Johns Hopkins University
Eliot Cohen is Director of the Strategic Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and the author of The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force. From 2007 to 2009, he was a counselor to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
President Trump and the 'business' of government Donald Trump may be in the White House because he promised to "shake up Washington." But did that mean capsizing basic institutions? In just two weeks, he's consolidated decision making, ignored avenues of communication and flouted traditional protocols. He's run roughshod not just over professional civil servants but secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security he's just appointed. Some conservative veterans of the George W. Bush Administration are even predicting impeachment before he can finish his term. We compare Trump's uninhibited use of executive power to what's happened in other countries where "checks and balances" were not as strong as expected.
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.