Curt Mills
Executive Director of @amconmag, The American Conservative magazine
Articles by Curt Mills
We Were Right
The Iran War We Were Right Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Dear reader, The subject line says it all. From the February 28 outbreak of the Iran War, The American Conservative has argued that the United States’ latest adventure in the Middle East would prove futile, destructive, and politically catastrophic for an administration that came to power with a promise of economic normality and no new wars. We were right.
How Long Will the American Worker Pay for Endless War?
The American Conservative How Long Will the American Worker Pay for Endless War? Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... In a 2011 Labor Day column, our co-founder Pat Buchanan described the transformation of the American social contract in the postwar period.
Five Years On From Biden’s Finest Hour
Politics Five Years On From Biden’s Finest Hour The 46th president paid an enormous political price—the beginning of the end of his presidency—to do the right thing by leaving Afghanistan. Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... At 4:53 PM, Kabul time, on August 29, 2021—while Americans were enduring a putrid summer hunkered down at home amid Covid’s “Delta wave”—a U.S. unmanned drone (then a relatively unheard-of technology) bombarded a 1996 white Toyota Corolla.
Why is Trump risking midterm disaster by resuming an already unpopular war with Iran?
For half a century, Donald Trump has performed a public high-wire act based on high-stakes risks and shattering time-honored norms to get what he wants. The approach has paid off handsomely, helping him survive multiple bankruptcies to reach billionaire status and numerous legal and political scandals to be elected US president twice.
The American Conservative Declines Invitation to Report at the Pentagon
Politics The American Conservative Declines Invitation to Report at the Pentagon Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... The Department of War recently invited The American Conservative to be further integrated into its press operations. We have politely declined. This invitation was conditioned on TAC accepting the department’s over-the-top press restrictions, including agreeing not to publish any confidential material that our affiliated reporters might acquire.
The American Conservative Declines Press Credentials From Department of War
by | Nov 27, 2025 | News | The Department of Defense, or Department of War, recently invited The American Conservative to be further integrated into its press operations. We have politely declined. This invitation was conditioned on TAC accepting the department’s over-the-top press restrictions, including agreeing not to publish any confidential material that our affiliated reporters might acquire. TAC is a special publication.
‘The American Conservative’ Welcomes Harrison Berger as Correspondent
The American Conservative ‘The American Conservative’ Welcomes Harrison Berger as Correspondent Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... I am gratified to report that Harrison “Harry” Berger has joined The American Conservative in a Correspondent role, effective November 15, 2025. Some readers may know Berger has recently become a prodigious contributor to TAC, and has also worked with Drop Site News and Responsible Statecraft.
The Latest Anti-Semitism Campus Canard
Politics The Latest Anti-Semitism Campus Canard Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... On June 25, 2025, the Louis Brandeis Center Coalition to Combat Antisemitism filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) along with two affected individuals—Lior Alon, an Israeli postdoctoral associate at MIT, and William Sussman, a Jewish former MIT Ph.D. student.
Gillihan and McCarthy Join Board of the American Ideas Institute
The American Conservative Gillihan and McCarthy Join Board of the American Ideas Institute Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... As executive director of The American Conservative, I am pleased to welcome Catharine O’Neill Gillihan and Daniel McCarthy to the ranks of the institution that publishes TAC. The board will conduct its fall meeting on Friday, September 26, 2025.
Charlie Kirk Was a Generational Talent in a Generation Tearing Itself Apart
Politics Charlie Kirk Was a Generational Talent in a Generation Tearing Itself Apart The irreplaceable young pundit died in the line of duty. Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... The first and, as it turned out, last time I met Charlie Kirk, the wunderkind conservative political operative, was in a cafe somewhere in southwestern Ohio.
Israel First or America First?
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program Login Foreign Affairs Israel First or America First? Executive Director Curt Mills spoke at the National Conservatism Conference about U.S.–Israel relations. Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... These remarks were delivered on a panel at the National Conservative Conference on September 3, 2025. Good afternoon.
Douglas Murray’s Discredited Credentialism
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... It is a difficult time for those of us who wanted a moment where institutionalism and credentialism were torn down in favor of genuine scholarship, erudition, and expertise that exists outside the confines of an ideological academia. The proximate cause: a recent appearance of British writer Douglas Murray on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Murray is a raging neoconservative who has been proselytizing since the George W. Bush administration.
