David Von Drehle

Kansas City

Deputy opinion editor and columnist focusing on national affairs and politics
David Von Drehle is a deputy opinion editor and columnist for The Post, where he writes about national affairs and politics from a home base in the Midwest. He joined The Post in 2017 after a decade at Time magazine, where he wrote more than 60 cover stories as editor-at-large. During a previous stint at The Post, Von Drehle served as a writer and editor on the National staff, in Style, and at the magazine. He is the author of a number of books, including the award-winning bestseller “Triangle: The Fire That Changed America.” He lives in Kansas City with his wife, journalist Karen Ball, and th
Latest from David Von Drehle

An amped-up Biden plays the age-old hits

Like him or not, America, Biden is headed for the November ballot.

March 8, 2024
President Biden is greeted by members of Congress on Thursday as he enters the House chamber to deliver the State of the Union. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Kansas City confronts a crisis that’s all too familiar

Though saddened and sickened, the city could not be surprised by the gunplay.

February 15, 2024
People take cover during a shooting at a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII victory parade on Wednesday. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Trump carries farm country. But can he win the Chick-fil-A vote?

The closer voting draws to population centers — where elections are actually won or lost — the weaker Donald Trump appears.

January 16, 2024
Former president Donald Trump arrives for his caucus night watch party on Jan. 15 in Des Moines. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Tom Shales, TV critic for the Everyman, demanded respect for viewers

He understood that TV was a mass medium, not an art gallery, but he insisted that “mass” did not have to mean shoddy.

January 14, 2024
Tom Shales in 2002. (Julia Ewan/The Washington Post)

Where is the voice to unite a divided America?

Imagine an artist who can sing a song or tell a tale about our nuanced national identity — and speak to all Americans.

January 7, 2024

Bless this pope for blessing the blessing of same-sex couples

To his great credit, Pope Francis seems fired by a sense of urgency to name the problems gnawing away at Catholicism.

December 19, 2023
Pope Francis releases a dove as a symbol of peace in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Sept. 30, 2016.

Who can beat The Donald? The Rock.

America has a sure and happy pathway out of the doom loop of Biden vs. Trump: Dwayne Johnson for President!

November 15, 2023
(Washington Post staff illustration; photos by AP, iStock)

For Matthew Perry, the curse of a wish come true

I wish for his sake that he could have been, for just a little while, unfamous — a random face in the crowd again.

October 29, 2023
Matthew Perry. (Jelani Rice for The Washington Post)

A memorial restores humanity to the 146 ghosts of the Triangle Fire

Over a century after one of New York City’s deadliest industrial accidents, the names of its victims, most of them women, are being enshrined in steel.

October 9, 2023

A judge calls out Trump’s business lies. Voters can be just as critical.

If a business empire cannot stand forever on a foundation of hooey, is the same true of a political movement?

September 27, 2023
Former president Donald Trump at a rally in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sept. 20. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)