For media inquiries or to book Mr. Olsen for an interview, contact Josh Britton at jbritton@eppc.org or 202-715-3493.
Click here to view the full archive of Mr. Olsen’s writings at The Washington Post.
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Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, studies and provides commentary on American politics. His work focuses on how America’s political order is being upended by populist challenges, from the left and the right. He also studies populism’s impact in other democracies in the developed world.
Mr. Olsen is an opinion columnist for The Washington Post, where he writes daily pieces focusing on politics, populism, foreign affairs and American conservative thought. He is also the author of The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism and The Four Faces of the Republican Party, co-authored with Dante Scala.
Mr. Olsen was previously an editor at UnHerd.com and a regular contributor to American Greatness, City Journal, and World Magazine. Mr. Olsen’s work has been featured in many prominent publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Guardian, and The Weekly Standard.
His predictions of the 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 elections were particularly praised for their remarkable accuracy. In the 2016 campaign, he accurately identified the factors fueling the rise of Donald Trump early in the race, and his election-eve predictions were among the most accurate of any major analyst or commentator.
Mr. Olsen has worked in senior executive positions at many center-right think tanks. He most recently served from 2006 to 2013 as Vice President and Director, National Research Initiative, at the American Enterprise Institute. He previously worked as Vice President of Programs at the Manhattan Institute and President of the Commonwealth Foundation.
Mr. Olsen started his career as a political consultant at the California firm of Hoffenblum-Mollrich. He then worked with the California State Assembly Republican Caucus before attending law school. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Danny J. Boggs on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and as an associate at Dechert, Price & Rhoads. He has a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as Comment Editor for the University of Chicago Law Review.
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PUBLICATIONS
No, Georgia’s New Voting Law Is Not a Return to Jim Crow
Published in The Washington Post on March 30, 2021
Vaccine Nationalism Is a Corrective to Often-Naive Views of Globalism
Published in The Washington Post on March 26, 2021
Biden Is Sending the Wrong Signals on the Border
Published in The Washington Post on March 15, 2021
Biden’s Relief Bill Probably Won’t Matter That Much in the Midterms
Published in The Washington Post on March 11, 2021
China’s Looming Population Slide Could Make It an Even More Dangerous Global Threat
Published in The Washington Post on March 5, 2021
The Democrats’ Voting Rights Bill Is an Assault on Election Integrity
Published in The Washington Post on March 4, 2021
Biden Has Finally Agreed to Slim Down Stimulus Checks. There’s a Lot More He Could Cut.
Published in The Washington Post on March 3, 2021
Reagan Would Tell Today’s CPAC to Build a GOP Coalition, Not a Church
Published in The Washington Post on February 26, 2021
RIP, Rush Limbaugh. Your Legacy Lives On.
Published in The Washington Post on February 18, 2021
Pelosi’s Jan. 6 Commission Is an Excellent Idea — If It’s Done Right
Published in The Washington Post on February 16, 2021
This Presidents’ Day, Let’s Reaffirm That George Washington and Abraham Lincoln Are Heroes
Published in The Washington Post on February 15, 2021
If Andrew Cuomo Doesn’t Resign, He Should Be Removed From Office
Published in The Washington Post on February 12, 2021
We’re Facing a Massive Spike in Violent Crime. Democrats Can’t Take It Lightly.
Published in The Washington Post on February 11, 2021
Donald Trump May Not Have Hurt the GOP as Much as Some Might Think
Published in The Washington Post on February 10, 2021
New Poll: There Is No Singular Trump Voter
Published in The Washington Post on February 5, 2021
Why It Will Be So Hard to Roll Back Trump’s Trade Agenda
Published in The Washington Post on January 27, 2021
Now Is the Time for Democrats to Stand up to Teachers Unions
Published in The Washington Post on January 25, 2021
Biden’s Stimulus Plan Suggests He Fundamentally Misunderstands This Recession
Published in The Washington Post on January 22, 2021
Trump Might Fade Away Faster Than People Think
Published in The Washington Post on January 19, 2021
New Data Shows Both a Hopeful and Worrying Portrait of Race in America
Published in The Washington Post on January 18, 2021
Americans Want Unity. Here’s Why That’s Still So Difficult to Achieve.
Published in The Washington Post on January 11, 2021
The Capitol Riot Shows How Fragile a Free Nation Can Be
Published in The Washington Post on January 7, 2021
Take a Lesson from Tom Cotton, Republicans
Published in The Washington Post on January 4, 2021
Raphael Warnock Might Really Be Too Radical for Georgia
Published in The Washington Post on December 2, 2020
The Supreme Court Finally Has a Majority That Will Protect Religious Freedom
Published in The Washington Post on November 27, 2020
Joe Biden Is Going to Need a New China Strategy
Published in The Washington Post on November 25, 2020
Joe Biden Could Shepherd a Massive, Pro-Family Package Through Congress
Published in The Washington Post on November 19, 2020
Republicans Have Elected a Record Number of Women and Minorities. It Wasn’t an Accident.
Published in The Washington Post on November 17, 2020
Talk Is Cheap. Here’s What Biden Needs to Do to Be a Unity President.
