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Charles Lipson

Peter B. Ritzma Professor Emeritus

University of Chicago

Frequent contributor: 
Real Clear Politics
Spectator | World
The Telegraph
Wall Street Journal

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The Spectator World •

A consequential, divisive, troubling election about big issues

This election is the most consequential since Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover amid the Great Depression. The 2024 vote is consequential, too. It is about big issues, on which the two parties are deeply divided. The parties differ dramatically on border control, tax cuts, school choice, gun rights, reproductive freedom, stronger law enforcement, and many more. Taken together, those differences define a deep fault line in American politics. That chasm and repeated attacks (from all sides) on our constitutional framework make our public life perilous. America is resilient, but we are recklessly testing the limits of “E Pluribus Unum,” one out of many.
The Spectator World •

Biden scores another ‘own goal’ over Trump’s ‘garbage’ supporters

While Pres. Biden called Trump supporters “garbage,” he vilified half the country he governs. His communications team compounded the problem by falsely claiming he didn’t say what everyone could hear for themselves on tape. Their clumsy efforts kept the story alive for 2-3 more days. Dumb. The “garbage” comments are actually three overlapping stories. One is the damage he did to Harris. (Probably minimal.) The second is how the tape clearly shows Biden’s failing health. The third is the White House’s desperate efforts to conceal the president’s condition from the public, a subject Kamala Harris won’t touch.
The Telegraph •

America is sinking into the muck

American politics is sinking deeper and deeper in the muck during the final week of an increasingly negative and vitriolic campaign. The latest foul addition to the Augean stables is to call whole groups “garbage”.Bad as that language is, the problem is even greater. It’s also the lame excuses for it, the failure to condemn it immediately when someone on “our side” uses it. That failure suggests the language is either tolerable or trivial. It’s neither.This vile language needs to be condemned –...
The Spectator World •

Contrasting the candidates’ closing arguments

It’s easy to summarize the two sides’ closing arguments. For Kamala Harris, the closing argument is “Trump is really, really bad.” Asked to expand, it is “Trump will end abortion rights” and “Trump is a fascist.” For Trump, the closing argument is, “Things were great when I was president, and I will make them great again.” Asked to expand, it is “I will be better than Washington and Lincoln. Everybody says so.” And “Kamala is a left-wing nut job.” After discounting the hyperbole (a gargantuan task), how is the final stretch going? Rocky for Democrats, encouraging for Republicans. That’s the message from polling trends and political betting markets.
The Telegraph •

There are ominous signs that Kamala Harris’ Blue Wall is collapsing

The ads for Democratic Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin are doing something new and important. They don’t just say they favor a few of Trump’s policies. They actually use Donald Trump’s name in positive terms. They avoid mentioning Kamala Harris and never utter the words, “Joe Biden.” That new tone must reflect what those candidates are seeing in private polls, which are trending, ever so slightly, in Trump’s direction. So, the ads urge pro-Trump voters to split their tickets and vote Democrat for Senate, implying they won’t staunchly oppose Trump’s agenda as president. That may be smart for those candidates, but it is an ominous portent for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
The Spectator World •

What follows Sinwar’s death in Israel’s war in Gaza and beyond

With Sinwar and other Hamas leaders gone, the key questions how are, (1) What’s the endgame in Gaza, beyond destroying Hamas and preventing its reemergence? (2) What are Israel’s immediate goals in Lebanon; and (3) When will Israel attack Iran and what will its initial targets be? Note that Israel may cave to Biden pressure and limit its initial kinetic attacks to military facilities and regime leaders. But that could change after Iran strikes back.
The Telegraph •

Kamala Harris has sabotaged her own campaign

Polls still show a tight race, but the trend is not Kamala Harris’s friend. The “joy,” which her campaign once emphasised, left the building long ago. Her ebbing chances today are better captured in an old blues lyric. “I have had my fun, but now I’m going down slow.”The signs certainly point that direction for Harris’ campaign. The first one is a sharp turn against her in the betting markets. Until recently, they gave Harris a slight edge. Now, they favour Donald Trump.Second, internal polls fr...
The Spectator World •

CBS: from the Tiffany Network to the cheap discount bin

CBS was once called the “Tiffany Network,” and its news division was the jewel. This is the story of that division’s decline and fall, driven by partisan goals and leftist ideology. Like so many peers in the legacy media, CBS has discarded any pretense of journalistic neutrality while pretending it has not. Four recent examples clearly show a pattern of ideologically-driven network policy at CBS.
The Spectator World •

Can Kamala Harris escape the ‘Hubert Humphrey problem?’

