Conservative: The Most Outrageous Smear Falls Apart

Of all the dispiriting developments in the Brett Kavanaugh case, the most disappointing, says National Review’s David French, is “the overwhelmingly credulous and furious response to Julie Swetnick’s gang-rape claims.” Her claim — “wildly implausible on its face” — surfaced, without any corroboration or evidence, on the Twitter feed of porn-star lawyer Michael Avenatti. Yet “the world responded exactly as Avenatti hoped it would.” All the “Serious Outlets covered it,” and the slightest skepticism was greeted with “blue checkmarks lined up to scold” any and all doubters. Yet it wasn’t long before Swetnick’s story began to fall apart; indeed, she’s now “climbed down significantly” from her explosive claims. Sadly, says French, these times “are too polarized to expect any apologies.”

Foreign desk: Welcome to the Post-American Jungle

Until President Trump’s critics “understand the popular appeal and deep roots” of his contempt for the liberal world order, “it will be hard to restore an unraveling international system,” suggests Bloomberg’s Eli Lake. Because “there has always been a strain of American politics that favored retreat from the world.” During the Cold War, some “questioned the wisdom of rebuilding Europe with the Marshall Plan.” But Barack Obama was the first president to challenge the post-WWII notion of America “as the anchor of a global order that promoted free trade, deterred military aggression and encouraged open societies.” Yet today’s “relative prosperity, peace and freedom did not happen by accident. It happened because of US military, economic and diplomatic power.” Without it, “the world that gave rise to European and Japanese fascism will return.”

Centrist: Kavanaugh’s Life Didn’t End After College

Kathleen Parker at The Washington Post notes that many of the “young and stupid from my youth grew up to become high-achieving doctors, lawyers, judges, professors, athletes, presidents, chief executives, fathers, mothers — and columnists.” That’s not to suggest “boys will be boys,” but what matters is “the here and now.’ ” More than a dozen women she’s interviewed who’ve worked with Kavanaugh without exception “love and admire him as a gentleman.” He “may have been a rowdy, at times unruly, youth,” but “this doesn’t make him a sexual predator. Nor does it negate three decades of good citizenship as a husband, father, judge.” Because if we can’t judge Kavanaugh — or anyone — by their entire life’s record, “then we have no business judging at all.”

From the right: Tribute to a One-of-a-Kind Historian

Walter Lacqueur has died at 97, and Michael Ledeen at PJ Media hails his longtime friend and mentor, who wrote a long series of books and articles “for any serious person’s Must Read list on the essentials of the Cold War, the Middle East and the parlous state of American and European universities.” Lacquer, he notes, wrote from personal experience, having lived through the seminal events of the Twentieth Century. But he did not hold any advanced degrees, so “there was a built-in resistance against hiring him at ‘major’ universities.” Still, an entire generation owes “much of our understanding of the world to him.” Indeed, “his recent writings on Putin’s Russia, the death spiral of Europe, and the spectacular emergence of Israeli creativity are indispensable.” He was, simply, “one of a kind.”

Policy wonk: Teacher Freedom in a Post-Janus World

The US Supreme Court’s Janus decision last June freed government employees, including public-school teachers, from having to pay unions as a condition of employment. The next step, suggests Larry Sand at City Journal, “should be eliminating the unions’ ability to establish themselves as exclusive representatives of all employees.” Even now, unions in most states still “hold all the power in negotiating salary, benefits, and work conditions.” But if teachers could bargain for themselves or even form rival unions, “Big Labor would face its worst nightmare” — competition. Another crucial step: “forcing unions to recertify themselves regularly.” Eliminating collective bargaining agreements in public education “may be beneficial for all concerned.” Wisconsin effectively did so, he notes, and both graduation rates and the number of students taking AP tests “have trended upwards.”

— Compiled by Eric Fettmann