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Charles Lipson

Peter B. Ritzma Professor Emeritus

University of Chicago

Frequent contributor: 
Real Clear Politics,
Spectator| World, Newsweek, Discourse Magazine, American Greatness, Wall Street Journal

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Newsweek •

Putin's fresh cannon fodder and nuclear threats won't work

Even as the people of Russian-occupied eastern regions of Ukraine "vote" at gunpoint on annexation, the results of President Vladimir Putin's speech last week are playing out. It was his most important since he invaded Ukraine in February, and while he made two key points, he left much unsaid: • Russia needs a lot more soldiers for the war. What he didn't say is that he must compel them since they've stopped signing up voluntarily. • He is willing to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia if he th
The Spectator World •

Why Republican governors sent those immigrant buses

Since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris won’t come to the border, the border is coming to them. On Thursday, two buses of illegal immigrants unloaded in front of Harris’s vice presidential residence. Others have arrived in downtown New York, Chicago, and D.C., to the fury of local mayors and governors. A small planeload caused an uproar on Martha’s Vineyard when it landed on that self-proclaimed sanctuary island. More busloads are sure to come, probably in cities like Philadel
The Spectator World •

Ukraine’s incredible success turns the tables on Russia

Russian commanders have abandoned major cities and supply hubs, forfeited their hard-won control of vital rail lines and highways, and fled eastward for their lives. Their soldiers have dropped their guns and abandoned vast stores... Ukraine’s swift counter-offensive has captured more territory in four days than Russia’s huge army did in six months. The victories go beyond the 3,000 kilometers of liberated land. The Ukrainians have managed to break and scatter the enemy army across city after c
The Spectator World •

Ukraine turns the tables on Russia

In Phase 1, Russia tried — and failed — to seize the capital city of Kyiv with a blitzkrieg assault. The idea was to decapitate the Zelensky government quickly and install a puppet regime, subservient to Moscow. After that failed, Russia focused on taking the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and forming a “land bridge” to Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014. Russia has had some success in this Phase 2 of the war, at... Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine has moved into a new phase, a very encouragin
The Spectator World •

Biden robs Peter to get Paul's vote

It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can count on Paul’s vote. That political axiom is the crux of Joe Biden’s decision to forgive vast quantities of student loan debt. He needs Peter's and Patricia’s votes, and he is bribing them with taxpayer money. Taxpayers know it is not a costless gesture. Their backlash is likely to overwhelm any potential gains. It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can count on Paul’s vote
Newsweek •

Sanctuary cities seethe as illegal immigrants actually arrive

The surest sign that public policies are simply virtue signals is when the messages don't cost anything. The easiest way to tell when that signal starts to fail is to watch politicians flounder as the costs start to rise and voters demand relief. It was free—and meaningless—for progressive churches to post banners calling themselves "nuclear free zones" during the Reagan era. Their dwindling congregations loved it. It was free, after George Floyd's murder, to post woke catechism signs on your f
The Spectator World •

How to clean house at the FBI and Justice Department

The two most striking features of the FBI’s unprecedented raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home are its bold intrusiveness and the public’s mistrust of the Bureau’s honesty and integrity. The Department of Justice could have used low-profile subpoenas to force Trump to turn over any documents, including the most sensitive ones. It didn’t. Instead, it sent carloads of federal agents to search the former president’s house. That raid was also unusual in a second sense. Although mishandling federal
The Spectator World •

Ron DeSantis was right to suspend Tampa's woke prosecutor

This week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made another shrewd political move, showing why many Republicans think he is their best shot to win back the White House. DeSantis suspended Tampa’s woke prosecutor, Andrew Warren, for failing to do his duty and enforce the law. The governor didn’t just assert his power. He laid out a clear, detailed, substantive case for why he is suspending Warren from office. This week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made another shrewd political move, showing why many
Real Clear Politics •

The Decline and Fall of Newspapers

A few years ago, you would have unfolded your newspaper and read opinion and analysis like this. Those days are gone. Today, most of us get our news and commentary online, perhaps supplemented by network or cable television, although TV viewership is far smaller than in the days of “The Big Three.” Buried alongside those iconic broadcasters is the public’s confidence in news from all sources. Only 16% of Americans say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers, only 11
The Spectator World •

