Peter Wehner is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and a contributing editor for The Atlantic magazine. Mr. Wehner has written for numerous other publications—including Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, The Weekly Standard, National Review, Commentary, National Affairs, and Christianity Today—and has appeared frequently as a commentator on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, CBS, PBS, and C-SPAN television. He was also the Pamela and Jack Egan Visiting Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy and the School of Arts and Sciences at Duke University in 2019–2020.
Mr. Wehner served in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations prior to becoming deputy director of speechwriting for President George W. Bush. In 2002, he was asked to head the Office of Strategic Initiatives, where he generated policy ideas, reached out to public intellectuals, published op-eds and essays, and provided counsel on a range of domestic and international issues. He has also served as an adviser to several presidential campaigns.
Mr. Wehner’s book The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump (HarperCollins) was published in June 2019. He is also author of City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era (co-authored with Michael J. Gerson), Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism (co-authored with Arthur C. Brooks), and co-editor of books on foreign policy (The Latin American Policies of U.S. Allies) and national security (Promise or Peril: The Strategic Defense Initiative).
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Pete Wehner has become the conscience not only of our organization, but really of the conservative movement, holding us true to our principles, including those that it's somewhat difficult in the course of a difficult struggle to remain faithful to.
Robert P. George
PUBLICATIONS
The Man Who Refused to Bow
Published in The Atlantic on February 27, 2021
If Republicans Don’t Disown Trump, He Will Continue to Own Them
Published in The New York Times on February 14, 2021
The Moral Inversion of the Republican Party
Published in The Atlantic on February 4, 2021
The End of Trump Can Be the Beginning of America
Published in The New York Times on January 22, 2021
Christians as a Cultural Minority (Again)
Published in The Washington Institute on January 14, 2021
Many Republicans Own This Insurrection
Published in The Atlantic on January 7, 2021
Some Republicans Have Finally Found a Line They Won’t Cross
Published in The Atlantic on January 4, 2021
Cowards are Destroying the GOP
Published in The Atlantic on December 31, 2020
The Forgotten Radicalism of Jesus Christ
Published in The New York Times on December 24, 2020
Trump Is Losing His Mind
Published in The Atlantic on December 20, 2020
Trump’s Most Malicious Legacy
Published in The Atlantic on December 7, 2020
Choose Repair, Not Revenge
Published in The Atlantic on November 16, 2020
Trump Lives in a Hall of Mirrors and He’s Got Plenty of Company
Published in The New York Times on November 2, 2020
Biden May Be Just the Person America Needs
Published in The Atlantic on November 2, 2020
Evangelicals Made a Bad Bargain With Trump
Published in The Atlantic on October 18, 2020
Now Comes the Reckoning
Published in The Atlantic on October 5, 2020
How to Win a Debate With a Bully
Published in The Atlantic on September 24, 2020
Does the Debt Matter?
Published in National Affairs - Fall 2020 issue on September 23, 2020
Why Trump Supporters Can’t Admit Who He Really Is
Published in The Atlantic on September 4, 2020
Conservatives Have Only One Choice in 2020
Published in The New York Times on August 24, 2020
Donald Trump Is a Broken Man
Published in The Atlantic on July 21, 2020
The Cost of the Evangelical Betrayal
Published in The Atlantic on July 10, 2020
We Can Find Common Ground on Gay Rights and Religious Liberty
Published in The New York Times on June 22, 2020
Listening to Robert F. Kennedy
Published in The Atlantic on June 13, 2020
Trump Has Made Alternative Facts a Way of Life
Published in The New York Times on June 13, 2020
The Malignant Cruelty of Donald Trump
Published in The Atlantic on May 26, 2020
Jonathan Haidt Is Trying to Heal America’s Divisions
Published in The Atlantic on May 24, 2020
Evangelicals: A Review
Published in Comment on May 7, 2020
The President Is Unraveling
Published in The Atlantic on May 5, 2020
The Party of the Aggrieved
Published in The Atlantic on April 21, 2020
‘I Feel Like I’m Handing Out Life Jackets of Hope in a Sea of Despair.’
