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David Keene

David Keene

keene123@washingtontimes.com

Editor at Large — David Keene, a trusted adviser to presidents, a longtime champion of personal liberty and one of conservatism’s most respected voices, is the former opinion editor of The Washington Times. An author, columnist and fixture on national television, Mr. Keene has championed conservative causes for more than five decades while offering advice to Republican presidents and countless candidates. He additionally served as chairman of the American Conservative Union and president of the National Rifle Association.
To read his obituary, please CLICK HERE

Columns by David Keene

School Safety Program Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

How liberals use the latest school shooting to demonize gun ownership

The reaction to the latest school shooting could have been predicted and is unfolding in just the way the massacre at Newtown, Connecticut, did back in 2013. Progressive politicians and their friends in the media are blaming not the shooter or those who ignored warnings about him or the lack of school security, but the National Rifle Association and the right of law-abiding Americans to purchase and own firearms.

February 25, 2018
Illustration on the media's view of Logan Act "violations" by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

How the media plays favorites with the Logan Act

Anyone who doubts that the media plays favorites need look no further than the way pundits embraced the idea that Donald Trump's transition team members probably violated the Logan Act by talking to foreign officials before their man was sworn in as president and compare it to the way those same pundits have ignored recent contacts former Secretary of State John Kerry has had with officials of the Palestinian authority in the Middle East.

February 13, 2018
Bad Times for Medical Marijuana Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

Marijuana laws and gun ownership

Advocates for and against the legalization of marijuana for recreational use have been sparring for decades in part at least because there are merits on both sides of the argument, but the same cannot be said about whether doctors should be free to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes.

February 7, 2018
Corruption at the FBI Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

The Nunes memo and left-wing pundits

The mere suggestion that anyone at the Justice Department or the Federal Bureau of Investigation might have acted improperly in an effort to keep Donald J. Trump out of the White House is being denounced these days as "unpatriotic" by congressional Democrats and left-wing media pundits. Such charges are coming from Trump supporters willing to undermine or even destroy our most important and heretofore trusted institutions to defend a president they see as a madman.

February 5, 2018
The Shutdown Schumer T-shirt Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

It’s not the ‘Trump shutdown’

Even with the shutdown averted, Democrats continue to act as if they believe that no matter what they do, Republicans will get the blame, but reality is beginning to undermine their narrative.

January 22, 2018
USA Eye in the Sky Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

When surveillance powers in the name of national security lead to abuse

In the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President George W. Bush and Congress passed legislation that vastly expanded the government's surveillance powers in the name of national security and protecting the "homeland."

December 26, 2017
Swamp Creature Boeing Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

The case of Boeing and the Ex-Im bank is study in crony capitalism

Boeing executives are being lauded for being the first out of the box to announce that at least some of the money they will save as a result of the passage of the Republican tax plan will go directly to their employees and will allow them to invest more into increasing the company's manufacturing capacity in the United States.

December 25, 2017
Illustration on the Mueller investigation by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Robert Mueller and team have ways of making Trump associates talk

Robert Mueller, like virtually every special prosecutor or independent counsel preceding him, has embarked on what amounts to a witch hunt that will allow him to brag when it's over that he indicted a bunch of those he went after — even if he never manages to unearth any evidence that the Trump campaign "colluded" with the Russians.

December 12, 2017
Illustration on the benefits of the GOP tax reform plan by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Told to expect the worst about tax bill, Americans stand to be pleasantly surprised

Earlier this week House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi predicted somewhat apocalyptically that passage of the Republican tax bill would quite simply mean "the end of the world." It is true that the lady from the Bay is given to hyperbolic overstatement, but she seems to see herself as the leader of a party and movement that views those who disagree with them as bent upon destruction, murder and, yes, ending the world.

December 7, 2017
Shutdown Schumer T-shirt Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

The consequences of Donald Trump’s budget pact with Democrats emerge

The coming government shutdown that at least some congressional leaders are working hard to avoid was predicted by many when President Trump sidestepped congressional Republicans to cut a deal with Democratic leaders last fall. The deal was celebrated in the media and elated a president desperate for good press, but left Republicans worrying about what the White House gave up for a few headlines.

December 5, 2017
Erika Harold image from her social media. Image was manipulated in digitally and used to illustrate an opinion article by David Keene.

Erika Harold running for state’s attorney general in Illinois

It was 2014 and the first time attendees at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC got a load of former Miss America Erika Harold who was invited to address the attendees as of one of the most promising young conservatives in the country. She is a black female lawyer from Illinois who had in 2003 been chosen Miss America. She had entered the Miss America pageant hoping to win enough money to go to Harvard Law School and did just that.

November 16, 2017
Illustration on continuing bigotry by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

Liberals bigoted against Southerners

Chuck Morgan, who headed the American Civil Liberties Union Washington office in the early 1970s, was both a character and a good friend. Chuck hailed from Birmingham, Alabama, and was, of course, a graduate of the University of Alabama who gained notoriety as a staunch champion of civil rights at a time when standing up for blacks in Alabama was neither all that safe nor a career enhancer.

November 7, 2017
What once was: Donna Brazile brandishes a Hillary Clinton campaign sign at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, 16 months before the publication of her new book "Hacked." (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Hillary Clinton campaign doomed by data-driven methods

Donna Brazile's revealing look at what was going on within her beloved Democratic Party in the days leading up to Donald Trump's victory over party favorite Hillary Clinton last November has finally forced media pundits to realize that the hated Republicans aren't the only dysfunctional family in town.

November 6, 2017
Turning Monuments into Parking Lots Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

George Washington pew removal latest political correctness

A few days after demonstrators for and against removing a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, rioted, President Trump asked where it might end. "I wonder," Mr. Trump said, "is it George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself: Where does it stop?"

November 1, 2017
Illustration on keeping government sponsored surveillance legal by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

Government surveillance constitutionality must be limited

Two years ago, in the wake of Edward Snowden's revelation of sweeping electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency, Congress enacted the USA Freedom Act, to put an end to the NSA's nationwide bulk collection of telephone "metadata" -- who we call, when we call and for how long -- on everyday Americans. At the time, some warned that the law would weaken efforts to stop terrorism, but there is no evidence it has done so.

October 31, 2017
Liberal Base Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

Democrats out to sea on why they lost Middle America

Conservatives and liberals today rarely talk with -- as opposed to past -- each other. They disagree not just on the solutions to societal problems but on what those problems might be, and see very different worlds as they tune into their favorite cable news or internet outlets. In short, they live on different planets and speak different languages. It's little wonder they don't get along, or even begin to understand each other.

October 30, 2017
Illustration on bump stocks by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

NRA backs regulations on ‘bump stock’

The National Rifle Association's statement following the Las Vegas shootings earlier this month was seen by some as a crack in the organization's blanket opposition to legislative attempts to undermine Second Amendment rights in this country. Some pro-gun activists quickly criticized the move as evidence that the NRA has gone soft, and anti-gunners like Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi said she dearly hoped the move would put the organization on the very "slippery slope" its members feared.

October 24, 2017
Illustration on Mitch McConnell by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Mitch McConnell was instrumental in Gorsuch confirmation

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is regarded by most conservatives and Republicans outside Washington as the embodiment of all that's wrong with Washington. A recent Harvard study found him the least popular of all nationally known political figures and a group of my fellow conservatives told him in an open letter that as far as they're concerned, he is "the swamp."

October 18, 2017