National Columns

The Washington Post, beginning Nov. 1, 2019, will allow its syndicated columns to appear only in print. The columns will still be available as part of our e-edition newspaper online, but they will not be available as separate pieces on our website, ljworld.com. These columnists include George Will, David Ignatius, Michael Gerson and others. This does not affect other columnists like Leonard Pitts, Mona Charen, Connie Schultz and Mark Shields, who are not affiliated with the Washington Post.

Opinion: A look at the gang running our country

I often amuse myself by asking which member of the Trump administration is most insane and dangerous. Dear reader, share your thoughts. The White House is turning the lights out on democracy. Take Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, seen as a sinister Svengali for his ruthless ...

Opinion: It’s about to get worse for Johnson

Here’s a conundrum for Republican politicians going into 2026, and even 2028. What do you do when you’ve turned the GOP into a Trump-branded, populist, anti-establishment party but your party controls the government and it’s not going very well? One time-tested answer: ritual human ...

Opinion: Politicians, please drop your creepy Joker smiles

It seems half the country’s political figures have been instructed to grin like a theme-park greeter. Supposedly, that makes them seem friendly, approachable, relatable. When I want humanoid patter, I turn to chatbots. They’re more convincing. Why this epidemic of wax museum ...

Opinion: The Secretary of Embarrassment

If you were looking for a great choice for a terrible Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth was always your man. It was entirely unsurprising that President Donald Trump picked him. No rational person could want Hegseth anywhere near America’s chain of command, and it’s unclear that any ...

Opinion: Trump’s obsession takes a sinister turn

Sometimes one crisis seems to lead to another for President Trump — and he’s got plenty of trouble brewing. For months now, Trump’s approval rating has taken a beating for the knock-on effects of the government shutdown and the ongoing Epstein files fiasco. In November, his ...

Opinion: No denunciation of Bannon/Epstein?

If you followed the twists and turns of the Jeffrey Epstein saga over the last few weeks, you already know that several prominent names emerged from the tranche of emails that the Epstein estate released. Former Treasury Secretary and Harvard president Larry Summers, who exchanged scores of ...