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 [email protected].
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.
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 is teaching as the Thomas W. Smith Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at Arizona State University for the Winter/Spring 2023 semester.
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.
Conservatives Need to get over their Allergy to Government Action
Henry Olsen
Today’s conservatives need to act prudently, but above all, they need to change.
Articles
The Washington Post / August 10, 2022
The GOP is blowing its chance to make the midterms a referendum on Democrats
Henry Olsen
The Kansas vote presents a further challenge for the entire Republican campaign.
Articles
The Washington Post / August 4, 2022
Please, Tories. Don’t fall for the supply-side snake oil.
Henry Olsen
The idea that tax cuts pay for themselves has long animated conservative politics in the United States.
Articles
The Washington Post / August 2, 2022
The Manchin Deal Should Fail, but Republicans can Learn Something from it.
Henry Olsen
Republicans are right to oppose the new tax hike and climate spending deal from Sen. Joe Manchin III. That doesn’t…
Articles
The Washington Post / July 28, 2022
Ignore the Naysayers, Nancy Pelosi. Go to Taiwan.
Henry Olsen
The Democratic House speaker should ignore them and go anyway.
Articles
The Washington Post / July 25, 2022
Beware of ‘national conservatives’ who dispense with American ideals
Henry Olsen
The national conservative effort to effectively write the Declaration out of American nationhood is manifest.
Articles
The Washington Post / July 20, 2022
Harry Truman Bucked Inflation. Both Parties can Learn from Him.
Henry Olsen
Economists point out that the 9.1 percent inflation rate for June compared with a year ago is the highest since…
Articles
The Washington Post / July 14, 2022
Please, Republicans. Don’t nominate Kari Lake for Arizona Governor.
Henry Olsen
Lake’s outrageous showmanship apparently knows no bounds.
Articles
The Washington Post / July 7, 2022
Inflation Is Even Worse than the Official Numbers Suggest
Henry Olsen
Prices for the goods that people regularly purchase are rising much faster than those for things they don’t.
Articles
The Wsahington Post / July 6, 2022
Ignore the Progressives’ Howling about the Supreme Court’s ‘Legitimacy’
Henry Olsen
The progressives’ great triumph might have ironically made the unraveling of their entire judicial edifice possible.
Articles
The Washington Post / July 5, 2022
Tuesday’s Primaries were a Great Sign for non-Trumpian Republicans
Henry Olsen
Independents wouldn’t vote in GOP contests if they were utterly turned off by the party’s brand.
Articles
The Washington Post / June 29, 2022
Rising Interest Rates will Shackle the Government — Unless Congress Acts
Henry Olsen
Rising interest rates mean the federal government’s spending spree is over. How Congress responds will determine whether we remain the world’s strongest economy or sink into debt-financed shackles.
Articles
The Washington Post / June 29, 2022
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