Peter Wehner is Vice President and 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 is 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.
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 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). His book The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump (HarperCollins) was published in June 2019.
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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
Ann Coulter’s Casual Cruelty
Published in Patheos.com on August 8, 2014
The Nasty, Brutish World of Richard Dawkins
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 21, 2014
“The Tide of War is Receding,” “We Don’t Do Stupid [Stuff],” and Other Myths
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 12, 2014
Why Grief Can Exist Alongside Hope
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 5, 2014
Obama’s Psychological Tapestry
Published in Commentary Magazine on June 11, 2014
The Idealism and Realism of the American Founders
Published in Commentary Magazine on July 9, 2014
The GOP’s Growing Vulnerability on Cultural Issues
Published in Commentary Magazine on July 7, 2014
The GOP and America’s Changing Demographics
Published in Commentary Magazine on June 26, 2014
A Cheerful Conservative
Published in Commentary Magazine on May 12, 2014
The Conservative Case Against Crony Capitalism
Published in Commentary Magazine on May 7, 2014
Reality Is Crushing the Obama Presidency
Published in Commentary Magazine on April 25, 2014
The GOP’s Political Reconstruction Project
Published in Commentary Magazine on April 21, 2014
Mozilla and the Prophet Isaiah
Published in Commentary Magazine on April 9, 2014
Obama’s World of Make Believe
Published in Commentary Magazine on March 20, 2014
GOP Task: From Oppositional to Governing Conservatism
Published in Commentary Magazine on March 7, 2014
“I Live in a Rather Special World”
Published in Commentary Magazine on March 6, 2014
Obama’s Journey from Arrogance to Incompetence
Published in Commentary Magazine on March 4, 2014
In Defense of Social Justice
Published in Commentary Magazine on February 18, 2014
Demographics and the GOP
Published in Commentary Magazine on February 6, 2014
Both Obama and the GOP Badly Damaged
Published in Commentary Magazine on January 31, 2014
Our Chastened President
Published in Commentary Magazine on January 23, 2014
Let Reagan Be Reagan
Published in Commentary Magazine on January 21, 2014
The Scandal of Grace
Published in Patheos - Philosophical Fragments on January 21, 2014
The War on Poverty a Half Century Later
Published in Commentary Magazine on January 8, 2014
A Conservative Vision of Government
Published in National Affairs on January 1, 2014
“We Thought That [Obama] Was Going to Be the Next Messiah”
Published in Commentary Magazine on December 19, 2013
Compromise, Moderation, and the American Constitution
Published in Commentary Magazine on December 17, 2013
“I Am Interested in the Views of the Opposition”
Published in Commentary Magazine on December 10, 2013
Obama’s “Coalition of the Ascendant” Is Collapsing
Published in Commentary Magazine on December 5, 2013
Burke, Paine, and the Politics of This Era
Published in Commentary Magazine on December 3, 2013
C.S. Lewis and the Power of Imagination
Published in Commentary Magazine on November 21, 2013
The Obama Presidency in Crisis
Published in Commentary Magazine on November 19, 2013
A Debacle for Liberalism
Published in The Weekly Standard on November 11, 2013
Barack Obama’s Multiplying Deceptions
Published in Commentary Magazine on November 6, 2013
Krauthammer On Things That Matter
Published in Commentary Magazine on October 22, 2013
Obama Disassociates from Reality
Published in Commentary Magazine on October 22, 2013
Subordinating Truth to Ideology
Published in Commentary Magazine on October 16, 2013
Public Revulsion at Our Political Institutions
Published in Commentary Magazine on October 11, 2013
Mistaking God’s Will for Our Own
Published in Patheos.com on October 8, 2013
The Age of Invective
Published in Commentary Magazine on October 3, 2013
This Town Isn’t So Bad
Published in Commentary Magazine on October 1, 2013
Compromise and the American Constitution
Published in Commentary Magazine on September 30, 2013
Conservatives and the Excommunication Temptation
Published in Commentary Magazine on September 27, 2013
The Remarkable Pope Francis
Published in Commentary Magazine on September 23, 2013
When the Stars Vanish
Published in Patheos.com on September 17, 2013
Why I’m Against a Military Strike On Syria
Published in Commentary Magazine on September 9, 2013
Barack Obama’s Staggering Incompetence
Published in Commentary Magazine on September 2, 2013
Syrian War Crimes and Selective Moral Outrage
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 27, 2013
Obama’s Long List of Broken Promises
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 23, 2013
Wanted: A Republican Governing Agenda
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 22, 2013
Whose Morality?
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 19, 2013
Roger’s Neighborhood
Published in The Weekly Standard on August 19, 2013
Why Tone in American Politics Matters
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 9, 2013
Marco Rubio’s Folly
Published in Commentary Magazine on August 6, 2013
The Clean Sea Breeze of the Centuries
Published in Commentary Magazine on July 22, 2013
Deconstructing Reality and Zimmerman
Published in Commentary magazine on July 16, 2013
Obama’s Claims Nothing But Dust in Wind
Published in Commentary magazine on July 8, 2013
The Meaning of Gettysburg
Published in Commentary magazine on July 1, 2013
Nations Swinging Away at the Obama Pinata
Published in Commentary magazine on June 25, 2013
The Virtue of Gratitude
Published in Commentary magazine on June 14, 2013
They’ll Always Love Obama
Published in The Weekly Stanard on June 3, 2013
The Lethal Compassion of Modern Liberalism
Published in Commentary magazine on May 14, 2013
Conservatism and the Limitations of Self-Reliance
Published in Commentary Magazine on May 8, 2013
Obama Fatigue
Published in Commentary Magazine on May 3, 2013
The President, His Budget, and the Poor
Published in Commentary Magazine on April 11, 2013
The Iron Lady Belongs to the Ages
Published in Commentary Magazine on April 8, 2013
Political Moderation and the Conservative Disposition
Published in Commentary Magazine on April 1, 2013
GOP Should Stand Firm Against Drug Legalization
Published in Washington Post on April 2, 2013
Party, Heal Thyself
Published in TIME Magazine on March 11, 2013
Moral Presuppositions and Politics
Published in Commentary magazine on February 18, 2013
How to Save the Republican Party
Published in Commentary Magazine on March 1, 2013
The Absentee Commander in Chief
Published in The Wall Street Journal on February 10, 2013
Drone Strikes, Waterboarding, and Moral Preening
Published in Commentary magazine's Contentions on February 6, 2013
The Significance of Obama’s Inaugural Address
Published in Commentary on January 21, 2013
America’s Exodus from Marriage
Published in Commentary on January 17, 2013