I understand the impulse for Trump to pick Pence — an experienced pol, in good standing with conservatives, and not much of a lightning rod, at least not yet (the Left tends to make any GOP pick a lightning rod). But Trump’s running mate will have to be extremely deft at explaining away and deflecting Trump controversies. There is no reason to believe that Pence will be good at this, and I’m guessing he won’t be. Christie (comfortable at defending anything) and especially Newt (one of the most glib politicians of the last 30 years) would be much better by this metric. They both have downsides. No one will be excited by Christie, certainly not conservatives. Newt is famously ill-disciplined. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Trump team thinks it’s getting a safe choice in Pence and then when he inevitably has trouble defending Trump (he has never operated on this kind of national stage), it won’t look so safe anymore.
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Let Alfie Evans Go to Rome
Alfie Evans, 23 months old, is hospitalized with a rare neurodegenerative disorder. Against his parents’ wishes, his doctors at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool removed him from life support on Monday evening, maintaining that further treatment would be futile. Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Rome has ...
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Republicans, Democrats, and the Parties’ Changing Coalitions
In the United States, the Republicans have long been thought of as the party of the elite and the Democrats as the party of the poorer and less educated. But that has become less and less true over time. The last presidential election, for example, saw many poorer and middle-class Americans opt for Donald Trump ...
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The Alfie Evans Case Highlights the Dangers of Defending Selective Abortion
In the United Kingdom, a young boy is fighting for his life. Alfie Evans’s doctors have deemed him unable to survive his terminal illness, and the state has forbidden his parents from removing him to Italy for further care, despite the fact that the Italian government has granted him citizenship and Italian ...
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Is Journalism School Worth It?
Clarence Darrow dropped out of law school after just a year, figuring that he would learn what he needed to know about legal practice faster if he were actually doing it than sitting in classrooms. (Today, that wouldn't be possible, thanks to licensing requirements.)
The same thing is true in other fields -- ...
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Wednesday Links
Today is ANZAC Day, the anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli: Here's some history, a documentary, and a Lego re-enactment.
How DNA Can Lead to Wrongful Convictions: Labs today can identify people with DNA from just a handful of cells, but a handful of cells can easily migrate.
The 19th-century art of ...
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A Five-Point Victory in a Solid Red District Isn’t Exactly a Great Sign
Making the click-through worthwhile: A bit of good news for Republicans in an Arizona special election (and I do mean just a bit); an ugly comment from a Republican Senate candidate; and a look at what worries Americans about China -- and why they’re right to be worried.
Republicans Finally Win One . . . ...
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Microscopic Dots. Let’s Look at Them.
Stuart E. Eizenstat has written a big book on the Carter presidency. (Eizenstat was Carter’s chief domestic-policy adviser. He also had a substantial hand in foreign affairs.) I have reviewed the book for the forthcoming NR. Eizenstat tells the story of a meeting between President Carter and Andrei Gromyko, the ...
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Mere Witness in Russia Probe Faces Financial Ruin
While Washington feeds its insatiable Trump/Russia-collusion jones, Americans are going broke in the process. Mere witnesses before congressional oversight panels, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry, and the grand jury he has convened endure ginormous legal bills. Although they are not suspected of ...
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Alfie and Haleigh and Charlie and Jahi
When British hospital officials tried to pull the plug on 23-month-old toddler Alfie Evans on Monday night in arrogant defiance of his parents' wishes, many Americans took to Twitter to count their blessings that they live in a country that would not allow such tyranny.
"Stories like Alfie Evans make me ...
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