Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:
March 24
The Washington Post says cutting gas taxes is good politics, but bad policy
With the Iran war driving up the average price of gas more than a dollar per gallon, politicians are calling to suspend the gas tax until the crisis ends. A shortsighted tax “holiday” would do little to help drivers while distorting the market at the worst possible time.
While Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a law on Friday to suspend the state’s 33.3 cents per gallon tax for 60 days, other governors have pushed back. In Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore (D) rejected demands by GOP legislators to suspend the gas tax, with his spokesman saying it “would blow a $100 million hole in our transportation budget.” In South Carolina, the state’s Department of Transportation is pushing back on a bipartisan push to stop collecting the tax by saying it would force a pause of planned and ongoing construction projects.
Politicians are right to level with voters. “I don’t know that there’s going to be any simple fix,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said in response to Democrats pushing for a suspension of their 23.5 cent gas tax. “My answer is just get the cost down internationally, and that means having stable energy markets.”
That’s a welcome contrast from four years ago when DeSantis suspended the gas tax in the months before he was up for reelection. Now he’s term-limited, which insulates him from election-year politics.
Gas prices surged in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Then-President Joe Biden called for a three-month federal gas tax holiday, but Congress never passed it because most lawmakers recognized it was a gimmick. But Maryland, New York, Georgia and Connecticut also enacted short-term tax holidays back then.
Setting aside politics, pausing the gas tax subsidizes demand during a supply shock. And it deprives governments of revenue they depend on to maintain essential transportation infrastructure. There are better ways to cut taxes and help consumers than this.
The United States is in a stronger position than most of its allies as the world’s biggest oil-producer and a net exporter of energy. This means Americans feel less pain than Europeans and Asians. Nevertheless, a protracted conflict risks pushing the global economy into a recession. That should be a consideration as the White House weighs how long to continue the war.
March 19
The New York Times on Trump's exception to his administration's push for religious freedom
The Trump administration holds itself up as a defender of religious freedom. It has created a Religious Liberty Commission, increased funding for faith-based schools and changed vaccine policies to allow more religious exemptions. It ordered a Christmas Day missile attack in Nigeria on what President Trump described as a terrorist group that was killing Christians. The administration has punished universities in the name of preventing antisemitism. “I’ve done more for religion than any other president,” Mr. Trump claimed at the National Prayer Breakfast this year.
Yet there is an exception to this effort. Mr. Trump and his Republican Party appear uninterested in protecting the religious rights of Muslims. Instead, they are often hostile to Islam.
Their words are odious. As a presidential candidate, Mr. Trump called for a “Muslim ban” on entry to the United States, and a version of it remains in effect. “I think Islam hates us,” he has said. Several other Republican politicians have made similar statements in recent months.
“Islam is not a religion. It’s a cult,” Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama posted on social media. Representative Brandon Gill of Texas wrote, “Islam is incompatible with our culture and our governing system.” Representative Randy Fine of Florida called for “radical deportations of all mainstream Muslim legal and illegal immigrants and citizenship revocations wherever possible.” Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee — who has said that Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York should be expelled from the country — this month wrote that “Muslims don’t belong in American society.”
Mr. Trump has also made a habit of targeting Muslim communities and politicians for harsh criticism. He does not typically mention their religion when doing so, but the pattern is undeniable. Of the Somali diaspora in the United States, the president said: “They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country.” He referred to them as “low-I.Q. people.” He described Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a Somali American, as “garbage” and said the United States should stop “taking in garbage.” He has directed similar ire at Afghan refugees, and his administration has smeared pro-Palestinian activists as terrorists.
The statements are particularly alarming when viewed in the context of Mr. Trump’s tendency to behave as an aspiring autocrat. Autocrats have a history of targeting vulnerable minority groups to justify their moves.
