Political Commentary & Opinion
Analysis, commentary, and opinion essays on politics and policy from The Daily Signal’s contributors and experts.
-
opinion
Nancy Pelosi Profited as Luxury Napa Resort Won COVID-19 Bailout
The Auberge du Soleil, a five-star hillside hotel and spa with a panoramic view overlooking the vineyards of Napa Valley, appears to be first-rate in all ways but one. While the glamorous resort, an hour’s drive from San Francisco, fills rooms that routinely go for $2,000 a night with A-list celebrities and tech titans, financial records… -
opinion
Musk Mobilizes the Masses
Elon Musk isn’t messing around, and he just got a massive scalp to prove it. The billionaire owner of X started his day by posting a photo of the 1,500-page spending bill in Congress with this question: “Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” Scores of Musk posts and reposts followed Wednesday, sending members of… -
news
Swiss Billionaire’s Dark Money Efforts to Influence US Politics Exposed in Congressional Hearing
U.S. elections are “under attack” from foreign influence by both individuals and hostile state actors, experts told a House panel on Wednesday. Although foreign individuals and entities already are prohibited from contributing to American elections, foreign actors find a way, House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., says. “Foreign adversaries still have loopholes they can exploit… -
news
Public Trust in Health Agencies Gone, Former CDC Director Says
Americans don’t trust public health institutions, the virologist who used to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. “We have lost public trust, there’s no doubt about it, and it really harms public health in a big way,” Robert Redfield said Wednesday during an event at The Heritage Foundation, adding, “We’ve lost, I think,… -
news
Ohio’s Solicitor General Credits Heritage Internship for His Conservative Principles
Ohio’s lead government attorney for appeals cases is this year’s recipient of The Heritage Foundation’s Distinguished Intern Alumni Award. T. Elliot Gaiser, tapped late last year as the 11th solicitor general of Ohio, interned 10 years earlier at Heritage. Derrick Morgan, Heritage’s executive vice president, presented Gaiser with the award Dec. 9 at the… -
news
‘Breath of Fresh Air’: Washington Post Admits More Data Needed on ‘Gender Transitioning’ Minors
In a significant shift away from reflexive support for minors undergoing “gender transition” procedures, The Washington Post editorial board published an op-ed on Sunday that called for more robust scientific research to be conducted to determine the health outcomes of puberty blockers and hormones on children. The Post, considered among the most preeminent outlets of the legacy… -
opinion
Fighting Communism After The Cold War
Communism didn’t win the Cold War, but it’s doing surprisingly well in the 21st century, including in America. Elsewhere, especially in East Asia, Communism is the tyrannical creed of a ruling class that stays in power by jailing its opponents—or rolling tanks over them. Here, especially on college campuses, Communism is a status marker and… -
opinion
Remembering a Great Man and Important Conservative Leader
And the King said unto his servants, “Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel.” (II Samuels 3:38) This is the feeling about my oldest friend, Dr. Lee Edwards, who went to his heavenly reward Dec. 12, 2024. A prince and a great man. In the… -
opinion
Freeing People From the Left Starts With the US Census
Any day now, President-elect Donald Trump will nominate a new director of the U.S. Census Bureau, replacing President Joe Biden’s man, Robert L. Santos. Whoever Trump’s nominee will be needs to grasp how vital the job is for the long-term unity of the United States and for the need to free people from the Left’s balkanizing mission…. -
news
Congresswoman Sounds Alarm on Fundraising Platform Under Scrutiny for Raking in Millions With Thousands of Tiny Donations
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—How did fewer than two dozen people give almost $1 million through controversial Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue with political donations as small as $5? Federal Election Commission records show that in recent elections, some elderly Americans made thousands of small donations to Democrat fundraising political committees through ActBlue—which currently is under… -
opinion
Time for Justice for Pro-Life Prisoners and the DC 5
Can you imagine being thrown in jail for peacefully protesting the deaths of babies in the womb? Well, you don’t have to, because it has happened. Today, the Left’s weaponization of a federal law called the FACE Act has led to exactly that, unjustly persecuting pro-life advocates who are its ideological opponents. But finally, after… -
news
Building the Iron Dome
This is an excerpt from Victoria Coates’ new book, “The Battle for the Jewish State: How Israel—and America—Can Win.” President Ronald Reagan’s rationale for launching SDI [the Strategic Defense Initiative] in his 1983 speech could have been written by any Israeli Prime Minister: “I’ve become more and more deeply convinced that the human spirit must… -
news
HOSTAGE: Siblings Recount Day Their Sisters Were Taken
The free world is in a fight against terrorism, according to Yarden Gonen, the big sister of Romi Gonen who has been held hostage in Gaza for over 14 months. If action is not taken soon to release her sister and all the hostages still in Gaza, “maybe they won't stay alive, and then… -
opinion
Latest Woke Triumph: Feminist Spelling for Third Graders
The team behind the Scripps National Spelling Bee whacked a hornet’s nest when it identified specific words for potential competitors to ponder. Its list of “50 challenging third grade words” includes giraffe, groceries, and jigsaw. So far, so good. But beneath the “preferred spelling” of women, a permitted option appears: “womyn.” Naturally, this feminist twist… -
opinion
Proposed Bill Risks $196B Hit to Social Security, Accelerating Insolvency
Lame ducks never make for good policy. Having passed a lame-duck vote in the House, HR 82, the so-called Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 is now set for a lame-duck Senate vote. Despite its name, the Social Security Fairness Act is neither fair, nor accurate, nor fiscally responsible. It violates Social Security’s progressive… -
opinion
Many Unhappy Returns: Journalists Deserve All the Angst Trump’s 2nd Term Brings
The reelection of Donald Trump has created overwhelming angst among the press. With Trump, they have been like the opposite of the Humpty Dumpty rhyme. The media are all the king’s horses and all the king’s men—and they couldn’t tear Humpty Dumpty apart. All their screeching about his menace only makes him successful. Longtime CBS… -
opinion
No, Billionaires Like Elon Musk Don’t Run American Politics
Some prominent Democrats are suggesting that the U.S. is becoming an oligarchy or kleptocracy, where billionaires like Elon Musk have the real power and essentially elect presidents after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. Billionaires like Musk do play a role in American politics, but it is far more limited than it appears. For every SpaceX founder… -
opinion
It’s Time for a National Conversation About Left-Wing Violence
Even before we knew the targeted killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by Luigi Mangione was politically motivated, many leftists were justifying, celebrating, and rationalizing the shooting. There’s a real debate going on in some quarters of the progressive Left over whether slaying CEOs is a bad thing. And it’s unsurprising. Of course, if any… -
opinion
No ‘Buts’ About It: Leftist Democrats Are Wrong in Excusing Violence
Democrats are slowly, but surely, building a permission structure for progressive activists to kill those they determine are bad. From the rise of antisemitism to, now, the killing of an insurance CEO, few Democrats seem capable of condemning violence without adding a “but.” To their credit, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. John Fetterman, both D-Penn.,… -
opinion
Why Is American Health Care So Bad?
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of the accompanying video from professor Peter St. Onge. How did American health care get so bad? Why do we tolerate a system where you go bankrupt for a hip replacement? Compared to socialized medicine, on almost any metric the U.S. has one of the best medical…