newyorker--2020-10-12--A Sneak Preview of Amy Coney Barrett’s Opening Statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee

Thank you very much , Mr. Chairman , Senator Feinstein , and members of the committee .
And thank you to the senators who took the time to meet with me and get COVID-19 .
And let me once again thank President Donald Trump for nominating me .
This is a great honor , but a humbling one .
If confirmed , I can only promise you this , that I will be true to the judicial philosophy that has guided me my whole life—to apply the law impartially , to put my trust in the wisdom of our Founding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should lend Donald Trump four hundred million dollars .
I believe that judges should not be politicians in robes , concerned less with what the law is than what they wish it to be .
The judge ’ s role is merely to call balls and strikes and make gigantic real-estate bridge loans .
As Alexander Hamilton put it in the Federalist Papers , “ liberty can have nothing to fear from ” judges who limit themselves to “ applying the law ” and “ purchasing distressed Scottish golf resorts , and also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the importance of legal precedent .
I believe precedent should be a guide but not a straitjacket .
For where would we be if the Court could not revisit its opinions on Dred Scott v. Sandford , or Plessy v. Ferguson , or the idea that the Supreme Court can ’ t make a four-hundred-million-dollar loan because it doesn ’ t have any money ?
These are outdated ideas that belong in the ash heap of history .
I will keep my remarks brief , because the timeline before us is tight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needs not only to confirm me but to confirm successors for the Justices who die of COVID-19 after my swearing-in party .
That ’ s a lot to get done before November 3rd , or December 15th , or March 10th , or whatever day to which my future fellow-Justices and I decide to delay the election .
On the subject of the election , I want to reiterate my commitment to voting rights .
Voting to choose the President of the United States is a sacred right given by our wise Founding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the nine members of the Supreme Court , regardless of race , creed , or color .
It is the very basis of democracy that every vote should be counted , so we can know as a nation whether the final vote tally was 5–4 or 6–3 .
I have great veneration for the Supreme Court of the United States , both as a legal institution and a real-estate hedge fund .
As I can not stop saying , I was a clerk for Justice Scalia and consider him my mentor .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , after which I proudly burst into tears .
And , of course , I could not have greater respect for the late Justice Ginsburg .
I regrettably never met Justice Ginsburg , because associating with liberals could have hurt my career , but I can tell you this : he was a great man .
Thank you , Mr. Chairman .
Thank you , members of the committee .
I look forward to your questions and pretending to take umbrage at them .

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Senator Feinstein, and members of the committee. And thank you to the senators who took the time to meet with me and get COVID-19. And let me once again thank President Donald Trump for nominating me. This is a great honor, but a humbling one.
If confirmed, I can only promise you this, that I will be true to the judicial philosophy that has guided me my whole life—to apply the law impartially, to put my trust in the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, and that the Supreme Court should lend Donald Trump four hundred million dollars.
I believe that judges should not be politicians in robes, concerned less with what the law is than what they wish it to be. The judge’s role is merely to call balls and strikes and make gigantic real-estate bridge loans. As Alexander Hamilton put it in the Federalist Papers, “liberty can have nothing to fear from” judges who limit themselves to “applying the law” and “purchasing distressed Scottish golf resorts, and also Doral.”
Some have asked my views on the importance of legal precedent. I believe precedent should be a guide but not a straitjacket. For where would we be if the Court could not revisit its opinions on Dred Scott v. Sandford, or Plessy v. Ferguson, or the idea that the Supreme Court can’t make a four-hundred-million-dollar loan because it doesn’t have any money? These are outdated ideas that belong in the ash heap of history.
I will keep my remarks brief, because the timeline before us is tight. Before the election, the Senate needs not only to confirm me but to confirm successors for the Justices who die of COVID-19 after my swearing-in party. That’s a lot to get done before November 3rd, or December 15th, or March 10th, or whatever day to which my future fellow-Justices and I decide to delay the election.
On the subject of the election, I want to reiterate my commitment to voting rights. Voting to choose the President of the United States is a sacred right given by our wise Founding Fathers to each and every one of the nine members of the Supreme Court, regardless of race, creed, or color. It is the very basis of democracy that every vote should be counted, so we can know as a nation whether the final vote tally was 5–4 or 6–3.
I have great veneration for the Supreme Court of the United States, both as a legal institution and a real-estate hedge fund. As I cannot stop saying, I was a clerk for Justice Scalia and consider him my mentor. I have been yelled at by Justice Kavanaugh, after which I proudly burst into tears. And, of course, I could not have greater respect for the late Justice Ginsburg. I regrettably never met Justice Ginsburg, because associating with liberals could have hurt my career, but I can tell you this: he was a great man.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, members of the committee. I look forward to your questions and pretending to take umbrage at them.


newyorker--2020-10-13--Welcome to Fall, the Two Days Between Summer and Winter

Yes , it ’ s finally that autumnal season !
Gather the harvest for the cornucopia !
Roast butternut squash and braise pork shoulder with good friends ’ round the hot wood fire as you—O.K.
, is that sleet ?
It ’ s sleeting now .
And it says that tomorrow it ’ s supposed to be in the eighties .
Then it ’ s going to snow .
How is that possible ?
Never mind .
Breathe in that clean , cool scent of pine !
Pull out your favorite cardigan and let ’ s go apple-picking !
Pumpkin-picking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a sunburn .
It just got really hot , right ?
And these apples are swarming with bees .
I thought that the bees were dead or hibernating or something .
Why does it just get randomly hot like this ?
A hayride ?
Why , yes , of course , a hayride !
What better way to roll into the equinox ?
Pile on , everyone !
We ’ ll sip mulled cider and tell ghost stories as we roll along—hmm , we ’ re not moving .
What do you mean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
The wheels of the tractor are lodged in frozen mud ?
The driver has perished of hypothermia ?
What is happening ?
All right , let ’ s head home !
We ’ ll gather on the porch and let the day fade to night .
We ’ ll see that awesome autumn sunset and—wait , it ’ s already dark ?
It ’ s , like , 4 P.M. How is it completely dark outside ?
Who cares—throw a scarf ’ round your neck and gather under this plaid wool blanket @ @ @ @ @ @ @ autumn stars !
Ow , what was that—OW !
Those aren ’ t stars !
That ’ s hail !
Oh , my God , those are massive balls of hail !
Run !
Everybody , run for cover !
As we crouch here , hiding from a torrent of monstrous hail , wondering if these are our final moments , let us appreciate what the season has given us .
One , perhaps even two days of picturesque fall weather .
Crunchy piles of leaves for about a week .
I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : this is my favorite season that lasts eighteen to thirty-six hours .
Now on to that cozy , warm , wondrous holiday season !
Cold , wintry nights full of family and roaring fires and stockings and candles and cookies and—oh , that ’ s over now , too .
Great .
Get ready for five months of February !

Ah, fall! That beautiful time of year when leaves take on the orange glow of the setting sun, acorns crunch under booted feet, crisp air cools hot cider from the local market, and—oh, it’s over, there it goes, it’s winter now.
Yes, it’s finally that autumnal season! Gather the harvest for the cornucopia! Roast butternut squash and braise pork shoulder with good friends ’round the hot wood fire as you—O.K., is that sleet? It’s sleeting now. And it says that tomorrow it’s supposed to be in the eighties. Then it’s going to snow. How is that possible?
Never mind. Breathe in that clean, cool scent of pine! Pull out your favorite cardigan and let’s go apple-picking! Pumpkin-picking! Corn-husking! I—I think I have a sunburn. It just got really hot, right? And these apples are swarming with bees. I thought that the bees were dead or hibernating or something. Why does it just get randomly hot like this?
A hayride? Why, yes, of course, a hayride! What better way to roll into the equinox? Pile on, everyone! We’ll sip mulled cider and tell ghost stories as we roll along—hmm, we’re not moving. What do you mean, “we’re stuck”? The wheels of the tractor are lodged in frozen mud? The driver has perished of hypothermia? What is happening?
All right, let’s head home! We’ll gather on the porch and let the day fade to night. We’ll see that awesome autumn sunset and—wait, it’s already dark? It’s, like, 4 P.M. How is it completely dark outside?
Who cares—throw a scarf ’round your neck and gather under this plaid wool blanket so that we may gaze upon the autumn stars! Ow, what was that—OW! Those aren’t stars! That’s hail! Oh, my God, those are massive balls of hail! Run! Everybody, run for cover!
As we crouch here, hiding from a torrent of monstrous hail, wondering if these are our final moments, let us appreciate what the season has given us. One, perhaps even two days of picturesque fall weather. Crunchy piles of leaves for about a week. I’ll be the first to say it: this is my favorite season that lasts eighteen to thirty-six hours.
Now on to that cozy, warm, wondrous holiday season! Cold, wintry nights full of family and roaring fires and stockings and candles and cookies and—oh, that’s over now, too. Great. Get ready for five months of February!