Recent events in Minnesota show how the scapegoating of a minority group can mushroom into broader violence. The Trump administration chose the state for an immigration crackdown last year, citing a government fraud scandal centered in the large Somali community there. The president unfairly maligned the full community for the scandal. The resulting crackdown led to the brutalization of many residents, both Muslim and not, immigrant and citizen, and to the killing of two protesters, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Irrational fear of Shariah — a set of principles, based on the Quran, that guide life for Muslims, much as biblical precepts guide Christians and Jews — is another way in which anti-Muslim hate is translating into policy. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas recently signed a law that would prevent what he called “Shariah compounds,” supposedly communities that are open only to Muslims and that subject their residents to religious law. In the House, Representative Chip Roy of Texas has introduced a bill called the Preserving a Shariah-Free America Act, while Senator John Cornyn of Texas has cosponsored another, the Defeat Shariah Law in America Act. Mr. Fine, for his part, has introduced a Protecting Puppies From Shariah Act.
These efforts are based on ludicrously false pretenses. Extreme versions of Shariah are a problem in some countries, including Afghanistan and Iran, but they are not a threat in the United States. American Muslims are not attempting to impose Shariah principles on others. As Mustafa Akyol of the Cato Institute has noted, the recent proposals mimic anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon laws enacted in previous centuries. They are based on lies and are intended to scapegoat.
The millions of Americans who practice Islam are just as American as anyone else. They pay taxes, own businesses and serve in the armed forces. Many have been here for generations. Others upended their lives to move here, in some cases because of this country’s constitutional protection of religious freedom.
The surge of anti-Muslim hate has caused many of them to feel threatened in their own country. Some feel anxious about entering a mosque or wearing obvious signs of their faith. In Texas and other places where political leaders have spread hate, the fears can be acute. “We left our roots, our home, our generational stories, to move into a country where we thought these kinds of things would not happen,” Mona Kafeel, who runs Peace in the Home Family Services, a social services organization in Plano, Texas, told us. Now, she said, “That fear is coming back to many of us.”
Mr. Trump’s disparagement of Muslims is part of a broader pattern of bigotry by him. He has targeted Latinos and trans Americans, too. While he criticizes universities for tolerating antisemitism, he and other Republicans have allied themselves with some of the worst peddlers of anti-Jewish hate. Since he entered politics more than a decade ago, with a campaign kickoff speech full of anti-Mexican sentiments, a wide variety of hate crimes have surged, according to F.B.I. data.
In an editorial last year decrying the surge of antisemitism, we emphasized that not all accusations of discrimination are legitimate. Criticism of the current Israeli government for its brutal treatment of Palestinians, for example, is not inherently antisemitic. The same principle applies to other subjects. Radical Islamists continue to carry out violent acts of terrorism, including recent attacks in New York, Texas and Virginia. Denouncing them is important, not bigoted.
A fundamental American principle is that people should be judged by their behavior, not by their identity. Mr. Trump and too many other Republicans are instead besmirching an entire faith even as they claim to protect religious freedom.
The worst consequence of the new Islamophobia, by far, is the effect that it has on Muslims. Yet there is damage to America’s national interests, too.
Mr. Trump is prosecuting a war against Iran, which identifies as an Islamic republic and has an overwhelmingly Muslim population. His planning for that war has been reckless, and his explanations of its aims have been contradictory. Combined with the surge of anti-Muslim bigotry from Republicans, the attack on Iran has the potential to look like a war against Islam. Certainly, the bigotry weakens America’s position in the world, especially with heavily Muslim countries, including American partners like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
This editorial page had many criticisms of the presidency of George W. Bush, but Mr. Bush took a starkly different approach to that of the current president. Six days after Sept. 11, 2001, he visited a mosque and stood beside Muslim leaders, who he noted were as appalled by the attacks as other Americans. “When we think of Islam,” Mr. Bush said, “we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world.”
The attacks against Islam and Muslims from Mr. Trump and other Republicans are shameful. They are filled with lies. They deserve denunciation from all Americans, regardless of politics or religion.
March 23
The Philadelphia Inquirer says the cost of the war with Iran keeps rising
Donald Trump spent the weekend threatening to commit war crimes in Iran, only to back away Monday morning — just in time for financial markets to rebound.
Trump postponed his ultimatum to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants for another five days, claiming “good” talks to end the conflict. (It is unclear who the president is talking to since Iran denied any exchange.)
Obviously, the sooner Trump ends his unnecessary and unfocused war, the better. Apparently, only he has a vague idea of why the war started or when it will end. The rest of the world must endure his destruction and try to pick up the pieces.
