Jonah Goldberg Columns category

Jonah Goldberg: How do you solve a problem like Candace Owens?

Candace Owens has a very popular internet show in which she trots out deranged conspiracies about, among other things, the demonic nature of Jews, the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk (probably by Jews and their pawns, in her estimation) and the allegation that French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife is...
Jonah Goldberg: Does either party actually want to win the Senate race in Texas?

One of the worst features of the election primary system in our polarized “Red vs. Blue” time is the tendency of primary voters to flock to the candidate they most want to “destroy” the other party, not the candidate best positioned to do so. Let’s say a zombie is scratching...
Jonah Goldberg: Things are about to get worse for Mike Johnson

Here’s a conundrum for Republican politicians going into 2026, and even 2028. What do you do when you’ve turned the GOP into a Trump-branded, populist, anti-establishment party but your party controls the government and it’s not going very well? One time-tested answer: ritual human sacrifice. Which is why the next...
Jonah Goldberg: You can’t hide from war crimes by calling them ‘fake news’

Since September of this year, the United States military has been blowing up boats allegedly trafficking drugs in the Caribbean. Whether these attacks are legal is hotly debated. Congress hasn’t declared war or even authorized the use of force against “narco-terrorists” or against Venezuela, the apparent real target of a...
Jonah Goldberg: Leaked ‘wish list’ for peace in Russia-Ukraine war is hardly America First

Last week, a 28-point “peace plan” for the Russia-Ukraine war surfaced. It was apparently fleshed out in Miami over cocktails by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Witkoff’s Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev. Many critics immediately derided it as a “Russian wish-list.” That was before we...
Jonah Goldberg: Presidents can no longer be trusted with pardons

Ours is a system of “checks and balances.” The president can do this or that, but the courts and Congress can put a stop to it. When the courts rule that the executive branch can’t do something, Congress can write a new law saying the president can do it. When...
Jonah Goldberg: Has Trump already lost the Latino vote?

For generations, foreign policy eggheads debated the question, “Who lost China?” I’m wondering if election analysts might soon ask, “Who lost the Latinos?” Almost exactly one year ago, President Trump won an impressive election victory. It wasn’t the landslide his boosters claim, but it was decisive. And Trump’s record-breaking success...
Jonah Goldberg: Can socialism ever be more than just a fad in America?

Here we go again. Socialism is making a comeback, according to friend and foe alike. A new NBC poll now suggests that a majority of registered voters don’t like capitalism. A Gallup poll in September also found that support for capitalism was slipping. A Data for Progress poll around the...
Jonah Goldberg: Donald Trump isn’t a dictator, but his goal may actually be worse

Julius Caesar still casts a long shadow. We have a 12-month calendar — and leap year — thanks to Julius. July is named after him (though the salad isn’t). The words czar and kaiser, now mostly out of use, simply meant “Caesar.” We also can thank Julius Caesar for the...
Jonah Goldberg: Despite infighting, Democrats can still unite around 1 common goal — Trump

The only thing the parties can agree on is that Donald Trump is the central issue of our time. Let’s start with a recent headline: “It’s 2025, and Democrats Are Still Running Against Trump.” “After a year of soul-searching and introspection by Democrats about what they should stand for after...
Jonah Goldberg: Lasting peace requires accepting Israel’s right to exist

President Trump took a rhetorical victory lap in front of the Israeli parliament Monday. Ignoring his patented departures from the teleprompter, which violated all sorts of valuable norms, it was a speech Trump deserved to give. The ending of the war — even if it’s just a ceasefire — and...
Jonah Goldberg: Mad about politics? Blame Congress.

The judiciary isn’t supposed to be the primary check on the executive, the legislative branch is. Whatever you think about American politics and government, whether you are on the right, the left or somewhere in the middle, you should be mad at Congress. I don’t just mean the Republican-controlled Congress...
Jonah Goldberg: Why everyone is rushing to label themselves an ‘independent’

Independents are so hot right now — and will be for the foreseeable future. According to a major survey commissioned by CNN, nearly half of all Americans — 44% — call themselves independents while only 28% and 27%, respectively, identify as Republicans or Democrats. I have a theory as to...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump now has the NRA standing up for trans rights

Given the tsunami of news demanding your attention you might have missed an interesting trial balloon launched by the Department of Justice last week. Officials briefed reporters on preliminary discussions among the department’s top brass to ban transgender people from buying guns. This was in the wake of last month’s...
Jonah Goldberg: What makes Trump’s power grab different?

For many, the evidence is in: Donald Trump wants to be an autocrat. If you haven’t read an op-ed or heard a radio, TV or podcast commentator make that case, it’s probably because you’ve tried hard to avoid doing so. It would require virtually never watching cable news, including pro-Trump...
Jonah Goldberg: Republicans won’t let hypocrisy get in the way of a little tyranny

Even before America became a country, Americans already had a habit of freaking out about even minor violations of abstract principles. “In other countries, the people … judge of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance,” observed Edmund Burke, the great British statesman and philosopher, in 1775....

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