vox--2020-08-16--A guide to Lovecraft Country’s many pop culture tropes and references

Lovecraft Country , HBO ’ s new horror series built on pulp fiction and Jim Crow Americana , teems with creepy moments — but even more with literary and pop culture references .
A pastiche of the many horror , supernatural fantasy , sci-fi , adventure , and superhero tropes that filled midcentury American life , Lovecraft Country places Black characters at the forefront of those stories and watches how they shift as a result .
In Lovecraft Country , it ’ s the cosmic terror that ’ s banal ; racism in daily life is the true existential dread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a reference — to H.P .
Lovecraft , the man whose work is synonymous with weird fiction , the subgenre of horror fixated on cosmic dread , and which infuses nearly all modern horror .
Unfortunately , Lovecraft was also horrifically racist , and the new TV series is an attempt to acknowledge the debt that modern horror owes to him while repudiating the racism at the center of his work .
The series is closely based on Matt Ruff ’ s 2016 horror novel of the same name , which Ruff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debate about how to handle Lovecraft .
Both the book and the show use a vast array of pop culture references to make you constantly aware that they are aware of the tropes they ’ re playing with .
The series ’ first episode is especially overt in this regard .
The entire opening sequence is a midcentury American geek ’ s dream , full of aliens and heroes and a stirring voiceover ( that is , itself , a reference ) .
This technique of using radio and musical voiceovers to narrate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ show uses throughout its first season — and it ’ s just one more element that makes Lovecraft Country so fascinating .
Below , we break down each of the main references and callouts of episode one , “ Sundown.
” The opening monologue we hear in the first sequence of “ Sundown ” is a quote from the 1950 biopic The Jackie Robinson Story , a rosy recounting of the first officially acknowledged Black baseball player to join the Major Leagues .
“ This is the story of a boy and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our hero , Atticus , a.k.a .
Tic , literally dreams of fighting a war , first against enemies in the trenches , and then against giant UFOs and flying Cthulhus .
“ But more than that , it is the story of an American boy and dream that is truly American.
” This is the book we see Tic reading on the bus in “ Sundown , ” the book that ’ s prompted his fantastical dream sequence .
Written by Edgar Rice Burroughs of Tarzan fame , A Princess of Mars @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of sci-fi adventure novels known as the John Carter series .
They ’ re also known as the Barsoom series , so named for the alien land that Carter , a “ Virginia gentleman ” and Confederate general , encounters when he unexpectedly finds himself on Mars .
In Tic ’ s dream , he greets a beautiful alien who descends from a UFO , a likely reference to the book ’ s titular princess .
The princess speaks to him in a creepy unknown language .
That ’ s a common trope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s the Lovecraftian language of R ’ lyehian .
It seems more likely , however , that it ’ s a fragment of a different language — one we ’ ll encounter later in the series , and which Tic might not even know that he knows .
Weird Tales was a popular magazine that ran from 1923 to 1954 , and thus fueled much of the geek culture zeitgeist for the first half of the 20th century .
It published numerous works of horror by H.P .
Lovecraft , as well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bradbury .
Perhaps more importantly , it helped give rise to the term “ weird fiction , ” which is still used today to describe the specific subgenre of cosmic horror infused with existential dread that Lovecraft popularized .
The Outsider and Others by H.P .
Lovecraft One of Lovecraft ’ s collections of short stories , The Outsider and Others , is an apt choice for the first textual reference to Lovecraft on the show .
The book was very influential — it contains most of Lovecraft ’ s most famous short @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ The Horror at Red Hook ” and “ The Call of Cthulhu.
” But many of these stories are home to Lovecraft ’ s most direct racist metaphors and allegories — what to Lovecraft were the horrors of other races , foreigners invading America , and miscegenation .
The image is blunt : To Lovecraft , Tic is both the Outsider and the Other — and Tic knows it .
A few moments later , he reminds himself and his uncle George of Lovecraft ’ s racist beliefs when he references one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well-known writings : the 1912 poem “ On the Creation of N*****s , ” about which the less said the better .
Tic ’ s father , Tic explains to George , made him memorize it so he ’ d understand exactly what he was reading .
Arkham was a fictional Massachusetts town that Lovecraft invented and then returned to again and again in his fiction — so much so that to this day , many people think it ’ s a real place .
Arkham was also the name of the small @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his works ; the name of the publisher is displayed prominently on the spine of the copy of The Outsider and Others that Tic is reading .
George refers to Arkham as the home of “ Herbert West — Reanimator , ” another reference to one of Lovecraft ’ s most famous stories : a 1921 tale about a scientist who tries to reanimate the dead with less than optimal results .
The story was made into a cult hit 1985 horror film , Reanimator .
Arkham is perhaps best known outside of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s asylum in DC ’ s Batverse — but that , too , is a reference to Lovecraft , and especially the ongoing theme of madness that runs through the author ’ s works .
George publishes a fictional version of “ the Green Book.
” The Green Book was a real series of pamphlets that offered guidance to Black Americans living under Jim Crow regarding which American towns were safe for them to stay in while traveling .
( The pamphlets became much more widely known after the 2018 debut of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ went on to clinch a frustrating Best Picture win at the 2019 Oscars . )
The knowledge shared within the Green Book was especially important for Black travelers to have in the North , where local attitudes were often just as fiercely racist as attitudes in the South , but weren ’ t advertised as overtly .
One of the most pernicious ways racism manifested in the North during this period was through sundown towns , sometimes called sunset towns , which proliferated throughout northern states .
They were places where Black people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This terrifying concept forms the basis for one of Lovecraft Country ’ s scariest scenes , both in the book and on the TV series , and which serves as a set piece of “ Sundown ” — when Atticus and friends encounter a racist cop who ’ s policing a sundown town .
In 1965 , eminent Black writer and scholar James Baldwin was invited to Cambridge University to debate the question , “ Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro ?
” with prominent conservative William @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debate , in a speech that would later be titled “ The American Dream and the American Negro.
” In “ Sundown , ” an audio excerpt from Baldwin ’ s speech is overlaid with a montage of the group ’ s road trip , as they encounter slices of Americana , often overshadowed by implied and unofficial social segregation under Jim Crow .
When our heroes first encounter the otherworldly monsters in the woods , George identifies them as “ shoggoths.
” This is a reference to one of Lovecraft ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from other dimensions that he classed into oddly named hierarchies like Shoggoths and Yog-Sothoth .
At the top of the monster chain sits Cthulhu , his most famous creation — basically a giant winged tentacle monster .
Shoggoths , however , are more slug-like , with fewer tentacles and many eyes .
It seems unlikely that the fast , agile creatures our heroes encounter are shoggoths , but they may very well be Elder Gods , a typical Lovecraftian term for the ancient creatures who loom out there in the cosmic void .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ what music they make.
” As Tic notes after George recites it , “ The children of the night ... what music they make ” is one of the most famous quotes from Bram Stoker ’ s 1897 vampire novel Dracula .
The vampires inspire our crew to use lights to drive away the creatures that attack them in the woods , until sunlight returns them to ( relative ) safety .
Will you become our 20,000th supporter ?
When the economy took a downturn in the spring and we started asking readers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t sure how it would go .
Today , we ’ re humbled to say that nearly 20,000 people have chipped in .
The reason is both lovely and surprising : Readers told us that they contribute both because they value explanation and because they value that other people can access it , too .
We have always believed that explanatory journalism is vital for a functioning democracy .
That ’ s never been more important than today , during a public health crisis , racial justice protests , a recession , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ explanatory journalism is expensive , and advertising alone won ’ t let us keep creating it at the quality and volume this moment requires .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will help keep Vox free for all .
Contribute today from as little as $ 3 .

