From the right: Trump’s Wise ‘Pivot’ to the Economy
Donald Trump’s announcement last week of investment accounts for kids was met with “relief” among Republicans, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley A. Strassel: After all, there was “no mention of immigration (and only one of tariffs)”; rather, the conversation was “about economic accomplishments.”
Indeed, “alarm has gripped Washington’s GOP”: Polls show “Americans are gloomy about the economy” yet Team Trump has been riding “its hobby horses of immigration and tariffs.”
Meanwhile, the left “would have little to offer in response to a daily drumbeat focused on tax cuts, economic growth, Trump accounts,” falling gas prices, etc.
So last week sent Tom Homan to Minnesota “to calm tension” and Trump touted his economic achievements.
Will the White House’s pivot “last? That will be the day-to-day questions and challenge.”
Urban beat: Mamdani’s Ignorance on Street Homeless
Mayor Mamdani’s “response” to the hypothermia deaths of 10 homeless people “illustrates that his stated campaign policy on the city’s street population” is “unworkable,” notes City Journal’s Nicole Gelinas, because his “understanding of the causes of homelessness stands in the way of these sincere efforts.”
In Mamdani’s view, “homelessness stems primarily from a lack of suitable housing,” not from “entrenched mental illness or addiction.”
Mamdani sees homeless people as “rational” actors, a “dubious” proposition made worse by hypothermia, “which slows brain function.”
A person “who chooses to stay outside in this weather is demonstrably an acute peril to himself.”
Ideally, Mamdani’s “experience during these first few weeks in office may spur him to rethink his policies toward people living in public spaces year-round.”
Free-speech watch: NY’s Campaign-Finance Fail
Supreme Court decisions starting 50 years ago with Buckley v. Valeo have consistently nixed spending limits for political campaigns and boosted protections for political speech, recalls John Burns at The Hill.
Yet “progressives continue their hostility to these decisions” and “haven’t been shy” in circumventing them.
New York, with its “generous public campaign finance programs,” now serves “as the left’s laboratory for end-runs around the free speech regime established by Buckley.” Yet at both the city and state level, the programs have led to corruption.
As Buckley marks its 50th anniversary and “the Supreme Court signals a willingness to expand” speech protections, New York progressives might ask themselves if their workarounds have done much besides “enriching political consultants” and inviting corruption.
Conservative: More John Fettermans, Please
“At a time when the country’s political parties are moving ever further to the extremes, and hysteria marks much of our discourse, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is a breath of fresh air,” cheers USA Today’s Ingrid Jacques.
The maverick Democrat “has defied current political trends and prioritized what he thinks is best for the country ahead of partisan tribalism.”
Fetterman has taken a “nuanced stance on what’s going on in Minneapolis” and the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.
Unlike fellow Democrats, Fetterman “doesn’t want to hold government funding hostage” or to have “ICE or DHS obliterated.”
It reflects Fetterman’s commitment to “being a voice of reason and common sense.” That, plus his “simple honesty,” has earned him what Morning Consult describes as “severe bipartisan backing.”
Diplomat: Greenland’s Key to US Arctic Dominance
“Greenland is not some abstract geopolitical concept,” admonishes Jeff Landry in The New York Times, but “a real place — and one Americans have defended with their blood.”
President Trump “has long expressed a cleareyed understanding” of Greenland’s “strategic importance,” and current negotiations promise that the US will gain “total, unfettered access to the island.”
A deal could “enhance American, NATO and Greenlandic security” and “expand America’s operational freedom.”
The days when “the Arctic could be treated as remote, static or secondary” are over, and Trump is “unequivocal” that “American dominance in the Arctic is nonnegotiable.”
Russia and China have expanded “their icebreaker fleets and Arctic infrastructure,” and the United States must “align Arctic strategy with today’s realities.”
This story originally appeared on NYPost
