ArcaMax

We devote a lot of mental energy to things that are going wrong or could go wrong. It's human nature. As the sociobiologists teach us, our ancestors were not the ones who heard a rustling in the grass and figured, "Eh, it's probably nothing." We are descended from the ones who said: "What the hell was that? Could be a cobra. Better run the other...Read more

Kelly Loeffler looked like a standard-issue Republican when she was appointed senator from Georgia in December 2019. She came from a super-rich family (like plenty of Democrats as well), she was pro-gun, anti-immigration and pro-business. Originally pro-choice, her position on abortion evolved in time for her to be accepted by pro-life ...Read more

Seated at the breakfast table, scanning The New York Times story on Trump's taxes, I said to my husband, "We have a greater net worth than Donald Trump." He knitted his brow.

I was thinking of a story that Ivanka Trump shared a while back:

"I remember once my father and I were walking down Fifth Avenue and there was a homeless person sitting ...Read more

"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them, I have others." -- Groucho Marx

Senator Mitch McConnell, seeking a new fig leaf to disguise the spectacle of hypocrisy that Republicans are presenting regarding the "advice and consent" clause, is sputtering that there really is a principle involved and there is no inconsistency. In order to...Read more

Danielle Pletka, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has announced that while she never considered voting for Donald Trump in 2016, she may well do so this year. She is being driven to this extremity, she says, by the "hard left ideologues" of the Democratic Party.

Judging by chatter on the right, this rationalization -- so ...Read more

According to John Bolton, when Xi Jinping told Donald Trump that he was putting Uighurs in camps, Trump said he was doing "exactly the right thing." Of course, Xi's depiction was pure agitprop. China is not targeting Uighurs who have shown terrorist tendencies, it is crushing an entire ethno/religious minority in brutal fashion. Even if he only ...Read more

President Donald Trump is a broken windows president.

Let me explain. In 1982, the Atlantic published an article that became legendary in conservative circles. Authored by George Kelling and the late James Q. Wilson, "Broken Windows" argued for better community policing. Police walking a beat, they urged, tended to reduce the quality of life ...Read more

Since I announced publicly that I will be voting for Joe Biden in November, I've received a few communications from puzzled readers. "How can you, a supposedly pro-life woman, support someone who believes in killing babies?"

I will try to respond for the sake of those who, like me, find themselves alienated from the Republican Party despite ...Read more

The Biden campaign deserves praise for introducing, at the Democratic National Convention, something we haven't seen a lot of lately -- smiles. They've showcased grins and joyful, dancing eyes on the faces of all sorts of Americans. Sure, it's corny. I don't care. I almost want to shout: "That! I'll vote for that." Enough of snarls, insults, ...Read more

"I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration ... to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." -- Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, "Dr. Strangelove"

In the 1964 black comedy "Dr. Strangelove," the above words are spoken by a general who is about to start World War III. His theory about the contamination of "...Read more

Political pledges often cause headaches. On election night in 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt told reporters, "Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept another nomination." He regretted it almost immediately. Later, he would say, "I would be willing to cut off my hand if I could call back that statement."

In 1988, accepting...Read more

My friend David French, one of the most admirable voices in America today, argues that conservatives need not vote against Republican senate candidates in order to send a message about Trumpism. I disagree. He writes, "A rage, fury, and a 'burn it all down' mentality is one of the maladies that brought us to the present moment."

This assumes ...Read more

President Donald Trump has a point. People are being injured. The property damage runs into the millions. Things are out of control. Local governments are not able to handle this on their own. It demands a federal response. When sacred things are desecrated, it takes a toll on the national spirit.

Trump thinks this applies to rioters and ...Read more