Published in The Washington Post on November 9, 2020
The Polling Industry Can’t Sweep Its Failure Under the Rug
Published in The Washington Post on November 4, 2020
My Predictions for the 2020 Presidential and Congressional Races
Published in The Washington Post on November 2, 2020
Conservatives Might Be Seeing the Light on How Government Aid Can Set Workers Up For Success
Published in The Washington Post on October 21, 2020
Another Stimulus Package Is Inevitable. Here’s What It Should Look Like.
Published in The Washington Post on October 19, 2020
We Have a Tough Economic Recovery Ahead — No Matter Who Wins in November
Published in The Washington Post on October 2, 2020
Trump Could Turn the Race Around With His Good Jobs News
Published in The Washington Post on September 25, 2020
Packing the Supreme Court Is a Horrible Idea. Democrats Must Reject It.
Published in The Washington Post on September 21, 2020
Joe Biden’s Agenda Is Frighteningly Expensive
Published in The Washington Post on September 16, 2020
Deep-Red Montana Could Be Democrats’ Biggest Catch in 2020. Can They Land It?
Published in The Washington Post on September 15, 2020
Trump Will Surely Tout the Latest Jobs Numbers, But We Still Have a Long Way to Go
Published in The Washington Post on September 4, 2020
It’s Clear Most Americans See the Founders for What They Were: Noble and Courageous
Published in The Washington Post on September 3, 2020
Is This Really All Trump Has to Offer on Violent Protests?
Published in The Washington Post on September 2, 2020
Joe Biden Should Do More Than Just Speak Out Against Violence
Published in The Washington Post on September 1, 2020
Take a Deep Breath. There’s Nothing Conspiratorial Happening at the Postal Service.
Published in The Washington Post on August 18, 2020
Raise a Glass to American Craft Brewing, and the Values It Embodies!
Published in The Washington Post on August 14, 2020
Democrats Are Trying to Appease Left-Wing Revolutionaries. It Won’t Work.
Published in The Washington Post on August 11, 2020
Tuesday’s Elections Were Good News for Progressives — and Establishment Republicans
Published in The Washington Post on August 5, 2020
Yes, Federal Debt Is Out of Control. But This Is Not the Time to Pinch Pennies.
Published in The Washington Post on July 31, 2020
Trump’s Suggestion to Delay the Election Is the Most Anti-Democratic Thing Any President Ever Said
Published in The Washington Post on July 30, 2020
Sorry, Republicans. The Polls Really Are That Bad.
Published in The Washington Post on July 28, 2020
The Coronavirus Briefings Are Returning. Here’s How Trump Can Make the Most of Them.
Published in The Washington Post on July 21, 2020
This Is Trump’s Last Chance, and He Probably Doesn’t Even Know It
Published in The Washington Post on July 16, 2020
McCarthyism Is Back. This Time, It’s Woke.
Published in The Washington Post on July 15, 2020
Tensions With China Are Rising. What’s the Next Step?
Published in The Washington Post on July 14, 2020
This Year’s Senate Races Spell Disaster for the Republican Party
Published in The Washington Post on July 8, 2020
In This Moment of Turmoil, Let the Declaration of Independence Do Its Magic Once Again
Published in The Washington Post on July 3, 2020
The Job Numbers Are Much-Needed Good News. And They’re Likely to Get Better.
Published in The Washington Post on July 2, 2020
Trump’s Order Banning Immigration Puts Democrats in a Bind
Published in The Washington Post on June 23, 2020
The Anti-Statue Movement Has Taken a Turn into Absurdity
Published in The Washington Post on June 22, 2020
We Can’t Keep the Economy Closed Forever
Published in The Washington Post on June 11, 2020
Trump May Be Down, but He’s Not Out. At Least Not Yet.
Published in The Washington Post on June 10, 2020
Progressives Have More Power Than Anyone Else to Improve the Lives of Black Americans
Published in The Washington Post on June 9, 2020
No, the Lockdowns Weren’t an Overreaction
Published in The Washington Post on June 9, 2020
Trump’s Social Media Executive Order Is a Big Mistake
Published in The Washington Post
What a Maskless Trump Says About His Reelection Strategy
Published in The Washington Post on May 26, 2020
Communist China Is Showing Its True Colors. It Must Not Go Unpunished.
Published in The Washington Post on May 22, 2020
The Voting Wars Are a Danger to Our Democracy
Published in The Washington Post on May 20, 2020
Joe Biden May Talk From the Center. But He Would Likely Govern From the Left.
Published in The Washington Post on May 19, 2020
Quarantine Protesters Don’t Represent All Conservatives. Here’s Why.
Published in The Washington Post on May 13, 2020
President Trump Can Learn Something From Michael Jordan
Published in The Washington Post on May 12, 2020
The Jobs Report Reveals the True American Carnage
Published in The Washington Post on May 8, 2020
Trump’s Not the Only One Blaming China. Americans Increasingly Are, Too.
Published in The Washington Post on May 4, 2020
Justin Amash May Not Even Be the Most Important Third-Party Candidate
Published in The Washington Post on April 29, 2020
COVID-19 Threatens Yet Another Victim: Social Security
Published in The Washington Post on April 23, 2020
Does Trump Have a Secret Stash of Voters?
Published in The Washington Post on April 22, 2020
Trump’s COVID-19 Performance Is an Encapsulation of His Entire Presidency
Published in The Washington Post on April 20, 2020