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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
Without Draconian Action Against American Citizens, Trump’s Crackdown on the Undocumented Cannot Succeed
To get immigrants, we will need a police state that respects the rights of no one
 • 
Shikha Dalmia
13
Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Even Let You Drink Your Way Through these Tough Times
Exotic cocktail ingredients are about to become pricier or disappear from the market altogether
 • 
Jacob Grier
7
Trump Targets His Own Aides for Speaking Out Against His Stolen Election Lie: An Executive Watch Roundup
Our mid-April selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law
 • 
Robert Tracinski
2
Trumponomics Could Bring Far Worse than Inflation
Its combination of tariffs, fiscal profligacy, and easy money has the makings of a bigly economic crash
 • 
Thomas Firey
2
Most Popular
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The War on the Woke Trumps the Truth for Many Heterodox Thinkers
 • Radley Balko
105
Trump's America Is in a Free Fall—Not a Slippery Slope—to Tyranny
 • Larry Diamond
28
The Free Press' Passage Into the Dark Side
 • Matt Johnson
112
Elon Musk Has Appointed Himself Dictator of America
 • Andy Craig
83
How DOGE Thugs Enlisted the Police to Takeover a Private Building Belonging to an Independent Agency
Musk and his minions are perverting neutral law enforcement whose job is to protect, not violate, the rights and property of organizations
 • 
Steve Chapman
5
Trump’s Policy of Shipping Innocents to the Salvadoran Gulag Shows Utter Contempt for Not Just the Constitution but Law Itself
His repudiation of due process, civil rights, and basic rules of justice means there is no check on who he can disappear next, citizen or noncitizen
 • 
Andy Craig
27
Trump’s Personalist Style in Politics: A Video Roundup
It is spreading in every policy area at home and abroad
 • 
Landry Ayres
2
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's Wrongful Deportation and Imprisonment Reveals the Horrors of Trump's Authoritarianism
Though the Supreme Court handed the administration a defeat, the fight to bring him home should mobilize a broader resistance
 • 
Robert Tracinski
6
The Free Press' Passage Into the Dark Side
The publication has lost its way and is radicalizing the more sophisticated right
 • 
Matt Johnson
112
This Administration's Mercurial Trade Policy Injures Our Economy and Our Democracy
Congress needs to take back the powers it has ceded to prevent presidents from starting trade wars
 • 
Emily Chamlee-Wright
27
The World Shouldn't Ignore that Hamas Terrorizes Innocents in Gaza, Too
Lumping every Gazan with this brutal outfit is morally wrong and is leading to catastrophe
 • 
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar
 and 
Ahmed Alrayyis
16
How to Undo Trump’s Growing Dictatorship and the Damage it Is Inflicting
Not giving in to tyrants who count on obedience in advance is the key to defeating them
 • 
Larry Diamond
27
Trump Uses the White House to Stage a Tesla Ad and Worse: An Executive Watch Roundup
Our early-April selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law
 • 
Robert Tracinski
3
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The latest from
Shikha Dalmia
Without Draconian Action Against American Citizens, Trump’s Crackdown on the Undocumented Cannot Succeed
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Landry Ayres
Trump’s Personalist Style in Politics: A Video Roundup
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Berny Belvedere
A Revival of True Christianity Would Also Revive American Liberal Democracy: A Conversation with Jonathan Rauch
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Aaron Ross Powell
How the Right Uses Social Media to Create a Powerful Propaganda Machine: A Conversation with Renée DiResta
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Thomas Shull
The UnPopulist Staff’s 2024 Holiday Recommendations
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Will the Deep Fracture Between Tech Oligarchs and White Working Class Nativists Split MAGA?
Elon Musk and Steve Bannon hate each other’s guts because despite an affinity for social hierarchies they represent diametrically opposed interests
 • 
Matthew McManus
3
Trump Wants to Deny Legal Representation to Opponents He Targets: A Conversation with Walter Olson
He is decimating a core pillar of the Anglo-American judicial tradition: fearless lawyers
 • 
Robert Tracinski
4
34:50
Nice Try, President Trump, But There Is No Third-Term Presidential Loophole
The 22nd Amendment might be imperfectly worded, but its intention is quite clear
 • 
Paul Gowder
16
Oligarchs in Bed with Autocrats Would Kill the Prospects for Liberalism in Space
Neither Elon Musk nor the Chinese government should get to steer space policy
 • 
Kenneth Silber
6
Trump's Cruel and Lawless Deportations: Our Video Roundup
The crackdown is busting the Constitution along with immigrants
 • 
Landry Ayres
1

