Global Investors Are Telling Donald Trump His Deficits and National…
Washington is unnerved these days about budget deficits and the national debt. Deficit angst comes along periodically, often as a pretext for cutting social spending. This time, however, there’s genuine cause for alarm. Outsized deficits are par for the course when the economy is in recession or reeling from a shock like the pandemic or the financial collapse; most of… Continue reading
A Unified Theory of Donald Trump’s Presidency
Past presidents have tapped their unarticulated prerogative powers in times of necessity and for the national good. For Trump, it’s a permission slip to do as he will. By Robert J. Shapiro President Donald Trump’s failed, haphazardly planned war on Iran has shaken his political support and bolstered the opposition. Even so, losing the war, like his other setbacks, won’t…Continue reading
The Dire Meaning of the Attack on the White House…
By Robert J. Shapiro Within minutes of Secret Service officers apprehending an armed intruder sprinting to gain access to last week’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, where the president, vice president, cabinet members, and scores of senators and representatives sat, public figures issued familiar refrains of disapproval and regret. President Barack Obama pronounced, “It’s incumbent upon all of us to…Continue reading
Trump’s Dangerous Tariff Addiction
President Donald Trump is addicted to policies that create serious risks for the American economy. He thought he could goose growth with $1 trillion in tax cuts for wealthy Americans and pots of money for defense and homeland security, use preemptory tariffs to control deficits and interest rates by generating billions in new revenue, and intimidate countries into investing trillions…Continue reading
Hannah Arendt Understood the Dangerous Forces Behind Donald Trump
Holding political office in America has always involved risks to a person's career and reputation. Today, it also involves risks to their lives and their families' safety. President Donald Trump and his administration have sanctioned violence toward immigrants and ordinary American citizens. Based on new evidence, a majority of his core supporters think that's fine. At every level of government,…Continue reading
Follow the Money: Why Trump Pulled Back from Invading Greenland
The main reason Donald Trump excluded a military option of taking over Greenland was not the frightful national security scenario that would follow a rupture of NATO. As destabilizing as that would be, the main reason Trump reversed course on using the military to seize Greenland was money. He slowly had to recognize that Generations of transatlantic security integration have…Continue reading
Affordability: What It Means and How Trump Has Made It…
There’s a conundrum around the politics of "affordability." The issue is that prices are rising while incomes are stagnating, a crushing combination for most people. But there's little the government can do about either in time for the 2026 midterms, and even the 2028 presidential election. Exacerbating matters, the president and Congress insist on making it worse. President Donald Trump…Continue reading
The Government Shutdown Is the First Skirmish in the Battle…
The political stalemate that has closed down much of the federal government for two weeks has emotionally stressed and financially strapped 750,000 federal workers furloughed to date, and another 650,000 working without pay, as has the firing of another 300,000 federal employees so far this year. In time, it will also damage thousands of companies and employees that depend on…Continue reading
The Lies Behind Trump’s D.C. Troop Surge
This week, Donald Trump claimed the authority to deploy the country’s military to the streets of Washington, D.C. to help fight crime. Yet, hard data show it’s not about crime in the nation’s capital. Instead, the evidence points to other, more troubling reasons and aspirations, especially the president’s personal sense of entitlement to power, MAGA’s approach to partisan politics, and…Continue reading