R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

Democrats, ‘the party of dinkelspiels’

As President Donald J. Trump climbs to the highest approval rating he has reached in his presidency, we keep hearing about how much trouble he is in. He cannot possibly be re-elected, the critics tell us, while his approval rating rises above 50 percent and his disapproval rating detumesces.

February 12, 2019

The strange case of Ralph Northam

Whatever is to be the ultimate fate of the wretched Gov. Ralph Northam of the great Commonwealth of Virginia, I wonder what he now thinks about those who use the term racism as loosely as he did in his race with Ed Gillespie. In his rabble-rousing 2017 campaign, he actually rebuked Mr. Gillespie for Mr. Gillespie's non-existent "racist rhetoric and fearmongering."

February 5, 2019

Nancy Pelosi and anger management

The Great Debate between President Donald J. Trump and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives came to a rather shabby end just before the book-reviewing sections of our great newspapers reviewed an anthropological marvel, "The Goodness Paradox." In this lively book, and in an earlier book, "Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence," Richard Wrangham, an anthropologist at Harvard University, examines the extraordinary violence of chimpanzees.

January 29, 2019

When toxic masculinity meets Harry’s Razor

Do you remember when rock 'n' roll took its turn for the worse? It was sometime in the 1960s when Bob Dylan and those in his thrall began singing songs about politics.

January 22, 2019

The Democrats’ blueprint for impeachment

Do you recall back in July of 2016, when candidate Donald J. Trump brought down the house at a campaign press conference in Miami by jokingly pleading with the Russians to hack into Hillary Clinton's emails?

January 15, 2019

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faces poverty’s demise worldwide

As every public-spirited citizen of these United States knows by now, 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

January 8, 2019

‘Who will take on President Trump?’

Have you followed the press in 2018? Apparently most members of the press do not like our president, Donald J. Trump. Many of them think he is a tyrant in the making. Others think he is stupid and a tyrant in the making. They believe he is likely to be beaten in 2020.

January 1, 2019

The crisis of America’s upper class

It had to happen. The United States of America has been the most desirable piece of real estate to inhabit for more than 200 years.

December 25, 2018

Spending money on the homeless is not a way to cope with the problem

Homelessness is up for the second year in a row. That is no surprise to me. I spent the last few days in New York City where it seems the homeless are as numerous as the tourists. They are everywhere. Not that they are not numerous in our nation's capital too. I returned to Washington by the train, and there are areas of Union Station that are as populated with homeless people as the nearby shelter. The scenes are appalling. What can be done for these poor wretches?

December 18, 2018

Another word for George Herbert Walker Bush

Now that America has had its holiday from politics, we can get back to poking one another in the eye. Slipping each other a mickey, and otherwise breaking the rules of decorum for the ladies and gentlemen of public life.

December 11, 2018

Democrats in trouble

I see that the presidential prospects of Michael Avenatti have suffered a setback. Actually they have suffered several setbacks, including his announcement Tuesday not to run. Critics of the aspiring Democratic candidate for 2020 were hopeful that his days as a candidate were numbered.

December 4, 2018

Remembering Herbert London and the conservatism he championed

On Nov. 11, the conservative movement lost a giant, Herbert London, a Renaissance man, a scholar steeped in the Great Books tradition, a principled politician and a warm personal friend of mine. I am running out of friends such as Herb.

November 27, 2018

Jonestown and the Jane Fonda crowd

Forty years ago this past Sunday, more than 900 men, women and children either killed themselves or were murdered in Jonestown, Guyana. Geography buffs will note that Jonestown is just east of Venezuela, where yet another crazed left-wing experiment is being played out today, though on a much larger scale and hence the prospect of death on an even grander scale is still possible in that once prosperous country.

November 20, 2018

From Churchill to Trump

I have been reading a most perspicacious book by my friend Andrew Roberts. It is just out, "Churchill: Walking With Destiny." It is terrific. In fact, I shall hazard the judgment that readers will not completely understand the greatest political leader of the 20th century (and one of the most endearing) without reading Andrew Roberts' Churchill.

November 13, 2018

Gary Hart and an outbreak of fake news

Well, it is not all bad news. Official Washington has unveiled its presidential candidate for 2020, and he will be every bit as effective as the Democrats running for the House of Representatives and the Senate were Tuesday.

November 6, 2018

Mutual restraint fails and Donald Trump surfaces as the media’s sole target

Last week upon the arrest of a wretched man, Cesar Sayoc, I heard some good news. Within hours of his arrest commentators on all sides admitted that, as the phrase has it, "enough is enough." Let the recriminations subside. There will be no more virulent charges against the left or the right or Donald Trump. Even Donald Trump seemed to agree, and in his public appearances I detected a note of munificence. He was of a sudden stepping forward as president of all the people.

October 30, 2018

Donald Trump is a force of nature, especially when compared to the Democrats’ gerontocracy

The midterm elections are fast approaching. All sorts of forecasts are coming out. Oddly enough, no one has asked me what I think the outcome might be.

October 23, 2018

Pope Francis must acknowledge that he presides over Catholic Church in a time of unparalleled crisis

Back in late August, Pope Francis declared that he would "not say a word" about a letter from a former Vatican envoy to Washington who claimed, among other things, that the pope had ignored sexual abuse charges made against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, formerly archbishop of Washington.

October 16, 2018

Columbus Day yes, Indigenous People’s day, no

I was wandering through the newspapers this weekend trying to find a cheerful story or at least an optimistic story. It was pretty grim business. My guess is that it would have been even grimmer business if I had been wandering through the cable news networks. Oh, of course, Fox News would have been optimistic, but that is about it.

October 9, 2018

Complaint against Brett Kavanaugh, more like hysteria, comes down to sex

If you have read enough pro-Kavanaugh articles, give this one a pass. You are not going to like it. Yet if you have not heard enough, you will probably like this one. I have nothing but congratulatory things to say about Brett Kavanaugh. As with Clarence Thomas, he is a fighter. He is a gifted defender of the truth. And he is worthy of serving on the highest court in the land. I would trust my case with him and I would trust yours too whether you are with him now or against him. He believes in the rule of law.

October 2, 2018