Michael Barone
The Archive
The most dishonest, biased news coverage of our lifetimes — and it’s about to get worse
‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen such dishonest and biased coverage of any event.” That was Brit Hume, who has been covering events for more than 50 years for Fox...
Democrats' disturbing turn to the frivolous
White college graduates have emerged from the last two decades of elections as an increasingly large and cohesive political bloc — and one that poses problems for both political parties....
From policing to pandemics and the Fed, success brings failure in its wake
Success breeds failure. That’s a lesson taught by America’s current woes. What worked once upon a time no longer proves functional. Consider policing. There are legitimate criticisms of “overpolicing” —...
I saw rioting in the name of justice destroy a city for decades
"AMERICA is burning. But that’s how forests grow.” So spoke Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. “Riots are an integral part of the country’s march towards progress.” So read a now-deleted...
Coronavirus pandemic shows how risk-averse Americans have grown
Do you remember the 1957-58 Asian flu? Or the 1968-69 Hong Kong flu? I do. I was a teenager during the first of these, an adult finishing law school during...
One-size-fits-all doesn't work for reopening America amid coronavirus
Time for reopening? Let’s reframe the question. Time for what to reopen? With what precautions? In which states and counties? And who really decides? Governors, mayors, the president? Business owners...
The coronavirus could kill off a host of US colleges
Some of America’s most beautiful spaces, our university campuses, are closed and empty these days. Schools have canceled their spring semesters and commencements because of COVID-19; classrooms, dormitories and athletic...
From breaking with China to boosting bipartisanship, coronavirus markedly impacting US politics
Precedent doesn’t provide much guidance. There’s a deadly coronavirus threatening to circulate through the population. The resulting government orders and social sanctions of self-distancing and self-isolating behavior are unprecedented in...
Interlopers poised to take control of Democratic Party like Trump took GOP
It’s a familiar plotline. An interloper runs for a party’s nomination and, with an anti-insider pitch, scores wins and near-wins in the first contests with vote pluralities. His numerous opponents,...
Democrats 2020 race is starting to look like a suicide pact
Are we watching a great political party commit suicide? For more than a year, Democratic candidates, up to 26 of them at one point, have been crisscrossing Iowa’s 99 counties,...
Yes, Bernie Sanders really could run the table after Iowa
It’s days from the Iowa caucuses, and Bernie Sanders, born three months before Pearl Harbor, leads the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls by 4 points in Iowa, 10 points in...
Scholars are eviscerating The New York Times' 1619 Project
We live in history-making times. Not so much because of the impeachment trial, but because of what looks like an ongoing battle for control of the central narrative of American...
‘Woke’ doesn’t win and other big surprises of Democrats’ 2020 race so far
Voting tells politicians, and the press if they’re capable of getting the message, what citizens will tolerate and what they won’t. The Democrats haven’t voted yet, but the candidates have...
'Ascendant America' no longer seems a sure bet
From the first years of the one-fifth of this century already completed, we’ve been told that a new, ascendant America — more nonwhite, more culturally liberal, more feminist — was...
Your nostalgia might say otherwise, but we’re living in the best time imaginable
The best of times, the worst of times. Your basic temperament affects your instinct on which one we’re living through. But it also depends on how well you’re observing, and...
The surprises so far in the 2020 Democratic race
Some recent news stories verge on the bizarre: the House Democrats’ futile fuss over impeachment, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s acceptance of President Trump’s US-Canada-Mexico trade treaty. But they’re not as bizarre,...
While the Schiff show had America’s attention, real world news went unnoticed
"The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America” is the title of a 1960s book by historian and librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin. Pseudo-events, he wrote, are staged solely to...
Beware, Dems: History shows that impeachment is high-risk
Precedents abound in a country whose first presidential election took place 230 years ago. Three of our 44 presidents have faced impeachment proceedings — Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill...
Elites vs. the people: The thread uniting Brexit's foes and Trump's enemies
Wars by the elites on the people are flaring in English-speaking nations on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s being waged fiercely in the Palace of Westminster House of Commons...
Boris Johnson's rise is another sign of global political transformation
Power shifted last week, on both sides of the Atlantic. In Washington, Robert Mueller’s dim performance in hearings House Democrats insisted on took the last air out of the Collusion-gate...