Eli Lake

Washington, D.C.

Host at The Re-Education with Eli Lake

Contributing Editor at Commentary Magazine

Columnist at The Free Press

Host at Breaking History

Columnist for @theFP. Contributing editor at @commentary. Podcaster at large.

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Articles

When Trade War Becomes a Real War

1 week ago | thefp.com | Eli Lake

When Trade War Becomes a Real WarThe unraveling of U.S.–China economic ties echoes a darker chapter of history, when a business dispute between the East and the West escalated into violence. Today we’re bringing you the latest episode of Breaking History, the podcast where I go back in time, in order to make sense of the present. The last episode told the story of the intellectual godfather of today’s pro-Palestine protesters.
Trump’s Iran Nuclear Deal Looks a Lot Like Obama’s

1 week ago | thefp.com | Eli Lake

Trump’s Iran Nuclear Deal Looks a Lot Like Obama’s Washington has leverage over Tehran. Why won’t the administration press the advantage? Here’s the good news. President Donald Trump is already growing impatient with the progress of the Iran nuclear negotiations that his chief envoy, Steve Witkoff, started only on Saturday. When asked Monday by reporters, he confirmed that the next round of talks are scheduled for next Saturday in Rome. “That’s a long time,” he said.
The Godfather of the Campus Intifada

2 weeks ago | thefp.com | Eli Lake

The Godfather of the Campus IntifadaToday’s protesters—at Columbia and beyond—owe their worldview to professor Edward Said, whose obsession with the West blinded him to the reality of the East. Today we’re bringing you the latest episode of Breaking History, the podcast where I go back in time, in order to make sense of the present.
A Signal Screwup-and What It Means

4 weeks ago | thefp.com | Eli Lake

On Monday, Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that National Security Adviser Michael Waltz had included him in an encrypted group chat to discuss war plans for striking Houthi targets in Yemen. It didn’t take long for the blame games to begin. There was plenty of blame to go around—while Waltz invited Goldberg into the chat, it was others, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who Goldberg claims shared classified material in the chat.
Should Mahmoud Khalil Be Deported?

1 month ago | thefp.com | Eli Lake |Hussein Mansour

Fight Club: Should Mahmoud Khalil Be Deported? Hussein Aboubakr Mansour says the Columbia student’s deportation is just and necessary. Eli Lake believes it sets a dangerous precedent for free speech. The Trump administration’s effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil has ignited a fierce debate about the limits of free speech and the rights of noncitizens in the United States.
Luigi Mangione and the History of Bourgeois Terrorism

1 month ago | thefp.com | Eli Lake

Today we’re bringing you the latest episode of Breaking History, the podcast where I go back in time, in order to make sense of the present. In the last episode, I told the story of how America won the Cold War. Today’s is inspired by the latest celebrity trial to begin in New York City next month. In the dock will be Luigi Mangione, the well-educated, good-looking young man who became a progressive icon last year, after he was accused of murdering a health insurance executive.
Fight Club: Does Backing Israel While Scaling Back in Ukraine Make Sense?

1 month ago | thefp.com | Eli Lake |Michael Dougherty

In May of last year, then-senator J.D. Vance delivered a speech on foreign policy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. A politician’s speech at a Washington think tank conference is usually best ignored—and, at the time, there was little reason to pay special attention to this one. But nine months on, Vance’s remarks look less like obscure Beltway pablum, and more like the blueprint for the Trump administration’s foreign policy.
How Trump Loosened the Rules for Hunting Terrorists

1 month ago | thefp.com | Eli Lake

How Trump Loosened the Rules for Hunting Terrorists‘We undid four years of insanity,’ counterterrorism director Sebastian Gorka tells The Free Press. When Dr. Sebastian Gorka started his job as the senior director for counterterrorism at the White House’s National Security Council, one of the first things he did was order new lanyards for his team with eight letters and an ampersand: WWFY & WWKY.
3/10/25 National Security News and Commentary

1 month ago | myemail.constantcontact.com | Paul D. Wolfowitz |Niharika Mandhana |Camille Bressange |Eli Lake

Quotes of the Day:“The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”– Elon Musk“The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.”– Hannah Arendt“I do not like to state an opinion on a matter unless I know the precise facts.”– Albert Einstein1. Career-Centric COIN: An SWJ Retrospective2. China Is Waging a ‘Gray Zone’ Campaign to Cement Power. Here’s How It Looks. 3. How Trump Loosened the Rules for Hunting Terrorists4.
DOGE Cut Off Funds to NED. Now They’re Suing.

1 month ago | thefp.com | Eli Lake

Since Elon Musk’s DOGE froze its funding on January 22, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is nearing complete collapse. Already, it has had to furlough 75 percent of its workforce. Nearly all the field offices for NED’s sister organizations—the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute—have had to close. And NED itself has frozen all of its current grants due to a shortfall of cash.