Lovecraft Country, HBO’s new horror series built on pulp fiction and Jim Crow Americana, teems with creepy moments — but even more with literary and pop culture references.
A pastiche of the many horror, supernatural fantasy, sci-fi, adventure, and superhero tropes that filled midcentury American life, Lovecraft Country places Black characters at the forefront of those stories and watches how they shift as a result. In Lovecraft Country, it’s the cosmic terror that’s banal; racism in daily life is the true existential dread.
Even the show’s title is a reference — to H.P. Lovecraft, the man whose work is synonymous with weird fiction, the subgenre of horror fixated on cosmic dread, and which infuses nearly all modern horror. Unfortunately, Lovecraft was also horrifically racist, and the new TV series is an attempt to acknowledge the debt that modern horror owes to him while repudiating the racism at the center of his work. The series is closely based on Matt Ruff’s 2016 horror novel of the same name, which Ruff wrote in response to the wider cultural debate about how to handle Lovecraft. Both the book and the show use a vast array of pop culture references to make you constantly aware that they are aware of the tropes they’re playing with.
The series’ first episode is especially overt in this regard. The entire opening sequence is a midcentury American geek’s dream, full of aliens and heroes and a stirring voiceover (that is, itself, a reference). This technique of using radio and musical voiceovers to narrate and underscore the action is one the show uses throughout its first season — and it’s just one more element that makes Lovecraft Country so fascinating.
Below, we break down each of the main references and callouts of the series, episode by episode.
Episode 1, “Sundown”
Jackie Robinson
The opening monologue we hear in the first sequence of “Sundown” is a quote from the 1950 biopic The Jackie Robinson Story, a rosy recounting of the first officially acknowledged Black baseball player to join the Major Leagues. “This is the story of a boy and his dream,” the narrator recounts as our hero, Atticus, a.k.a. Tic, literally dreams of fighting a war, first against enemies in the trenches, and then against giant UFOs and flying Cthulhus. “But more than that, it is the story of an American boy and dream that is truly American.”
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
This is the book we see Tic reading on the bus in “Sundown,” the book that’s prompted his fantastical dream sequence. Written by Edgar Rice Burroughs of Tarzan fame, A Princess of Mars is the first installment of the series of sci-fi adventure novels known as the John Carter series. They’re also known as the Barsoom series, so named for the alien land that Carter, a “Virginia gentleman” and Confederate general, encounters when he unexpectedly finds himself on Mars. In Tic’s dream, he greets a beautiful alien who descends from a UFO, a likely reference to the book’s titular princess.
The princess speaks to him in a creepy unknown language. That’s a common trope of Lovecraftian fiction, so perhaps it’s the Lovecraftian language of R’lyehian. It seems more likely, however, that it’s a fragment of a different language — one we’ll encounter later in the series, and which Tic might not even know that he knows.
Weird Tales
Weird Tales was a popular magazine that ran from 1923 to 1954, and thus fueled much of the geek culture zeitgeist for the first half of the 20th century. It published numerous works of horror by H.P. Lovecraft, as well as many other influential writers like Ray Bradbury. Perhaps more importantly, it helped give rise to the term “weird fiction,” which is still used today to describe the specific subgenre of cosmic horror infused with existential dread that Lovecraft popularized.
The Outsider and Others by H.P. Lovecraft
One of Lovecraft’s collections of short stories, The Outsider and Others, is an apt choice for the first textual reference to Lovecraft on the show. The book was very influential — it contains most of Lovecraft’s most famous short stories, including the heavy hitters like “The Horror at Red Hook” and “The Call of Cthulhu.” But many of these stories are home to Lovecraft’s most direct racist metaphors and allegories — what to Lovecraft were the horrors of other races, foreigners invading America, and miscegenation.
The image is blunt: To Lovecraft, Tic is both the Outsider and the Other — and Tic knows it. A few moments later, he reminds himself and his uncle George of Lovecraft’s racist beliefs when he references one of the author’s far less well-known writings: the 1912 poem “On the Creation of N*****s,” about which the less said the better. Tic’s father, Tic explains to George, made him memorize it so he’d understand exactly what he was reading.
Arkham, Massachusetts
Arkham was a fictional Massachusetts town that Lovecraft invented and then returned to again and again in his fiction — so much so that to this day, many people think it’s a real place. Arkham was also the name of the small press through which Lovecraft published many of his works; the name of the publisher is displayed prominently on the spine of the copy of The Outsider and Others that Tic is reading.
George refers to Arkham as the home of “Herbert West — Reanimator,” another reference to one of Lovecraft’s most famous stories: a 1921 tale about a scientist who tries to reanimate the dead with less than optimal results. The story was made into a cult hit 1985 horror film, Reanimator.
Arkham is perhaps best known outside of Lovecraft as the name of Gotham’s asylum in DC’s Batverse — but that, too, is a reference to Lovecraft, and especially the ongoing theme of madness that runs through the author’s works.
The “guide book” a.k.a. the Green Book
George publishes a fictional version of “the Green Book.” The Green Book was a real series of pamphlets that offered guidance to Black Americans living under Jim Crow regarding which American towns were safe for them to stay in while traveling. (The pamphlets became much more widely known after the 2018 debut of the frequently criticized film Green Book, which went on to clinch a frustrating Best Picture win at the 2019 Oscars.) The knowledge shared within the Green Book was especially important for Black travelers to have in the North, where local attitudes were often just as fiercely racist as attitudes in the South, but weren’t advertised as overtly.
One of the most pernicious ways racism manifested in the North during this period was through sundown towns, sometimes called sunset towns, which proliferated throughout northern states. They were places where Black people were unofficially forbidden to be after dark. This terrifying concept forms the basis for one of Lovecraft Country’s scariest scenes, both in the book and on the TV series, and which serves as a set piece of “Sundown” — when Atticus and friends encounter a racist cop who’s policing a sundown town.
James Baldwin debates William F. Buckley
In 1965, eminent Black writer and scholar James Baldwin was invited to Cambridge University to debate the question, “Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?” with prominent conservative William F. Buckley. Baldwin emphatically won the debate, in a speech that would later be titled “The American Dream and the American Negro.”
In “Sundown,” an audio excerpt from Baldwin’s speech is overlaid with a montage of the group’s road trip, as they encounter slices of Americana, often overshadowed by implied and unofficial social segregation under Jim Crow.
Elder Gods and Shoggoths
When our heroes first encounter the otherworldly monsters in the woods, George identifies them as “shoggoths.” This is a reference to one of Lovecraft’s hierarchies of monsters — groups of creatures from other dimensions that he classed into oddly named hierarchies like Shoggoths and Yog-Sothoth. At the top of the monster chain sits Cthulhu, his most famous creation — basically a giant winged tentacle monster. Shoggoths, however, are more slug-like, with fewer tentacles and many eyes.
It seems unlikely that the fast, agile creatures our heroes encounter are shoggoths, but they may very well be Elder Gods, a typical Lovecraftian term for the ancient creatures who loom out there in the cosmic void.
“The children of the night ... what music they make.”
As Tic notes after George recites it, “The children of the night ... what music they make” is one of the most famous quotes from Bram Stoker’s 1897 vampire novel Dracula. The vampires inspire our crew to use lights to drive away the creatures that attack them in the woods, until sunlight returns them to (relative) safety.
The photography of Gordon Parks and Margaret Bourke-White
Several times throughout the episode, particularly in the montage of Black life we see as the group road trips across America, Lovecraft Country artfully pays homage to real photographs by seminal Black photographers. Gordon Parks, who later gained broader fame as the director of Shaft, was a renowned photojournalist who captured some of the most iconic images of mid-century life amid Jim Crow and a segregated nation. “Sundown” visually references two of his most well-known photos, Untitled, Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956, and Department Store, Mobile, Alabama, 1956.
An even more famous reference appears when we see a number of people waiting in a long line under a cheery billboard. The reference is to Black photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White’s famous Depression-era photo of displaced Black residents seeking work relief after a flood in Kentucky in 1937.
Yes. From Margaret Bourke-White for Life Magazine in February 1937.
On the LEFT, the original. On the RIGHT, from #LovecraftCountry. https://t.co/2S86nIrXox pic.twitter.com/5NLu47Jcq0 — James Paul (@curiousjamesp) August 17, 2020
Episode 2, “Whitey On the Moon”
The authors George discovers within the Braithwhite library: “Blackwood, Hodgson, Clark Ashton Smith"
These are all major authors in the subgenre of horror that Lovecraft wrote in and popularized, Weird fiction. (See Weird Tales above.) Algernon Blackwood wrote supernatural fantasy tinged with plenty of horror in late 19th century Britain; among his most famous tales are The Willows and The Wendigo, and many of his tales involve stories of men having terrifying encounters with a kind of sentient nature. William Hope Hodgson was another British writer of the same era, known for his ghost and sci-fi/fantasy stories. And Clark Ashton Smith was an American writer who was hugely influenced by Lovecraft, with whom he was close friends. The Braithwhite mansion seems to hold a treasure trove of Weird writing.
The House on the Borderland — William Hope Hodgson
George recaps the ending of this 1908 gothic horror novel, which we’re told is one of his favorites. What elevates its story of a man who becomes psychologically entangled with his dilapidated sentient mansion from the realm of typical haunted house stuff is Hodgson’s phantasmagorical writing, which had a huge influence on horror writers of the 20th century. Think House of Leaves for Edwardian hipsters.
The plot of this episode winds up mimicking the plot of Hodgson’s novel as George describes it, with the entire mansion ultimately collapsing, just as the house on the Borderland does in the end.
Order of the Ancient Dawn
This is the fictional cult that the Braithwhites belong to, but it’s also probably a meta-reference to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a famous turn-of-the-century occult society populated by influential new-age types like Aleister Crowley and Pamela Colman Smith, as well as Weird writers like Blackwood and Arthur Machen.
Necronomicon
This is one of Lovecraft’s most famous inventions — the fictional book of the dead, a book so notorious many people think it’s real. But it actually appears in a Lovecraft short story from 1924, then recurs — like most of his story elements — throughout his work.
This episode contrasts it with the fictional “Book of Names.” As George points out, the Necronomicon is the book of “dead names,” while the Book of Names is the “book of life.” Beyond being a list of names, both books seem to have great occult powers. But precisely what kind of power is unclear, which is just how Lovecraft wanted it, probably.
The Count of Monte Cristo
We’re told that this famous 19th-century novel by Alexandre Dumas (also of Three Musketeers fame) is Montrose’s favorite novel — and its tale of a man who plans for years to execute a daring jailbreak clearly inspired Montrose’s own tunnel dig out of the jail where the Braithwhite cult confines him.
Spoken-word poet and jazz artist Gil Scott-Heron penned this shrewd 1970 opus — which gives us the reference for the episode’s title — as a way to critique the sharp disparity between the ambitions of white and Black America during the age of the space race. The work experienced a cultural resurgence after its appearance in the 2018 Neil Armstrong biopic First Man.
In Lovecraft Country, its appearance as a voice-over serves to brilliantly undercut what would ordinarily be the climactic scene where a rich madman achieves his lifelong goal of opening a portal to another dimension, or something similar. The song completely overshadows everything that’s onscreen with a reminder that the antics of rich white people are supremely detached from reality.
New goal: 25,000
In the spring, we launched a program asking readers for financial contributions to help keep Vox free for everyone, and last week, we set a goal of reaching 20,000 contributors. Well, you helped us blow past that. Today, we are extending that goal to 25,000. Millions turn to Vox each month to understand an increasingly chaotic world — from what is happening with the USPS to the coronavirus crisis to what is, quite possibly, the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes. Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers, your support will be a critical part of sustaining our resource-intensive work — and helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world. Contribute today from as little as $3.


