Reince Priebus and the GOP’s Moral Disaster

by Pete Spiliakos

If we want to assess how the GOP and CPAC took such a fall, we should apportion some of the blame to RNC chairman Reince Priebus. Continue Reading »

1 Mar 2018

The Insanity of the Regular Republican

by Pete Spiliakos

The best politicians on the right have wasted the years since Mitt Romney’s 2012 defeat. 
Continue Reading »

12 Oct 2017

The GOP Bubble

by Pete Spiliakos

Conventional Republicans continue trying to sell their unpopular agenda by appealing to Reagan nostalgia—but they're facing problems. Continue Reading »

28 Sep 2017

Why I'm Still a Sucker for John Kasich

by James R. Rogers

I just sent the John Kasich presidential campaign another $100 contribution today. A grain of sand from me to weigh on the side of Kasich staying in the presidential race through the convention.No, I don’t think that Kasich has anything but a vanishingly low probability of winning the GOP . . . . Continue Reading »

29 Apr 2016

What Trump Teaches Us

by R. R. Reno

We’re in a clarifying moment. Since Super Tuesday and Trump’s successes in a number of states, the Republican Party establishment is mounting an all-out effort to discredit him and to prevent him from becoming the GOP nominee. If these efforts succeed, something like the standard politics of the . . . . Continue Reading »

4 Mar 2016

Why Serious People Support an Unserious Presidential Candidate

by James R. Rogers

Support for Donald Trump exists not despite the crazy, irresponsible things he advocates, but because of them. The voters who support him in the hope that he is as crazy as he sounds are not, themselves, necessarily crazy for doing so. This despite what the early breadth of Trump’s support may . . . . Continue Reading »

4 Nov 2015

Waiting for Superwoman

by Pete Spiliakos

Carly Fiorina's fierce and passionate attack on Planned Parenthood's fetal organ harvesting operation has gotten praise from conservatives and bitter attacks from liberals. In the process, it has demonstrated all too well conservatism's weak position in popular culture. Given present circumstances, . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Oct 2015

A Campaign That is Lost Every Day

by Pete Spiliakos

Many conservatives feel like they are living in a country they no longer understand and that does not particularly like them. There is some truth to those feelings. Millions of Americans only hear about conservatives when they (putatively) misbehave and about conservative ideas in ugly and distorted forms. The result is that many Americans who might otherwise be supportive of or indifferent to political conservatism range from passively to actively hostile. Continue Reading »

9 Jul 2015

It's Getting Harder to Listen

by Mark Bauerlein

One of the first modes of critical thinking is knowing what others think and say. If we’re to be conscientious citizens in a free republic, we must follow the other side’s arguments and evidence, admitting those points that identify weaknesses in our own position. Continue Reading »

14 Apr 2015

What the Midterms Mean for Social Conservatives

by Brandon McGinley

I’m never more of a partisan than on election night. All my misgivings about the Republican Party dissolve and I become like a sports fan tabulating my team’s essential statistics. Then Wednesday arrives, and the spasm of partisan enthusiasm fades into a renewed realism. Continue Reading »

6 Nov 2014