Politics Johnson Ties His Own Noose With Foreign Aid Package Johnson’s foreign aid will cost the American taxpayer $95 billion. Conservatives are at their breaking point. House Speaker Mike Johnson has finally unveiled his foreign aid package. His plan to get it across the finish line, however, remains less clear. There are three main bills in Johnson’s package that will provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific respectively. Although the supposed urgency for this aid package stems from Iran’s strikes on Israel, the bulk of the package’s funding, just over $60 billion worth ..read more

Foreign Affairs Europe is Starting to Wake Up to Needing Defense—Including a Nuclear Deterrent The days of free and cheap riding are numbered. (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images) The wailing is getting louder across Europe. Elites in Brussels and national capitals are clutching their pearls as they view American opinion polls. Their U.S. friends, the usual Masters of the Universe who dominate political and economic affairs, are reacting similarly.  Although the presidential election is more than six long months away and much can happen before November 5, they all are sharin ..read more

Politics Mike Johnson Should Grow a Spine or Leave If you’re going to make an end-run around your own party, shouldn’t you at least give us a reason? What’s the point of Mike Johnson? The House GOP decided Kevin McCarthy needed to go. Fine. There were plenty of good arguments for that decision, including the very fundamental point that McCarthy’s mouth wrote checks to the party that Frank Luntz’s body couldn’t cash. That’s no way to run a railroad. Sayonara, Mac.  Who could forget the tragicomedy of the efforts to replace him? The placeholder speaker, Patrick McHenry, a little man ..read more

The American Conservative A New Era at TAC In January, Curt Mills took over as executive director of The American Conservative. This is the first print issue commissioned and edited entirely under his leadership. (Bryan Pollard/Shutterstock) In January, Curt Mills took over as executive director of The American Conservative. This is the first print issue commissioned and edited entirely under his leadership. There is no better way to launch his tenure than with a blockbuster cover article written by the boss himself, “How Ohio Became the Center of the Republican Universe.” If you thin ..read more

Politics Trump Begins the High-Wire Act The former president’s fight extends beyond the courtroom. (James Devaney/GC Images) The weakest legal case against former President Donald Trump may now be the most important one. It is the first case against Trump to go to trial. It is the first to offer near-daily shots of the presumptive Republican nominee inside a courtroom. It offers the best chance of appending “convicted felon” to Trump’s name, if not putting him in a jail cell, before the election. Trump’s hush-money trial begins as President Joe Biden appears to have begun to close the ..read more

Immigration Mayorkas Must Be Held Accountable at His Senate Trial Tabling the DHS secretary’s impeachment is an insult to the American people. Credit: Iev radin The House managers have officially delivered the letters of impeachment for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate. For weeks, I have been calling for the Senate to conduct a full and fair trial. Now is the time for every Senator to go on the record. Do you think Mayorkas has done a good job at the border? Has Mayorkas fulfilled the oath he swore before this body to protect and defend our co ..read more

Politics An Indian Precedent for American Upper Middle Class Radicalism Americans should read more about the Naxalite movement. There are echoes of the past in current American left-wing activism.  A man accused of firebombing an anti-abortion lobby group office last year in Madison, Wisconsin pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. A PhD biochemist by profession and researcher at U-Madison, Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury apparently started the pro-abortion group “Jane’s Revenge” and used his connections and grant money to gather incendiary ..read more

Politics Massie Kicks Effort to Oust Speaker Johnson Into High Gear State of the Union: Marjorie Taylor Greene is no longer alone—gaining a crucial ally on Tuesday in her campaign to oust Johnson. The Speaker may not last the week. Rep. Thomas Massie has announced he will be cosponsoring Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson. “I just told Mike Johnson in conference that I’m cosponsoring the Motion to Vacate that was introduced by @RepMTG,” Massie posted on Twitter. “He should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker ..read more

Foreign Affairs Inside the Attempt to Cancel NatCon Brussels  Conservatives are apparently no longer welcome in Europe. What’s next? (Saurabh Sharma/Twitter) This is a developing story. Chaos erupted at the National Conservatism conference (“NatCon”) in Brussels today when police ordered the event to be shut down for causing a “public disturbance.” Hundreds of attendees gathered in the EU capital to hear speeches by Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the Brexit Party founder Nigel Farage, the UK’s former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, and more right-wing figures and politic ..read more

Politics What Russia Sanctions Failure Says About the Future The U.S. risks being caught off-guard if it expects the ’90s to last forever. On December 30, 2021, Joe Biden informed Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the White House stands ready to cripple the Russian economy if the Kremlin proceeds with plans to invade Ukraine. Biden reiterated this message in a call with Putin just weeks before the February 2022 invasion. “President Biden was clear that, if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our Allies and partners will respond decisively a ..read more