vox--2020-08-16--Belarus’s historic antigovernment protests, in photos

Tens of thousands of protestors demanding a new election gathered in Minsk , Belarus , and other cities around the country on Sunday in what some observers say may be the largest protests in the history of the former Soviet republic .
The demonstrations came a week after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — Europe ’ s longest-serving leader — plainly rigged national elections to remain in power .
And they marked the eighth day of protests across the country against those results , a striking burst of energy against a repressive government that has resulted in thousands of Belarusians being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The antigovernment protestors formed an immense crowd that was several times the size of a pro-government rally held nearby where Lukashenko delivered a speech , rejecting demands for new elections and falsely claiming that Belarus was being threatened by a NATO buildup of troops on its borders .
Estimates of the crowd size in Minsk varied .
CNN estimated that 50,000 antigovernment protestors gathered in Minsk at around 3 pm local time , while fewer than 10,000 people gathered to support the president .
According to the New York Times , some estimates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 200,000 .
The Sunday protests were notable not only because of their size , but also because they appeared to be unusually free from crackdowns .
The Times reports : For the first time , Belarusians were allowed to walk freely in the city center , wrapped in opposition flags and chanting antigovernment slogans .
After gathering near the obelisk , they walked toward the main square , blocking traffic on the capital ’ s main avenue .
Only one week ago , a group of clapping people on a sidewalk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ riot police .
On Sunday , the police were nowhere to be seen .
As Vox ’ s Alex Ward has explained , public perception of Lukashenko in the run-up to last week ’ s election was at a low point because he had “ minimized and mishandled his nation ’ s coronavirus outbreak , oversaw a collapsing economy , and struggled to keep an encroaching Russia at bay.
” Lukashenko intervened aggressively in the elections : he detained journalists and two of the top three opposition leaders running against him ; he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Lukashenko ’ s authoritarian handling of the election while the nation also faced serious economic and public health crises seems to have backfired , helping to ignite the protests .
Part of the dissident energy also seemed to be fueled by the meteoric rise of a 37-year-old stay-at-home-mom-turned-opposition leader named Svetlana Tikhanovskaya , who stepped into the race after her husband , a popular blogger , was arrested two days after he announced his candidacy for president .
Tikhanovskaya has been forced to flee the country out of safety concerns , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the nation .
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minsk and other cities to reject the results of the election Demonstrators in Ukraine , the Czech Republic , and Russia protested in solidarity with Belarusians President Lukashenko spoke to a much smaller counter-rally in support of his presidency

Tens of thousands of protesters demanding a new election gathered in Minsk, Belarus, and other cities around the country on Sunday in what some observers say may be the largest protests in the history of the former Soviet republic.
The demonstrations came a week after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — Europe’s longest-serving leader — plainly rigged national elections to remain in power. They also marked the eighth day of protests across the country against those results, a striking burst of energy against a repressive government that has resulted in thousands of Belarusians being detained and at least two deaths.
Belarus Freedom march is the largest gathering in Belarus history! pic.twitter.com/2SwS59qfLS — Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) August 16, 2020
The anti-government protesters formed a crowd that was several times the size of a pro-government rally held nearby where Lukashenko delivered a speech, rejecting demands for new elections, and falsely claiming that Belarus was being threatened by a NATO buildup of troops on its borders.
Estimates of the crowd size in Minsk varied. CNN estimated that 50,000 anti-government protesters gathered in Minsk at around 3 pm local time, while fewer than 10,000 people gathered to support the president. According to the New York Times, some estimates put the number of anti-government protesters at more than 200,000.
#Belarusprotests are unique in many ways: sustained, nonviolent, self-organized but also they take place not only in the capital, not only in #Minsk. The whole country raised up against #Lukaschenko. Here’s from today’s demonstration in Brest ⬇
pic.twitter.com/CMEKzlZ3ZR — inna shevchenko (@femeninna) August 16, 2020
The Sunday protests were notable not only due to their size, but also because they appeared to be unusually free from crackdowns. The Times reports:
For the first time, Belarusians were allowed to walk freely in the city center, wrapped in opposition flags and chanting antigovernment slogans. After gathering near the obelisk, they walked toward the main square, blocking traffic on the capital’s main avenue. Only one week ago, a group of clapping people on a sidewalk would have been violently dispersed by the riot police. On Sunday, the police were nowhere to be seen.
As Vox’s Alex Ward explained, public perception of Lukashenko in the runup to last week’s election was at a low point because he had “minimized and mishandled his nation’s coronavirus outbreak, oversaw a collapsing economy, and struggled to keep an encroaching Russia at bay.”
Lukashenko intervened aggressively in the elections: He detained journalists and two of the top three opposition leaders running against him; he prohibited the third one from running altogether.
Lukashenko’s authoritarian handling of the election while the nation also faced serious economic and public health crises seems to have backfired, helping to ignite the protests.
Part of the dissident energy also seemed to be fueled by the meteoric rise of a 37-year-old stay-at-home-mom-turned-opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who stepped into the race after her husband, a popular blogger, was arrested two days after he announced his candidacy for president. Tikhanovskaya has been forced to flee the country out of safety concerns, but protests have continued to gather momentum across the nation.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minsk and other cities to reject the results of the election
Demonstrators in Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and Russia protested in solidarity with Belarusians
President Lukashenko spoke to a much smaller counter-rally in support of his presidency
Will you become our 20,000th supporter? When the economy took a downturn in the spring and we started asking readers for financial contributions, we weren’t sure how it would go. Today, we’re humbled to say that nearly 20,000 people have chipped in. The reason is both lovely and surprising: Readers told us that they contribute both because they value explanation and because they value that other people can access it, too. We have always believed that explanatory journalism is vital for a functioning democracy. That’s never been more important than today, during a public health crisis, racial justice protests, a recession, and a presidential election. But our distinctive explanatory journalism is expensive, and advertising alone won’t let us keep creating it at the quality and volume this moment requires. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will help keep Vox free for all. Contribute today from as little as $3.


vox--2020-08-16--The White House says USPS isn’t removing mail-sorting machines. Postal workers say it is.

Vox answers your biggest questions about the 2020 presidential election , which could be one of the most consequential of our lifetimes .
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said in an interview on Sunday that US Postal Service mail-sorting machines will not be taken offline between now and Election Day — a statement at odds with reports that the Postal Service is decommissioning 10 percent of its machines this year under a new policy .
The way Meadows made the claim — by denying they were being removed in the first place , and making questionable claims in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CNN ’ s Jake Tapper — left it unclear if he was actually pledging a reversal of the ongoing decommissioning of machines .
Some postal workers say the decommissioning of the machines — some of which would be sorting mail-in ballots — could hamstring the Postal Service ’ s ability to handle an unprecedented surge of absentee ballots in November ’ s election , and could contribute to the possibility of millions of voters being disenfranchised by an overwhelmed postal system .
On CNN ’ s State of the Union , Meadows first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offline was “ not happening ” and that claims to the contrary were simply the product of Democrats trying to “ stoke fear ” with a “ political narrative.
” When Tapper asked if Meadows was denying that sorting machines have been taken offline and removed recently , Meadows initially replied by dodging the question : “ I ’ m saying that sorting machines between now and the election will not be taken offline , ” Meadows said .
Meadows went on to say that “ the drawdown ” of postal machines was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who had been appointed by President Barack Obama — seeming to suggest that some machines actually did go offline in the past , but under a policy that predates the Trump administration .
When Tapper persisted in asking why sorting machines have been taken offline recently under new rules , Meadows said , “ Get your producer to share where exactly those sorting machines were taken offline .
Let them whisper in your ear , because what I ’ m telling you is you ’ re picking up on a narrative that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the episode , after being updated by a producer , Tapper fulfilled Meadows ’ s request : He cited Chris Bentley , president of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 297 , which covers Kansas and part of Missouri , who told CNN that postal management “ has already taken out four machines in Kansas City , two machines in Springfield , Missouri , and one machine in Wichita , Kansas , that is earlier this year — under this new postmaster general.
” Meadows denied the claim that it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and said that it was an “ already scheduled reallocation ” and that there isn ’ t “ a new initiative by this postmaster general.
” But reports from NBC News , CNN , and the Washington Post indicate that 671 machines are being taken offline under a new policy .
NBC reports that , according to internal Postal Service documents it obtained , the new postmaster general appointed by Trump in May , Louis DeJoy , is the one responsible for the decommissioning initiative .
And postal workers say the process of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ initiative began in June .
A Postal Service spokesperson told NBC News that the decommissioning was due to “ Normal business adjustments !
” and that equipment was being adjusted due to a decline in the volume of mail and an increase in the volume of packages .
But that policy has some postal workers concerned about their ability to process mail-in ballots , which are expected to surge to unprecedented levels this year due to the coronavirus pandemic .
The Washington Post reports that the American Postal Workers Union has filed a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ machines — which are “ concentrated in high-population areas ” — could hinder processing of election mail .
Experts on voting behavior have said that before the pandemic , an estimated 25 percent of voters would ’ ve been expected to cast their ballots by mail ; they now estimate that 60 percent or more will attempt to vote by mail because the pandemic is discouraging in-person voting .
If Meadows is claiming that a new machine removal initiative doesn ’ t exist when in fact it does , then his promise that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offline is , at best , questionable .
How can the White House reverse a policy it claims doesn ’ t exist ?
There ’ s a lot of concern surrounding the Postal Service right now Experts say the Postal Service is in dire financial shape , already struggling with serious delays , and that new cost-cutting policies imposed by DeJoy are likely to exacerbate the problem .
In July the US Postal Service warned 46 states and Washington , DC , that tens of millions of voters could effectively be disenfranchised because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speedily enough for November ’ s election — even if voters follow all their state ’ s election rules .
The agency told six states and DC that a narrow set of their voters could experience delayed ballots , according to the Washington Post .
But for the remaining 40 states , the warning is far more serious : They were told that “ long-standing deadlines for requesting , returning or counting ballots were ‘ incongruous ’ with mail service and that voters who send ballots in close to those deadlines may become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That heightened warning applies to 186 million potential voters who are spread across blue states , red states , and battleground states such as Pennsylvania , Michigan , and Wisconsin .
CNN reported on Saturday that the Postal Service ’ s internal watchdog is reviewing some of DeJoy ’ s new policies .
( It ’ s also investigating his compliance with federal ethics rules due to the recent revelation of his multimillion-dollar stake in his former company , XPO Logistics , a Postal Service contractor , which has raised conflict-of-interest questions .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ solved by emergency funds that the Postal Service has been pleading for , and which House Democrats included in the coronavirus relief bill they passed in May .
During his interview on CNN , Meadows said that Trump is open to injecting emergency funds into the Postal Service if he can come to a fair deal with Democrats .
But that contradicts Trump ’ s admission on Thursday that he opposes providing additional funding for the Postal Service because he doesn ’ t want everyone to be able to vote by mail .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ something that will turn out to be fraudulent , that ’ s election money , basically ... [ And ] they want 25 billion dollars — billion — for the Post Office , ” Trump said .
“ Now they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots , ” Trump continued .
“ By the way , those are just two items , but if they don ’ t get those two items , that means you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Trump has persistently attempted to delegitimize the reliability of mail-in voting , describing it as acutely vulnerable to fraud — without presenting evidence and despite the consensus among voting rights experts that it ’ s secure when funded properly .
When CNN ’ s Tapper pointed out to Meadows on Sunday that there ’ s “ no evidence of widespread voter fraud , ” Meadows retorted : “ There ’ s no evidence that there ’ s not either .
That ’ s the definition of fraud , Jake .
”

