thebulwark--2020-06-25--The Huge Challenges Facing Biden

The Huge Challenges Facing Biden

For three and a half years , America has been governed by a president with a pathological need for our attention .
He certainly has it .
His ceaseless insults , braggadocio , divisiveness , power grabs , self-absorption , and self-pity have shattered norms and split Americans into warring camps—the adoring and appalled , the latter suspended between loathing and exhaustion .
Now reality has presented Donald Trump with a past-due bill in the form of a deadly pandemic and an incendiary racial reckoning .
An election which was always about him has also become about them—and what kind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Democratic primaries yielded a candidate who is Trump ’ s tempermental opposite : seasoned , empathic , conciliatory , inclusive and , when appropriate , modest .
Unlike Trump ’ s glaring pathology , Joe Biden ’ s well-known flaws are human-scale .
His undeniable normality poses a beguiling question : Wouldn ’ t it be nice to go whole days without obsessing on our president—or worrying about where he ’ s taking us and what he will do next ?
A demographically weighted Morning Consult survey of registered voters conducted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent said they think America is on the wrong track .
As the veteran Democratic consultant Joe Trippi told Thomas B. Edsall : “ The more wound up we get on coronavirus and unemployment and race , the more chaos we see .
If Trump is chaos and Biden is community , what will the country choose ?
” Recent polling suggests an answer .
Trump ’ s favorability ratings are consistently underwater : A RealClear average of surveys from the last seven weeks puts his unfavorability rating at 55 percent and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s tracking poll of Trump ’ s job-approval rating concurs ; as of early June , he was at 57 percent disapprove , 39 percent approve .
Head-to-head national surveys have Biden leading by an average of 10 percent .
More important , polls show Biden ahead in several key battleground states : Pennsylvania , Michigan , Florida , Arizona , and Wisconsin .
Why ?
Unlike , say , climate change , COVID-19 is the reckoning Trump can not escape .
Gallup polls in April and May showed that 40 percent or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most important problem besetting America ; by this month , respondents were saying that the country ’ s three most important problems are the pandemic , racism , and “ the government/poor leadership.
” The new Morning Consult survey referenced above also shows that the respondents were deeply concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on the economy—the area Trump had counted on to justify his re-election .
Instead , the coronavirus is becoming his electoral millstone .
In the Moring Consult poll , 50 percent of the respondents disapproved of Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to just 34 percent who say he has done an “ excellent ” or “ good ” job of handling it .
The latest New York Times poll of registered voters—conducted over the weekend and weighted demographically—has similar figures : 58 percent disapproval to 38 percent approval of Trump ’ s response to the pandemic .
Biden ’ s ad campaign virtually writes itself .
In October 2019—well before the coronavirus—he tweeted : By late January Biden was writing about Trump ’ s incapacity to deal with COVID-19 : Since then it has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Less than five months after Biden ’ s admonition , we have lost over 120,000 Americans and counting .
The damage to Trump is spreading : In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of registered voters from the start of the month , 77 percent said they view the state of the economy as “ only fair ” or “ poor , ” compared to 44 percent last December .
Little wonder : We are officially in a recession .
Moreover , COVID-19 exacerbates a critical and persistent area of weakness for Trump—healthcare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic has left medical care unaffordable for all too many .
Trump has no answer .
His greatest hope , that the economy rebounds before November , requires a pandemic in retreat .
But his own derelictions reduce the likelihood of such national good fortune .
Instead of providing proactive presidential leadership , he has supported mindless protests against the very public health measures his own administration promulgated .
As the daily number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths reach new highs in several parts of the country , he urges governors to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ child pulling a blanket over his head , Trump is wishing the pandemic away .
Dr. Anthony Fauci knows better .
“ We are still in the first wave , ” he warned last week .
Indeed , in the last week three states whose governors responded to Trump ’ s prompting—Texas , Florida , and Arizona—have set records for the daily number of new coronavirus cases .
No matter to Trump .
Hungry for ego gratification , he insisted on staging a big indoor rally in Tulsa so that frenzied loyalists could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Instead he presented a spectacle at once frightening and pathetic : a fear-mongering , race-baiting , self-pitying jeremiad , delivered to a disappointing crowd , in which he blamed our world-record coronavirus rates on excessive testing ; decried the removal of Confederate monuments ; spent fifteen minutes explaining his halting gait at West Point ; and informed his audience that they were lucky to have him .
In truth , they will be lucky to escape infection .
Prior to the event , Fauci warned that it created a dangerous risk of transmission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a postponement .
Instead , Trump ’ s campaign required attendees to execute a waiver of liability to protect it from lawsuits .
Trump , it seems , is where irony goes to die .
People too .
The pandemic has hit African Americans particularly hard .
“ Disproportionately , ” writes Adam Serwer in the Atlantic , “ black and brown workers are being sacrificed to fuel the engine of a faltering economy , by a president who disdains them.
” It is , therefore , cruelly congruent that the second @ @ @ @ @ @ @ murder of a black man by a white cop—rendered indelible by videotape .
Thomas Edsall described the potentially seismic impact on our politics : For once the answer may foretell progress .
In a demographically weighted CNN survey conducted in early June , 84 percent of the respondents said they believed that the peaceful protests concerning police violence against African Americans are “ justified ” ; two-thirds labeled racism “ a big problem.
” And the New York Times documented a rapid shift in public opinion : Americans increasingly report positive rather than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lives matter.
” For now , this hurts Trump .
As Patrick Murray , the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute , said earlier this month , “ The [ presidential ] race continues to be largely a referendum on the incumbent .
The initial reaction to ongoing racial unrest in the country suggests that most voters feel Trump is not handling the situation all that well.
” Observed Rick Perlstein in Mother Jones : “ When disorder is all around them , voters tend to blame the person in charge for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who exploit it for political gain.
” So it seems .
In a nationwide Marist/NPR/PBS poll conducted in early June , 67 percent of the respondents said that Trump ’ s actions have “ mostly increased tensions ” in America ; among independents , that figure was even higher—73 percent .
Other polls , by Emerson College and Reuters/Ipsos , indicate that a substantial majority disapproves of Trump ’ s response to the death of George Floyd death , and the protests which ensued .
Thus far , advantage Biden .
Monmouth shows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in improving race relations .
In a Morning Consult survey of registered voters conducted May 31-June 1 , 34 percent of self-identified independents said Floyd ’ s death and the subsequent protests made them more likely vote for Biden , compared to 22 percent who said it became more likely they would vote for Trump .
So what can go wrong ?
How about the most dimwitted slogan launched by the left since “ abolish ICE ” : “ defund the police.
” Polling shows that a decisive majority of respondents , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elaborate efforts of proponents to explain what these words truly mean defies a classic dictum of politics : If you ’ re explaining , you ’ re losing .
Trump understands that well : He and his party have turned this inflammatory phrase on Biden and the Democrats .
Concurrently , a collection of progressive groups effectively joined Trump in a pincer movement by demanding that Biden drop his plan to invest $ 300 million in community policing programs in favor of defunding police forces—demonstrating , yet again , the penchant of ideologues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a virtue .
Biden isn ’ t playing .
“ I don ’ t support defunding the police , ” he told Norah O ’ Donnell .
James Clyburn , the African-American congressman whose endorsement helped Biden clinch South Carolina , said flatly : “ Nobody is going to defund the police.
” Instead , congressional Democrats have proposed legislation that would , among other measures , limit legal protections for police , create a national database for incidents of excessive force , and ban chokeholds .
These popular proposals contrast with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incentivize , rather than mandate , reforms while doing nothing to limit qualified immunity .
Biden gets the politics—and the moment .
He is acutely aware that , but for the African-American vote , he would not be the presumptive nominee .
But he also understands the anxiety stirred in many whites by news footage of looters and burning buildings—and Trump ’ s eagerness to exploit them .
Speaking in Philadelphia about Floyd ’ s murder and its aftermath , Biden drew a line : “ There ’ s no place for violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ destroying property , or burning churches or destroying businesses .
.
.
.
Nor is it acceptable for our police , sworn to protect and serve all people , to escalate tension , resort to excessive violence.
” But he also delivered what Franklin Foer described as “ perhaps the most thorough-going and hard-hitting critique of American racial inequities ever uttered by a major presidential nominee.
” Said Biden , “ I wish I could say that hate began with Donald Trump and will end with him .
It didn ’ t and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ isn ’ t a fairytale with a guaranteed happy ending.
” Nonetheless , he singled out Trump ’ s white identity politics : “ Donald Trump has turned this country into a battlefield riven by old resentments and fresh fears .
.
.
.
Is this who we are ?
Is this who we want to be ?
Is this what we want to pass on to our children and our grandchildren ?
Fear , anger , finger-pointing , rather than the pursuit of happiness ?
Incompetence and anxiety , self-absorption , selfishness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a “ very big job ” which defies perfection .
“ But I promise you this , ” he added .
“ I won ’ t traffic in fear and division .
I won ’ t fan the flames of hate .
I ’ ll seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued our country—not use them for political gain.
” For now Biden is well positioned on issues of race—politically and morally .
The looming question is whether he will select an African-American woman to be his running mate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the right choice may turn out to be Congresswoman Val Demings of Florida .
In this moment , her biography resonates .
She rose from poverty in the segregated South to earn a master ’ s degree , do social work , join the Orlando police force , and become the city ’ s first female chief of police .
A devout churchgoer , she ’ s been married for 32 years and has three kids ; her husband is a former police chief and current mayor of a Florida municipality .
Her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ across the political spectrum on issues of policing and race ; her recent opinion piece in the Washington Post called for sweeping reforms of police practices .
Her career suggests a penchant for leadership .
After coming to Congress in 2016 , she was selected to serve as a manager in Trump ’ s impeachment trial .
On critical issues , she ’ s a mainstream Democrat ; by virtue of her selection , she would symbolize for progressives Biden ’ s commitment to racial progress .
Finally , she ’ s the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ battleground state .
We ’ ll know who Biden chooses in August .
Regardless of whether he picks Demings , there is widespread sentiment within the party for an African-American running mate .
Likely he will answer it : A judicious choice could help unify the party , uplift the country , and assure African Americans that , among Democrats , their voice truly matters .
In the meantime , the minimalist campaign thrust on Biden by COVID-19 is serving him just fine .
He has avoided the serious gaffes which could further @ @ @ @ @ @ @ His few public appearances have been well chosen and effective .
His compassion and sobriety in troubled times are an effective contrast to Trump ’ s angry and feckless bluster .
In reality , Trump is doing himself more damage than Biden ever could .
“ The more he talks , ” Biden remarked at a fundraiser last month , “ the more we go up.
” As Rahm Emanuel observes , “ This is a race of Trump versus Trump , and Trump is losing.
” Trump ’ s ultimate problem is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ persona accentuates his incapacity to cope with crises that have riveted public attention .
“ These have been disastrous weeks for Trump , ” former Obama adviser David Axelrod told the New Yorker ’ s David Remnick , adding : Beyond doubt Trump has become a potentially dispositive turnout machine for Democrats .
But Biden can not count on stasis from now until November .
Trump , deprived of his chief talking point—the economy—can be expected to run the most toxic , divisive , dishonest , and brutally negative presidential campaign in American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ done nothing to broaden his support .
Of necessity , his entire strategy will rest on maximizing turnout among his base while dampening enthusiasm for Biden just enough to squeak out another Electoral College victory .
The problem for Biden , Axelrod warns , is that Trump , “ is absolutely untethered to any norms and is willing to do anything to win .
You ’ re in a race that resembles asymmetric warfare.
” To that end , Trump ’ s version of Joe Biden will be a corrupt and senile socialist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , godless libertines , and the villainous Chinese who have screwed American workers and dispatched a deadly pandemic to our shores—and who , therefore , is wholly unsuited to lead America out of the economic trough China diabolically created .
Concurrently , Trump ’ s financially inexhaustible digital disinformation campaign will focus on microtargeting susceptible suburbanites and rallying his base , while persuading a critical slice of progressives and minorities who might otherwise vote for Biden to stay home .
Add voter suppression—including discouraging mail-in ballots at a time when millions of people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you have Donald Trump ’ s version of American democracy .
Like Trump , Biden ’ s path to victory runs through six battleground states : Michigan , Pennsylvania , Wisconsin , Florida , North Carolina , and Arizona .
While Biden ’ s position is more promising , his task is more complex .
In Vox , Ella Nilsen explains : A further complication , Nilsen notes , is that the demographic imperatives in each state vary .
To win the Rust Belt battleground states—Wisconsin , Michigan , and Pennsylvania—Biden needs to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cutting into Trump ’ s working-class support .
Victory in Arizona requires turning out Hispanics—often progressive—and suburbanites ; in Florida , retirees and more conservative Hispanics ; in North Carolina , African Americans and moderate suburbanites .
Sweeping them all would require considerable dexterity .
But should Biden win Michigan and Pennsylvania—where he currently leads in the polls—he will likely need but one more state .
While all this argues against the ideological purity that left-progressives are demanding , Biden ’ s agenda can no longer rest on a “ return to normalcy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been foreclosed by two converging crises .
Instead of considering himself a transitional leader , Emmanuel argues , Biden must now “ think policy-wise as a transformational president.
” Biden seems to understand this—and that attacking Trump , in itself , is not enough for an electorate desperate for leadership which points a way forward .
In the Washington Post , Matt Viser reports that he is comprehensively reimagining his presidency .
Moving ahead , he intends to emphasize spurring economic recovery , combating income inequality , strengthening worker protections , increasing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , providing universal healthcare coverage , and making substantial new investments in rebuilding infrastructure and curbing climate change .
It is significant , then , that Biden has taken to citing Franklin Roosevelt , whose optimism and proactivity guided America through a depression and a global conflict against tyranny .
This is a salutary reminder that America has seen dark days before—including a Civil War , economic collapse , the McCarthy era , the social divisions of the ’ 60s , and , during Watergate , a president who broke our laws , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powers of his office .
In the end , Americans chose hope over despair , decency over dishonor , renewal over regression .
In 2020 , that ’ s the only bet worth making .

