Jonah Goldberg Columns category, Page 2
Jonah Goldberg: Yes, Mr. President, they’re still talking about Jeffrey Epstein
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” President Trump shot back at a reporter during a Cabinet meeting. “This guy’s been talked about for years. … I mean, I can’t believe you’re asking a question on Epstein at a time like this, where we’re having some of the greatest success...
Jonah Goldberg: Elon Musk’s America Party is a long shot
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,” Elon Musk declared on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter). Another billionaire quickly replied on his social media platform, “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over...
Jonah Goldberg: Is bombing Iran deja vu all over again?
After a short and successful war with Iraq, President George H.W. Bush claimed in 1991 that “the ghosts of Vietnam have been laid to rest beneath the sands of the Arabian desert.” Bush was referring to what was commonly called the “Vietnam syndrome.” The idea was the Vietnam War had...
Jonah Goldberg: Maybe the latest Democratic disarray means they’re coming to their senses
Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lee Saunders, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, resigned from their positions on the Democratic National Committee. This could be great news. I don’t really know, because the actual reasons remain murky. “While...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump deploys, protesters respond. This will not end well.
“Here we go.” “I knew it would come.” “This won’t end well.” Those were my initial reactions to President Trump’s announcement that he had activated the California National Guard and to sources on Monday saying Marines would serve as backup. I’m not claiming much prescience. Like his breakup with Elon...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump shows that loyalty is all that matters to him
Last week, the Court of International Trade delivered a blow to Donald Trump’s global trade war. It found that the worldwide tariffs Trump unveiled on “Liberation Day” as well his earlier tariffs pretextually aimed at stopping fentanyl coming in from Mexico and Canada (as if) were beyond his authority. The...
Jonah Goldberg: Baby boom, baby bust and the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
As the Senate takes up the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (Donald Trump’s name for it) passed by the House last week, there’s finally some discussion of the national debt. That’s because the bill is estimated to add $3.8 trillion over the next decade to the current debt: $37 trillion, or...
Jonah Goldberg: History alone should have made more reporters skeptical about Biden’s health
Hundreds of thousands of photos were taken of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And yet there are only four known photos of him in a wheelchair. This was deliberate. FDR hid his disability from polio, even from his mother. He ordered the Secret Service to destroy images of him in a wheelchair....
Jonah Goldberg: The inescapable answer to America’s problems? Fix Congress
Pretty much on a daily basis now, I find myself muttering or shouting, “If only Congress wasn’t broken,” or something to that effect. I’m happy to acknowledge that our problems have many causes. Still, here’s my answer to the question “What is one thing you would do to solve —...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump’s right ends, wrong means
President Donald Trump has identified real problems, but he’s abusing his power in trying to correct them. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about being a conservative critic of Trumpism is that you often start by agreeing with Trumpworld about ends while disagreeing about means. This pleases nobody. The left, broadly...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump’s economic philosophy that only a leftist could love
In an interview with Time magazine, President Trump explained how he approaches tariffs and trade negotiations. I use the word “explained” with some trepidation because explanations imply a certain delineation of reasoning, facts and logic along with opinion and perspective. If you ask me to explain my support for abolishing...
Goldberg: Is Kilmar Abrego Garcia a criminal? Great question.
Is Kilmar Abrego Garcia a good person? I don’t know. In 2021 his wife petitioned for, and received, an order of protection against him after she alleged domestic violence; she said last week that their marriage grew stronger after they worked through that low point and that Abrego Garcia “has...
Jonah Goldberg: Whitmer’s party should learn from what she did in the Oval Office
Kudos to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. She managed to generate the most negatively iconic photo of a Democrat since Michael Dukakis wore a helmet atop a tank. Whitmer, long considered a promising presidential prospect by Democratic insiders, was at the White House to discuss state business. But when President Trump’s...
Jonah Goldberg: What will Trump’s tariffs ‘liberate’ us from?
I am writing this from the last days of our captivity. Indeed, by the time some of you read this, we will be free. If all goes according to the White House’s plan, April 2 will go down in history as America’s “Liberation Day.” Steve Bannon, a prominent unofficial Trump...
Jonah Goldberg: Congress wants to impeach judges instead of doing its job
Some Republicans want U.S. District Judge James Boasberg removed from the bench for allegedly interfering with the president’s authority — under the Constitution and the 1798 Alien Enemies Act — to deport members of a Venezuelan gang. Texas Rep. Brandon Gill and several colleagues introduced articles of impeachment charging that...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump administration has a free-speech problem
I have to wonder: When will Vice President JD Vance condemn his own administration? Last month, Vance, a self-described foreign policy “realist” who scorns the practice of describing countries as “good guys” and “bad guys,” caused quite a stir at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. He invited controversy, however,...
Jonah Goldberg: The Homer Simpson gloss on Trump’s tariff philosophy
There’s a classic episode of The Simpsons in which Homer gets a gun. He thinks his awesome gun is great for everything: home defense, opening beer bottles, whatever. When Marge says she doesn’t want a weapon in the house, Homer replies, “A gun is not a weapon, Marge, it’s a...
Jonah Goldberg: Here’s the key to understanding Donald Trump’s approach to the Ukraine war
I don’t say this often, but let’s give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt. During Trump’s instantly infamous Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, the Ukrainian president was determined to make one point above all: that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not to be trusted. Again and...
Jonah Goldberg: Whether Russia invaded Ukraine is not a ‘complicated’ question. Why say it is?
On the day before the third anniversary of the brutal, lawless invasion of Ukraine, “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on whether it’s “fair to say” that Russia’s attack was unprovoked. Hegseth responded that it’s “fair to say it’s a very complicated situation.” This is...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump’s pace can’t go on forever
Whether you’re feeling queasy or euphoric, or even a bit of both, about the opening weeks of the second Trump presidency, my advice is to remember Stein’s Law. Richard Nixon’s former chief economic adviser, Herb Stein, declared: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” I’ve found this to...
Jonah Goldberg: Many will lie about the consequences of Trump’s tariffs. The markets won’t.
Thank God for the stock market. The market is one of the only things Donald Trump can be expected to listen to — likely more than polls and certainly more than his advisers — even when he doesn’t want to hear what it’s saying. During his first term, Trump routinely...
Jonah Goldberg: Party unity no easy feat with leader like Trump
Donald Trump has long complained that Democrats are better at sticking together than Republicans are. He’s already revisited this gripe. In meetings with Republican leaders from the House and Senate and with the House Freedom Caucus, he reportedly insisted that Republicans need to be unified the way Democrats are. Whether...
Jonah Goldberg: Donald Trump is president again. Did you feel the vibe shift?
As a second Trump administration dawns — or, for his opponents, descends — on America, an interesting and unusual discussion has emerged over the broader meaning of Trump’s victory. One thing that makes it unusual is there’s more consensus than disagreement about the fundamental point: There’s been a significant “vibe...
Jonah Goldberg: The U.S. should acquire Greenland (peacefully). But Trump saying so makes it harder.
Whether it was Will Rogers or Tony Soprano, the old advice of “buy land; God’s not making any more of it” is good real estate advice, but it’s hardly an iron law. First of all, God does make more land from time to time. And so do humans. This raises...
Jonah Goldberg: The ‘deep state’ and ‘the swamp’ are both favorite Trump targets. Here’s the difference.
Donald Trump has promised to do many things once he reoccupies the White House. Among the most famous, and most desired by his biggest fans, is his vow to “drain the swamp” and “demolish the deep state.” The first and arguably most important challenge for such a project is definitional....
