Pinkerton: Would Expanding NATO Bring Peace and Fewer U.S. Troops in the Middle East?
Would President Trump's idea of expanding the NATO alliance to include the Middle East lead to peace and fewer U.S. troops in the region?
MixedTimes - James P. Pinkerton
Pinkerton: What Trump Might Have Learned from Richard Nixon: Vietnam Then, Iran Now
The Republican president, running for re-election, orders airstrikes against a foreign foe. Back home, street protests erupt, and TV pundits and newspaper editorialists rage; there are even new calls for impeachment.
Pinkerton: The Attacks in New York and Texas Move the Gun Control Debate in the Direction the Founders Wanted
We are seeing the right of each state to make its own decisions—for better or for worse, as the case might be—as enshrined in our founding document, the U.S.
Pinkerton: Marco Rubio for the Common Good—and Look Who Doesn’t Like It
Sen. Marco Rubio’s idea of “common-good capitalism” makes obvious good sense, and yet, of course, not everyone agrees.Still, Rubio has started a valuable debate, and if he prevails, the Republican Party—and the United States—will be stronger.
Pinkerton: Jeff Sessions is Defending the Constitution from Radicals – and Defending America from Nancy Pelosi, Jerry Nadler, and AOC
Jeff Sessions, currently running to reclaim his U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, sent out an interesting and important tweet on December 21. It featured a photo of the top House Democrats who spearheaded the impeachment of President Trump; in the picture were Reps.
Pinkerton: Beyond Impeachment, Health Care Remains the GOP’s 2020 Weak Spot
While everyone is focused on impeachment, there's another issue—an older issue, which hasn't gone away—that's nagging the voters. Republicans remain deeply vulnerable on the healthcare issue.
Pinkerton: Thirty Years After the Fall of the Wall, Let's Recall Ronald Reagan, the Man Who Called It
After something big happens, the temptation is to say, in retrospect, “Oh yeah, it was obvious. We all knew that would happen.” As they say, everyone has 20/20 hindsight.
Pinkerton: Sens. Blackburn, Hawley Want 90% of Federal Jobs Out of D.C.: Drain the Swamp and Reunite the Country
Two Republican Senators, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Josh Hawley of Missouri, have a great idea: Move most of the federal government out of Washington, DC.
Pinkerton: Elizabeth Warren’s Sex-Worker Policies Guarantee More Jeffrey Epstein-Type Pimping
The Democrat presidential hopefuls want you to believe that they have a plan for raising taxes on the rich. And maybe, if one of them wins next year, they will, in fact, nick the rich a little—but don’t count on it.
Pinkerton: The General Motors Strike Will Test Which Party Will Work for Workers in 2020
If Democrats like Sanders and Warren can demonstrate that they’re truly sincere in helping the working class and not just using workers for props—well, who knows what could happen in 2020.
Pinkerton: Democrat Strategist Visits Trump Country to Find the Way to Beat Trump
The headline in The New York Times is nothing if not declarative: “The Republican Party Is Doomed.” And the first lines of the opinion piece read, “The 2020 electionwill be transformative like few in our history.
Pinkerton – AOC to Small States: Drop Dead (And What Small States Can Do to Stay Alive)
The left has a hot new cause: getting rid of the Electoral College. And if the left succeeds in doing away with that venerable institution, its next target, the U.S.
Pinkerton: The Message of Labor Day Is Workers Need to Stick Together Now More Than Ever
Like any holiday, Labor Day has always been a political football. Politicians and parties have fought over its meaning—past, present, and future.And these days, as technology and globalism are transforming work, it’s all the more important to grasp the importance of labor and the continuing need to protect its place in society.
Pinkerton: Why Buying Greenland Is One of Donald Trump’s Best Ideas
Last week, the Wall Street Journal had a scoop of sorts; the headline read, “President Trump Eyes a New Real-Estate Purchase: Greenland: In conversations with aides, the president has — with varying degrees of seriousness — floated the idea of the U.S.