For three and a half years, America has been governed by a president with a pathological need for our attention.
He certainly has it. His ceaseless insults, braggadocio, divisiveness, power grabs, self-absorption, and self-pity have shattered norms and split Americans into warring camps—the adoring and appalled, the latter suspended between loathing and exhaustion.
Now reality has presented Donald Trump with a past-due bill in the form of a deadly pandemic and an incendiary racial reckoning. An election which was always about him has also become about them—and what kind of leadership such crises demand.
Fortuitously, the Democratic primaries yielded a candidate who is Trump’s tempermental opposite: seasoned, empathic, conciliatory, inclusive and, when appropriate, modest. Unlike Trump’s glaring pathology, Joe Biden’s well-known flaws are human-scale. His undeniable normality poses a beguiling question: Wouldn’t it be nice to go whole days without obsessing on our president—or worrying about where he’s taking us and what he will do next?
A demographically weighted Morning Consult survey of registered voters conducted last weekend is particularly telling: 71 percent said they think America is on the wrong track. As the veteran Democratic consultant Joe Trippi told Thomas B. Edsall: “The more wound up we get on coronavirus and unemployment and race, the more chaos we see. If Trump is chaos and Biden is community, what will the country choose?”
Recent polling suggests an answer. Trump’s favorability ratings are consistently underwater: A RealClear average of surveys from the last seven weeks puts his unfavorability rating at 55 percent and his favorability at 41 percent. Gallup’s tracking poll of Trump’s job-approval rating concurs; as of early June, he was at 57 percent disapprove, 39 percent approve. Head-to-head national surveys have Biden leading by an average of 10 percent. More important, polls show Biden ahead in several key battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Arizona, and Wisconsin.
Why? Unlike, say, climate change, COVID-19 is the reckoning Trump cannot escape. Gallup polls in April and May showed that 40 percent or more of respondents believed the pandemic was the most important problem besetting America; by this month, respondents were saying that the country’s three most important problems are the pandemic, racism, and “the government/poor leadership.” The new Morning Consult survey referenced above also shows that the respondents were deeply concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on the economy—the area Trump had counted on to justify his re-election.
Instead, the coronavirus is becoming his electoral millstone. In the Morning Consult poll, 50 percent of the respondents disapproved of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, compared to just 34 percent who say he has done an “excellent” or “good” job of handling it. The latest New York Times poll of registered voters—conducted over the weekend and weighted demographically—has similar figures: 58 percent disapproval to 38 percent approval of Trump’s response to the pandemic.
Biden’s ad campaign virtually writes itself. In October 2019—well before the coronavirus—he tweeted:
We are not prepared for a pandemic. Trump has rolled back progress President Obama and I made to strengthen global health security. We need leadership that builds public trust, focuses on real threats, and mobilizes the world to stop outbreaks before they reach our shores. https://t.co/1qqpgayUEX — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 25, 2019
By late January Biden was writing about Trump’s incapacity to deal with COVID-19:
The possibility of a pandemic is a challenge Donald Trump is unqualified to handle as president. . . . Trump’s demonstrated failures of judgment and his repeated rejection of science make him the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health challenge. . . . The outbreak of a new coronavirus, which has already infected more than 2,700 people and killed over 80 in China, will get worse before it gets better.
Since then it has, indeed, gotten worse—much worse. Less than five months after Biden’s admonition, we have lost over 120,000 Americans and counting. The damage to Trump is spreading: In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of registered voters from the start of the month, 77 percent said they view the state of the economy as “only fair” or “poor,” compared to 44 percent last December. Little wonder: We are officially in a recession.
Moreover, COVID-19 exacerbates a critical and persistent area of weakness for Trump—healthcare. The massive unemployment caused by the pandemic has left medical care unaffordable for all too many. Trump has no answer.
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His greatest hope, that the economy rebounds before November, requires a pandemic in retreat. But his own derelictions reduce the likelihood of such national good fortune. Instead of providing proactive presidential leadership, he has supported mindless protests against the very public health measures his own administration promulgated. As the daily number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths reach new highs in several parts of the country, he urges governors to reopen the economy. Like a frightened child pulling a blanket over his head, Trump is wishing the pandemic away.
Dr. Anthony Fauci knows better. “We are still in the first wave,” he warned last week. Indeed, in the last week three states whose governors responded to Trump’s prompting—Texas, Florida, and Arizona—have set records for the daily number of new coronavirus cases.
No matter to Trump. Hungry for ego gratification, he insisted on staging a big indoor rally in Tulsa so that frenzied loyalists could slake his inexhaustible hunger for adulation. Instead he presented a spectacle at once frightening and pathetic: a fear-mongering, race-baiting, self-pitying jeremiad, delivered to a disappointing crowd, in which he blamed our world-record coronavirus rates on excessive testing; decried the removal of Confederate monuments; spent fifteen minutes explaining his halting gait at West Point; and informed his audience that they were lucky to have him.
In truth, they will be lucky to escape infection. Prior to the event, Fauci warned that it created a dangerous risk of transmission, and local health officials wished aloud for a postponement. Instead, Trump’s campaign required attendees to execute a waiver of liability to protect it from lawsuits. Trump, it seems, is where irony goes to die.
People too. The pandemic has hit African Americans particularly hard. “Disproportionately,” writes Adam Serwer in the Atlantic, “black and brown workers are being sacrificed to fuel the engine of a faltering economy, by a president who disdains them.”
It is, therefore, cruelly congruent that the second crisis facing Trump stems from the sickening murder of a black man by a white cop—rendered indelible by videotape. Thomas Edsall described the potentially seismic impact on our politics:
The nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd will test two competing notions of how voters respond to crises that provoke both anger and grief. Could the demonstrations that have devolved into mayhem, looting and assault lead to victory for President Trump? . . . Or could Trump’s authoritarian reaction, both rhetorically (“You have to dominate,” “I am your president of law and order”) and actual (ordering military units and equipment to the nation’s capital) enrage and energize the knowledge class, white liberals and the young to more tightly ally with African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities to produce a Democratic surge?
For once the answer may foretell progress. In a demographically weighted CNN survey conducted in early June, 84 percent of the respondents said they believed that the peaceful protests concerning police violence against African Americans are “justified”; two-thirds labeled racism “a big problem.” And the New York Times documented a rapid shift in public opinion: Americans increasingly report positive rather than negative associations with the slogan “black lives matter.”
For now, this hurts Trump. As Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said earlier this month, “The [presidential] race continues to be largely a referendum on the incumbent. The initial reaction to ongoing racial unrest in the country suggests that most voters feel Trump is not handling the situation all that well.” Observed Rick Perlstein in Mother Jones: “When disorder is all around them, voters tend to blame the person in charge for the disorder—and, sometimes, punish those who exploit it for political gain.”
So it seems. In a nationwide Marist/NPR/PBS poll conducted in early June, 67 percent of the respondents said that Trump’s actions have “mostly increased tensions” in America; among independents, that figure was even higher—73 percent. Other polls, by Emerson College and Reuters/Ipsos, indicate that a substantial majority disapproves of Trump’s response to the death of George Floyd death, and the protests which ensued.
Thus far, advantage Biden. Monmouth shows Biden with a significant advantage over Trump in improving race relations. In a Morning Consult survey of registered voters conducted May 31-June 1, 34 percent of self-identified independents said Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests made them more likely vote for Biden, compared to 22 percent who said it became more likely they would vote for Trump.
So what can go wrong? How about the most dimwitted slogan launched by the left since “abolish ICE”: “defund the police.” Polling shows that a decisive majority of respondents, including independents, oppose the concept. The elaborate efforts of proponents to explain what these words truly mean defies a classic dictum of politics: If you’re explaining, you’re losing.
