• The AI Race Isn’t Real

    The notion of an AI race against China is at the center of the administration’s deregulatory turn. In Congress and the private sector, an AI race against China is also frequently invoked as a reason to favor light regulation of domestic AI companies, even in the presence of serious threat models. But the idea of an AI race that must be won at all costs is wrong. It is fundamentally flawed as a descriptive matter and normatively defective.

  • More Perspective on the Cash-for-Capitol-Attackers Fund

    President Donald Trump’s attempt to engineer a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund for those in legal trouble for promoting his interests is one of the most notable legal stories in recent memory. It points not only to corruption but to a march toward authoritarian rule imposed by way of the streets. Trump intends to use public money to reward followers who broke the law, often violently, to keep him in power despite the election returns. That sends a dangerous message that if they try that again, they may come out not just with a get-out-of-jail pardon, but with a fortune.

  • Trump’s Anti-Weaponization Fund Is a (Another) Slush Fund

    Federal power can be, and has been, abused. If government officials leak private tax information, misuse law enforcement power, or target citizens because of their politics, those are serious abuses. But the remedy for weaponized government should not be more weaponized government. The Anti-Weaponization Fund is being presented as a cure for politicized government, but its description thus far suggests otherwise. Indeed, it creates an opportunity for the administration to engage in a variant of the abuse the settlement seeks to remedy.

  • The Dangers of Hegseth’s “Warfighter” Ethos

    Hegseth loves to conjure history to support his vision of the “warrior ethos.” But, at least as far as modern military practice is concerned, Hegseth is an aberration, not an exemplar. The U.S. military has become the most effective and powerful fighting presence in the world not because of brute lethal force, but because of its professionalism and precision.

  • Red States Press Social Service Workers into Immigration Enforcement

    An increasing number of conservative states are mandating that state and local social service providers verify and report the immigration status of the people they serve — in some cases threatening stiff penalties for public employees who fail to comply.

  • Trump’s Personal Investments and Government by Deal

    President Trump’s latest financial disclosures show that he retains financial interests in companies while exercising extraordinary discretion over these companies and the sectors in which they operate through his administration’s policies. The executive branch shouldn’t be taking equity stakes in private companies, trading export permissions for revenue, or treating merger reviews and foreign sales like a television game show. Markets require general rules to function properly, not personalized bargains. Trump’s financial disclosures are a reminder of why.

  • How Influencers Indirectly Mobilize Action and Legitimate Violence

    Influencers are key mobilisers of collective action, shaping narratives that create urgency, define group norms, and can indirectly legitimate violence without issuing explicit calls to action.

  • The Indo-Pacific Could Shape Control of the Growing Spyware Market

    The market for commercial cyber intrusion capabilities (CCICs) is moving faster than the frameworks designed to govern it. What began as a niche ecosystem of surveillance vendors has evolved into a sprawling, fragmented industry.

  • Immigration Street Sweeps Led to More “Collateral” Arrests of Noncriminals

    A quarter of immigration arrests since August were labeled by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as “collateral,” a type of arrest and detention that’s been challenged in court as an end run around civil rights. 70% of collateral arrests are for immigration-related crimes or violations only.

  • Heightened ICE Enforcement Harms U.S.-Born Workers, Shrinks Workforce

    Heightened immigration enforcement during the second Trump administration has not expanded job opportunities for U.S.-born workers and is associated with a reduction of employment for U.S.-born men with no more than a high school degree.

  • Politicians Are Not Ignoring You

    If you’re registered to vote in the United States and you’re not among the richest of the rich, political scientist Peter K. Enns has a message for you: Your voice still matters.

  • Another Look at Gerrymandering

    Perhaps the ultimate solution to the gerrymandering issue lies in a congressionally prescribed voting regimen that incorporates multi-member districts, at-large candidates, or outcomes that are proportional to party affiliation. To be sure, those options raise additional problems—a topic for another day.

  • How Much Should Politics Influence Science, and Vice Versa? National Science Board’s Ousting Resurrects an Existential Debate

    President Trump’s 24 April 2026 firing of the National Science Board has brought back the old question that President Harry Truman thought he had answered in 1950: how much politics should intervene in science. Now, that question is shaking the very foundations of U.S. science.

  • 8 Things You Should Know About Trump’s Effort to “Take Over” the Midterm Elections

    From dismantling guardrails that upheld the integrity of past elections to gutting federal agencies and installing allies who supported Trump’s claim that the 2020 vote was stolen, here are the key takeaways from our recent investigation.

  • Civil–Military Relations under Strain in the U.S.

    President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed or forced the retirement of more than a dozen senior commanders across the US military since 2025. The scale and timing of the purge are almost unprecedented in US history.