First and foremost: Chuck Todd isn’t wrong. The NBC News stalwart’s column in the Atlantic ably assesses the state of American media and, more specifically, the long-term effort by political conservatives to breed distrust in objective journalism. He isn’t wrong that this is not new to President Trump, and he […] Read more »
Discarding norms is not always bad. But how you do it matters.
… Norms do change, and often have changed, in American history. Partly that’s because norms, which are assumed and usually unwritten, can mean different things to different people. They are not formal rules, and they can apply both to individuals and to institutions. The Oxford English Dictionary calls them “a […] Read more »
People don’t vote for what they want. They vote for who they are.
… In research published earlier this year, political scientist Lilliana Mason conducted a national survey that determined where people stood on various hot-button issues: same-sex marriage, abortion, gun control, immigration, the Affordable Care Act, the deficit. Then they were asked how they felt about spending time with liberals or conservatives. […] Read more »
Why Bernie Sanders supporters shouldn’t be praising the DNC rule change
Bernie Sanders’ acolytes cheered this past weekend as the the Democratic National Committee changed superdelegate and caucus rules for the 2020 primary season. They really shouldn’t have. While on the surface the rule changes seemed to benefit progressives, a closer look suggests the exact opposite. These rule changes will likely […] Read more »
Democratic Embrace of Diverse Candidates Collides With Barbed Politics of Trump Era
Democratic nominees for governor include three African-Americans, two of them in the old Confederacy, a prospect that not long ago would have been unthinkable. Record numbers of women are competing in congressional races. Elsewhere, Muslims, gays, lesbians and transgender people will be on the ballot for high-profile offices. That diverse […] Read more »
What Andrew Gillum vs Ron DeSantis in Florida will tell us about 2020
The governor’s race in Florida not only says a lot about where the Democratic and Republican parties are today but could also tell us where they are headed in the future. Republican Ron DeSantis is the Donald Trump of the 2018 Florida gubernatorial campaign. He was backed by Trump in […] Read more »