Published in The New York Times on April 10, 2020
The President Is Trapped
Published in The Atlantic on March 25, 2020
NIH Director: ‘We’re on an Exponential Curve’
Published in The Atlantic on March 17, 2020
The Trump Presidency Is Over
Published in The Atlantic on March 13, 2020
What Pete Buttigieg Understood
Published in The Atlantic on March 2, 2020
A Profile in Courage
Published in The Atlantic on February 5, 2020
The Downfall of the Republican Party
Published in The Atlantic on February 2, 2020
There Is No Christian Case for Trump
Published in The Atlantic on January 30, 2020
Christmas Turns the World Upside Down
Published in The New York Times on December 24, 2019
White House Oral History: Peter Wehner
Published in The Miller Center on December 13, 2019
Christian Doomsayers Have Lost It
Published in The New York Times on December 6, 2019
The Moral Universe of Timothy Keller
Published in The Atlantic on December 5, 2019
Are Trump’s Critics Demonically Possessed?
Published in The Atlantic on November 25, 2019
The Exposure of the Republican Party
Published in The Atlantic on November 14, 2019
The Presidency Deserves Respect—Even When the President Does Not
Published in The Atlantic on October 29, 2019
Trump Betrayed the Kurds. He Couldn’t Help Himself.
Published in The Atlantic on October 15, 2019
What’s the Matter With Republicans?
Published in The New York Times on September 30, 2019
Trump Is Not Well
Published in The Atlantic on September 9, 2019
The Joe Walsh Challenge
Published in The New York Times on August 28, 2019
Trump’s Words Are Poison
Published in The Atlantic on August 6, 2019
For Conservatives Critical of Trump: Talking to Peter Wehner
Published in Los Angeles Review of Books on August 2, 2019
George Will Changes His Mind—But Stays True to His Convictions
Published in The Atlantic on July 28, 2019
The Deepening Crisis in Evangelical Christianity
Published in The Atlantic on July 5, 2019
Interview: A Conservative’s Vision: Let’s Make Politics Great Again
Published in The Washington Post on June 24, 2019
Trump Is Betting That Anger Can Still Be Power
Published in The New York Times on June 19, 2019
Trump’s Sinister Assault on Truth
Published in The Atlantic on June 18, 2019
Interview: Culture War vs. Culture Care
Published in Crux on June 12, 2019
Interview: A Political Renewal?
Published in National Review Online on June 11, 2019
Politics Is Not Total War
Published in The New York Times on June 2, 2019
The Genius of Stephen Curry
Published in The Atlantic on May 14, 2019
David Brooks’s Journey Toward Faith
Published in The Atlantic on May 7, 2019
Why Jesus on the Cross Is No Mere Symbol
Published in The New York Times on April 19, 2019
Pete Buttigieg’s Very Public Faith Is Challenging Assumptions
Published in The Atlantic on April 10, 2019
The Democratic Party is Radicalizing
Published in The Atlantic on April 3, 2019
A Damaged Soul and a Disordered Personality
Published in The Atlantic on March 18, 2019
Religion and Polarized Politics: An Interview with Melissa Rogers and Peter Wehner
Published in Religion & Politics on March 12, 2019
It’s a Blessing to Bear Your Friend’s Burden
Published in The Atlantic on March 3, 2019
Republicans Sink Further Into Trump’s Cesspool
Published in The New York Times on February 28, 2019
Republicans Got Us into This Mess, and They Have to Get Us out of It
Published in The New York Times on February 8, 2019
What I’ve Gained by Leaving the Republican Party
Published in The Atlantic on February 6, 2019
The Uncommon Power of Grace
Published in The New York Times on December 23, 2018
The Full-Spectrum Corruption of Donald Trump
Published in The New York Times on August 26, 2018
Interview: What’s Left of the Right?
Published in Democracy journal on August 15, 2018
The Example of Charles Krauthammer
Published in The New York Times on June 21, 2018
The Great #MeToo Awakening
Published in The New York Times on May 13, 2018