Bret Stephens

Bret Stephens is an American journalist, columnist, and editor known for his right-of-center political commentary. Born on November 21, 1973, in New York City, he was raised in Mexico City. Stephens earned a Bachelor's degree in political philosophy from the University of Chicago and a Master's in comparative politics from the London School of Economics. He began his career in 1995 as an assistant editor at Commentary magazine and later joined The Wall Street Journal in 1998. At the Journal, he served as a foreign affairs columnist and deputy editorial page editor. In 2002, he became the editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, a position he held until 2004. Stephens returned to The Wall Street Journal and won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2013 for his incisive columns on American foreign policy and domestic politics. Since 2017, he has been an opinion columnist for The New York Times and a senior contributor to NBC News .

Stephens is known for his neoconservative foreign policy views and his opposition to Donald Trump from the right. He has been a vocal critic of Trump's rhetoric and policies, describing his candidacy as "the open sewer of American conservatism." Stephens has also expressed skepticism about climate change activism, referring to it as a "sick-souled religion" and a form of "mass hysteria." However, in 2022, he acknowledged the reality of anthropogenic climate change after a trip to Greenland with climate scientist John Englander, stating that he had come to accept the evidence .

In his writings, Stephens often emphasizes the importance of manners and restraint in political discourse. He has stated, "Why care about social formalities, modes of dress, niceties of speech, qualities of restraint? Not simply because manners make the man, although they do, but because manners also shape political cultures" . Additionally, he has remarked, "We live in a world in which data convey authority. But authority has a way of descending to certitude, and certitude begets hubris" .

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