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Cal Thomas

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Cal Thomas

tcaeditors@tribune.com

Cal Thomas is one of the most widely syndicated political columnists in America. Based in Washington, he is a wide-ranging social commentator, not a "beltway insider," who supports traditional conservative values and the American "can-do spirit." He'll take on virtually any topic, from the decline of the family to growing terrorism worldwide.
A syndicated columnist since 1984, he is the author of “America’s Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires, Superpowers and the United States” (HarperCollins/Zondervan, January 2020). His latest book is “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen in 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books, May 2023). Readers may email Mr. Thomas at tcaeditors@tribune.com.

Columns by Cal Thomas

Gospel from PBS

‘Gospel’ on PBS lifts spirits with soft touch, powerful message

Visit PBS and the brilliant, fun, entertaining blessing you will get from watching a new documentary series called "Gospel."

February 14, 2024

President Joe Biden sits in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, in Washington. Biden's team hopes it has found an unlikely opportunity to go on offense, and perhaps to unite an anxious Democratic Party, following the release of a special prosecutor's report on Thursday, Feb. 8, that cleared Biden of criminal charges, despite finding evidence that the president willfully retained and shared highly classified information as a private citizen. The counsel made repeated negative references to the 81-year-old president's age and memory that echo broader concerns raised by voters in both parties. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

The unmaking of a president: Biden’s declining mental acuity

The deplorable state of President Biden is obvious to all but those who are desperately hoping they can drag him across the finish line in November.

February 12, 2024

Illustration on Joe Biden's immigration law decision making by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

Limiting lawbreakers is still lawbreaking: Biden seems content with open border

The satirical Babylon Bee mocks the Senate immigration bill: "New Senate Anti-Murder Bill Caps Murders At 5,000 Per Day."

February 7, 2024

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered state elections officials Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, to include Phillips on the state's Democratic presidential primary ballot. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Biden rewriting Scripture for political purposes

President Biden's gaffes and flip-flops on issues would fill a book, but he combined several categories of verbal meanderings at last week's National Prayer Breakfast.

February 5, 2024

Eroded free speech in Canada dictated by 'woke' crowd illustration by Linas Garsys / The Washington Times

Newspeak in Canada: Psychologist Jordan Peterson in hot water with ‘woke’ crowd

In his novel "1984," George Orwell created the term "Newspeak," a language that was imposed by Big Brother for the purpose of diminishing the range of thought.

January 31, 2024

Biden's bad border deal on illegal immigration illustration by Linas Garsys / The Washington Times

Biden’s bad border deal

President Biden offered a deal on the border to congressional Republicans that they could refuse. To their credit, they did.

January 29, 2024

Concertina wire lines the path as members of Congress tour an area near the Texas-Mexico border, Jan. 3, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Supreme Court allows the illegal immigrant invasion to continue

By a vote of 5-4, with two conservative justices joining the liberals, the Supreme Court has ruled that federal agents can cut razor wire installed along the Texas-Mexico border while a lawsuit over the wire continues.

January 24, 2024

Democrats' abortion vote illustration by The Washington Times

Democrats and abortion: Bring it on

With the economy, the border and foreign policy not working for them in this election cycle, Democrats are counting on the abortion issue to save their hides in November.

January 22, 2024

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a caucus night party in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) **FILE**

Trump’s victory and the reasons behind voter anger

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich appeared Monday night on Fox News as Iowa voters caucused and delivered a decisive victory for former President Donald Trump in his quest to win the Republican nomination.

January 17, 2024

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog as new Republican Party (GOP) symbol illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Republicans should trade in elephant symbol for one that reflects today’s party

After watching too many of the Republican non-debates and the insults each of the candidates have thrown at one another, it's time for a dose of reality.

January 15, 2024

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, where nine worshippers were killed in a mass shooting by a white supremacist in 2015. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Biden prefers identity politics to improving Black Americans’ lives

President Biden is "down" with Black voters, and I'm not speaking street slang.

January 10, 2024

Biden vs. Trump: The evil of two lessers

Some voters have complained about being forced to choose between "the lesser of two evils" in recent elections. In the 2024 election, it appears we are heading for an even worse choice: the evil of two lessers.

January 8, 2024

Harvard University President Claudine Gay speaks during a hearing of the House Committee on Education on Capitol Hill, Dec. 5, 2023, in Washington. Gay resigned Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024, amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) **FILE**

Institutions of ‘higher learning’: Harvard President Claudine Gay is a symptom, not the cause

Harvard President Claudine Gay and many other university presidents are only a symptom of what's wrong with our system of education, from bottom to top.

January 3, 2024

Migrants queue in the cold as they look for a shelter outside a migrant assistance center at St. Brigid Elementary School on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in New York. It could be a cold, grim New Year for thousands of migrant families living in New York City’s emergency shelter system. With winter setting in, they are being told they need to clear out, with no guarantee they’ll be given a bed elsewhere. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Biden is not ‘faithfully executing’ immigration law

The oath all presidents take includes a promise to "faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

January 1, 2024

Remembering 1924 illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Looking back, looking forward: The year 1924

At the end of the year, we hear predictions about the future, many of which have been proved wrong -- from the end of the world due to climate change to the telephone is just a toy.

December 27, 2023

Foreign infiltrated American universities and colleges through Middle East donations illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Media ignorance and apathy: Failure to investigate foreign donations to U.S. universities

The joke is told about a poll-taker who asks about ignorance and apathy in the country. "I don't know, and I don't care," says the respondent.

December 26, 2023

Gifts that keep on giving for Christmas illustration by The Washington Times

Children’s Scholarship Fund: A gift that will keep on giving

Admit it. Unless you received a big-ticket item for Christmas last year -- such as a car -- you likely have forgotten what was under your tree.

December 18, 2023

Propagandists rotting America's education system illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Rotting intellectual fruit: The root causes of lower learning

We are constantly told it is necessary to find the "root causes" of everything: crime, illegal immigration, the wave of antisemitism spreading across many college campuses and in our streets.

December 13, 2023

Norman Lear arrives at the BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Lear, the writer, director and producer who revolutionized prime-time television with such topical hits as "All in the Family" and “Maude” and propelled political and social turmoil into the once-insulated world of sitcoms, has died, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. He was 101. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

Norman Lear and me: TV producer was also a reasonable voice on American political scene

Television producer Norman Lear, who died last week at age 101, probably could not get away today with what he put on the small screen in the 1970s.

December 11, 2023

The United Nations COP28 climate summit in Dubai food choices illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Let them eat chicken: The insanity of U.N.’s latest climate summit

The worthies attending the United Nations COP28 climate summit in Dubai are mostly not eating meat.

December 6, 2023