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said in an interview on Sunday that US Postal Service mail-sorting machines will not be taken offline between now and Election Day — a statement at odds with reports that the Postal Service is decommissioning 10 percent of its machines this year under a new policy.
The way Meadows made the claim — by denying they were being removed in the first place, and making questionable claims in response to an on-air fact-check by CNN’s Jake Tapper — left it unclear if he was actually pledging a reversal of the ongoing decommissioning of machines.
Some postal workers say the decommissioning of the machines — some of which would be sorting mail-in ballots — could hamstring the Postal Service’s ability to handle an unprecedented surge of absentee ballots in November’s election and could contribute to the possibility of millions of voters being disenfranchised by an overwhelmed postal system.
On CNN’s State of the Union, Meadows first told Tapper that sorting machines being taken offline was “not happening,” and that claims to the contrary were simply the product of Democrats trying to “stoke fear” with a “political narrative.”
When Tapper asked if Meadows was denying that sorting machines have been taken offline and removed recently, Meadows initially replied by dodging the question: “I’m saying that sorting machines between now and the election will not be taken offline,” he said.
Meadows went on to say that “the drawdown” of postal machines was initiated by the previous postmaster general, who had been appointed by former President Barack Obama — seeming to suggest that some machines actually did go offline in the past, but under a policy that predates the Trump administration.
When Tapper persisted in asking why sorting machines have been taken offline recently under new rules, Meadows said, “Get your producer to share where exactly those sorting machines were taken offline. Let them whisper in your ear, because what I’m telling you is you’re picking up on a narrative that’s not based on facts.”
Later in the episode, after being updated by a producer, Tapper fulfilled Meadows’s request: He cited Chris Bentley, president of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 297, which covers Kansas and part of Missouri, who told CNN that postal management “has already taken out four machines in Kansas City, two machines in Springfield, Missouri, and one machine in Wichita, Kansas, that is earlier this year — under this new postmaster general.”
Meadows denied the claim that it was the result of the current postmaster general and said that it was an “already scheduled reallocation” and that there isn’t “a new initiative by this postmaster general.”
But reports from NBC News, CNN, and the Washington Post indicate that 671 machines are being taken offline under a new policy. NBC reports that, according to internal Postal Service documents it obtained, the new postmaster general appointed by Trump in May, Louis DeJoy, is responsible for the decommissioning initiative. And postal workers say the process of taking machines out of service under this initiative began in June.
A Postal Service spokesperson told NBC News that the decommissioning was due to “Normal business adjustments!” and that equipment was being adjusted due to a decline in the volume of mail and an increase in the volume of packages.
But that policy has some postal workers concerned about their ability to process mail-in ballots, which are expected to surge to unprecedented levels this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Washington Post reports that the American Postal Workers Union has filed a grievance claiming that the decommissioning of the machines — which are “concentrated in high-population areas” — could hinder the processing of election mail.
Experts on voting behavior have said that before the pandemic, an estimated 25 percent of voters would’ve been expected to cast their ballots by mail; they now estimate that 60 percent or more will attempt to vote by mail because the pandemic is discouraging in-person voting.
If Meadows is claiming that a new machine removal initiative doesn’t exist when in fact it does, then his promise that new ones won’t be taken offline is, at best, questionable. How can the White House reverse a policy it claims doesn’t exist?
There’s a lot of concern surrounding the Postal Service right now
Experts say the Postal Service is in dire financial shape, already struggling with serious delays, and that new cost-cutting policies imposed by DeJoy are likely to exacerbate the problem.
In July, the US Postal Service warned 46 states and Washington, DC, that tens of millions of voters could effectively be disenfranchised because their mail-in ballots might not be processed quickly enough for November’s election — even if voters follow all of their state’s election rules.
The agency told six states and DC that a narrow set of their voters could experience delayed ballots, according to the Washington Post. But for the remaining 40 states, the warning is far more serious: They were told that “long-standing deadlines for requesting, returning or counting ballots were ‘incongruous’ with mail service and that voters who send ballots in close to those deadlines may become disenfranchised,” the Post reports.
That heightened warning applies to 186 million potential voters who are spread across blue states, red states, and battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
CNN reported on Saturday that the Postal Service’s internal watchdog is reviewing some of DeJoy’s new policies. (It’s also investigating his compliance with federal ethics rules due to the recent revelation of his multimillion-dollar stake in his former company, XPO Logistics, a Postal Service contractor, which has raised conflict-of-interest questions.)
Many of these issues could be solved by emergency funds that the Postal Service has been pleading for, and which House Democrats included in the coronavirus relief bill they passed in May.
During his interview on CNN, Meadows said that Trump is open to injecting emergency funds into the Postal Service if he can come to a fair deal with Democrats. But that contradicts Trump’s admission on Thursday that he opposes providing additional funding for the Postal Service because he doesn’t want everyone to be able to vote by mail.
Democrats “want three-and-a-half billion dollars for something that will turn out to be fraudulent, that’s election money, basically ... [And] they want 25 billion dollars — billion — for the Post Office,” Trump said.
“Now they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump continued. “By the way, those are just two items, but if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting.”
Trump has persistently attempted to delegitimize the reliability of mail-in voting, describing it as acutely vulnerable to fraud — without presenting evidence and despite the consensus among voting rights experts that it’s secure when funded properly.
When CNN’s Tapper pointed out to Meadows that there’s “no evidence of widespread voter fraud,” Meadows retorted: “There’s no evidence that there’s not either. That’s the definition of fraud, Jake.”
Will you become our 20,000th supporter? When the economy took a downturn in the spring and we started asking readers for financial contributions, we weren’t sure how it would go. Today, we’re humbled to say that nearly 20,000 people have chipped in. The reason is both lovely and surprising: Readers told us that they contribute both because they value explanation and because they value that other people can access it, too. We have always believed that explanatory journalism is vital for a functioning democracy. That’s never been more important than today, during a public health crisis, racial justice protests, a recession, and a presidential election. But our distinctive explanatory journalism is expensive, and advertising alone won’t let us keep creating it at the quality and volume this moment requires. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will help keep Vox free for all. Contribute today from as little as $3.


vox--2020-08-16--Robert Trump, Donald Trump’s younger brother, has died

Robert Trump , the younger brother of President Donald Trump , died at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan on Saturday , a day after a visit from the president .
He was 71 .
Robert Trump had a tumultuous and complicated relationship with his older brother , which included periods of estrangement earlier in their lives and gestures of public support for his political rise .
“ It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother , Robert , peacefully passed away tonight , ” the president said in a statement .
“ He was not just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ friend .
He will be greatly missed , but we will meet again .
His memory will live on in my heart forever .
Robert , I love you .
Rest in peace.
” The cause of his death is unknown .
According to the New York Times , he had experienced brain bleeds after a recent fall , and was on blood thinners .
A CNN source said he had been sick for several months .
Trump told reporters on Friday — the day of his hospital visit to his brother — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time ” with an unnamed health issue .
Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday before visiting him in Manhattan , “ We ’ ve had a great relationship for a long time , from day one.
” But much of their relationship was defined by conflict , according to some family members and colleagues .
“ Donald had discovered early on how easy it was to get under Robert ’ s pale skin and push him past his limits ; it was a game he never tired of playing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Donald and Robert , wrote in her recently published memoir .
“ Nobody else would have bothered — Robert was so skinny and quiet that there was no sport in tormenting him.
” Robert was the youngest of five children , and in contrast to his brother Donald , tended to avoid the spotlight .
During his life he worked as business executive and real estate developer in various parts of the Trump family business .
According to a former Trump casino executive , John O ’ Donnell , an intense argument between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a casino in 1989 “ changed forever ” their relationship .
Robert stopped reporting to Donald after the incident , and wounds caused by the fight reportedly took years to heal .
Robert did offer some support to Donald ’ s political career .
When Trump ran for for the White House in 2016 , Robert gave a full-throated endorsement for his bid .
“ I support Donald one thousand percent , ” Robert told the New York Post .
“ I think he ’ s doing a great job .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ message.
” “ If he were to need me in any way , I ’ d be there , ” he added .
The brothers were photographed hugging after Trump ’ s election night victory in 2016 .
But after that , Robert rarely surfaced in public .
Robert Trump ’ s most notable public appearance since then may be his leading role in an unsuccessful lawsuit to block the publishing of Mary Trump ’ s memoir , which draws from personal experience with the Trump family and describes the president as “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Other members of the Trump family have expressed sadness about Robert ’ s passing on social media .
Robert Trump is survived by his wife Ann Marie Pallan , an adopted son from his first marriage , and two other siblings : Maryanne Trump Barry and Elizabeth Trump Grau ,

