Churchill
March 18, 2026 — Scott Johnson

The Washington Free Beacon publishes a companion story for its “Beastmode” video of President Trump contrasting Winston Churchill with Keir Starmer in the Oval Office yesterday. Trump was hosting Ireland prime minister Micheál Martin for St. Patrick’s Day at the time. I wonder what Martin was thinking. Warming to his task, Trump contrasted his treatment of the Churchill bust on display in the Oval Office with its treatment by “Barack
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October 23, 2025 — Scott Johnson

Although we have taken a timeout from following the most recent conspiracy theories promoted by Tucker Carlson, we have decried his descent into the gutter of rank anti-Semitism. Every writer, every public figure, every publication, and every institution that lauded him in years past is obligated to speak out against the vile figure he has become — deceitful and destructive in his own right and a discredit to everyone with
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October 16, 2025 — Scott Johnson

In January 1933 the Oxford Union voted 275-153 to approve the motion: “That this House refuses in any circumstances to fight for King and Country.” The proposition became known as the Oxford oath. Winston Churchill was not amused. While others counseled that it be dismissed as youthful folly, he declined to ignore the proceedings at Oxford. Rather, he declared it “a very disquieting and disgusting symptom” and proceeded to explain
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September 4, 2025 — Scott Johnson

In June 1945, at the opening of the general election campaign, Winston Churchill gave a speech that was broadcast over the BBC. Having recently read Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, Churchill observed: My friends, I must tell you that a Socialist policy is abhorrent to the British ideas of freedom. Although it is now put forward in the main by people who have a good grounding in the Liberalism and Radicalism
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August 5, 2025 — Scott Johnson

One searches for the words to characterize the current leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada who have voiced support for a Palestinian state to award the genocidal maniacs responsible for Israel’s ordeal since 10/7. After struggling to articulate my own thoughts yesterday, it occurred to me… Speaking in Parliament in January 1931 Winston Churchill brutally disparaged the Labour Prime Minister as “a boneless wonder.” From chapter 3 (“Churchillisms”)
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November 30, 2024 — Scott Johnson

In January 1933 the Oxford Union voted 275-153 to approve the motion: “That this House refuses in any circumstances to fight for King and Country.” The proposition became known as the Oxford oath. Winston Churchill was not amused. While others counseled that it be dismissed as youthful folly, he declined to ignore the proceedings at Oxford. Rather, he declared it “a very disquieting and disgusting symptom” and proceeded to explain
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November 12, 2024 — Scott Johnson

Peter Robinson convened an assembly of three of our most prominent living historians — Niall Ferguson, Victor Davis Hanson, and Andrew Roberts — to discuss issues including the false premise of the 1619 Project, the recent controversy regarding Winston Churchill’s role in World War II, the Cold War, and other items of interest. This is the first time the three have appeared together in a public forum. Tucker Carlson promoted
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September 12, 2024 — Scott Johnson

Crank pseudo historians must be a dime a dozen. As one such, there’s nothing special about Darryl Cooper. The focus is on Cooper in the episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored posted below. It features Andrew Roberts, Dave Smith, and Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon. It was Dillon’s tweets on X that originally drew my attention to Carlson’s promotion of Cooper and his teaching on World War II. I greatly respect
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September 8, 2024 — Scott Johnson

In his 2019 review/essay on Tucker Carlson in the Claremont Review of Books, Michael Anton reasonably assessed: “Tucker Carlson has become the de facto leader of the conservative movement—assuming any such thing can still be said to exist. He didn’t seek the position. I doubt he wants it. He’d probably disclaim it, in fact. But the mantle settled on him nonetheless…” Perhaps without his show on Fox News, which Anton
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September 5, 2024 — Steven Hayward

In re: the growing scandal of Tucker Carlson’s promotion of (among other things) anti-Churchill “rightists,” let us recall afresh the judgment of British historian Geoffrey Elton: “When I meet a historian who cannot think that there have been great men, great men moreover in politics, I feel myself in the presence of a bad historian. And there are times when I incline to judge all historians by their opinion of Winston
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September 5, 2024 — Scott Johnson

I want to draw attention to Park MacDougald’s take on what he calls “The Tucker Op” in his daily column at Tablet’s The Scroll. He takes account of more weirdness in the Carlson/Cooper hoedown than I did — e.g., Churchill’s alleged installation as prime minister by shadowy “financiers,” the likening of Israelis to the Nazis (“So, the Nazis were misunderstood, but also the Israelis are a bit like the Nazis.
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February 10, 2024 — Scott Johnson

Winston Churchill held former Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in low esteem. It might not be an exaggeration to say he reviled Baldwin. When asked to send Baldwin an 80th birthday note, Churchill declined. “I wish Stanley Baldwin no ill,” he commented, “but it would have been much better had he never lived.” Four months later, when informed that Baldwin had died, Churchill responded: “Embalm, cremate and bury. Take no chances”
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December 13, 2023 — Scott Johnson

Cliff May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times. He is a veteran reporter, foreign correspondent, and editor for the New York Times and other publications. Cliff’s current column is “The lessons of ‘Casablanca'” (at FDD, where it is posted with links). Cliff has kindly given us his permission to post his column on Power Line. He writes:
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July 9, 2023 — Scott Johnson

Speaking in class at the University of Chicago on January 25, 1965, Leo Strauss famously commented on Churchill’s death: The death of Churchill is a healthy reminder to academic students of political science of their limitations, the limitations of their craft. The tyrant stood at the pinnacle of his power. The contrast between the indomitable and magnanimous statesman and the insane tyrant – this spectacle in its clear simplicity was
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March 19, 2023 — Scott Johnson

Speaking in Parliament in 1931 Winston Churchill brutally disparaged the Labor Prime Minister as “a boneless wonder”: I remember when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum’s circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the program which I most desired to see was the one described as “The Boneless Wonder.” My parents judged that that spectacle would be too revolting and
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December 20, 2022 — Scott Johnson

The producers of Uncancelled History with Douglas Murray have just posted episode 5 on Winston Churchill. Whose brain would you want Murray to pick on Churchill? Luckily for us they thought to call on Andrew Roberts and luckily for us Roberts answered the call. Roberts is of course the prominent historian and prolific author of the one-volume bio Churchill: Walking With Destiny and related books. Murray and Roberts discuss the
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July 30, 2022 — Scott Johnson

Churchill expert Richard Langworth is senior fellow at the Hilldale College Churchill Project. He wrote me yesterday after I cited Churchill’s comments on Stanley Baldwin in “What base ingratitude.” I said that Baldwin had tested the limits of Churchill’s magnanimity. My quotations from Churchill suggested that Baldwin had exceeded the limits. Mr. Langworth wrote to let me know that he had “a further refinement on that[.]” In “Churchill’s Magnanimity: Stanley
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