Syndicated columns

I’ve detested at least three-quarters of what the Trump administration has done so far, but it possesses one quality I can’t help admiring: energy. I don’t know which cliche to throw at you, but it is flooding the zone, firing on all cylinders, moving rapidly on all fronts at once. It is operating at a tremendous tempo, taking the initiative in one sphere after another.

The U.S. says Ukraine should accept the settlement it has negotiated with Moscow, so everyone can get on with building “a better Ukraine.” That’s the right goal, but if the deal is written as reported, it wouldn’t be achievable.

In 1854, Abraham Lincoln, who would not be elected president for another six years, mused about the purpose of the government he would one day save. He concluded that “the legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do for themselves – in their separate and individual capacities.” In this, as in so many things, Lincoln saw to the heart of an issue that still plagues us. His insight tells us that many of the DOGE cutbacks, which are supposedly aimed at “waste, fraud and abuse,” are slashing away at government’s core function: providing public goods.

“You’re doing fine, Oklahoma,” proclaimed the 1943 Broadway musical. Soon, the Supreme Court might disagree.

Harold Macmillan, the midcentury British prime minister, supposedly said that what statesmen feared most were “events, dear boy, events.” Misfortunes happen: a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, a foreign crisis. Political leaders are judged by how adroitly or incompetently they handle the unexpected.

President Donald Trump said Monday that he will “solve the Iran problem” and that “it’s almost an easy one.”

Saturday marks the 250th anniversary of the first day of the 3,059-day war that birthed the modern world. Commemorating the April 19, 1775, skirmishes at Lexington Green and Concord Bridge begins a celebration that will culminate July 4, 2026. These almost 15 months will inflame the perpetual scolds who, examining this nation’s history with a disapproving squint, see little to celebrate.

President Donald Trump says he wants to reduce our trade deficit. Yet he’s destroying one of our winningest exports: higher education.

If you’re employed, two bills moving toward final passage in the Legislature should be of special concern to you.

That is, if you appreciate the second in command standing up for his oath to the Constitution instead of a man, and if you long for the days when America respected our European allies and was a proud member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

A “growing bipartisan consensus” holds that government policy needs to be easier on families, according to the New York Times. One Republican official told the New Yorker that his party is making “the family turn” in economics. Last year’s presidential race saw “each party trying to one-up the other on its family friendliness,” concluded CNN.

I’ll let others describe the economic carnage President Donald Trump’s tariffs have already begun to wreak. I want to describe the damage they will do to the American psyche and the American soul.

The world should remember the name of Odai Al-Rubai. The 22-year-old Palestinian man joined protests in the Gaza Strip last week to demand an end to 18 years of Hamas’ violent misrule in the territory. Demonstrators could be heard shouting, “Out, out, Hamas get out,” and “Hamas are terrorists,” while displaying banners saying “Hamas does not represent us.” In retaliation, Al-Rubai’s family says, he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by members of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades. Then his body was dumped in front of the family home.

Nearly every story about an American university could start with the caveat: “Most of the people mentioned in this article are either teenagers or at least somewhat crazy.” But, to borrow the parlance of Silicon Valley, higher education’s embrace of oddballs and their out-of-the mainstream ideas isn’t a bug – it’s a feature.

I feel like I spend all of my time lately beating up on the Trump administration. But as they say in the military, it’s a target-rich environment.