Steve Chapman

President Donald Trump arrives to speak about his first 100 days at Macomb Community College, April 29, 2025, in Warren, Michigan. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Steve Chapman: President Donald Trump’s policies are an education in folly

May 7, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

This clownfest dramatizes something Americans had but didn’t appreciate: a functioning system administered by people with experience.

A medical assistant packs pills of mifepristone and misoprostol that will be mailed to patients in 2023. At the time, the two-drug regimen accounted for more than half of the abortions in the United States. (Jackie Molloy/The New York Times)

Steve Chapman: Crackdown on abortion providers and seekers is reminiscent of the Fugitive Slave Act

April 2, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

The parallels between anti-abortion states cracking down on abortion seekers and providers and the slavery fight are hard to miss.

An all-gender restroom inside a Chicago Public Schools elementary school in 2021. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

Steve Chapman: A law that’s a boon for your bladder, pioneered by Illinois

March 5, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Illinois' law mandating that one-person public bathrooms be gender-neutral has some conspicuous virtues.

The space where a portrait of retired Gen. Mark Milley hung is empty at the Pentagon on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (Tara Copp/AP)

Steve Chapman: Donald Trump puts his former aides at risk of assassination

February 6, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Donald Trump is nonchalant about the grave risks the men face as a direct result of their service to him.

Then-President Barack Obama speaks in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington on Feb. 12, 2009, during an event celebrating Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

Steve Chapman: For 2025, we should resist despair — but also false hope

January 1, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

The question whose answer will become clearer this year is whether the great American experiment will survive the next four years.

President Joe Biden embraces his son, Hunter Biden, after his speech on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Aug. 19, 2024. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)

Steve Chapman: Joe Biden and Donald Trump expose the framers’ big mistake on pardons

December 5, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Giving the president the right to nullify any federal conviction or punishment is a vestige of monarchy.

Supporters react as Fox News projects Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump the winner of the presidential race during an election night event on Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

Steve Chapman: For Donald Trump, victory is not vindication

November 7, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Enjoying the powers entrusted to them by the Constitution, Americans elected a man who is no more willing to abide by it than he is to shave his head.

Washington delegate Sophia Danenberg
cries while Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris accepts the presidential nomination. (Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune)

Steve Chapman: Kamala Harris claims the cause of freedom

October 3, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Given Donald Trump’s many attacks on basic liberties, all Democrats have to do to look good is not agree with him.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance arrives to speak at a campaign event on Aug. 28, 2024, in DePere, Wisconsin. (Morry Gash/AP)

Steve Chapman: JD Vance keeps proving he’s a terrible choice for vice president

September 5, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

JD Vance brings to mind Spiro Agnew, whose selection by Republican Richard Nixon in 1968 baffled party veterans.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, visits Paschal's in Atlanta on July 30, 2024. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)

Steve Chapman: The false alarms about socialism keep coming as Kamala Harris campaigns

August 1, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Socialism, according to conservatives, has been perpetually imminent in America for at least 60 years — and somehow it never materializes.

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