Trump understands that well: He and his party have turned this inflammatory phrase on Biden and the Democrats. Concurrently, a collection of progressive groups effectively joined Trump in a pincer movement by demanding that Biden drop his plan to invest $300 million in community policing programs in favor of defunding police forces—demonstrating, yet again, the penchant of ideologues on the left to embrace political suicide as a virtue.
Biden isn’t playing. “I don’t support defunding the police,” he told Norah O’Donnell. James Clyburn, the African-American congressman whose endorsement helped Biden clinch South Carolina, said flatly: “Nobody is going to defund the police.”
Instead, congressional Democrats have proposed legislation that would, among other measures, limit legal protections for police, create a national database for incidents of excessive force, and ban chokeholds. These popular proposals contrast with a weaker Republican bill that seeks to incentivize, rather than mandate, reforms while doing nothing to limit qualified immunity.
Biden gets the politics—and the moment. He is acutely aware that, but for the African-American vote, he would not be the presumptive nominee. But he also understands the anxiety stirred in many whites by news footage of looters and burning buildings—and Trump’s eagerness to exploit them.
Speaking in Philadelphia about Floyd’s murder and its aftermath, Biden drew a line: “There’s no place for violence, no place for looting, or destroying property, or burning churches or destroying businesses. . . . Nor is it acceptable for our police, sworn to protect and serve all people, to escalate tension, resort to excessive violence.”
But he also delivered what Franklin Foer described as “perhaps the most thorough-going and hard-hitting critique of American racial inequities ever uttered by a major presidential nominee.” Said Biden, “I wish I could say that hate began with Donald Trump and will end with him. It didn’t and it won’t. American history isn’t a fairytale with a guaranteed happy ending.”
Nonetheless, he singled out Trump’s white identity politics: “Donald Trump has turned this country into a battlefield riven by old resentments and fresh fears. . . . Is this who we are? Is this who we want to be? Is this what we want to pass on to our children and our grandchildren? Fear, anger, finger-pointing, rather than the pursuit of happiness? Incompetence and anxiety, self-absorption, selfishness?”
Biden acknowledged that the presidency is a “very big job” which defies perfection. “But I promise you this,” he added. “I won’t traffic in fear and division. I won’t fan the flames of hate. I’ll seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued our country—not use them for political gain.”
For now Biden is well positioned on issues of race—politically and morally. The looming question is whether he will select an African-American woman to be his running mate. The right answer is yes; the right choice may turn out to be Congresswoman Val Demings of Florida.
In this moment, her biography resonates. She rose from poverty in the segregated South to earn a master’s degree, do social work, join the Orlando police force, and become the city’s first female chief of police.
A devout churchgoer, she’s been married for 32 years and has three kids; her husband is a former police chief and current mayor of a Florida municipality. Her law enforcement background gives her broad credibility across the political spectrum on issues of policing and race; her recent opinion piece in the Washington Post called for sweeping reforms of police practices.
Her career suggests a penchant for leadership. After coming to Congress in 2016, she was selected to serve as a manager in Trump’s impeachment trial. On critical issues, she’s a mainstream Democrat; by virtue of her selection, she would symbolize for progressives Biden’s commitment to racial progress. Finally, she’s the only obvious non-white contender from a crucial battleground state.
We’ll know who Biden chooses in August. Regardless of whether he picks Demings, there is widespread sentiment within the party for an African-American running mate. Likely he will answer it: A judicious choice could help unify the party, uplift the country, and assure African Americans that, among Democrats, their voice truly matters.
In the meantime, the minimalist campaign thrust on Biden by COVID-19 is serving him just fine. He has avoided the serious gaffes which could further Trump’s accusations of senescence. His few public appearances have been well chosen and effective. His compassion and sobriety in troubled times are an effective contrast to Trump’s angry and feckless bluster.
In reality, Trump is doing himself more damage than Biden ever could. “The more he talks,” Biden remarked at a fundraiser last month, “the more we go up.” As Rahm Emanuel observes, “This is a race of Trump versus Trump, and Trump is losing.”
Trump’s ultimate problem is that, as president, his noxious persona accentuates his incapacity to cope with crises that have riveted public attention. “These have been disastrous weeks for Trump,” former Obama adviser David Axelrod told the New Yorker’s David Remnick, adding:
The cost of his divisiveness has become apparent for people who just want domestic tranquility. The combination of the incompetence they sensed in Trump around the coronavirus combined with the divisiveness that they’ve seen on this issue has really crystallized concerns about him.
Beyond doubt Trump has become a potentially dispositive turnout machine for Democrats. But Biden cannot count on stasis from now until November. Trump, deprived of his chief talking point—the economy—can be expected to run the most toxic, divisive, dishonest, and brutally negative presidential campaign in American history.
Since 2016, Trump has done nothing to broaden his support. Of necessity, his entire strategy will rest on maximizing turnout among his base while dampening enthusiasm for Biden just enough to squeak out another Electoral College victory. The problem for Biden, Axelrod warns, is that Trump, “is absolutely untethered to any norms and is willing to do anything to win. You’re in a race that resembles asymmetric warfare.”
To that end, Trump’s version of Joe Biden will be a corrupt and senile socialist allied with black radicals, job-stealing immigrants, godless libertines, and the villainous Chinese who have screwed American workers and dispatched a deadly pandemic to our shores—and who, therefore, is wholly unsuited to lead America out of the economic trough China diabolically created. Concurrently, Trump’s financially inexhaustible digital disinformation campaign will focus on microtargeting susceptible suburbanites and rallying his base, while persuading a critical slice of progressives and minorities who might otherwise vote for Biden to stay home.
Add voter suppression—including discouraging mail-in ballots at a time when millions of people harbor pandemic-related fears of voting in person—and you have Donald Trump’s version of American democracy.
Like Trump, Biden’s path to victory runs through six battleground states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona. While Biden’s position is more promising, his task is more complex. In Vox, Ella Nilsen explains:
The Biden campaign strategy will take a series of carefully executed plays. Cut into Trump’s margins with rural and exurban voters in states from the Upper Midwest to Florida. Make sure African American, Latino, and Asian American turnout is strong in Sun Belt and Rust Belt states alike. Appeal to a subset of voters where Democrats have been racking up big wins lately: suburban voters (especially women) who may have voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 but are wary of Trump. And—maybe the biggest play of all—see if the campaign can win or at least significantly cut into the president’s margins with older voters, a traditionally more conservative and reliable bloc that suddenly seems to be turning away from the president.
A further complication, Nilsen notes, is that the demographic imperatives in each state vary. To win the Rust Belt battleground states—Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania—Biden needs to turn out African-American and suburban voters while cutting into Trump’s working-class support. Victory in Arizona requires turning out Hispanics—often progressive—and suburbanites; in Florida, retirees and more conservative Hispanics; in North Carolina, African Americans and moderate suburbanites.
Sweeping them all would require considerable dexterity. But should Biden win Michigan and Pennsylvania—where he currently leads in the polls—he will likely need but one more state.
While all this argues against the ideological purity that left-progressives are demanding, Biden’s agenda can no longer rest on a “return to normalcy” which was always illusory and now has been foreclosed by two converging crises. Instead of considering himself a transitional leader, Emmanuel argues, Biden must now “think policy-wise as a transformational president.”
Biden seems to understand this—and that attacking Trump, in itself, is not enough for an electorate desperate for leadership which points a way forward. In the Washington Post, Matt Viser reports that he is comprehensively reimagining his presidency. Moving ahead, he intends to emphasize spurring economic recovery, combating income inequality, strengthening worker protections, increasing the minimum wage, attacking systemic racism, providing universal healthcare coverage, and making substantial new investments in rebuilding infrastructure and curbing climate change.
It is significant, then, that Biden has taken to citing Franklin Roosevelt, whose optimism and proactivity guided America through a depression and a global conflict against tyranny. This is a salutary reminder that America has seen dark days before—including a Civil War, economic collapse, the McCarthy era, the social divisions of the ’60s, and, during Watergate, a president who broke our laws, dishonored our Constitution, and abused the powers of his office. In the end, Americans chose hope over despair, decency over dishonor, renewal over regression.
In 2020, that’s the only bet worth making.


