The Wall Street Journal's editorial board is reporting that Democratic policies on healthcare, housing and energy have made life more expensive, arguing in a piece titled "The 'Affordability' Democrats? You Have to Be Kidding" that the party's record undercuts its affordability messaging ahead of midterm elections.
In a separate editorial, the board questioned Florida's defense of race preferences in a homeowner assistance fund, asking why the state is defending bias in the program.
The board also wrote that Hamas could not kill the Abraham Accords, saying Iran's attacks on its neighbors make the case for working with Israel. It pointed to a meeting in New York involving the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
In another piece, the board said Senate Republicans could miss a chance to repeal what it called climate coercion, referring to legislation it dubbed "The Save America From California Act."
In commentary, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon proposed a U.S. trade pact with Europe that would encompass friendly democracies and revive the old alliance. Former national security adviser John Bolton wrote that U.S. maritime policy has grown feckless amid threats from Beijing, Tehran and the Houthis, putting allies at risk. Chris Jacobs wrote that taxpayers backed a flawed 2020 study promoting single-payer medical insurance, arguing the National Institutes of Health is already politicized. Stephen Lewarne compared learning through dialogue in Socrates' era to education in the age of artificial intelligence.
Columnist Gerard Baker wrote that the head of state of the least populous country, Pope Leo XIV, is neither grotesque nor greedy. William McGurn examined French secularism, and Walter Russell Mead wrote that President Donald Trump's summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping had scant substance but made both leaders look larger than life. James Freeman questioned whether the Associated Press hurt AI's feelings, arguing that treating software as a person makes real people unaccountable.
The Journal also reviewed books, music and film, including a Satyajit Ray movie now available from the Criterion Collection, and published a podcast on the drone war in Ukraine.