Politics | Op-Ed

Leftism Makes People Meaner: Reflections on the Torture of Paul Manafort | News and Politics

The sadistic treatment of Paul Manafort illustrates something I have believed since I attended graduate school in the 1970s and saw the behavior of left-wing students: Leftism makes people meaner. There are kind and mean conservatives and kind and mean li

Politics | Politics

Let the people decide: A special prosecutor shouldn’t negate an election

No one will grieve long for Paul Manafort or Michael Cohen or count their days in prison.

Let’s be honest, all of this is about squeezing, delegitimizing, and, if possible, ultimately removing Donald Trump from office. Neither of these cases, and none of the case being built with the president as target, so far as we know, are about Russian interference in our elections, or political corruption. They are not about justice. They are about politics. They are about “getting” Mr. Trump.

Many Americans think Mr. Trump should be removed from office for bad manners, for political and personal immaturity, and for degrading our politics and diminishing the presidency. But none of those is a crime, just as cheating on your wife is not a crime and employing snake oil salesmen is not a crime.


The voters elected Donald Trump. Why not trust them to decide if he should have majorities in Congress in 2018 or be removed from office in 2020?