Source: The Atlantic
by Eliot A Cohen

“The Greenland episode, disgraceful and shameful as it is, should be seen in the context of Trump’s other foreign-policy escapades — the capturing of Nicolás Maduro; the bombing of the Iranian nuclear program; the attempt to rebuild and reorient war-shattered Gaza; the on-again, off-again relationships with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky; the tariff bazookas that get downgraded to squirt guns with China. Erratic as the president sounds, the Trumpian worldview is comprehensible and even, in some respects, predictable. Trump is an ignorant man; unlike many other would-be or actual dictators, he does not read books and has difficulty writing more than a few badly spelled sentences on social media. But he does intuit certain truths, and one must give him credit for those, because he is not stupid and they animate his policy.” (01/19/26)

https://archive.is/3ttpD

Source: OtherWords
by Dedrick Asante-Muhammad

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words from his ‘Beyond Vietnam’ speech still ring true: ‘When machines and computers, profit motives, and property rights are considered more important than people,’ he warned, ‘the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.’ Those words, delivered in 1967, still summarize today’s political moment. Instead of putting the lives of working Americans first, our leaders in Congress and the White House have prioritized advancing corporate profits and wealth concentration, slashing government programs meant to advance upward mobility, and deploying military forces across the country, increasing distrust and tension. This historic regression corresponds with a recessionary environment for Black America in particular. That’s what my organization, the Joint Center, found in our report, State of the Dream 2026: From Regression to Signs of a Black Recession.” (01/19/25)

https://otherwords.org/dr-kings-warnings-seem-more-prescient-than-ever/

Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille

“The Trump administration unveiled the outlines of a health care reform plan last week and, surprisingly for any policy proposal these days, it contains some decent ideas that would empower individuals instead of bureaucrats. Unsurprisingly, though, ‘The Great Healthcare Plan’ doesn’t really undo the bad government interventions and restrictions that limit choice and raise costs. The plan might offer some improvement over what we have, but it should be a lot better. In fact, legislation that would greatly improve the plan has already been presented to Congress.” (01/19/26)

https://reason.com/2026/01/19/trumps-great-healthcare-plan-has-promise-but-should-add-more-freedom-for-americans/

Source: Washington Monthly
by Tamar Jacoby

“It has taken European leaders nearly a year to recognize what they were up against in Donald Trump. The 47th president has been browbeating and insulting them since he returned to the White House. He has called Europe a ‘decaying’ continent led by ‘weak,’ ‘incompetent’ people who ‘are not doing a good job,’ and his administration has vowed to ‘cultivate resistance’ to continental governments, replacing them with far-right populists. Still, most European leaders have been afraid to push back, wary of alienating the great power that has guaranteed the continent’s security and prosperity for over 80 years. But this dynamic appears to be changing as Trump ratchets up his threats to take over Greenland — the autonomous territory of a loyal NATO member — either ‘the easy way’ or ‘the hard way,’ with the use of force.” (01/19/26)

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/01/19/as-trumps-greenland-threat-grows-europe-begins-to-find-its-voice/

Source: The Dispatch
by Nathan Beacom

“The 1920s were an era in which everything seemed up for grabs. Critics left and right declared the liberal consensus dead. But Aurel Kolnai stood in the center, not falling to the right or to the left of extremism. As certain voices today sing tunes from the hymnals of a century back, it is worth looking at this forgotten philosopher, who fought for human dignity in the face of ideology. The fascists and communists of the 1920s were not all crazed lunatics; many of them were simply conservatives or progressives who took the wrong road, who, step-by-step, were desensitized to their own radicalization. Kolnai shows us how we can retain our balance.” (01/19/26)

https://archive.is/BMZtu