MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Jonathan Chait

Political Columnist, Intelligencer

Jonathan Chait has been a political columnist at New York since 2011 and writes the newsletter &c. He is the author of Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail.

  1. the national interest
    Mike Pence Says Trump Can Commit All the Crimes He WishesEnforcing the law would be “divisive.”
  2. the national interest
    National Study Shows Charters Outperform Traditional SchoolsEducation-reform skeptics’ favorite fact is officially false.
  3. the national interest
    The GOP’s Authoritarian AccelerationInternal resistance to its anti-democratic turn has all but vanished.
  4. the national interest
    Centrist Fanatics Go Wild Over Debt-Ceiling DealThey just like bipartisan deals, regardless of content.
  5. the national interest
    The Debt-Ceiling Deal Buys Biden Time at a Terrible Long-Term CostWhat happens next time Republicans take a hostage?
  6. the national interest
    Ron DeSantis, A Strongman Who Isn’t DumbFor all his errors, DeSantis’s plan to out-Trump Trump can still work.
  7. the national interest
    Hostage-Takers Not to Blame for Killing Hostage, Reports New York TimesThe Platonic ideal of “both sides” reporting.
  8. the national interest
    White Supremacy Is a Dangerous Threat Because Republicans Use ItHorrifying developments in the week since Biden’s warning have vindicated it.
  9. the national interest
    John Durham Shows ‘Lock Her Up’ Politics Were Never About Real CrimesRepublicans want to send people to jail after Durham finds no crimes.
  10. the national interest
    The Clarence Thomas Ethics Scandal for DummiesLet’s go back to middle-school civics.
  11. the national interest
    The Media Is Normalizing Debt-Ceiling ExtortionNo, this is not how Congress always does it. This is different, and dangerous.
  12. the national interest
    How Donald Trump Suckered Ron DeSantis on AbortionTrump took their demands seriously, not literally.
  13. the national interest
    The Republican Takeover of American EducationConvinced that teachers are brainwashing children to be left-wing ideologues, conservatives are quickly grabbing control of the American classroom.
  14. the national interest
    Kevin McCarthy Wants to Negotiate the Deficit? Fine, Let’s Talk Taxes.Exposing the extortion scheme with one simple word.
  15. the national interest
    Where Is the Republican Soul-searching for Getting COVID Wrong?Fauci is at least answering some hard questions.
  16. the national interest
    Rage-filled Samuel Alito Baffled His Fairness is Being QuestionedYou must respect my authority, Justice insists.
  17. the national interest
    The Left-Wing Case for Tucker Carlson Is WrongDenouncing capitalists and markets does not make you progressive.
  18. the national interest
    House Republican Debt Bill Would Throw 600,000 Off Health InsuranceThe institutional sociopathy of the GOP in one stat.
  19. the national interest
    Tucker Carlson, Fake Populist and Genuine RacistA TV character who exploited the worst impulses of the American right.
  20. the national interest
    Kevin McCarthy’s Main Debt-Ceiling Argument Is a LieA clean hike can’t pass? Of course it can.
  21. the national interest
    Mitt Romney Thinks the Labor Secretary Shouldn’t Represent LaborA revealing window into the differential status of labor and management.
  22. the national interest
    Is DeSantis Just Not Dumb Enough for Republicans?The perils of a true-believing conservative intellectual in a Trumpy party.
  23. the national interest
    Republicans to Clarence Thomas: Take All the Payments You WantConservatives don’t see any ethics problems.
  24. the national interest
    Ron DeSantis’s Thuggish New Threats Against DisneyThe Florida governor is trying to out-authoritarian Trump.
  25. the national interest
    Why Liberals Should Hope Ron DeSantis Beats Donald TrumpThe phrase the lesser evil very much applies here.
  26. the national interest
    What Is Dianne Feinstein Still Doing Here?This is not fein.
  27. the national interest
    Clarence Thomas and the Ethical Disaster of the Supreme CourtUndisclosed gifts from a billionaire won’t even embarrass the right.
  28. the national interest
    Trump Isn’t Above the Law, But He Shouldn’t Be Below ItThis is like getting Al Capone for paying off his mistress.
  29. the national interest
    The Terrifying Threat That No Labels Will Reelect TrumpWhy is this mysterious group building a political doomsday device?
  30. the national interest
    The Strange Trials of Our First Criminal PresidentThe awesome task of restoring faith in a legal system Trump has spent his life discrediting.
  31. the national interest
    The Republican Debt-Ceiling Hostage Scheme Is CollapsingStep one is to name a demand. The House can’t even do that!
  32. the national interest
    How Trump Can Use Social Security and Medicare to Destroy DeSantisForget Ukraine. Retirement programs are the real killer.
  33. the national interest
    Why Republicans Are Embracing Vouchers Even Though They Don’t WorkIt’s not about educational outcomes anymore.
  34. the national interest
    Permitting Reform for a Debt-Ceiling Hike Would Be Win-WinRepublicans are floating a deal Democrats should jump on.
  35. the national interest
    What Ron DeSantis Can’t FakeTrump’s legal problems reveal an organic connection to the base that his rival is trying but failing to match.
  36. the national interest
    Why Do We Have Presidential Medals for Celebrities?The private sector creates plenty of awards for entertainers without the need for a public option.
  37. the national interest
    Why Joe Biden’s Honeymoon With Progressives Is Coming to an EndExpect a lot more infighting.
  38. the national interest
    Ron DeSantis Thrills Tucker Carlson by Taking Pro-Russian StanceThe Florida governor calls Putin’s invasion a “territorial dispute.”
  39. the national interest
    Republicans Blame Silicon Valley Bank Failure on ‘Wokeness’Buying too many Treasury bonds is extremely woke, obviously.
  40. the national interest
    The Republican Party May Not Be Fascist, But It’s Definitely Getting Fasci-erThe left-wing case for downplaying authoritarianism is not convincing.
  41. the national interest
    Trump Blurts Out ‘Peace’ Plan to Hand Russia Chunks of UkraineSean Hannity tastefully edits this out of the interview.
  42. the national interest
    CPAC Speaker Michael Knowles Urges Eradication of Trans Rights“There can be no middle way in dealing with transgenderism. It is all or nothing.”
  43. the national interest
    DeSantis Promises Florida Will Control Disney ContentRight-wing board to clamp down on “woke ideology” in cartoons.
  44. the national interest
    The Surprisingly Contrarian Case Against Lying About ScienceThe philosophical debate behind the lab-leak question.
  45. the national interest
    Ron DeSantis Goes Full Trump on UkraineThe American First Wing has won the fight for the soul of the Republican Party.
  46. the national interest
    Fight the Anti-Trans Backlash With Accountability, Not SilenceThe anti–New York Times protesters have the wrong target and the wrong goal.
  47. the national interest
    Tucker Carlson Tried to Get Fox News Reporter Fired for Fact-Checking TrumpInternal emails reveal the host’s motives for lying.
  48. the national interest
    Columbia Journalism Review Had a Different Russiagate Story — and Spiked ItThe curious editorial decisions of a journalism watchdog.
  49. the national interest
    Joe Biden Is a Mediocre LiberalBut he’s proved to be a successful president anyway.
  50. the national interest
    Michael Lind, Case Study in the Perils of Discourse-PoisoningHow an intellectual talks himself into believing the GOP is the left-wing party.
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