Trump the Barbarian

This election “ is no longer about Donald Trump ’ s tweeting , ” conservative historian Victor Davis Hanson told Fox News host Tucker Carlson the other night .
Nor is it about “ a lockdown , the virus , the economy , [ or ] foreign policy .
It ’ s an existential question , a Manichean choice between whether you want civilization or [ whether ] you feel it was inherently flawed with a cancer and we have to use radiation and chemotherapy to kill the host to kill the cancer .
.
.
.
And I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ah , the conservative warning of barbarians at the gate .
It ’ s a hardy perennial .
I recognize it because , as a conservative myself , I ’ m in sympathy with it—to a point .
In The Righteous Mind , Jonathan Haidt observed that both progressives and conservatives are motivated by morality , but their hierarchies are different .
Progressives tend to value care , especially for victims of oppression , while conservatives cherish order and sanctity .
Conservatives , in our era and arguably in all eras , are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is neither good nor bad , it ’ s just a fact ( some studies suggest that inclinations toward conservatism and liberalism are somewhat genetically influenced ) .
Order is no small virtue in a polity and progressives shouldn ’ t discount it .
Arguably , it ’ s the foundation for other virtues progressives treasure , such as fairness .
The conservative battle cry in response to the triple whammy of Joe Biden ’ s poll numbers , the pandemic , and the weakened economy is to point to the mobs toppling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are threatened—just as they claimed in 2018 that the caravan from Central America would upend American civilization .
Sean Hannity warns that if Donald Trump is defeated , “ America will become unrecognizable.
” Laura Ingraham described the Democratic agenda as “ to pull down our whole culture : the American founding , Western civilization , and everything that sprang from it.
” Mobs are never attractive , whether in the streets or on cable opinion shows , and they are not exactly discriminating in their iconoclasm .
In addition to statues of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ monuments targeted have included those of Hans Christian Heg , an abolitionist who died fighting for the Union at the battle of Chickamauga in 1863 , and Ulysses Grant , who defeated the Confederacy and offered one of the pithiest summations of the conflict .
The Southern cause , he wrote in his autobiography , was “ one of the worst for which a people ever fought , and one for which there was the least excuse.
” Disorder in the streets is an engraved invitation to a right-wing backlash .
But there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appeal to law and order is several tones flat .
The first is that while there has been some rioting and looting , the vast majority of protests have been peaceful and the trajectory is toward less , not more violence .
The second problem with the call to defend the gates of civilization is this : Donald Trump is the barbarian .
An orderly society is not one that performatively hugs the American flag , but one that upholds the rule of law for which it stands .
Throughout his administration , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He has violated campaign finance laws by paying off a porn star , flouted legal subpoenas from Congress and other duly constituted authorities looking into administration actions , abused Article II power by dangling pardons to former associates facing criminal trials , encouraged border officials to keep asylum seekers out in violation of law ( again promising a pardon ) , unlawfully diverted Defense Department funds to begin building a border wall , wrongly fired numerous inspectors general , and encouraged police to rough up arrestees—among uncountable other violations .
He has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lies about his domestic opposition , and begged for other foreign leaders to help his election prospects .
His attorney general is diligently attempting to reward his friends and punish his ( perceived ) enemies—exactly what happens in corrupt dictatorships .
In addition to respect for the law , a thriving civilization requires a certain minimum level of integrity and honor in its people , and particularly in its leaders .
This president is not just the most dishonest person ever to darken 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue , he and his enablers have made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As Peter Wehner wrote : They do this not just by lying , but by lying when there are videotapes , to demonstrate that they are above mere morals .
They demand that , knowing the truth , you assent to their lies as obeisance to power .
The annihilation of truth permits the cultivation of group hatreds .
Trump ’ s followers are led to despise supposedly criminal immigrants , “ disloyal ” Republicans , ungrateful allies , the press , the courts , the “ deep state , ” and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s original cabinet .
Election results are to be distrusted—and elections are to be thwarted where they can ’ t be fairly won .
Any unflattering portrayal is “ fake news.
” Conspiracy theories that any competent fifth-grader can detect as bogus grace the president ’ s Twitter feed .
One of the most admirable features of our civilization is our dedication to human dignity .
While imperfectly implemented , our basic commitment to human rights around the globe has been an aspiration shared by Democrats and Republicans—and by freedom-loving people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ barbarian in the Oval Office , we are now “ falling in love ” with Kim Jong-un , praising Rodrigo Duterte for extrajudicial murders , defending Vladimir Putin by suggesting that we are just as guilty of murdering our enemies as he , and giving the green light to China to build concentration camps for a million innocent Uighurs .
So a statue or two may unjustly bite the dust .
But the greater threat to law and order , and yes , civilization , is the guy at the Resolute Desk .

