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The DOJ Is So Badly Decimated It's as if Trump Dropped an 'Atomic Bomb' On It
A preeminent conservative legal scholar at LibCon2025 agreed with his fellow panelists about what this administration has done to the agency
 • 
Benjamin Wittes
LibCon2025 Receives Rave Reviews
As Trump's troops rolled into the nation's capital, attendees at our second annual convening at the Watergate Hotel left recharged and determined to…
 • 
Berny Belvedere
25
Why Courts Can't Save America From This President
Our system has depended on norms, not laws, against the abuse of executive power and those are outside the scope of the judicial branch
13
'Appeasing an Aggressor Never Leads to Peace': Vladimir Kara-Murza
The brave Russian dissident who Putin poisoned and imprisoned stood tall and condemned tyrants, emphasizing that gatherings like LibCon2025 are…
5
Liberals Need Moral Clarity, Not Moral Purity, in Their Struggle Against Authoritarianism
We should take inspiration from Frederick Douglass and strive for a broad alliance
 • 
Shikha Dalmia
9
Most Popular
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The War on the Woke Trumps the Truth for Many Heterodox Thinkers
 • Radley Balko
105
There Is No Piecing Back Our Badly Shattered Constitutional Order
 • Andy Craig
59
The Free Press' Passage Into the Dark Side
 • Matt Johnson
124
Trump's America Is in a Free Fall—Not a Slippery Slope—to Tyranny
 • Larry Diamond
28

The UnPopulist Presents:

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We Are Well on the Road to an Immigration Police State
A roundup of The UnPopulist’s work in the first six months of Trump’s second term
 • 
Birch Smith
25
Yoram Hazony’s National Conservatism Wants to Abandon Liberal Democracy so that the Jewish People Maintain Hegemony in Israel
He wants to give Protestant America the right to disempower other faiths and ethnic groups so that Israel can do the same
 • 
Michael G. Holzman
66
The Right's Project to Rewrite History Along MAGA Lines: A Video Roundup
Our early-August collection of clips on Trumpworld's attempts to honor Confederate figures, whitewash history, and provide state funding for an AI…
 • 
Landry Ayres
3
ISMA's LibCon2025 Featuring the World's Leading Liberal Thinkers Is Eight Days Away
Want to do something to resist authoritarianism? Sign up now to gather intellectual ammunition, show solidarity, and make connections with other freedom…
 • 
Shikha Dalmia
2
The Confirmation of Trump Loyalist Emil Bove to a Powerful Court Shows that Senate Republicans Don’t Care if Anarchy Replaces the Rule of…
It is a deeply cynical move that would have shocked and appalled the Founders
 • 
Gregg Nunziata
8
Never Again Should a Sole Superpower Anchor the Liberal International Order
We need a confederation of liberal democracies across continents to uphold a multilateral, rights-based global system
 • 
Shikha Dalmia
12
Trump Publicly Fantasizes About Imprisoning Obama: An Executive Watch Roundup
Our early-August selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law
 • 
Robert Tracinski
4
40:50
Trump Is Extorting Universities in the Name of Intellectual Diversity: A Conversation with Michael S. Roth
Yet many who claim to be concerned about academic freedom are choosing silence or appeasement in the face of an authoritarian shakedown
 • 
Berny Belvedere
1
Authoritarian Rulers Are Co-Opting the Sphere of the Sacred to Consolidate Control
China’s attempt to designate the new Dalai Lama in violation of longstanding Tibetan tradition is the most visible example of this trend
 • 
Amal Chandra
10
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Berny Belvedere
LibCon2025 Receives Rave Reviews
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Shikha Dalmia
Liberals Need Moral Clarity, Not Moral Purity, in Their Struggle Against Authoritarianism
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Birch Smith
We Are Well on the Road to an Immigration Police State
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Landry Ayres
The Right's Project to Rewrite History Along MAGA Lines: A Video Roundup
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Aaron Ross Powell
How America Created an Enormous and Abusive Surveillance State: A Conversation with Patrick Eddington
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Thomas Shull
The UnPopulist Staff’s 2024 Holiday Recommendations
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45:54
Are Advanced Capitalist Liberal Democracies Victims of Their Own Success? A Conversation with Brink Lindsey
Mass affluence is leading to a crisis of meaning that postliberals are exploiting to knock down liberalism
 • 
Shikha Dalmia
6
'Abundance’ Offers a Sounder Way Forward for the Left than Degrowth or Redistributive Progressivism
But the authors of this important book might have been more effective had they chosen a less confrontational strategy with their own side
 • 
Samantha Hancox-Li
19
ICE's Secrecy Is a Giant Leap Forward for a Police State in America: An Executive Watch Roundup
Our late-July selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law
 • 
Robert Tracinski
A Manhattan Institute Manifesto Would Give this President Sweeping Power to Force University Compliance with Right-Wing Demands
The statement is selling a naked ideological agenda as a defense of campus free speech
 • 
Walter Olson
19
Only Three Weeks Left to Register for LibCon2025
Space is filling up fast for ISMA's second annual 'Liberalism for the 21st Century' conference—so you should sign up now without delay
 • 
Berny Belvedere

