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Political Commentary

Most Recent Releases

February 19, 2025

What's On Your Plate? By John Stossel

   I tried meat grown in a lab.

February 18, 2025

The Civil Service's Partisanship Problem By Daniel McCarthy

   Here's a dirty secret about the federal government many Americans are just learning:

February 18, 2025

Get Ready for America's 'Little Tech' Revolution By Stephen Moore

The spectacular dominance of America's Magnificent Seven tech firms -- with $1 trillion-plus market caps -- has been a marvel to behold and a genuine source of American pride. This is a theme that both President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have in celebration of American business prowess.

February 14, 2025

Why Were Hopes of the 1990s Dashed? By Michael Barone

As one who shared the hope, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, that representative government, guaranteed liberties and global capitalism laced with some measure of welfare state protections would spread across the globe, I naturally look back over the intervening long generation and ask what went wrong.

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February 13, 2025

Our Initial Senate Ratings: Republicans Start as Strong Favorites to Hold Majority By Kyle Kondik and J. Miles Coleman

KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE

— While Republicans, who will be defending 22 of the 35 Senate seats up in 2026, may have the political environment working against them next year, they are still favored to retain the chamber.

— Part of the reason for this is that Democrats hold two of our three initial Toss-up races, Georgia and Michigan, while GOP-held North Carolina will likely see another hotly-contested Senate race.

— We are giving Maine’s Susan Collins (R) a degree of deference by starting her race as Leans Republican, although as the only Republican representing a Kamala Harris-won state, it is hard to see Democrats getting close to a majority without her seat.

— If Democrats were to be on track to regain the Senate by the end of the decade, they would almost certainly have to come out of the 2026 cycle with a net gain of seats.

February 12, 2025

The Power of Self-Interest By John Stossel

Politicians bash businesses.

February 11, 2025

What Kind of a Populist Is Elon Musk? By Daniel McCarthy

   Can the world's richest man be a populist?

February 7, 2025

Trump Rides the Vibes, for Better or Worse By Michael Barone

        After a flurry of activity -- the president's tariff threats and showdowns

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February 6, 2025

Checking Back on Key 2024 Counties, Part Two: The Sun Belt By J. Miles Coleman

KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE

— In North Carolina and Georgia, Kamala Harris gained in some fast-growing suburban counties, but it was not enough to cancel out the drift to Donald Trump elsewhere in those states.

— Arizona was Trump’s strongest of the presidential Toss-up states in part because its border counties continued to shift strongly in his direction.

— Trump carried Nevada because he was the best-performing Republican in Clark County (Las Vegas) in decades, although Washoe County (Reno) narrowly stuck with Harris.

February 4, 2025

What if Trump Finishes His Presidency by Easter? By Brian C. Joondeph

President Donald Trump is off to a blazing start, having accomplished more in two weeks than most administrations achieve in months or even years. At this blistering pace, what happens if he finishes his presidency by Easter?

By finished, I don’t mean that he is forced from office through impeachment or assassination, but he gets so much done in his first three months that nothing is left to do.

February 4, 2025

Can Trump Win Trade Wars Before They Start? By Daniel McCarthy

        Donald Trump knows exactly what he's doing with tariffs.

February 4, 2025

America's 21st-Century Sputnik Moment Has Arrived By Stephen Moore

        Just how much longer will American parents, their kids, business leaders

January 31, 2025

Trump Is Moving Fast and Breaking Things By Michael Barone

Move fast and break things. That's the original operating philosophy of Facebook founder and Meta mogul Mark Zuckerberg, and it seems to be the operating procedure of President Donald Trump in these first weeks of his second term.

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January 30, 2025

Checking Back on Key 2024 Counties, Part One: The Industrial North By J. Miles Coleman

KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE

— Before the 2024 election, the Crystal Ball isolated several key counties in Toss-up states. We are circling back to see what the results in those counties said about the overall election.

— Several Democratic-trending suburban and touristy counties in the Industrial North continued to move left, although just not by the margins that Kamala Harris would have needed.

— In Pennsylvania, Donald Trump’s notable gains in the Scranton area played into his strong 2024 showing in the state.

— Sticking to the Industrial North generally, and in 2026 news, Sen. Gary Peters’s (D-MI) retirement opens up a Senate seat in Michigan for the second time in as many cycles.

January 29, 2025

The Chainsaw President! By John Stossel

Finally, a real libertarian is president.

January 28, 2025

A Smart Way to Pay for the Trump Tax Cut: Auction Federal Assets By Stephen Moore

The federal government owns multiple trillions of dollars of federal assets -- from land, to buildings, to patent rights, to mineral rights, to immigrant visas, to oil fields to trucks and trains and unused office furniture equipment.

January 28, 2025

The Pro-Life Federalism of Trump and Vance By Daniel McCarthy

Reports of the pro-life movement's death have been greatly exaggerated.

January 24, 2025

Is Donald Trump the Second Coming of Andrew Jackson? By Michael Barone

The portrait of Andrew Jackson has returned to the wall of the Oval Office, put up in time to greet President Donald Trump as he entered for the first time as the 47th president.

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January 23, 2025

How Donald Trump Changed Pennsylvania’s Electorate: Tracking Voter Registration Trends Over the Past Decade By Nick Field

KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE

— Pennsylvania changed in the Trump era from being a somewhat Democratic-leaning state to a top presidential battleground, voting for the winning candidate in all 3 of Donald Trump’s elections.

— One indicator of the GOP’s growth in the state is changing voter registration patterns, as Republicans have drastically reduced the Democrats’ voter registration edge in the state in the Trump era.

— All but 3 of the state’s 67 counties have seen the Republicans net registered voters since 2015.

January 22, 2025

The End of ESG By John Stossel

"Sustainability" investments became popular a few years back.
So-called experts said companies shouldn't just focus on profit. They should put more effort into being "nice."
Funds pushing ESG (environmental, social and governance) were all the rage.