
Henry Olsen
Senior Fellow
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.
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.
Click here to view the full archive of Mr. Olsen’s writings at National Review Online.
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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.
Gun Rights Advocates Do Themselves No Favors By Not Addressing Gun Violence
Henry Olsen

You’re either at the table or you’re on the menu.
Articles
Washington Post / May 17, 2022
What a Serious Republican Plan to Address Inflation Could Look Like
Henry Olsen

The GOP should think outside the box and embrace populist conservatism.
Articles
Washington Post / May 12, 2022
Democrats are Proving to Be the Real Extremists on Abortion
Henry Olsen

Most Americans don’t support Democrats’ no-limit abortion proposals. The party is pushing them anyway.
Articles
Washington Post / May 10, 2022
Abortion Foes Should Gear Up to Win the Fight for Public Opinion
Henry Olsen

Public sentiment today is nuanced but favorable to abortion rights.
Articles
Washington Post / May 10, 2022
With or Without Trump, Tuesday’s Primaries Portend a MAGA Year Ahead
Henry Olsen

The signs are unmistakable: stormy weather ahead for business Republicans and Team Blue, full speed ahead for the MAGA express.
Articles
Washington Post / May 5, 2022
The Leak is a Shock. What the Draft Decision Says is Not.
Henry Olsen

There is a deep consensus within the broad conservative legal world that Roe was wrongly decided a half-century ago.
Articles
Washington Post / May 3, 2022
Brace Yourselves: The Democrats Need the Midterms to be a Mudfight
Henry Olsen

In the upcoming midterms, mud is all the Democrats have. Republicans had better get ready.
Articles
Washington Post / May 3, 2022
Is this the Western Alliance’s Last Hurrah?
Henry Olsen

Unless we adapt now and prepare for the future, today’s united response to Russia could be the West’s swan song.
Articles
Washington Post / April 26, 2022
The CDC’s Mask Mandate for Flights Needed to Go
Henry Olsen

The covid-19 pandemic was a terrible tragedy, but tragedies should never be used as justifications for blithely casting aside democratic norms and the rule of law.
Articles
Washington Post / April 21, 2022
Trump is Gambling with His Political Future in Ohio and Pennsylvania
Henry Olsen

Trump didn’t get to be president by playing it safe.
Articles
Washington Post / April 19, 2022
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