Fred Barnes
Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard, which he cofounded in 1995. From 1985 to 1995, he was senior editor and White House correspondent for the New Republic. He covered the Supreme Court and the White House for the Washington Star before moving to the Baltimore Sun in 1979. He served as the national political correspondent for the Sun and wrote the "Presswatch" media column for the American Spectator.
Barnes appears regularly on the Fox News Channel. From 1988 to 1998 he was a regular panelist on the McLaughlin Group. He has also appeared on Nightline, Meet the Press, Face the Nation, and the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
Barnes graduated from the University of Virginia and was a Neiman Fellow at Harvard University.
(Member: Washington Speakers Bureau)
Stories by Fred Barnes
BARNES: A man with a plan: Newt's strategy for GOP victory
4:00 AM, Feb 09, 2018
There are many ways Republicans can lose control of the House and Senate in November. But there’s only one way they stand a good chance to hold both chambers. It’s to run on the tax cuts. One reason is that it’s the best thing Republicans have done in the Trump era. But there are bigger reasons. It’s a very tangible issue. That matters. Voters can see and feel the cuts. This month tens of millions of Americans will get paychecks with less withheld in income taxes. And the tax cuts will be visi Read more
A Fan's Notes
Fred Barnes, Wizards fan.
4:00 AM, Feb 02, 2018
Shortly before Christmas, I got an email from the Washington Wizards basketball team. “You are in your 45th year with the Wizards!” it said. “We will be taking you and a guest on a trip to see your Wizards in Atlanta on January 27th.” I was astonished, not by the trip but by the 45 years I’ve been a season ticket holder. I’d never kept count. My life consists of few threads that long. I’ve been married longer and in the same line of work—journalism—longer too. But that’s about it. A day or t Read more
BARNES: The Chilean Model Lives
4:13 AM, Jan 26, 2018
Santiago, Chile The word “Chilezuela”—that’s Chile+Venezuela—was more an accusation than a slogan, the gist being that the left-wing candidate for president of Chile would model the country along the policy lines of Venezuela, the socialist hellhole. It worked. The leftist Alejandro Guillier lost badly to Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire and former president whose first term (2010-2014) had not gone well. Elected just before Christmas, Piñera has not caused conservative hearts to flutter in a Read more
Barnes: The GOP Triumphs of 2017
4:00 AM, Jan 12, 2018
For 37 years, efforts to open the remote Alaskan tundra known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for oil and natural gas got nowhere. It’s a barren, uninhabitable area that looks like the surface of an asteroid. But environmental groups and their Democratic allies treated it like a rare tourist attraction and insisted its pristine ugliness must be preserved. Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) badgered his colleagues for years to allow the energy riches of ANWR’s “non-wilderness 100 Read more
Barnes: It's a Long Time to November
4:00 AM, Jan 05, 2018
The optimism of Democrats about the midterm election is based on the assumption that political conditions won’t change between now and November 6. Indeed, some of them won’t. One thing sure not to change is history. There’s a longstanding rule: The party without the White House has the advantage in a president’s first midterm. Democrats lost 63 House seats in President Obama’s first one in 2010. The 2002 election was the only recent exception. That was the post-9/11 election when George W. Bus Read more
Feeble Resistance
Look at what the Democrats haven't accomplished.
4:00 AM, Dec 22, 2017
Shocked by Donald Trump’s election, Democrats adopted a strategy of resistance that’s simple and blunt: Anything Trump is for, they’re against. It’s turned out to be one of the least successful strategies a political party has ever pursued. Yet Democrats have stuck to it. At least resistance does have one benefit. It assures Democrats they’re operating on higher moral ground than Republicans. This may explain why their commitment to resist Trump didn’t flag in 2017. They didn’t bother with off Read more
The Man They Love to Hate
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's recipe for success: fearless defiance of his political and media foes
4:00 AM, Dec 15, 2017
Every Sunday evening, the press office at the Environmental Protection Agency receives emails from the New York Times and Politico asking for EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s public schedule for the coming week. The press office ignores the emails. The Times hasn’t given up. It has sued the EPA for allegedly violating public records laws by not releasing the weekly schedule. But the agency has not buckled. “We’re not going to roll out the red carpet for the New York Times ,” an EPA offi Read more
Don't Do It: Why Moving Tom Cotton to the CIA Is a Bad Idea
Fred Barnes on politics.
