Ideas
Arguments. Essays. Inquiries.
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Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Does Anyone Dare Tell Trump the Truth?
The president’s habit of shooting the messenger is going to prove costly.
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Brendan Smialowski / The New York Times / ... The Person Who Changes the Constitution
One civil servant will determine whether the ERA gets added to America’s founding document—the question is which authority he’ll turn to for guidance.
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Mike Segar / Reuters We Can’t Afford to Ignore Lev Parnas’s Explosive Claims
We can’t afford to accept them at face value either.
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Steve Helber / AP Bill Barr Doesn’t Get to Decide What’s in the Constitution
Somebody has to determine whether the ERA is valid or not, and without quite saying so, the Department of Justice is claiming that person is none other than Attorney General Bill Barr.
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Associated Press Prohibition Was a Failed Experiment in Moral Governance
A repealed amendment and generations of Supreme Court rulings have left the constitutional regulation of private behavior in the past. Will it stay there?
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Bloomberg / Getty Why Manhattan’s Skyscrapers Are Empty
Approximately half of the luxury-condo units that have come onto the market in the past five years are still unsold.
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Ricardo Arduengo / AFP / Getty Trump’s Malign Neglect of Puerto Rico
The mainland usually ignores the U.S.-controlled island, but the president shows active hostility in its time of need.
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Alexander Nemenov / AFP via Getty Putin Pays Backhanded Tribute to Democracy
In his new bid to cling to power, Russia’s authoritarian president pretends to obey constitutional norms.
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An Rong Xu / Redux Taiwan Stands Up to Xi
The Chinese leader miscalculated, increasing the pressure he exerted, but driving more support to Tsai Ing-wen.
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Shannon Stapleton / Reuters Joe Biden, Incumbent
The Democratic primary looks less peculiar if you ascribe to the former vice president the strengths—and weaknesses—of incumbency.
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Amir Levy / Getty ‘Muslim’ Is Not an Insult
The president’s recent tweet was personal for me.
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Is Trump a Jacksonian at Heart?
The right is having a vigorous foreign-policy debate.
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Bryan Woolston / Reuters Troops Is an Unethical Euphemism
A soldier is a person. A troop is something from the game of Risk.
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Julie Jacobson / Reuters How to—Carefully—Surmount the Electoral College
There is a plan that can get the country closer to having a national popular election for president within the current constitutional framework, and without the need for a constitutional amendment.
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Olivia Harris / Reuters There Is a Culture Industry That Gives Its Top Prizes to Women
The big literary awards this year have been positively dominated by female writers.
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Getty When a Promotion Leads to Divorce
People cling to the traditional notion that career success is a male drama in which women must do their best in a supporting role.
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An Action Plan for the Future of Media
From an author’s point of view, the most important quality of any book is its done-ness. Once you accept…
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Whatever the Question, the Answer Is Trump
The Iran crisis illustrates that if there’s little the president can do to alienate his supporters, there’s just as little he can do to win over his opponents.
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Loren Elliott / Reuters The Senate Trial Will Be Totally Predictable—With One Potential for Surprise
Prepare for peak tedium.
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Christopher Pike / Reuters The Death of a Temperate Leader in an Intemperate Region
Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who died on Friday, brought Oman into the modern age and made the Iran deal possible.
