Michael McKenna

The problem with Notre Dame Cathedral

A few weeks ago, a Francophile friend of mine asked what I thought of the grand reopening of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Paris.

March 23, 2025

Musk may leave America only broken

A friend of mine -- let's call him Dave -- has been with the federal government for about 30 years and manages the permitting section of a relatively large independent regulatory agency.

March 19, 2025

St. Patrick’s Day: The Irish story of sacrifice and survival

On Sept. 14, 1607, the Earl of Tyrone and the Earl of Tyrconnell departed Rathmullan in Ireland, heading to Europe.

March 16, 2025

Washington’s water heater blunder: Why Congress’ fix could burn American manufacturers

Right after Christmas, Team Biden set new efficiency standards for gas tankless water heaters and effectively eliminated the lowest-priced versions of these water heaters.

March 12, 2025

Trump should focus on tax reform

My friends at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity recently launched the Tax Cut Victory Alliance, which led me to wonder what happened to tax reform.

March 9, 2025

Congress needs to stop California from banning vehicles powered by gasoline or diesel

An unfortunate quirk of the federal Clean Air Act is that it allows the Environmental Protection Agency to issue waivers to California.

March 5, 2025

Musk is spending Trump’s political capital

Republicans, at least in public, seem to be excited about Elon Musk and his boy band careening through the federal government, creating mayhem wherever they go.

March 2, 2025

Trump knows winning the AI race is more important than climate change

Lost in the fury and energy of the new administration's first week or so was an executive order from President Trump directing the immediate withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement.

February 26, 2025

Celebrating the indispensable George Washington

This weekend, we celebrate the birthday of the author of that victory, Gen. George Washington, born in Virginia on Feb. 22, 1732.

February 23, 2025

Border czar Homan’s attack on the pope reveals deeper truths about moral certainty

Next time someone offers an alternative and perhaps contrary thought, you might want to think about it for a minute or two.

February 19, 2025

Defense Secretary Hegseth, Vice President Vance lay hard truths on Europeans

Last week was the week Team Trump decided to tell Europe some truths.

February 16, 2025

Does Trump have to spend all the money appropriated by Congress?

"The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."

February 12, 2025

Tim Walz isn’t the only knucklehead in Minnesota

President Trump, doing what God created him to do, has dominated the news cycle for the last three months, so one can be forgiven for not following what has been happening in Minnesota.

February 9, 2025

Trump’s march through Senate an awesome display of raw political power

The American people expect, or at least hope for, basic competence. They also expect caution in the setting of precedents.

February 5, 2025

Partisan truths: Tariffs, gasoline prices and Kennedy’s confirmation hearing

This newspaper published a column last week offering a simple and correct argument: Imposing a 25% tariff on crude oil imported from Canada would lead to an increase in the cost of gasoline.

February 2, 2025

Tariffs on Canadian oil will increase gasoline prices in America

One of the themes in the very busy first few days of the Trump administration has been the president's promise (threat?) to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada.

January 29, 2025

Money is really what matters in Washington

A few years back, I was talking to about three dozen Republican Senate staff members about the size of government. I asked them how much the federal government had spent in the previous fiscal year.

January 27, 2025

Democrats have a Patty Murray problem

President Trump has launched his second term without any of the resistance or mayhem that characterized the first few months of his first term.

January 22, 2025

What Trump should say in his inauguration address

Inauguration speeches have, like State of the Union addresses, become subject to the terrible, relentless machinery of the Washington bureaucracy.

January 19, 2025

California wildfires burn away climate change propaganda

These last few months have been, for climate warriors, the winter of their discontent, unlikely to be made glorious summer anytime soon.

January 15, 2025