newyorker--2020-10-13--Joe Biden’s Contest with His Words

Joe Biden’s Contest with His Words

There ’ s no need to put undue emphasis on Biden ’ s stutter , which hasn ’ t dominated the arc of his long life and layered career .
But there ’ s nothing out of scale in calling it forward , because , as everybody with a stutter knows , the fore is where the problem naturally lives .
Like the blinking red light in the corner of an old camcorder screen , the stutter is always nearby , in peripheral attention .
Even those who maintain the illusion of talking fluently , or who , like Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can never lose awareness of their speech .
Fluent talking , for people who grew up stuttering , is less an after-dinner walk than a metred race that you train for .
Possibly you look ahead and set your lips and breathing for a problematic consonant .
Maybe you shift your vocal weight—soft here , emphasis .
.
.
there—to try to keep your balance when you leap to the next phrase .
As with all feats of equilibrium , this takes not just practice but a certain focus and swagger to manage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of speaking ( shaping thoughts , being interesting , timing jokes ) and life ( whether raising an objection in a P.T.A .
meeting or , one imagines , walking a fine line with the Russian Ambassador ) .
Stutterers are always aware that your body can betray you on the next rock , so that you lose your balance and get dragged under , in a speaking block that lasts five seconds , ten seconds , or more , while the world around you freezes , and some golden thread of human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t want to dwell on the physical experience of stuttering , which I ’ ve tried to describe elsewhere , or the psychological imprint of the disorder , the depth of which often surprises me .
( A few years ago , Bruce Willis , not known to be a wildly stymied or emotive man , received an award from the American Institute for Stuttering and came apart at the lectern , apparently owing to his airing of long-concealed feelings of incapacity and shame . )
I mention this experience of spiralling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for most people who have stuttered with any severity , its constant possibility looms as lambent fear .
You start out speaking smoothly .
Then you hit a block that somehow takes the balance out of you , and you feel the muscles of your mouth and throat tense , and perhaps the shadow of a mild headache behind your eyes .
From there , you can ’ t quite catch your breath , or else you catch too much of it , and after that your speech is as bad as it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that this happens near the start of an important moment with no off-ramps : an address of some length , a long live interview , or a Presidential debate .
On September 29th , Biden ’ s verbal style was typical of smooth-speaking stutterers : fluent and dominant when he had a straightaway , recessive and halting at on-ramps and during lane changes .
It is easy to understand the challenge he was facing .
Imagine : you ’ ve spent many days preparing talking points , manner and mien , strategy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
At the same time , because the menace always looms , you have prepared your speaking to avoid getting seriously stuck .
Biden has noted that he usually marks up his addresses with places for breaths .
Debates are harder , because the exact arrangement of material is extemporaneous—any breath planning also happens on the fly .
The mode is charged with surprises , and the time pressure is real .
Stop .
Take a good breath .
Set your rhythm ; draw out certain words in emphasis .
Claim the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , prepared , you walk onto the stage .
You ’ re feeling good , let ’ s say , or good enough .
You settle into the podium , in the bright stage light , and locate your camera .
Perhaps you say something into the microphone—perhaps “ How ya doin ’ , man ?
” —to get on the front foot vocally , warm up the speech machine .
Focus and swagger .
You glance over your notes , perhaps cock your shoulders back .
Breathe .
Now it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You begin : short phrases , reasonable pace , good breaths .
Maybe words starting with “ A ” sounds occasionally trip you up , and you have a couple of close calls on mouthfuls like “ Affordable Care Act ” or “ a woman will be held accountable.
” But you ’ re practiced at revising on the fly , running through your mental thesaurus in a fraction of a second if you feel your vocal cords lock , and most people will not notice .
They will hear your answer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strong .
You ’ ve done this a million times and , finding yourself in a familiar zone , you feel assured .
How ya doin ’ ?
Doin ’ fine .
Then something turns .
Your opponent begins invading your time .
When you begin to give an answer , he cuts in , talking over what you try to say .
When you succeed in making a point , he dive-bombs you mid-sentence with bizarre questions ( “ Why is it on the ballot ?
Why is it on the ballot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( “ You just lost the left ” ) , forcing you to break off wherever you happen to be and to answer in a rhythm you can ’ t set .
It seems as if he ’ s trying to pin you against the far fence of your ability to speak smoothly—a limit of such familiar incapacity that , perhaps , its shame runs clear back to your first day of school .
Stop .
Reset .
Say something clearly and smoothly .
But here he is dive-bombing you again .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both in vocal discipline and in headspace , you discern a wave of panic pass over the moderator ( whom your opponent has also started shouting at ) .
You realize that , with the camera ’ s red light glowing , the three of you are locked into a ninety-minute verbal situation that is totally out of control .
So you start in , perhaps prematurely : “ By the way— ” Your throat locks , and you block visibly at the start : “ B-b-b-by.
” Scary .
From here forward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ management , your attention rushing between the part of your mind responsible for debating and the part that ’ s managing the act of speech .
Breath , rhythm , and short , clear phrases that you know you can control .
Focus .
“ The point is .
The President is also .
Opposed to Roe v. Wade , ” you say .
“ The election is ” —set your balance for an “ A ” here— “ al-ready begun.
” Now , quick , back to your debating brain , to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and a broader point to work toward .
Didn ’ t you have a good line for this part ?
Never mind : more interruptions .
Start the forward recovery again .
I was on Twitter as the first Biden-Trump debate got off the ground—or , more specifically , exploded shortly after liftoff—and I kept seeing wonks and Fourth Estaters grow exasperated at Biden for missed opportunities .
Why didn ’ t he contest that falsehood ?
Why hadn ’ t he mentioned the death of Herman Cain ?
The criticism , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But I confess that I was more struck by what he did do , in the face of circumstances plainly disastrous to anybody watching and , for a stutterer , unsurpassable as a nightmare .
( I shot off a tweet to this effect , in my usual half-cocked way , and as it bounced around the world I learned that hundreds , maybe tens of thousands , of other stutterers were watching with similar feelings . )
Many of Biden ’ s wittiest , most cutting lines— “ He wouldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a wrong turn , ” “ When ?
Inshallah ?
” —seemed extemporaneous , despite the desperate scramble .
When he was granted uninterrupted speaking time , he produced mainly clear , ordered replies .
Most notably , as he defended his sons against the President ’ s attacks or addressed home viewers , he did what ’ s often hardest for those who stutter .
He connected verbally and held the connection , to create an unbroken “ moment ” : the gold dust of political campaigns .
About one per cent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Surprisingly , perhaps , there is no agreed-upon medical model for the disorder—no consensus , even , about what sort of disorder it is .
Physiologically , it seems to emerge from a locking of the vocal cords .
( The visible tics—repetitions , contortions , gasping , whatever—would seem to be secondary acquired behaviors , stuff that , at one point , was useful in forcing open the locked cords , and that the body took up as a response . )
But nobody really knows why the vocal cords lock @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in stutterers ’ Broca ’ s area , which coördinates the mechanical movements of speech , but it ’ s uncertain whether that peculiarity is destined from birth or—as with many things in the plastic brain—is wired up by repetition .
Basically nobody stutters while singing , or speaking in unison , or talking with loud noises in the ears .
In all these cases , it ’ s unclear why .
Some clinicians think the problem is entirely physical : something to do with the articulators , lips and tongue and breath @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apparatus .
Others , especially in the past , have held that the disorder is purely psychological .
Most stutterers have a sense that it is both physical and psychological , in some alchemy , in the way that people sometimes develop eczema under stress or migraines during a letdown from great tension .
Stress does have some influence , but not necessarily as one would think .
Personally , I find my speech is often worst during sunny , easy periods , when there ’ s nothing much doing , and smoothest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and high-stakes—the moments when I feel centered in speed and power .
Probably this says more about me than it does about the disorder .
One of the challenges of stuttering is that it varies in the ways that people do .
In the absence of a solid etiology , treatments are traditionally launched like darts at a board .
( Stutterers are effectively told , “ This has worked for some people , although we don ’ t have a full understanding of why .
Maybe it will work for you.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their own invention .
Biden has said that he finally got on top of his stutter by chanting Irish poetry at a mirror .
Go figure .
What ’ s needed , really , is more first-class research , the relative dearth of which I find surprising—especially in a world of cold incentives .
One per cent of the human population is a lot of people .
Any team of scientists responsible for an etiology-based treatment that enables stutters to talk without one eye always on their speech will end up lauded and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eyes on your face right now—or maybe it is on the face of someone else who talks the way you do .
Biden ’ s decision , some years back , to begin speaking openly about his stutter ( lately , with passion and at length ) was in certain ways good populism : stuttering is received as a blight , a cross to bear , but it is not exotic .
Many high-school classes have at least one stutterer in them .
Many workplaces , if they ’ re big enough , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carries a quiet lineage of stutterers , going back to the writer Joseph Mitchell , who seems to have worked up elaborate verbal ruses to obscure his verbal blocks .
( A rare TV interview finds him dropping sentences halfway through , pretending to forget words , and generally swerving away from trouble , a practice known as covert stuttering .
Eventually , he gets openly stuck . )
Covert stuttering can spare speakers and listeners the horrors and humiliations of the overt thing , but it means that one ’ s affect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a false front , dictated by a shame that it ’ s meant to conceal—the sort of slow self-abasement that might drive a person to , say , the page , where he can finally set down sentences the way that his real self would speak them , drawing near , at least in his ambitions , to verbal perfection .
Biden , I think , is not particularly covert these days , and to my knowledge nobody has walked away from one of his meandering , weird-anecdote-centric talks convinced that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , yes , and he sometimes word-swaps .
But just as often he seems to go for what he means to say , at the cost of foundering and perhaps seeming addled .
( I don ’ t know how many of Biden ’ s verbal stumbles and gaffes are related to stuttering .
I suspect the answer is some but not all . )
If there is a politics of stuttering , Biden holds the centrist position : covert enough not to be distracting , overt enough not to warp ideas or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s ideals , I think .
It ’ s accessible and direct , and an unlovely but pragmatic way of getting the words through .
Speech mediates human action and character in ways that people who have always had control of it can afford not to realize .
Those who stutter know the limits imposed .
Since early childhood , I ’ ve had the feeling that my natural destiny , my biological assignment , is bagging groceries in the neighborhood where I grew up .
But stuttering people do get on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those who do , in my observation , often end up with a confusing mix of gentle empathy and metallic hardness—two qualities that feature heavily in Biden ’ s campaign .
In this sense , there is nothing special about stuttering : like qualities of self that meet with prejudice and oppression , like poverty , like death or divorce , like struggles with mental health , weight , hearing , or vision , like a hundred other challenges that accrue to human variety , it ’ s a ceiling one spends years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and that passage , brings the progression and the pleasure of a life .
Biden made it through the debate that night .
He did fine , maybe better .
Perhaps , from the next debate , we want more .
Americans with hidden or unhidden challenges , though , are free to recognize , behind that modest , weird success , a more remarkable one .
Biden made it slowly , rock to rock , up the whole course of rapids .
He held his focus and vocal coördination against nightmare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ goal was ordinariness shouldn ’ t obscure the achievement : this is a man , we saw—perhaps to our surprise—with steel and grace in him .
And we now have evidence that a hint of the miraculous is at his heels .