The 2028 Republican Primary Will Be Over Economic Nationalism
The most dramatic of tariffs are paused for now, but a different trade war is already underway — the battle to use the tariff debate as a springboard to the GOP presidential nomination in 2028. Consider Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. “I worry, there are voices within the administration that want to see these tariffs continue forever and ever,” Cruz said recently on his podcast.
Why Trump’s Heir Apparent Will Come Out of the Trade Wars
The most dramatic of tariffs are paused for now, but a different trade war is already underway — the battle to use the tariff debate as a springboard to the GOP presidential nomination in 2028. Consider Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. “I worry, there are voices within the administration that want to see these tariffs continue forever and ever,” Cruz said recently on his podcast.
Trump’s Free-Speech Warrior?
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... “Everything is possible with Donald Trump,” one State Department source familiar with the hiring told The American Conservative. This person was speaking of the shock retention of Darren Beattie as the acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.
BIDEN HOLD OVER AMBASSADOR IN UKRAINE STILL PUSHES WAR
Victoria Nuland resigned from the State Department in March 2024, a year ago. Over her career, Nuland built a reputation as a hawk of hawks, having worked as an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and as spokeswoman for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Even before her tenure as President Joe Biden’s undersecretary of state for political affairs, Nuland was widely seen as an avatar of the United States’ post–Cold War tendency to spend billions intervening in remote foreign conflicts.
Bridget Brink: A Hawkish Holdout in Trump’s State Department?
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Victoria Nuland resigned from the State Department in March 2024, a year ago. Over her career, Nuland built a reputation as a hawk of hawks, having worked as an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and as spokeswoman for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Bannon: Back and Back Big
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... “Paleoconservatives aren’t pussies.” As editor of The American Conservative, I feel honorbound to extract an explanation on my interview subject’s recent utterance to the New York Times: “Conservatives are pussies.” The one and only former White House chief strategist stabbed in further: “I’m a hard-core populist. I’m a hard-core nationalist. I’m not a conservative. …The Republican Party is a bunch of [expletive].
Michael Anton: Worthy Heir to George Kennan
Michael Anton: Worthy Heir to George Kennan Curt Mills The American Conservative January 11, 2025
Michael Anton: Worthy Heir to George Kennan
Politics Michael Anton: Worthy Heir to George Kennan More than any recent vintage, the Trumpist intellectual fits the bill for the State Department’s main brain. Michael Anton and I got off on the wrong foot. It’s a dead-and-buried Trumpworld feud, but at one point in time, Michael Anton was on the wrong side of it—or at least he was perceived to be.
Trump the Dove? Or Trump the Neocon?
Trump the Dove? Or Trump the Neocon? Matt and Sam are joined by Curt Mills of the American Conservative to assess Trump’s national security team. ▪ November 21, 2024 Know Your Enemy is a podcast about the American right co-hosted by Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell. Read more about it here. You can subscribe to, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher, and receive bonus content by supporting the podcast on Patreon.
Vivek Ramaswamy, Dark-horse Secretary of State Candidate
Politics Vivek Ramaswamy, Dark-horse Secretary of State Candidate Selecting the 39-year-old Ohioan would be the clearest sign yet that Donald Trump is done with neocons and NeverTrumpers in all but name.
What a Trump Cabinet Might Look Like
Politics What a Trump Cabinet Might Look Like Investigating the second administration. The leaves are falling in Washington—and so is the spell of Kamala Harris’s inevitability. Whether this is merely the latest gust in the hurricane of shifts that has defined this race since at least June is any man’s guess.
VIDEO: Should America Continue to Support Ukraine?
On September 12, the Center for the National Interest hosted a debate on the question, "Should America continue to support Ukraine?" Melinda Haring and Jacob Heilbrunn argued in support of the proposition, and Helen Andrews and Curt Mills against it. —Melinda Haring is a senior advisor at Razom for Ukraine and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, where she previously served as the deputy director of the Eurasia Center and editor of the UkraineAlert blog.
Old Democrat
Politics Old Democrat Bill Clinton, a once-in-a-generation talent, appeared out of new ideas in Chicago on Wednesday. “Bill Clinton could talk the owls down from the trees,” the veteran journalist Mark Halperin remarked repeatedly on his 2Way program (the cult hit of this campaign cycle) on Wednesday.
Gaetz Ethics Inquiry Takes Dubious Turn
Politics Gaetz Ethics Inquiry Takes Dubious Turn Is an advocate of foreign policy restraint being railroaded? Amid the hurly-burly of presidential dropouts, attempted presidential assassinations, and novel presidential conventions, the gears of Washington grind on. A sideline moment of the winding last week in Wisconsin was a direct confrontation between Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and his pet aversion, the former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. “What night are you speaking?” Gaetz quizzed McCarthy.
