Charles Hilu

1 week ago | thedispatch.com | Scott Lincicome |Joel Tannenbaum |Kevin Williamson |Charles Hilu

Recent tariff-related turmoil in the U.S. stock market has motivated several Trump administration officials and many of their online allies to shrug it off as unrepresentative of the “real” U.S. economy. Many have argued, in fact, that the scary sell-off of U.S. stocks, bonds, and dollars—one that abated only after Trump pulled back from the tariff abyss last week—was not just meaningless “digital ones and zeroes” but actually good because “Wall Street” losses meant “Main Street” gains.

1 week ago | thedispatch.com | David Drucker |John Mccormack |Nick Catoggio |Charles Hilu

Politics The outcome of Ken Paxton’s primary challenge vs. Sen. John Cornyn may answer that question. Published April 16, 2025 Scroll to the comments section Audio versions are only available to subscribers of The Dispatch. Join Today! to listen to this post. Sen.

1 week ago | thedispatch.com | Charles Hilu |John Mccormack |Michael Warren |Kevin Williamson

Is Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon a throwback to the 1980s, a disappearing breed of Republican, or a swing-district moderate swimming against the tide of his party? He might be all three. Having held his seat since 2017 in an Omaha-based district that Kamala Harris carried in 2024 after Joe Biden won it in 2020, Bacon can hardly help but stick to the center. But does he see himself as a moderate? “So-called right-wing people call me that, but they’re the ones who are isolationist and like protectionism.

1 week ago | thedispatch.com | Nick Catoggio |Charlotte Lawson |Charles Hilu |Peter Gattuso

What would happen if it turned out that the president had bought a million dollars worth of call options for the S&P 500 index just before announcing a “pause” on most of his “Liberation Day” tariffs? That’s no idle hypothetical. Some unknown person or persons did buy a bunch of those options on Wednesday about 10 minutes before the White House canceled the global thermonuclear trade war it had just launched.

2 weeks ago | thedispatch.com | Charlotte Lawson |Charles Hilu |Peter Gattuso |Jonah Goldberg

Published April 8, 2025 The late columnist Charles Krauthammer once asserted that “decline is a choice,” not an inevitable outcome dictated by external forces. But rather than resisting decline, the Trump-led American right seems intent on embracing it, abandoning the United States’ role as a global leader, dismantling the free-market system, and encroaching upon the rule of law.