Who Kimberley Strassel Is
Kimberley Strassel is a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board and author of the weekly Potomac Watch political column, one of the most-read conservative political columns in American journalism. She is the 2014 Bradley Prize recipient and the author of ‘The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech’ and ‘The Biden Malaise.’.
She appeared on Breaking Battlegrounds Episode 154 and in a subsequent episode alongside Ross Douthat. Her Wall Street Journal column is one of the few places in major American journalism where conservative political analysis appears with institutional backing.
Her Core Argument on the Biden Record
Strassel’s central argument, made in her book and developed on Breaking Battlegrounds, is that the Biden administration’s record represents a systematic failure of executive governance that mirrors the Carter administration’s failures: inflation, foreign policy weakness, and domestic policy overreach that generated a populist backlash.
Her specific analytical contribution: she documented in real time the Biden administration’s use of regulatory and prosecutorial power against conservative organizations and donors, a pattern she argued began with the Obama IRS targeting of Tea Party groups and continued under Biden in different institutional forms.
On Conservative Journalism
Strassel’s appearance on Breaking Battlegrounds addressed the media environment directly. Her argument: the concentration of major American news organizations into a handful of institutional outlets with aligned political perspectives means that conservative journalism, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the New York Post, National Review, and a growing podcast ecosystem that includes Breaking Battlegrounds, is doing work that no longer happens inside mainstream newsrooms.
The specific work she identified: documenting the actual record of Democratic administrations rather than the narrative those administrations construct around their own records.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Kimberley Strassel?
Kimberley Strassel is a Wall Street Journal editorial board member and author of the weekly Potomac Watch political column. She is one of the most prominent conservative political journalists in the country.
What is Kimberley Strassel's book 'The Biden Malaise' about?
The Biden Malaise argues that the Biden presidency repeated the failures of the Carter administration, inflation, foreign policy weakness, and domestic overreach, and generated the political backlash that produced the 2024 Republican victory.
What episode of Breaking Battlegrounds did Kimberley Strassel appear on?
Kimberley Strassel appeared on Breaking Battlegrounds Episode 154 and in a subsequent episode alongside New York Times columnist Ross Douthat.