Doug Burgum Is a Neocon
Politics Doug Burgum Is a Neocon The selection of the North Dakota governor would be a cavalier choice on the issue of greatest presidential power: foreign policy. It’s July. In the coming days, the Republican presidential ticket will finalize, even as the Democratic ticket could evaporate. The former President Donald Trump is meditating on a raft of main choices—among them Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH).
The Cipher: Mark Rutte, the Next NATO Secretary-General
The Netherlands. What is there to say? For most observers: not much. It was the Dutch Golden Age, Rembrandt, then tulip mania, vice on tap, and irrelevance all the way down. The French get all the guff, but eighty-four springs ago Hitler bombed Rotterdam and the Dutch folded their nation in one day. It was not the roughest of transitions. After all, the previous German head of state, Kaiser Wilhelm II, was already in residence.
Your Tweets Are Worth Gold
I am always happy when I wake up early on a cold morning in Riyadh and meet my old friends at our favorite cafe in the Business Gate complex. There, we discuss the news, as well as the performance of major corporations and brands. We agree and often disagree, as it is natural for people to differ, particularly in how we express emotions, opinions, and sentiments.
Gaza between America and Iran
In 2012, the commander of Al-Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, received in Tehran a Hamas official named Yehya Sinwar. Observers said the Iranian general and the Palestinian visitor with a “Brotherhood” and security background hit it off. They added that the meeting ended with both men feeling that they could count on the other. Iranian support was nothing new.
Iraq Is Seemingly Being Founded from Scratch and Not Being Founded
Today, Iraq seems to be both an identity searching for a location and a location searching for an identity. These two perplexed searches suggest two things: that the country is undergoing a foundational phase- in the sense that it seeks to align the location and the identity, and to link them to a national community of coexistence - and that this foundational phase does not end with anything being founded.
What Trump Could Do in Foreign Policy Might Surprise the World
Love it or hate it, the United States has an imperial presidency, and in his first term, Donald Trump demonstrated a record of using such powers with noted relish on the world stage. As in many areas, he does not have a conventional approach to global relations. But it may turn out that, like Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush before him, Mr. Trump enjoys engagement with foreign policy. His particular style of politics can be provocative, of course, but also effective.
OPINION EXCHANGE | Like a Nixon in China, what Trump could do in foreign policy might surprise the world
Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. ••• Love it or hate it, the U.S. has an imperial presidency, and in his first term, Donald Trump demonstrated a record of using such powers with noted relish on the world stage. As in many areas, he does not have a conventional approach to global relations.
VIDEO: Authoritarianism and the American Right (w/ Jacob Heilbrunn & Curt Mills)
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Subscribe to RSS Print Topic: Politics Region: Americas Tags: Donald TrumpAuthoritarianismRepublican PartyConservatismJacob Heilbrunn On Tuesday, May 14, the Center for the National Interest hosted a debate between Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest and author of the new book America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance With Foreign Dictators, and Curt Mills, editor of The American Conservative.
Podcast: GOP Opposition to Ukraine Aid (w/ Curt Mills)
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Subscribe to RSS Print Topic: Politics Region: Americas Blog Brand: Jacob Heilbrunn Tags: Russia-Ukraine WarGOPDonald TrumpMike JohnsonVolodymyr Zelensky In a pivotal moment amidst Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. Senate passed a $60 billion aid package for Kyiv in a 79-to-18 vote Tuesday night. Despite the win, the measure faced dogged opposition in the House, where a majority of GOP members—112—voted against it.
How Ohio Became the Center of the Republican World
Politics How Ohio Became the Center of the Republican World Florida gets all the attention. The GOP power center of the future is closer to D.C. The Ohio River tears westward through the Pittsburgh suburbs, whisks into West Virginia, cuts on through Ohio, capstones Kentucky, indexes Indiana, and terminates in Southern Illinois. In the end, it marries the mighty Mississippi. The Ohio River once marked the frontier—a land of second chances and poseur aristocrats. Now they just call it Trump country.
May/June 2024
Florida gets all the attention. The GOP power center of the future is closer to D.C. There is no magic button. Trump would have to go further than even allies assume. I’ve been going back to eastern Kentucky for over a decade. Since 2016, something there has changed. The women who opposed their own enfranchisement in the Victorian era have little in common with the “Repeal the 19th” fringe of today. Climate scientists have been hounding dissenters for years.
