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Charles Lipson

Peter B. Ritzma Professor Emeritus

University of Chicago

Frequent contributor: 
Real Clear Politics
Spectator | World
The Telegraph
Wall Street Journal

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The Spectator World •

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 •

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 •

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 Telegraph •

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 •

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...
The Spectator World •

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 Telegraph •

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...
The Spectator World •

Trump’s presidency is an ink-blot test for America

Americans are being given a national ink-blot test about our politics. Their answers tell us how a divided country sees that landscape and what they think of Pres. Trump’s bold efforts to reshape it. Trump has reshaped his party, and what those Republicans now see is a strong leaders fulfilling his campaign promises. Democrats see a dictator dismantling the administrative state they built and staffed. Those are the ink blots on the walls of our politics today. It’s a Rorschach test, and Americans will take it the next time they go to the polls.
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