Political Op-Eds

Sixteen years after the 9/11 attacks, there is a fair amount of good news about the state of the battle against jihadist terrorists: The United States has not suffered a successful attack by a foreign terrorist organization since al Qaeda's horrific attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Regulations and agencies that help victims show the value of government solutions during natural disasters, writes Julian Zelizer.

Heads-up, GOP: They've had ups and downs in their long relationship, but the President and the Senate minority leader share a deep satisfaction from wheeling and dealing, even with each other--a trait they honed in New York City, writes Errol Louis.

As Irma takes aim at Florida and devastation from Harvey continues, the President owes it to the victims to take the risks of climate change seriously, writes David Andelman.

Shell companies are widely used to launder money from illicit sources and their role could well be a factor in the Russia investigation as well as the North Korean WMD program, write Stefan Cassella and Michael Zeldin

With the president turning to congress to fix the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, it's up to leaders like Paul Ryan to have a heart and protect the Dreamers, writes Carol Costello

The debate over DACA comes down to a simple question: What kind of country are we?

To understand how President Donald Trump could rescind a program protecting nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants, it helps to recognize two of his strongest traits. The first is his conviction, as he explained it to me in 2014, that "most people aren't worthy of respect." The second is his profound fear of his fellow human being -- at least ones who don't resemble him.

Though Russia may never lead in developing AI technology, it is at the forefront of weaponizing it in order to extend the breadth of its power, writes Gregory C. Allen.

Liberals don't get it, but President Trump speaks to a desire of many Americans for honest talk about the nation's problems and for solutions to them, writes Tim Stanley

The election had been bitter, and the outgoing President was miffed at the victor's arrogant promise that he would bring a political revolution to Washington, DC. He had no energy left for civility.

If passed, the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act, which features reforms that would strengthen family ties and support rehabilitation, would be a step toward making our criminal justice system more just, write Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren

You can take Donald Trump out of the reality show, but it seems you can't take the reality show mentality out of Donald Trump.

Not every campaign promise is worth keeping. But to please his base, Donald Trump may be about to scrap the main trade pact between the United States and South Korea, the first bilateral treaty he will have terminated as President. Smart? No. Not now, probably not ever.

It would be a mistake to think that partisan divisions, fueled by DACA, Russia, and North Korea, will end because of the disaster in Texas, writes Julian Zelizer.

President Donald Trump is in for a bumpy political ride when Congress reconvenes after Labor Day. A remarkable number of leaders of the President's party have begun sharply criticizing Trump, signaling that he can no longer expect lawmakers to follow the White House's lead on major legislation.

Congress should give Texas the funds it needs for Harvey recovery, but on condition that it finaly implement sensible environmental planning, writes Errol Louis.

President Trump must use his bully pulpit to focus squarely on disaster recovery, to convey a clear understanding to survivors and the nation of the immense challenges ahead--not shift to his political agenda--writes Lars Anderson.

Research showed DACA significantly improved mental well-being, and lowered the everyday anxiety of young people able to go to school, work and plan future openly, not cower and hide, in America, writes sociologist Elizabeth Aranda.

Instead of threatening "fire and fury" against North Korea, the US should devote resources to building up its military deterrence and that of its allies, Japan and South Korea, writes Anthony H. Cordesman.

This is what climate change looks like. Entire metropolitan areas -- Houston in the United States and Mumbai in India -- submerged in catastrophic floods.

Early Wednesday morning North Korea launched a Hwasong-12 missile which traveled 1,678 miles over the Japanese island of Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific Ocean.

Every president handles a crisis differently. Donald Trump's visit to Texas showed his commitment to reassuring victims that federal help will not recede with the floodwaters, Alice Stewart says.

As Congress returns next week, attention will turn to matters of budget, spending and taxes. The tax reform package that legislators will take up will have major implications for years to come, and we should get it right.

