President Trump and NBC’s Kristen Welker have managed to turn two ordinary words—“mixed results”—into a national argument about political influence, media bias, federal authority, and the First Amendment. Apparently, Washington had a quiet moment and needed something to do. The dispute began when Welker, appearing in a live promotional segment on NBC-owned WRC-TV before Meet…
Lake Ontario or Lake America? The Politics of a Name
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 New Cuba Sanctions: Security, Sovereignty, and Economic Pressure
The Trump administration has opened another front in its pressure campaign against Cuba. Yesterday, the United States sanctioned three leaders of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, commonly known as ICAP, along with nine government entities operating in construction, mining, metals, imports, tourism supply, and labor contracting. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accuses…
The Constitutional Fight Over the Federal Ghost-Gun Rule
A federal judge in Texas has reopened the legal battle over the federal government’s regulation of so-called “ghost guns,” ruling that key portions of a Biden-era rule violate both the Second Amendment and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process. The decision may sound like a direct rejection of the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling upholding…
Steam or Electromagnetism? The Navy’s Carrier-Catapult Debate
President Trump has ordered the Pentagon to prepare a plan for replacing the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, better known as EMALS, with traditional steam catapults aboard the future USS Doris Miller. The same directive calls for replacing the carrier’s electromagnetic weapons elevators with hydraulic systems. Despite some of the broader headlines, Trump hasn’t ordered sailors…
The Air Force One Leak Investigation and the Boundaries of Press Freedom
The Justice Department’s attempt to identify confidential sources behind The New York Times’ reporting on the Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet has created a serious clash between two legitimate public interests: protecting national-security information and preserving a free press capable of investigating the government. The Hill reported that the DOJ sought communications records connected to…
Who Should Enforce the Supreme Court’s Ethics Code?
The Supreme Court finally adopted a formal code of conduct in 2023, committing its members to uphold judicial integrity, avoid actual or apparent impropriety, remain impartial, disclose relevant financial interests, and refrain from political activity. What the code didn’t establish was an independent process for investigating alleged violations or determining whether a justice had failed…
Trump’s Election Commission Shake-Up
President Trump’s decision to remove the remaining leadership of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has opened yet another front in the seemingly endless battle over how American elections should be administered and who should be trusted to administer them. Trump fired Democratic commissioners Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, while Republican commissioner Christy McCormick resigned after…
The Venezuela Aid Dilemma
Venezuela’s earthquake crisis has created the kind of moment that tests more than buildings, roads, and emergency systems. It tests judgment. It tests compassion. And, in Washington’s case, it tests whether America can walk and chew gum at the same time: help suffering people without accidentally handing a political gift basket to a government figure…
The Border, the Bump, and the Citizenship Battle
The Supreme Court’s ruling upholding birthright citizenship has set off the next round of immigration politics: not just who gets citizenship after birth, but who should be allowed into the country before birth. Specifically, some have begun floating tighter restrictions on pregnant foreign visitors entering the United States. The issue is “birth tourism,” meaning foreign…
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