Marco Rubio

Embracing Pro-Family Economics

After Roe v. Wade, Republicans need to work together to find ways to support the family and the economy. Continue Reading »

The Adventures of Fredo and Wonderboy

For all his flaws, Jeb Bush showed more character than most of his GOP opponents—including the supposed golden boy, Marco Rubio. Continue Reading »

Bernie Sanders and the Atomized Republic

Beating the Left will mean answering the questions people are really asking about the world they really live in. Continue Reading »

The Passé Passes Again

The Republicans are reliving the Democratic Party's nightmares. The cancelled Donald Trump event of Friday March 11 seemed to presage 1968-style disruptions at political events, but 1968 might not be the right analogy. As the party of tired myth and exhausted agenda, the Republicans of 2016 most . . . . Continue Reading »

Conservative Populism is Divided Against Itself

Conservative populism can't catch a break. The party's elites have a stranglehold on policy. As Reihan Salam has pointed out, most Republicans are opposed to increasing immigration, but most Republican office holders favor vastly increasing immigration when they think the voters aren't looking. Only . . . . Continue Reading »

An Abandoned White Middle Class

Is First Things promoting its own form of identity politics? A friend wrote recently, wondering exactly that. In my writing about our populist moment, I’ve emphasized the role of middle class whites. The relative success of Trump and Sanders shows that they’re rebelling against both left-leaning . . . . Continue Reading »

The Stuntmen and the Lost Voters

The last two presidential elections have seen joke candidacies and the joke is on us. In 2012, Herman Cain jumped into the lead for the Republican nomination on the basis of being able to serenely intone 9-9-9 (shorthand for a tax plan that even he did not always seem to understand). In our current . . . . Continue Reading »

The Republican Message of Hate?

You can always count on establishment liberals. On cue, the New York Times editors today commented on the Iowa caucus, speaking of Marco Rubio as trying “to put a younger and more charming face on the basic Republican message of anger, xenophobia, fear and hate.” The implication, of course, is . . . . Continue Reading »

Machiavellianism and Idealism in Foreign Policy

Is the US obligated to do what is best for its people regardless of justice, or is the United States obligated to be a force for freedom in the world? Donald Trump seems to take (in his own bombastic way) the Machiavellian position, while Rubio takes an idealistic point of view. One asks too little . . . . Continue Reading »

2016 Presidential Candidates as Described by the Smash-Hit Musical Hamilton

Hillary Clinton

It must be nice, it must be nice
To have Washington on your side

Bernie Sanders

Scratch that
This is not a moment it’s the movement
. . . . Continue Reading »