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Cal Thomas

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

President Donald Trump gestures while speaking about the U.S. role in the Paris climate change accord, Thursday, June 1, 2017, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Paris pullout has led to hysteria

For sheer hilarity and hyperbole it's hard to beat a recent headline on a Washington Post editorial opposing President Trump's decision to remove the United States from the nonbinding and unenforceable Paris Climate Agreement.

June 5, 2017
Illustration on the sate of the European Union by Daniel Marsula/Tribune Content Agency

Angela Merkel criticism of Trump shows nation ungrateful

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has had enough of President Trump. Speaking last Sunday in a Munich beer hall, Ms. Merkel suggested that Europe may no longer be able to rely on the United States as a faithful ally and that the continent "really must take our fate into our own hands."

May 31, 2017
Illustration on Saudia Arabian duplicity by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

Saudi Arabia will not combat terrorism

Trusting Saudi Arabia to combat terrorists and extremists and "drive them out," as President Trump called on the kingdom and other Arab and Muslim nations to do in his Riyadh speech, is akin to forging an alliance with the Ku Klux Klan to combat racism and anti-Semitism.

May 24, 2017
In this May 18, 1971 file photo, political consultant Roger Ailes, who died last week, is shown in his office in New York. From communications guru and TV producer to Chairman-CEO of Fox News Channel, Ailes' used a "fair and balanced" branding approach, targeted at viewers who believed other cable-news networks, and maybe even the media overall, displayed a liberal tilt from which Fox News delivered them with "unvarnished truth." Associated Press photo

Roger Ailes was a genius

Roger Ailes was no genius, not in the league of Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. The founding chairman of Fox News Channel, who died last week from complications after suffering a fall, understood and respected Middle America from whence he came.

May 22, 2017
This handout photo released by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shows President Donald Trump meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, May 10, 2017. (Russian Foreign Ministry via AP) ** FILE **

Donald Trump campaign rhetoric has not changed in office

During an interview last June in his New York office, I asked Donald Trump about his use of language that many considered insulting and divisive. "Will there be a pivot for you from the primaries to the general election campaign?"

May 15, 2017
Illustration on Barack Obama's receipt of the "Profiles in Courage' award by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Obama getting awards promotes his liberal agenda

Awards once meant something. There was a time not that long ago when they were given in recognition of important accomplishments. Today, we tend to value celebrity over steady achievement. Fame is paramount. It matters little how one attains it. The Kardashians are just one of many examples.

May 10, 2017
Illustration on obstacles to Middle East peace by Donna Grethen/Tribune Content Agency

Israel’s enemies are impediment to peace

President Trump is about to score a religious trifecta, visiting Saudi Arabia, Israel and Rome, the "home" of three monotheistic religions. The president has said he wants to make the ultimate deal and achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

May 8, 2017
Illustration on ex-presidents profiting from their tenure by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Obamas exploit the presidency for financial gain

The headline in the March 5, 1929 edition of the Chicago Tribune read, "Plain Citizen Coolidge Shuts Desk and Quietly Goes Home." Calvin Coolidge would write a newspaper column from Northampton, Mass., for which he presumably was paid a pittance, but other than that he refused to exploit his notoriety or accomplishments as president for money.

May 1, 2017
Illustration on the recent Paris terror attack and the French national elections by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Terrorist threats must be preemptively met

As is almost always the case, signs of trouble preceded the latest shooting in Paris, which left one police officer dead and wounded two bystanders before police killed the gunman, later identified as French national Karim Cheurfi, a known criminal with a long, violent record. ISIS claimed to be behind the attack. According to police, a note praising ISIS fell out of Cheurfi's pocket when he fell.

April 24, 2017
North Korean school girls react upon seeing their photograph being taken as they walk along Mirae Scientists Street on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Tensions have spiked in recent weeks over North Korea's advancing nuclear technology and missile arsenal. But in Pyongyang, where war would mean untold horrors, few people seem to care much at all. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

North Korea situation continues to deteriorate

There was a moment at Press Secretary Sean Spicer's White House briefing Monday that was significant. Asked by a reporter about North Korea's missile launch last weekend, Mr. Spicer said the administration was aware of the launch and that "it failed." End of story. Next question, please.

April 19, 2017
President Donald Trump holds up a pen he used to sign one of various bills in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Monday, March 27, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo file photo)

Tax system simplification can be accomplished

Thanks to the beneficence of the federal government (and the calendar), we Americans have until midnight on April 18 to file our income taxes. It's too bad filing taxes wasn't an easier process.

April 17, 2017
Executing the Guily and the Innocent Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

Arkansas death row push will bring guilty to justice

Nearly three dozen men sit on death row in Arkansas, where capital punishment has been suspended since 2005. Unless clemency is granted, seven of them -- an eighth man was granted a temporary reprieve -- will be given lethal injections all within a 10-day period, between April 17 and 27.

April 12, 2017
Illustration on the dangers of "peace in the Middle East" by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Donald Trump hopes for Middle East peace will collide with reality

In Greek mythology, sirens were beautiful creatures that lured sailors to their doom with their hypnotic voices. In Homer's epic "The Odyssey," ships came to ruin on jagged reefs, following siren song, the pull of the beautiful voices so strong that the hero Odysseus, in order not to succumb, commanded that his crew lash him to the mast of his ship, and not untie him, until they were in safe waters.

April 10, 2017
Vice President Mike Pence arrives for a news conference with President Donald Trump and Jordan's King Abdullah II in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 5, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Mike Pence refusing to dine with a woman alone respects Billy Graham Rule

Millennials and others of a certain age have not lived in a time when fidelity was universally valued and mostly supported by culture -- though sometimes hypocritically -- and its opposite was roundly condemned. There was even a time when a divorced person could not expect to become president, though plenty of married presidents managed to conduct clandestine affairs, often with the indulgence of the media.

April 5, 2017