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The five countries at the top of the global COVID-19 mortality tables – the United States, Brazil, India, Mexico, and Britain – have something in common: All had populist leaders when the pandemic began. Like Donald Trump, heads of the other four governments also played down the importance of the pandemic or moved slowly to deal with it. They shared some habits, too – oversimplifying the pandemic, dramatizing their own responses, asserting their own solutions, and forging divisions along the way. Why We Wrote This Populist leaders swept to power in recent years on a wave of promises. Bu...

Anaheim, Calif. Four months ago, America’s most populous state was struggling to combat a surge in coronavirus hospitalizations. On Friday, Disneyland, California’s world-famous theme park, was set to reopen to visitors after an unprecedented 13-month closure in what tourism officials hope is a sign of the state’s rebound from the pandemic. For now, the park is allowing only in-state visitors and operating at limited capacity. The day began with Disney officials and park employees wearing face coverings gathered in the park’s town square for the morning flag-raising ceremony. Disney c...

At President Joe Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate last week, one constituency was a group somewhat new to the green spotlight: financiers. Banks and investors made some big-dollar pledges: Bill Gates on plans to rapidly commercialize clean technologies. Dozens of banks in a new Net-Zero Banking Alliance. And more. Why We Wrote This President Joe Biden has proposed expansive federal spending on climate action. But a recent summit emphasized something seen as just as vital: mobilizing private sector investment. It’s encouraging, say climate policy experts, because such private funding is n...

Six years ago Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his father, King Salman, shifted traditionally cautious Saudi Arabia to an aggressive foreign policy confronting Iran and its proxies, including, crucially, in neighboring Yemen. But in an interview on Saudi state TV this week, Crown Prince Mohammed called for the two nations to overcome differences that have divided the region. “We do not want Iran’s situation to be difficult. On the contrary, we want Iran to grow and prosper,” the crown prince said. Why We Wrote This The Saudi-Iran rivalry that has shaped the Middle East may ...

Last year’s protests against police brutality spurred a nationwide push to reform law enforcement. Dozens of states and cities responded, with bills curtailing aggressive police tactics and adding measures to ensure accountability. Maryland and New Jersey, in particular, changed use-of-force policy at its foundation. But if changing a decentralized and complicated institution is difficult, evaluating those reforms is almost more so. While not the only measure of law enforcement quality, the number of police killings last year remained a stable 1,000 per year, or about three per day. This...