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: SALT issue could cost GOP majority

At least six congressional Republicans are demanding a radical fix in the 2017 tax law targeting residents of high-income states. If they don’t get it, they may sink Donald Trump’s tax-and-spending package, his “one big beautiful bill.” And who can blame these reps from New York, ...

Opinion: Biden’s ‘rehabilitation’ tour shows why he was ousted

In case anyone was wondering, Joe Biden is every bit as unimpressive out of office as he was in it. The man who shuffled off stage last year in the middle of the play — an absurdist tragicomedy plagued by poor reviews and weak attendance — has shuffled back on to it. His ...

Opinion: Pope is well-loved, for now at least

Once loyal Chicagoans got over the double shock of hearing that a local native, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, has been named the 267th pope, some critically important, locally familiar questions came up: Which parish is he from? Sox fan or Cubs fan? And what bearing will his papacy ...

Opinion: Trump loves Canada, but Canada doesn’t love him

Washington — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney aced the Oval Office Exam during his sit-down with President Donald Trump Monday. Washington’s relations with Ottawa have been testy of late. During the 2024 campaign, Trump delighted his die-hard base to no end with his talk about ...

Opinion: The good, bad and ugly in Trump’s budget

President Donald Trump’s 2026 “skinny budget” is out, and at first glance it gives small-government advocates reason to cheer. It proposes deep cuts to domestic agencies, calls for eliminating redundant programs and gestures toward reviving federalism by shifting power and responsibility ...

Opinion: Thinking about ‘War and Peace’ — all 1,224 pages of it

It usually takes me a day to tap out a rough draft of this column, and I spend the next morning wrestling it into publishable form. The other five days of the week I devote to novel-writing. Stephen King says we writers need to read to learn their craft: “If you don’t have time to read, ...