December 24, 2018
- A Crisis That Haven't Happened — Jack Goldsmith
- Defending DeVos — K.C. Johnson & Stuart Taylor Jr.
- Trump and Detroit — Richard E. Burr
This issue featured Michael Warren's cover story on Nikki Haley's post-UN ambassador ambitions, exploring her political positioning ahead of potential higher office. The magazine also examined threats to the Department of Justice's institutional resilience, the surprising durability of diesel pickup trucks in the American market, and Republican commitments to due process standards beyond the Kavanaugh confirmation. Additional coverage included analysis of Theresa May's weakened position despite surviving a confidence vote, the causes of declining American life expectancy, and critiques of Trump's automotive industry policy.
Articles in the Archive — 24
Last Lines
Alice B. Lloyd on parting words: After all, tomorrow is another day.
Schadenfreude for Beginners
The guilty pleasure whose time has come
Nikki Haley Is Fierce
The outgoing U.N. ambassador sounds a lot like someone running for something.
A Fine Mess
In most of the European Union, when the authorities hold a plebiscite and don’t get the result they want, they hold another, and another, until the voters see it their way. The English tradition holds democracy in greater esteem than that. Or at least it used to, before the Brexit mess.
What the Cohen Memos Mean
High-ranking public officials have resigned for less than what these documents allege.
Restoring Congress’s Brain
At a congressional hearing this week, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) asked an irate and not entirely comprehensible question about his granddaughter’s iPhone. The only problem, as the tech exec who was the hearing’s sole witness explained, is that iPhones are made by Apple but the tech exec was the CEO…
France Reminds Us, Not For the First Time, That the Center Doesn’t Always Hold
Not for the first time, Americans appear to be slightly confused about events in France. The mass demonstrations that began as a protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s “climate-change” taxes gave comfort to conservatives here, and not without reason. The new levies on gasoline and diesel…
Let’s Not Repeat the Crime Waves of the Past
The hot cause right now is prison reform, and even lots of conservatives are on board. The Heritage Foundation put out an article with this title: “How This Criminal Justice Reform Bill Could Make Our Neighborhoods Safer.” My reaction: Have supporters of the bipartisan reform bill now before the…
Learning to Argue
A new curriculum to teach students how to disagree.
Trump and Detroit
The president can’t save an industry he doesn’t understand
‘Deaths of Despair’
What can be done about Americans’ declining life expectancy?
The Fuel That Wouldn’t Die
One of every seven pickups sold in the U.S. is diesel—for good reason.
A Crisis That Hasn’t Happened
The astonishing resilience of the Department of Justice.
Losing by Winning
Theresa May retains office but hemorrhages power.
It’s Time for Republicans to Show They Truly Care About Due Process
It's not just for Brett Kavanaugh.
A Valediction
John Podhoretz on what makes a movie stand the test of time.
Great Escapes
Hannah Long on how escape-room operators are locking in fun and profit.
Prophecies and Prices
Ian Marcus Corbin on values in the art world.
Of Fairies and Dragons
Clare Coffey on what these creatures of myth and mystery reveal about ourselves and civilization.
Who Are These People?
The Scrapbook has had occasion to complain from time to time about the way in which journalists in the mainstream news media use the terms “conservatives” and “Republicans.” “Conservatives” hold this loathsome opinion, they might write, or “Republicans” are doing that bizarre thing, but when you…
This Year's Oscar Host
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Nice Work . . .
New information from the Census Bureau confirms that the Swamp is still the Swamp. Between 2013 and 2017, the five wealthiest areas in America by median income were Loudoun County, Virginia; Fairfax County, Virginia; Howard County, Maryland; Falls Church City, Virginia; and Arlington County,…
The Point of It All
The Scrapbook has a weakness for hardcover collections of essays and columns. Not many people like them, judging by how well they sell, but we boast several shelves full of collections by William F. Buckley, Joseph Epstein, George Will, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Christopher Hitchens, and many others.
Beyond the Bleak Midwinter
Maybe you have to live in the bleak midwinter to get it. Maybe you have to see the countryside in its ash-white purity to understand—the landscape burnt-over by the dead indifferent cold. Maybe you have to wonder, as you wander out under the distant stars, what it would mean to live in a universe…