Last month, Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists slaughtered over 30 Americans and 1,400 Israelis. These depraved savages raped women, murdered children, and executed entire families, burning some of them alive. The dead are still being identified and families are still grieving unbelievable heartbreak. Yet, over the weekend, former president Barack Obama discovered complexity and ambiguity where there is none in these attacks. He said that we “have to admit nobody’s hands are clean, that all of us... Read More

Three weeks ago, Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists murdered 33 Americans and 1,400 Israelis in the deadliest terrorist attack since September 11, 2001. These depraved savages killed more Jews in a single day than any time since the Holocaust. Israel is now at war and on the verge of what could be its bloodiest battle in a generation. In this struggle, Israel is not only fighting Hamas in Gaza: it is fighting a confederation of Iranian trained, funded, and armed terrorist organizations. From the... Read More

Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Grenada. This short and largely overlooked conflict is one of the most successful American military interventions in history. In just four days, President Ronald Reagan toppled an anti-American regime, rolled back communism in the hemisphere, and saved American lives. In the years that followed we built a strong, genuine, and enduring partnership with the people of Grenada. But this success was far from certain. It was only possible... Read More

Ten days ago, as Israeli families celebrated the Sabbath and Jewish holiday, Iran’s terrorist proxy Hamas launched a barbaric surprise attack against Israel, killing at least 1,400 Israelis and 30 Americans. Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israeli cities and then infiltrated communities to massacre mothers, fathers, children, and grandparents. It was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since American GIs liberated the final concentration camps of the Third Reich. Hamas terrorists raped... Read More

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of the Battle of Mogadishu. At this moment thirty years ago, nearly one hundred Rangers and Delta Force operators were pinned down in the city, caring for the wounded and fighting off thousands of heavily armed Somali militiamen. Helicopter crews from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment—the Night Stalkers—provided aerial fire support. One of the most intense battles of modern times had been going for seven hours; it would continue through the night... Read More

Harvey Mansfield is a legend—not to say a myth. These days, of course, a conservative on the political-science faculty of an Ivy League college may sound as mythical as a minotaur. Perhaps Harvey’s critics viewed him with the same mixture of astonishment and fear as they would the mythical beast. Unfortunately for them, Harvey was all too real. When I arrived on campus in the mid-nineties, Harvey had been around for nearly fifty years. Every student knew the legend of Harvey C. Mansfield—or... Read More

I rise today to honor Keith Stokes: a dear friend, a beloved Arkansan, and a trusted aide. On August 18, Keith tragically passed away from a heart attack at age 59. He’s in our prayers, along with the entire Stokes family, especially his wife Julie and his children Chip and Abbey. Keith wasn’t only a colleague though; he was a close family friend. The Cottons live just up the road from the Stokeses in Yell County. Julie and my mother worked together in the middle school for years. Keith was a... Read More

Thank you for the incredibly warm welcome! It’s a pleasure to be with the members and supporters of Christians United for Israel. You are the very definition of God-fearing patriots. You champion a strong America and you courageously stand up for one of America’s best friends, the nation of Israel.    And you have an inspiring leader of faith in Pastor Hagee. It’s always a pleasure to see him, as well as his his lovely wife, Diana. I’m proud to call them... Read More

Thank you, Oren, for that kind introduction. It’s a pleasure to be speaking to the policy innovators of American Compass.  You know, sometimes it feels like a new think tank is opening every day in DC. They’re like Dunkin Donuts in Oren’s home state of Massachusetts—on every street corner. And some are more successful than others. When American Compass first emerged in 2020, there were no doubt some critics who said it would be like so many think tanks: it would burn... Read More

We hear from Democrats a lot these days about “ending the Iraq War.” Let’s pause for a moment to remember the first time they “ended the Iraq War.”President Obama pulled American troops out of Iraq just over a decade ago. The “dumb” war, as Obama called it, was finally over.Except it wasn’t. It turns out those American troops had kept a lid on a lot of chaos. When they left, the bad guys came back with a vengeance. President Obama dismissed... Read More

