Politics The CIA’s Man in Constantinople The U.S. government is making itself felt in Orthodox internal politics. Everyone knows that the Moscow Patriarchate is in bed with the Kremlin. Few realize that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is deeply beholden to the United States government.  This ignorance is surprising, given that many Greek Orthodox leaders are quite proud of the fact. In 1942, Athenagoras Spyrou—the Archbishop of America for the Greek Orthodox Church—wrote to an agent of the Office of Strategic Services. “I have three Bishops, three hundred priests, and ..read more

Politics Trump Could Be in Serious Trouble State of the Union: Could the hush-money case against former President Trump be over before it has even begun? Today, the hush-money prosecution of former President Donald Trump started in earnest. But could this case be over before it has even begun? In the prosecution’s opening statement, Matthew Colangelo, on behalf of the Manhattan district attorney’s office, told the jury that Trump orchestrated “a criminal conspiracy and a coverup,” to win the 2016 presidential election. Predictably, in his own opening statement, Trump’s leading lawyer To ..read more

Nottingham is a weird old town, radical and reactionary at the same time. It was the place where King Charles I raised his standard against the Parliament, starting the English Civil War. It is overgrown with Robin Hood statues all over the city center. It is a Labour party stronghold, although it is surrounded by working-class deep Englanders who voted for Brexit in nearby Mansfield and Chesterfield. Almost next door, in Lincolnshire, Margaret Thatcher was born—and is reviled to this day. It is where I completed my PhD, at the University of Nottingham, a Russell Group University. It is near w ..read more

Books The Columnist The Library of America gives Jimmy Breslin the treatment. Jimmy Breslin: Essential Writings, ed. Dan Barry, Library of America Every publication—every good publication, anyway—is a bit like a baseball team. You’ve got your writers of various sorts, editorialists, book reviewers, and so on. These are your players. Foremost are the reporters, invariably badly dressed, usually gregarious, usually late on deadlines, rarely your great literary stylists but they shake out the interesting details of things. You’ve got your editors, usually better (or at least more formally ..read more

Politics Does the Gay Rights Movement Hold Lessons for Pro-Lifers? There is no more notable precedent in recent years for an underdog cause toughing it out. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Same-sex marriage advocates lost 32 times in a row before November 2012, when several states then voted in their favor. Yet at no point during that extensive losing streak did they settle for a “compromise,” like civil unions or domestic unions, as their ultimate goal. Neither should we, pro-life Americans, settle for a compromise—in this case, a 15-week abortion ban that (in the words of a ..read more

Politics The New Litmus Test for Republican Candidates The U.S. needs political leaders who will get serious about fentanyl. (Chess Ocampo/Shutterstock) Monday, April 15, was the two-year anniversary of the worst day of our life—the day my wife Kathy and I lost our son Joey to fentanyl poisoning. Joey had his struggles, but never did we imagine his life would be taken by a poison infiltrating our southern border from our enemies. Our family isn’t alone. There has been a 1,000-percent increase in fentanyl deaths among young people from 2020–2023.  Over 100,000 American sons and da ..read more

Politics Has Ukraine Aid Cost Speaker Johnson His Job? Democrats could save Speaker Mike Johnson, but they once again find themselves in a can’t-lose situation. The House has passed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s $95 billion foreign aid package. The House took several votes on the foreign aid package. As The American Conservative has explained, Johnson chose a procedural maneuver called a MIRV to consider the foreign aid package, which meant the House passed one rule to govern the process over each part of the four-part foreign aid package. As Johnson had to rely on Democratic support on ..read more

Politics Annus Horribilis: The World We Know Started in 2013 The tech-fueled political polarization of our current moment began over 10 years ago. The idea that 2013 was more than ten years ago baffles me, but while dwelling on how much time has passed, I was thinking about how that singular year redefined the current state of affairs in America. Since 1968 or even 1945, has a single year seen so much change? When we look at the landscape of existential crisis facing the American public, a few things stand out: loneliness, mental illness among the young, the Great Awokening, and politic ..read more

Politics Democrats Save Johnson’s Military Spending— But Will They Save His Speakership? Democrats have saved Speaker Mike Johnson’s foreign aid package. In doing so, they also may have just sealed his political fate. This is a developing story. Democrats have saved Speaker Mike Johnson’s foreign aid package. In doing so, they also may have just sealed the fate of his speakership. Just before midnight, Democrats on the Rules Committee sided with Republican supporters of the aid package to overcome the objections of Reps. Chip Roy, Thomas Massie, and Ralph Norman—the conservative represe ..read more

Foreign Affairs Israel Launches Small Strike on Iran State of the Union: Both Israel’s strike and Iran’s reaction to it have been much more tempered than many expected. Credit: KPG-Ivary Israel has carried out a retaliatory strike against Iran. Unnamed Israeli defense officials, as well as a number of Iranian officials, confirmed there was a strike on Iran in the early morning hours on Friday. Iranian officials claim that Israel used small exploding drones to carry out the attack—drones potentially launched within Iran’s borders. The strike, Israel’s first action against Iran since th ..read more