Articles

  • 1 week ago | niskanencenter.org | Geoff Kabaservice

    We all have an opinion about charismatic leaders — but do we really know what “charisma” means? Molly Worthen, in her new book Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump, points out that charismatic leaders historically haven’t always been distinguished for their charm or compelling oratory.

  • 1 month ago | niskanencenter.org | Geoff Kabaservice

    When U.S. President Donald Trump announced the imposition of his “Liberation Day” tariffs against most of America’s global trading partners in April 2025, he seemed to harken back to a centuries-old form of economic nationalism known as mercantilism, which sought prosperity through restrictive trade practices. Opponents of mercantilism from the eighteenth century onward, such as Adam Smith and John-Baptiste Say, became known as classical liberals.

  • 2 months ago | niskanencenter.org | Geoff Kabaservice

    The most important U.S. political trend of the 21st century, according to most observers, is the increasing tendency of college-educated voters to support the Democratic Party and for non-college-educated voters to support the Republican Party. In many ways, the two parties have swapped their historic bases. When John F. Kennedy won the presidency in 1960, Democrats still considered themselves to be a working-class party.

  • 2 months ago | niskanencenter.org | Geoff Kabaservice

    In the first few months of the second Trump administration, the White House in effect declared war on the nation’s colleges and universities, and particularly the most selective and prestigious among them. Vice President JD Vance had famously declared in 2021 that “the universities are the enemy,” but conservative antipathy against higher education for its alleged role as the breeding ground of progressive ideology goes back at least to the 1960s.

  • Mar 4, 2025 | niskanencenter.org | Geoff Kabaservice

    Jonathan Rauch would seem to be an unlikely defender of American Christianity. The eminent author, Brookings senior fellow, and Atlantic magazine contributing editor is a gay Jewish atheist — “I won the marginalized trifecta,” he observes — who grew up deeply suspicious of Christianity and its potential for (and past history of) oppression.

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Geoff Kabaservice
Geoff Kabaservice @RuleandRuin
28 Apr 25

Sarah is always right. https://t.co/hiNhhjgDtw

Geoff Kabaservice
Geoff Kabaservice @RuleandRuin
25 Apr 25

This will be as incomprehensible to succeeding generations as the headlong rush into World War I was to our predecessors

Caleb Watney
Caleb Watney @calebwatney

55% proposed budget cut to the NSF. 40% proposed budget cut to the NIH. This will not lead to American dominance in science and technology. https://t.co/6eGR59YQCW

Geoff Kabaservice
Geoff Kabaservice @RuleandRuin
24 Apr 25

In classic moderate fashion, I’m already getting caught in the crossfire between those who think Harvard deserves three cheers and those who’d give it one or none https://t.co/TzA0pimaDZ