“How Would Churchill Tweet?” appeared in National Review, 12 August 2017.
Since President Trump has taken office, the public has quickly learned to get its political news from a novel source—namely, the President’s Twitter account.
The move to this platform represents a shift in the nature of politics, both for good and for ill. Trump might be among the first political leaders to use this medium to attack opponents or make major announcements. He is certainly not the first to utilize the kind of brevity the platform requires to make his points.
Such brevity also characterized the rhetorical style of Winston Churchill, whose wit, humor and insight complemented his decisive and effective political leadership.…
came to our aid in a pinch. Striving to “balance” our political speakers, we Churchill Conference organizers planning the 1994 event in Banff, Alberta wanted a conservative. We had welcomed the liberal Roy Jenkins on our Scottish Churchill Tour that summer. We’d invited Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and William Manchester to address our 1995 conference. So to Banff we invited Milton Friedman, to explain why Churchill was right (yes!) to put Britain back on the gold standard when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Twenties. (It was what Churchill didn’t do, in wage and tax policy, Dr.…