Robert Trump, the younger brother of President Donald Trump, died at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan on Saturday, a day after a visit from the president. He was 71.
Robert Trump had a complicated relationship with his older brother, which included periods of estrangement earlier in their lives and gestures of public support for the older Trump’s political rise.
“It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” the president said in a statement. “He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.”
The cause of his death is unknown. According to the New York Times, he had experienced brain bleeds after a recent fall, and was on blood thinners. A CNN source said he had been sick for several months. Trump told reporters on Friday — the day of his hospital visit to his brother — that Robert was having a “hard time” with an unnamed health issue.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday before visiting him in Manhattan, “We’ve had a great relationship for a long time, from day one.” But much of their relationship was defined by conflict, according to some family members and colleagues.
“Donald had discovered early on how easy it was to get under Robert’s pale skin and push him past his limits; it was a game he never tired of playing,” Mary Trump, the niece of Donald and Robert, wrote in her recently published memoir. “Nobody else would have bothered — Robert was so skinny and quiet that there was no sport in tormenting him.”
Robert was the youngest of five children, and in contrast to his brother Donald, tended to avoid the spotlight. During his life, he worked as a business executive and real estate developer in various parts of the Trump family business.
According to a former Trump casino executive, John O’Donnell, an intense argument between Robert and Donald after the botched opening of a casino in 1989 “changed forever” their relationship. Robert stopped reporting to Donald after the incident, and wounds caused by the fight reportedly took years to heal.
Robert did offer some support to Donald’s political career. When Trump ran for the White House in 2016, Robert gave a full-throated endorsement for his bid. “I support Donald one thousand percent,” Robert told the New York Post. “I think he’s doing a great job. I think he’s got a great message.”
“If he were to need me in any way, I’d be there,” he added.
The brothers were photographed hugging after Trump’s election night victory in 2016. But after that, Robert rarely surfaced in public.
Robert Trump’s most notable public appearance since then may be his leading role in an unsuccessful lawsuit to block the publishing of Mary Trump’s memoir, which draws from personal experience with the Trump family and describes the president as “the world’s most dangerous man.”
Other members of the Trump family have expressed sadness about Robert’s passing on social media.
Uncle Rob, we love you and we will miss you. R.I.P — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 16, 2020
Uncle Robert, we love you. You are in our hearts and prayers, always. — Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 16, 2020
Robert Trump is survived by his wife Ann Marie Pallan, an adopted son from his first marriage, and two other siblings: Maryanne Trump Barry and Elizabeth Trump Grau.
Will you become our 20,000th supporter? When the economy took a downturn in the spring and we started asking readers for financial contributions, we weren’t sure how it would go. Today, we’re humbled to say that nearly 20,000 people have chipped in. The reason is both lovely and surprising: Readers told us that they contribute both because they value explanation and because they value that other people can access it, too. We have always believed that explanatory journalism is vital for a functioning democracy. That’s never been more important than today, during a public health crisis, racial justice protests, a recession, and a presidential election. But our distinctive explanatory journalism is expensive, and advertising alone won’t let us keep creating it at the quality and volume this moment requires. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will help keep Vox free for all. Contribute today from as little as $3.


vox--2020-08-17--3 renters on getting screwed over by landlords during the Covid-19 housing crisis

In July , Sean was looking for an apartment in the Bay Area for his first semester of grad school at UC Berkeley .
He connected with someone on a housing Facebook group who sent him what appeared to be a legitimate lease .
He inked the deal , wired over the security deposit , and heaved a sigh of relief .
But then , a few days after agreeing to the terms , the alleged landlord deleted her Facebook account .
Fearing the worst , he made a phone call to the building his new apartment was supposed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bad news — the unit didn ’ t exist .
He had just been scammed in the middle of a pandemic .
There are so many stories of people like Sean .
This is the reality for Americans who are renewing a lease or moving across the country or facing mounting rent payments despite a nationwide unemployment spike .
The American epidemic has caused wide-ranging suspensions of in-person open houses , which , as the FBI warned last month , has spurred a boom in predatory leasing deceit .
According to their data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent increase in reported scamming incidents compared to last year .
“ Before , people would say , ‘ Okay , can I really fall for [ these scams ] without seeing the [ rental ] property first ?
’ But now , there is a reason .
‘ I can ’ t show you the rental property because of the virus , ’ ” said Tammy Sorrento , a private investigator in Florida , speaking to Fox News .
“ And people have fallen for that because it ’ s a very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the ongoing Covid-19 crisis has sparked a new housing crisis in America .
Every state legislature in the country adopted some sort of eviction moratorium at the start of the pandemic , with the hope that citizens would be back to work and reacquainted with some semblance of normalcy by summer .
That hasn ’ t happened .
The US is in the midst of a coronavirus surge , and as CNBC reported , evictions have resumed in more than 30 states .
According to financial journal Stout , nearly two out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being served papers in the months ahead , which could create an unprecedented housing crisis .
It will likely get worse before it gets better .
Simply put , there ’ s never been a worse time to deal with housing stresses .
An untold number of people have been put in an awkward position by leasing companies during the pandemic .
We spoke to three of them , all in vastly different situations , as Covid-19 continues to alter the world as we know it .
( Only first names will be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . )
“ If we weren ’ t in a pandemic ...
I could ’ ve seen all these places up close , and I wouldn ’ t have been scammed.
” I certainly wouldn ’ t have chosen to move during a pandemic , but I got into grad school across the country at UC Berkeley .
At the time , I lived in Brooklyn , and I wanted to get closer to campus , and I had to make do with what I had without seeing my options in person .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ me over videos of the places they had for lease .
Some of them actually create these “ dollhouses , ” which are like three-dimensional models of the unit .
Those are very strange .
Not an ideal situation to get a real sense of a place , to say the least .
It ’ s really hard to pull the trigger on a lease completely sight unseen .
I tried to check all the boxes as best I could .
There were many hours spent going back and forth between the landlords @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I just asked as many questions as I possibly could .
Clearly , my efforts fell short , because I got scammed shortly into my search .
Here ’ s how it happened .
I responded to an ad on a Facebook group for housing in the Bay Area , which was already a less secure pathway than more formalized real estate options .
I started talking to a woman with a unit — she sent over some videos from a very real building , and I liked what I saw .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t too nice , you know ?
It seemed authentic .
Eventually she sent over a lease , I looked through it and thought it was legit , so I signed it and wired her the security deposit and first month ’ s rent .
I canceled all my other appointments .
It was a huge relief .
Then shortly afterward , she got in contact with me saying , “ I ’ ve been in a horrible accident .
I need you to pay the first two months of rent upfront.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So I called the building that the place was allegedly in , and they told me that it didn ’ t even have an available unit in it .
I felt like an idiot .
I should ’ ve done that as soon as I started corresponding with that person .
She deleted her Facebook .
I reported her to the FBI , but I haven ’ t gotten my money back .
If we weren ’ t in a pandemic , I absolutely would have booked a trip out to the Bay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I could ’ ve seen all these places up close , and I wouldn ’ t have been scammed .
But for now , as so many in-person viewings are on hold , a lot of people like me can be targeted .
“ It ’ s so hard to find an apartment right now .
I don ’ t have any paystubs .
I don ’ t know where I ’ m going to go or what my next job is going to be.
” I was officially furloughed from my job @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Prior to that , I had my hours cut for about two weeks .
After that , I realized that this was serious and we weren ’ t going to go back to work for a long time .
I reached out to my landlord and told them that I was still waiting on unemployment , and I wasn ’ t going to be able to make rent for the foreseeable future .
I didn ’ t get a response for two or three weeks , when they started harassing me .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keys to them and moved out of the place .
That was a lie .
Then they said I broke back into my apartment because the door was damaged .
That was also a lie .
The apartment had been broken into during Mardi Gras back in February — I filed a police report and everything — but nobody came to fix [ the door ] .
They were just using it as an excuse .
By April , he had his maintenance workers flip my breaker to turn off the power , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my air conditioner .
It made me feel really anxious because I didn ’ t know what was going on .
This is New Orleans in spring .
It ’ s pretty hot down here .
Evictions were frozen in Louisiana , but on June 25 , landlords could start kicking people out for reasons that didn ’ t have to do with rent payment .
So , for drugs , noise complaints , and things like that .
They used that on me — the claim that I vacated the apartment and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , again , wasn ’ t true .
We ended up going to court and I won my case .
I provided enough evidence that proved that his information was false .
I remember that , at one point during the trial , the landlord told the judge that I had turned in my keys .
The leasing company uses its own key that you can ’ t buy out of the store , but in October , I had some issues unlocking the door , so I got a replacement from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ See , that ’ s not the type of key we give out when someone starts a lease.
” I said , “ I know it ’ s not the kind of key you give out !
I got this key from the maintenance man !
” He ended up implicating himself .
We filed a motion to get the A/C fixed too .
We haven ’ t heard anything about that yet .
My lease is up in August , and I haven ’ t figured out what I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s so hard to find an apartment right now .
I don ’ t have any paystubs .
I don ’ t know where I ’ m going to go , or what my next job is going to be .
I always knew that there were bad people in the world , but it ’ s always shocking when you ’ re actually victimized by them .
It ’ s like , “ Wow , you people actually exist !
” Some people just don ’ t care .
“ [ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out through minor inconveniences.
” I was living on the Big Island in Hawaii working for my wedding photography business .
The lease in the place we were living in for a year was about to be up , and the property had just changed hands to a new owner .
He said we were fine , and we could stay in the place for at least another six months , but he was eventually going to use it to house his daughter .
My husband and I were happy with that .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the beginning of the year , so we weren ’ t really planning on moving .
So , right after Hawaii shut down , I was really surprised to receive an email from him saying that he needed us to vacate the property in 45 days .
His daughter had a Jeep rental business , which was decimated by the complete lack of tourism to the islands .
I didn ’ t really know what my options were .
I could try and stay there — maybe we could go to court or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other place .
He tried to passive-aggressively push us out through minor inconveniences .
Like , here we are , on a lockdown where nobody can leave the house , and he ’ s hiring construction workers to come work on the roof .
I was stuck inside with a bunch of kids in lockdown , with this constant banging around the house .
It was one of the most stressful things I ’ ve ever gone through .
But I didn ’ t really know where I stood legally .
So we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what I ’ ve found is that the Big Island is catered to the Airbnb market .
It ’ s really hard to find a rental .
My business slowed down considerably .
So as we were calling around , the first question we heard was , “ How many people are going to be living here ?
” I said , “ Oh me , my husband , and my kids , ” and they kept turning us down .
They said they couldn ’ t accommodate that many people .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but the landlords said , basically , that once tourism opened back up , we would be homeless again .
So , we decided to move back home to stay with some family in Wyoming at the beginning of May .
We ’ re still trying to figure it all out .
There ’ s a lot of open space here , and not a lot of people around , but everyone ’ s mindset around Covid here is weird .
Not a lot of people wear masks .
That was different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ top notch .
For now , we ’ re just laying low and exploring the outdoors .
There are worse ways to ride this thing out .
Will you become our 20,000th supporter ?
When the economy took a downturn in the spring and we started asking readers for financial contributions , we weren ’ t sure how it would go .
Today , we ’ re humbled to say that nearly 20,000 people have chipped in .
The reason is both lovely and surprising : Readers told us that they contribute both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ value that other people can access it , too .
We have always believed that explanatory journalism is vital for a functioning democracy .
That ’ s never been more important than today , during a public health crisis , racial justice protests , a recession , and a presidential election .
But our distinctive explanatory journalism is expensive , and advertising alone won ’ t let us keep creating it at the quality and volume this moment requires .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will help @ @ @ @ @ @ @ today from as little as $ 3 .