Seventy-three million people have their eyes on your face right now. That thought crossed my mind several times during the first Presidential debate, as Joe Biden fought a flurry of goading interruptions from Donald Trump—maybe not the most excruciating TV exchange in memory but surely the longest excruciating one. It’s on my mind again in anticipation of the next debate, in whatever unusual form it takes. Biden has spoken openly about growing up with a stutter, the tendency to get stuck on certain words, and the challenge, in public speech, that this imposes. (Biden’s stutter was the subject of a mini-documentary at this year’s Democratic National Convention, and of a primary-season profile, by John Hendrickson, in The Atlantic.) I stutter, too, and was thus tuned to the debate’s challenges in a distinct way. As Biden formulated his replies, the image I kept seeing in my mind’s eye was of somebody travelling up white-water rapids, leaping from rock to slippery rock, and trying not to lose his balance and fall.
There’s no need to put undue emphasis on Biden’s stutter, which hasn’t dominated the arc of his long life and layered career. But there’s nothing out of scale in calling it forward, because, as everybody with a stutter knows, the fore is where the problem naturally lives. Like the blinking red light in the corner of an old camcorder screen, the stutter is always nearby, in peripheral attention. Even those who maintain the illusion of talking fluently, or who, like Biden, are practiced as public speakers, can never lose awareness of their speech.
Fluent talking, for people who grew up stuttering, is less an after-dinner walk than a metred race that you train for. Possibly you look ahead and set your lips and breathing for a problematic consonant. Maybe you shift your vocal weight—soft here, emphasis . . . there—to try to keep your balance when you leap to the next phrase. As with all feats of equilibrium, this takes not just practice but a certain focus and swagger to manage, especially while negotiating the normal work of speaking (shaping thoughts, being interesting, timing jokes) and life (whether raising an objection in a P.T.A. meeting or, one imagines, walking a fine line with the Russian Ambassador). Stutterers are always aware that your body can betray you on the next rock, so that you lose your balance and get dragged under, in a speaking block that lasts five seconds, ten seconds, or more, while the world around you freezes, and some golden thread of human continuity and self-possession breaks.
I don’t want to dwell on the physical experience of stuttering, which I’ve tried to describe elsewhere, or the psychological imprint of the disorder, the depth of which often surprises me. (A few years ago, Bruce Willis, not known to be a wildly stymied or emotive man, received an award from the American Institute for Stuttering and came apart at the lectern, apparently owing to his airing of long-concealed feelings of incapacity and shame.) I mention this experience of spiralling into a long block simply because, for most people who have stuttered with any severity, its constant possibility looms as lambent fear. You start out speaking smoothly. Then you hit a block that somehow takes the balance out of you, and you feel the muscles of your mouth and throat tense, and perhaps the shadow of a mild headache behind your eyes. From there, you can’t quite catch your breath, or else you catch too much of it, and after that your speech is as bad as it’s ever been. The nightmare is that this happens near the start of an important moment with no off-ramps: an address of some length, a long live interview, or a Presidential debate.
On September 29th, Biden’s verbal style was typical of smooth-speaking stutterers: fluent and dominant when he had a straightaway, recessive and halting at on-ramps and during lane changes. It is easy to understand the challenge he was facing. Imagine: you’ve spent many days preparing talking points, manner and mien, strategy, and maybe a few good rejoinders. At the same time, because the menace always looms, you have prepared your speaking to avoid getting seriously stuck. Biden has noted that he usually marks up his addresses with places for breaths. Debates are harder, because the exact arrangement of material is extemporaneous—any breath planning also happens on the fly. The mode is charged with surprises, and the time pressure is real. Stop. Take a good breath. Set your rhythm; draw out certain words in emphasis. Claim the time that’s yours.
And so, prepared, you walk onto the stage. You’re feeling good, let’s say, or good enough. You settle into the podium, in the bright stage light, and locate your camera. Perhaps you say something into the microphone—perhaps “How ya doin’, man?”—to get on the front foot vocally, warm up the speech machine. Focus and swagger. You glance over your notes, perhaps cock your shoulders back. Breathe.
Now it’s your turn. You have two minutes. You begin: short phrases, reasonable pace, good breaths. Maybe words starting with “A” sounds occasionally trip you up, and you have a couple of close calls on mouthfuls like “Affordable Care Act” or “a woman will be held accountable.” But you’re practiced at revising on the fly, running through your mental thesaurus in a fraction of a second if you feel your vocal cords lock, and most people will not notice. They will hear your answer, which you know is clear and strong. You’ve done this a million times and, finding yourself in a familiar zone, you feel assured. How ya doin’? Doin’ fine.
Then something turns. Your opponent begins invading your time. When you begin to give an answer, he cuts in, talking over what you try to say. When you succeed in making a point, he dive-bombs you mid-sentence with bizarre questions (“Why is it on the ballot? Why is it on the ballot?”) and weird running commentary (“You just lost the left”), forcing you to break off wherever you happen to be and to answer in a rhythm you can’t set.
It seems as if he’s trying to pin you against the far fence of your ability to speak smoothly—a limit of such familiar incapacity that, perhaps, its shame runs clear back to your first day of school. Stop. Reset. Say something clearly and smoothly. But here he is dive-bombing you again.
As you work to hold your ground, both in vocal discipline and in headspace, you discern a wave of panic pass over the moderator (whom your opponent has also started shouting at). You realize that, with the camera’s red light glowing, the three of you are locked into a ninety-minute verbal situation that is totally out of control.
Seventy-three million people have their eyes on your face right now. And you know that, in the view of many, what’s at stake in this performance is much more than the election. You also know that your opponent’s supporters, and some voters on the fence, are scrutinizing your diction and flow for foul-ups that suggest your mind is gone.
So you start in, perhaps prematurely: “By the way—” Your throat locks, and you block visibly at the start: “B-b-b-by.” Scary. From here forward, you have to do full crisis management, your attention rushing between the part of your mind responsible for debating and the part that’s managing the act of speech. Breath, rhythm, and short, clear phrases that you know you can control. Focus. “The point is. The President is also. Opposed to Roe v. Wade,” you say. “The election is”—set your balance for an “A” here—“al-ready begun.” Now, quick, back to your debating brain, to plan the next few turns of language, and a broader point to work toward. Didn’t you have a good line for this part? Never mind: more interruptions. Start the forward recovery again.
I was on Twitter as the first Biden-Trump debate got off the ground—or, more specifically, exploded shortly after liftoff—and I kept seeing wonks and Fourth Estaters grow exasperated at Biden for missed opportunities. Why didn’t he contest that falsehood? Why hadn’t he mentioned the death of Herman Cain? The criticism, I thought, was more than fair. But I confess that I was more struck by what he did do, in the face of circumstances plainly disastrous to anybody watching and, for a stutterer, unsurpassable as a nightmare. (I shot off a tweet to this effect, in my usual half-cocked way, and as it bounced around the world I learned that hundreds, maybe tens of thousands, of other stutterers were watching with similar feelings.) Many of Biden’s wittiest, most cutting lines—“He wouldn’t know a suburb unless he took a wrong turn,” “When? Inshallah?”—seemed extemporaneous, despite the desperate scramble. When he was granted uninterrupted speaking time, he produced mainly clear, ordered replies. Most notably, as he defended his sons against the President’s attacks or addressed home viewers, he did what’s often hardest for those who stutter. He connected verbally and held the connection, to create an unbroken “moment”: the gold dust of political campaigns.
About one per cent of the world’s population stutters. Surprisingly, perhaps, there is no agreed-upon medical model for the disorder—no consensus, even, about what sort of disorder it is. Physiologically, it seems to emerge from a locking of the vocal cords. (The visible tics—repetitions, contortions, gasping, whatever—would seem to be secondary acquired behaviors, stuff that, at one point, was useful in forcing open the locked cords, and that the body took up as a response.) But nobody really knows why the vocal cords lock. Brain imaging has shown irregular development in stutterers’ Broca’s area, which coördinates the mechanical movements of speech, but it’s uncertain whether that peculiarity is destined from birth or—as with many things in the plastic brain—is wired up by repetition. Basically nobody stutters while singing, or speaking in unison, or talking with loud noises in the ears. In all these cases, it’s unclear why. Some clinicians think the problem is entirely physical: something to do with the articulators, lips and tongue and breath, and maybe feedback from the aural apparatus. Others, especially in the past, have held that the disorder is purely psychological.


newyorker--2020-10-13--Roddy Doyle Reads “Life Without Children”

Roddy Doyle reads his story from the October 19 , 2020 , issue of the magazine .
Doyle is the @ @ @ @ @ including the Booker Prize-winning “ Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha ” and “ The Dead @ @ @ @ @ novel , “ Love , ” came out earlier this year .

