Michael McKenna
Columns by Michael McKenna
IEA’s peak oil narrative exposes peak idiocy in global energy policy
Back in 2020, the International Energy Agency, created in 1974 to address OPEC and the risk it then posed, openly joined the environmental crazies to embrace and amplify the narrative of scarcity. Published October 1, 2025
Israel seems intent on undoing the Abraham Accords
Without a doubt, the most impressive foreign policy achievement of President Trump's first term were the Abraham Accords. Published September 28, 2025
America’s future depends on rejecting politics of recrimination
Right before he left the White House after having resigned, President Nixon encouraged his soon-to-be former staff not to give in to hate. Published September 24, 2025
Conroe’s natural gas pipeline lawsuit delivers national consequences
Montgomery County, Texas, is way on the northern border of the Houston/Woodlands metroplex. Published September 21, 2025
What does the Constitution’s oath of office mean?
Now that the Trump administration has let us know it has attacked and sunk a third boat in the Caribbean, perhaps it is time to think about the value of due process. Published September 17, 2025
America stands at crossroads between civil discourse and political violence
In the immediate wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a friend of mine posted on social media that she looked forward to similar levels of outrage for the recent shootings of schoolchildren. Published September 14, 2025
Due process protections matter even for terrorists and drug dealers
One morning at the end of September 2011, a young American who had been born in New Mexico and was residing in and traveling through Yemen was killed by a drone strike while having breakfast. Published September 10, 2025
Fans fund failure as teams like Cowboys and Yankees chase only franchise value
The end of summer means more important things are afoot -- namely, pennant races in baseball and the start of football. Published September 7, 2025
America’s postwar dominance built the modern world
There has been little official fanfare about this, but 80 years ago Tuesday -- Sept. 2, 1945 -- the Japanese government formally surrendered to the Allied forces (which consisted primarily of Americans). Published September 3, 2025
Gimmicks won’t shrink the federal government
The Congressional Budget Office projected in August that the tariffs imposed by the administration would raise nearly $4 trillion over 10 years. Published August 31, 2025
Buchanan deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom
A few days ago, Rep. Riley Moore sent a letter to President Trump suggesting that now would be an optimal moment to give the presidential Medal of Freedom to Patrick Buchanan. Published August 27, 2025
Why silence beats strong opinions in today’s political circus
At least officially, the presidential election of 2020 had the highest rate of turnout (of voting-age population) since the 1968 presidential election. Published August 24, 2025
Little of DOGE’s work likely to survive
The DOGE guys seemed well-meaning, but hardly anything they did will survive. Published August 20, 2025
Finding hope in the middle of life’s journey
In the face of loss, the great poet William Wordsworth encouraged us to reconcile the nostalgia and sadness with our primal impulse to keep going. Published August 17, 2025
Silicon Valley’s China chip problem undermines America’s AI dominance strategy
Despite saying in April that it would restrict the sales of Nvidia's advanced H20 chips to China, Team Trump has decided to grant export licenses that allow Nvidia and AMD to sell those chips to China. Published August 13, 2025
Trump’s TikTok delays undermine his China hawks while Intel controversy grows
Sen. Tom Cotton sent a letter last week to the chairman of the board at Intel asking questions about the chipmaker's new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan and Mr. Tan's ties to Chinese companies. Published August 10, 2025
Gerrymandering is destructive no matter who does it
A few weeks ago, Team Trump decided that reopening the redistricting of House districts in Texas would be a good idea, ostensibly because it would provide an extra five GOP votes in the House. Published August 6, 2025
E-Verify, a choke point for stopping illegal immigrant employment in America
President Trump promised during his campaign that, if elected, he would finish the job he had started in the first term -- namely, he would fix America's broken immigration system. Published August 3, 2025
How many dead are enough in Gaza?
A few days back, this column addressed the attack by Israeli soldiers on Holy Family, the only Roman Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip. The Israelis killed three people and wounded several others. Published July 30, 2025
American energy is essential to American dominance
I recently wrote a column arguing that increased American production of oil and gas was part of the reason we were able to attack Iran with impunity a few weeks ago. Published July 27, 2025