Liberalism & Religion

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Yoram Hazony’s National Conservatism Wants to Abandon Liberal Democracy so that the Jewish People Maintain Hegemony in Israel
He wants to give Protestant America the right to disempower other faiths and ethnic groups so that Israel can do the same
 • 
Michael G. Holzman
66
Authoritarian Rulers Are Co-Opting the Sphere of the Sacred to Consolidate Control
China’s attempt to designate the new Dalai Lama in violation of longstanding Tibetan tradition is the most visible example of this trend
 • 
Amal Chandra
10
1:00:46
A Revival of True Christianity Would Also Revive American Liberal Democracy: A Conversation with Jonathan Rauch
The turn away from Jesus and lust for power is ruining the Protestant faith and the polity
 • 
Berny Belvedere
6
We Need to Restore a Healthy Protestantism to Save American Liberalism
An incisive book by an atheist convincingly shows how both major strands of this faith tradition lost their way
 • 
Berny Belvedere
9
Bishop Budde Wasn’t Breaching Her Clerical Charge by Speaking Truth to Trump from the Pulpit
Her choice of the prophetic role drew on a long tradition in American democracy and it was the right call
 • 
Michael G. Holzman
10
Moses Can Lead Israelis and Palestinians Out of Their Bloody Conflict
The prophet revered by Jews and Muslims can help them overcome their ‘darkest hour,’ Mustafa Akyol's historical account shows
 • 
J. L. Wall
5
The Faithless Are the More Reliable Liberals
Enlightenment rationalists who rejected revealed dogma in favor of scientific inquiry paved the way for open, tolerant societies
 • 
Robert Tracinski
41
Contrary to Western Understanding, Islam Is a Liberal Faith
No religion can be properly understood based on its most extreme proponents
 • 
Hassan Abbas
 and 
Zahra Hassan
42

Book Reviews

View all
'Abundance’ Offers a Sounder Way Forward for the Left than Degrowth or Redistributive Progressivism
But the authors of this important book might have been more effective had they chosen a less confrontational strategy with their own side
 • 
Samantha Hancox-Li
19
Free Trade Has Stronger Intellectual Roots in the Left than the Right
Before the Cold War, free market liberals and Marxists both saw commerce as a force for global peace and equitable prosperity, a historian shows
 • 
Matthew McManus
1
William F. Buckley Cemented the Conservative Movement’s Preoccupation with the Liberal Enemy
He couldn’t define what conservatism was, just what it wasn’t
 • 
Joshua Tait
12
We Need to Restore a Healthy Protestantism to Save American Liberalism
An incisive book by an atheist convincingly shows how both major strands of this faith tradition lost their way
 • 
Berny Belvedere
9

