The Press's War Against Free Speech By Micahel Barone
Have we gotten to the point that it's politically necessary to defend the principle of free speech? Apparently so.
Commentary by Michael Barone
Most Recent Releases
July 21, 2023
July 14, 2023
Different Groups That 'Don't Look Like America' Together Produce Success in America By Michael Barone
News stories have reported that despite the Supreme Court's decision in cases brought against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, those and other selective schools still want to employ racial quotas and preferences in admissions.
July 7, 2023
Supreme Court Rejects Liberal Arguments Based on Lies By Michael Barone
"This is not a normal court." So said President Joe Biden last week as the Supreme Court was handing down its rulings in big cases decided since its current term began last October.
June 30, 2023
The Arc of the Moral Universe Just Wobbles Around By Michael Barone
No one knows whether last weekend's Wagner Group uprising means the end of President Vladimir Putin's control of Russia, just as no one knew before the last few weeks of 1999 that Putin would replace Boris Yeltsin and become Russia's leader for the next quarter-century.
June 23, 2023
A Tale of Two Indictments: Politics in a Doom Loop By Michael Barone
Are America's 45th and 46th presidents politically invulnerable? That's a conclusion you might come to from the response to the indictment of Donald Trump on June 8 and the guilty plea by Joe Biden's son Hunter announced on June 20.
June 16, 2023
The Trump Indictment: Irresponsibility Squared By Michael Barone
Some observations on special counsel Jack Smith's indictment of former President Donald Trump:
June 9, 2023
Sununu's Good Move and Bad Advice By Michael Barone
Gov. Chris Sununu (R-N.H.) is not running for president. In his state's first-in-the-nation primary, "I can be more effective for the Republican Party in ways few other leaders can," he wrote in the Washington Post.
June 2, 2023
Only One Republican Candidate Gets Results By Michael Barone
The Wollman Rink episode, or, rather, the unduly optimistic conclusion I drew from it, explains a lot about Donald Trump's presidency and why he may not do as well against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) in the contest for the Republican nomination, as current poll numbers suggest.
May 26, 2023
Mugged by Reality? Or Respectful of Common Sense? By Michael Barone
A conservative, to paraphrase and slightly alter Irving Kristol's saying, is a liberal who has been mugged by reality -- especially by a reality that is plain to the vast bulk of ordinary people but remains inexplicably invisible to liberal intellectuals and politicians.
May 19, 2023
The Russia Collusion Hoax: Unpatriotic? By Michael Barone
The report of special counsel John Durham is, or ought to be, devastating for anyone who has put any credence in what has now been definitively revealed to be the Russia collusion hoax.
May 12, 2023
'Segregation' Is a Deliberate Act By Michael Barone
Getting words right can clear up a lot of confusion about politics and public policy. Example: "segregate" is a verb that requires a subject. "Segregate" is not an impersonal verb, nor is "segregation" a mere accidental result of unrelated outside processes.
May 5, 2023
Republicans Aren't Disappearing -- and May Even Be Growing Stronger By Michael Barone
Reports of the death of the Republican Party continue to be premature.
April 28, 2023
How to Stop Lies Begetting Lies By Michael Barone
Lies beget lies. That's one way to summarize nearly the past decade of presidential politics, as well as the potentially dismal presidential race underway.
April 21, 2023
Joe Biden's King Canute Environmentalism By Michael Barone
Are we watching a replay of King Canute commanding the waves to recede? That thought occurred to me while reading about the Biden administration's latest step in advancing the president's 2021 goal of having half of all new autos be electric by 2030.
April 14, 2023
A Republican Edge on Issues, but a Bigger Edge for the Party That Dumps Its 2020 Nominee By Michael Barone
It's just one poll, conducted by SSRS Research for CNN, but it provides interesting evidence about where voters are on issues, and it isn't glaringly inconsistent with other survey research.
April 7, 2023
Trump Indictment Is Bad Law, Smart Politics By Michael Barone
What do you do to win an election when your candidate is universally known and unpopular with a majority of voters? That's a question both major parties have had to face in the last few years. Both look like they're going to face it for some time longer.
March 31, 2023
Will Republicans Find a Way to Get Their Way in 2024? By Michael Barone
Twelve or 13 months from now, the race for the Republican nomination for president -- and the race for the Democratic nomination, if there is one -- will probably be over.
March 24, 2023
America Seems to Go Crazy Every 50 Years or So By Michael Barone
Amid news that Donald Trump is about to be indicted by a hyperpartisan prosecutor and of his hysterical responses, and prompted by vagrant reading about the War of 1812 and Woodrow Wilson's violations of civil liberties in World War I, a thought occurred to me. America seems to go crazy every 50 years or so.
March 17, 2023
'Woke' Silicon Valley -- Sand Hill Road and Stanford Law -- Get Off Scot-free By Michael Barone
As one who has spent pleasant time on Sand Hill Road and the Stanford campus, I'm dismayed by the demands for special treatment coming from the denizens of one of America's most privileged and affluent precincts.
March 10, 2023
Anatomy of the Chicago Mayor's Election By Michael Barone
Big city elections provide clues about trends in national politics, the composition and attitudes of Democratic constituency groups, and voters' responses to emerging matters. Recent examples include the March 2019 primary for mayor of Chicago and the June 2021 Democratic contest in New York City.