In July, Sean was looking for an apartment in the Bay Area for his first semester of grad school at UC Berkeley. He connected with someone on a housing Facebook group who sent him what appeared to be a legitimate lease. He inked the deal, wired over the security deposit, and heaved a sigh of relief.
But then, a few days after agreeing to the terms, the alleged landlord deleted her Facebook account. Fearing the worst, he made a phone call to the building his new apartment was supposed to be in. They gave him the bad news — the unit didn’t exist. He had just been scammed in the middle of a pandemic.
There are so many stories of people like Sean. This is the reality for Americans who are renewing a lease or moving across the country or facing mounting rent payments despite a nationwide unemployment spike. The American epidemic has caused wide-ranging suspensions of in-person open houses, which, as the FBI warned last month, has spurred a boom in predatory leasing deceit. According to their data, there’s been a 100 percent increase in reported scamming incidents compared to last year. “Before, people would say, ‘Okay, can I really fall for [these scams] without seeing the [rental] property first?’ But now, there is a reason. ‘I can’t show you the rental property because of the virus,’” said Tammy Sorrento, a private investigator in Florida, speaking to Fox News. “And people have fallen for that because it’s a very legitimate excuse.”
These scams are happening as the ongoing Covid-19 crisis has sparked a new housing crisis in America. Every state legislature in the country adopted some sort of eviction moratorium at the start of the pandemic, with the hope that citizens would be back to work and reacquainted with some semblance of normalcy by summer. That hasn’t happened. The US is in the midst of a coronavirus surge, and as CNBC reported, evictions have resumed in more than 30 states. According to financial journal Stout, nearly two out of five renters are at risk of being served papers in the months ahead, which could create an unprecedented housing crisis. It will likely get worse before it gets better.
Simply put, there’s never been a worse time to deal with housing stresses. An untold number of people have been put in an awkward position by leasing companies during the pandemic. We spoke to three of them, all in vastly different situations, as Covid-19 continues to alter the world as we know it. (Only first names will be used to preserve people’s anonymity.)
“If we weren’t in a pandemic ... I could’ve seen all these places up close, and I wouldn’t have been scammed.”
Sean, San Francisco
I certainly wouldn’t have chosen to move during a pandemic, but I got into grad school across the country at UC Berkeley. At the time, I lived in Brooklyn, and I wanted to get closer to campus, and I had to make do with what I had without seeing my options in person. A lot of landlords were just sending me over videos of the places they had for lease. Some of them actually create these “dollhouses,” which are like three-dimensional models of the unit. Those are very strange. Not an ideal situation to get a real sense of a place, to say the least.
It’s really hard to pull the trigger on a lease completely sight unseen. I tried to check all the boxes as best I could. There were many hours spent going back and forth between the landlords with the property and me, where I just asked as many questions as I possibly could. Clearly, my efforts fell short, because I got scammed shortly into my search.
Here’s how it happened. I responded to an ad on a Facebook group for housing in the Bay Area, which was already a less secure pathway than more formalized real estate options. I started talking to a woman with a unit — she sent over some videos from a very real building, and I liked what I saw. It was nice, but it wasn’t too nice, you know? It seemed authentic. Eventually she sent over a lease, I looked through it and thought it was legit, so I signed it and wired her the security deposit and first month’s rent. I canceled all my other appointments. It was a huge relief.
Then shortly afterward, she got in contact with me saying, “I’ve been in a horrible accident. I need you to pay the first two months of rent upfront.” That sounded really fake to me. So I called the building that the place was allegedly in, and they told me that it didn’t even have an available unit in it. I felt like an idiot. I should’ve done that as soon as I started corresponding with that person. She deleted her Facebook. I reported her to the FBI, but I haven’t gotten my money back.
If we weren’t in a pandemic, I absolutely would have booked a trip out to the Bay to look at places in person. I could’ve seen all these places up close, and I wouldn’t have been scammed. But for now, as so many in-person viewings are on hold, a lot of people like me can be targeted.
“It’s so hard to find an apartment right now. I don’t have any paystubs. I don’t know where I’m going to go or what my next job is going to be.”
Sada, New Orleans
I was officially furloughed from my job at a hotel on March 19. Prior to that, I had my hours cut for about two weeks. After that, I realized that this was serious and we weren’t going to go back to work for a long time. I reached out to my landlord and told them that I was still waiting on unemployment, and I wasn’t going to be able to make rent for the foreseeable future. I didn’t get a response for two or three weeks, when they started harassing me.
They told me that I turned in my keys to them and moved out of the place. That was a lie. Then they said I broke back into my apartment because the door was damaged. That was also a lie. The apartment had been broken into during Mardi Gras back in February — I filed a police report and everything — but nobody came to fix [the door]. They were just using it as an excuse. By April, he had his maintenance workers flip my breaker to turn off the power, and a few days later they cut my air conditioner. It made me feel really anxious because I didn’t know what was going on. This is New Orleans in spring. It’s pretty hot down here.
Evictions were frozen in Louisiana, but on June 25, landlords could start kicking people out for reasons that didn’t have to do with rent payment. So, for drugs, noise complaints, and things like that. They used that on me — the claim that I vacated the apartment and broke my way back in. Which, again, wasn’t true.
We ended up going to court and I won my case. I provided enough evidence that proved that his information was false. I remember that, at one point during the trial, the landlord told the judge that I had turned in my keys. The leasing company uses its own key that you can’t buy out of the store, but in October, I had some issues unlocking the door, so I got a replacement from the super. The landlord was like, “See, that’s not the type of key we give out when someone starts a lease.” I said, “I know it’s not the kind of key you give out! I got this key from the maintenance man!” He ended up implicating himself. We filed a motion to get the A/C fixed too. We haven’t heard anything about that yet.
My lease is up in August, and I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do yet. It’s so hard to find an apartment right now. I don’t have any paystubs. I don’t know where I’m going to go, or what my next job is going to be. I always knew that there were bad people in the world, but it’s always shocking when you’re actually victimized by them. It’s like, “Wow, you people actually exist!” Some people just don’t care.
“[The landlord] tried to passive-aggressively push us out through minor inconveniences.”
Braidyn, Hawaii
I was living on the Big Island in Hawaii working for my wedding photography business. The lease in the place we were living in for a year was about to be up, and the property had just changed hands to a new owner. He said we were fine, and we could stay in the place for at least another six months, but he was eventually going to use it to house his daughter. My husband and I were happy with that. We just had our third kid at the beginning of the year, so we weren’t really planning on moving.
So, right after Hawaii shut down, I was really surprised to receive an email from him saying that he needed us to vacate the property in 45 days. His daughter had a Jeep rental business, which was decimated by the complete lack of tourism to the islands. I didn’t really know what my options were. I could try and stay there — maybe we could go to court or something — or we could find some other place.
He tried to passive-aggressively push us out through minor inconveniences. Like, here we are, on a lockdown where nobody can leave the house, and he’s hiring construction workers to come work on the roof. I was stuck inside with a bunch of kids in lockdown, with this constant banging around the house. It was one of the most stressful things I’ve ever gone through.
But I didn’t really know where I stood legally. So we started looking around for places, but what I’ve found is that the Big Island is catered to the Airbnb market. It’s really hard to find a rental. My business slowed down considerably. So as we were calling around, the first question we heard was, “How many people are going to be living here?” I said, “Oh me, my husband, and my kids,” and they kept turning us down. They said they couldn’t accommodate that many people. We did find a couple rentals we liked, but the landlords said, basically, that once tourism opened back up, we would be homeless again.
So, we decided to move back home to stay with some family in Wyoming at the beginning of May. We’re still trying to figure it all out. There’s a lot of open space here, and not a lot of people around, but everyone’s mindset around Covid here is weird. Not a lot of people wear masks. That was different in Hawaii, the sanitation there was top notch. For now, we’re just laying low and exploring the outdoors. There are worse ways to ride this thing out.
Will you become our 20,000th supporter? When the economy took a downturn in the spring and we started asking readers for financial contributions, we weren’t sure how it would go. Today, we’re humbled to say that nearly 20,000 people have chipped in. The reason is both lovely and surprising: Readers told us that they contribute both because they value explanation and because they value that other people can access it, too. We have always believed that explanatory journalism is vital for a functioning democracy. That’s never been more important than today, during a public health crisis, racial justice protests, a recession, and a presidential election. But our distinctive explanatory journalism is expensive, and advertising alone won’t let us keep creating it at the quality and volume this moment requires. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will help keep Vox free for all. Contribute today from as little as $3.


