Bret Stephens on Violence, Trump, Epstein, AI, and America at 250

America is at an interesting moment. We are one quarter of the way through the 21st century, and in 2026 we will celebrate our 250th birthday. I am asking a series of extraordinary Americans—many without fame or fortune, but rich in experience and poetry—to take the temperature of America in 2026.What is the American idea?What do we stand for?What values do we need to remind ourselves of?How is this country doing politically, economically, culturally, and as a force for good in the world?Bret Stephens has emerged as a translator between the American establishment of both parties and the conservative rank and file, making him a sharp guide to the nation’s path forward. In 2017, he joined The New York Times as an opinion columnist, after a distinguished career at The Wall Street Journal, where he served as deputy editorial page editor from 2015 to 2017. Prior to that, he was a foreign affairs columnist at the Journal and received the Pulitzer Prize in 2013.At just 28 years old, Stephens became editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post, a role he held from 2002 to 2005. Born in New York and raised in Mexico City, he is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics. He has long championed the classical liberal order—free enterprise, free trade, free speech, and the preservation of democratic institutions.In his 2014 book America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder, Stephens warned of the consequences of diminished American leadership. As the nation approaches its 250th birthday, his recent books, columns, and articles reflect a notable evolution in his thinking. He has increasingly analyzed the presidency of Donald Trump not as a historical accident, but as the product of deeper political, economic, and cultural forces.Stephens has argued that part of the Democratic Party’s defeat stemmed from a growing divide between the “economy of words”—lawyers, journalists, and academics—and the “economy of things,” including manufacturers and service workers. He has also become a fierce critic of what he sees as intellectual rot within elite universities, particularly around antisemitism and the erosion of free speech.And perhaps most concerning to many, he now suggests that the United States may be in retreat not only politically, as he argued a decade ago, but more broadly across multiple dimensions of global leadership.