The Federalist
The Federalist's Self-Proclaimed Bias
In September 2013, co-founder Ben Domenech, a conservative writer and TV commentator, wrote that The Federalist was inspired by the worldview of the original TIME magazine, which he described as "[leaning] to the political right, with a small-c conservatism equipped with a populist respect for the middle class reader outside of New York and Washington, and an abiding love for America at a time when snark and cynicism were not considered substitutes for smart analysis."
Domenech wrote that The Federalist would be informed by TIME's 1920s “list of prejudices” for the magazine, which included principles such as:
- A belief that the world is round and an admiration of the statesman’s view of all the world.
- A general distrust of the present tendency toward increasing interference by government.
- A prejudice against the rising cost of government.
- Faith in the things which money cannot buy.
- A respect for the old, particularly in manners.
- An interest in the new, particularly in ideas.
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While President Biden has advertised job creation as a prominent goal moving into the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, 14 Republican attorneys general from across the country are sounding the alarm on his administration’s abrupt cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia penned a joint letter urging Biden to reevaluate his position.
“Your decision will result in devastating damage to many of our states and local communities,” the attorneys wrote. “Even those states outside the path of the Keystone XL pipeline—indeed all Americans—will suffer serious, detrimental consequences.”
“Nowhere, however, do you explain how killing the Keystone XL pipeline project directly advances the goals of ‘protect[ing] Americans and the domestic economy from harmful climate impacts.’ Nor does your decision actually cure any of the climate ills you reference. Observers are thus left with only one reasonable supposition: it is a symbolic act of virtue signaling to special interests and the international community,” the joint letter said.”
The scathing letter pertains to Biden’s Jan. 20 executive order within hours of assuming office to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, which President Trump re-authorized for construction in Jan. 2017.
Operated by TC Energy, the project aimed to deliver 830,000 crude oil barrels per day from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska. It is estimated to inject $8 billion into the North American economy as a whole and create over 13,000 jobs, some of which are unionized. It was also a key national security move, as it created U.S. energy independence from foreign antagonists such as Russia, China, and Middle Eastern oil tyrannies.