Washington Watch Articles From 2026
Ignoring Palestinian Rights Won’t Bring Peace
When President Donald Trump convened his so-called Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland, a key item on the agenda was to endorse his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s extravagant (and, I might add, detached from reality) plan for a “New Gaza.” The rendering of Kushner’s scheme shows it to be more of a luxury resort for wealthy tourists than the foundation of a just future for the Palestinian victims of Israel’s genocide. But since the raison d’être of the Board of Peace was supposed to be dealing with the aftermath of Israel’s war on Gaza, the conversation, by necessity, had to address the needs of hundreds of thousands of now-homeless Palestinians.
The Imperial Presidency
News broke this week that President Donald Trump was conditioning approval of an infrastructure spending bill on renaming New York City’s Penn Station and Washington’s Dulles Airport in his honor. It was unsurprising because there’s a disturbing pattern in Mr. Trump’s approach to governing that includes the glorification of the leader, the erasure of norms, the use of threats of retribution to stifle critics, and a reliance on “alternative facts” to keep the faithful in tow.
Donald Trump’s Philosophy: Attack and Never Admit Defeat
To understand how President Donald Trump promotes his presidency and policies, especially when they are being challenged, it is necessary to understand the impact that New York attorney, the late Roy Cohn, had on his approach to politics and power.
The Way We Should Remember Martin Luther King Day
It should not have been surprising that President Donald Trump had be goaded by civil rights leaders into issuing a statement acknowledging Martin Luther King Day 2026.
How Did We Get to This Point?
How did we get to the point where the president can say and do things that put our culture and democracy at risk, and it’s just shrugged off as if it were normal?
Trump’s Venezuela Gambit
President Trump might be popping corks to toast what he called “one of the most stunning, effective, and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history.” Celebrations, however, are premature. In reality, the assault on Venezuela and the kidnapping and transfer of President Maduro to New York to stand trial in US court are by no means a done deal. On closer scrutiny, more questions than answers are apparent
US Press Coverage of Gaza Continues to Be Disconnected From Realities
After more than two years of Israel’s assault on Gaza, one might think that there would be appreciable improvement in the way the Israeli/Palestinian issue is understood and presented. But US press treatment of last week’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear we still have a long way to go.