When the sitting president is not running for reelection, the party typically turns to his vice president as the “natural” nominee. That’s a modern development (since the 1950s), caused by the VP’s larger, more visible role in the vastly larger federal government. What helps or hurts in the VP in the General Election are the tight links to the incumbent administration. What’s so striking about Kamala Harris’ candidacy is her strategy of running as an outsider to her own administration. She can only do that a lot of help from the legacy media that wants her to win.
The Spectator World •

The Vance-Walz face-off was what debate should look like

The most important takeaway from the debate between Senator JD Vance and Governor Tim Walz is that this is what a serious debate for high office should look like. It was calm but impassioned, thoughtful, and truly helpful to any voter who wants to understand the policy differences between the two tickets. The candidates actually listened to each other, acknowledged some agreements and identified genuine areas of difference. Equally important, each managed to put forward a coherent case for his o...
The Spectator World •

Iran attacks Israel: what does it mean and what happens next?

Iran’s missile barrage was frightening, but Israel’s success shooting down the missiles not only saved lives, it gives Israel flexibility in choosing its response. It does not require a full-scale counter-attack. Iran’s attack was constrained, not an obvious prelude to full-scale war unless Tehran follows up with yet more missiles. Israel has the flexibility to concentrate on Hezbollah and turn later to Iran and deal with the nuclear-weapons program there.
The Spectator World •

Israel’s campaign to kill Nasrallah, Hezbollah and Hamas

The killing of Hassan Nazrallah is the latest — and most impressive — stage in Israel’s campaign to wipe out Iran’s terrorist proxies on its doorstep. From the Egyptian border to Beirut, the campaign is the most dazzling demonstration of real-time intelligence, high technology and precise military action in the modern era. It will be recounted on screen and studied by military experts for decades to come. James Bond’s gadgets had nothing on the booby-trapped pagers. As the meme put it, “From the...
The Spectator World •

A glitchy X/Twitter conversation between Donald Trump and Elon Musk

The lengthy interview began forty minutes late, a technical glitch the mainstream media celebrated with unrestrained joy. They hate, hate, hate Elon Musk (despite his electric vehicles) — and they hate a media rival. They hate his transformation of Twitter, now X, into an open forum with very little censorship. They much…The great Dr. Johnson was once asked what he thought about John Milton’s famous work, Paradise Lost. His reply, “None would have wished it longer.” Were Johnson alive today, he...
The Spectator World •

Kamala Harris and that new car smell

The switcheroo raises three fundamental questions for the election. First: how long will Harris’s novelty last? Answer: until Labor Day, but probably not longer. Second: how does Harris deal with the Biden administration’s policy failures? Answer: by emphasizing a hopeful future with few details and avoiding talking about her role in the administration’s mistakes. Third: how does Harris deal with her…If you felt the ground shaking, it was Democrats jumping for joy after dumping Joe Biden and set...
The Spectator World •

Joe Biden delivers his own eulogy

Joe Biden delivered a eulogy for his presidency and his political career from the Oval Office Wednesday evening. It was a sad, sluggish ending to a life in politics. It offered a strong endorsement of VP Kamala Harris and called Donald Trump a “threat to democracy” without actually using his name. But it didn’t answer two pressing questions: (1) Why did he really withdraw from a race he insisted he would stay in, and (2) Is he still fit to serve the remaining months of his term.
The Spectator World •

Biden won’t seek second term

President Biden’s announcement that he will not seek a second term — and his endorsement of Kamala Harris — came after weeks of increasing pressure from Democratic Party insiders, alarmed that voters had finally discovered what they had known for months. Joe Biden is a shell of the man he once was. Voters knew it — and they wouldn’t vote for him. Voters also knew they had been lied to by the White House, Biden’s political allies and the mainstream media, not once or twice but for years. Whatever...
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