Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to replace “Lake Ontario” with “Lake America” in federal maps, contracts, documents, and communications within 30 days. The order can’t force Canada, international organizations, private mapmakers, state governments, or ordinary people to follow along. It…
The U.S.-Canada Tariff Dispute and Its Economic Stakes
For two countries that share the world’s longest international border, the United States and Canada are doing a remarkable impression of neighbors arguing over whose tree dropped leaves into whose yard. Unfortunately, this disagreement involves 50 percent tariffs, billions of dollars in trade, and enough economic collateral damage to make an ordinary property-line dispute look…
The Senate’s New Sanctions Push Against Russia and Iran
The Senate has taken a major step toward dramatically increasing economic pressure on Russia, the countries purchasing its energy, and Iran. In an 86–12 procedural vote, senators advanced the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, although the measure still requires additional votes before it can pass the Senate and move to…
Trump’s New Canada Tariffs and the Debate Over Fair Trade
The latest chapter in the increasingly tense U.S.-Canada relationship involves trade barriers, dairy quotas, provincial liquor bans, automobile policy, and, hovering strangely in the background, wildfire smoke. President Trump has signed three proclamations imposing additional 50 percent tariffs on a range of Canadian imports beginning August 19. The duties will affect nearly $20 billion in…
Weighing Trump’s Federal Gas Tax Holiday Proposal
President Trump’s proposal to suspend the federal gas tax comes at a politically obvious moment. Gas prices have surged amid the Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz remains under Iranian pressure, and ordinary Americans are getting clobbered at the pump. Trump floated the idea after prices rose past $4.50 per gallon, while the federal gas…
Opening the Retirement Investment Floodgates
President Trump’s executive order on retirement benefits is a meaningful shift in how Americans might be allowed to invest their long-term savings. At its core, the order aims to expand the universe of investment options available within retirement accounts, especially those tied to employer-sponsored plans. Traditionally, these plans have been limited to relatively straightforward, regulated…
Budget Airlines and Big Government: The Spirit Bailout Debate
The Trump administration’s consideration of a bailout for Spirit Airlines is one of those rare political moments where everyone gets a little uncomfortable at the same time, but for very different reasons. On paper, it looks like a straightforward economic rescue: a struggling airline, mounting financial pressure, and a government weighing whether to step in…
Gas Prices, Political Promises, and the $3 Mirage
There are few things in American life more emotionally charged than the number glowing on a gas station sign. It’s basically our national mood ring, except instead of telling us how we feel, it causes how we feel. So, when Energy Secretary Chris Wright and President Trump start publicly disagreeing about when gas will dip…
Tariffs, Pills, and Politics: Will 100% Drug Tariffs Fix Anything or Break Everything?
If there’s one issue that reliably unites Americans across the political spectrum, it’s this: prescription drugs cost too much. Whether you’re paying out of pocket, dealing with insurance headaches, or watching premiums creep higher every year, the system feels expensive, opaque, and—at times—downright unfair. So, when President Trump steps in with a bold proposal like…
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act: A Fix for Housing… or a Detour to Nowhere?
Housing policy is one of those issues everyone agrees is broken, but the moment someone proposes a fix, half the room suddenly decides the cure is worse than the disease. Enter the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a Trump-backed proposal that just cleared the Senate but is already running into skepticism from House Republicans.…
The Independent Christian Conservative 