Liberalism & Religion

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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
38
An Illiberal Hinduism Is a Contradiction in Terms
Hindu fundamentalists are destroying everything that makes their faith unique and profound
 • 
Shashi Tharoor
11
Liberalism and Catholicism: Friends Not Foes
Both traditions are rooted in a belief in universal human dignity
 • 
James M. Patterson
10
Buddhism and Liberalism Are Mutually Reinforcing
The faith’s emphasis on accepting impermanence offers an ethical framework for a dynamic, open society
 • 
Aaron Ross Powell
9
Liberal Individualism Has Deep Roots in Protestantism
Illiberalism cannot be reconciled with the core tenets of the faith
 • 
Rachel Ferguson
3
Liberal Ideals Can Strengthen, Not Weaken, Judaism
And the Jewish faith’s emphasis on mitzvah is an antidote to self-absorbed individualism
 • 
Elliott Malamet
1

Fireproofing the Presidency

View all
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
How to Stop President-Elect Trump’s Potentially Abusive Domestic Deployments of the Military
Current law unfortunately allows him wide latitude to call in soldiers but they can’t run roughshod over the rights of Americans
 • 
Scott R. Anderson
13
Congress Should Curb the Illicit Use of Pardon Powers by a Rogue President
Reforming lobbying laws and FOIA can check the worst abuses despite the Supreme Court’s ill-considered immunity ruling
 • 
Kim Wehle
9
Act Now to Prevent Trump From Weaponizing the FCC Against Political Opponents
If reelected, Trump will be even more dangerous because previous presidents have left a bad precedent of regulatory abuses that he'll turbocharge
 • 
Paul Matzko
4
Trump’s Schedule F Will Create a Civil Service that Serves His Whim Not the Rule of Law
We urgently need reforms to prevent an executive from issuing executive orders to turn bureaucrats into loyal foot soldiers
 • 
Don Moynihan
38
How We Can Stiffen the Spine of DOJ Prosecutors Who Donald Trump Would Need to Prosecute his Political Enemies
The Supreme Court’s immunity ruling weakened oversight over the abuse of executive authority but we can salvage some constitutional guardrails
 • 
Conor Gaffney
 and 
Genevieve Nadeau
4

ISMA Conference

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In the Age of Social Media, Can We Use the Marketplace of Ideas to Serve Truth Not Lies?
Without content moderation, sites would be unusable and yet that opens them to attacks by aggrieved but powerful political players
3
Are There Better Foreign Policy Alternatives to Liberal Internationalism?
Despite its internal contradictions and hypocrisy, ditching it will lead to a more cynical and grim world
2
What Kind of Electoral Reforms Would Stop America's Slide Toward Authoritarianism?
Replacing its winner-take-all system with proportional representation would help but it'll have to be engineered carefully
8
Climate Catastrophism Leads to Illiberalism but Doesn’t Solve the Problem
There are liberal solutions available but the right’s denialism and the left’s alarmism are getting in the way
2
Is There Anything New in the New-Right's Critiques of Liberalism?
Yes and No
6

World

View all
The World Shouldn't Ignore that Hamas Terrorizes Innocents in Gaza, Too
Lumping every Gazan with this brutal outfit is morally wrong and is leading to catastrophe
 • 
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar
 and 
Ahmed Alrayyis
16
Oligarchs in Bed with Autocrats Would Kill the Prospects for Liberalism in Space
Neither Elon Musk nor the Chinese government should get to steer space policy
 • 
Kenneth Silber
6
Trump's Cruel and Lawless Deportations: Our Video Roundup
The crackdown is busting the Constitution along with immigrants
 • 
Landry Ayres
1
Trump's Attacks on the Human Rights of Palestinians Are Next Level
But Biden's policies toward a people that is suffering massively and needs help were flawed too
 • 
Emily Tamkin
9
Musk’s Toxic Brand of Politics Has Hit a Wall in the U.K.
He is using legitimate public anger over the government’s handling of a past grooming scandal for illegitimate extremist ends
 • 
Steve Davies
14
Trump Is Turning America Into its Opposite and a Threat to the World
A French politician issues a stark warning
27
Ukraine Is Being Punished Because Zelenskyy Did Not Buy Trump's Superpowers
The White House wanted the Ukrainian president to sell out his country to appease Putin
 • 
Shikha Dalmia
15
Germany's Extremism Problem Requires an Economic Cure
The centrist Christian Democrats' slim election victory won't hold the illiberal right or left at bay if the party doesn't restore growth and dynamism
 • 
Larry Diamond
3
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