About Peter Beinart

Peter Beinart is an American columnist, journalist, and political commentator. A former editor of The New Republic, he has also written for Time, and The New York Times among other periodicals. He is also the author of three books. You can follow him on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/peterbeinart, and on Substack at: https://peterbeinart.substack.com

Opinion 13 Democrats Recorded Messages About Israel. Only One Spoke With Courage

The mantra of Kirsten Gillibrand’s presidential campaign is “Brave Wins.” Yet in her video message to the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum this week, the New York Senator didn’t even mention the word “Palestinian.” That was typical. The 2020 Democratic hopefuls talk a lot about having the courage not just to challenge Donald Trump but to transform America’s political and economic system. But with the exception of ...

2019-06-17T11:04:17-04:00By |

It’s Time to End America’s Blank Check Military Aid to Israel

Last month, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared that American aid to Israel is “something that can be discussed” in Washington. Her comments made news precisely because America’s policy of giving Israel billions in aid without expecting any policy changes in return hasn’t actually been discussed — or at least questioned — in either party in more than a quarter-century. That needs to change. …

2019-06-17T11:18:02-04:00By |

Even Democrats Keep Thinking Iran Is Worse Than Saudi Arabia

With ideas like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, the 2020 Democratic presidential contenders are challenging the ideological parameters that have defined American domestic policy since the Reagan era. If only they were doing so on foreign policy too. Consider their responses to President Donald Trump’s recent escalation with Iran. Yes, one Democrat after another has called on Congress to prevent Trump from going to war. But Democrats have not frontally challenged ...

2019-05-22T18:57:24-04:00By |

Synagogue Shootings Shattered Our Illusion. America Is No Safe Haven For Jews.

On Saturday, April 27, a few hours before the shooting at the Chabad in Poway, California, I walked from my hotel in Amsterdam—where my family has been on vacation—to a synagogue I found online. I arrived at a building with no external Jewish markings. The door was locked. When I tried to open it, a man with a walkie-talkie showed up and explained that he ...

2019-05-22T22:36:16-04:00By |

Unlike His Rivals, Biden Sees Trump as an Aberration

The key word in Joe Biden’s announcement video is aberrant. If Donald Trump serves only one term, Biden declares, “I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant moment in time.” Before Trump, the former vice president implies, a moral consensus reigned. America, he declares, “is an idea”—an idea that “everyone is treated with dignity,” and that “gives ...

2019-05-22T18:52:26-04:00By |

China Isn’t Cheating on Trade

News reports suggest that in the coming weeks, the United States and China will sign an agreement that repeals the tariffs the two nations have been levying on each other’s goods for the past nine months. If past behavior is any guide, Donald Trump will call it the greatest deal ever, and global markets will breathe a sigh of relief. But the deal will likely constitute only a modest ...

2019-04-24T10:19:20-04:00By |

Ilhan Omar’s Deeply American Message

I watched Ilhan Omar’s recent address to the Council of American Islamic Relations for the same reason most people did: to see whether she had—as Donald Trump claimed—minimized the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What I found was unexpected. In offering a vision for how to live as an American Muslim, her speech to CAIR beautifully evoked what I treasure about being an American Jew. …

2019-04-24T10:14:54-04:00By |

Elizabeth Warren Had Charisma, and Then She Ran for President

Charisma comes from the Greek word for “divine gift,” and back in 2015, political commentators thought Elizabeth Warren had a lot of it. Vox called the senator from Massachusetts “a more charismatic campaigner than [Hillary] Clinton.” Roll Call said Clinton couldn’t “match Warren’s charisma, intensity or passion.” The polling firm Rasmussen called Warren “Bernie Sanders with charisma.” That was then. Now that Warren is running for president, many journalists have decided the charisma is ...

2019-04-24T10:12:51-04:00By |

Beto Sees Trump’s Immigration Trap Clearly

Beto O’Rourke isn’t known for his wonkish heft. But in his formal announcement for president on Sunday, the former Texas congressman offered one of the most important policy proposals of the nascent presidential campaign: He argued that to solve America’s problems at the border, America’s leaders must “help people in Central America where they are.” In so doing, he began laying a foundation to effectively rebut Donald ...

2019-04-04T09:38:09-04:00By |
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