What does US “national interest” really mean?

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Christopher Mott

“In foreign policy discourse, the phrase ‘the national interest’ gets used with an almost ubiquitous frequency, which could lead one to assume it is a strongly defined and absolute term. Most debates, particularly around changing course in diplomatic strategy or advocating for or against some kind of economic or military intervention, invoke the phrase as justification for their recommended path forward. But what is the national interest, really?” (11/24/25)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/national-interests/

Thomas L. Knapp

NSPM-7: A Blueprint for Silencing Progressive Movements

Source: Common Dreams
by Barry Trachtenberg

“In the past few months, the Trump administration has intensified its assault on political dissent. The September 25 release of National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, titled ‘Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,’ capitalized upon the shooting death of Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk and marked an alarming escalation in the regime’s suppression of political dissent in the name of national security. The NSPM-7 memorandum casts a wide net by identifying a wide swath of previously protected criticisms of American policy, capitalism, Christian nationalism, and fascism as potential threats to US security. This language reveals the government’s effort to construct a political category of terrorism so broad that it can encompass nearly any form of progressive or left-aligned civil society work.” (11/24/25)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/what-is-nspm-7-2674337917

Steve Trinward

Union asks judge to order Trump officials to fund CFPB racket

Source: Reuters

“A federal employees’ union on Sunday asked a federal judge to order the Trump administration to fund the top U.S. consumer watchdog, weeks after the agency said its cash could run out by year’s end. In a court filing, lawyers for the National Treasury Employees Union and other plaintiffs disputed officials’ claim that they cannot legally fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. President Donald Trump has sought to dismantle the CFPB since he took office in January and installed Russell Vought, his budget director, as the acting head of the agency. While Vought’s effort to fire the vast majority of its employees is tied up in litigation, he has successfully shut down most of the CFPB’s activities.” (11/24/25)

https://archive.is/3hTtZ

Thomas L. Knapp

We’re Led by an Administration of Liars

Source: The Bulwark
by Jill Lawrence

“The Trump administration’s lying-to-Congress case against former FBI director James Comey is a comedy of legal errors that could move offstage soon. But it has highlighted the plain fact that American life and America itself are now being shaped — in terrible, even tragic ways — by people who really did mislead and outright lie to Congress under oath. Let’s start at the top. Not just once but twice, Donald Trump put his hand on a Bible and swore to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’ He’s been violating that oath, and lying nonstop in all conceivable venues, ever since. Right below Trump on the organizational chart is the problem wreaking daily havoc on the country: that so many of these havoc perpetrators were less than forthright when they were trying to get their jobs.” (11/24/25)

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-administration-of-liars

Thomas L. Knapp

US labels Cartel de los Soles as a terror organization

Source: SFGate

“President Donald Trump’s administration has ramped up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by designating the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. But the entity that the U.S. government alleges is led by Maduro is not a cartel per se. The designation, published Monday in the Federal Register, is the latest measure in the Trump administration’s escalating campaign to combat drug trafficking into the U.S. In previewing the step about a week ago, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, of ‘being responsible for terrorist violence’ in the Western Hemisphere. The move comes as Trump evaluates whether to take military action against Venezuela, which he has not ruled out despite bringing up the possibility of talks with Maduro.” (11/24/25)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/us-set-to-label-maduro-tied-cartel-de-los-soles-21204541.php

Steve Trinward

Foreign Policy, Justin Raimondo Style

Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by David Brady, Jr.

“Raimondo spent much of his time polemicizing on the latest intervention abroad, but, in 2011, he wrote two articles ‘Why Governments Make War’ and ‘Looking at the Big Picture’ wherein he articulates his theory of libertarian realism. He juxtaposes his theory with traditional realism, that emphasizes the supposed interests of broad states, liberalism, which promises perpetual peace in the tradition of Immanuel Kant, and Marxism, which sees all conflicts as products of the capitalist class structure. Libertarian realism looks to domestic political pressures and influences to inform it on the reason why a state’s foreign policy looks the way it does. If Nobel Prize winner James Buchanan characterized his public choice theory as ‘politics without romance,’ then Raimondo’s realism is international relations without romance.” (11/23/25)

https://mises.org/mises-wire/foreign-policy-justin-raimondo-style

Thomas L. Knapp