The Spectator World • 17th July 2025

Axing the Department of Education will improve education

The big education news this week is a court ruling that allows the Trump administration to begin cutting jobs at the Department of Education. That’s a plus for democracy since candidate Trump pledged he would do that. It’s a plus for education since it gives more discretion (and the same money) to states and cuts out a lot of bureaucratic middlemen, which means more money for school kids.

The Spectator World • 15th July 2025

What’s the matter with Chicago?

The old song calls Chicago "that toddlin’ town.” Now, that great city has gone from toddlin’ to totterin’, thanks largely to incompetent governance by a succession of local officials – and far better leadership and lower taxes elsewhere in the country, in the places people are moving to.

The Spectator World • 11th July 2025

A trio of scandals

“Who will guard the guardians?” That question, posed two millennia ago by the Roman poet, Juvenal, is just as relevant today. It recurs every time we learn of a new political scandal – or suspect one is being hidden from us.“ That question surrounds three scandals today.

The Telegraph • 3rd July 2025

Trump fired 14 bombs, humiliated Iran, and saved Taiwan from annexation

It was a brief decisive war with a major global impact—in the Middle East and beyond. Israel’s victory seals the Jewish State’s status as the region’s strong horse. Iran’s hegemonic ambitious lie in ruins. So do Russia and China’s efforts to build major positions in the Middle East. Trump’s actions also strengthen US deterrence worldwide, a major boost for Taiwan’s security.

The Telegraph • 26th June 2025

The man who created the modern economy has died. You’ve probably never heard of him

Two men deserve special credit for the smooth, efficient distribution system that brings us an unprecedented cornucopia of produce: Fred Smith and Malcom McLean. Smith, who just died at age 80, created FedEx. McLean, a Houston truck owner in the 1950s, created containerized shipping, which has integrated the supply chain on trucks, trains, and ships.

The Spectator World • 20th June 2025

Fordow in a fortnight?

Pres. Trump’s decision to postpone bombing Iran’s underground nuclear-weapons facility at Fordow is not a mark of indecision. It is a prudent move since this is the most consequential decision of Trump’s presidency. Militarily, the pause allows the final US carrier strike group to arrive from the Pacific and for Israel to further degrade Iran’s ability to strike some 40,000 US troops in the region. Politically, it gives Trump a chance to show Americans and our European allies that the US has acted deliberately, not rashly, and given the Islamic regime every opportunity to relinquish its nuclear weapons program.

The Spectator World • 16th June 2025

Why Democrats back the wrong side of 80-20 issues

These seem to be more and more of these lopsided "80-20" issues. Progressives often take the "20%" side, claiming "social justice." Their stance puts tremendous pressure on Democratic politicians to back them. Trump exploits that by taking the 80% side so vocally that Democrats are trapped.

The Spectator World • 23rd May 2025

What to do about Iran?

Iran seems determined to keep its nuclear program and missile systems. It is running out the clock on negotiations with the US to do it. Trump surely knows that and has repeatedkt said an Iran nuclear enrichment program is unacceptable. Israel fears an Iranian nuke could lead to a second Holocaust, esp. if the Islamic regime is collapsing. The hard and dangerous problems are, “What will the US do? Will Israel act militarily if the US does not and refuses to help?”

The Telegraph • 21st May 2025

Joe Biden’s cognitive decline is the biggest scandal in modern US history

Biden’s cognitive decline is not one scandal but three interlocking ones. The first, obviously, is the president’s declining mental capacity, especially in his final two years. The second is the deliberate cover-up by White House aides, senior Democrats, and, inexcusably, the mainstream media. The third is the unanswered question of who was really making consequential decisions in the Biden WH. Together, these form the greatest scandal in modern American political history.

The Spectator World • 9th May 2025

Roadblocks prevent Trump from deporting millions of illegal immigrants

The list of serious roadblocks begins with the huge numbers, their legal safeguards, and judicial resistance to Trump's program.

The Telegraph • 6th May 2025

Trump’s foreign policy critics are underestimating him once again

The Cold War consensus on foreign policy is dead and buried. There are now deep divisions between parties and within each one. That's the context in which Pres. Trump faces hard decisions on trade, China, Iran, and Ukraine.

