When did it go wrong? President Trump had a perfect thing going. A beautiful hotel right between the White House and Capitol Hill, whose opening pretty much coincided with the start of his first term. It was a vintage Trump operation — turning a pretty much abandoned property into something special in a way only he could pull off. Conservatives flocked to it. It had (surprise!) the best ballroom in Washington. And no place looked better and warmer at Christmastime. I thought it would last forever.
This article is from The American Spectator’s summer 2026 print magazine. Subscribe to The American Spectator to receive the magazine.
Instead, by mid-2022 the hotel was sold and renamed. Trump and his family had lost too much money running it. For his troubles, Trump had faced constant attacks, with every foreign visitor to it being suspected of bribing the president — and Trump of too eagerly collecting those bribes. When finally elected to a second term, he no longer had an appetite for a perfect urban setting. Any new ballroom would have to be at the White House itself.
In the meantime, our president has become a foreign policy president as well. He’s paying a huge price on that score, if that’s what Tucker Carlson’s denunciation of him can be called. Clearly it thrilled the New York Times, which ran an endless and ever-so-civil and friendly interview with Carlson, even hinting that maybe he’ll run for president in 2028. The boyish Carlson was clearly flattered. At this point, he’s happy to give the New York Times what it wants.
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Carlson lives and breathes interviews. About the same time he spoke with the New York Times, he conducted an equally long and friendly interview with Israel- and America-hater Jeffrey Sachs. Sachs loathes Benjamin Netanyahu more than some people hate Donald Trump (and Tucker Carlson loathes Ted Cruz). Yet he’s also deeply erudite and fascinating to listen to. He views the world his way. Thus America is loathsome for what it’s done to Iran since 1953. And Iran is run by people who are deeply cultured and dignified. Israel by contrast is ghastly, given the cruel and awful way it’s treated the Palestinians from the beginning and under the barbaric and crazed Netanyahu. You could only shudder as you listened to Carlson soaking it all in. As time passes, the fate and abandonment of the Jews in World War II gives way to utter indifference if not forgetfulness, not to mention the Palestinian apologists’ defiant refusal to tolerate the presence of Jews anywhere “from the River to the Sea.”
Here we are, 250 years removed from the Declaration that has kept us uniquely independent and free. But not everyone is happy to celebrate the anniversary. It was amusing to see the New Yorker reluctantly offer a lame cheer in its special issue for the anniversary, which featured a bored and rather jaded and hungover George Washington on the cover and was titled “Red, White, and Kinda Blue.” When did we become a country of spoiled rats? If we’re unable to summon even a dose of gratitude on turning 250, what are our chances of doubling that number? Special thanks to Samuel Gregg, whose essay follows soon after these pages, for understanding perfectly.
Subscribe to The American Spectator to receive our summer 2026 print magazine.
