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‘It’s every man for himself’

It takes a cracked mindset to name a cracked pot with no scientific training to head the agency that oversees 11 agencies tasked with protecting Americans’ health. They include the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, Medicare and Medicaid. Donald Trump’s pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head Health and Human Services suggests utter lack of concern for the well-being of everyday Americans. “Bobby,” as Trump affectionately calls him, could threaten cutting-edge research into cancer cures, for heaven’s sake. Trump is clearly enjoying his latest ...

Trimming obese government

Fifty years ago when Ron Paul (father of Sen. Rand Paul) was running for Congress from Texas, a billboard featured an obese Uncle Sam with the caption “let’s put big government on a diet.” Since then, the federal government has grown even more obese. To seriously address the problem, President-elect Trump has designated Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The two will be up against a bureaucracy that has a history of protecting itself from reformers. As Ronald Reagan said, “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. ...

There are no permanent defeats

In 1994, Republicans won a sweeping victory that cost Democrats control of the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years. Republicans took an eye-popping 54 seats, leading many to conclude that this was a permanent political realignment. Two years later, Bill Clinton won reelection with 379 electoral college votes to Bob Dole’s 159. A loss, however painful, is not the end of the world. Every election result is provisional. There are multiple examples in recent memory of the American electorate delivering victories to a party and then swiftly reversing course. Following George ...

No-doubter of an election leaves doubts

In July 1945, just weeks after leading Great Britain to final victory over the Nazis, Prime Minister Winston Churchill found himself booted out of office by an electorate that didn’t merely reject his bid to stay in power but did so overwhelmingly. Any notion that Churchill’s historic achievements since taking command five years earlier would win him the election proved wildly wrong. With reason to be bitter, Churchill nevertheless understood that when the people speak, what they say must be respected. It may have been ruefulness about his defeat that led to his famous observation in ...

Democrats hurt themselves trying to protect Joe Biden

Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t just call special counsel Robert K. Hur’s report “gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate” when it came out in February. She claimed he was “clearly politically motivated” and impugned his integrity. Mr. Hur, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified material, recommended that the 81-year-old not face charges, partly because a jury could reasonably conclude that he’s “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” That assessment was based on Mr. ...

Trans moralism is killing Democrats

“How dare you say that” isn’t a persuasive political argument. Yet the side that has believed it can bully its way to victory on cultural issues by policing the debate in its favor continues to act as if it is one, even after getting soundly beaten in the election. The Left’s game has been to insist that everyone adopt its tendentious vocabulary, to call opponents bigots and to use moral blackmail — and the threat of punishment — to keep any left-of-center doubters in line. This model, which has been quite successful over the years, has a flaw, though. If a given ...