Photograph by Andrew Crowley / Camera Press / Redux
Roddy Doyle reads his story from the October 19, 2020, issue of the magazine. Doyle is the author of thirteen novels, including the Booker Prize-winning “Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha” and “The Dead Republic.” His most recent novel, “Love,” came out earlier this year.


newyorker--2020-10-14--Can Latino Voters Tip Wisconsin in Biden’s Favor?

“ A lot of them asked , ‘ Why go voting if my vote won ’ t make a difference ?
’ They thought the margins of victory were much larger than they actually are , ” Quintero said .
Over the past several months , the group has been trying to persuade twenty-three thousand voters to support Biden in November—a number roughly equal to Donald Trump ’ s margin of victory in the state four years ago .
The work has been painstaking because of distrust sown in the community by a federal immigration crackdown and the state ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far , nearly eighteen thousand voters have pledged to back the Democratic nominee ; Quintero has persuaded fifty people , triple the number he had initially hoped .
“ And that ’ s only me , ” Quintero said , alluding to the fact that he is one of five hundred voceros in Milwaukee .
“ If each one of us can draw some fifty voters to the polls , just imagine how that number grows.
” In Wisconsin , Latinos are now the fastest-growing minority group ; roughly a hundred and eighty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in November .
Although their share of the over-all population remains small , their votes could make a difference in a state that Trump narrowly won in 2016 .
Christine Neumann-Ortiz , the executive director of the organization , believes that Trump proved victorious only because turnout among Black , Latino , and younger voters was notably low .
“ We have a community that does vote infrequently , ” she said .
During the 2016 election , Neumann-Ortiz grew frustrated with the traditional approach to political canvassing , which she thought relied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also found that the addresses on file for Latino voters were out of date , and that the rolls left out thousands of people who had been removed after failing to vote .
Under Wisconsin law , the Elections Commission can purge rolls of voters who do not cast a ballot in four years and fail to respond to written notices .
The year after the 2016 election , three hundred and fifty thousand voters were removed from the rolls .
In the weeks before the 2018 midterms , Neumann-Ortiz tried a new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to persuade potential voters to cast ballots hinged on the trust that Neumann-Ortiz and her team had tried to instill among Latinos in the state .
Over the years , they have conducted everything from immigration counselling to labor organizing .
Their general strikes had rallied tens of thousands of workers , made headlines , and left dairy farmers scrambling to find lecheros to milk their cows .
As the midterms approached , Neumann-Ortiz gathered more than four hundred voceros and asked them to reach out to people they knew in the community @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statewide list of more than five thousand voters—most of whom had never cast a ballot or no longer appeared on traditional Democratic Party canvassing lists .
On Election Day , according to the organization , turnout in heavily Latino areas surged by seventeen per cent compared with four years earlier .
The Republican governor , Scott Walker , ultimately lost to his Democratic rival , Tony Evers , by slightly more than thirty thousand votes .
High turnout among Latino and Black voters in Milwaukee and other parts of the state was seen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the logistical challenges of registering voters during a pandemic have proved almost as considerable as the political stakes .
In April , the primaries in Wisconsin showed how much could go wrong in November .
Evers had tried to postpone the election , owing to the coronavirus , but he was overruled by a conservative majority on the state Supreme Court .
Fearing infection , many poll workers chose to stay home .
Only five out of a hundred and eighty polling sites opened in Milwaukee .
Long lines of voters waiting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ streets .
At a time when Wisconsinites were urged to practice social distancing , state law required them to obtain a signature from a witness for mail-in ballots .
On the eve of the primary , the Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballots would be counted only if they were postmarked by Election Day .
Turnout decreased across the state , but it dropped most dramatically in minority wards .
According to data released by the city of Milwaukee , the average voter turnout in Latino and Black wards was thirty per cent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaders viewed the Supreme Court ’ s decision as part of a decade-long effort by local Republicans to keep minorities away from the polls .
Enacted in 2011 , Wisconsin ’ s voter-I.D .
law is among the strictest in the country .
A study by the University of Wisconsin found that the new law had deterred or prevented nearly seventeen thousand registered voters , many of them low income or racial minorities , from casting their ballots in 2016 .
What ’ s more , gerrymandering by the state ’ s Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in U.S. history .
According to an analysis by Michael Li , a senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice and an expert on redistricting , “ Wisconsin ’ s maps are so gerrymandered that Republicans can win close to a supermajority of house seats even with a minority of the vote.
” The extreme gerrymandering has also disenfranchised minority voters .
In 2017 , ProPublica found that Republicans had drawn the Milwaukee County line in such a way as to combine a sprawling white suburb with sixty-per-cent-minority neighborhoods in the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ district was eighty-seven per cent white .
In November , the pandemic could again be used as a vehicle for voter suppression , as the disease has ravaged the state ’ s Latino community .
At the local peak of the pandemic , this spring , Latinos , who make up less than seven per cent of the population in Wisconsin , accounted for more than thirty-seven per cent of its infections .
Luis Velasquez , a Voces organizer in Madison and a pastor at the United Methodist Church of Wisconsin , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s handling of the pandemic .
“ They ’ re doubting the leadership , ” he said .
A majority of Latino voters are unable to work remotely , because they are employed in construction , dairy , and service industries that require workers to be present .
“ Our people are the ones doing the essential jobs , ” JoCasta Zamarripa , Milwaukee ’ s first Latina alderwoman , told me .
“ They have to get up in the morning and go in to work physically.
” Zamarripa said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus in her district , but she seemed confident in the Elections Commission ’ s plans to avoid a repeat of the primaries .
“ We can not have that again , ” she said .
Velasquez , who was born in El Salvador and is a DACA recipient , said that many members of his church had sided with the Republican Party in the past , and that some even saw Trump as a messiah .
Now they are willing to consider political views contrary to their own .
“ People are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ media or the élites , but their reaction is different when they say , ‘ Wait a minute , it ’ s Luis !
It ’ s Pastor Luis , who I know , ’ ” Velasquez told me .
Quintero , the fellow-vocero , has begun reaching out to people on his list—in some cases , to remind them to register and request an absentee ballot , and , in others , to offer a ride to the polls .
This year ’ s election carries special meaning , as it will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And , although Quintero is not yet a citizen and can not vote , he sees his work with Voces as a personal way of swaying the outcome in November .
After Trump ’ s 2016 victory , he had grown alienated and apathetic .
Trump ’ s vilification of Latinos had gained him votes instead of hurting him politically .
Friends of Quintero ’ s who had lived in the United States for decades had been told by emboldened Trump supporters to go back to their home countries .
They were loathed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appearance .
At work , conversations about politics ended in violent altercations .
Quintero ultimately resorted to silence , as a remedy for polarization .
Four years later , he hopes that Wisconsin ’ s Latinos will be loud enough to tip the election .

