National Review

In the new issue, @tal_fortgang hears the DSA radicals at the door & Andrew Doran looks at the roots of American political violence. Plus @AndrewCMcCarthy on immigration & law enforcement, @NoahCRothman on Iran, @AudreyFahlberg talks to @DrOz about child gender policy & more.

Bookmarked & beloved this month — a grand historical survey (and a brilliant publishing debut by @C_and_C_Books), plus @katrosenfield's best and most telegenic thriller yet. Read more in my column in the latest issue of @NRO:

@C_and_C_Books @katrosenfield @NRO nationalreview.com/magazine/2026/…

The Big Picture on the Iran War - that’s the topic @RichLowry and I kick around on our @NRO podcast this week. Along with history of Iran and its proxies as America’s enemies, even if there were no Israel. Hope you’ll tune in … nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-m…

Saw one or two folks griping about this headline, pointing out that it's not true, because DHS workers eventually got paid for their work during the last shutdown and will eventually get paid for their work during this one. Okay, you go work without pay for 43 days in the fall and then get paid later, and follow it up for (at least) 34 days in the winter, and tell me how it feels for ya. DHS Employees Have Worked Unpaid for More Than Half the Current Fiscal Year nationalreview.com/corner/dhs-emp…

Read it here: nationalreview.com/2026/03/how-th…

Devastating because it's smug and ignorant. @NRO did the work of finding those who know what they're talking about when it comes to the threat and our available tools — such as a former minesweeper XO.

Maybe Trump’s ‘Nixon to China’ Moment Is ‘Boots on the Ground’ nationalreview.com/corner/maybe-t…

A stirring call to rally around First Amendment champion Afroman, from @abigailandwords nationalreview.com/corner/valuabl…

"Negativity sells, no doubt. But there is more to being a statesman than perpetually provoking the citizenry into disgruntlement." @NRO

The @NRO editors' view: Kathy Hochul’s Seller’s Remorse nationalreview.com/2026/03/kathy-…

Me @NRO in the magazine on Alexander Stephens & Charles Sumner - Principle and Its Limits: The Opposite Errors of Two American Statesmen nationalreview.com/magazine/2026/…

Me @NRO, reviewing John Tillman's new book The Political Vise: Why the Right Needs an Electoral Grand Strategy nationalreview.com/magazine/2026/…

Screaming deal given the early returns from Iran

No pun intended, but the phrase “taking a cue from Mao” is a red flag. (Although I suppose now we know that Chavez and Mao shared another trait; they both enjoyed having sex with underage women.)

In his later years, Chavez acted more erratically and strangely. From The New Yorker: "Chavez became openly paranoid during the seventies. Increasingly seized by what Pawel calls a “basic mistrust of almost anyone with outside expertise,” he began purging associates from the upper ranks of the union — quietly at first, and then in public confrontations. In 1977, taking a cue from Mao, he staged shouting matches at meetings to drive out colleagues. Sometimes he accused them of being spies for the Republicans or the Communists. (“You’re a f***ing agent,” he seethed at a confused plumber.) The paranoia was not baseless — Chavez, like many figures on the left, was under F.B.I. investigation — but the reaction was extreme. When some he expelled tried to use the phone, La Paz security threatened to eject them forcibly. By the late seventies, the union’s California roots were bearing pop-psych fruit. Chavez was much taken with Synanon, a rehab center turned life-style cult, originally based in Santa Monica. Synanon’s lucrative work revolved around an activity called the Game, in which community members attacked one another with true or invented accusations. Therapeutic work or even enlightenment — Synanon had already declared itself a religion — progressed by lobbing the hot potato of blame to someone else. Chavez loved the Game and wanted to start practicing it at La Paz."

After Chavez’s death, his fans and supporters airbrushed his image quite a bit. Mark Krikorian liked to remind progressives that Chavez was a proponent of a secure border and restricting illegal immigration, because illegal immigrants competed with native-born and legally immigrated farm laborers and drove down wages. Chavez referred to Mexican illegal immigrants as “wets,” and his United Farm Workers union engaged in violent vigilantism at times. Chavez reportedly made antisemitic comments and warned about Jewish conspiracies. Subsequent histories have argued that Chavez was a remarkable self-promoter who downplayed the contributions of others in the formation of the UFW.

He didn’t “follow the rules.” He’s been an illegal immigrant for eight years. The judge “followed the rules.” “Follow the rules” is not a synonym for “comply with the authorities when you get caught.”

The Pre-War World Is Gone nationalreview.com/2026/03/the-pr…

Iran Finds Trump’s Pain Threshold nationalreview.com/corner/iran-fi…