World

A certain conventional wisdom in Washington has it that a sober triad is alone keeping the White House—and hence the country—from falling into complete chaos. (Notice I said complete.) Some wags identify the trio as “the generals”—Defense Secretary James Mattis, Chief of Staff John Kelly, and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster—while some substitute Eagle Scout Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, for General McMaster. It might turn out, however, that it’s a man nobody thinks of as a dutiful public servant who’s actually been staving off disaster—and he’s just left the building. Gary Cohn announced on Tuesday he would be stepping down from the directorate of the National Economic Council.

Not many world leaders can claim to be on friendly personal terms with Donald Trump. There are fewer still who would regard a visit to this particular president’s White House as a crowning achievement, and one which would increase their popularity at home rather than being seen as a moral failing. So the lesson of Benjamin Netanyahu’s triumphant meeting with the US president deserves particular scrutiny for having jumped all these hurdles. Admittedly, it helps to be a right wing Israeli Prime Minister at a time of Republican ascendancy. Netanyahu’s relationship with Barack Obama was famously abrasive. Any successor was bound to be an improvement, even if the strong US-Israel

Amid the avalanche of news coming from Saudi Arabia, the most important has been overlooked. A few weeks ago Riyadh ceded control of the Grand Mosque in Brussels, leased to the Saudis in 1969 and since then instrumental in promoting Islamic supremacy, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic hatred in the heart of Europe. The deal had given Saudi-funded imams control of the religious education received by the Muslim immigrant community in Belgium, in return for cheaper oil. It was a pact with the Wahhabi devil then typical of European governments. And we are still paying the price. When Islamic States called for Muslims to launch jihadist slaughter throughout the European continent, the

Every week is extraordinary in the Trump administration — but this week seems stranger than most. Matters are rumbling in the belly of the beast. On Tuesday, we learned that Jared Kushner had his security clearance downgraded. Today, we learn that Hope Hicks, famously Trump’s most trusted aide, has resigned, a day after she testified to the House Intelligence Committee as part of the Russia investigation. Hicks stonewalled questions from the committee for several hours, though she did reportedly open up a little on certain aspects of Trump’s transition. She is the fourth Trump White House communications director to quit in just over a year. It can’t be easy leading

Washington, DC The Valentine’s Day massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida has been an unprecedented, touchstone moment in American life. It is a naked tragedy – but also one killing only a third as many (seventeen) as died in Las Vegas last year (fifty nine) or in North Florida the year before that (forty nine). Nevertheless, the shooting has rankled Republican demurral on gun control like never before. This is not early 2013 under President Obama after the Newtown elementary school massacre. Do nothing and the GOP, dominant in federal politics and firmly in control of most of the states, risks a typhoon of cultural scorn. The

It was always ridiculous that Jared Kushner, an amiable 37-year-old who had no diplomatic, political or military experience, should have had top-level ‘SCI’ security access as a senior member of the White House — just because he happened to be the President’s son-in-law. Well now, he’s been downgraded, as Politico reports. He continues to have ‘secret level’ access, which is still pretty silly when you think about it. But the downgrading signals that Kushner, who just a few weeks ago was still thought to be the supreme power in the White House, is losing influence. It also suggests that General John Kelly, Trump’s chief of staff, is taking further charge