This election “is no longer about Donald Trump’s tweeting,” conservative historian Victor Davis Hanson told Fox News host Tucker Carlson the other night. Nor is it about “a lockdown, the virus, the economy, [or] foreign policy. It’s an existential question, a Manichean choice between whether you want civilization or [whether] you feel it was inherently flawed with a cancer and we have to use radiation and chemotherapy to kill the host to kill the cancer. . . . And I’m going to vote for civilization.”
Ah, the conservative warning of barbarians at the gate. It’s a hardy perennial. I recognize it because, as a conservative myself, I’m in sympathy with it—to a point. In The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt observed that both progressives and conservatives are motivated by morality, but their hierarchies are different. Progressives tend to value care, especially for victims of oppression, while conservatives cherish order and sanctity. Conservatives, in our era and arguably in all eras, are hypersensitive to threats to order. This is neither good nor bad, it’s just a fact (some studies suggest that inclinations toward conservatism and liberalism are somewhat genetically influenced). Order is no small virtue in a polity and progressives shouldn’t discount it. Arguably, it’s the foundation for other virtues progressives treasure, such as fairness.
The conservative battle cry in response to the triple whammy of Joe Biden’s poll numbers, the pandemic, and the weakened economy is to point to the mobs toppling statues as evidence that safety and security are threatened—just as they claimed in 2018 that the caravan from Central America would upend American civilization. Sean Hannity warns that if Donald Trump is defeated, “America will become unrecognizable.” Laura Ingraham described the Democratic agenda as “to pull down our whole culture: the American founding, Western civilization, and everything that sprang from it.”
Mobs are never attractive, whether in the streets or on cable opinion shows, and they are not exactly discriminating in their iconoclasm. In addition to statues of Confederate generals and slave traders, other monuments targeted have included those of Hans Christian Heg, an abolitionist who died fighting for the Union at the battle of Chickamauga in 1863, and Ulysses Grant, who defeated the Confederacy and offered one of the pithiest summations of the conflict. The Southern cause, he wrote in his autobiography, was “one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.”
Podcast · August 15 2023 A.B. Stoddard: All the Ex-President’s Conspirators Donald Trump has been a low-rent mobster for his entire career, and now he’s getting…
Disorder in the streets is an engraved invitation to a right-wing backlash. But there are two reasons that the current conservative appeal to law and order is several tones flat. The first is that while there has been some rioting and looting, the vast majority of protests have been peaceful and the trajectory is toward less, not more violence. The second problem with the call to defend the gates of civilization is this: Donald Trump is the barbarian.
An orderly society is not one that performatively hugs the American flag, but one that upholds the rule of law for which it stands. Throughout his administration, Donald Trump has demonstrated contempt for law. He has violated campaign finance laws by paying off a porn star, flouted legal subpoenas from Congress and other duly constituted authorities looking into administration actions, abused Article II power by dangling pardons to former associates facing criminal trials, encouraged border officials to keep asylum seekers out in violation of law (again promising a pardon), unlawfully diverted Defense Department funds to begin building a border wall, wrongly fired numerous inspectors general, and encouraged police to rough up arrestees—among uncountable other violations. He has attempted to strong-arm an ally to invent lies about his domestic opposition, and begged for other foreign leaders to help his election prospects. His attorney general is diligently attempting to reward his friends and punish his (perceived) enemies—exactly what happens in corrupt dictatorships.
In addition to respect for the law, a thriving civilization requires a certain minimum level of integrity and honor in its people, and particularly in its leaders. This president is not just the most dishonest person ever to darken 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he and his enablers have made war on the very concept of truth. As Peter Wehner wrote:
Many politicians are guilty of not telling the full truth of events. A significant number shade the truth from time to time. A few fall into the category of consistent, outright liars. But only very few—and only the most dangerous—are committed to destroying the very idea of truth itself.
They do this not just by lying, but by lying when there are videotapes, to demonstrate that they are above mere morals. They demand that, knowing the truth, you assent to their lies as obeisance to power.
The annihilation of truth permits the cultivation of group hatreds. Trump’s followers are led to despise supposedly criminal immigrants, “disloyal” Republicans, ungrateful allies, the press, the courts, the “deep state,” and at this point a large percentage of Trump’s original cabinet. Election results are to be distrusted—and elections are to be thwarted where they can’t be fairly won. Any unflattering portrayal is “fake news.” Conspiracy theories that any competent fifth-grader can detect as bogus grace the president’s Twitter feed.
One of the most admirable features of our civilization is our dedication to human dignity. While imperfectly implemented, our basic commitment to human rights around the globe has been an aspiration shared by Democrats and Republicans—and by freedom-loving people the world over. But with a barbarian in the Oval Office, we are now “falling in love” with Kim Jong-un, praising Rodrigo Duterte for extrajudicial murders, defending Vladimir Putin by suggesting that we are just as guilty of murdering our enemies as he, and giving the green light to China to build concentration camps for a million innocent Uighurs.
So a statue or two may unjustly bite the dust. But the greater threat to law and order, and yes, civilization, is the guy at the Resolute Desk.


thebulwark--2020-06-25--What Joe Biden Should Say About the Madison Riots

Things are going great for you right now !
You ’ ve got a huge lead in the national polls and a pretty sizable lead in the battleground states .
You are on track to accomplish something that hasn ’ t been done in almost 30 years : Unseat an incumbent president .
Things are not going so great for the country , though .
As one crisis has compounded on top of another—a pandemic , an economic collapse , police violence , racial strife , violent rioting—our current president has only stoked the flames : ignoring the virus , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off racist tweets .
Here ’ s where you come in .
We know you can do better than this president .
You ’ ve demonstrated it with your response to the virus and violence .
Your speech in Philadelphia earlier this month was excellent .
But now , as some on the extreme left diverge from righteous uprising to haphazard mob attack , we need your leadership again .
It would be helpful for the nation and—as a happy coincidence—good for your electoral prospects .
We ’ re sure you saw what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wisconsin .
Protesters—who set out not to be peaceful—blocked traffic , set fires , broke windows , and assaulted a Democratic state senator .
And , as is in vogue these days , these folks then began to topple statues .
According to the Wisconsin State Journal : That ’ s right .
The violence is so mindless that these jabronis are even going after monuments to abolitionist heroes now .
And this isn ’ t a one-off .
In recent days we ’ ve seen attacks on monuments to Mahatma Gandhi , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America needs you to speak up and condemn these vandals .
We wouldn ’ t presume to tell you what to say .
Your empathy and humility and ability to speak from the heart are a big part of why so many Americans support you .
But we can tell you what everyone in America—left , right , and center—needs to hear from our leaders right now .
If we , as a nation , want to change how periods in America history are recognized , then we do it together , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ means that the Founders created for just such purposes .
Anyone who thinks that it ’ s okay for a mob to tear down a statue they don ’ t like or assault a person they don ’ t like might as well be working for China or Russia .
Because that ’ s the view of totalitarians .
Might makes right in totalitarian societies , but this is America .
We have always tried to do it differently here .
And even when we fail , we never lose sight of what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It is to his great shame that President Donald Trump has used violence against peaceful protesters .
Americans , including many in his own party , have been rightly horrified by the excessive use of police force .
But if Americans start to equate all protesters with these violent few , then the bully ’ s use of force could start to look justified in retrospect .
And this street violence isn ’ t just un-American—it ’ s hurting the cause of real reform and real justice .
It ’ s perverse that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American history now trying to posture and pretend that he ’ s for “ law and order.
” What Americans need to hear is that Democrats are for law and order at every level .
On the streets and in the White House .
So let ’ s stop tearing each other apart .
Let ’ s stop trying to trigger and hurt each other .
Let ’ s listen , and organize , and bring this country to where it ’ s supposed to be .
Barack Obama used to say that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get together , get energized , and then get organized .
That has always been the answer in America .
It ’ s how we ’ ve won our biggest victories .
Because real change is change that we make together , thoughtfully , and intentionally .
You ’ ll say all of this better than we have , of course , because this has been the message of your entire campaign : That the America we ’ ve seen over the last four years isn ’ t who we really are .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ us back to our best selves .
And you understand that this means not just conservatives who ’ ve lost their way , but progressives who ’ ve come to despair that anything can change without extralegal action .
But just in case it isn ’ t obvious , Mr. Vice President , the stakes here are larger than your campaign , even .
We are at a moment when American attitudes toward police reform and race relations have tipped over .
In the wake of George Floyd ’ s murder , nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protesters who have peacefully assembled to demand reform of law enforcement .
A majority of Americans now have a positive view of the Black Lives Matter movement .
And people are increasingly of the belief that Confederate statues are better suited to museums than public spaces .
The eruptions in Madison and elsewhere have the potential to stall this shift in attitudes because these same Americans emphatically do not want violent chaos .
They want to make our justice system more just—but they reject mob rule .
And Donald Trump is going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ peaceful protests against police brutality to the criminals who assault innocents , deface and destroy public property , and generally wreak havoc .
If he succeeds , it will squander the profound opportunity the peaceful protesters have given our country .
You can stop him by reminding America that being asked to choose between law and order on one hand and reform on the other is a false choice .
You can remind America that you and the Democratic party stand against the mob and are perfectly capable of both enforcing order and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it soon .
Before Trump and his demagogues get to work .

Dear Vice President Biden,
Things are going great for you right now! You’ve got a huge lead in the national polls and a pretty sizable lead in the battleground states. You are on track to accomplish something that hasn’t been done in almost 30 years: Unseat an incumbent president.
Things are not going so great for the country, though. As one crisis has compounded on top of another—a pandemic, an economic collapse, police violence, racial strife, violent rioting—our current president has only stoked the flames: ignoring the virus, threatening and attacking peaceful protesters, firing off racist tweets.
Here’s where you come in.
We know you can do better than this president. You’ve demonstrated it with your response to the virus and violence. Your speech in Philadelphia earlier this month was excellent. But now, as some on the extreme left diverge from righteous uprising to haphazard mob attack, we need your leadership again. It would be helpful for the nation and—as a happy coincidence—good for your electoral prospects.
We’re sure you saw what happened on Tuesday night in Madison, Wisconsin. Protesters—who set out not to be peaceful—blocked traffic, set fires, broke windows, and assaulted a Democratic state senator. And, as is in vogue these days, these folks then began to topple statues. According to the Wisconsin State Journal:
Protesters set their sights on another statue, one of Col. Hans Christian Heg at the top of King Street, tore it down and dragged it into Lake Monona. Heg was a Norwegian immigrant and journalist who died of his wounds at the Battle of Chickamauga fighting to preserve the United States and end slavery.
That’s right. The violence is so mindless that these jabronis are even going after monuments to abolitionist heroes now.
And this isn’t a one-off. In recent days we’ve seen attacks on monuments to Mahatma Gandhi, Ulysses S. Grant, and others.
America needs you to speak up and condemn these vandals.
We wouldn’t presume to tell you what to say. Your empathy and humility and ability to speak from the heart are a big part of why so many Americans support you.
But we can tell you what everyone in America—left, right, and center—needs to hear from our leaders right now.
Podcast · August 15 2023 A.B. Stoddard: All the Ex-President’s Conspirators Donald Trump has been a low-rent mobster for his entire career, and now he’s getting…
Violence isn’t the solution, it’s the problem.
If we, as a nation, want to change how periods in America history are recognized, then we do it together, in an orderly process, using the democratic means that the Founders created for just such purposes.
Anyone who thinks that it’s okay for a mob to tear down a statue they don’t like or assault a person they don’t like might as well be working for China or Russia. Because that’s the view of totalitarians. Might makes right in totalitarian societies, but this is America. We have always tried to do it differently here. And even when we fail, we never lose sight of what we’re called to be.
It is to his great shame that President Donald Trump has used violence against peaceful protesters. Americans, including many in his own party, have been rightly horrified by the excessive use of police force. But if Americans start to equate all protesters with these violent few, then the bully’s use of force could start to look justified in retrospect.
And this street violence isn’t just un-American—it’s hurting the cause of real reform and real justice.
It’s perverse that we have the most lawless president in American history now trying to posture and pretend that he’s for “law and order.”
What Americans need to hear is that Democrats are for law and order at every level. On the streets and in the White House.
So let’s stop tearing each other apart. Let’s stop trying to trigger and hurt each other. Let’s listen, and organize, and bring this country to where it’s supposed to be.
Barack Obama used to say that the way to get change was to get together, get energized, and then get organized. That has always been the answer in America. It’s how we’ve won our biggest victories. Because real change is change that we make together, thoughtfully, and intentionally.
You’ll say all of this better than we have, of course, because this has been the message of your entire campaign: That the America we’ve seen over the last four years isn’t who we really are. Your entire mission has been to call us back to our best selves.
And you understand that this means not just conservatives who’ve lost their way, but progressives who’ve come to despair that anything can change without extralegal action.
But just in case it isn’t obvious, Mr. Vice President, the stakes here are larger than your campaign, even.
We are at a moment when American attitudes toward police reform and race relations have tipped over. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, nearly 75 percent of Americans have supported the protesters who have peacefully assembled to demand reform of law enforcement. A majority of Americans now have a positive view of the Black Lives Matter movement. And people are increasingly of the belief that Confederate statues are better suited to museums than public spaces.
The eruptions in Madison and elsewhere have the potential to stall this shift in attitudes because these same Americans emphatically do not want violent chaos. They want to make our justice system more just—but they reject mob rule.
And Donald Trump is going to do everything he can to bind the peaceful protests against police brutality to the criminals who assault innocents, deface and destroy public property, and generally wreak havoc.
If he succeeds, it will squander the profound opportunity the peaceful protesters have given our country. You can stop him by reminding America that being asked to choose between law and order on one hand and reform on the other is a false choice.
You can remind America that you and the Democratic party stand against the mob and are perfectly capable of both enforcing order and making change.
But you should do it soon. Before Trump and his demagogues get to work.


thebulwark--2020-06-26--The Gross Hellscape That Awaits Ted Cruz on Parler

As incendiary Twitter accounts have increasingly been held accountable by the enforcement of Twitter ’ s terms of service , some right-wing users have taken to crying censorship .
Here is what transpired .
The accounts in question made multiple offenses .
They appeared to violate the rules .
They were warned .
They were given explanations .
Nevertheless , they persisted .
And now several Republican officials have taken notice and concluded that this is a grave constitutional issue .
Free speech itself is in danger .
For Ted Cruz , Rand Paul , Devin Nunes , and others @ @ @ @ @ @ @ society can post with impunity is a priority without peer .
A private company is putting a warning label on users who inject violent or racist material on its platform ?
Somebody call James Madison , the Constitution is on fire !
If you are like Ted , Rand , and Devin and are wondering whether Twitter is just a wee bit too polite—whether it could be more welcoming of fringe viewpoints—have we got good news for you .
These Republican leaders are pretending to leave Twitter , joining such intellectual luminaries as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump , and Dinesh D ’ Souza , in the Autonomous Safe Zone App , Parler .
The Parler website even has a “ Declaration Of Internet Independence ” slamming the “ Technofascism ” of Silicon Valley and Twitter and claiming that “ millions ” —yes , millions—have been banned for their political ideology .
“ We The People have had enough !
” they cry , demanding “ Free Speech ” and “ Liberties ” and other good things with Randomly Capitalized Letters .
In reality , the largest group of accounts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bots and terrorists , like the tens of millions of fake accounts removed after the scale of Russian interference in the 2016 election became clear , or the roughly 250,000 accounts associated with ISIS/ISIL removed after the 2015 terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino .
And when right-wing activists have gone to court to complain about getting kicked off Twitter , it hasn ’ t gone well for them—Laura Loomer sued in 2018 over having been banned from the platform and the court threw out her case .
As Forbes reported at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the claim that the tech companies violated their First Amendment rights , noting that the suit didn ’ t show how those rights could have been violated since the First Amendment only protects against governmental infringement on speech.
” The facts don ’ t care about your feelings .
But if your feelings are telling you you ’ re still in danger of being silenced by the evil left-wing technofascist bros of the Bay Area , we figured you might have a few questions .
So here ’ s a quick peek at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you pop into Parler , based on an eight-minute perusal of the app .
1 ) Do you have questions about whether the George Floyd murder is a false flag ?
If so , this is a good place to explore those theories .
2 ) Are you interested in exploring theories about Jewish history or Judaism ?
3 ) Do you like to learn about history .
.
.
and the influence of Judaism on key historical figures ?
4 ) Are you interested in current events ?
.
.
.
and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ therein ?
5 ) Have you felt that the existing social media platforms don ’ t provide you enough opportunity to post pro-slavery memes ?
6 ) Jesus was white and had blue eyes .
Agree or Agree ?
If you ’ ve gotten this far and are interested , we do have a bit of bad news .
Most of the available user names containing the N-word have already been taken by the original settlers : This looks like a grotesque hellscape of racist incels who have the emotional maturity of 13-year-old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ school .
And it reveals that the problem going forward for conservatives is deeper than just Donald Trump .
Parler and the fanciful rage that supports it are symptomatic of a party and a movement that are overrun by grifters and intellectually bereft trolls championing constitutional illiteracy .
But for Ted and Rand and Devin , this is just what a web free from evil cEnSoRs looks like .
So enjoy , fellas , and congrats on your new neighbors and your freedom from @ jack ’ s oppressive hand .
See you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( hours ) .

Note: This article includes offensive screenshots from Parler users.
As incendiary Twitter accounts have increasingly been held accountable by the enforcement of Twitter’s terms of service, some right-wing users have taken to crying censorship.
Here is what transpired. The accounts in question made multiple offenses. They appeared to violate the rules. They were warned. They were given explanations. Nevertheless, they persisted.
And now several Republican officials have taken notice and concluded that this is a grave constitutional issue. Free speech itself is in danger. For Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Devin Nunes, and others, ensuring that even the dregs of society can post with impunity is a priority without peer. A private company is putting a warning label on users who inject violent or racist material on its platform? Somebody call James Madison, the Constitution is on fire!
If you are like Ted, Rand, and Devin and are wondering whether Twitter is just a wee bit too polite—whether it could be more welcoming of fringe viewpoints—have we got good news for you.
These Republican leaders are pretending to leave Twitter, joining such intellectual luminaries as Dan Bongino, Jacob Wohl, Eric Trump, and Dinesh D’Souza, in the Autonomous Safe Zone App, Parler.
The Parler website even has a “Declaration Of Internet Independence” slamming the “Technofascism” of Silicon Valley and Twitter and claiming that “millions”—yes, millions—have been banned for their political ideology. “We The People have had enough!” they cry, demanding “Free Speech” and “Liberties” and other good things with Randomly Capitalized Letters.
Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful company?
In reality, the largest group of accounts targeted for suspension from Twitter have been bots and terrorists, like the tens of millions of fake accounts removed after the scale of Russian interference in the 2016 election became clear, or the roughly 250,000 accounts associated with ISIS/ISIL removed after the 2015 terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.
Podcast · August 15 2023 A.B. Stoddard: All the Ex-President’s Conspirators Donald Trump has been a low-rent mobster for his entire career, and now he’s getting…
And when right-wing activists have gone to court to complain about getting kicked off Twitter, it hasn’t gone well for them—Laura Loomer sued in 2018 over having been banned from the platform and the court threw out her case. As Forbes reported at the time, “The judges dismissed the claim that the tech companies violated their First Amendment rights, noting that the suit didn’t show how those rights could have been violated since the First Amendment only protects against governmental infringement on speech.” The facts don’t care about your feelings.
But if your feelings are telling you you’re still in danger of being silenced by the evil left-wing technofascist bros of the Bay Area, we figured you might have a few questions. So here’s a quick peek at what it’ll look like when you pop into Parler, based on an eight-minute perusal of the app.
PARLER FAQ:
1) Do you have questions about whether the George Floyd murder is a false flag? If so, this is a good place to explore those theories.
2) Are you interested in exploring theories about Jewish history or Judaism?
3) Do you like to learn about history . . . and the influence of Judaism on key historical figures?
4) Are you interested in current events? . . . and, again, the influence of Judaism therein?
5) Have you felt that the existing social media platforms don’t provide you enough opportunity to post pro-slavery memes?
6) Jesus was white and had blue eyes. Agree or Agree?
If you’ve gotten this far and are interested, we do have a bit of bad news. Most of the available user names containing the N-word have already been taken by the original settlers:
This looks like a grotesque hellscape of racist incels who have the emotional maturity of 13-year-old brats at a segregated boys’ prep school. And it reveals that the problem going forward for conservatives is deeper than just Donald Trump. Parler and the fanciful rage that supports it are symptomatic of a party and a movement that are overrun by grifters and intellectually bereft trolls championing constitutional illiteracy.
But for Ted and Rand and Devin, this is just what a web free from evil cEnSoRs looks like.
So enjoy, fellas, and congrats on your new neighbors and your freedom from @jack’s oppressive hand.
See you back on Twitter in a few weeks (hours).


thebulwark--2020-06-26--100 Reasons Trump Is Unfit to Be President

Part of the mad genius of Donald J. Trump is that he never runs from scandals .
He just creates @ @ @ @ @ many more that anyone attempting to track them all risks becoming numb as a survival @ @ @ @ @ sets in .
We ask ourselves , “ Do you remember that time when Trump @ @ @ @ @ super-racist thing , cozied up to dictators , threatened our elections , or oh , @ @ @ @ @ Well , we at The Bulwark do .
Yes , it can be hard to @ @ @ @ @ need reminders .
So , lest anyone forget or require convincing , here ’ s @ @ @ @ @ reasons Donald Trump is unfit to be president .

Part of the mad genius of Donald J. Trump is that he never runs from scandals. He just creates more of them. So many more that anyone attempting to track them all risks becoming numb as a survival mechanism.
A collective amnesia sets in. We ask ourselves, “Do you remember that time when Trump got impeached, said that super-racist thing, cozied up to dictators, threatened our elections, or oh, whatever that was?”
Well, we at The Bulwark do. Yes, it can be hard to keep up. We all need reminders. So, lest anyone forget or require convincing, here’s a non-exhaustive list of 100 reasons Donald Trump is unfit to be president.


thebulwark--2020-06-26--Pssst—the Russians and Chinese Are Still Trying to Interfere in the 2020 Election

With all the talk over COVID-19 ’ s effect on the November elections—and the president ’ s false claims that mail-in voting is fraudulent—it ’ s easy to forget what former Special Counsel Robert Mueller warned Congress was the biggest threat to the 2020 election : Russian interference .
“ It wasn ’ t a single attempt , ” he told two house committees last July .
“ They are doing it while we sit here .
And they expect to do it during the next campaign.
” And a year later , they ’ re still doing it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Washington Post , at least two other foreign adversaries have joined Russia ’ s attack on American elections : Iran and China .
If you recall , the Mueller report concluded that the big-ticket items in Russia ’ s interference were ( 1 ) that they hacked into the Democratic National Committee ’ s servers , stole information , and leaked it shortly before the November election .
And ( 2 ) that they planted lies on the Internet in order to dupe voters into casting ballots based on false information or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Both menaces are still in play for 2020 .
As for hacking , Iran reportedly tried to dig into the Gmail accounts of the Trump campaign ’ s staff , albeit unsuccessfully .
( Iran is upset with Trump over his ordered killing of Qasem Soleimani in January and for pulling out of a nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration . )
But most of the interference so far seeks to benefit Trump .
China has tried to hack into accounts belonging to Joe Biden ’ s staff ( it did the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obama , John McCain , and Mitt Romney ) .
Last July FBI Director Christopher Wray stated at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that , “ despite sanctions and other efforts to deter such actions , ” Russia is still attempting to interfere , too .
In a classified briefing to House Members in February of this year , intelligence officials warned lawmakers that Vladimir Putin ’ s goal—once again—is to help Donald Trump get elected .
The day after the hearing , Trump publicly berated outgoing acting director of national intelligence Joseph @ @ @ @ @ @ @ misinformation side , the Russians have shifted tactics for this election .
Working from servers located in the United States , Russia-linked accounts are now spreading conspiracies and disinformation created by Americans—rather than inventing the theories themselves .
This is their attempt to evade social media companies ’ policies regarding “ inauthentic speech.
” “ They aren ’ t looking for their own accounts to go viral anymore , because it draws attention to themselves , ” former CIA analyst Cindy Otis told the New York Times .
“ The bulk of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” The Russian strategy continues to center around stoking internal division and distrust amongst Americans , including around Black Lives Matters protests , white nationalist violence , a false counternarrative to Russia ’ s established interference in the 2016 election , and coronavirus fears .
The new tactic may be working .
On June 18 , during a hearing before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence , a representative from Twitter said that the company had not seen any “ concerted platform manipulation efforts.
” Facebook ’ s representative similarly claimed that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ working on election integrity , it has not seen any “ coordinated inauthentic behavior ” by the Russians to date .
Committee Republicans were so concerned about foreign interference that they declined to participate in the House hearings .
Between that maneuver and the hiring of Grenell , our adversaries have been all but told that it is open season on the 2020 election .
So long as their efforts benefit Trump .

With all the talk over COVID-19’s effect on the November elections—and the president’s false claims that mail-in voting is fraudulent—it’s easy to forget what former Special Counsel Robert Mueller warned Congress was the biggest threat to the 2020 election: Russian interference. “It wasn’t a single attempt,” he told two house committees last July. “They are doing it while we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign.”
And a year later, they’re still doing it. But with more help.
According to the Washington Post, at least two other foreign adversaries have joined Russia’s attack on American elections: Iran and China.
If you recall, the Mueller report concluded that the big-ticket items in Russia’s interference were (1) that they hacked into the Democratic National Committee’s servers, stole information, and leaked it shortly before the November election. And (2) that they planted lies on the Internet in order to dupe voters into casting ballots based on false information or staying home on election day altogether.
Both menaces are still in play for 2020.
Podcast · August 15 2023 A.B. Stoddard: All the Ex-President’s Conspirators Donald Trump has been a low-rent mobster for his entire career, and now he’s getting…
As for hacking, Iran reportedly tried to dig into the Gmail accounts of the Trump campaign’s staff, albeit unsuccessfully. (Iran is upset with Trump over his ordered killing of Qasem Soleimani in January and for pulling out of a nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration.) But most of the interference so far seeks to benefit Trump. China has tried to hack into accounts belonging to Joe Biden’s staff (it did the same to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, John McCain, and Mitt Romney).
Last July FBI Director Christopher Wray stated at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that, “despite sanctions and other efforts to deter such actions,” Russia is still attempting to interfere, too.
In a classified briefing to House Members in February of this year, intelligence officials warned lawmakers that Vladimir Putin’s goal—once again—is to help Donald Trump get elected. The day after the hearing, Trump publicly berated outgoing acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire for authorizing it.
(Maguire—a retired three-star admiral and former Navy SEAL was replaced by Richard Grenell, whose chief qualification is being a die-hard Trump supporter on Twitter.)
On the misinformation side, the Russians have shifted tactics for this election. Working from servers located in the United States, Russia-linked accounts are now spreading conspiracies and disinformation created by Americans—rather than inventing the theories themselves. This is their attempt to evade social media companies’ policies regarding “inauthentic speech.”
“They aren’t looking for their own accounts to go viral anymore, because it draws attention to themselves,” former CIA analyst Cindy Otis told the New York Times. “The bulk of their approach is to slip into existing narratives.” The Russian strategy continues to center around stoking internal division and distrust amongst Americans, including around Black Lives Matters protests, white nationalist violence, a false counternarrative to Russia’s established interference in the 2016 election, and coronavirus fears.
The new tactic may be working. On June 18, during a hearing before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, a representative from Twitter said that the company had not seen any “concerted platform manipulation efforts.” Facebook’s representative similarly claimed that, with over 40 teams of people working on election integrity, it has not seen any “coordinated inauthentic behavior” by the Russians to date.
Committee Republicans were so concerned about foreign interference that they declined to participate in the House hearings.
Between that maneuver and the hiring of Grenell, our adversaries have been all but told that it is open season on the 2020 election. So long as their efforts benefit Trump.


My Confederate Past

On Friday , the Mississippi legislature is scheduled to vote on changing the Mississippi state flag .
As I write this , I have no idea what the outcome will be .
On the off chance you ’ re unfamiliar with the Mississippi flag , it resembles the American flag—except the upper-left quadrant is the Confederate battle flag .
It was adopted in 1894 at the height of the white backlash to Reconstruction .
It ’ s difficult to explain to a non-Southerner the role the Confederate flag has played in our lives .
I suspect that ’ s more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from any other state as Mississippi is the most Southern of the states .
Put it this way : If you have connections to the University of Mississippi—the most Southern school in the most Southern state—then your connection to the Confederate flag is what the shamrock is to Notre Dame .
I was born in the 1950s to parents who met at Ole Miss .
The role Ole Miss football played in my life was basically what the Catholic Church is to the Jesuits .
It was both a belief system and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fall were the Holy Days when the Faithful would gather and reinforce our devotion through the shared communion of ritual .
These were not football games but celebrations of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy .
Only this time our 11 soldiers on the field of battle more often than not emerged victorious .
At halftime the band marched in Confederate battle gray uniforms while Colonel Reb led the cheerleaders in unfolding what was billed as the world ’ s largest Confederate flag .
( Even as a 10-year-old I remember wondering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flag ?
” ) Cheerleaders threw bundles of Confederate flags into the stands .
We stood and swayed together singing Dixie , always ending in the stadium-shaking cry , “ The South Shall Rise Again.
” It was at halftime in the 1962 Ole Miss-Kentucky game at Jackson ’ s Memorial Stadium—walking distance from my home—that Governor Ross Barnett gave his famous speech calling for states ’ rights .
We beat Arkansas that afternoon and the next day in Oxford there began the last pitched battle of the Civil War .
It took @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mississippi to accept a single black student .
Today you ’ re more likely to get a student riot if a top-ranked black athlete committed to Ole Miss and then switched at the last minute to Alabama .
The Confederate flag was everywhere then , from bumper stickers to bikinis .
And yes , on the state flag .
I ’ m here to confess that I never really thought much about the Mississippi state flag until , well , this century .
It was just always there ; like the way the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State had those awful cowbells .
At school we pledged allegiance to the U.S. flag and the state flag and it never occurred to me that we were still pledging fealty to the Confederacy .
I came from a family of lawyers , judges , and Methodist ministers , not plantation slave owners .
My grandmother was a founding member of the Mississippi chapter of the Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching—yes , there was such a thing and a horrifying need for it—but the Confederacy was still part of my life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who was named for Jeb Stuart .
I grew up knowing that the Fourth of July was Independence Day , yes , but also the day both Vicksburg and Gettysburg were lost .
Recently a cousin found a photo of me dressed in a Confederate officer ’ s uniform at an Old South Ball at the Jackson Country Club .
Mississippi has the highest percentage of African Americans of any state in the country .
I ask myself now why did it take so long for me to realize what it might be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state to go to school and work under a flag that represented a cause dedicated to the right to own their ancestors ?
Why is it that I had written books about traveling through China , Africa , and Europe , fascinated by every cultural quirk I came across , before I looked up at my own state flag and thought about the dehumanizing brutality it represented ?
I don ’ t have any good answers , most likely because there are none .
I was given every opportunity in this life , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a chance at the best education in the United States and England , a family that supported my odd passions that I was lucky enough to turn into professions .
I had passport stamps from 61 countries with different flags before I began to think about my own state ’ s flag .
It wasn ’ t that I was actively for the flag .
.
.
but that indifference was just as toxic as active support .
Today many white Mississippians of my generation—and even more of the younger generation—are eager to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ past is never dead .
It ’ s not even past.
” We can ’ t undo what we didn ’ t do .
But my regret is mixed with a hope .
Hope that perhaps we can take steps—small and inadequate as they might be—to face the truth of our Confederate past .
And in doing so change the future .
It will never be enough .
But I hope today we can take one more step out of the shadows of a bloody past into the brighter sun of a better @ @

On Friday, the Mississippi legislature is scheduled to vote on changing the Mississippi state flag. As I write this, I have no idea what the outcome will be. On the off chance you’re unfamiliar with the Mississippi flag, it resembles the American flag—except the upper-left quadrant is the Confederate battle flag. It was adopted in 1894 at the height of the white backlash to Reconstruction.
It’s difficult to explain to a non-Southerner the role the Confederate flag has played in our lives. I suspect that’s more so for a Mississippian than for someone from any other state as Mississippi is the most Southern of the states. Put it this way: If you have connections to the University of Mississippi—the most Southern school in the most Southern state—then your connection to the Confederate flag is what the shamrock is to Notre Dame.
I was born in the 1950s to parents who met at Ole Miss. The role Ole Miss football played in my life was basically what the Catholic Church is to the Jesuits. It was both a belief system and the organizing principle of life. Saturdays in the fall were the Holy Days when the Faithful would gather and reinforce our devotion through the shared communion of ritual.
These were not football games but celebrations of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. Only this time our 11 soldiers on the field of battle more often than not emerged victorious. At halftime the band marched in Confederate battle gray uniforms while Colonel Reb led the cheerleaders in unfolding what was billed as the world’s largest Confederate flag. (Even as a 10-year-old I remember wondering, “How big was the second-largest flag?”) Cheerleaders threw bundles of Confederate flags into the stands. We stood and swayed together singing Dixie, always ending in the stadium-shaking cry, “The South Shall Rise Again.”
It was at halftime in the 1962 Ole Miss-Kentucky game at Jackson’s Memorial Stadium—walking distance from my home—that Governor Ross Barnett gave his famous speech calling for states’ rights. We beat Kentucky that afternoon and the next day in Oxford there began the last pitched battle of the Civil War. It took 30,000 troops to force the University of Mississippi to accept a single black student
Today you’re more likely to get a student riot if a top-ranked black athlete committed to Ole Miss and then switched at the last minute to Alabama.
Podcast · August 15 2023 A.B. Stoddard: All the Ex-President’s Conspirators Donald Trump has been a low-rent mobster for his entire career, and now he’s getting…
The Confederate flag was everywhere then, from bumper stickers to bikinis. And yes, on the state flag. I’m here to confess that I never really thought much about the Mississippi state flag until, well, this century.
It was just always there; like the way the magnolia was the state flower and Mississippi State had those awful cowbells. At school we pledged allegiance to the U.S. flag and the state flag and it never occurred to me that we were still pledging fealty to the Confederacy. I came from a family of lawyers, judges, and Methodist ministers, not plantation slave owners.
My grandmother was a founding member of the Mississippi chapter of the Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching—yes, there was such a thing and a horrifying need for it—but the Confederacy was still part of my life. I was named for an uncle who was named for Jeb Stuart. I grew up knowing that the Fourth of July was Independence Day, yes, but also the day both Vicksburg and Gettysburg were lost. Recently a cousin found a photo of me dressed in a Confederate officer’s uniform at an Old South Ball at the Jackson Country Club.
I think I was 13.
Mississippi has the highest percentage of African Americans of any state in the country. I ask myself now why did it take so long for me to realize what it might be like for nearly 40 percent of my state to go to school and work under a flag that represented a cause dedicated to the right to own their ancestors? Why is it that I had written books about traveling through China, Africa, and Europe, fascinated by every cultural quirk I came across, before I looked up at my own state flag and thought about the dehumanizing brutality it represented?
I don’t have any good answers, most likely because there are none. I was given every opportunity in this life, an open door to the world, a chance at the best education in the United States and England, a family that supported my odd passions that I was lucky enough to turn into professions. I had passport stamps from 61 countries with different flags before I began to think about my own state’s flag. It wasn’t that I was actively for the flag . . . but that indifference was just as toxic as active support.
Today many white Mississippians of my generation—and even more of the younger generation—are eager to change. Faulkner wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” We can’t undo what we didn’t do.
But my regret is mixed with a hope. Hope that perhaps we can take steps—small and inadequate as they might be—to face the truth of our Confederate past. And in doing so change the future.
It will never be enough. But I hope today we can take one more step out of the shadows of a bloody past into the brighter sun of a better day.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Ole Miss defeated Arkansas, when they played Kentucky.