarthy

Ron DeSantis is running as the true-blue conservative in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

December 12, 2023

Why Does Washington Want to Destroy America's 'Magnificent 7'? By Stephen Moore

Nothing exemplifies America's tech industry dominance in the global economy more than the meteoric rise of what is now being called the "Magnificent Seven" stocks -- Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. These companies

single-handedly account for nearly all the gains in the stock market this year. They -- which is to say we as American shareholders who own them -- have a net worth of nearly $10 trillion.

December 8, 2023

For True Evil, Look Not to Israel or America but to Communism By Michael Barone

For those dismayed at how many college and university students and faculty, even, or especially, at selective and prestigious institutions, have been cheering Hamas' Oct. 7 atrocities and calling, in only slightly veiled language, for the destruction of

Israel and genocide of Jews, the question is how this vicious line of thought gained hold in American secondary and higher education.

White letter R on blue background
December 7, 2023

Notes on the State of Politics: Dec. 7, 2023 By J. Miles Coleman

KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE

— The pending resignation of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R, CA-20) and Rep. Patrick McHenry’s (R, NC-10) retirement announcement are notable developments, but they do not precipitate rating changes.

— With New York’s George Santos (R, NY-3) expelled from Congress, a special election in his district will be held in February.

— A recent special election in Utah’s 2nd District stood out as something of an exception: a special election where Republicans overperformed.

— Though Georgia Republicans were ordered to draw a new congressional map, the plan that they produced maintains the state’s existing 9-5 Republican split.

December 6, 2023

How Private Is Private? By John Stossel

The Fourth Amendment secures our right to be secure against unreasonable searches, right?

December 5, 2023

Biden Looks Doomed -- But Is He? By Daniel McCarthy

Gavin Newsom is so eager to run for president that he even campaigns to insist he's not running.

December 5, 2023

Green Groups Are No Longer Promoting a Cleaner Environment By Stephen Moore

The late, great humorist P.J. O'Rourke used to quip that everyone wants to save the world, but no one wants to wash the dishes.

December 1, 2023

Orwell and Monroe Got It Right By Michael Barone

George Orwell, call your office. That's my initial and slightly out-of-date response to news stories about the Biden administration's efforts to stamp out "misinformation." It's an interesting irony that covert censorship should be

undertaken enthusiastically by those who call themselves "liberal" or "progressive" and who claim the opposition would threaten the survival of liberal democracy.

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November 30, 2023

Putting Biden’s Troubles with Young Voters in Perspective By Kyle Kondik

Youngest voters have been strongly Democratic in recent elections, but the president also has clear weaknesses with that group.

KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE

— Recent 2024 presidential polling has shown President Biden performing poorly with young voters.

— The 18-29 voting bloc has been reliably Democratic leaning for at least the last several presidential elections.

— Biden’s weakness with young voters is not new, despite doing well among the group in the 2020 general election.

November 29, 2023

Smearing Capitalism By John Stossel

You must be lonely. The media say loneliness is everywhere in America.