6:21 AM, Dec 11, 2017
A job shuffle that would put Senator Tom Cotton in charge of the CIA is one of the worst ideas to come out of the Trump administration. It’s not that Cotton couldn’t handle things at the intelligence agency. That’s not the problem. It’s what would be lost on Capitol Hill if Cotton, 40, leaves the Senate. He’s only been there for three years but he’s already a critical player. Who came up with the proposal to use the Trump tax reform bill to kill ObamaCare’s mandate forcing everyone to buy he Read more
A 'New Trump' Could Halt the Democratic Wave in 2018
A midterm wave may be building, but President Trump has a way to stop it.
5:10 AM, Nov 28, 2017
In a 1971 story (“Nora”), Washington novelist Ward Just wrote about a senator in trouble. “If you’re an architect or a lawyer and you get into trouble, you can resign and go practice somewhere else,” Just wrote. “If you’re a politician and get into trouble, that’s the end of it.” With the sexual harassment scandal in play on Capitol Hill, this phenomenon is as true today as it was 46 years ago. Except there’s a second part, a twist: Those mired in sex scandals don’t see political death as inev Read more
A Presidential Report Card
It's not pretty.
3:00 AM, Nov 17, 2017
There are many ways to judge a president—polls, approval ratings, legislative successes, foreign breakthroughs, memorable speeches, and historic moments. But there’s a better way than any of these, and Fred Greenstein, a professor of politics emeritus at Princeton University, has developed it. Rather than rely on what others think, the Greenstein method is to judge a president by his performance in office—that is, his effectiveness. Put another way, does the president offer strong and persuasi Read more
A Wave No One Saw Coming
The GOP wipeout in Virginia.
4:00 AM, Nov 10, 2017
Ed Gillespie ran a perfect campaign for an election that didn’t happen. Ralph Northam ran a sloppy campaign with the same election in mind. Northam won, no thanks to his own efforts, and will become governor of Virginia in January. We all know politics is unfair, volatile, and often unpredictable. But Virginia was a special case. Pollsters, pundits, so-called political experts, and aides and advisers to Gillespie and Northam—in other words, everyone—thought the race between the two colorless c Read more
Virginia's Big Winners: Northam, McAuliffe, and the Democrats
Election night in the Old Dominion goes badly for the GOP.
5:20 AM, Nov 08, 2017
The doubts are gone now about Virginia: It really is a Democratic state. The election of Ralph Northam, a bland and ideologically fuzzy candidate, as governor is all the proof that was required. Democrats and outgoing governor Terry McAuliffe have reason to be excited. They were nervous going into yesterday’s election as Republican Ed Gillespie appeared to be running neck-and-neck with Northam. It turned out they had little reason to fret. And now they’re giddy. Northam won everywhere he nee Read more
Trump Can't Tweet Tax Reform to Victory
The president needs more than 140 characters to sell his agenda.
11:50 AM, Nov 06, 2017
Consider this imaginary situation: A new chief of staff can organize President Trump’s harum-scarum White House operation into a crack, disciplined, and loyal team, or he can stop the president from tweeting. eThe catch is he can do one of these but not both. Which should he choose? I’ve heard from folks more politically savvy than myself that Trump benefits greatly from his tweets. He keeps his political base happy. He end-runs the media. Tweeting ensures he’s the center of attention all day, Read more
The Courage of Their Convictions
If Sen. Menendez is found guilty, will he resign?
3:10 AM, Nov 03, 2017
The verdict in the corruption trial of Democratic senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey may come as early as this week. If Menendez is convicted of a felony, Democrats face big trouble. The switch of one vote from Democrat to Republican, even temporarily, would improve the GOP’s prospects for achieving its most cherished goal, tax reform. In the narrowly divided Senate, a single vote defeated the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, and a single vote could clear the way not only for the tax bi Read more
Steve Bannon, the Man and the Myth
A political magician—to hear him tell it.
