Picture of Shikha Dalmia

Shikha Dalmia

Columnist

Shikha Dalmia is a visiting fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University studying the rise of populist authoritarianism.  She is a Bloomberg View contributor and a columnist at the Washington Examiner, and she also writes regularly for The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other publications. She considers herself to be a progressive libertarian and an agnostic with Buddhist longings and a Sufi soul.

When conservatives don't value families
A child reaching for a San Diego border fence.
Opinion

When conservatives don't value families

ICE's tyrannical campaign to silence dissent
An ICE agent.
Opinion

ICE's tyrannical campaign to silence dissent

The sad hysteria of the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center logo.
Opinion

The sad hysteria of the Southern Poverty Law Center

The conservative scheme to pay for parental leave by robbing Social Security
Ivanka Trump.
Opinion

The conservative scheme to pay for parental leave by robbing Social Security

The GOP as we knew it is dead. And what comes next is terrifying.
Trump supporters.
Opinion

The GOP as we knew it is dead. And what comes next is terrifying.

Trump's anti-immigrant enforcers want to team up with Trump's spies. Watch out.
An ICE agent.
Opinion

Trump's anti-immigrant enforcers want to team up with Trump's spies. Watch out.

Trump's cruel quest to rid America of foreign-born workers
Chinese-Americans.
Opinion

Trump's cruel quest to rid America of foreign-born workers

How Hindu nationalists devoured India
A protest against the movie 'Palmaavati' in Uttar Pradesh, India.
Opinion

How Hindu nationalists devoured India

Trump is fighting the last war on immigration
Migrant workers.
Opinion

Trump is fighting the last war on immigration

Obama failed immigrants. They're paying for it now.
An immigration rally supporting DREAMers.
Opinion

Obama failed immigrants. They're paying for it now.

Trump's war on immigrants
President Trump
Opinion

Trump's war on immigrants

#MeToo run amok
Accused.
Opinion

#MeToo run amok

How to thwart Trump's cruel crackdown on the DREAMers
Immigration activists rally for a clean Dream Act.
Opinion

How to thwart Trump's cruel crackdown on the DREAMers

How the GOP made a royal mess of its good ideas
Sen. Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump.
Opinion

How the GOP made a royal mess of its good ideas

America the great
The first lunar landing: just one of America's finest achievements.
Opinion

America the great

The alt-right's favorite academic
Harvard Professor Robert Putnam.
Opinion

The alt-right's favorite academic

Will Trumpism triumph in Virginia?
Vice President Mike Pence campaigns with Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie.
Opinion

Will Trumpism triumph in Virginia?

Donald Trump, job killer
A worker at Honda's Indiana plant in 2011.
Opinion

Donald Trump, job killer

Trump's ransom note for the DREAMers
President Trump.
Opinion

Trump's ransom note for the DREAMers

We can't stop mass murder
A vigil for victims of the Las Vegas massacre.
Opinion

We can't stop mass murder

Saudi America
Women in Saudi Arabia attent an employment recruitment event for women.
Opinion

Saudi America

Trump's new travel restrictions are nonsensical and cruel
A Syrian refugee wipes her eyes at a rally protesting President Trump's travel ban.
Opinion

Trump's new travel restrictions are nonsensical and cruel

Gauri Lankesh was a brilliant and brave journalist. She was my friend. And they murdered her.
Gauri Lankesh.
Feature

Gauri Lankesh was a brilliant and brave journalist. She was my friend. And they murdered her.

How America turned this Arizona border town into a police state
Jim Chilton walks beside a border fence on his ranch in Arivaca, Arizona.
Feature

How America turned this Arizona border town into a police state

The upside of Trump's moral abdication
President Trump.
Opinion

The upside of Trump's moral abdication

The dilemma of the Google memo
Gray areas at Google.
Opinion

The dilemma of the Google memo

Marco Rubio's shameful immigration skid
Sen. Marco Rubio.
Opinion

Marco Rubio's shameful immigration skid

Can technological wizardry save the planet?
Chemtrails in Berlin.
Opinion

Can technological wizardry save the planet?

How today's pro-immigrant activists are adopting the tactics of abolitionists
The Liberator newspaper.
Feature

How today's pro-immigrant activists are adopting the tactics of abolitionists

Does fiscal conservatism end at the border wall?
The U.S.-Mexico border.
Opinion

Does fiscal conservatism end at the border wall?

Medicaid is a colossal waste of money
Medicaid costs.
Opinion

Medicaid is a colossal waste of money

The shared flaw of our fights against terrorism and climate change
Steam and exhaust fill the evening sky.
Opinion

The shared flaw of our fights against terrorism and climate change

Don't cry for the Paris Agreement
President Trump in the Rose Garden.
Opinion

Don't cry for the Paris Agreement

Before you argue for universal health care in America, look at the disaster in England
An elderly British hospital patient.
Opinion

Before you argue for universal health care in America, look at the disaster in England

Trump is out of control because Republicans are in control
Sen. Mitch McConnell and other Republican senators.
Opinion

Trump is out of control because Republicans are in control

President Trump torched his legislative agenda by firing Comey
President Trump.
Analysis

President Trump torched his legislative agenda by firing Comey