The Telegraph • 29th April 2025

Trump is the unlikely heir to Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Donald Trump is moving faster than any US president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in 1933 amid the Great Depression. Indeed, it was FDR’s rapid action that led observers to mark each administration’s “first 100 days”. Believe me, nobody did that with Calvin Coolidge.At least three major similarities have emerged between Trump and FDR.Both rapidly enacted dramatic – often erratic – changes in national policy, which disoriented investors and disrupted their plans for capital expendit...

The Spectator World • 25th April 2025

Another spring, another round of anti-Semitism on campus

The weather is growing warm, which means anti-Semitic demonstrations are blooming at elite universities, with little pushback from university leaders and DA’s in “blue states.” What’s different this time? The Trump administration is acting.

The Spectator World • 21st April 2025

Trump takes a hammer to the universities

Some threatened sanctions are readily defensible, such as demanding better protection for Jewish students and eliminating discrimination in admissions, hiring and promotion. Some are not, such as demanding intrusive…President Trump has already dropped the first hammer on Harvard. He’s ready to drop the whole tool chest on a whole slew of universities – and it won’t be pretty.

The Spectator World • 14th April 2025

How to deal with the student mob

The line between free speech and violence is clear. Too few university leaders and public officials are trying to uphold it. We can see the results in vile, anti-Semitic riots on campuses. This kind of violence, intimidation, harassment, and disruption of education is unacceptable in our democracy. Only serious punishment will deter it.

The Spectator World • 10th April 2025

Trump’s ‘on-again, off-again’ presidency

Threatening higher tariffs is a bold political move, characteristic of the Trump presidency. The question now is whether the threat will pay off with lots of good bilateral trade deals (with nearly all countries) and isolate China, which chose to retaliate.

The Spectator World • 31st March 2025

Trump only harms himself by floating the idea of a third term

It's unconstitutional. And it's politically dumb even to suggest yet another race.

The Spectator World • 27th March 2025

PBS and NPR should never have received public funding

The debate about partisan bias at PBS and NPR is important – the bias itself is obvious – but that’s not the most important point. What matters most is that democratic governments have no business funding or controlling news channels directed at their own citizens. Those channels should be privately owned…There is no way a Republican-controlled House and Senate will keep pouring money into networks they believe hate them. They know that hatred is warmly reciprocated.Congress has been mulling the...

Wall Street Journal • 18th March 2025

What's New about Trump's Political Communications

What's New about Trump Adminstration's Communications?
1. Top officials on TV and social media constantly
2. They are doing live spots and social media, bypassing all the usual media filters
3. Their presentations are as blunt as their policies
They are the first administration to grasp the new technology of communication.

The Spectator World • 14th March 2025

Will Putin give peace a chance?

The front lines are frozen but the killing continues. Pres. Trump campaigned by promising to end the slaughter and is trying to mediate. Zelensky's initially balked at the US ceasefire proposal but then caved under US Pressure. Putin is still saying “no” and issuing maximalist demands. Now comes Trump’s pressure on him. (To receive these columns free, drop me at note at charles.lipson AT Gmail)

The Spectator World • 10th March 2025

Columbia exemplifies the failure of universities

At our universities, the barbarians are inside the gates. Their disruptions and suppression of alternative views are antithetical to the very purpose of higher education. The problem extends well beyond Columbia, well beyond the hatred of Jews. Unfortunately, the worst actors have plenty of support from faculty and silence from administrators who should know better.

The Spectator World • 5th March 2025

Donald Trump calls for a renewal of American patriotism

Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night was the most powerful, rousing and pointed of any presidential address in decades. “America is back… and we are just getting started,” it began, capturing the theme of the night. The address ended with a peroration that his administration would “take up the righteous cause of American liberty” and “fight, fight, fight for a country our citizens’ believe in and deserve.” Our country’s “Golden Age,” he said, ”has just begun.”Don...

The Spectator World • 25th February 2025

What’s behind the vicious attacks on Elon Musk?

Attacking Musk is an indirect way to attack a popular president and, by blasting his wealth, buff up the Democrats' populist credentials The more Musk and Trump succeed, the worse for Democrats.

The Telegraph • 20th February 2025

Democrats built America’s over-mighty presidency. Now Trump is bending it to his will

The best way to understand president Trump’s ambitious goals is to understand how they alter the massive changes made to America’s government over the past century – and how they also leave many of those profound changes untouched.Trump’s policy goals are obvious. He campaigned and won on promises to reduce the government’s bloat, cost, and regulatory burdens. He promised to root out fraud and corruption, and he’s doing it with Elon Musk and Doge. His Cabinet Secretaries will implement those pla...