Political Commentary & Opinion
Analysis, commentary, and opinion essays on politics and policy from The Daily Signal’s contributors and experts.
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opinion
Peter Xu: The Billy Graham of China
This is an adapted excerpt from “China’s War on Faith” by Sam Brownback with Michael Arkush, released May 12 from Republic Book Publishers. Peter Xu never lost faith in his Lord and Savior. Not even when death was near. In 1997, Peter hung from the metal bars of a sliding prison door for nearly four hours…. -
opinion
Time Is Almost Up on California’s Ticking Medicaid Time Bomb
Today is primary day in California—with high-profile races for governor and Los Angeles mayor—so voters should prioritize candidates with strong records of fiscal discipline. The Golden State has a history of fiscal irresponsibility that has strained budgets, and Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, is the clearest example. The program has expanded drastically over time,… -
opinion
Wall Street’s Dirty Secret: It’s Still Running on a Climate Scenario the UN Just Retired
The Net-Zero Banking Alliance collapsed in October 2025. The Net-Zero Insurance Alliance fell apart even earlier. By the end of last year, every major U.S. bank had withdrawn from the climate cartel that had spent four years pressuring them to choke off financing to American energy producers. It should have been the end of the story. It… -
opinion
Reps. Clyde and Boebert: No Warrants, No FISA
When there’s a real chance of protecting Americans’ privacy, the deep state always runs the same playbook. Slow walk votes on reforms. Allow the clock to run out. Highlight a potential national security scare. And reiterate the status quo while calling it reform. That’s why we must deliver real reforms before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance… -
opinion
Victims Demand Inquiry Into Sanctuary Policies in Virginia and Illinois
A republic is not ordinarily undone by a single dramatic stroke. Instead, it is softened by evasions—failures to comply with rules and failures by officials to do their duties. And so, the present controversies in Fairfax County, Virginia, and in Cook and Lake counties, Illinois, are not merely another quarrel over immigration policy. They are… -
opinion
‘This Will Be FUN!’: The Texas Senate Race Stars an Anti-Texan
“This will be FUN!” So said President Donald Trump about the upcoming Texas Senate race after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP primary runoff. Paxton will square off against Democrat nominee James Talarico in what may turn out to be the most expensive U.S. Senate race ever. It’ll certainly… -
opinion
Fairfax School District Prioritizes ‘Green Initiatives’ Over Academic Proficiency
As Virginia’s largest public school district continues to decline academically, Fairfax County Public Schools’ environmental and sustainability program has exploded in scale since 2020, transforming from a small initiative into a heavily staffed central operation. Meanwhile, despite a $197 million increase from the fiscal year 2026 budget, Fairfax County’s school board members voted last month… -
opinion
Even California Academics Want to Reverse Wokeness
The fruits of another woke revolution are here—and even California academics are fed up. In May 2020, weeks into the nation’s shutdown and days before George Floyd’s death, the University of California regents voted that applicants to the prestigious public higher education system would no longer need to submit SAT or ACT test scores. “I… -
opinion
Who Is God? And Who Am I?
Where did we come from? What are we made for? These two questions cut to the core of what it means to be a human person. We instinctively desire to know the answers to the deepest questions about our existence. Despite meaningless doomscrolling or gossiping, we ultimately desire to know where we came from and… -
opinion
The Story of Churchill’s Great Speech Before Congress
Winston Churchill made 16 visits to America in his lifetime. He traveled here as a soldier, a tourist, and a lecturer, but his winter visit to America in 1941 as a wartime leader was perhaps his most important. The story of that trip—and the speech he delivered to a joint session of Congress the day… -
opinion
Why the American Colonists Rebelled
The following is a lightly edited transcript of a speech delivered on May 28, 2026, at the “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” Reenactment at The Heritage Foundation. Britain’s seven year war with France came at a great cost. Its consequences would alter the world. England accumulated a substantial amount of debt throughout the… -
opinion
Debunking 3 Myths From the Trump-Xi Summit
The recent Trump-Xi summit in Beijing featured grand ceremonies, red-carpet pomp, and diplomatic flair, but it produced no major breakthroughs. This has allowed some media and analysts to promote distorted narratives about U.S.-China relations, the Iran conflict, and global power dynamics. Here is a clear-eyed debunking of the three most misleading myths. Myth 1: The… -
opinion
The Replication Crisis and ESG’s Throne of Lies
“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” -Ronald Reagan, “A Time for Choosing” For more than two decades now, a handful of academics, led by John Ioannidis, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, have been documenting what has come to… -
opinion
No, Iran and China Are Not ‘Winning’
For years, much of the American media has operated under a peculiar assumption: that the best way to confront adversaries such as China and Iran is to accommodate them. If the United States applies pressure, the narrative quickly becomes that America is overextended, losing leverage, or somehow empowering its enemies. That narrative has resurfaced during… -
opinion
It’s on Us to Choose How to Use Our Freedom
Coincident with the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence is the 250th anniversary of the publication of “The Wealth of Nations.” The full title of Scotsman Adam Smith’s book, published in 1776, is “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.” One might… -
opinion
Lying, Amorous Federal Judge Likely Committed a Federal Felony
News broke earlier this week that a sitting federal judge in the Southeastern United States committed a host of outrageous acts, for which the judge received the ridiculously light punishment of a private reprimand. (Bloomberg Law reports that the judge is Eleanor Ross, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of… -
opinion
Clemson Hires New President. What Does This Mean for DEI on Campus?
Last fall, Clemson University officials announced the end of a sordid list of diversity, equity, and inclusion “commissions.” But news of DEI’s death at the college may be premature: The school’s board of trustees hired a new president with a checkered past of applying racial preferences. Are the trustees and administrators serious about civil rights… -
opinion
Colombia, the US, and the New Hemispheric Vision
As Colombia nears a momentous election decision on May 31, conservative Abelardo de la Espriella vaults to the lead in polling and prediction markets. Known as “The Tiger,” he channels much of the energy and philosophy of another Latin American populist-right renegade, Javier Milei, who similarly uses lion imagery and themes in his campaigns. De… -
opinion
China’s Complex Economic Ties With Niger
China’s economic relationship with Niger is becoming deeper and more complicated. As of May 2026, Beijing expanded zero-tariff treatment to imports from 53 African countries with diplomatic ties to China, excluding only Eswatini, which recognizes Taiwan. For Niger, a junta-led landlocked state that needs both outside financing and export revenue, that offer comes at a… -
opinion
The Debate Over the Women’s Museum Was Never About Women
“House Democrats oppose a bill for a Smithsonian women’s history museum.” This is not a sentence I ever expected to read. Aren’t Democrats supposed to be the feminists? The champions of inclusion? The self-appointed defenders of the “disadvantaged”? And on top of that, they are the ones who pushed for the women’s museum to begin…