Foreign desk: Macron to Europe — Unite or Die
At the American Conservative, James Pinkerton flags French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent warning that Europe has to “wake up” or else “disappear politically.” Translation: “If Europe wishes to play the role of a great power, it will have to be a great power, complete with military mojo.” Macron cites Donald Trump as the first American president “who doesn’t share our idea of the European project” — which, says Pinkerton, simply recognizes that Trump “has been the first post-Cold War president to truly understand that this is the post-Cold War era and to think accordingly.” Notably, Macron “thinks that the current trend of trans-Atlantic distancing will continue past the 45th president” — which means that “Macron and the Europeans are going to have to find their own path.”
Eye on Iran: Regime Cracking From Within
The “usual explanation” for the “massive protests” sweeping Iran since it hiked gasoline prices last week “is to blame Iran’s financial distress on the economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration,” writes Ray Tayekh at Politico. “But the reality is more complicated.” In fact, the price hike was the result of hard-liners seeking to build what Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calls an “economy of resistance,” which doesn’t rely on foreign commerce. And the uprising shows that Iran now has “a government without supporters,” as this is “a significant uprising by Iran’s working class, which had long been viewed as supportive of the ruling regime.” Now, “as the Iranian masses correctly blame their government’s missteps for all their suffering,” Washington should aim to “deepen the theocracy’s self-inflicted wounds.”
Conservative: Framers Foresaw Impeach Threat
Democrats are trying to summon the ghosts of President Richard Nixon and his abuses in their quest to unseat President Trump, says Issues & Insights’ Thomas McArdle, but they and their media allies risk losing sight of “the dangers of congressional power overreach.” The Framers were keenly alert to this threat, and the anti-Trump impeach push shows why: Trump’s enemies among House Democrats are in effect empowering “staffers who work at the pleasure of the president” to “raise — externally — their own opinionated objections to communications protected by executive privilege.” Plus, “how would [Nancy] Pelosi or [Adam] Schiff like their private discussions in their capacity as congressional leaders made public?” The only “weapon” against such “politically motivated” congressional aggression, McArdle concludes, is “the Constitution.”
2020 watch: Dems’ Primary Chaos
With “less than three months until the Democratic presidential-nomination contest begins in Iowa,” there is “a growing likelihood that the winner won’t be known until well into the process,” notes National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar. Pete Buttigieg is comfortably ahead in Iowa and, in one poll, “surging into first place” in New Hampshire — while Joe Biden’s lead is only growing in the “more-diverse contests” in Nevada and South Carolina. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have their own constituencies but “haven’t found a broader audience” among black voters. Traditionally, “the Democratic winner in Iowa parlays that victory into dominant status” — but “it’s not looking likely that dynamic will repeat itself in 2020.” So “buckle up for a long nominating process and the outside possibility of a contested convention.”
From the right: Pelosi Attacks 2020 Legitimacy
In a Dear Colleague letter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argues against letting the election decide Donald Trump’s fate, because “the president is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections.” In other words, writes National Review’s David Harsanyi, she’s arguing that “if Democrats fail in their efforts to impeach Trump — and, I assume, remove him from office — then the very legitimacy of the 2020 election will be in question before any votes are cast.” That’s the tactic Democrats have been using since 2016, pointing to the party’s “destructive inability to accept the fact that a bunch of voters simply disagree with them.” Fact is, Pelosi can impeach for any reason — but “the presidency happens to be one of the things we do decide via elections.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board