vox--2020-08-17--Why Republicans are failing to govern

Why Republicans are failing to govern

“ The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president , ” then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in October 2010 .
The unemployment rate was 9.4 percent that month .
The need for stimulus was desperate .
But led by McConnell , Republicans blocked the Democrats ’ every attempt at further support .
The GOP didn ’ t have a better plan for restarting the economy , but they didn ’ t need one .
The belief , then , was that relentless opposition reflected the strategic incentives of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carried the burden of governance , and would bear the blame for failure .
The red wave in the 2010 election seemed to prove McConnell ’ s approach right , tactically if not morally .
Today , unemployment stands at 10.2 percent — higher than during the peak of the previous financial crisis , and that ’ s almost certainly an underestimate of the true employment calamity .
The death toll from Covid-19 has likely passed 200,000 .
Vast swaths of the US remain at varying levels of lockdown .
But McConnell — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows — are acting as if the most important thing they want to achieve is for President Trump to be a one-term president .
This is the strange truth of 2020 : The dynamic in Congress is virtually identical to what we saw in 2010 .
Democrats want more economic support ; they passed a $ 3.5 trillion bill in the House in May .
Republicans don ’ t , and they ’ ve refused to act on the House bill , or offer an alternative that reflects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they ’ ve let the provisions from previous packages expire or run out of money , draining aid from workers and businesses who remain under lockdown , and now face poverty or bankruptcy .
The total failure of governance is matched by a bizarre absence of urgency : McConnell could hold round-the-clock sessions in an attempt to strike a deal .
Instead , the Senate is adjourned until September .
What ’ s baffling is that Republicans are running this strategy while they are in the majority .
Donald Trump is president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is Senate majority leader .
They carry the burden of governance , and they will bear the blame for failure .
If polls are to believed , both of them are likely to lose those jobs come November .
What , after all , is the case for reelecting a Republican Party that has no coherent policy response to a virus that Europe and Asia have managed to control , or to an economy in freefall ?
“ GOP 2020 : More of this !
” is not a winning slogan when 70 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the wrong track .
Politically , the Republican Party ’ s current approach is so suicidal that I figured I must be missing something .
Someone must have a plan , a theory , an alternative .
Chaos is Trump ’ s brand , but surely McConnell won ’ t walk passively back into the minority .
And so I began asking Republican Hill staffers and policy experts for correction .
What wasn ’ t I seeing ?
What was the GOP ’ s policy theory right now ?
What do Republicans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Tea Party conservatives , populist reformers , and old-line Reaganites .
The answer , in every case , was the same .
Different Republican senators have different ideas , but across the party as a whole , there is no plan .
The Republican Party has no policy theory for how to contain the coronavirus , nor for how to drive the economy back to full employment .
And there is no plan to come up with a plan , nor anyone with both the interest and authority to do so .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ policymaking institution , and it has been for some time .
“ I don ’ t think you ’ re missing anything , ” said a top Republican Senate staffer .
“ You have a whole bunch of people in the Senate posturing for 2024 rather than governing for the crisis we ’ re in.
” “ There hasn ’ t been a coherent GOP policy on anything for almost five years now , ” a senior aide to a conservative Senate Republican told me .
“ Other than judges , I don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any united policy priorities.
” Oh .
Well then .
Four theories for the GOP ’ s governance crisis The Republicans I spoke to were clear-eyed on the electoral disaster that threatens their party .
There is no campaign ad that will overwhelm mass death , no tweetstorm that will convince Americans to ignore immiseration .
So what accounts for the governing political party ceasing to govern amid a global crisis and the prospect of an electoral wipeout ?
A few theories dominated .
It ’ s Trump ’ s fault .
Everyone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , agreed that Trump had broken the Republican Party ’ s ability to govern .
It ’ s not just that he himself is uninterested in the daily , difficult work of governance .
He poses a threat to anyone who tries to step out in front of him .
Any strategy congressional Republicans attempt could be shredded the next time the president picks up his phone .
And with Trump still at 91 percent among Republican voters , few GOP members of Congress are comfortable crossing him .
“ A lot of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emasculated by the White House , ” says Brian Riedl , a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who spent six years as Sen .
Rob Portman ’ s ( R-OH ) chief economist .
“ The president will do what he ’ s going to do .
Any strategy they come up with will be undermined tomorrow by a tweet .
Their fate is tied to a president they can ’ t control or even influence.
” The result has been , effectively , paralysis .
Trump won ’ t govern .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , congressional Republicans feel they can ’ t govern .
“ A lot of Republican politicians are still fundamentally perplexed by Trump ’ s immense popularity with their core voters , ” says Yuval Levin , director of Social , Cultural , and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute .
“ They just don ’ t think they can pick a fight with him and win it on any subject .
They ’ re just not sure what the dynamics are , where the boundaries are .
They ’ re so afraid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really aren ’ t doing a damn thing.
” Conservative thinking has no room for Covid-19 .
The coronavirus death toll shows that whatever it is America is doing now , it ’ s not working .
The experiences of Europe and Asia show that the virus can be controlled .
So what do congressional Republicans think should happen next ?
On this question , every answer was a verbal shrug .
Collectively , congressional Republicans have no theory for containing the virus itself .
And they don ’ t really see it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one .
It may have been the Trump administration ’ s job , but the White House decided to leave it to state and local governments .
That ’ s left congressional Republicans in a bind .
To admit a new strategy is needed is to say that Trump is failing , and few are willing to risk the predictable reprisals .
Moreover , congressional Republicans are uncomfortable proposing the kinds of strategies that have worked elsewhere .
For instance : pushing America back into lockdown while spending tens of billions to set @ @ @ @ @ @ @ require a multi-trillion dollar support package so families and businesses could survive the return to economic deep-freeze .
Few Republicans want to do that .
“ There ’ s a certain amount of motivated reasoning here , ” says the top GOP staffer .
“ If you ’ re not going to have government intervention , you can ’ t have the lockdowns.
” Managing a pandemic is difficult in the best of circumstances , but it ’ s almost impossible if the party is built around mistrust of the government and opposition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worried about Tea Party 2.0 .
The most unexpected argument that recurred in my reporting is that congressional Republicans are already acting in fear of a post-Trump backlash , with the coronavirus-support bills playing the role in 2022 that the Troubled Asset Relief Program ( TARP ) vote played in 2010 .
“ They are already looking ahead to a Tea Party reawakening in the next couple of years , and they ’ re voting with that in mind , ” says Riedl .
One Senate staffer noted that many of the GOP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ won their seats in the Tea Party wave of 2010 .
“ Ted Cruz was elected on Cut , Cap , and balance .
Rand Paul was elected in 2010 , post-TARP .
Nikki Haley won her governor ’ s race in 2010 on the TARP issue .
Ron Johnson was 2010 .
Those are the four loudest anti-spending folks on the right.
” Opposing Democratic stimulus bills is , on some level , the foundation of their politics .
That ideology has a firmer hold on the White House now , too @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congress member who is now Trump ’ s chief of staff , also rode the Tea Party energy to Congress , winning in 2012 and becoming a leader in the Freedom Caucus .
He ’ s heading a faction inside the White House that ’ s trying to block Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin from cutting another multi-trillion deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi .
They ’ ve given up on 2020 , and many are looking toward 2024 .
Some Senate GOP aides griped to me that Trump ’ s falling poll numbers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looking past 2020 and beginning to position themselves for 2024 .
Those senators know they can ’ t cross powerful factions in their own party — the Trumpist faction chief among those — but they also need to build their own profiles .
Being the loudest voice against whatever it is the Democrats want to do is the easiest way to square the circle .
But it ’ s left America without a governing party at a time when good governance is desperately needed .
That brings me to the explanation for GOP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats I ’ ve spoken to .
They believe Republicans are readying themselves to run the strategy against former Vice President Joe Biden they ran against President Obama : Weaponize the debt — which Republicans ran up by trillions during the Trump administration — as a cudgel against anything and everything the Democrats want to do .
Force Democrats to take sole ownership of an economic response that ’ s too small to truly counteract the pain .
If Republicans are behaving like an opposition party that primarily wants to stop Democrats from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s the role they ’ re most comfortable playing , and one many of them expect to reprise soon .
Will you become our 20,000th supporter ?
When the economy took a downturn in the spring and we started asking readers for financial contributions , we weren ’ t sure how it would go .
Today , we ’ re humbled to say that nearly 20,000 people have chipped in .
The reason is both lovely and surprising : Readers told us that they contribute both because they value explanation and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ access it , too .
We have always believed that explanatory journalism is vital for a functioning democracy .
That ’ s never been more important than today , during a public health crisis , racial justice protests , a recession , and a presidential election .
But our distinctive explanatory journalism is expensive , and advertising alone won ’ t let us keep creating it at the quality and volume this moment requires .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will help keep Vox free for all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 3 .

“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president,” then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in October 2010.
The unemployment rate was 9.4 percent that month. The need for stimulus was desperate. But led by McConnell, Republicans blocked Democrats’ every attempt at further support. The GOP didn’t have a better plan for restarting the economy, but they didn’t need one. The belief, then, was that relentless opposition reflected the strategic incentives of the minority party. Obama and the Democrats carried the burden of governance, and would bear the blame for failure. The red wave in the 2010 election seemed to prove McConnell’s approach right, tactically if not morally.
Today, unemployment stands at 10.2 percent — higher than during the peak of the previous financial crisis, and that’s almost certainly an underestimate of the true employment calamity. The death toll from Covid-19 has likely passed 200,000. Vast swaths of the US remain at varying levels of lockdown. But McConnell — and, to be fair, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows — is acting as if the most important thing to achieve is for President Trump to be a one-term president.
This is the strange truth of 2020: The dynamic in Congress is virtually identical to what we saw in 2010. Democrats want more economic support; they passed a $3.5 trillion bill in the House in May. Republicans don’t, and they’ve refused to act on the House bill, or offer an alternative that reflects the size of the crisis — the main feature of the $1 trillion HEALS Act is that it cuts the expanded unemployment benefits in an attempt to push people back to work, even though the virus is anything but controlled.
Worse, in the absence of an agreement, they’ve let the provisions from previous packages expire or run out of money, draining aid from workers and businesses that remain under lockdown and now face poverty or bankruptcy. The total failure of governance is matched by a bizarre absence of urgency: McConnell could hold round-the-clock sessions in an attempt to strike a deal. Instead, the Senate is adjourned until September.
What’s baffling is that Republicans are running this strategy while they are in the majority. Donald Trump is president of the United States, and Mitch McConnell is Senate majority leader. They carry the burden of governance, and they will bear the blame for failure. If polls are to believed, both of them are likely to lose those jobs come November. What, after all, is the case for reelecting a Republican Party that has no coherent policy response to a virus that Europe and Asia have managed to control, or to an economy in free fall? “GOP 2020: More of this!” is not a winning slogan when 70 percent of Americans say the country is on the wrong track.
Politically, the Republican Party’s current approach is so self-sabotaging that I figured I must be missing something. Someone must have a plan, a theory, an alternative. Chaos is Trump’s brand, but surely McConnell won’t walk passively back into the minority. And so I began asking Republican Hill staffers and policy experts for correction. What wasn’t I seeing? What was the GOP’s policy theory right now? What do Republicans actually want?
I posed these questions to Tea Party conservatives, populist reformers, and old-line Reaganites. The answer, in every case, was the same. Different Republican senators have different ideas, but across the party as a whole, there is no plan. The Republican Party has no policy theory for how to contain the coronavirus, nor for how to drive the economy back to full employment. And there is no plan to come up with a plan, nor anyone with both the interest and authority to do so. The Republican Party is broken as a policymaking institution, and it has been for some time.
“I don’t think you’re missing anything,” said a top Republican Senate staffer. “You have a whole bunch of people in the Senate posturing for 2024 rather than governing for the crisis we’re in.”
“There hasn’t been a coherent GOP policy on anything for almost five years now,” a senior aide to a conservative Senate Republican told me. “Other than judges, I don’t think you can point to any united policy priorities.”
Oh. Well, then.
Four theories for the GOP’s governance crisis
The Republicans I spoke to were clear-eyed on the electoral disaster that threatens their party. There is no campaign ad that will overwhelm mass death, no tweetstorm that will convince Americans to ignore immiseration. So what accounts for the governing political party ceasing to govern amid a global crisis and the prospect of an electoral wipeout? A few theories dominated.
It’s Trump’s fault. There was wide agreement that Trump has broken the Republican Party’s ability to govern — particularly on coronavirus. It’s not just that he is uninterested in the daily, difficult work of governance. It’s that he poses a threat to anyone who tries to step out in front of him. Any strategy congressional Republicans attempt could be shredded the next time the president picks up his phone. And with Trump still at 91 percent among Republican voters, few GOP members of Congress are comfortable crossing him.
“A lot of the Republicans I talk to seem almost emasculated by the White House,” says Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who spent six years as Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) chief economist. “The president will do what he’s going to do. Any strategy they come up with will be undermined tomorrow by a tweet. Their fate is tied to a president they can’t control or even influence.”
The result has been, effectively, paralysis. Trump won’t govern. Without clarity on what he will support, congressional Republicans feel they can’t govern.
“A lot of Republican politicians are still fundamentally perplexed by Trump’s immense popularity with their core voters,” says Yuval Levin, director of social, cultural, and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute. “They just don’t think they can pick a fight with him and win it on any subject. They’re just not sure what the dynamics are, where the boundaries are. They’re so afraid of being in the crosshairs that they really aren’t doing a damn thing.”
Conservative thinking has no room for Covid-19. The coronavirus death toll shows that whatever it is America is doing now, it’s not working. The experiences of Europe and Asia show that the virus can be controlled. So what do congressional Republicans think should happen next?
On this question, every answer was a verbal shrug. Collectively, congressional Republicans have no theory for containing the virus. And they don’t really see it as their job to come up with one. It may have been the Trump administration’s job, but the White House decided to leave it to state and local governments.
That’s left congressional Republicans in a bind. To admit a new strategy is needed is to say that Trump is failing, and few are willing to risk the predictable reprisals. Moreover, congressional Republicans are uncomfortable proposing the kinds of strategies that have worked elsewhere. For instance: Pushing America back into lockdown while spending tens of billions to set up a true test-trace-isolate strategy would also require a multitrillion-dollar support package so families and businesses could survive the return to economic deep-freeze. Few Republicans want to do that.
“There’s a certain amount of motivated reasoning here,” says the top GOP staffer. “If you’re not going to have government intervention, you can’t have the lockdowns.”
Managing a pandemic is difficult in the best of circumstances, but it’s almost impossible if the party is built around mistrust of the government and opposition to social services.
They’re worried about Tea Party 2.0. The most unexpected argument that recurred in my reporting is that congressional Republicans are already acting in fear of a post-Trump backlash, with the coronavirus-support bills playing the role in 2022 that the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) vote played in 2010.
“They are already looking ahead to a Tea Party reawakening in the next couple of years, and they’re voting with that in mind,” says Riedl.
One Senate staffer noted that many of the GOP’s loudest voices against further stimulus won their seats in the Tea Party wave of 2010. “Ted Cruz was elected on Cut, Cap, and balance. Rand Paul was in the 2010, post-TARP election. Nikki Haley won her governor’s race in 2010 on the TARP issue. Ron Johnson was 2010. Those are the four loudest anti-spending folks on the right.” Opposing Democratic stimulus bills is, on some level, the foundation of their politics.
That ideology has a firmer hold on the White House now, too. Mark Meadows, the North Carolina Congress member who is now Trump’s chief of staff, also rode the Tea Party energy to Congress, winning in 2012 and becoming a leader in the Freedom Caucus. He’s heading a faction inside the White House that’s trying to block Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin from cutting another multitrillion-dollar deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
They’ve given up on 2020, and many are looking toward 2024. Some Senate GOP aides griped to me that Trump’s falling poll numbers have led to too many GOP senators looking past 2020 and beginning to position themselves for 2024. Those senators know they can’t cross powerful factions in their own party — the Trumpist faction chief among those — but they also need to build their own profiles. Being the loudest voice against whatever it is the Democrats want to do is the easiest way to square the circle. But it’s left America without a governing party at a time when good governance is desperately needed.
That brings me to the explanation for GOP behavior that is almost unanimous among Senate Democrats I’ve spoken to. They believe Republicans are readying themselves to run the strategy against former Vice President Joe Biden they ran against President Obama: Weaponize the debt — which Republicans ran up by trillions during the Trump administration — as a cudgel against anything and everything the Democrats want to do. Force Democrats to take sole ownership of an economic response that’s too small to truly counteract the pain.
If Republicans are behaving like an opposition party that primarily wants to stop Democrats from doing anything, that’s because it’s the role they’re most comfortable playing, and one many of them expect to reprise soon.
Will you become our 20,000th supporter? When the economy took a downturn in the spring and we started asking readers for financial contributions, we weren’t sure how it would go. Today, we’re humbled to say that nearly 20,000 people have chipped in. The reason is both lovely and surprising: Readers told us that they contribute both because they value explanation and because they value that other people can access it, too. We have always believed that explanatory journalism is vital for a functioning democracy. That’s never been more important than today, during a public health crisis, racial justice protests, a recession, and a presidential election. But our distinctive explanatory journalism is expensive, and advertising alone won’t let us keep creating it at the quality and volume this moment requires. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will help keep Vox free for all. Contribute today from as little as $3.