The attack on Lee Zeldin was an attack on our Constitution

Even so, the incident was terrifying, not only because it endangered Representative Lee Zeldin but because it underscores two grave problems facing America. One is the failure of our law enforcement system to treat serious crimes seriously, both to deter them and punish the offenders. This failure makes it a misnomer to speak of our “criminal justice” system. It’s not providing justice, and it's not deterring crime, especially violent crime. The second is... On Thursday, a man jumped onstage an
Real Clear Politics •

Houston, We Have an Energy Problem

President Biden’s return from Saudi Arabia with a nearly empty gas can underscores what we already knew: This administration’s energy policy is not only flailing, but incoherent. The president’s genuflection in Jeddah would have been humiliating even if it had been successful. He felt compelled to visit the very regime he called a “pariah,” to fist bump the man our intelligence agencies say ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, to plead with the kingdom for more oil production. All
The Spectator World •

Biden is the emperor with no clothes

The emperor is naked. The public knows it, and they’re finally beginning to speak the obvious truth. The emperor, in this case, is the president. He took office with high hopes from voters and a promise to bring the country together. Those aspirations are dead. The public has lost confidence in Joe Biden — lost confidence that he can do the job, and lost confidence that he is even minimally competent. They certainly don’t think he has brought the country together (though they think Republicans s
Real Clear Politics •

Reining In the Fourth Branch of Government

The Constitution provides for three branches of government, sharing sovereign power. In fact, we have a fourth branch, the sprawling administrative bureaucracies. They are nominally part of the Executive Branch, which struggles to control them. Congress struggles, too, and now spends much of its time trying to oversee them. The oversight is spotty and the bureaucracies are often left to their own devices, free to write their own rules on even the most important issues. Last week’s Supreme Court
Real Clear Politics •

November 3, January 6, and Mounting Threats to Democracy

The central point of the January 6 Committee hearings was already well known, but it deserves to be underscored because it is so fundamental to the integrity of self-government. Donald Trump never accepted his defeat at the polls and actively sought to prevent Joe Biden’s certification as his successor. To put it bluntly, Trump tried to overturn our nation’s established procedures for the peaceful transfer of power. Even though this attempt failed, it did lasting damage. Trump kept telling his
The Spectator World •

Russia slogs through the Donbas

A brutal artillery battle: that’s what the latest phase of Russia’s war on Ukraine has become. Vladimir Putin failed in his original goal of seizing the entire country swiftly, beginning with the capital of Kyiv, and installing a puppet government. When Ukrainian resistance prevented that, Putin shifted to a smaller, more achievable objective: establishing complete control over two eastern provinces, Luhansk and Donetsk, which border Russia and are jointly known as the Donbas region. That’s wher
Newsweek •

The Biden administration's five stages of grief

There are five stages of grief, according to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, beginning with denial and ending with acceptance. The Biden administration must have learned from that sequence, since it regularly trots out five successive explanations for its mounting policy failures. Like Kübler-Ross, the administration begins with denial. Here are the Biden administration's five stages: • It's not really a problem. You just think it is. • It's only a problem for some people, especially rich people. It doe
The Spectator World •

The stench from the Sussmann trial

Democracies cannot survive without public trust. Citizens must be confident that elected officials represent their interests, at least in broad terms, and are not corrupt, self-dealing con men. They must believe the courts dispense justice... The essential elements of stable democracy are encompassed by two words: “trust” and “fairness.” Every basic tenet necessary for democratic well-being is being violated in Michael Sussmann’s trial for lying to the FBI. We don’t know yet whether Sussmann wi
Real Clear Politics •

Sussmann Trial Exposes Dems' Scandal-Industrial Process

Modern political scandals, like Caesar’s Gaul, are divided into three parts. The first is the actual malfeasance. That might be taking bribes, lying to federal agents, leaking classified materials, sexual misconduct, selling political access, whatever. The second part is the hyper-partisan involvement of Congress and, often, federal agencies, all eager to score points for their side. The third part is the media’s role, which goes beyond bias to include active promotion of political goals. Feder
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