Podcast: The Road Ahead for Donald Trump (w/ Curt Mills)
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Subscribe to RSS Print Topic: Politics Region: Americas Blog Brand: Jacob Heilbrunn Tags: U.S. Politics2024 ElectionDonald TrumpPodcast With Donald Trump's path to the Republican nomination in July wide open, what obstacles still stand between him and the White House, and what would his election in November herald both for the GOP and for American democracy?
How the Ukraine delusion may end
This article is taken from the February 2024 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issues for just £10. Just as 2016 defined the politics of its decade, so 2024 has the potential to send an electroshock to political consensus in the 2020s. It starts with Russia. Vladimir Putin’s crusade for a fifth term in office is preordained, but not pro forma.
Opinion | The Stunning Election in Argentina Is a Warning to Biden
By comparison, the U.S. has had to contend most recently with a rate of 3.2 percent in October, and there is some economic consensus that the worst is over. But polls suggest the political damage has already been done. A majority of Americans rate the economy as poor; three in four voters think the economy is in recession. The Republican talking points write themselves — as the Wall Street Journal pointed out, inflation hit a 39-year high by the end of Biden’s first year in office.
Opinion | The Stunning Election in Argentina Is a Warning to Biden
Until his surprise win in Argentina’s presidential election, Javier Milei was counted out as a political dead letter. But the personal quirks, radical ideas and lack of political experience weren’t enough to stop the libertarian populist in the most important election in the Americas this year. Hidden in the coding of his improbable victory are several warnings for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.
Why Nikki and Vivek Hate Each Other So Much
In one corner, there is Vivek, the youthful rising star who represents the paleoconservative bleeding edge of presidential politics. The Ohio native’s utterances would slay on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” program or in Tucker Carlson’s X studio.
The New Nixonians
Politics The New Nixonians As the 2024 campaign and the national security scene heat up, the ongoing rehabilitation of the 37th president comes into play in the GOP civil war. To inaugurate proceedings at the Nixon National Security Summit on Thursday in Washington, Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich shared striking writing from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton.
The Bear Scenario for Israel
Foreign Affairs The Bear Scenario for Israel How did this happen, and where is this going? “In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more,” Ernest Hemingway wrote in In Another Country. Colleagues around the globe awoke this weekend to find that ignorance and fallibility are the rule. As of writing, the Israeli government reports at least 900 of its own people dead.
Tucker Carlson and a Coming ‘Hot War’?
Politics Tucker Carlson and a Coming ‘Hot War’? The Fox former has floated that Donald Trump will be assassinated, while Russian television has warned Carlson is also in lethal danger. The biggest story on television in 2023 is what stopped being on it. Since his late April ejection, a number of surmised answers to the question of why Tucker Carlson lost his job at Fox News have percolated. The most social interpretation is that Carlson’s removal was the result of interpersonal drama, even fear.
Joe Biden and the DNC: Some Kremlinology
Politics The Kremlinology of Joe Biden and the DNC Should apparent efforts to replace the president atop the Democrat ticket be taken seriously? It seems it’s the season for half-hearted coups. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner private military company’s chief executive, was said to have pledged his dependence, his loyalty, to Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of July 4. This according to the Kremlin.
Lightfoot Down: Does the Demise of Chicago’s Mayor Matter?
Politics Lightfoot Down: Does the Demise of Chicago’s Mayor Matter? The incumbent finished third on Tuesday in the city that is ostensibly America’s third-best. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Until May anyway, all five feet and one inch of Lori Lightfoot’s dainty frame still sits in the seat of Richard Daley.
Six More Years? - The American Conservative
Politics Six More Years? How to interpret a strong address from an uneven president to a depressed nation. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) A newish president of the United States takes the rostrum of the House of Representatives to give his second State of the Union address. Fair or not, many Americans harbor doubts about the validity of his election, and most seriously, his mettle for the job.
Death of a Washington Politico
Politics Death of a Washington Politico Michael Gerson, an Iraq War crusader, died last week. His death contained more than a whiff of tragedy. Michael Gerson speaks with Bill Gates at the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) FAIRFAX COUNTY—I have come to call Northern Virginia the most dangerous place on Earth.
Liberalism's Big Year
Politics Liberalism's Big Year Assessing another shock victory for the party of Joe Biden. President Joe Biden speaks during an event hosted by the Democratic National Party at the Howard Theatre on November 10, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images) What a woebegone and beaten generation mine has become.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Curt
Contact Curt, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack