By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr  

Congrats are due for the term “climate denialist,” which in 2016 migrated from Paul Krugman’s column to the news pages of the New York Times. On Dec. 7, the term ascended to a place of ultimate honor when it figured in the headline, “Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead E.P.A.” Unfortunately, never […]

In any razor-thin voting outcome, it’s easy and fun to cite oddball or esoteric factors and claim they “decided” the race. Of course, it is the totality of factors that decide an outcome. Donald Trump fans shouldn’t kid themselves-his victory was razor-thin. But the claim, therefore, that Trump would not have been elected but for […]

Rex Tillerson’s preferment at the State Department perhaps is Donald Trump’s best answer to the clamor about Russian meddling in the US election. Mr. Tillerson may not be trained in diplomacy, but he’s had a lot of experience in dealing with Vladimir Putin. He opposed sanctions. He favors rapprochement. He’s one person who can talk […]

Students of James Buchanan, co-founder of the public-choice school of economics, must puzzle over the furor caused by Donald Trump’s conflicts of interests. All presidents act out of self-interest, all the time; any relation to the public interest (whatever that is) is, at best, incidental. Politicians are always pursuing their own advantage as they see […]

To imagine that Donald Trump, in order to eliminate conflicts of interest, would or could cash out his stake in his business empire is entirely unrealistic. He wouldn’t do it, not least because he would practically have to annul the Trump brand, even stop his children from using it-which he can’t legally or ethically do. […]

Donald Trump probably won’t get credit, even from those bending over backward to be charitable to last night’s winner, for his most-revolutionary endeavor-namely his effort to lighten up campaign rhetoric. Even now many Republican anti-Trumpers continue to fume over his remark about John McCain: “I like people who weren’t captured.” It was disrespectful, yes. It […]

  Whatever you think of Donald Trump, his candidacy represents an important opportunity. It’s a chance to dismiss a very particular elite about whom it could be said, borrowing from Cromwell, “For any good you have been doing . . . in the name of God, go!” We are referring, of course, to America’s green-energy […]

Just as a voter, helped by the media, was thinking Donald Trump is a shocking liar, along came Elizabeth Warren’s bravura performance in last week’s Wells Fargo hearing. Unfortunately, she also completely falsified the scandal, insisting that fraudulent sales inflated the company’s stock and the CEO’s pay. It didn’t happen that way. As a New […]

‘To meet quotas, employees have opened unneeded accounts for customers, ordered credit cards without customers’ permission and forged client signatures on paperwork. Some employees begged family members to open ghost accounts.” So reported the Los Angeles Times three years ago, opening a window on a snafu at Wells Fargo that, by now, has led to […]

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s investigation of Exxon Mobil for climate sins has collapsed due to its own willful dishonesty. The posse of state AGs he pretended to assemble never really materialized. Now his few allies are melting away: Massachusetts has suspended its investigation. California apparently never opened one. The U.S. Virgin Islands has […]