Commentary
Americans are usually an optimistic people—except when it comes to our country’s future.
President Donald Trump stops and talks to the media before he boards Marine One on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington on June 15, 2025. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
J. Peder Zane
Author
J. Peder Zane is a columnist for RealClearPolitics and an editor at RealClearInvestigations. He was the book review editor and books columnist for the News & Observer of Raleigh for 13 years, where his writing won several national honors, including the Distinguished Writing Award for Commentary from the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He has also worked at the New York Times and taught writing at Duke University and Saint Augustine’s University. He has written two books, “Off the Books: On Literature and Culture,” and “Design in Nature” (with Adrian Bejan). He edited two other books, “Remarkable Reads: 34 Writers and Their Adventures in Reading” and “The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books.”
