Peter Wehner is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He writes widely on political, cultural, religious, and national-security issues. He has written for numerous publications—including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Financial Times, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, National Affairs, Christianity Today and Time magazine. In 2015 he was named a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. He has also appeared as a commentator on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and C-SPAN television and appears frequently on national talk radio programs. In 2011 Forbes magazine featured Mr. Wehner on a short list of conservatism’s leading “educators and practitioners of first principles.” He was described this way: “Author, commentator, problem solver, prolific, daily provider of concise, reasoned, artful analysis and argument; gentle giant of a thinker at the intersection of politics and policy.” He has been named by several magazines as one of the handful of most influential reform-minded conservatives.
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 was also a senior adviser to the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign.
Mr. Wehner is author of City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era (co-authored with Michael J. Gerson) and Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism (co-authored with Arthur C. Brooks).
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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
Declaration of Disruption
Published in New York Times on July 4, 2017
Where Is the Republican Leadership?
Published in New York Times on May 10, 2017
Mr. Trump Goes to Washington
Published in New York Times on April 29, 2017
Interview with Peter Wehner: Hardwired for Hope
Published in Lancaster Online on April 17, 2017
After Great Pain, Where Is God?
Published in New York Times on March 26, 2017
The Battle for the Soul of Conservatism
Published in Real Clear Politics on February 26, 2017
Why I Cannot Fall in Line Behind Trump
Published in New York Times on January 22, 2017
Eight Was Enough
Published in New York Times on January 15, 2017
Obama’s Attack on Israel
Published in Real Clear Politics on December 28, 2016
Humanizing Jesus
Published in New York Times on December 24, 2016
Moderation is Not a Dirty Word
Published in New York Times on December 18, 2016
The Republican Party Is Being Refashioned
Published in Financial Times on November 13, 2016
Is There Life After Trump?
Published in New York Times on November 6, 2016
In Defense of Politics, Now More Than Ever
Published in New York Times on October 30, 2016
Republicans Who Care about the Future of the Party Should Ask These Questions
Published in National Review Online on October 24, 2016
The Ego-Driven Life
Published in The New York Times on October 20, 2016
Politics and the English Language: An Introduction
Published in The Trinity Forum: Politics and the English Language on October 4, 2016
The Political Magic of C.S. Lewis
Published in New York Times on September 24, 2016
Longing for Uplift
Published in Miller Center: First Year Project on September 19, 2016
The Comprehensive Case Against Donald Trump
Published in RealClearPolitics on September 11, 2016
George Orwell’s Fierce Modesty
Published in First Things on September 9, 2016
Under the Dark Spell of Trump, Jerry Falwell Jr. Is Damaging Public Christian Witness
Published in National Review Online on August 25, 2016
Beware of Blind Spots
Published in Philanthropy Magazine on July 19, 2016
Can We Find Our Way Back to Lincoln?
Published in The New York Times on July 17, 2016
The Theology of Donald Trump
Published in New York Times on July 5, 2016
The Indelible Stain of Donald Trump
Published in The New York Times on June 10, 2016
Republicans’ Delusional Hopes
Published in Commentary Magazine on June 8, 2016
Making the Case for the Good Life
Published in Commentary Magazine on May 23, 2016
Donald Trump’s Aggressive Ignorance
Published in Real Clear Politics on May 17, 2016
Why We Shouldn’t Fight Dirty
Published in Commentary Magazine on May 2, 2016
Friendship in the Age of Trump
Published in New York Times on April 24, 2016
Let’s See Trump in All His Ugliness
Published in Commentary Magazine on April 21, 2016
Trump Remains a Threat to Conservatism
Published in Commentary Magazine on April 13, 2016
Our Great Easter Hope
Published in RealClearReligion on March 28, 2016
The Man the Founders Feared
Published in The New York Times on March 20, 2016
The Party of Reagan Is No More
Published in TIME magazine - March 21, 2016 issue on March 10, 2016
A Conversation: How Can Evangelicals Support Trump?
Published in Washington Post on March 7, 2016
What Wouldn’t Jesus Do?
Published in The New York Times on March 1, 2016
Rebuilding a Marriage Culture in 21st-Century Black and Latino America
Published in National Review - February 29, 2016 issue on February 19, 2016
The Passing of a Supreme Court Giant
Published in Commentary Magazine on February 14, 2016
Certitude and Seeking the Truth
Published in Commentary Magazine on January 25, 2016
Why I Will Never Vote for Donald Trump
Published in New York Times on January 14, 2016
The Christmas Revolution
Published in The New York Times on December 25, 2015
The Closing of Barack Obama’s Mind
Published in Commentary Magazine on December 17, 2015
Reclaim Republicanism for the Conservatives
Published in Financial Times on December 2, 2015
Paul Ryan’s Voice of Calm Reason
Published in Commentary Magazine on November 30, 2015
President Obama’s Hypocrisy on Syria
Published in The New York Times on November 28, 2015
Our Bitter and Graceless President
Published in Commentary Magazine on November 18, 2015
How Christians Can Flourish in a Same-Sex-Marriage World
Published in Christianity Today - November 2015 issue on November 2, 2015
The Promise of Speaker Paul Ryan
Published in Commentary Magazine on October 30, 2015
Why Ben Carson’s Nazi Analogies Matter
Published in New York Times on October 20, 2015
Advice to the Next President
Published in The Miller Center: First Year 2017 on October 15, 2015
Seeking President, No Experience Necessary
Published in New York Times on October 4, 2015
Will the Trump Madness Now End?
Published in Commentary Magazine on September 17, 2015
Clinton, Trump and the Politics of Self-Destruction
Published in The New York Times on September 3, 2015
Is Hillary Clinton Finished?
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 19, 2015
When Faith Repairs Broken Lives
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 17, 2015
A Clarifying Moment for Conservatism
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 14, 2015
Why Civility is a Democratic Virtue
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 3, 2015
Our Morally Disoriented Times
Published in Commentary Magazine on July 30, 2015
A Glimpse Into the Culture of Death
Published in Commentary Magazine on July 20, 2015
Obama’s Worst Mistake
Published in Commentary Magazine on July 15, 2015
President Donald Trump? Just Say No
Published in New York Times on July 8, 2015
How an Act of Grace Changed the Republican Party
Published in Commentary Magazine on July 5, 2015
A Welcome Tipping Point for Republicans and the Confederate Flag
Published in Commentary Magazine on June 24, 2015
Conservatives and Climate Change
Published in National Affairs - Summer 2015 issue on June 22, 2015
Jeb Bush Makes His Case
Published in Commentary Magazine on June 18, 2015
Have You Ever Been Wrong?
Published in Commentary Magazine on June 6, 2015
Have Democrats Pulled Too Far Left?
Published in New York Times on May 27, 2015
Counting Up Obama’s Cataclysmic Foreign Policy Failures
Published in Commentary Magazine on May 26, 2015
Police Lives Matter
Published in Commentary Magazine on May 14, 2015
Sorry, Media, but Hillary is Incompetent
Published in Commentary Magazine on May 4, 2015
Hillary Clinton’s Tangle of Corruption
Published in Commentary Magazine on April 21, 2015
Take Them at Their Word
Published in The Weekly Standard - April 20, 2015 issue on April 16, 2015
The Culture Wars v. the Culture of Life
Published in Commentary Magazine on April 12, 2015