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Michael McKenna

Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, is the president of MWR Strategies. He was most recently a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House. He can be reached at mike@mwrstrat.com.

Columns by Michael McKenna

Voters backed Trump to fix the economy and the border, not obsess over wars abroad

It is not uncommon for presidents, especially as their tenure progresses, to spend more time on foreign policy than on domestic policy.

October 22, 2025

Trump, the presidency and an American system that holds back absolute power

On Thursday, I found myself at the baptism of one of my great-nephews.

October 19, 2025

Time for Trump and Congress to reset immigration policy

If our politics were not irreparably broken, President Trump's efforts to secure the border would be the opening act of a bipartisan agreement on how best to deal with immigration.

October 15, 2025

Kabuki theater shutdown proves politicians’ addiction to drama over duty

Right before the most recent government shutdown/lapse/whatever, both sides were supremely confident that they finally had the other guys by the short hairs and would achieve ultimate victory.

October 12, 2025

For the left, Jay Jones talking about killing his rivals is just everyday chitchat

In August 2022, Jay Jones, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, the oldest legislative body in the United States, was listening to delegates pay tribute to Democrat Joe Johnson.

October 8, 2025

Greenpeace wants to destroy the U.S. Constitution

For almost 240 years, the Constitution has been the law of the land and American courts have been the final arbiters of legal disputes in the United States.

October 5, 2025

IEA’s peak oil narrative exposes peak idiocy in global energy policy

Back in 2020, the International Energy Agency, created in 1974 to address OPEC and the risk it then posed, openly joined the environmental crazies to embrace and amplify the narrative of scarcity.

October 1, 2025

Israel seems intent on undoing the Abraham Accords

Without a doubt, the most impressive foreign policy achievement of President Trump's first term were the Abraham Accords.

September 28, 2025

America’s future depends on rejecting politics of recrimination

Right before he left the White House after having resigned, President Nixon encouraged his soon-to-be former staff not to give in to hate.

September 24, 2025

Conroe’s natural gas pipeline lawsuit delivers national consequences

Montgomery County, Texas, is way on the northern border of the Houston/Woodlands metroplex.

September 21, 2025

What does the Constitution’s oath of office mean?

Now that the Trump administration has let us know it has attacked and sunk a third boat in the Caribbean, perhaps it is time to think about the value of due process.

September 17, 2025

America stands at crossroads between civil discourse and political violence

In the immediate wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a friend of mine posted on social media that she looked forward to similar levels of outrage for the recent shootings of schoolchildren.

September 14, 2025

Due process protections matter even for terrorists and drug dealers

One morning at the end of September 2011, a young American who had been born in New Mexico and was residing in and traveling through Yemen was killed by a drone strike while having breakfast.

September 10, 2025

Fans fund failure as teams like Cowboys and Yankees chase only franchise value

The end of summer means more important things are afoot -- namely, pennant races in baseball and the start of football.

September 7, 2025

America’s postwar dominance built the modern world

There has been little official fanfare about this, but 80 years ago Tuesday -- Sept. 2, 1945 -- the Japanese government formally surrendered to the Allied forces (which consisted primarily of Americans).

September 3, 2025

Gimmicks won’t shrink the federal government

The Congressional Budget Office projected in August that the tariffs imposed by the administration would raise nearly $4 trillion over 10 years.

August 31, 2025

Buchanan deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom

A few days ago, Rep. Riley Moore sent a letter to President Trump suggesting that now would be an optimal moment to give the presidential Medal of Freedom to Patrick Buchanan.

August 27, 2025

Why silence beats strong opinions in today’s political circus

At least officially, the presidential election of 2020 had the highest rate of turnout (of voting-age population) since the 1968 presidential election.

August 24, 2025