Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, & Mosbacher Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University. Views expressed are purely my own.
Joined November 2008
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Jun 4
This is clearly a must read.
Just started reading Dr. Shoshan Haran’s gripping book ``Mission in Captivity.’’ bit.ly/4vtCmy1 It will make a great play one day. It’s the story of how Hamas gunmen on October 7, 2023, killed her husband, sister, and brother-in-law in Kibbutz Be’eri. Then they kidnapped Haran into Gaza with her daughter, two grandchildren, sister in-law and niece. For 50 days, ten people -- six hostages and four captors -- lived together in a tiny, sealed room. Oh my, what they learned about each other.
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May 7
Nick Stephanopoulos on the Court’s disastrous Calais decision: “I see Callais as a catastrophe from a democratic perspective. Minority representation is a fundamental democratic value, especially in a racially and ethnically diverse country with severely racially polarized voting…. we’re about to see the biggest drop in minority representation since at least the late nineteenth century, possibly ever.” open.substack.com/pub/michae…
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May 2
A moving account by my Hoover colleague Rowena He of her struggle to recover and defend historical memory in China. I am so grateful to the Hoover Institution for preserving the memory of Lin Zhao. Hope in Darkness: Teaching Lin Zhao in Hong Kong thefreedomfrequency.org/p/ho…
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Apr 13
How about Donald Trump? In any case, there are so many uplifting lessons in this victory for democracy, for Hungary, and for Europe. The most important one, for all the democracy skeptics out there: Do not yield to populism, cynicism, or despair. Democracy is a better bet because of its capacity for self-correction.
Apr 12
Putin keeps losing his allies around world— Assad in Syria, Maduro in Venezuela, Khamenei in Iran, and now Orban in Hungary.
What Putin friend is next to fall?
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Apr 12
Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's breathtaking electoral defeat is one of the most significant gaings for liberal democracy in the past decade. His regime was the archetype of a right-wing authoritarian populism that claimed to be simply "illiberal" but was in fact undemocratic as well. It became an inspiration and a source of support for similar authoritarian populist parties and movements around the world. Both Putin and Trump have suffered serious geopolitical setbacks with Orbán's defeat. Authoritarian populist rulers like Erdogan in Turkey and even Narendra Modi in India should take note. Assaults on civil liberties and the rule of law produce corruption and misrule. Eventually, the people rebel at the polls or on the streets. /1
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Apr 12
Magyar and his Tisza party will face enormous challenges in governing, as Orbán and his Fidesz party have spent 16 years stacking the judiciary and civil service, controlling the media, gerrymandering electoral districts, and amending the constitution to create a "competitive authoritarian" regime. But fortunately Tisza appears to have won the necessary 2/3 majority in parliament to amend the constitution, and they will need to use that wisely and forthrightly to restore democracy. /4
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Apr 12
Orbán might have fallen sooner if the EU had moved more expeditiously to stop subsidizing his corruption and misrule. It was only in this more recent term (2022-26) that the EU finally lost its patience and started withholding funding. Lesson to all democracies: Don't subsidize autocracy and bad government. The EU can now make a difference by releasing to new Magyar government the billions of Euros in funding it has withheld, and by resolving to take a tougher line against creeping autocracy in the future. /5
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Apr 12
It is difficult to overstate the global significance of Orbán's massive, stunning defeat after 16 years in power. His was the paradigmatic case of right-wing authoritarian populism, becoming ever-more undemocratic, arrogant, and corrupt. It is not only Orbán that lost today, but Putin, Trump and foes of liberal democracy worldwide. Erdogan, Modi, and others should take note.
nytimes.com/2026/04/12/world…
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Feb 20
Contrary to prevailing assumptions (and authoritarian aspirations) promoting democracy is not a dying or hopeless mission for the U.S. Here is why it remains an imperative, and how we can build it back better in the years to come. notus.org/perspectives/how-p…
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Feb 19
426 - Corruption Consumes the Globe, and Overwhelms Washington open.substack.com/pub/robert…
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LarryDiamond retweeted
Feb 11
A passport card is $65. Call this what it is for those who don't have passports. For married women who took the name of husband, birth certificates don't suffice. For those who lack birth certificates, copies can cost up to $40. This is a poll tax. Voter suppression.
Feb 10
A Real ID should be sufficient. Not all Drivers Licenses are Real ID. So, He’s trying to scare people into believing he’s on the right side. None of those things are prohibitively expensive. A passport card cost about $30.
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Feb 4
"With 2026 underway, Africa’s broader democracy story is moving in multiple directions.... Supporters of democracy—both inside and outside of the continent—will have to remain ready to seize windows of opportunity for progress." This Carnegie essay is an excellent, wide-ranging analysis of the resilience of democratic aspirations and possibilities in Africa, and the retrenchment and recalcitrance it faces from aging regimes and leaders. Africa's democratic forces need more international support, and it can make a difference. carnegieendowment.org/resear…
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Jan 29
Trump's FBI raid on the Fulton Country election offices in Georgia is likely not about 2020, but about preparing to disrupt and if necessary steal the elections in 2026 and 2028. In key districts, "state and local election officials need to be ready to go to federal court to seek injunctions barring the government from seizing voting machines or otherwise interfering with the process of tabulating ballots. Trump might even try to send troops to seize ballots without a search warrant, and if that threat is real, proactive judicial action is necessary." Election law expert Rick Hasen has given as an urgent warning and a must-read. slate.com/news-and-politics/…
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Jan 28
Thank you, Rowena He, for your courage and forthrightness in waging the battle for freedom and historical memory in China, and in Hong Kong. It is an honor to have you as a colleague at the Hoover Institution, and I encourage everyone to listen to your moving podcast conversation with Elizabeth Economy:
youtube.com/watch?v=pd7P-Ot1….
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Jan 21
Thankfully, a world leader--of our closest friend and neighbor, Canada--is finally standing up to Trump. This is a historically important speech by Mark Carney, not only for Canada but for the United States and the world. Our friends and allies must stop indulging, enabling, and submitting to America's madman president. Only forthright resistance and tough love will get us out of our downward spiral.
Jan 20
Canadian Prime Minister @MarkJCarney's speech at Davos is quite brilliant. Without vitriol or exaggeration, he outlines the harsh new world that Trump is leading us all toward. Here's the full text; much recommended: globalnews.ca/news/11620877/…
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Jan 20
“The whole system is very sick right now.” A powerful and distressing analysis of the decline of American democracy under Trump’s withering assaults. nytimes.com/2026/01/20/podca… via @NYTimes
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Jan 20
My conversation with the great Montana podcasters Jon Tester and Maritsa Georgiou. "This things is very far from lost": groundedpodcast.substack.com….
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Jan 7
"...we live in a world… that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power." Stephen Miller on CNN, Jan 25, 2026.
"The fundamental motif through all the centuries has been the principle that force and power are the determining factors.... Only force rules." Adolf Hitler at Essen, Nov 22, 1926. globalsecurity.org/military/…
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