But this much is clear: Trump’s threat to bomb Iran’s civilian electricity infrastructure underscores just how reckless and depraved he has become.
Any deliberate attacks on civilian targets would likely violate international humanitarian law and risk a broader and more protracted war that has already ensnared more than a dozen countries. Destroying Iran’s power grid risks a human catastrophe, as it would impact hospitals and the country’s food and water supply.
It would also further isolate the United States and undermine whatever is left of Washington’s moral authority — no matter how much religious rhetoric is spewed by Pete Hegseth, the former weekend Fox News host turned defense secretary.
In many ways, Trump’s unprovoked invasion of Iran echoes Vladimir Putin’s ruthless attack on Ukraine. Who is the axis of evil now?
The deadly U.S. bombing of a school in Iran, along with lethal boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific, and the capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, add to the apparent violations of international treaties. A U.S. oil blockade of Cuba is also contributing to humanitarian struggles, as the island was left without power Saturday for a third time this month.
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Trump’s sledgehammer diplomacy has left the U.S. increasingly isolated, while undermining its global leadership and making for a more dangerous and divided world.
Trump has devoted much of his time on the political stage to trashing NATO, dismissing allies, and threatening to invade Greenland and Canada.
After burning bridges Republican and Democratic presidents built over many decades, Trump then begged several countries to help clean up the mess he created in Iran.
Meanwhile, at least 13 U.S. soldiers have died, and more than 200 have been injured. An estimated 1,500 have been killed in Iran, and at least 18 in Israel.
Gas prices have jumped 30% in the U.S. in just two weeks and are near $4 a gallon in the Philadelphia region, adding to the affordability crisis exacerbated by Trump’s tariffs, healthcare cuts, and other senseless policies.
Trump said higher gas prices are a “small price to pay” for the war.
That’s on top of the roughly $1 billion a day that bombing Iran is costing taxpayers. The Pentagon requested another $200 billion to fund the war, which comes to more than $1,400 for each American household.
That is more than the U.S. has spent to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia over the past four years.
One expert said the war — or “excursion” as Trump calls it — could cost several trillion dollars.
All to accomplish what exactly?
The Iranian regime remains in power, even after several leaders have been killed. Iran still possesses enriched uranium even after Trump claimed to “obliterate” the nuclear program during a bombing raid last year.
In the midst of the war, Trump still found time to play golf over the weekend.
That was after he embarrassed the country by invoking the attack on Pearl Harbor in front of the Japanese prime minister to defend not informing allies before bombing Iran.
To add to the routine vileness, Trump celebrated the death of former FBI Director Robert Mueller, a Republican and decorated Marine who fought in Vietnam and devoted his life to public service.
“Good, I’m glad he’s dead,” Trump wrote on social media minutes after Mueller’s death was announced Saturday.
Trump still holds a grudge over Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s effort to meddle in the 2016 election.
Despite the president’s efforts to rewrite history, let’s be clear for the record: A Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee report found that Russia interfered in the election on Trump’s behalf.
Trump is still fighting that war and the one he started in Iran, showing the world what it means to be an ugly American.
ONLINE: https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/editorials/iran-war-crimes-donald-trump-aimless-cost-20260323.html
March 24
The Dallas Morning News says stronger guardrails are needed to rein in gambling
From professional sports to wars on the other side of the globe, online gambling has proven it can skew major events in dangerous ways. This industry is becoming a threat, and the United States should reign it in.
Earlier this month, Emanuel Fabian of The Times of Israel reported on an Iranian missile strike. Shortly after, bettors pressured him to change details of the story, with some even making death threats.
All that was apparently for the sake of a wager on Polymarket, an online platform that bills itself as a “prediction market.” The platform lets users buy and sell “yes” or “no” shares in the outcome of an event. It’s gambling, whatever anyone might call it.
Fabian reported that these people had bet on “Iran strikes Israel on…?,” with more than $14 million wagered on March 10.
In January, an anonymous trader on Polymarket made more than $400,000 betting that former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro would be toppled by the end of January, NPR reported. Polymarket and other platforms like Kalshi let people bet on elections, too. Traders placed their bets in the hotly contested U.S. Senate primaries in Texas.
Not only can prediction markets distort incentives and encourage particular outcomes, they also have a knack for bringing out the worst in those who use them. Betting on bombings, wars and coups treats human misery as a roulette wheel.
