Section: Institute for Policy Studies (USA)
The Islamic State and Donald Trump’s Delusion
Even before the recent raid that resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the erstwhile head of the Islamic State, Donald Trump had spoken of how he had single-handedly defeated the caliphate. “Now, when I came, the caliphate was all over the place,” the president said apropos of nothing during a news conference with the Australian prime...
The Art of the Back-Pedal
It is a hallmark of right-wing populists to make a preposterous policy and then be forced — by opposition, by circumstance, by the laws of physics — to retreat. Three very recent examples involve Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The backpedaling might look very similar in all three cases,...
Trump’s Endless Wars
Donald Trump loves to talk about ending the endless U.S. wars that he inherited as president. He tweets about it. He endlessly criticizes his predecessors for their martial mistakes. But like the old saw about the weather, Trump talks a whole lot about endless wars but doesn’t do anything about them. Just this month, he went against the...
Trump’s Undeclared State of Emergency
Trump’s public appeal to China last week to help with uncovering dirt on the Biden family was both a brazen flouting of the law and (it pains me to say) an astute political tactic. “China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine,” Trump announced to...
The Case for Impeaching Trump Goes Way Beyond Ukraine
“Has Trump finally gone too far?” There’s a headline you’ve seen a thousand times. At last, Speaker Nancy Pelosi says he has. A whistleblower says Trump withheld foreign aid to Ukraine to pressure the country’s new president into investigating Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s past business there. Trump doesn’t even...
For Trump, Regime Change Begins at Home
A month after he won the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump gave a speech in North Carolina where he declared that “we will stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about, that we shouldn’t be involved with.” It’s still commonplace for foreign policy analysts of the left, right, and center to distinguish Trump...
Burning Down the House
Doesn’t idiocy ever take a vacation? As August wound down, the populist troika of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Jair Bolsonaro proved once again that the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil would be better off with no leaders rather than the dubious characters that currently pretend to govern these countries. In all three...
Tax the Rich Before the Rest
Presidential candidates should take a pledge: The middle class should not pay one dollar more in new taxes until the super-rich pay their fair share. Already candidates are outlining ambitious programs to improve health care, combat climate change, and address the opioid crisis — and trying to explain how they’ll pay for it. President...
Trump Silences Tlaib and Omar for Embracing Palestinians’ Humanity
Years ago, I visited Gaza. It was in 2009, shortly after the disastrous Israeli war, and I was there to see the damage firsthand with other activists. There was devastation, but that’s not what I remember most. More than the skeletal remains of a hotel on the beach, riddled with holes from artillery fire, I was struck by the laughter of the...
Big Pharma to Pay for Opioid Crisis, But What Happens to the Money?
A trial in Cleveland County, Oklahoma recently concluded with Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay a $572 million settlement for its role in the opioid crisis. It is the third case in Oklahoma to end with a pharmaceutical company being held liable for paying damages related to the abuse of opioids and the ensuing deaths caused by overdose. The...
