An Old Law Meets a New Crisis: Trump Reaches for the Jones Act Waiver

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(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

There is a phrase that has always defined the American character in crisis: improvise and adapt. The Jones Act, passed in 1920, was not designed for a world in which the Strait of Hormuz goes dark and crude oil climbs past a hundred dollars a barrel. So President Trump has done what presidents in emergencies do — he has reached for the available lever. The White House confirmed Wednesday that Trump has issued a sixty-day waiver suspending the century-old maritime law, temporarily lifting its requirement that goods shipped between American ports travel on American-built, American-owned, and American-crewed vessels. It is

No Votes, No Endorsement: Trump Escalates on SAVE America Act

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(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

There is a particular quality to a presidential ultimatum delivered in capital letters on a social media platform in the early hours. It is not the language of persuasion. It is the language of compulsion. On Tuesday, Donald Trump turned his attention to the United States Senate and the SAVE America Act — legislation he has declared “one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress.” The bill would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, a provision its supporters argue is a common-sense safeguard, and its opponents call a mechanism for

Blackout Nation: Cuba’s Long Decline Reaches a Breaking Point

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There is a darkness settling over Cuba that is no longer metaphorical. On Monday, the island’s electrical grid failed completely — a “total disconnection,” in the clinical language of the Ministry of Energy and Mines. Eleven million people lost power. It was not the first time. It will not be the last. The outage is the latest convulsion in a crisis that has been building for years, driven by fuel shortages, decaying infrastructure, and an economy that has been losing ground for decades. President Miguel Díaz-Canel disclosed last week that Cuba had not received an oil shipment in more than

The Cards Are on the Table — And Tehran Is Holding a Losing Hand

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(Photo by Reza B / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

There is something almost classical about what Washington did Friday. An act of statecraft that is also, in its way, a statement of belief. The State Department announced it will pay up to $10 million to any Iranian citizen who comes forward with information on the whereabouts of senior leaders in the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus. Those who help could also earn something worth more than money: a path to American shores. The program targets ten figures tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an organization the United States government has designated a terrorist enterprise. The names are significant. Iran’s

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