Syria is at a crossroads, and the Senate and executive branch should work together to provide resources to Ahmad al-Sharaa's government. Success isn't guaranteed, but the collapse of al-Sharaa's government would likely trigger renewed civil war, and the cost of that fallout would far exceed the price of supporting Syria now.

Democratic leaders like Gov. Wes Moore and Gov. Gavin Newsom are wrong to believe the party can only win by matching Republican gerrymandering tactic for tactic, since Republicans simply have more room to draw favorable maps in a tit-for-tat fight. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson and New Hampshire Gov.

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson's decision to reject a redistricting proposal backed by House Speaker Adrienne Jones and Gov. Wes Moore was an act of political bravery. If Democrats want leaders capable of standing up to MAGA, they should back candidates willing to withstand pressure from their own party and tell voters hard truths — that kind of honesty and fortitude gives the party its best shot at regaining power.

President Trump could take real steps to find common ground with Democrats and ease the gridlock that's produced repeated government shutdowns. Some proposed shortcuts — like changing Senate rules to allow reopening government with a simple majority — would solve the immediate problem but create bigger long-term instability.

Having already won the military conflict with Hamas, Israel now faces the harder task of winning the peace — one that requires bold gestures and a willingness to assume risk, including politically difficult moves like prisoner releases. Securing lasting peace will demand uncomfortable actions from Israel, but the alternative is renewed conflict and deeper international isolation.

The SECURE Act, the counterintelligence provision of the Intelligence Authorization Act championed by Rep. Rick Crawford, would meaningfully restructure a fragmented U.S. counterintelligence community by creating an empowered director able to direct rather than merely coordinate the individual services.

New leaders often undermine their own credibility by announcing organizational change too soon, before establishing trust and rapport with their team. Successful transformation depends on choosing the right moment, framing change around shifting circumstances rather than employee performance, honoring an organization's past successes, and genuinely committing to collaboration rather than acting unilaterally.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is right to want a fairer complaint process, but his broader vision of the military as an institution defined by physical fitness and domestic law enforcement reflects an outdated view of what makes forces lethal. Fitness matters, but staying engaged with the world matters more for America's actual security.

Gov. Wes Moore, even while rightly criticizing parts of the One Big Beautiful Bill, shouldn't let that stop him from opting Maryland in to a provision allowing residents to claim a federal tax credit for donations that fund private-school scholarships. Smart implementation can extend this benefit to Maryland families without diverting resources from public schools.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen adopted one of President Trump's own signature tactics when he publicly pressured fellow Democrats to endorse New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, calling holdouts "spineless." Democrats who follow Van Hollen's lead are embracing a version of the party that abandons the center and grows increasingly out of step with many voters.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's aggressive, Trump-mimicking rhetoric — and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's apparent eagerness to keep pace with him — represents a losing strategy for Democrats, with the party's lowest approval ratings in 30 years as evidence that fighting fire with fire isn't working.

Charlie Kirk's assassination is the latest, tragic consequence of decades of careless political rhetoric that dehumanizes opponents and normalizes viewing them as existential threats. Every dismissive remark and hyperbolic accusation contributes to a climate where extreme action becomes easier, and Americans can't bridge their divides by alternating between expressions of grief and continued attacks on each other.

Gov. Wes Moore, entitled to some benefit of the doubt given the complexity of his job, has already spent significant time building his national profile through tit-for-tat exchanges with President Trump. Moore could earn far more meaningful goodwill by staying focused on Maryland and reviving the kind of bipartisan coalition former Gov. Larry Hogan built, rather than exploiting his current publicity for a larger political stage.

Democrats are right that President Trump's timing and characterization of D.C. crime are suspect, but the president is also right that crime in American cities remains too high. The real risk is in the solutions themselves — they shouldn't deepen the divide between police and the communities they serve, or normalize using the armed forces for domestic law enforcement.

Democrats don't need to match Republican gerrymandering with tactics of their own to win. If the party is right about the political damage caused by President Trump's policies, moderating their message and appealing to voters beyond the cities should be enough to make a newly redrawn Texas district winnable, without resorting to redistricting games.

President Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin carries real opportunities and real risks. Russia's economy has stayed afloat largely because countries like China, India and Brazil have kept buying discounted Russian oil, and any agreement reached needs to reflect the actual leverage the U.S. holds rather than Putin's patience for outlasting Western resolve.

Israel achieved its short-term goal of protecting its citizens after October 7, but its pursuit of Hamas's total and permanent elimination — rather than accepting a managed, limited victory — is causing lasting damage to its global reputation. Israeli leaders are miscalculating if they think world opinion matters less than the residual military threat, since sustained images of civilian suffering in Gaza are shifting sympathy and eroding even long-standing bipartisan American

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's unsubstantiated accusations of a treasonous conspiracy against Trump's 2016 campaign are setting MAGA supporters up for a letdown similar to the unfulfilled promises around the Epstein files. Absent fabricated evidence, the mass prosecutions Gabbard's rhetoric implies will never materialize, leaving her and ultimately Trump to explain why the accused conspirators are never brought to justice.

Reps. Thomas Massie and Warren Davidson deserve the country's gratitude, even from the political left, as the only Republicans willing to resist President Trump's pressure and vote against his budget reconciliation bill. Their vote demonstrated real, independent conviction — in contrast to both a Republican Party too willing to fall in line behind the president and a Democratic Party that showed similarly misplaced loyalty in downplaying Joe Biden's decline in 2024.

President Trump's usual mix of flattery, favors and intimidation is failing with Elon Musk because Musk, unlike most people Trump deals with, is genuinely principled and wealthy enough not to need Trump's favor. Musk's opposition to the tax and spending bill, despite the political and business risk it creates for him, reflects real conviction rather than a transactional calculation — the kind of stance a transactional president like Trump struggles to understand.