Each month, the list of Latino voters who have promised Gabriel Quintero to cast a ballot for Joe Biden has steadily grown. Quintero works the night shift at a foundry in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he settled in the nineties, after moving from Mexico City. Outside work, he is known as a vocero—someone who spreads the word—and a leader of a volunteer effort to increase turnout among Latinos in Wisconsin. “In the beginning, I was very skeptical,” Quintero told me of the initiative, which was started by a Milwaukee-based advocacy group, Voces de la Frontera Action. As someone who has not yet gained the right to vote, Quintero couldn’t conceive why anyone would choose to forgo theirs. In conversations with relatives, close friends, and members of his church, he realized that a sense of alienation was at play.
“A lot of them asked, ‘Why go voting if my vote won’t make a difference?’ They thought the margins of victory were much larger than they actually are,” Quintero said. Over the past several months, the group has been trying to persuade twenty-three thousand voters to support Biden in November—a number roughly equal to Donald Trump’s margin of victory in the state four years ago. The work has been painstaking because of distrust sown in the community by a federal immigration crackdown and the state’s history of voter suppression. So far, nearly eighteen thousand voters have pledged to back the Democratic nominee; Quintero has persuaded fifty people, triple the number he had initially hoped. “And that’s only me,” Quintero said, alluding to the fact that he is one of five hundred voceros in Milwaukee. “If each one of us can draw some fifty voters to the polls, just imagine how that number grows.”
In Wisconsin, Latinos are now the fastest-growing minority group; roughly a hundred and eighty thousand will be eligible to cast ballots in November. Although their share of the over-all population remains small, their votes could make a difference in a state that Trump narrowly won in 2016. Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the executive director of the organization, believes that Trump proved victorious only because turnout among Black, Latino, and younger voters was notably low. “We have a community that does vote infrequently,” she said. During the 2016 election, Neumann-Ortiz grew frustrated with the traditional approach to political canvassing, which she thought relied on “stranger-to-stranger” interactions. She also found that the addresses on file for Latino voters were out of date, and that the rolls left out thousands of people who had been removed after failing to vote. Under Wisconsin law, the Elections Commission can purge rolls of voters who do not cast a ballot in four years and fail to respond to written notices. The year after the 2016 election, three hundred and fifty thousand voters were removed from the rolls.
In the weeks before the 2018 midterms, Neumann-Ortiz tried a new method. Her organization’s ability to persuade potential voters to cast ballots hinged on the trust that Neumann-Ortiz and her team had tried to instill among Latinos in the state. Over the years, they have conducted everything from immigration counselling to labor organizing. Their general strikes had rallied tens of thousands of workers, made headlines, and left dairy farmers scrambling to find lecheros to milk their cows. As the midterms approached, Neumann-Ortiz gathered more than four hundred voceros and asked them to reach out to people they knew in the community who could vote. They created a statewide list of more than five thousand voters—most of whom had never cast a ballot or no longer appeared on traditional Democratic Party canvassing lists. On Election Day, according to the organization, turnout in heavily Latino areas surged by seventeen per cent compared with four years earlier. The Republican governor, Scott Walker, ultimately lost to his Democratic rival, Tony Evers, by slightly more than thirty thousand votes. High turnout among Latino and Black voters in Milwaukee and other parts of the state was seen as a major factor.
This year, the logistical challenges of registering voters during a pandemic have proved almost as considerable as the political stakes. In April, the primaries in Wisconsin showed how much could go wrong in November. Evers had tried to postpone the election, owing to the coronavirus, but he was overruled by a conservative majority on the state Supreme Court. Fearing infection, many poll workers chose to stay home. Only five out of a hundred and eighty polling sites opened in Milwaukee. Long lines of voters waiting to cast their ballots stretched across city streets. At a time when Wisconsinites were urged to practice social distancing, state law required them to obtain a signature from a witness for mail-in ballots. On the eve of the primary, the Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballots would be counted only if they were postmarked by Election Day. Turnout decreased across the state, but it dropped most dramatically in minority wards. According to data released by the city of Milwaukee, the average voter turnout in Latino and Black wards was thirty per cent lower than in white wards.
Community leaders viewed the Supreme Court’s decision as part of a decade-long effort by local Republicans to keep minorities away from the polls. Enacted in 2011, Wisconsin’s voter-I.D. law is among the strictest in the country. A study by the University of Wisconsin found that the new law had deterred or prevented nearly seventeen thousand registered voters, many of them low income or racial minorities, from casting their ballots in 2016. What’s more, gerrymandering by the state’s Republican leaders is among the most radically partisan in U.S. history. According to an analysis by Michael Li, a senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice and an expert on redistricting, “Wisconsin’s maps are so gerrymandered that Republicans can win close to a supermajority of house seats even with a minority of the vote.” The extreme gerrymandering has also disenfranchised minority voters. In 2017, ProPublica found that Republicans had drawn the Milwaukee County line in such a way as to combine a sprawling white suburb with sixty-per-cent-minority neighborhoods in the city. After the redistricting, the new district was eighty-seven per cent white.
In November, the pandemic could again be used as a vehicle for voter suppression, as the disease has ravaged the state’s Latino community. At the local peak of the pandemic, this spring, Latinos, who make up less than seven per cent of the population in Wisconsin, accounted for more than thirty-seven per cent of its infections. Luis Velasquez, a Voces organizer in Madison and a pastor at the United Methodist Church of Wisconsin, said that many voters were voicing concerns about Trump’s handling of the pandemic. “They’re doubting the leadership,” he said. A majority of Latino voters are unable to work remotely, because they are employed in construction, dairy, and service industries that require workers to be present. “Our people are the ones doing the essential jobs,” JoCasta Zamarripa, Milwaukee’s first Latina alderwoman, told me. “They have to get up in the morning and go in to work physically.” Zamarripa said she was seeing new spikes of the virus in her district, but she seemed confident in the Elections Commission’s plans to avoid a repeat of the primaries. “We cannot have that again,” she said.
Velasquez, who was born in El Salvador and is a DACA recipient, said that many members of his church had sided with the Republican Party in the past, and that some even saw Trump as a messiah. Now they are willing to consider political views contrary to their own. “People are quick to dismiss information coming from the media or the élites, but their reaction is different when they say, ‘Wait a minute, it’s Luis! It’s Pastor Luis, who I know,’ ” Velasquez told me. Quintero, the fellow-vocero, has begun reaching out to people on his list—in some cases, to remind them to register and request an absentee ballot, and, in others, to offer a ride to the polls. This year’s election carries special meaning, as it will be his daughter’s first. And, although Quintero is not yet a citizen and cannot vote, he sees his work with Voces as a personal way of swaying the outcome in November. After Trump’s 2016 victory, he had grown alienated and apathetic. Trump’s vilification of Latinos had gained him votes instead of hurting him politically. Friends of Quintero’s who had lived in the United States for decades had been told by emboldened Trump supporters to go back to their home countries. They were loathed for no other reason than their physical appearance. At work, conversations about politics ended in violent altercations. Quintero ultimately resorted to silence, as a remedy for polarization. Four years later, he hopes that Wisconsin’s Latinos will be loud enough to tip the election.


newyorker--2020-10-13--Donald Trump Confident He Will Defeat Hillary Clinton

JOHNSTOWN , PENNSYLVANIA ( The Borowitz Report ) —Brushing aside gloomy predictions , Donald J. Trump said that he would trounce Hillary Clinton in the November election .
“ A lot of people don ’ t think I will beat Hillary , but they should prepare to be wrong , ” he said .
“ I am about to beat her by a landslide.
” Offering a rationale for his prediction , Trump said , “ As crooked as Hillary was in 2016 , she is even crookeder now .
Mike Pompeo is going to release her e-mails , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re moving quite strongly and powerfully on this.
” Claiming that he beat Clinton in their 2016 debates , Trump noted , “ It ’ s no wonder that Hillary doesn ’ t want to debate me now .
She knows I ’ d destroy her.
” Trump said that he is “ very much looking forward ” to the election , because it will give him a chance “ to see Hillary crash and burn one more time.
” “ When Election Night rolls around , as sure as you ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will vote for Hillary Clinton , ” he said .

JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA (The Borowitz Report)—Brushing aside gloomy predictions, Donald J. Trump said that he would trounce Hillary Clinton in the November election.
“A lot of people don’t think I will beat Hillary, but they should prepare to be wrong,” he said. “I am about to beat her by a landslide.”
Offering a rationale for his prediction, Trump said, “As crooked as Hillary was in 2016, she is even crookeder now. Mike Pompeo is going to release her e-mails, and they’re a disgrace. We’re moving quite strongly and powerfully on this.”
Claiming that he beat Clinton in their 2016 debates, Trump noted, “It’s no wonder that Hillary doesn’t want to debate me now. She knows I’d destroy her.”
Trump said that he is “very much looking forward” to the election, because it will give him a chance “to see Hillary crash and burn one more time.”
“When Election Night rolls around, as sure as you’re sitting there, absolutely no one will vote for Hillary Clinton,” he said.


newyorker--2020-10-13--Trump, the Coronavirus, and What Happens When Strongmen Fall Ill

