The American Mind

Having been mocked and roundly criticized for its plans to found a “Disinformation Governance Board,” DHS decided not that it should reevaluate its goals, but that it should keep doing the same thing—just without telling you. Meanwhile, Paul Pelosi was beaten in his home by a crazed lunatic, leaving him with a fractured skull and everyone else wondering what the hell happened. Plus: New York Governor Kathy Hochul is unexpectedly in danger of being voted out of office by those pesky extremists who want to ride the subway without getting mugged. Our editors, joined by Matt Peterson, take a closer look.

This week on live TV, to the utter shock and chagrin of the legacy media hosts, average voters from across the so-called political spectrum were united—in their dissatisfaction with leftist policies. Meanwhile, Joe Biden continues his very public and visible decline, and John Fetterman whiffs it on the debate stage against Mehmet Öz. Plus: Republicans are under fire for *checks notes* supporting Democrat policies? The editors gather in full complement to discuss the current state of the American mind.

A new NYT/Siena poll looks grim for the Left across the board. What kind of realignment, or realignments, are underway? With the middle class feeling pinched by bad economic policy, more and more people believe  the government serves social elites to the detriment of everyday Americans. Or else they fear being replaced by bots; or else they’re on edge for fear of saying something contra The Current Thing. Our editors, joined by special guests Matt Peterson and Helen Roy, analyze the situation.

The new Current Thing™ update has dropped: NPCs have been reprogrammed to believe that not only are nukes not that bad, but a nuclear war wouldn't be bad either. It might even fight climate change! Intellectual Leftists are now also making the case that "aborting" babies after they are born should be allowed. Is this the next slippery slope we slide down? Meanwhile, the Left increasingly believes that democracy is the implementation of their preferred policies, and anyone who opposes their goals is at best a "semi-fascist". Ryan and Seth, joined by a triple threat of great conservative minds: Michael Anton, Dave Reaboi, and Kyle Shideler, discuss.

Members of Gen Z report trusting Google and Youtube to deliver information and entertainment--but what’s really going on under the hood? Just like everywhere else, “neutrality” is a myth online. Then: how can the Right win the fight over childhood indoctrination and radical gender theory in schools? And what on earth is Biden thinking when it comes to oil? Ryan and Spencer (aka Starsky and Hutch) discuss.

Midterms are rocketing toward us, and House Republicans have come out with a platform of sorts; the editors discuss how both party’s prospects are shaping up by way of the fascinating--and absurdist--case study of Pennsylvania’s Senate race between Mehmet Öz and John Fetterman. Meanwhile, rumblings around the world--leaks in Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines, unrest in Iran, and a conservative victory in Italy--give  occasion to wonder just where the world is headed, and what the people in charge can possibly be thinking.

Red states are on a roll this week. The 5th Circuit Court upheld a Texas law banning viewpoint censorship on social media platforms with over 50 million active users. Florida’s Ron DeSantis publicly highlighted the duplicity of leftist virtue signaling by sending 50 Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, whereupon the Vineyard’s occupants promptly flipped out and called in the National Guard. Plus: Biden gave an interview on 60 Minutes that was such a train wreck it demands a close reading. Our editors are on the job.

In this edition of The Stakes, Claremont Senior Fellow Michael Anton, a lecturer in politics and research fellow at Hillsdale College’s Kirby Center, talks with Glenn Ellmers, Visiting Research Scholar at Hillsdale College and author of The Soul of Politics: Harry V. Jaffa and the Fight for America. The two discuss some of the major ideas and principles in Harry Jaffa’s philosophical writing, and how those principles might apply to the modern American crisis. Plus: a defense of some of Jaffa’s more contentious ideas.

As midterms loom, Biden’s DOJ is handing out subpoenas like they’re going out of style--which in a sense they may be, since a traditional election moratorium on political maneuvering makes coming for Trump an increasingly bad look. But at this point, will the public really believe that the DOJ is dispassionate? Or, for that matter, that the economy is under control? Biden seems to be hoping against hope that they will, throwing a White House celebration while a massive freight rail worker strike is looming and inflation is still over 8% for the year. Plus: famed attorney Kenneth Starr passed away this week. What legacy did he leave behind, and how has the use of celebrity in the White House affected our politics? Our editors analyze it all.

President Biden gave a speech before a blood-red background in front of Liberty Hall late last week, explicitly identifying a large chunk of the GOP as threats to democracy. How large? Biden won’t say--or what he does say, he walks back. Will this message really play with a significant portion of the electorate, or have Biden and his team confused Twitter for real life? Meanwhile, in real life itself, everything seems to be getting worse: school test scores have taken a twenty-year drop in the wake of COVID shutdowns, and life expectancy continues to tick downward as well. Plus: California is raising alarms about potential power grid failures in the midst of a summer heatwave. How can we avoid despair, and what are the opportunities amid all this decline? Our editors discuss.