James Poulos

Columnist

James Poulos is a contributing editor at National Affairs and the author of The Art of Being Free, out January 17 from St. Martin's Press. He has written on freedom and the politics of the future for publications ranging from The Federalist to Foreign Policy and from Good to Vice. He fronts the band Night Years in Los Angeles, where he lives with his son.

When the Republican candidate runs to the left of the Democrat.

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Opinion

Why the GOP should fear a moderate Donald Trump

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Opinion

The unbearable sameness of Hillary

What if the big banks are a moral issue?

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Opinion

Hillary Clinton has a Wall Street problem. So does America.

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Opinion

Why I'm rooting for a Ted Cruz-Bernie Sanders general election

Karl Rove may prefer a brokered convention.

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Opinion

Why Karl Rove is rooting for a brokered convention

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Opinion

What would it take to keep the West safe from terrorism?

President Obama pauses as he delivers a speech on the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, which occurred during his trip to Cuba.

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Opinion

This is what Obama should have said about Brussels

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Opinion

Will Marco Rubio team up with Ted Cruz now?

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Opinion

How the GOP debate rammed home Republicans' terrible choice

What if the people don't want a revolution?

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Opinion

How the Democratic debate revealed some deep truths about the politics of revolution

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Opinion

Can the big political parties harness the energy of their populist insurgencies?

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Opinion

The real lesson of Ted Cruz's Super Saturday? Marco Rubio is a horrible failure.

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Opinion

The latest GOP debate was a nasty, bawdy affair. But things could be worse.

THe last hope for Republicans wanting to beat Trump?

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Opinion

Will the GOP establishment line up behind Ted Cruz now?

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Opinion

Why Chris Christie could turn Donald Trump into an orange-haired George W. Bush

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Opinion

Don't be fooled by Hillary Clinton's dominant South Carolina win. She's still eminently beatable.

The major candidates have some big decisions ahead.

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Opinion

How the GOP's unhinged debate diminished both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio

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Opinion

Would a President Trump ruin America's foreign policy — or save it?

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Opinion

Jeb Bush is out. But Marco Rubio is the real Bush in the 2016 race.

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Opinion

How Hillary Clinton awkwardly exploited the limits of Bernie Sanders' political imagination

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Opinion

Why Donald Trump's vicious attack on George W. Bush was so brutally effective — and brilliant

Can they put the puzzle back together again?

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Opinion

The Democrats are in disarray... again

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Opinion

How John Kasich! stole Jeb!'s exclamation mark

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Opinion

How Chris Christie exposed Marco Rubio as an untrustworthy pretender

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Opinion

The pseudo-intellectualism of President Obama's mosque visit

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Opinion

Why Hillary Clinton's razor-thin Iowa win is really a crushing defeat

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Opinion

Rand Paul was the only Republican to have a good debate

The thought of Donald Trump becoming president has caused fear in many.

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Opinion

Why I'm not afraid of Donald Trump

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Opinion

Hillary Clinton's hatchet job

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Opinion

What Socrates could teach us about the Republicans' angry debate

Already slipping himself into the pages of history.

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Opinion

The easy historicism of President Obama

Soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army

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Opinion

China is building its first military base in Africa. America should be very nervous.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt's campaign button from the 1936 United States presidential election seems like it's from the much more distant past.

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Opinion

Why 2016 is a turning point in American politics

The recapture of the city of Ramadi is just a small victory in taking back the entire country of Iraq.

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Analysis

The bad news about ISIS's defeat in Ramadi

Donald Trump shares his strong foreign policy while other candidates fail to do so.

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Opinion

The missing middle in the GOP's foreign policy debate

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Opinion

The deep, perverse relationship between Middle Eastern despots and Islamist fanaticism