At Harvey briefing, Trump praised his team--and by extension, himself--but had not a word for victims. It was another dispiriting display of obtuse self-puffery for a President who just doesn't get his role, says David Axelrod.

Many saw Harvey coming, but Houston is an oil town, and Texas politicians have long ignored climate truth and climate preparedness, writes Jeffrey Sachs, lying to their constituents about the threat --while expecting the rest of America to keep bailing them out.

When Hurricane Sandy struck, some conservatives in the House and Senate opposed the emergency assistance package and now some of those same conservatives need emergency funding in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, writes former Rep. Steve Israel.

Unlike the Dutch, Americans seem reluctant to learn from their experiences in previous storms and build more resilient cities, writes Frida Ghitis

Since the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act will be harmful to US-Saudi relations and US foreign policy overall, it should be overturned, writes Nawaf Obaid.

Fears of a cyber Pearl Harbor are overblown, writes James Andrew Lewis. But that doesn't mean Americans aren't right to worry about cyber attacks against the US.

With his pardon, the President has rewarded the law-breaking and unrepentant ex-sheriff for trashing the Constitution, and has slapped the federal judiciary in the face. History, and voters, will judge Trump harshly, writes Paul Callan.

Trump's pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio makes sense when you consider the two have been politically aligned for some years now, writes Cedric Alexander.

Diplomacy is by nature a get-along business; and that applies in spades to a relationship between a president and his secretary of state. If there's any arguing to be done or daylight demonstrated, it takes place in private -- behind closed doors.

David Andelman: It's terrifying that any one individual has the awesome power to launch a nuclear attack; Congress should require that key officials be alerted before Trump opens the nuclear football.

To Donald Trump, former sheriff Joe Arpaio is a "patriot" deserving of a pardon while transgender Americans who courageously risk their lives in the military to defend our nation are a "burden" and should be banned from our armed services. Both of these decisions share one thing: Trump is legitimizing discrimination against minorities.

When he designated Women's Equality Day in 1944, Nixon noted that "much remains to be done," writes Stephanie Coontz. Despite advances since then, recent shifts on reproducutive rights, social attitiudes show he remains right.

Gorka's departure, among others, from White House--and Cohn's public grievance over Trump's Charlottesville response--reflect a President failing to manage foot soldiers and to provide clear philosophical direction that commands their loyalty, writes Tim Stanley.

The GOP controlled Congress has the ability to derail Trump if he continues to govern in a way that causes party infighting, writes Julian Zelizer.

Less than 20 miles outside of the nation's capital, nestled behind a grove of trees across the street from the iconic Mount Vernon estate, stands a relatively new institution dedicated to the scholarly understanding of President George Washington.

Michael Weiss says defenders of the anti-PC president suddenly want to impose speech codes on discussion of the President's fitness to serve

The DACA program, which has brought hundreds of thousands of young immigrants out of the shadows, is under threat of repeal. If Trump won't protect Dreamers, Congress needs to do so, writes Washington Gov Jay Inslee.

A story in USA Today this week highlighted a problem facing the United States Secret Service: It doesn't have enough money. The article suggested this was in large part because of excessive travel by President Donald Trump and his family, who are among the 42 people under Secret Service protection in his White House.

Hillary Clinton's campaign manager says we have to work together now to make sure a 2016-style attack never happens again.

We often talk about the politics of war without acknowledge what we're putting soldiers and their families through, but by listening to their experiences, we can start to bridge the civilian-military divide, writes Allison Jaslow

There is 'Scripted Trump' (with TelePrompter) and 'Reckless Trump' (without). Unlike previous presidents the President is unable to display a strong personality while remaining a stable leader, writes Michael D'Antonio.

President Donald Trump's son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner will touch down later Wednesday in Israel, along with a senior delegation, for the purpose of trying to renew the all but defunct Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Trump's mixed signals in response to the events in Chrlottesville and a growing link in Europe between extreme right wing hate groups and Russia highlight an opportunity for Russia to use domestic hate groups to escalate their activity in the US, writes Asha Rangappa

Donald Trump has shown he is capable of temporary moments of sanity.