1:00 AM, Oct 27, 2017
When Steve Bannon became CEO of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on August 17, 2016, Trump was far behind Hillary Clinton, according to Bannon. “We were 16 points down,” he said. That wasn’t the only distressing poll number, he said in a recent speech to California Republicans. “I think [we were] double digits down or thereabouts on every battleground state. We were 70 on the generic ballot of Republicans. You gotta be at 90. Nine out of every 10 Republicans have to vote for you for the pr Read more
A Fight in Virginia Over the Proper Role of a State AG.
From the Oct. 30, 2017, issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
3:30 AM, Oct 20, 2017
Mark Herring, Virginia’s attorney general, wanted to run for governor this fall. But Terry McAuliffe, the current governor, thought otherwise. And his endorsement of lieutenant governor Ralph Northam for the Democratic nomination for governor sent a blunt message to Herring: forget it. Crestfallen but obedient, Herring has. He’s running for re-election. But he acts like a gubernatorial candidate, sounds like one, and may be one four years from now. When he was elected in 2013, he promised to g Read more
The Fractured GOP
Trump Republicans vs. McConnell Republicans.
3:00 AM, Oct 13, 2017
The Republican party is divided into two groups these days. There’s the Trump faction and its rival, the elected leaders, GOP officials, and rank-and-file antagonists of Trump. The split is not ideological. For the most part, the two sides agree on cutting taxes, killing Obamacare, and building up the military. But two differences stand out. The Trump group is by far the largest. Polls show the Republican grassroots overwhelmingly sticking with President Trump. And this side—the base—is eager Read more
Mitch McConnell Goes to the Mattresses for Trump's Judicial Nominees
The Senate majority leader takes charge of the confirmation process.
5:45 AM, Oct 11, 2017
The Republican drive to confirm federal judges has gained momentum from a series of actions by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. They seem modest but are likely to speed up the confirmation of both appeals and district court judges—conservatives, for the most part. Democrats won’t be pleased. The steps McConnell has taken in recent weeks are aimed at thwarting their efforts to block, sideline, or delay President Trump’s nominees. Here’s what McConnell has done: * Confirming judicial Read more
Make America Gipper Again
Trump's turn at tax reform.
3:30 AM, Sep 29, 2017
If the president’s tax plan is enacted, it will go down in history as the Trump Tax Cut of 2017. And it should, for both the tax reductions and the strategy for enacting them reflect his personal intervention and desires. Trump considers himself an expert on taxes (especially on avoiding them). He also has a phobia about being linked to tax cuts for high earners, including himself. He fears Democrats will accuse him of seeking to enrich himself and the wealthiest of upper-class Americans. And Read more
Details, Details
The president discombobulates friend and foe.
4:00 AM, Sep 15, 2017
In President Trump’s politics, “the overall impression matters more than the details,” writes Newt Gingrich in his book Understanding Trump . This is not only true and insightful, it also explains Trump’s conduct of late. Out of the blue, the president made a deal with Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat and an old pal from New York, to support a brief lifting of the debt limit. Trump got practically nothing tangible in return from the minority leader. But that was merely an insignifican Read more
The Big 4
Trump's tax-cut kibitzers.
3:30 AM, Sep 08, 2017
In tax reform, the negotiators from the Trump administration and Congress who are thought to be in charge are called the Big 6 by Washington insiders. But there’s also a Big 4, a group of supply-side economists who are playing an influential role. The Big 4—they call themselves the Committee to Unleash Prosperity—have no official status. They don’t need it. They have something better. President Trump knows all four and likes to talk to them about the economy and taxes. And things seem to be Read more
Evangelist to the Press Corps
Michael Cromartie, 1950-2017.
3:00 AM, Sep 01, 2017
Michael Cromartie, by his wits and his Christian faith, created something out of nothing, what investor Peter Thiel calls going from 0 to 1. And he became an important and influential figure in Washington, though that wasn’t his aim. It’s an unlikely story: a scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center who focused on evangelical Christians and other religious matters and became a teacher and friend of the press corps. Scores of reporters and columnists would learn from him how to talk and w Read more
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Render Unto Mike
From the March 22, 2010, issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
5:42 PM, Aug 28, 2017
There are few people in this life who you are always, every time, happy to see. Mike Cromartie was one of those people. It wasn't just because he was a Christian, though that was a big part of it. If I hadn't known of Mike's faith, I would have quickly concluded he was a Christian anyway. He didn't need to announce it. He exuded it. I was amazed how different the folks were that he befriended and counseled and taught at his Faith Angle seminars. I had my doubts about what the Faith Angle pro Read more
For Better or Worse, Trump and the GOP Need Each Other
The president can complain about congressional Republicans all he wants but there is no agenda without cooperation.