The gratuitous theatricality of the balcony scene led many commenters to liken the President to Eva Perón , or to the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini , who had a penchant for grand displays of machismo—especially making speeches from balconies , with throngs of supporters gazing from below .
Yet , as a scholar of authoritarian regimes , I was left most queasy by Trump ’ s framing of himself as a heroic individual who had contracted COVID-19 in the line of duty , and overcame it quickly because of his uncommon will and indomitable physicality .
“ As your leader @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he told Americans , spinning his decision to flout virus precautions as an act of selflessness .
“ I knew there ’ s danger to it , but I had to do it .
I stood out front , I led .
.
.
.
and now I ’ m better , and maybe I ’ m immune.
” On social media , Trump ’ s supporters circulated a favorite meme of the President as an Arnold Schwarzenegger-type “ Trumpinator , ” always back for the next round .
To fans of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ matter that when his mask came off he appeared to be struggling for breath .
What defines a strongman ruler is not just his willingness to trample democratic norms but his ability to cultivate an appearance of omnipotence .
For a hundred years , authoritarian leaders have touted their virility to legitimize their politics .
Some make claims of outstanding sexual vigor : “ I can love four women at the same time , ” Rodrigo Duterte , of the Philippines , has said .
Others publicize their physical fitness—think of Vladimir Putin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a forceful and efficient approach to governance .
These displays are essential to the strongman because , unlike democratic leaders , he does not merely represent the will of the people but claims to embody their highest aspirations .
The aura of specialness around his person is why , for his followers , he is destined to triumph over political “ witch hunts ” ( a phrase used by Turkey ’ s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well as Trump ) , assassination attempts ( Adolf Hitler survived more than twenty ) , or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ endure .
Illnesses can jeopardize the carefully maintained veneer of invincibility .
Certainly , democratic countries have often misrepresented the physical or mental-health conditions of their leaders .
In 1919 , the White House covered up Woodrow Wilson ’ s strokes and influenza ; the Reagan Administration downplayed the severity of the President ’ s injury after he was shot , in 1981 , and , near the end of his Presidency , may have attempted to conceal his dementia .
But a leader ’ s illness can be particularly destabilizing in Administrations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that depend upon the charisma or authority of one individual , which is why most old-school dictatorships went to special lengths to keep leaders ’ ailments a secret .
The Soviets , for example , were masters of medical obfuscation : they hid Yuri Andropov ’ s kidney failure and Leonid Brezhnev ’ s litany of health problems—aneurysm , leukemia , circulatory disorders , episodes of mental confusion .
During Brezhnev ’ s final years in office , as his health declined , government testimonies of his incredible health and vitality increased .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ chose to believe the propaganda about his condition , noting in his diary that doctors had found him so “ strong and healthy ” that he should be “ envied and congratulated.
” Still , some leaders have been open about their medical crises in order to manipulate public sympathies .
Jair Bolsonaro , the far-right President of Brazil , turned his recovery from a severe injury into part of his political origin story : in September , 2018 , as he was campaigning for the Brazilian Presidency , he was stabbed in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Photographs of the moments before the attack depict the then sixty-three-year-old , dressed in jeans and a T-shirt , being carried on the shoulders of his young male supporters , who appreciated his praise for Brazil ’ s military dictatorship , of 1964 to 1985 , and his promises to “ clean up ” the left .
As soon as his condition stabilized , Bolsonaro recorded a video from his hospital room , pale and hooked up to monitors .
Far from hurting his macho image , the video bolstered his reputation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Although he was unable to resume in-person campaigning , he won the election .
Throughout his Presidency , Bolsonaro ’ s periodic maladies—and his ability to recover from them promptly—have reinforced his popularity .
In February , 2019 , when he fell ill with pneumonia ( part of the lingering health effects of the stabbing ) , he made another hospital video , with his gown folded back to reveal electrodes attached to his chest .
In 2020 , when he contracted COVID-19 ( after dismissing it as a mere “ little flu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Luiz Henrique Mandetta , for recommending social distancing ) , he filmed himself taking hydroxychloroquine , which he , like Trump , has touted as a cure , against medical evidence .
Between June and October , 2020 , even as Brazil ’ s coronavirus infections increased—the country is now second only to the U.S. in deaths—Bolsonaro ’ s approval rating rose by around eight per cent .
There are other strongmen who have opted for medical transparency .
When Silvio Berlusconi , the former Prime Minister of Italy , contracted gastroenteritis at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he disclosed the medicines he took and gave regular updates on his bowel movements .
He drew attention to his ailments to establish an emotional connection with voters and retain popular sympathy as he faced one corruption charge after another .
But anyone familiar with the ways of Trump—his neuroses around germs and hospitals , his allergy to empathy or vulnerability—could have guessed that a candid accounting of his illness was not in the cards .
Instead , the President ’ s diagnosis arrived in a fog of concealment and willfully misplaced optimism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the White House doctor , Sean Conley , dodged questions about whether the President had received oxygen in the hospital , only to be undermined by Mark Meadows , the chief of staff , who minutes later told reporters that Trump ’ s vitals were “ very concerning.
” “ I didn ’ t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction , ” Conley explained the next day , as though the illness would move in tandem with the White House ’ s messaging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s physical form has loomed in the public consciousness since he first campaigned for the Presidency .
Some critics have mocked his eating habits and strange ideas about exercise ; observers in the press have openly speculated about his mental stability , picking apart video clips for signs of infirmity .
Though Trump has managed to keep much of his medical information private , the public fixation on the President ’ s body is partially his own doing—throughout his tenure , he has supplied a seemingly endless stream of offensive commentary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people , and anyone else he deems to be inferior .
Despite his advanced age and his dislike for physical activity , Trump has cajoled medical professionals to testify to his health .
During the last Presidential campaign , his personal doctor , Harold Bornstein , released a bizarre statement claiming that he would be “ the healthiest individual ever elected ” to the office .
( It was later revealed that Trump had dictated the letter to Bornstein . )
“ I would put POTUS in the 20-49 [ age ] category @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” the former Fox News medical consultant David Samadi tweeted shortly after Trump ’ s coronavirus infection was announced .
These obsequious statements recall the testimony of Berlusconi ’ s personal doctor , who called the former Prime Minister “ technically immortal.
” ( “ Once again , I got away with it !
” Berlusconi , now eighty-four , told reporters this September , as he left the hospital after treatment for COVID-19 . )
Even before his own infection , Trump ’ s disdain for weakness , or what he understands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defining feature of his Administration ’ s catastrophic response to the coronavirus .
Trump has been not only negligent about containing the coronavirus but openly callous about the scale of its devastation .
“ It is what it is , ” he said in September , when asked about the fact that a thousand Americans were dying each day from the virus .
One wonders if he would say the same of the current outbreak in the White House , which has seen the First Lady , several top staffers , and multiple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What this debacle lays bare are the dangers , for Trump ’ s closest collaborators , of his authoritarian style of governance—those who enable and amplify his prolific lies do so quite literally at their own peril .
This is no accident : the strongman persona functions to produce political subjects willing to sacrifice their health , or their lives , for their leader .
“ I would wade through a sea of COVID infested water to vote for President Trump on November 3rd , ” one supporter wrote on Twitter .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ President wrote back .
Following his diagnosis , the President staged a nearly daily progression of stunts to reassure his supporters , from the balcony scene to posed photos of him appearing to work in a hospital conference room .
( In one , he seemed to be signing his name to a blank piece of paper . )
Last Sunday , his doctors and aides indulged his craving for public adulation with a drive-by visit to his fans outside the hospital .
By last Wednesday , he was touting an experimental drug @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” for the virus , and promising to distribute it and another drug to hundreds of thousands of people .
An interview last Friday with the Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel , which had been billed as a televised “ medical examination , ” merely supported the President ’ s claim that he had made a miraculous recovery .
According to the Times , he had even , at one point , considered an appearance that involved tearing open his button-down to reveal a Superman T-shirt underneath .
His healthy appearance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about his condition , but his resolve to treat his coronavirus infection as a triumph ( a “ blessing from God , ” he called it ) may yet backfire , for it is reminiscent of what political scientists call a “ gamble for resurrection ” —a decision , usually by a leader losing his grip on power , to continue fighting a losing war .

Last Monday evening, President Donald Trump made a video appearance on the White House’s Truman Balcony, solid as a statue, his jaw jutting, his heavyset figure framed by American flags. He had just returned from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he had been treated for a case of COVID-19. In a dramatic gesture made for the cameras, he ripped off his mask and stuffed it in his pocket, a scowl flitting across his face. He remained silent throughout the photo op, but the words he had tweeted a few hours prior set the tone: “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. . . . I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
The gratuitous theatricality of the balcony scene led many commenters to liken the President to Eva Perón, or to the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who had a penchant for grand displays of machismo—especially making speeches from balconies, with throngs of supporters gazing from below. Yet, as a scholar of authoritarian regimes, I was left most queasy by Trump’s framing of himself as a heroic individual who had contracted COVID-19 in the line of duty, and overcame it quickly because of his uncommon will and indomitable physicality. “As your leader, I had to do that,” he told Americans, spinning his decision to flout virus precautions as an act of selflessness. “I knew there’s danger to it, but I had to do it. I stood out front, I led. . . . and now I’m better, and maybe I’m immune.” On social media, Trump’s supporters circulated a favorite meme of the President as an Arnold Schwarzenegger-type “Trumpinator,” always back for the next round. To fans of the President, it hardly seemed to matter that when his mask came off he appeared to be struggling for breath.
What defines a strongman ruler is not just his willingness to trample democratic norms but his ability to cultivate an appearance of omnipotence. For a hundred years, authoritarian leaders have touted their virility to legitimize their politics. Some make claims of outstanding sexual vigor: “I can love four women at the same time,” Rodrigo Duterte, of the Philippines, has said. Others publicize their physical fitness—think of Vladimir Putin baring his pectorals for the cameras—to demonstrate a forceful and efficient approach to governance. These displays are essential to the strongman because, unlike democratic leaders, he does not merely represent the will of the people but claims to embody their highest aspirations. The aura of specialness around his person is why, for his followers, he is destined to triumph over political “witch hunts” (a phrase used by Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well as Trump), assassination attempts (Adolf Hitler survived more than twenty), or other trials that ordinary men could not endure.
Illnesses can jeopardize the carefully maintained veneer of invincibility. Certainly, democratic countries have often misrepresented the physical or mental-health conditions of their leaders. In 1919, the White House covered up Woodrow Wilson’s strokes and influenza; the Reagan Administration downplayed the severity of the President’s injury after he was shot, in 1981, and, near the end of his Presidency, may have attempted to conceal his dementia. But a leader’s illness can be particularly destabilizing in Administrations, such as Trump’s, that depend upon the charisma or authority of one individual, which is why most old-school dictatorships went to special lengths to keep leaders’ ailments a secret. The Soviets, for example, were masters of medical obfuscation: they hid Yuri Andropov’s kidney failure and Leonid Brezhnev’s litany of health problems—aneurysm, leukemia, circulatory disorders, episodes of mental confusion. During Brezhnev’s final years in office, as his health declined, government testimonies of his incredible health and vitality increased. Like so many other despots, Brezhnev chose to believe the propaganda about his condition, noting in his diary that doctors had found him so “strong and healthy” that he should be “envied and congratulated.”
Still, some leaders have been open about their medical crises in order to manipulate public sympathies. Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right President of Brazil, turned his recovery from a severe injury into part of his political origin story: in September, 2018, as he was campaigning for the Brazilian Presidency, he was stabbed in the stomach as he attended a rally. Photographs of the moments before the attack depict the then sixty-three-year-old, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, being carried on the shoulders of his young male supporters, who appreciated his praise for Brazil’s military dictatorship, of 1964 to 1985, and his promises to “clean up” the left. As soon as his condition stabilized, Bolsonaro recorded a video from his hospital room, pale and hooked up to monitors. Far from hurting his macho image, the video bolstered his reputation as an authentic and frank politician. Although he was unable to resume in-person campaigning, he won the election.
Throughout his Presidency, Bolsonaro’s periodic maladies—and his ability to recover from them promptly—have reinforced his popularity. In February, 2019, when he fell ill with pneumonia (part of the lingering health effects of the stabbing), he made another hospital video, with his gown folded back to reveal electrodes attached to his chest. In 2020, when he contracted COVID-19 (after dismissing it as a mere “little flu” and firing his health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, for recommending social distancing), he filmed himself taking hydroxychloroquine, which he, like Trump, has touted as a cure, against medical evidence. Between June and October, 2020, even as Brazil’s coronavirus infections increased—the country is now second only to the U.S. in deaths—Bolsonaro’s approval rating rose by around eight per cent.
There are other strongmen who have opted for medical transparency. When Silvio Berlusconi, the former Prime Minister of Italy, contracted gastroenteritis at a 2002 Council of Europe meeting, he disclosed the medicines he took and gave regular updates on his bowel movements. He drew attention to his ailments to establish an emotional connection with voters and retain popular sympathy as he faced one corruption charge after another. But anyone familiar with the ways of Trump—his neuroses around germs and hospitals, his allergy to empathy or vulnerability—could have guessed that a candid accounting of his illness was not in the cards. Instead, the President’s diagnosis arrived in a fog of concealment and willfully misplaced optimism. In a press briefing last Saturday, the White House doctor, Sean Conley, dodged questions about whether the President had received oxygen in the hospital, only to be undermined by Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, who minutes later told reporters that Trump’s vitals were “very concerning.” “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction,” Conley explained the next day, as though the illness would move in tandem with the White House’s messaging.
Among supporters and detractors alike, Trump’s physical form has loomed in the public consciousness since he first campaigned for the Presidency. Some critics have mocked his eating habits and strange ideas about exercise; observers in the press have openly speculated about his mental stability, picking apart video clips for signs of infirmity. Though Trump has managed to keep much of his medical information private, the public fixation on the President’s body is partially his own doing—throughout his tenure, he has supplied a seemingly endless stream of offensive commentary about the bodies of women, disabled people, and anyone else he deems to be inferior. Despite his advanced age and his dislike for physical activity, Trump has cajoled medical professionals to testify to his health. During the last Presidential campaign, his personal doctor, Harold Bornstein, released a bizarre statement claiming that he would be “the healthiest individual ever elected” to the office. (It was later revealed that Trump had dictated the letter to Bornstein.) “I would put POTUS in the 20-49 [age] category due to his strength and stamina,” the former Fox News medical consultant David Samadi tweeted shortly after Trump’s coronavirus infection was announced. These obsequious statements recall the testimony of Berlusconi’s personal doctor, who called the former Prime Minister “technically immortal.” (“Once again, I got away with it!” Berlusconi, now eighty-four, told reporters this September, as he left the hospital after treatment for COVID-19.)


