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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty

National Review

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Vindicated

Last year, three defense department officials were marched out of the Pentagon under the shadow of the accusation that they were leaking classified...

previous day 1

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Europe Has a Right to Be Miffed

I’ve been very critical generally of Europe in its reactions and relations to the Trump administration. I thought that the cumulative effect of...

previous day 2

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Caldwell Calls the End of Trumpism

Christopher Caldwell has been just about the most perspicacious writer about Donald Trump, the phenomenon since 2015. So it is notable that in his...

previous day 1

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Congress Should Take Responsibility for the War

Rich Lowry has argued sensibly that, no, in fact, we did not go to war with Iran for Israel. “Trump runs U.S. foreign policy,” our fearless...

previous day 2

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Can Trump Declare Victory?

Trump defined victory by redefining “unconditional surrender” to mean his assessment of whether we’ve destroyed Iran’s navy, its ability to...

previous day 2

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The Decline of the American Irish Diaspora

Mayor Mamdani was surprised to face a question from reporters yesterday asking whether he favored the unification of Northern Ireland with the...

tuesday 3

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The End of the House of Lords

The last 92 hereditary peers are being removed from the House of Lords according to the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill. I should perhaps dance...

11.03.2026 9

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Cats We Don’t Understand

The New York Times science section has a delightful story on a comprehensive new study on why cats land on their feet. This is something humans have...

11.03.2026 4

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Can’t Anyone Just Be Normal?

This little sign-off of Lindsey Graham’s is so weird. GRAHAM tonight to Hannity: “God bless Israel. We should move all our stuff to Israel.”...

10.03.2026 8

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Irish Dependence on American Multinational Tax-Sheltering

Ahead of the annual Saint Patrick’s Day gab fest, in which the head of the Irish state gets face time with the leader of the free world, Irish...

10.03.2026 4

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Is the Coalition Cracking?

John Guida of the New York Times opinion page interviewed me late last week to discuss the war in Iran, and what counts as America First foreign...

10.03.2026 4

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

EU Backs Away from Anti-Orbán Energy Hostage Taking

Here’s the headline from the Financial Times: Ukraine is under pressure to let the EU inspect a damaged pipeline carrying Russian oil to Hungary and...

04.03.2026 9

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Restraints on Our Ambitions

Kelly Grieco of the Stimson Center points out how quickly we would blow through half of our THAAD system with SM-3 interceptors if we deployed them to...

28.02.2026 7

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Questions About Iran

Are we keeping this just to air power? If not, will Congress get involved? If Jim and others are right that Trump has set the bar at regime change,...

28.02.2026 9

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

A War Without the People

My colleagues are calling it war. I'm not sure. Does one announce a war at 3 a.m. on a Saturday in a Truth Social post? Aren't conservatives...

28.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Choosin’ Texas

Man, there is nothing like a simple, clever country heartbreak song. Last year, for me it was Charley Crockett’s “Odessa.” And this winter I...

28.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The Pentagon at War with Anthropic

Earlier this week, the CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, maker of the extremely popular Claude AI products, put out a letter saying that Anthropic...

28.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The Russian Way of War

Earlier this week, Jim Geraghty reflected on the state of the war in Ukraine after four years. He writes: What I can’t understand is Americans who...

27.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The Era of Vice

Oren Cass has a rip-roaring critique of the drift of the current administration toward legalizing, expanding, or removing guardrails from around the...

27.02.2026 9

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

U.K. Assisted Dying Bill Is Dying

The U.K. government has said it will not give the assisted dying bill any further debate time in the House of Lords, meaning that the parliamentary...

27.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The AI Job Apocalypse Is Not Here Yet

Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter and head of Block.xyz (owner of payment platforms like Square), has announced that he is firing 40 percent of his...

27.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The Remnant Being Born

It’s interesting to see so many Catholic dioceses around the world reporting booms in conversion. France expects more than 10,384 adult catechumens...

26.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Moderation on AI

I just don’t see it. All the doomerism about AI seems nuts to me, as I think these LLMs (Large Language Models) and what they are capable of doing...

25.02.2026 9

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

MLB’s Anti-Umpire Strategy

Well, the first spring training games have debuted the new pitch-challenge protocol for baseball, in which players or coaches can challenge and ask...

25.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Will the French Prescribe Death?

In January the French Senate rejected the “aide à mourir” (aid in dying) bill that was passed by the National Assembly in 2025 as part of...

24.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

U.S. Standing Tall in Munich, Europe Crying

I’ve been scandalized watching the initial coverage of the Munich Security Conference, which continued last year’s absolute European freak-out on...

13.02.2026 90

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

A Preview of Post-Populist Liberalism in Spain

05.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

We Are What We Pretend to Be

03.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Nuremberg Feels Incomplete

01.02.2026 7

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Roger Scruton on the Sovereign Nation

01.02.2026 5

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

China’s Demographic Bomb Is Already Detonating

01.02.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

What I’ve Been Reading This Month

01.02.2026 6

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Catherine O’Hara RIP

31.01.2026 8

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Chaos of Chatbots Isn’t a Singularity

31.01.2026 8

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Populism Washes Up in Australia

31.01.2026 6

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Higher House Prices?

31.01.2026 8

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The Deaths of the Faith Are Not the Last Word

30.01.2026 20

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Rand vs. Rubio

30.01.2026 5

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Charles Murray Won’t Euthanize Himself

30.01.2026 8

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Rand Is Wrong on Immigration

28.01.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Ideological Titillation, Not Orientation

22.01.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The League of Extraordinary Backstabbers

17.01.2026 20

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Trump’s Regime-Stays Operation

05.01.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

My Final Word on Pluribus

01.01.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Underrated in 2025

01.01.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Overrated in 2025

01.01.2026 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

‘Little Gidding’

01.01.2026 20

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

A Conservative Resolution for 2026

01.01.2026 20

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Populism and Establishment Liberalism to Marry in 2026?

31.12.2025 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The End of Never Trump

30.12.2025 10

National Review

Michael Brendan Dougherty