5:55 AM, Aug 28, 2017
President Trump and his Never Trump antagonists have found something they agree on. They both want to separate Trump from the Republican Party. If that happened, Republicans would surely—and probably instantly—regret it. Trump would be weakened and isolated. And the Republican Party would not only have left the president, it would split, with many Republicans siding with Trump. The whole thing would be an unprecedented and unnecessary disaster. Chances are, a separation won’t happen, though Read more
Alt-Bannon
From Breitbart to the White House and back again.
4:00 AM, Aug 25, 2017
The classic books about presidential campaigns don’t fixate on chronology. They only use chronology—the run from primaries to conventions to debates to the election—to tell a bigger story, one that transcends the campaign. Five books fall into this category. Teddy White’s The Making of the President in 1960 wasn’t about the campaign everyone saw but about what JFK and his team did beyond public view. That should sound familiar. Since then, it’s become the basic formula for campaign stories Read more
'What Was He Thinking?'
It's a question that can be asked almost daily of President Trump.
3:26 AM, Aug 21, 2017
President Trump must like banging his head against a wall because he does it so often. He does, says, or tweets things that involve him in matters that are a waste of his presidential time or counterproductive to him, his agenda, his party, and the country. We saw this phenomenon at Trump’s press conference last week that was scheduled to concentrate on infrastructure. But Trump dwelt mostly on the role of violent left-wingers in the mayhem in Charlottesville and complained the media had large Read more
Luther Strange, Roy Moore, Advance in the Alabama Republican Primary
President Trump played a surprisingly small role in the Republican primary for the Alabama Senate seat formerly held by Jeff Sessions. The question is whether Trump will be a bigger factor in the runoff a few weeks from now.
5:40 AM, Aug 16, 2017
President Trump played a surprisingly small role in the Republican primary for the Alabama Senate seat held by Jeff Sessions before he became attorney general. The question is whether Trump will be a bigger factor in the runoff a few weeks from now. The candidate Trump endorsed, Senator Luther Strange, finished a solid second in Tuesday’s primary and will face former Judge Roy Moore, who came in first, in a September 26 runoff. With 91 percent of the vote tallied, Moore had 39.6 percent, Str Read more
Bad Things Were Bound to Happen in Charlottesville
The organizers claimed they planned a peaceful gathering, then marched across a college campus with torches.
5:25 AM, Aug 15, 2017
A few thoughts about what happened in Charlottesville over the weekend: The white nationalists who organized the rally in defense of a statue of Robert E. Lee claim it was planned as a peaceful gathering. But there wasn’t much chance of that. What they actually created was akin to the Catholic notion of an “occasion of sin.” Given the circumstances, bad things were bound to happen–horrible sins. What did they expect when their ranks were fortified with Klansmen and neo-Nazis? A chatty sit-in Read more
Schumer's Losing This One
Washington's not showing much love for his tunnel.
2:20 AM, Aug 11, 2017
On November 12, 2015, officials in New York and New Jersey thought they had struck it rich. They had arranged a 50-50 deal with the federal government in which the feds would pay for half the cost of a new tunnel under the Hudson River, the renovation of Penn Station, and a lot more. An announcement said the “new federal commitment” included creation of a “development corporation to leverage billions in federal grant and loan funding.” With the estimated cost of the project now at $29 billion, Read more
Can President Trump's Endorsement Put Luther Strange Over the Top in Alabama?
We'll soon learn the value of the Trump endorsement.
7:55 AM, Aug 10, 2017
We’ll soon learn the value of President Trump’s endorsement. In a bit of a surprise, he jumped into the unpleasant Alabama Senate race and put his stamp of approval on Republican Senator Luther Strange. Strange was appointed in January after Jeff Sessions, a senator since 1996, resigned to become attorney general in the Trump administration. The president tweeted his support for Strange just a week before the Republican primary next Tuesday. Winning 63 percent of the vote, Alabama was Trump’ Read more