If the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act passes Congress, cities like New York, known for their safety and security, will face additional threats of gun violence, writes Cyrus R. Vance Jr.

In many schools, school officials are allowed to shame students whose parents haven't paid their lunch bill, but The Anti-Lunch Shaming Act could put an end to the practice, writes Senator Tom Udall

Peter Bergen says many of the president's top advisers have served in Afghanistan or have personal ties to the war and know that an abrupt withdrawal would be a mistake

America is trying to learn the lessons of its post-9/11 wars. And in his speech to the nation Monday evening, Donald Trump, the third US President to grapple with the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, promised not nation-building, but terror-pursuing.

House Speaker Paul Ryan used his televised town hall meeting Monday to gingerly walk across the tightrope congressional Republican leaders will face this fall: how to put distance between themselves and President Donald Trump without alienating the White House.

James Gagliano: Just as terrorists tactics have changed, law enforcement steps to combatting terrorism must change.

After a third Navy collision in less than a year--this time with the USS John S. McCain--the Navy's "operational pause" an opportunity to evaluate how poor budget management is contributing to these tragedies, writes John Kirby

The President has expressed wishes for better relations with Russia, but a new survey shows a majority of American believes Russia is a threat, write Ivo Daalder and Dina Smeltz.

With his history of incendiary rhetoric on immigration, no good can come of the President's rally. For the sake of unity, race relations, public safety, he should stay home, writes Raul Reyes.

Forget about putting the nuclear genie back in any bottle in Pyongyang. North Korea will have -- and will not be dissuaded from possessing -- a deliverable nuclear weapon.

Steven Lubet says an example from the slavery era helps illuminate the dynamic cabinet members face between hoping they can improve the situation and being complicit with the president's statements on Charlottesville

The US will be doing just the right thing by staying in Afghanistan. We can't get out. Not now, maybe never. The only real question is how deep do we stay and for how long?

In the wake of Charlottesville, Americans are confronting questions about how to make sense of the history of the Confederacy, the Civil War and race in America as they play out in our lives today.

The boatlift that helped civilians in Manhattan during the 9/11 attacks is the largest and fastest maritime evacuation, but it's not as recognized as the Dunkirk mission of WWII, writes Jessica DuLong

Trump and Bannon gave a voice to working class Americans who opposed the Washington establishment, writes Alice Stewart. With White House staff changes, they may feel they've lost their champions.

Their Jewish faith and position in the White House should have motivated them to condemn President Trump's remarks, which downplayed the seriousness of neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, writes Lev Golinkin.

Voters swept Republicans into office to advance an agenda. It's fine to counsel the President on race, but not OK to stall policymaking until he improves, writes Scott Jennings.

"The worst part is that people got hurt," a seventy-year-old man caught up in the Charlottesville clashes told the Washington Post. "The police stood by and didn't do a g------- thing." Experts as distinguished as former Philadelphia chief Charles H. Ramsey commented on that department's failure to "have overwhelming force" on hand, and others spoke of the police appearing "outnumbered, ill-prepared and inexperienced."

Placing controversial monuments in places that offer no historical context is problematic. If it's about "defending history," then they should be in places like museums, writes Shannon LaNier.

In defending the alt-right protesters in Charlottesville, the President appears to be--mistakenly--conflating them with his base, says SE Cupp. He won't change direction until his voters tell him he's wrong,

Mark Preston talks with Tom Perez, the DNC's chair, about how to win back voters and rebuild the Democratic Party.

Matt Qvortrup: Lost in Trump's press conference was an honest conversation on the role of historical monuments, which, if removed, fail to let us confront our historical demons.

My grandparents, Myron Kuznicki and Raisse Volovitz, arrived in America in the 1920s. At the time, they were escaping anti-Semitism in Russia and Ukraine.

