Steve Hsu

2 months ago | thespectator.com | Roger Kimball |Hugh Schofield |Lionel Shriver |Steve Hsu

The Statue of Liberty was given as a gift by France, the United States’s oldest ally, to celebrate our centennial anniversary as an independent state. Now, as the US moves toward its quarter-millennial anniversary, Member of the European Parliament Raphaël Glucksmann is asking for it back. Glucksmann said to supporters he would tell Americans that, “We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it.

2 months ago | thespectator.com | Sean Thomas |Steve Hsu |Joel Kotkin |Peter Watson

I’m on a high-speed train. Forty years ago, such a statement would have been notable and specific: essentially, it meant you were in Japan or France. Nowadays, being on a high-speed train is barely a geographical indicator at all. Most of Europe has them, from Spain to Italy to Poland. Morocco has high-speed trains. Uzbekistan has high-speed trains. Even Egypt, Vietnam, Turkey, Thailand and the USA either have high-speed railways, or will have them in the next year or two.

2 months ago | thespectator.com | Freddy Gray |Steve Hsu |Hamish McRae |Samuel Gregg

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s program to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) appears to be ahead of schedule. At the start of the month, the burger chain Steak ’n Shake announced that it would be frying its food in beef tallow rather than seed oils — and other major restaurant groups are following suit. This week, Kennedy, who hates seed oils and processed foods, rewarded Steak with an almighty PR stunt.

2 months ago | thespectator.com | Steve Hsu |Hamish McRae |Sergey Radchenko |Samuel Gregg

Before Donald Trump’s inauguration, Elon Musk caused a huge controversy within the MAGA movement by advocating increased high-skill immigration. As head of the Department of Government Efficiency he wanted, for example, to expand the H-1B visa program, which many Trump supporters are against. The angry debate over the visa issue still rages on social media and both sides tend to talk past each other. The MAGA movement is against any increase in immigration, whether high- or low-skill.

Mar 3, 2025 | thespectator.com | Ben Domenech |Ian O’Doherty |Steve Hsu |Hamish McRae

From the moment you enter Donald J. Trump’s Oval Office, you are surrounded, not by staff or Secret Service, but by presidents. In his second term, he has chosen to envelop himself in Americana to an unprecedented degree. He faces Franklin D. Roosevelt whenever he sits at his desk. Looking back are Teddy Roosevelt, Lincoln, McKinley, Polk, Jackson, Jefferson, and alone among them as a non-president, Franklin. Ronald Reagan looks over his shoulder for every decision he makes.