For me, the most disturbing thing about the Trump presidency is the way each week, like a steady drip of acid, Donald Trump tries to erode the thing that truly makes us great as a country and the envy of so many around the world — the independence and nonpartisan character of our courts, our […]

To the Editor: Re “China’s Edge Over U.S. Contractors in Africa: Truckloads of Loans” (front page, Jan. 13): What’s missing? The Export-Import Bank of the United States. Ex-Im, as it is known, founded in 1934, is the federal agency empowered to support United States exporters who face foreign competition backed by their own governments. The […]

At first glance, the decision by congressional Republican leaders on Monday to strip Representative Steve King of his committee assignments for remarks last week defending white supremacy last week appears to be an example of the party stepping in to police its own extremists. But it’s actually the opposite. The condemnations of Mr. King, now […]

To the Editor: I thought that I knew the narrative of my middle-class life, and so was surprised to recognize myself in Alissa Quart’s article “The Power of the Middle-Class Shame Vote” (Sunday Review, Jan. 6). In my 30s, I had excellent health insurance through my union. When I changed professions and became self-employed, I […]

To the Editor: Re “The War of Words on Abortion” (Op-Ed, Jan. 10): Charles C. Camosy is wrong in throwing up a smokescreen to pretend that the abortion debate is a struggle over language. Pro-choice victories in Ireland, Chile and likely soon in Argentina clearly demonstrate that increasingly, on a global scale, people in Catholic-majority […]

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. Britain awaits the results of a critical Brexit vote, President Trump’s attorney general nominee testifies in Congress and gay penguins in Sydney learn to co-parent. Here’s the latest: Crucial Brexit vote gets underway The British Parliament is about to start voting on Prime […]

To the Editor: Re “As Russia Works to Weaken NATO, Trump Talks of a U.S. Withdrawal” (news article, Jan. 15): Whether or not President Trump is an agent of Russia (a knowing agent or what the Soviets used to call a “useful idiot” who unwittingly did their bidding), the president’s expressed desire to pull the […]

This article is part of David Leonhardt’s newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it each weekday. Most explanations of Brexit don’t involve a lot of math (or maths, as the British say). But I think math troubles — in particular, the difficulty people have in understanding probabilities — have played an important role […]

Gail Collins: Well, gee, Bret, happy new year. How do you think 2019 has been going so far? I mean, except for the fact that the government is shut down. And Donald Trump is still president. What do you think’s going to happen next? Bret Stephens: And happy new year to you, Gail. My predictions, […]

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, England — Odradek is one of the strangest creatures ever imagined. “At first glance it looks like a flat star-shaped spool for thread,” the narrator claims in “The Cares of a Family Man,” Franz Kafka’s brief, haunting story in which Odradek appears. But as the narrator’s hesitant, circuitous description continues, it becomes […]