The four service chiefs - Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy - have denounced bigotry even when the President won't. Their leadership shows both strength and pragmatism, says John Kirby.

In defending the alt-right protesters in Charlottesville, the President appears to be--mistakenly--conflating them with his base, says SE Cupp. He won't change direction until his voters tell him he's wrong,

Our national healing cannot move forward if well-meaning leaders don't recognize the role Founding Fathers, like Thomas Jefferson, played in seeding white supremacy, writes Johnita Due.

The US President would benefit from a European lesson on the dangers of courting the far right, Frida Ghitis says.

Malcolm Graham writes that Donald Trump has galvanized bigots, which has inspired violence like that which took an innocent life in Charlottesville this weekend

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, and Project 1917, which was founded to create social media forums about the revolution, is providing Russians with a platform to commemorate it while other avenues for free expression are being closed off, writes Emily Parker

Lawmakers need to fix law on domestic terrorism so federal prosecutors have tools to treat groups that promote hate and violence not just as purveyors of hate crime, but as the terrorists they are, writes Page Pate.

Trump, like Obama, has hesitated to criticize hate groups when they act -- a trait that did his predecessor little good, writes James Gagliano.

Fascism is alive and well in America. The only harm is in not saying so.

The incident shows that political violence in the US takes many forms, including extreme right-wing terrorism, and it should be condemned as such, writes Peter Bergen

North Korea's Kim Jong Un isn't the only destabilizing, dangerous and bellicose world leader -- President Trump is too, and it's not yet clear if he can be moderated, writes Jamie Metzl

Trump did not invent the nation's racially divisive politics, but he and his party have taken expert political advantage of these divisions, Peniel Joseph writes

Michael D'Antonio: With three dead and dozens injured in Charlottesville, President Trump has responded to his first domestic crisis with the cowardice of the bully he has always been.

By refusing to identify the very particular problem and evil of white racism, Trump divorces himself from reality. Conservatives have to ask themselves why the far-Right identifies with their leaders, writes Tim Stanley.

My friend and CNN colleague, S.E. Cupp, (whose new show debuts on HLN on August 21) has the perfect metaphor for President Donald Trump's relationship with the Republican Party. "He uses the party like a teenage boy uses a tuxedo for prom night," she says. And she's right. He rented the suit, used it for a time, and then dropped it in a heap in the corner, without a second thought about the cigarette burns and stains.

It's a mistake to think Trump's hyperbole and the public chatter in the media and beyond hasn't helped escalate tensions that could leave us contemplating how we went from leak to tweet to war, writes John Kirby.

New primetime 'Weekend Update' may well set the SNL-sensitive Trump to raging on Twitter, but for the rest of America, it brings needed comedic catharsis between SNL seasons, writes Dean Obeidallah.

Decades of diplomacy have not worked to slow the regime's nuke program, writes Alice Stewart. It's time to replace tepid talk with tough talk and be ready to back up the words with action.

Norman Eisen and Fred Wertheimer say the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller would trigger a constitutional crisis and the answer would be a Watergate-style three-part investigation

There are three strategic ways in which good leaders can gain confidence and strength -- Trump's "tough talk" on North Korea isn't one of them, writes Mark Hertling.

Donald Trump's remarks that he will meet any North Korean threat with "Fire and Fury" play right into Kim's hand by validating the argument that Kim needs nukes to defend his regime

National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster is under attack by alt-right media outlets and Twitter bots, intensifying the drama and chaos President Trump, who revels in, writes Kurt Bardella.

Trump's denouncing of "leaks" is self-serving -- silencing whistleblowers won't keep our government accountable, write Harry Litman and Molly Knobler.

The Israeli prime minister is facing a slew of investigations that could upend Israeli politics; but don't bet against him yet; he's a survivor, writes Aaron David Miller.

If President Trump wants to successfully address the North Korean threat, he should focus on a strategy of containment rather than "fire and fury" rhetoric, writes Jamie Metzl.