Washington, D.C. is in the middle of a carjacking crime wave. There have been more than one hundred carjackings in our nation’s capital so far this year—it’s only March eighth! That’s more than one a day. Two-thirds of D.C. carjackers used guns to force their terrified victims out of their vehicles.So, what did D.C. Democrats do in response to this carjacking crime wave? Did they support and fund the police? Did they install more cameras and put more cops on the streets? No, they passed a law... Read More

There is one foreign leader for whom the Democratic Party seems to reserve special scorn. Leading Democrats have called him a “reactionary,” a “racist,” an “ethno-nationalist.” They’ve accused him of committing “war crimes” and of leading an “apartheid state.” President Biden has called him “extreme” and said they don’t agree on “a damn thing.” Strong words.Who is this monster, you may ask? Were the Democrats talking about Vladimir Putin? Or Xi Jinping? Or perhaps Ayatollah Khamenei? No, they... Read More

Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be among so many good friends. I’d also like to thank my friend Roger Hertog for convening this event. I’ve been asked to say a few words on a “conservative-national-realist global strategy.” That’s a mouthful, but it’s also something real—and urgent.Our strategy should be “conservative” in the best tradition of statesmen like Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, and another speaker this week, Benjamin Netanyahu. It should be “nationalist” in putting first our vital... Read More

Reserving the right to object—and I will—I want to make a few remarks about why I object to the passage of this bill, the so-called PRESS Act, which would open a floodgate of leaks damaging to law enforcement and our nation’s security.The press, unfortunately, has a long and sordid history of publishing sensitive information from inside the government that damages our national security. During the Vietnam War, the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers in an effort to demoralize... Read More

Tens of thousands of Iranian citizens are taking to the streets in dozens of cities across Iran as we speak. The chant that is echoing across that ancient land is “Death to the Dictator.” Yet, Joe Biden and the Democrats in Washington would rather make another deal with the ayatollahs and those who declare “Death to America” and who are at this very moment working to assassinate American citizens on our sovereign soil. Barack Obama’s betrayal of the Iranian people during the Green Revolution is... Read More

Today, the Senate exercises one of our unique and most important constitutional responsibilities, the debate and ratification of a treaty. And the NATO accession treaty for Sweden and Finland is the most consequential kind of treaty because it commits America to the mutual defense of another country. We commit, along with our NATO partners, to come to Sweden and Finland’s defense if they’re attacked, just as Finland and Sweden will come to our defense if we are attacked. It’s a weighty matter,... Read More

Thank you, Michael for the kind introduction and for the invitation to speak today. And I would also like to thank Chairman Willem De Vogel for organizing this event.It’s great to be back at the Jamestown Foundation. For nearly four decades, your organization has advocated a strong, assertive, and decisive American foreign policy. I can think of no better institution with which to discuss the pressing crisis in Ukraine and its implications for our strategy regarding Taiwan.First, I think it’s... Read More

The Senate will soon vote on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. I will vote against her nomination. Judge Jackson may be a fine woman, but she is a dangerous judge. She built her career as a far-left activist—and it didn’t change when she put on a robe ten years ago. She personifies activism from the bench, she has crusaded to undermine criminal sentences, and she cannot be trusted to interpret the law or the Constitution as... Read More

Thank you, John, for the kind introduction and thank you all for the warm welcome. It’s a great honor to be speaking again at the beautiful Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.It’s sadly fitting that we gather tonight at this monument to the great man who defeated Soviet Russia, brought down the wall, and raised the Iron Curtain. For today, a new Iron Curtain threatens to fall upon Ukraine.I recall the words of President Reagan when the people of Poland resisted the same brutal aggressor. “There... Read More

Inflation is at its highest level in 40 years. Drug overdose deaths and illegal border crossings are at record levels. The murder rate is the highest since the 1990s. Russian troops are massing on Ukraine's border, and the President of the United States just greenlighted Vladimir Putin to invade. And China is continuing its aggression.So what have the Democratic floor leader and the  Senate Democrats spent the last two months doing? Trying to overturn 200 years of Senate rules and customs... Read More