Pinkerton: Chris Cuomo's ‘Fredo’ Meltdown Shows ‘The Godfather’ Films Have Become Our ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’
CNN host Chris Cuomo's recent "Fredo" confrontation revealed the cultural prominence of ‘The Godfather’ films, which are now so central to our thinking that they can even be said to occupy the psychic space once held by ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’.
Pinkerton: Tech Leaders Warn That China’s Spies Have ‘Thoroughly Infiltrated’ Silicon Valley with Google’s ‘Seemingly Treasonous’ Help
As we enter into what seems to be Cold War Two with China, what lessons about internal security can we learn from Cold War One?
Pinkerton: The Ten Greatest Benefits Americans Have Received from the Space Program
A strong argument in favor of the space program is the value of its “spinoffs.” Here we explore ten spinoffs, or discoveries and improvements, that came as a consequence of NASA’s work.
Pinkerton: 'One Giant Leap' -- the Apollo Project and the American Way
The space program was not just about the guts and grit of astronauts with "the right stuff," nor about the brilliance of the engineers who designed the spacecraft.
Pinkerton: The American System for a More Perfect Union
The aspirational nature of the entire American Experiment is made plain in the words in the Constitution's Preamble: "a more perfect union." We’re always striving to make a more perfect union, which is why it is important to understand the the economic theory that did the most to expand prosperity and greatness.
Pinkerton: Bernie Sanders Falsely Wraps ‘Democratic Socialism’ in the Flag of Roosevelt's New Deal
Bernie Sanders is well advised to stake his claim to FDR's legacy, but he may be misleading us while hard-left flames burn bright in his heart.
Pinkerton: Nine Days that Shook the World--And What Comes Next
A century ago, in 1919, the left-wing American journalist John Reed published Ten Days That Shook the World. Reed’s topic was the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, which overthrew the czars and established the Soviet state.
Pinkerton: India Elections Show Conservative Nationalism on the March Worldwide
One can point to a slew of conservative nationalist world leaders, in addition to India's Narendra Modi, including Jair Bolsonaro, Viktor Orbán, and Bibi Netanyahu, who have a sense that they are leading their country, starting with a majority of their people.
Pinkerton: Making American Healthcare Great Again, Part Two
If the healthcare issue is due for a revival, as President Donald Trump is indicating, then it’s worth recalling, and seeking to learn from, some of the pitfalls that befell the big and ambitious healthcare plan of his predecessor, Barack Obama.
Pinkerton: Making American Healthcare Great Again
Democrats hammered the GOP on healthcare in 2018, and without a doubt, they look forward to running on healthcare, again, in 2020. And from their point of view, why shouldn’t they?
Pinkerton -- Russia to Judgment: On the Origin of Conspiracy Theories and the Fake News Trifecta
The Russiagate conspiracy exposed a fake new trifecta. First, reporters and their allies hate Trump; second, they over-trust their sources; and third, they have such a strong reason to believe anything bad about Trump that they end up as dupes, playing unwitting roles in a conspiracy theory.
Pinkerton: AOC vs. RWR
If Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or anyone, attacks Ronald Wilson Reagan, it is fitting and proper for loyal Reaganites, including this one, to rise to the Gipper’s defense.
Pinkerton: Howard Schultz Re-Ups 'Never Trump'
Howard Schultz is due for some Strange New Respect. That’s the jokey term applied to someone who bends the Main Stream Media’s way—and that’s exactly what Schultz is now doing.
Pinkerton: Why the People’s Republic of China Fears Religion
The human soul is the one place that can’t be spied on.The government of the People’s Republic of China fears religion because it doesn’t know what its people might be praying about or otherwise thinking about.
Pinkerton: The Pat Caddell I Knew
Pat Caddell, who died on February 16, was to me one of the nicest—and most interesting—people I have ever met in politics.
Pinkerton: The AOC-ization of the Democrats Boosts Trump in 2020
AOC will be on the ballot in 2020—because her ideas are all over the place, including, “70 percent top income tax rate,” “Green New Deal,” and “Medicare for All,” to name just three.