newyorker--2020-10-14--How to Throw Yourself a Middle-Age-Reveal Party

Are you confused by your stage of life ?
Feel young and vibrant , and yet a day-spa worker recently called your skin “ crêpey ” ?
It ’ d be great finally to have confirmation that you ’ re no longer a vital part of society—but how ?
Throw yourself a middle-age-reveal party !
Most middle-age-reveal parties share a simple theme : gray .
Think gray cocktails , gray plastic cups , gray napkins , and gray party games , such as Pin the Sad Gray Tail on the Sad Gray Donkey Who Looks Ridiculous in Floral Prints .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , simply build a theme around something that you love to do—for example , cry-eating while watching “ Murder , She Wrote.
” Send invitations to your reveal four to six weeks in advance .
Cute invitations can be found online , through Etsy and Paperless Post .
If you buy them at a stationery store in the mall , immediately cancel the party : it ’ s already been revealed that you ’ re an old bitch .
Kick things off by asking guests to guess your age !
If they guess @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them a prize like a yummy fruit skewer .
If they guess higher , hand them a prize like your middle finger and a now-strained relationship .
Pick a Dramatic Way to Reveal Whether You ’ re Middle-Aged The fun of this event is keeping everyone—including yourself !
—in suspense until it ’ s time for the grand reveal ( much like your period when it disappears for two months and then rages on back during your anniversary beach vacation ) .
Some awesome ways to find out if you ’ re middle-aged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bar , when a graduate student with a man bun calls you “ ma ’ am ” —include : • None Knee Test : Squat down to grab something out of a low cabinet , like a colander or a cake pan .
If you can stand back up without assistance , you are not in middle age .
But , if you slowly tip over onto your side while hissing “ Fuckkkkkk this life , ” you are !
• None The Scroll : While guests watch , log on to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the year in which you were born via a drop-down menu .
Now see how long it takes you to scroll down far enough to find that year .
Two minutes ?
Three ?
Do you see 1929 at the bottom of the list ?
Then—ding-ding-ding !
Hello , oldie .
• None Menu-Reading : Have a party guest hand you a restaurant menu .
Without using glasses , a flashlight app , candlelight , or a child ’ s help , try to read at least three items .
If you make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the menu across the room and shrieking , “ What the hell !
Is this a restaurant for mice ?
” —congratulations !
You are still considered attractive by some .
• None Piñata Time !
: Hang up a man-shaped piñata , then grab a bat .
If you just gently knock the piñata around a few times , you are not in middle age .
But if you whack the shit out of that crêpe-paper motherfucker like it just voted to take away your reproductive rights , all while screaming , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PAIN , DIPSHIT !
, ” your A.A.R.P .
card is already in the mail .
You ’ ll also need some Motrin for your sore biceps .
• None Box o ’ Fucks : Two boxes labelled “ FUCKS ” are placed on a table .
You must choose one , and only one , to open .
If the box you choose is full of fucks , you are not in middle age .
Go buy a crop top on Instagram , kid .
But if you open a box and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no fucks left to give and you couldn ’ t find a fuck even if you used a fucking fuck detector—guess what ?
You ’ re middle-aged , baby .
And that means the party ’ s now over .
Send your guests home .
It ’ s time to cry-eat and watch “ Murder , She Wrote .
”

Are you confused by your stage of life? Feel young and vibrant, and yet a day-spa worker recently called your skin “crêpey”? It’d be great finally to have confirmation that you’re no longer a vital part of society—but how? Throw yourself a middle-age-reveal party!
Here’s a step-by-step guide:
Decide on a Theme
Most middle-age-reveal parties share a simple theme: gray. Think gray cocktails, gray plastic cups, gray napkins, and gray party games, such as Pin the Sad Gray Tail on the Sad Gray Donkey Who Looks Ridiculous in Floral Prints. If gray’s not your color, simply build a theme around something that you love to do—for example, cry-eating while watching “Murder, She Wrote.”
Set the Date
Send invitations to your reveal four to six weeks in advance. Cute invitations can be found online, through Etsy and Paperless Post. If you buy them at a stationery store in the mall, immediately cancel the party: it’s already been revealed that you’re an old bitch.
Plan a Welcome Game for Guests
Kick things off by asking guests to guess your age! If they guess lower than it actually is, hand them a prize like a yummy fruit skewer. If they guess higher, hand them a prize like your middle finger and a now-strained relationship.
Pick a Dramatic Way to Reveal Whether You’re Middle-Aged
The fun of this event is keeping everyone—including yourself!—in suspense until it’s time for the grand reveal (much like your period when it disappears for two months and then rages on back during your anniversary beach vacation). Some awesome ways to find out if you’re middle-aged at a party—rather than at a wine bar, when a graduate student with a man bun calls you “ma’am”—include:


newyorker--2020-10-14--It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, and the Latinx Vote Is Still Being Ignored

