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Matthew Continetti

Matthew Continetti is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and founding editor of the Washington Free Beacon. The author of The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine (Doubleday, 2006) and The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star (Sentinel, 2009), his articles and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Atlantic, and Wall Street Journal. He lives in Virginia.

Coronavirus Tests America’s Social Capacity

Column: Is American society ready for the coronavirus pandemic?

social distancing

A few months after September 11, 2001, David Brooks went back and looked at coverage of Pearl Harbor for an article in the Weekly Standard ("After Pearl Harbor," December 10, 2001). What he saw intrigued him. A sense of unity and patriotism followed both surprise attacks. But media after Pearl Harbor had none of the sorrow, sensitivity, and angst that filled the news, with reason, after 9/11. Recognizing the inevitable costs of war, Americans on the home front at the outset of World War II were nonetheless eager to carry on as usual. They did not apologize or second-guess. They soldiered on. "When you step back and contemplate the range of post-Pearl Harbor media," Brooks wrote, "you are struck by how extraordinarily proud of itself America then was."

The Fight Against Socialism Isn’t Over

Column: Bernie Sanders isn't a relic. He's a preview of things to come.

Bernie Sanders

Democrats are breathing a sigh of relief. Joe Biden's victories on "Mini Tuesday" make his delegate lead all but insurmountable. Bernie Sanders's electoral weakness, compared with his performance four years ago, has dulled the fear of an incipient socialist takeover of the world's oldest political party. The left is said to have talked itself into believing its own propaganda and helped President Trump equate Democrats with socialism. Victory in the primary did not come from pledges to eliminate private health insurance or impose wealth taxes. It followed from the perception that Biden is the candidate best able to defeat Trump.

Joe Biden: The Comeback Gramps

Column: How a flight to safety helped the former vice president

Joe Biden

On the day before the South Carolina primary, the stock market finished its worst week since the global financial crisis of 2008. Fear of Bernie Sanders and of coronavirus had investors panicked. They wanted safe returns. Bond yields fell to record lows.

The First Postmodern Pandemic

Column: The only predictable fallout of coronavirus? Partisanship.

China

The pundits are having difficulty settling on a historical analogy for the COVID-19 coronavirus. Will the spread of the disease be President Trump's Katrina, or his financial crisis? Will it be similar to the H1N1 Avian flu pandemic in 2009, or will it be politicized like the Ebola outbreak in 2014?

Battle of the Boroughs

Column: And the fall of the political establishment

Bloomberg Trump Sanders

There are 329 million people in the United States of America. They are spread across 3.8 million square miles. The presidential race will be determined by the actions of three of them: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Michael Bloomberg. Each one is a New Yorker. Each hails from a different borough. Trump was born in Queens, Sanders in Brooklyn, and Bloomberg, a native of Massachusetts, has worked and lived in Manhattan since 1973.

The Era of Limbaugh

Column: Why Rush Limbaugh matters

Rush Limbaugh

Florida governor Ron DeSantis spoke to Rush Limbaugh last fall at a gala dinner for the National Review Institute. The radio host was there to receive the William F. Buckley Jr. award. "He actually gave me one of the greatest compliments I've ever had," Limbaugh told his audience the next day. "He listed five great conservatives and put me in the list." DeSantis's pantheon: William F. Buckley Jr., Ronald Reagan, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Limbaugh.

Whatever Happened to the Democratic Primary?

Column: Iowa's holding a caucus—and nobody cares

Joe Biden

The Fox News website highlights "hot topics" at the top of the page. As I write, the topics are: "Kobe Bryant dead," "Trump impeachment," and "Coronavirus." Compelling—and in the last case terrifying—stories. But something is missing: The Democratic primary.

Nadler’s Folly

Column: Impeachment's target audience isn't moderate Republicans. It's left-wing Democrats

Rep. Jerry Nadler

Jerry Nadler must have missed the day in law school where they teach you about persuasion. The House Democrat made a critical error early in the trial of President Trump. He didn't just say that Republican senators, who voted to begin the proceedings without calling witnesses, were part of a cover up. He said they had committed treason: "So far, I'm sad to say, I see a lot of senators voting for a coverup. Voting to deny witnesses and obviously a treacherous vote. A vote against honest consideration of the evidence against the president. A vote against an honest trial. A vote against the United States."

The Never-Ending Impeachment

Column: Efforts to remove Trump didn't start with Ukraine. And won't end there.

Maybe Nancy Pelosi held on to the impeachment articles because she was waiting for her pens to arrive. The fancy commemorative ball points, featuring the speaker's name engraved in gold, that Pelosi gave to colleagues at Wednesday's engrossment ceremony quickly became the subject of mockery. Republicans saw them as emblematic of Democratic partisanship and triviality. "Nothing says seriousness and sobriety like handing out souvenirs," said Mitch McConnell. "As though this were a happy bill-signing instead of the gravest process in our Constitution."

How McConnell Outplayed Pelosi

Column: The Republican leader unified his caucus by relying on precedent

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Mitch McConnell was clear when he addressed the Senate December 18: Any impeachment trial of President Trump would follow the precedent established by the trial of President Clinton 20 years ago.