Fireproofing the Presidency

View all
An Effective Resistance Strategy Against Trump’s Constitutional Assaults Needs to Mobilize Both Courts and Public Opinion
History shows that the two work in tandem and we shouldn’t pick one or the other
 • 
Ilya Somin
The Supreme Court Should Resist Handing Sweeping Removal Powers to this President in the Name of Constitutional Purity
If an authoritarian weren’t in the White House, conservative justices could have justified doing so
 • 
Corbin K. Barthold
3
Will Trump Convince the Supreme Court to Embrace an Expansive Unitary Executive Theory and Grab More Power?
The president is counting on that to get away with taking over independent agencies and installing loyalists to advance his crooked plans
 • 
Peter M. Shane
11
Trump’s Mass Firing of Inspectors General Bulldozed the Way for Elon Musk’s Unaccountable Shadow Government
A functional Congress would have impeached the president for deliberately flouting the law
 • 
Paul Matzko
6
America Desperately Needs a National Anti-SLAPP Law to Stop Censorship by Bad Political Actors
It’ll help prevent the weaponization of frivolous lawsuits against critics and opponents
 • 
Ken White
12
State Constitutions Are Far Better at Constraining Executive Power and Defending Rights than the Federal One
Committed liberals should look to them for guidance on structural reforms to stop Uncle Sam’s attacks on American liberties
 • 
Anthony Sanders
Trump Will Drive His Dubious Appointments Through the Vacancies Act's Many Loopholes
Congress and courts can still plug some of them to prevent him from stacking the federal government with deep partisans and loyalists
 • 
Thomas A. Berry
2
The Senate Can Thwart Trump's Power Grab to Install His Cabinet During a Recess
It can simply stay in session and fulfill its constitutional obligations without feeling obliged to rubber stamp his ridiculous picks
 • 
Andy Craig
10

ISMA Conference

View all
LibCon2025 Receives Rave Reviews
As Trump's troops rolled into the nation's capital, attendees at our second annual convening at the Watergate Hotel left recharged and determined to…
 • 
Berny Belvedere
25
Why Courts Can't Save America From This President
Our system has depended on norms, not laws, against the abuse of executive power and those are outside the scope of the judicial branch
13
'Appeasing an Aggressor Never Leads to Peace': Vladimir Kara-Murza
The brave Russian dissident who Putin poisoned and imprisoned stood tall and condemned tyrants, emphasizing that gatherings like LibCon2025 are…
5
Liberals Need Moral Clarity, Not Moral Purity, in Their Struggle Against Authoritarianism
We should take inspiration from Frederick Douglass and strive for a broad alliance
 • 
Shikha Dalmia
9
The Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism Hosts its Second Annual 'Liberalism for the 21st Century' Conference
The UnPopulist's publisher will build on last year's highly successful event and bring together intellectuals and advocates fighting authoritarianism…
 • 
Shikha Dalmia

World

View all
Yoram Hazony’s National Conservatism Wants to Abandon Liberal Democracy so that the Jewish People Maintain Hegemony in Israel
He wants to give Protestant America the right to disempower other faiths and ethnic groups so that Israel can do the same
 • 
Michael G. Holzman
66
Never Again Should a Sole Superpower Anchor the Liberal International Order
We need a confederation of liberal democracies across continents to uphold a multilateral, rights-based global system
 • 
Shikha Dalmia
12
Authoritarian Rulers Are Co-Opting the Sphere of the Sacred to Consolidate Control
China’s attempt to designate the new Dalai Lama in violation of longstanding Tibetan tradition is the most visible example of this trend
 • 
Amal Chandra
10
Can an Israeli State Poised for Constant Violence Deliver True Peace to Jews?
The Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran might be a military success but the deteriorating plight of the Palestinians may well produce more future conflict
 • 
Michael G. Holzman
26
Iran’s Islamic Regime Is a Menace to Its Own People
But Iranians themselves need to change it, not outside powers
 • 
Mohamad Machine-Chian
13
Trump's Iran Strike Shows the Urgent Need for Congress to Claw Back its War Powers
The president's unprovoked, unilateral attack builds on the terrible and unconstitutional precedent set by his predecessors
 • 
Ben Raderstorf
9
South Africans of All Hues Are Laughing at Trump’s Ridiculous Claims of ‘White Genocide’
But that cannot stop the damage he is doing to their economy and psyche
 • 
Eve Fairbanks
4
U.K.’s Labour Government and Tories Are Both Abandoning Liberal Pluralism in the Wake of Nigel Farage’s Victory
Instead of fighting right-wing populism and nativism, they are surrendering to it
 • 
Alan Elrod
1
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