“Mike Pence anointed himself to stand athwart the populist Right with a whistle in his mouth, screaming for conservatives to ‘get out of the pool.’ The imagery fits him perfectly. Pence increasingly resembles that obnoxious childhood lifeguard we all remember — the self-important scold, high on perceived power, perched way above everyone else. As such, Pence is convinced that enforcing his rules matters more than understanding why people jumped into the water in the first place. From his perch at CNN studios and establishment think tanks, Pence now lectures conservatives about ‘traditional principles,’ warning Republicans against populism and urging a return to the old GOP orthodoxy. … Pence demands that Republicans engage in ‘soul-searching’ over populism. Fine. Let’s do exactly that.” (05/14/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson
“There is no doubt that socialists are doing very well in the current electoral climate. Zohran Mamdani’s recent victory in the New York City mayoral election has electrified the socialist movement across the country, which also includes the election of Katie Wilson as mayor of Seattle. … Indeed, Bernie Sanders lost narrowly in the 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, and it certainly is not beyond the imagination to say American voters might well have sent him to the White House in either of those elections, had he won the nomination. … One might think, given the electoral successes of leftwing Democrats, that their policies have been successful in transforming the economic and social landscapes of the cities and states where they govern. Think again.” (05/14/26)
“However the Trump-Xi meeting ends, Trump is no Achilles going into this match. In fact, in the six decades of U.S.-China relations, perhaps no American president has entered the summit arena in a weaker position than Trump, the would-be strongman and artiste of the deal. Worse, his weakness — and by extension his country’s — is mostly self-inflicted. Trump had postponed what was intended as an early April meeting in hopes of striding triumphantly into Beijing as the conqueror of Iran, a China ally. Instead China is receiving him as a ‘giant with a limp,’ in the phrase of its Communist Party-controlled Global Times newspaper.” (05/14/26)
“Gasoline prices have skyrocketed. The Iran War is to blame, but the President has not been able to bring it to an end. Still, he has offered a small fix. A federal gas tax suspension! In its favor, this temporary measure would offer some relief. In addition, the federal government shouldn’t be attaching an excise to fuel sales anyway. The states already burden our fuel bills with their own taxes. … Cutting off a source of revenue would increase the deficit, of course. But there is a simple solution to that: spend less.” (05/14/26)
“The president has actually opened the door to rethinking ties with Beijing, but partisan politics are preventing some lawmakers from walking on through.” (05/14/26)
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish
“Executives from Amazon, Walmart, and scores of other anti-worker, anti-regulation corporations are paying millions to influence elected officials through the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), researchers and former lawmakers who have attended the meetings told the Prospect. In exchange for donating to the NCSL Foundation, the NCSL allows executives to set conference agendas and put their preferred speakers on panel discussions about policymaking, they said. The arrangement is giving corporate interests significant power to shape how lawmakers think about issues, especially those in which they have little or no expertise, these critics say. The benefits go well beyond those that the NCSL Foundation says on its website come with the annual sponsorship fees at various price levels, such as invitations to meetings.” (05/14/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by David Volodzko
“This year, the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, FIRE is proud to present the limited series ‘Figures of Speech,’ looking at the heroes and villains of free speech in American history. We begin with Joseph McCarthy, the senator who became our censor-in-chief and gave us a new term for political oppression: McCarthyism.” (05/14/26)
“To be clear, China has many significant problems of its own. It faces a demographic crisis: Its working age population has been shrinking for more than a decade. Its economy is deeply unbalanced, relying on unsustainable trade surpluses and unproductive investment to make up for inadequate consumer spending. Its economic growth is slowing. It suffers from high youth unemployment. Discontent is rising, held in check by autocratic, police-state measures. But despite China’s domestic troubles, in geopolitical terms China is on the ascendant. Trump’s visit to Beijing is a field trip by a failing, flailing would-be autocrat pleading with a real strongman, who leads a much more serious country, to bail him out of the mess he’s made.” (05/14/26)