In fact , President Ronald Reagan had to try to sell more or less the same idea two decades later , on September 13 , 1988 , when he extended the commemorative week to a month , from September 15th to October 15th .
Hispanic heritage , he said in a speech sprinkled with Spanish words , was “ the heritage of every American.
” By then , one in every fifteen Americans was Hispanic , and , even if things didn ’ t look that great for them , there was a sense that assimilation would eventually integrate them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other immigrant groups .
Yet , as the country honors its Hispanic heritage for the fifty-second time this year , and one in every five Americans is now Latinx , those expectations are yet to be fulfilled .
Latinx people are still fighting for equality , are still largely invisible to power structures and state bureaucracies , and are still seen as foreign by the political parties and a good number of their compatriots .
Just weeks ahead of a Presidential election , they remain painfully sidelined .
Despite progress in critical areas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remains wide and deep .
In 1980 , when the census first fully counted the Hispanic population , the group ’ s median household income was about twelve thousand dollars lower than the national median ; last year , it was about twelve thousand six hundred dollars lower .
During the Obama years , U.S.-born people of Latinx heritage didn ’ t fully recover from the income losses of the 2007-09 recession : in 2017 , they were still earning six per cent less than in 2007 , while , over all , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more .
In the same period , the over-all national poverty level dropped from thirteen per cent to 10.5 per cent ; it dropped for Latinxs , too , but it started higher , at 23.1 percent , and only fell to 15.7 percent .
Similar gaps can be found in home ownership and in access to health care .
This was the state of the Latinx population before the coronavirus pandemic , which has hit the group harder than almost any other demographic in the country .
Latinx people are overrepresented among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they account for about a third of all COVID-19 cases and more than eighteen per cent of the deaths .
At a recent Hispanic Congressional Caucus panel , Peter Hotez , a dean at the Baylor College of Medicine , noted that the pandemic has brought about a “ historic decimation ” of the Hispanic community .
A Pew poll conducted this August showed that Latinxs have taken pay cuts or lost their jobs at a higher rate than any other group .
“ People have been living paycheck by paycheck , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the polling firm Latino Decisions and a pollster for the Biden campaign , told me .
About half of Latinx families , he pointed out , had just five hundred dollars or less saved for an emergency at the beginning of the pandemic .
Also in August , a national survey from Somos Community Care and Latino Decisions found that nearly two-thirds of Latinxs were worried that they would lose their savings or retirement funds , or wouldn ’ t be able to pay for basic expenses , like food , utilities , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ owners applied for federal relief funds , but only a handful received them .
More than half a century of celebrating Latinx heritage has not provided America with a better understanding of who Latinxs are .
For example , even though available data suggest that they are incarcerated at about twice the rate of non-Latinx whites , we don ’ t know precisely how many are arrested , incarcerated , on probation , or on parole , because most states don ’ t have a category to classify people entering or exiting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as Black or white , and mark most Latinxs as the latter , thus hiding the disproportionate impact of arrests and incarceration on their communities .
The recent protests against police brutality renewed decades-old calls for awareness of the disproportionate number of Latinx people killed in encounters with the police .
Juan Cartagena , the president of the civil-rights group Latino Justice , told me that the presentation of racial disparities as a Black-white binary erases Latinx people from the picture .
To the American mainstream , Cartagena said , police brutality is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , while Latinxs are “ seen as exclusively impacted by immigration.
” Marcia Rincon-Gallardo , the executive director of Alianza for Youth Justice , which just released a report on the Latinx data gap in the juvenile-justice system , points out that “ policy is driven by data.
” That is partly why the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act , a police-reform bill that Democrats in the House of Representatives drafted earlier this year , includes a mandate to create a national system for data collection with a breakdown by race and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , “ How do we justify that there is even a problem ?
Or how severe is it ?
Where do the disproportionality and disparities for Latinx lie and what are the best solutions ?
” Latinxs also tend to be invisible to the political establishment , which should push for reforms to correct the disadvantages .
In this Presidential election , they will comprise the second-largest electoral group , outnumbering Black voters for the first time .
About thirty-two million Latinx Americans are eligible to vote , and more become eligible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minute , even quicker : a Latinx person reaches voting age every thirty seconds .
A majority of Latinxs in this country are U.S.-born and young , and have progressive leanings ; they have the potential to reshape the political landscape .
Yet a recent Latino Decisions national poll revealed that sixty per cent have not been contacted by any political group this year concerning the election .
This is not exceptional .
According to a report by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials ( NALEO ) , Presidential campaigns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ignoring those “ with sizable Latino electorates such as Arizona , California , New York , and Texas where campaigns assume the outcome of statewide Presidential contests.
” More than half of all Latinx citizens of voting age live in those four states .
Meanwhile , a study in Texas last month showed that many Latinxs don ’ t vote because they aren ’ t sought by campaigns , and that campaigns don ’ t seek them because they don ’ t vote .
Parties and candidates also seem to ignore the internal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Latinx population is growing in states where mainstream America doesn ’ t generally imagine it to even have a presence , such as Wisconsin , Pennsylvania , Iowa , New Hampshire , Michigan , Minnesota , and Maine .
“ We ’ re everywhere now , ” Julián Castro , the only Latinx candidate in the Democratic primaries , said at a recent virtual panel organized by the Boston Globe .
He joked that , on a campaign trip to Wyoming , he tried Wyo-Mex food : It “ wasn ’ t quite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s good.
” A map of Latino media created by the bilingual masters program at CUNY ’ s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism , where I work , shows a robust Spanish-language news ecosystem in North Carolina : twenty-three publications serving the more than nine hundred thousand Latinxs in the state .
Certainly , as a 2007 study corroborated , Latinxs are more likely to vote if there is a Latinx candidate on the ballot .
But only a very small percentage of Latinx people run for public office , and they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elected officials .
Another indicator of Latinx invisibility is the recurrent “ discovery ” of the conservative Latinx vote .
Many commentators were stunned that twenty-eight per cent of Latinxs voted for Donald Trump in 2016 .
But the “ surprise ” of the conservative Latinx vote has been reënacted every two years since Florida ’ s conservative Latinx communities entered the news cycle .
And , as Geraldo Cadava , a professor of history at Northwestern University , writes in a new book , “ The Hispanic Republican : The Shaping of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Trump , ” ever since Richard Nixon ’ s reëlection , in 1972 , between twenty-five and thirty per cent of Latinx voters have chosen the Republican Presidential candidate .

On September 17, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Proclamation 3869, establishing National Hispanic Heritage Week. The proclamation held that Hispanic traditions and actions had made this country what it was: that, indeed, there would have been no America without them. At a time when just one in every twenty-five people in the country was Hispanic, this was not a widely accepted truth.
In fact, President Ronald Reagan had to try to sell more or less the same idea two decades later, on September 13, 1988, when he extended the commemorative week to a month, from September 15th to October 15th. Hispanic heritage, he said in a speech sprinkled with Spanish words, was “the heritage of every American.” By then, one in every fifteen Americans was Hispanic, and, even if things didn’t look that great for them, there was a sense that assimilation would eventually integrate them into the mainstream, as it had other immigrant groups.
Yet, as the country honors its Hispanic heritage for the fifty-second time this year, and one in every five Americans is now Latinx, those expectations are yet to be fulfilled. Latinx people are still fighting for equality, are still largely invisible to power structures and state bureaucracies, and are still seen as foreign by the political parties and a good number of their compatriots. Just weeks ahead of a Presidential election, they remain painfully sidelined.
Despite progress in critical areas, such as education, the inequality remains wide and deep. In 1980, when the census first fully counted the Hispanic population, the group’s median household income was about twelve thousand dollars lower than the national median; last year, it was about twelve thousand six hundred dollars lower. During the Obama years, U.S.-born people of Latinx heritage didn’t fully recover from the income losses of the 2007-09 recession: in 2017, they were still earning six per cent less than in 2007, while, over all, American workers were making three per cent more. In the same period, the over-all national poverty level dropped from thirteen per cent to 10.5 per cent; it dropped for Latinxs, too, but it started higher, at 23.1 percent, and only fell to 15.7 percent. Similar gaps can be found in home ownership and in access to health care.
This was the state of the Latinx population before the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the group harder than almost any other demographic in the country. Latinx people are overrepresented among “essential workers” and, consequently, they account for about a third of all COVID-19 cases and more than eighteen per cent of the deaths. At a recent Hispanic Congressional Caucus panel, Peter Hotez, a dean at the Baylor College of Medicine, noted that the pandemic has brought about a “historic decimation” of the Hispanic community.
A Pew poll conducted this August showed that Latinxs have taken pay cuts or lost their jobs at a higher rate than any other group. “People have been living paycheck by paycheck,” Matt Barreto, a co-founder of the polling firm Latino Decisions and a pollster for the Biden campaign, told me. About half of Latinx families, he pointed out, had just five hundred dollars or less saved for an emergency at the beginning of the pandemic. Also in August, a national survey from Somos Community Care and Latino Decisions found that nearly two-thirds of Latinxs were worried that they would lose their savings or retirement funds, or wouldn’t be able to pay for basic expenses, like food, utilities, rent, or mortgages. Latinx small-business owners applied for federal relief funds, but only a handful received them.
More than half a century of celebrating Latinx heritage has not provided America with a better understanding of who Latinxs are. For example, even though available data suggest that they are incarcerated at about twice the rate of non-Latinx whites, we don’t know precisely how many are arrested, incarcerated, on probation, or on parole, because most states don’t have a category to classify people entering or exiting the system as Latinx. Most count people as Black or white, and mark most Latinxs as the latter, thus hiding the disproportionate impact of arrests and incarceration on their communities. The recent protests against police brutality renewed decades-old calls for awareness of the disproportionate number of Latinx people killed in encounters with the police. Juan Cartagena, the president of the civil-rights group Latino Justice, told me that the presentation of racial disparities as a Black-white binary erases Latinx people from the picture. To the American mainstream, Cartagena said, police brutality is an issue that mainly affects Black people, while Latinxs are “seen as exclusively impacted by immigration.”
Marcia Rincon-Gallardo, the executive director of Alianza for Youth Justice, which just released a report on the Latinx data gap in the juvenile-justice system, points out that “policy is driven by data.” That is partly why the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a police-reform bill that Democrats in the House of Representatives drafted earlier this year, includes a mandate to create a national system for data collection with a breakdown by race and ethnicity. Without that data, Rincon-Gallardo said, “How do we justify that there is even a problem? Or how severe is it? Where do the disproportionality and disparities for Latinx lie and what are the best solutions?”
Latinxs also tend to be invisible to the political establishment, which should push for reforms to correct the disadvantages. In this Presidential election, they will comprise the second-largest electoral group, outnumbering Black voters for the first time. About thirty-two million Latinx Americans are eligible to vote, and more become eligible every day, every hour, every minute, even quicker: a Latinx person reaches voting age every thirty seconds. A majority of Latinxs in this country are U.S.-born and young, and have progressive leanings; they have the potential to reshape the political landscape.
Yet a recent Latino Decisions national poll revealed that sixty per cent have not been contacted by any political group this year concerning the election. This is not exceptional. According to a report by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), Presidential campaigns tend to focus on battleground states, ignoring those “with sizable Latino electorates such as Arizona, California, New York, and Texas where campaigns assume the outcome of statewide Presidential contests.” More than half of all Latinx citizens of voting age live in those four states. Meanwhile, a study in Texas last month showed that many Latinxs don’t vote because they aren’t sought by campaigns, and that campaigns don’t seek them because they don’t vote.