Pinkerton: Cuomo & Northam vs. Trump -- the Democrats' Abortion Extremism Brought the Life Issue Back to Life
The abortion extremism of Govs. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and Ralph Northam (D-VA) has crossed a line in American public opinion. It has made President Trump a pro-life stalwart and has given the Right to Life movement its biggest comeback in decades.
Pinkerton: From AOC to Beto -- The Political Stars Are Brighter Than Ever
Political star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) enjoys vastly more Twitter interactions than any other Democrat and any media portal. Will she be content with her social media platform or reach for something new?
Pinkerton: Will Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal Leave $59 Billion in the Ground?
BP announced the discovery of $59 billion worth of oil in the waters south of New Orleans. Will Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal stifle that economic boom for U.S.
Pinkerton: Digital Natives in Politics--Wannabes Are Seeking the Warmth of a Billion Suns
In Part One of this series, we observed that politicians such as Beto O’Rourke have proven that they are “digital natives.” That is, they’ve grown up with social media, and their “fluency” is already reshaping campaigns.
Pinkerton: Harry Truman’s Campaign Was in 1948, The Truman Show Is Now, The Trump Show Is Coming
In politics, every new communications technology creates, or at least empowers, a new style of politician.
Pinkerton: Making California Great Again — and Republican Again
From the perspective of this year, 2038, we can see that three very different events from 20 years ago set in motion the profound partisan realignment in California.
Pinkerton — Money for MAGA: Fossil Fuels Can Pay for Trump’s Infrastructure Agenda without a Tax Increase, Part 1
Nobody seems to agree on how much the federal government should actually spend, nor do folks agree on how much the deficit-ridden feds can actually pay for any new infrastructure.
Pinkerton – The Spring of Nations: 2018 Brings Echoes of Europe’s Populist-Nationalist Rebellions of 1848
Populist-Nationalism, Right and Left Here’s a headline that a lot of people—especially among the entrenched elite—won’t want to see: “2017 Was the Year of False Promise in the Fight Against Populism: The populist wave seems like it may have crested.
Pinkerton: How Cultural Revolution and the Legacy of Communism Turned Europe’s Left into the Right
How did it happen that that most people in, say, Poland, or Hungary, still believe that the old verities—of faith and family, of patriotism and nationalism—are valuable and worth conserving? And at the same time, how did it happen that so many people in the West have come to believe that those old verities are obsolete, if not downright false?
Pinkerton — From Politics to Passchendaele: Case Studies in Frustration and Victory
If we look beyond politics to a most extreme example of massed persistence—World War One’s Battle of Passchendaele, a century ago—we might gain insight into the value of adjusting one’s strategy in the face of heavy fire.
Pinkerton: The ‘Hard Pivot’ from Health Care to Tax Reform and a Stronger Trump Agenda
With the failure of the healthcare repeal-and-replace effort behind them and mindful of that survive-so-as-to-fight-again-and-win ethos, GOP leaders on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue have been making what’s been described by one insider as “a hard pivot to tax reform” and other Trump agenda items with a better chance of #winning.
Pinkerton — Lessons from the GOP’s Obamacare Fail: Republicans Were Long on ‘Repeal’ and Short on ‘Replace’
Republicans have long been united in opposition to Obamacare, but opposition is a sentiment—it’s not a strategy. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that Republicans were never together—were never operating as a team—to pursue an effective anti-Obamacare vision.
Pinkerton — The Presidential Comeback: How Reagan’s First Term Recovery Offers Hope for Trump
What they say about the weather is also true of politics: If you don’t like what’s happening now, wait a bit—because things will change. The same point holds true for presidential politics.
Homeland Security in the Age of Truck Attacks: The Once and Future Fortress
The recent headline in Breitbart was clear enough—and scary: “The Automobile Is Becoming The Weapon Of Choice For Islamist Killers.” That is, running people over. We all saw it in Nice, France, on July 14, as nearly one hundred people died and hundreds more were injured.