A central message of President Trump’s insurgent candidacy in 2016 boiled down to this: Millions of Americans are losers — economically, culturally and even demographically. Perhaps no group needed less convincing of this proposition than white evangelical Christians, who have long felt embattled. “Make America Great Again” was the perfect […] Read more »
What’s Driving Elizabeth Warren’s Comeback?
Sen. Elizabeth Warren overtook Sen. Bernie Sanders to claim second place in the Real Clear Politics average of national primary polls, a position she’s had for a little over a week now. It’s the first time she’s claimed that spot, apart from a one-day blip back in July. It was […] Read more »
The Limits of Trump’s White Identity Politics
President Donald Trump and his defenders in conservative media have identified the real group endangered by rising racial tensions during his presidency. It’s not undocumented immigrants or people of color targeted by his harsh and sometimes openly racist rhetoric. It’s the president and his supporters themselves who are being unfairly […] Read more »
America holds onto an undemocratic assumption from its founding: that some people deserve more power than others.
… There is a homegrown ideology of reaction in the United States, inextricably tied to our system of slavery. And while the racial content of that ideology has attenuated over time, the basic framework remains: fear of rival political majorities; of demographic “replacement”; of a government that threatens privilege and […] Read more »
‘He gets it’: Evangelicals aren’t turned off by Trump’s first term
… Trump enjoyed overwhelming support from white evangelicals in 2016, winning a higher percentage than George W. Bush, John McCain or Mitt Romney. That enthusiasm has scarcely dimmed. Almost 70 percent of white evangelicals approve of Trump’s performance in office, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center poll. Interviews with […] Read more »
Can Liberals Finally Defeat the NRA?
The weekend’s deadly massacres in El Paso and Dayton served as a grim reminder of past inaction on gun policy. … In the past, such atrocities have quickly faded from the public consciousness because gun-rights groups are better organized than their gun-control rivals, as well as able to more effectively […] Read more »