Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: Persuasion
by Francis Fukuyama

“Donald Trump has claimed that the United States has never been as respected as it has been under his presidency. Of the very many untrue things he has said in his career, this is among the most absurd. There has never been a time when the United States was more distrusted, by both traditional friends and by rivals, as at the present. A successful dealmaker needs to generate a minimal amount of trust that he will uphold his end of the bargain. But reciprocity is a virtue that Trump has never understood or practiced.” (04/07/26)

https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-world-simply-does-not-trust-america

Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya

“The principle of constitutional government is rendered meaningless if the Constitution is treated as a document whose meaning is endlessly malleable or, even worse, impossible to ascertain. At different times, different parties have deemed it expedient to construe the constitution in whichever way will rubber stamp their political policies. This lack of consensus on the interpretation of constitutional principles is strikingly clear in relation to the Tenth Amendment, which provides that, ‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.'” (04/07/26)

https://mises.org/mises-wire/constitutional-government-and-tenth-amendment

Source: Antiwar.com
by Dennis Kucinich

“If you want to see this war brought to an end, remember this: An appropriations vote is a vote for war. If your congressional representative votes for the ‘National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),’ they vote for war. This is not about disarming. It is about Congress deciding, on our behalf, limitations on aggression. If Congress votes for a supplemental appropriation to replenish missile stocks, and other armaments, they vote for war.” (04/07/26)

https://isonomiamag.substack.com/p/bringing-harvard-to-heel-the-trump

Source: The Daily Economy
by Matthew Blakey

“By redefining inflation as consumer prices, we distort how we interpret policy, inequality, and markets.” (04/07/26)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/redefining-inflation-to-obscure-its-origins/

Source: Gideon’s Substack
by Noah Millman

“Betting markets now suggest the Democrats are strongly favored to take the House, and it’s a coin flip whether they’ll take the Senate. In consequence of these developments, debates between moderates and left-wingers about how the party needs to run have been largely shelved in favor of a comforting consensus that ‘we’re not Trump’ will be enough in 2026, and possibly in 2028 as well. … Democrats might well win in 2026 and even in 2028 without having had any serious discussion about what they want to do, or having determined whether what they want to do has anything to do with what the electorate wants or the country needs. And if that is how they win, then what happens after they do?” (04/07/26)

https://gideons.substack.com/p/do-the-democrats-know-what-time-it