Brilliant. Exhilarating. The Boldest Documentary Anyone Could Make Right Now. March 25, 2026March 25, 2026 But first . . . REPUBLICANS PROTECTING PEDOPHILES Hey — any word on the Epstein Files? The law requiring their release in full without unnecessary redactions passed by a vote of 427-1 in the House and unanimous consent in the Senate. Shouldn’t Trump comply with it? FIVE LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM ROBERT MUELLER That’s the title Garrett Graff gives this remembrance — but it’s really a lot more than that. This was one of his favorite refrains: “Whatever we do, we must act with honesty and with integrity. There are no gray areas here; there should be no room for doubt. Regardless of your chosen career, you are only as good as your word. You can be smart, aggressive, articulate, and indeed persuasive. But if you are not honest, your reputation will suffer. And once lost, a good reputation can never, ever be regained. As the saying goes, “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. And if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.” It’s this last point that feels so poignant and important to me. Time and time again this past year, I’ve been thinking about the failure of our system of checks and balances. It turns out, in the end, that there’s only one check and balance that actually matters: Good character. Everything else in a constitutional system follows and relies on that simple foundation. I’ve spent the last twenty years covering national security and have, over the years, interviewed or met almost every senior decision-maker in the intelligence community and federal law enforcement from the 21st century — FBI, CIA, NSA, and ICE directors, CBP commissioners, the directors of national intelligence, and most of this century’s attorneys general, DHS and defense secretaries and secretaries of state, not to mention dozens of sub-Cabinet officials — the deputies, under-secretaries, assistant secretaries, and deputy assistant secretaries who make up the day-to-day decision-making at most levels of government. Many I’ve gotten to know quite well. Some are good friends. Prior to January 2025, almost to a person I trusted that they took seriously the rule of law and their constitutional obligations under their oaths of office. I didn’t always agree with their decisions and sometimes debated with them the morality underlying their decisions, but never once doubted that there had been a robust discussion and debate about the legal and constitutional obligations behind the scenes before they made their decisions. For generations, we have been protected from doubt, uncertain fates, and problems because voters chose leaders of both parties with good character who, in turn, appointed people of good character, who, in turn, were constrained by a professional, nonpartisan, and merit-based civil service of good character that took seriously their oaths to serve the Constitution and not an individual. Once you elect or appoint someone who has no moral core — who then appoints people with no moral core and fires those who do — nothing else in the system of checks-and-balances turns out to matter. Which brings me to the final topic I want to address today. Why America is struggling right now — it is no coincidence to me that this is all happening is exactly 80 years after the end of World War II. So worth reading in full — and so important that we all find our local NO KINGS protest and show up Saturday with friends. Even if you’ve never protested before. Indeed, especially if you’ve never protested before. It’s fun! Make plans for pizza or margaritas — or margherita pizzas — afterwards! It’s one of the steps required to restore decency, competence, and integrity to our government. Garrett Graff continues: The World War II generation uniquely understood that the natural state of the world and geopolitics was Hobbesian — freedom, democracy, and peace were not natural conditions of the world. They required active involvement, reinforcement, and hard, grinding, day-in, day-out effort to secure and extend. Moreover, they knew intimately and up-close that the alternative to peace and freedom — fascism and war — was worse. America itself flirted with authoritarian fascism before. It’s easy to forget the model that Father Coughlin and other right-wing leaders of the 1930s offered Americans disenchanted with the Great Depression. But as fascism’s dark cloak descended across Europe — as secret police began demanding “papers, please” and kidnapping people off the streets and disappearing them to concentration camps, as Hitler’s government cracked down on free speech and expression, labeling critics “evil” enemies of the state, as they cut off access to science and education and demanded arts organizations fall in line, persecuted homosexuals, and closed borders to visitors — America made a different choice. It, along with a precious few allies like Great Britain, stood and fought for democracy when it counted most. We now know that freedom and democracy prevailed, but for longer than we are comfortable to remember, it was a close-run thing. After, that generation of officials, policymakers, and veterans wanted to ensure that nothing like that ever happened again, and they devoted their entire working careers to that task. Building the postwar architecture that has secured the world and underpinned a tremendous economic boom and elevation of global standards of living was neither easy nor a foregone conclusion after the war. See you Saturday! And now . . . 1984 I just watched Orwell: 2+2=5. A little too leftist for me in a couple of places but in the main I agree with TIME Magazine’s Stephanie Zacharek: “Brilliant. Exhilarating. The boldest documentary anyone could make right now.” BONUS Do you know who just won the House seat in Florida’s legislature that represents Donald Trump? A Democrat! In a district the Republican won in 2024 by 19 points in 2024 and that Trump himself carried by 11. The tide is turning. David Jolly could be Florida’s next governor, Alex Vindman its next junior United States Senator.