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.

Read full bio.

For media inquiries or to book Mr. Olsen for an interview, contact [email protected].

Click here to view a full archive of Mr. Olsen’s writings.

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.

From 2019–2023, Mr. Olsen was an opinion columnist for The Washington Post, where he wrote 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 taught as the Thomas W. Smith Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at Arizona State University for the Winter/Spring 2023 semester. He has taught at Villanova University, the Catholic University of America, and the Hillsdale College D.C. Graduate Studies Program.

Mr. Olsen was previously an editor at UnHerd.com and a regular contributor to American GreatnessCity Journal, and World Magazine. Mr. Olsen’s work has been featured in many prominent publications, including The New York TimesThe Wall Street JournalNational ReviewThe 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.

Close bio

GOP front-liners shouldn’t sweat Medicaid work requirements

Henry Olsen

Centrist Republicans are said to be worried that the reconciliation bill’s proposed cuts to Medicaid spending will leave them vulnerable to Democratic attacks. They…

Articles

Washington Examiner / May 27, 2025

Mark Carney Will Lose the Standoff with Trump

Henry Olsen

Thursday’s U.K.-U.S. trade deal may give hope to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that his nation could score a similarly rapid…

Articles

National Review Online / May 24, 2025

Blow for ‘progressive’ Tusk: Anti-abortion trio receive majority in presidential vote

Henry Olsen

The Brussels elites were surely dismayed at how well conservative populist candidates fared in Sunday’s first round of Poland’s presidential…

Articles

Brussels Signal / May 20, 2025

Republicans Need Not Fear

Henry Olsen

President Trump’s plan for raising taxes on the wealthy dramatically differs from George H.W. Bush’s tax flip-flop.

Articles

Commonplace / May 14, 2025

There are signs that the GOP is avoiding the Medicaid trap

Henry Olsen

Many Republican members of Congress have been leery of cuts to Medicaid, afraid of being tarred by Democratic attack ads. The recently released House…

Articles

Washington Examiner / May 13, 2025

Post-war Conservatism is fading fast, yet the centre-right cannot grasp the fact

Henry Olsen

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s historic, embarrassing failure to be installed on the Bundestag’s first vote merely underscores an increasingly undeniable…

Articles

Brussels Signal / May 9, 2025

Why Trump Should Not Fight the Courts

Henry Olsen

The administration can turn the tables on the left.

Articles

National Review Online / May 9, 2025

The GOP can use reconciliation to disincentivize illegal immigration

Henry Olsen

The courts are significantly hampering President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants, but Republicans in Congress can use their budget reconciliation powers to help him. Courts are…

Articles

Washington Examiner / April 30, 2025

Tariffs Are Here to Stay

Henry Olsen

Even with the latest tariff ‘pause,’ Trump still holds the cards in this game.

Articles

National Review Online / April 25, 2025

Europeans have only two months left to keep the Americans in and the Russians out

Henry Olsen

Do Europeans know what time it is?

Articles

Brussels Signal / April 24, 2025

Trump’s ‘Dirty Harry’ theory of justice

Henry Olsen

People reject law when it fails the majority.

Articles

UnHerd / April 19, 2025

Oh, Canada…

Henry Olsen

Thanks to Donald Trump, the possibility of a Conservative victory north of the border has gone from a sure thing to a long shot

Articles

Discourse / April 16, 2025

Sign up here to receive updates from Henry Olsen.