President Trump’s decision to deploy U.S. forces near Venezuela has landed squarely in the middle of a long-running American struggle: how to exercise power responsibly in a world where every option carries moral risk. On the surface, the debate appears to be about strategy, legality, and geopolitics. Supporters emphasize deterrence, border security, and the disruption…
Power, Pressure, and President Trump’s Pharma Deal
President Trump’s agreement with major pharmaceutical companies to reduce drug prices deserves more than a quick partisan reaction. It sits at the crossroads of health-care economics, executive power, and moral responsibility, and it raises a question Americans should keep asking long after the headlines fade: will this actually help patients, or is it merely another…
Deterrence, Covenant, and the Cost of Power
One of the dangers of modern geopolitics is that we talk about power almost exclusively in terms of capacity—how many missiles, how much money, how quickly we can move hardware—while forgetting that power, untethered from order and responsibility, has a long track record of going sideways. President Trump’s decision to move forward with a massive…
Syria, Sacrifice, and the High Cost We’re Too Quick to Call “Waste”
The deadly attack on American personnel in Syria—and President Trump’s pledge of a decisive response—has once again forced the country to confront a question we never seem to settle: What is worth the cost? Every time U.S. service members are killed abroad, the debate begins almost instantly. Why are we there? What are we gaining?…
A Wake-Up Call from Miami, Georgia, and… Joshua?
Every so often, American politics serves up a moment that jolts both parties like a divine tap on the shoulder, something between a gentle nudge and a holy smack with a rolled-up newspaper. The recent Democratic win in Miami and the unexpected flip of a Georgia district that President Trump previously carried by double digits…
America’s Institutions Are Sewing Fig Leaves
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). With that majestic sentence, Scripture establishes a pattern that has echoed through human history: God brings order out of chaos, purpose out of emptiness, beauty out of the void. In six days, He shapes the cosmos with deliberate precision. Light obeys Him. Oceans…
Two Political Earthquakes and What They Say About American Power Today
Every once in a while, American politics hands us two stories that seem unrelated but actually rhyme like Psalms and Proverbs. Yesterday gave us exactly that: Matt Van Epps squeaking out a narrower-than-expected win in deep-red Tennessee, and President Trump issuing a full pardon to Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, whose corruption case involved some eyebrow-raising…
When the World Feels Like It’s Smoldering
Sometimes the news hits you like a three-alarm fire, a Beltway ambush, and a political meltdown all at once. And lately? We’ve had all three. From a devastating shooting near the White House, to a horrific high-rise inferno in Hong Kong, to Ukraine’s top presidential aide stepping down amid corruption raids, the world feels like…
Talking to MBS Isn’t the Problem
Jason Rezaian wrote an opinion piece that sounded the alarm about Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington, and I get where he’s coming from. But while Jason raises some legitimate concerns — especially about human rights, accountability, and the uneasy symbolism of the whole thing — I think there’s a more balanced way to look…
Coffee Prices, Baseball Bats, and the Fine Art of Governing Without Losing Our Minds
Sometimes American politics feels like someone dumped a grocery cart, a legal thriller, and a reality show into a blender, hit purée, and said, “Here, taxpayers, drink this.” Yet in the middle of the chaos, we get moments that show how governing actually works: a mix of pressure, course-correction, and the occasional crazy person showing…
The Independent Christian Conservative 