Beyond betting on other people’s lives, easily accessible online gambling carries other drawbacks we should be wary of as a society.
Its effect on sports is already raising deep concern. Point-shaving schemes and taking a dive for the sake of a bet is a practice probably as old as organized competitions. But online sports betting has supercharged it and propelled it to new heights.
In 2024, the NBA banned Jontay Porter for disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, altering his play in games and betting on NBA games, according to a league news release. Last year, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was accused in a separate scheme involving private information and sports betting, the Associated Press reported.
Online sports betting puts the incentives in the wrong place for spectators just as it does for players. Last year, Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. received threats against himself and his family from an intoxicated gambler overseas, according to ESPN.
The gambling industry has done a lot to represent itself as innocent entertainment, and in many cases, that’s true. People who occasionally visit a casino aren’t on the road to ruin. But casino gambling is a heavily regulated and monitored business precisely because gambling lends itself to every level of personal corruption.
Online gambling, meanwhile, has proven particularly attractive and addictive to young men who might never visit a card table.
Prediction markets are now taking online gambling to a new level of concern. Congress needs to get smart, and fast, about how to rein them in.
March 24
The Guardian says Trump can't deliver a quick exit from Iran
Whatever else Donald Trump’s “ pause ” is, it is not a ceasefire. Iranian barrages targeted Israel, Gulf Arab states and northern Iraq on Tuesday, while Israeli and US warplanes struck across Iran. What Mr Trump’s statement did was to narrow US targets to exclude power plants and energy infrastructure to calm jittery markets. But the fighting continues. With reports that the US is considering boots on the ground, Washington is waging war while searching for an exit – without a credible or unified negotiating position, as Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu pursues his own agenda.
Mr Trump’s strategy, if he has one, might be to soothe markets now – and launch a massive escalatory strike over the weekend when trading desks are closed, in the hope of forcing the Iranian regime to fracture or capitulate. This rests on the idea that Tehran is brittle and will crack under American “shock and awe”. Sir Keir Starmer’s implicit judgment is that Iran will not cave. That disagreement may have been enough to send him to Mr Trump’s doghouse. Britain must stay out of US-Israeli adventurism. The war’s constraint is not capability – Washington has plenty of air power and Iran offers plenty of targets. But nothing can be resolved without a politically achievable objective.
The UK prime minister told MPs this week that it was “false comfort” to assume a quick end to the war. Sir Keir is on to something. This could be a prolonged conflict, with the strait of Hormuz unlikely to reopen soon and economic risks already crystallising. Business activity growth in Britain has slowed, manufacturers’ input costs saw their sharpest rise since 1992 and home loans are becoming dearer as the war feeds into energy and inflation fears. Ministers are drawing up contingency plans – such as lowering speed limits – to cut fuel use.
Given Sir Keir’s views, it seems odd that his chancellor talks as if any shock will be containable within her self-imposed constraints. Rachel Reeves has ruled out universal household support for any “Trumpflation” and insists help will remain within her “iron-clad” fiscal rules. That is a gamble when even the Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, is attending crisis meetings – a tell-tale sign that the state recognises the economic danger may be systemic. Perhaps Ms Reeves doesn’t want to frighten voters. Or maybe she thinks global strategic energy reserves will moderate price spikes. Markets are pricing expectations – above all, that Mr Trump will pull back quickly from confronting Iran. Clearly, some traders may be anticipating those moves better than others – or benefiting from information that is leaking.
But many will be in for a rude awakening if the physical constraints of oil and gas – flows disrupted, cargoes stranded and empty inventories – bite. Columbia University’s Jason Bordoff argues that the lesson of this crisis is not just to use less fossil fuel, but to rely less on global energy markets altogether. That implies not a temporary shock but a structural one – and the emergence of a more fragmented system of global energy use. Europe may go green; Asia might opt for coal. If so, the question for Ms Reeves is not whether her fiscal rules are credible to markets, but whether they survive contact with the reality now unfolding. Britain cannot achieve a clean energy transition on the cheap in a volatile world of disrupted supply and higher costs. Sir Keir has warned that the conflict may endure. The Treasury is behaving as if it will not.
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