Charles Lipson

The Trump-Zelensky meetings offered a show of Western unity

19 August 2025 2:00 pm

Did President Trump make any progress toward ending the war in Ukraine after successive meetings with Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky…

Trump’s shrewd move in DC will resonate across the US

12 August 2025 2:21 am

President Trump’s initiative to restore law and order to the streets of the nation’s capital is a smart political move.…

Axing the Department of Education will improve education

18 July 2025 12:50 am

The big education news this week is a court ruling that allows the Trump administration to begin cutting jobs at…

What’s the matter with Chicago?

15 July 2025 9:48 pm

As the song goes: “Chicago, that toddlin’ town.” It was certainly toddlin’ in the 1950s and 1960s, when that song…

A trio of scandals

11 July 2025 9:20 pm

“Who will guard the guardians?” That question, posed two millennia ago by the Roman poet, Juvenal, is just as relevant today. It recurs every time we learn of a…

Democrats vexed by Trump’s success in Iran

25 June 2025 8:53 pm

There are serious, unanswered questions about the impact of America’s bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites. Three stand out. How…

Why Democrats back the wrong side of 80-20 issues

16 June 2025 7:23 pm

“80-20” issues have become a catchphrase recently. Most voters on those issues favor one policy by overwhelming margins and oppose…

What to do about Iran?

23 May 2025 6:46 pm

China is surely America’s most dangerous threat over the medium term, but Iran is surely the most dangerous right now. The Islamic Republic would be even…

Roadblocks prevent Trump from deporting millions of illegal immigrants

10 May 2025 12:02 pm

“You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” So goes the bartenders’ refrain to customers at closing…

Another spring, another round of anti-Semitism on campus

25 April 2025 6:51 pm

The weather is growing warm, which means anti-Semitic demonstrations are blooming at elite universities. The hatred of Jews is no longer hidden, as it was in…

Trump takes a hammer to the universities

22 April 2025 12:37 am

President Trump has already dropped the first hammer on Harvard. He’s ready to drop the whole tool chest on a…

How to deal with the student mob

14 April 2025 9:34 pm

Last week’s violent anti-Semitic protest at Stanford is yet another sign of a pernicious climate on many campuses. The immediate…

Trump’s ‘on-again, off-again’ presidency

10 April 2025 5:41 pm

To win elections in a two-party system, the victor needs to erect a big tent. He needs to persuade all…

Trump only harms himself by floating the idea of a third term

1 April 2025 4:07 am

Donald Trump this weekend floated the idea of running for a third term. Unless he’s doing it in 1940 when…

PBS and NPR should never have received public funding

27 March 2025 11:01 pm

Congress has been mulling the future of publicly-funded television and radio. Here’s a spoiler alert: that funding is toast. There…

Columbia exemplifies the failure of universities

11 March 2025 6:22 am

Yesterday, with growing sadness, I read a wonderful book about teaching and learning, written by one of the great teachers…

It’s morning in Trump’s America

5 March 2025 6:57 pm

Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night was the most powerful, rousing, and pointed of…

What’s behind the vicious attacks on Elon Musk?

26 February 2025 10:00 am

Why are Democrats mounting such a ferocious assault on Elon Musk? Why are mainstream media outlets so eager to go…

The deeper meaning behind Trump’s blizzard of actions 

10 February 2025 3:41 pm

With Donald Trump moving so rapidly on so many fronts, it is hard to grasp the big picture. What are…

When government officials are threatened, they deserve protection 

25 January 2025 8:21 am

When US officials and former officials face lethal dangers for the work they did in office, they deserve protection from…

Donald Trump is a president in a hurry

22 January 2025 5:32 pm

“The First Hundred Days” was the iconic phrase for Franklin Roosevelt’s rapid-fire acts as the new president. Donald Trump intends…

Biden opens the jailhouse door

18 January 2025 5:54 am

Joe Biden is not going gently into that dark night, politically or cognitively. He is going down with large, bold…

When is a fire an earthquake?

14 January 2025 1:50 am

The fire now engulfing whole neighborhoods in Los Angeles will soon engulf the politicians who failed to protect them. The…

The legacy of Jimmy Carter

31 December 2024 10:40 am

Jimmy Carter will be remembered as a decent, honorable man of faith, who lived a productive life according to those…

The winners and losers in the fight to keep the government open

24 December 2024 12:32 am

As the clock ticked down late Friday night, the US House and Senate finally passed a stopgap funding bill to…