![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2024/07/06/multimedia/06douthat1-flpj/06douthat1-flpj-thumbWide.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)
Why Biden Is Unlikely to Defy the Naysayers
Trump’s refusal to quit in 2016 won’t work for the incumbent in 2024.
By Ross Douthat
Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as an Opinion columnist in April 2009. His column appears every Tuesday and Sunday. He is also a host on the weekly Opinion podcast, “Matter of Opinion.” Previously, he was a senior editor at The Atlantic and a blogger on its website.
He is the author of “The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery,” which was published in October 2021. His other books include "To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism,” published in 2018; “Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics” (2012); “Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class” (2005); “The Decadent Society” (2020); and, with Reihan Salam, “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream” (2008). He is the film critic for National Review.
He lives with his wife and four children in New Haven, Conn.
Trump’s refusal to quit in 2016 won’t work for the incumbent in 2024.
By Ross Douthat
Why subordinates or the “deep state” can’t substitute for a vacuum at the top.
By Ross Douthat
Gretchen Whitmer, Kamala Harris, President Biden — who is best positioned to beat Donald Trump in November?
By Charles M. Blow, Ross Douthat, David French, Nicholas Kristof, Pamela Paul, Lydia Polgreen, Derek Arthur, Sophia Alvarez Boyd, Vishakha Darbha and Jillian Weinberger
A second Biden term would be unusually dangerous for the country in a very significant way.
By Ross Douthat
A late-Soviet debate night doesn’t mean we’re in late-Soviet America.
By Ross Douthat
Three Opinion writers weigh in on the first presidential debate of 2024.
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat and Ezra Klein
We take a look at J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, Elise Stefanik and more possible Republican running mates.
By Ross Douthat, David French, Michelle Goldberg and Bret Stephens
The candidates have no shortage of flaws.
By Ross Douthat
Can populist leaders actually fix the world’s unsolvable problems?
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen
In a long conversation, the first-term senator from Ohio talks about Trump, populism, the 2020 election, Ukraine and the Republican V.P. slot.
By Ross Douthat
How Latin Mass Catholics embody the spirit of Vatican II.
By Ross Douthat
The casual observer may see persecution, not just prosecution.
By Ross Douthat
The president has many problems this election. Is Kamala Harris one of them?
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen
Why left and right both need a little more cold-eyed realism.
By Ross Douthat
A taxonomy of post-religious conservatisms.
By Ross Douthat
What the former president’s V.P. shortlist tells us about his possible second term.
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen
A more traditionalist future for the church won’t do away with liberal impulses.
By Ross Douthat
How vaccine injuries and long Covid test our partisan beliefs.
By Ross Douthat
A reading list outside the progressive box.
By Ross Douthat
And the role politicians play in all of it.
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat and Lydia Polgreen
It’s good to have a reality check every few months.
By Ross Douthat
How Israel became the focus of so much of contemporary protest politics.
By Ross Douthat
If commerce demands constant songwriting, she needs new characters to play.
By Ross Douthat
Both parties experience echoes of decades past.
By Ross Douthat
Revisiting Michael Crichton’s prophecy of cultural stagnation.
By Ross Douthat
“It’s the worst story I’ve ever covered.”
By Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen
Not just a deepening of present discontents but a dramatic crash or rupture.
By Ross Douthat
There’s a difference between being aware of your base and being its prisoner.
By Ross Douthat
A geopolitical allegory whose meaning shifts from version to version.
By Ross Douthat
Does God have to be Republican?
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen
Abortion opponents are entirely misaligned with the Trumpist form of conservatism.
By Ross Douthat
His new statement criticizing gender change is a clear appeal to the conservative wings of his church.
By Ross Douthat
Comforted by neither God nor history, and hoping vaguely that therapy can take their place.
By Ross Douthat
Can we make our phones serve a family-friendly society rather than undermine childhood?
By Ross Douthat
Why ditching phones won’t save the kids.
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen
A new Scottish law criminalizes public speech deemed “insulting” to a protected group.
By Ross Douthat
Alignments are shifting and will continue to do so.
By Ross Douthat
How long can a populist party support a libertarian Congress?
By Ross Douthat
What Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Donald Trump all understand.
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat and Lydia Polgreen
Has liberalism found a coherent sexual ethics?
By Ross Douthat
Does President Biden expect to win on a Jan. 6 strategy alone?
By Ross Douthat
Decoding blood baths and Washington bluster.
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen
That’s what he seems to be telling donors, but it’s not clear whether he’s serious.
By Ross Douthat
A theory of why Biden’s presidency has so far been a political flop.
By Ross Douthat
What the new “Dune” sequel says about the state of our world — and the movie business.
By Ross Douthat
If re-elected, how far will Donald Trump and his supporters go in pursuit of the MAGA agenda?
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen
A rule of the Trump era: The lower his profile, the higher his polls.
By Ross Douthat
How to think about the moral complexities in the Israel-Gaza war.
By Ross Douthat
A popular catchphrase, an elusive definition.
By Ross Douthat
The hosts disagree on where America’s abortion debate is headed.
By Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen