[Trudy Rubin] Hong Kong activists set example for US counterparts

Can the energy of last weekend’s post-inaugural march be channeled into electoral politics?　This question becomes more urgent as President Donald Trump lays the ground for wrecking-ball policies that will weaken America at home and abroad.　Having recently returned from Hong Kong, I suggest that protest organizers study the approach of young activists there against a far more fearsome opponent -- the communist government in China. When their massive demonstrations failed to budge Beijing, they tr

Feb. 1, 2017

[David Ignatius] Stephen Bannon’s dangerous populist revolution

At the red-hot center of President Trump’s first 10 days in office has been his strategist Stephen Bannon, who proclaims a global populist movement for “Judeo-Christian” values and against radical Islam. Bannon is a passionate ideologue who is the intellectual center of the new administration. For nearly a decade he has been advertising his desire to turn America and the world upside down. He’s now doing exactly that. Trump’s “America First” trade policies and his anti-refugee travel ban are ear

Feb. 1, 2017

[Other View] Has Trump come to senses on moving US embassy to Jerusalem?

It’s beginning to look as if President Trump is having second thoughts about his campaign promise to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. If so, he will be following in the footsteps of his predecessors -- and putting the national interest above politics.Trump wasn’t the first presidential candidate to promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem, but his commitment has been taken more seriously than those of past candidates. David Friedman, Trump’s choice for ambassador to Isra

Feb. 1, 2017

[Other View] Trump needs to stop sending mixed messages on torture

One of the applause lines of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was his suggestion that he would bring back waterboarding and “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”Trump later drew back to some degree from that sickening suggestion, but the idea that his administration might subject suspected terrorists to torture keeps resurfacing.Last week it was reported that a draft executive order is circulating that contemplates modifications in interrogation practices and implies that limits in cur

Jan. 31, 2017

[Dave Olivas] We can’t call ourselves Americans if we turn our backs on those in need

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”—Emma Lazarus, inscribed on the Statue of LibertyBut if you’re from Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya or Somalia, the wait time is at least 120 days for the process to begin.And if you’re from Syria, your entry is considered “detrimental to the interest of the United States” and you cannot pa

Jan. 31, 2017

[Noah Feldman] Journalists look awkward in the ‘opposition party’

The opening days of Donald Trump’s presidency are forcing the traditional news media to choose between squarely reporting on the president and more directly challenging him when he makes statements that are demonstrably false. The strategic choice between a watchdog mission and an active opposition must be made mindfully. Otherwise the media will find itself tacking back and forth between objectivity and persuasion, an approach that could squander both aims.　The state of play is driven by uncert

Jan. 31, 2017

[Noah Feldman] Rule of law 1, Trump‘s immigration ban 0

It’s beginning. The legal system’s constitutional defense against President Donald Trump’s policies won its first battle this weekend when several federal district courts blocked the implementation of his executive order banning immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries.　The lawyers’ resistance won’t always succeed, and it will face many bumps in the road over the next four years. The resistance got a big assist this time from Trump himself, who ignored the Department of Justice and its f

Jan. 31, 2017

[Edwin Dorn] Russians did to US what we’ve done to others for long time

Let’s stop acting like wounded innocents.　The US has been big-footing around the globe for more than a century. We have influenced elections in other countries and when that didn’t work, we have deposed leaders who did not support our interests. Prominent examples include intervening several times in Central America and supporting coups that replaced elected leaders with dictators in Iran, Congo and Chile.　The Russians did to us what we have been doing to others for a long time.　Russia’s motivat

Jan. 31, 2017

[Dick Meyer] Is Trump master of the whip?

No experience in government. Volatile, combative, thin-skinned and hooked on impulsively tweeting out unvarnished boasts, complaints, insults and made-up claims. A top staff of misfit elves with no White House experience, serious legislative or policy accomplishments, and only work in campaigns, party politics and news-ish media. A first day in office eclipsed by protests across the country, probably the largest political demonstration in American history.No wonder President Trump’s first days a

Jan. 30, 2017

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Trump’s blunt, counterproductive travel ban

Some bold and simple policies have merit; Friday’s executive order that temporarily bans the citizens of certain countries from coming to the US, and stops indefinitely the entry of Syrian refugees, is not one of them.As designed and implemented, there are genuine doubts about the order’s effectiveness in meeting its stated objective of preventing terrorism. It also risks a lot of collateral damage and unintended consequences that ultimately could prove counterproductive and harmful to national

Jan. 30, 2017

[Other View] ‘America First’ doesn’t mean United Nations last

Not surprisingly for a president whose slogan is “America First,” Donald Trump has expressed deep skepticism about the United Nations. Nevertheless, his appointment of a skilled and popular politician as the new US permanent representative stands to help make the UN a more effective forum for advancing US interests.It will be South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s job to work with the widely acclaimed incoming secretary-general, former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, to see that US intere

Jan. 30, 2017

[Bloomberg] Trump and Xi can help each other on trade

Chinese President Xi Jinping delighted the Davos set last Tuesday with a full-throated defense of “economic globalization.” If President Donald Trump really wants to boost American prosperity, he should welcome Xi’s position, urge him to stick to it and apply the same ideas to US trade policy.Sure, one can wonder whether Xi’s idea of globalization puts quite the same emphasis on free markets as, say, Milton Friedman’s, but that isn’t the point. Defenders of international trade are few and far be

Jan. 25, 2017

[Tyler Cowen] Why Trump’s staff is lying

One of the most striking features of the early Trump administration has been its political uses of lying. The big weekend story was the obviously false claim of Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, that Trump pulled in the largest inauguration crowd in American history. This raises the question of why a leader might find it advantageous to promote such lies from his subordinates.　First and most obviously, the leader wishes to mislead the public, and wants to have subordinates doing so, i

Jan. 25, 2017