Jacob Heilbrunn

Jacob Heilbrunn

Jacob Heilbrunn is editor of The National Interest. He lives in Washington DC

Trump won’t back down after the Minnesota shooting

From our UK edition

So much for ‘Minnesota nice’, the phrase that Midwesterners like to use to describe their calm dispositions. Three gunshots – fired point-blank in the gelid snows of Minneapolis by a federal immigration officer at Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old white woman and American citizen – have plunged the North Star State into renewed political turmoil.

Will Trump back down in Minnesota?

So much for Minnesota nice, the phrase that Midwesterners like to use to describe their calm dispositions. Three gunshots – fired pointblank in the gelid snows of Minneapolis by a federal immigration officer at Renee Nicole Good, a thirty-seven-year-old white woman and American citizen – have plunged the North Star State into renewed political turmoil. The fatal shooting took place only a few blocks from where George Floyd was killed in May 2020. In responding to the tragedy, President Trump proceeded

Venezuela has left Trump feeling cocky

From our UK edition

There was no dancing, let alone prancing, in the Brooklyn courtroom as former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was arraigned on four charges, including narco-terrorism and weapons trafficking, following his capture by American forces on a military base in Caracas on Saturday. Instead, Maduro, whose terpsichorean moves to a musical remix of his ‘No War, Yes

Maduro

As Maduro appeared in court, Venezuela swore in his replacement

There was no dancing, let alone prancing, in the Manhattan courtroom as former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro was arraigned on four charges, including narco-terrorism and weapons trafficking, following his capture by American forces on a military base in Caracas on Saturday. Instead, Maduro, whose terpsichorean moves to a musical remix of his “No War, Yes

What is the Donroe Doctrine’s plan for Venezuela?

The US launched a military operation in Venezuela, targeting the regime in Caracas and detaining President Nicolás Maduro, who has been transferred to New York where he faces charges of narcoterrorism. Donald Trump has described the move as a decisive defense of American interests, but critics point point to the double standards when it come

What is the Donroe Doctrine’s plan for Venezuela?

The US launched a military operation in Venezuela, targeting the regime in Caracas and detaining President Nicolás Maduro, who has been transferred to New York where he faces charges of narcoterrorism. Donald Trump has described the move as a decisive defence of American interests, but critics point point to the double standards when it come

Why does Trump care about Europe’s ‘civilisational erasure’?

From our UK edition

In Ukraine, as elsewhere in Europe, Donald Trump’s new national security strategy is being met with a mixture of incredulity and incomprehension. ‘What does it actually mean?’ a general who advises Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked me on Tuesday as we met in the presidential administration building in downtown Kyiv. It’s not an easy question to answer. Is it

Trump is running out of tricks to prop up the American economy

From our UK edition

President Donald Trump dozed off during his cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Who could blame him? Listening to Secretary of State Marco Rubio drone on about Russia would prompt souls less hardy than Trump to catch some shuteye. What should be keeping Trump awake, or at least uneasy, is the shaky state of the American economy.

Elon Musk’s Doge was a damp squib

Doge has been Doge’d. Elon Musk’s once fearsome US Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) has been shut down eight months before its contract officially ends in July 2026. What was supposed to be an organisation that exploded traditional ways of running the federal government has turned into a damp squib. Doge was established by President

Donald Trump doesn’t want to talk about Epstein

The contrast could hardly have been starker. As Donald Trump palled around with Mohammed bin Salman in the newly gilded Oval Office, Congress was voting on a transparency act that would further expose Jeffrey Epstein’s grave misdeeds. Trump, who had worked overtime to try and quash the vote, was in his element with the Saudi crown prince. Transparency? Not a bit

The Epstein files continue to haunt Donald Trump

The main thing that has made the Epstein files seem politically (as opposed to morally) significant is that Donald Trump remains obsessed with preventing them from seeing the light of day. He thus devoted much of Wednesday to importuning Republicans such as Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert not to back their release. ‘Only a very bad,

Trump’s battle against the Democrats is only just beginning

No sooner did Democrats in the American Senate reach a deal to end the federal government shutdown than a frenzy of liberal pearl clutching ensued. The Democrats should have held out longer, they argued. Healthcare subsidies could have been rescued. Donald Trump’s approval ratings were plunging. Golly, maybe the Democrats could even have driven the

Nancy Pelosi was a ruthless operator

Nancy Pelosi’s career ends as it began. She entered Congress in 1986 during the Reagan administration and is ending it under the most influential Republican president since the Gipper. On Thursday she released a six-minute video announcing her retirement in 2027 from Congress, the latest octogenarian to depart it. No sooner did she announce that