Tragic and horrifying accidents happen in the fog of war. Over the past 30 years, the United States has often offered apologies or even cash to the innocent civilian victims of its military strikes gone wrong. Washington expressed regret and paid compensation during the 1999 Kosovo campaign, after the controversial 2001 collision between an American […]

President Trump on Monday seemed shocked—shocked!—at the rapidly growing economic fallout from his war on Iran. U.S. gasoline prices spiked and markets wobbled as  Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Iraq announced steeps cut backs on oil and natural gas production. With the Straits of Hormuz effectively closed, France dispatched warships to the region […]

Few tears will be shed if the brutal regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran is consigned to the dustbin of history. But President Trump’s call for the Iranian people to “keep protesting” and “take over your institutions” because “HELP IS ON ITS WAY” is doubly dangerous. If Trump’s promise of help is kept, the […]

Long before his shockingly disrespectful and clearly illegal campaign video stop at Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, Donald Trump had already established himself as America’s Desecrator-in-Chief. For over 30 years, Trump has ridiculed military service, mocked the U.S. armed forces’ living and the dead, and sneered at the wounded and the captured. And when […]

That Donald Trump betrayed America's Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS should come as no surprise; Trump betrays everyone sooner or later. But Trump's treachery in codifying Turkey's ethnic cleansing of the Kurds across the Syrian border is different in kind and degree. After all, agreeing with President Erdogan that the Turks "had to […]

By now, most Americans know not to take former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at his word. The Fox News regular and failed GOP presidential candidate, after all, is on his third religion and his third wife. (Callista Bisek, currently Mrs. Gingrich No. 3 and U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, was previously known as Newt's "frequent […]

As 2017 draws to a close, President Donald Trump and his amen corner are bragging about his "year of solid policy accomplishments." Despite approval ratings only slightly higher than the Ebola virus, Trump took to Twitter to soak up praise from Maria Bartiromo, who gushed that "Year One has been excellent from an economic standpoint." […]

In his 2007 book The Assault on Reason, former Vice President Al Gore warned about what he saw as a dire threat to American democracy. "The 'well-informed citizenry,'" Gore fretted, "is in danger of becoming the 'well-amused audience.'" In a presentation on Super Tuesday 2008 ("That's Entertainment: Politics as Theater in Campaign '08"), I elaborated […]

"The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States." With that phrase, Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States ensures civilian control over--and accountability for--the American military. While the power to declare war rests with Congress, responsibility for America's global vision, its foreign policy […]

The end is nigh for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. To be sure, ISIS affiliates in Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan and elsewhere will remain dangerous. And its fighters and sympathizers will continue to launch terror attacks in Europe and the United States for years to come. But the writing is on the wall for […]