What the Hell Is Going On

In the wake of a decisive US strike on Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities, many questions are being asked. Did Donald Trump make the right call? What about the intelligence? Is this the start of US military action in Iran or a one-off? And what are the implications for Gaza, the region, and Iran in the coming months?

Kenneth M. Pollack, PhD., is Vice President for Policy at the Middle East Institute. Previously he was a senior fellow...

Five days in, Israel’s battle to destroy the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear weapons infrastructure continues. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched the campaign in the wake of a decision by the IAEA Board to censure Iran a resolution declaring that Iran is in breach of its non-proliferation obligations, one day past a Donald Trump imposed deadline of 60 days for Iran to agree to relinqui...

The aftermath of Biden’s open border policies continues to haunt America as the consequences of mass illegal immigration continue to snowball. Changing attitudes towards, net positive, productive legal migration reflects the sentiment stirred up by the surge in illegal immigration we experienced the last four years. How does this affect workforce participation and address population decline? What role does the welfare state play? H...

Donald Trump has promised Americans that in three years, with the help of Congress’ “Big Beautiful Bill” and a $25 billion-dollar downpayment, his dreams of a golden dome protecting the nation will become a reality. Inspired by Israel’s highly successful Iron Dome, Trump has selected General Guetlein of the Space Force to lead the missile defense shield project, signaling a focus on space that is bound to ratchet up the arms race i...

John Ondrasik is standing up for Israeli hostages in the best way he knows how. Having written and performed songs with strong social messages over the last several decades, he is responding to the horrors of Hamas’ October 7th attacks by rewriting the words to his hit song “Superman (It’s Not Easy)”. Ondrasik’s revised lyrics turn pain into resilience, but why aren’t other artists speaking out? Ondrasik has sung about 9/11, about ...

China’s Ministry of State Security has infiltrated and is conducting espionage at all levels of Stanford University. By law, all Chinese nationals are required to report back to the Chinese Communist Party on their research and daily activities when asked. Sometimes this spying is voluntary and conducted by those who wish to see America fall behind in the global tech race. Other times, Chinese nationals are coerced into spying on t...

America’s immigration law and system are broken. President Biden allowed millions of people to enter the United States illegally. And now President Trump is using obscure laws to try to fast-track a massive deportation campaign. Expedited removal and deportations without court hearings are legal and supported by the vast majority of Americans. However, members of Congress have the power to clarify immigration laws and fix a system ...

Harvard has finally released its 311-page report on the antisemitism Jewish students face on one of America’s most elite college campuses. The stories of Jews being forced to conceal outward displays of their religion, being shut out of academic and extracurricular spaces alike, and facing systemic harassment are horrifying. However, the intensity of the antisemitism at Harvard is also unsurprising. And the manner in which this rep...

Gen Z may not be the liberal base of support many on the left hoped they would be. Today, there is a growing split between voters under 30, with 22-29 year olds favoring Democrats by 6.4 points and 18-21 year olds favoring Republicans by almost 12 points. As America’s youngest voters are growing up in the age of COVID lockdowns, social media, and cancel culture, conservative and MAGA ideology is emerging as the new counter-culture,...

As President Trump continues to try to end the war in Ukraine, Russia is playing for time. For as long as the U.S. continues to support Ukraine, Russia’s military effort will remain weak and unsustainable. But if Russia is able to stall in negotiations, and degrade American and Western support for Ukraine, they could very well emerge victorious. How should Ukrainian leadership respond to continued American attempts at war-ending ne...

Following a surprise Oval Office announcement by President Trump during Bibi Netanyahu’s trip to Washington, the United States has once again restarted negotiations with Iran over its nuclear weapons program. Thanks to Israeli attacks on Iranian air defenses and its proxies, coupled with crippling U.S. sanctions, Iran has never been weaker and America has never had more leverage over the Islamic Republic. However, Iran’s nuclear pr...

On this episode of WTH Extra! Dany and Marc discuss Dany’s article, #WTH The Tariff Tsunami. No one should be surprised by Trump’s tariff war. The real question is, what is the President trying to accomplish? Some in the administration argue that the tariffs create leverage to bring about a myriad of free trade agreements the U.S. would not be able to get otherwise. Others argue tariffs will bring back American manufacturing. And s...

President Trump’s executive actions are being blocked left, right, and center by federal courts issuing nationwide injunctions – or orders for the government to halt a given policy that judges deem unlawful. However, the constitutionality of these national injunctions is up for debate. Should the Supreme Court decide that judicial policy pronouncements are indeed unconstitutional, what will that mean for Executive power? Could it m...

President Trump is reportedly considering abandoning America’s longstanding role commanding NATO forces as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), changing the U.S. combatant command structure, and canceling modernization plans for U.S. Forces Japan. While it’s true that Europe needs to step up to the plate on its own defense needs, abandoning the SACEUR position would place U.S. troops under foreign command, give Washington less...

UK residents are currently paying some of the highest prices in the world for electricity. How did Brits go from being an energy superpower to showering in the gym because it’s too expensive to heat water at home? Perhaps because both Labour and Tory politicians are banning the production and use of cheap hydrocarbons in the pursuit of a “Net Zero future.” How is Net Zero irreparably damaging Britain’s economy? And what does the UK...

The fundamentals of the economy are strong. So why is the Dow Jones down and fears of a recession up? Perhaps because President Trump is rocking the economic boat by threatening tariffs on historic trading partners, only to rescind them the same day; taking a chainsaw to government expenditures when he should be using a scalpel; and talking about structurally changing the U.S. economy. Will Trump’s disruptive approach to the intern...

Canada’s economy is in the toilet, has an electorate that is overwhelmingly left wing, and a healthcare system that encourages physician assisted suicide over basic treatment. Canada’s systemic problems have meant that Canadian voters were slowly starting to wake up, and were on track to deliver a blow-out for the conservative party in the next elections. But while Trump’s tariff threats have been omnipresent, his threat to make Ca...

Partisans believe that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “ambushed” in the Oval Office. The story is rather different. In fact, President Trump was genuinely enthusiastic about signing a minerals deal with Zelensky that would enrich both nations and vest the United States in Ukraine’s future. But Zelensky, acting on poor advice or out of his own stubbornness and exhaustion, used the Oval Office meeting to challenge Trump a...

California has invested tens of billions of dollars in preventing climate change, billions more than California’s investment in adapting to the effects of climate change and directly preventing disasters. And now, the devastation of the recent Los Angeles wildfires is further proof that governments need to focus on protecting citizens through cheap and simple investments in climate adaptation rather than expensive and inefficient i...