With its toxic blend of arrogance and entitlement, the college admission cheating scandal has touched a deep nerve across the country. But it represents only the most visible inequity in a higher education system that many critics believe now does more to stratify privilege than to expand opportunity. … As […] Read more »
Americans Are Divided by Their Views on Race, Not Race Itself
Amid the uproar over the Ralph Northam blackface photograph, a Washington Post poll asked Virginians if he should remain governor. The results were striking: Only 48 percent of whites felt that he should stay in office. That percentage was exceeded by the nearly 60 percent of black Virginians who thought […] Read more »
How Trump’s Brand of Grievance Politics Roiled a Pennsylvania Campaign
… Far from the power centers of Washington, the early 2020 primary states or the money-rich coastal cities that fund many national campaigns, a shift in the political winds is growing stronger. The Republican Party and its candidates, particularly in state and local campaigns, are increasingly being reshaped in President […] Read more »
White Nationalism’s Deep American Roots
… The seed of Nazism’s ultimate objective—the preservation of a pure white race, uncontaminated by foreign blood—was in fact sown with striking success in the United States. What is judged extremist today was once the consensus of a powerful cadre of the American elite, well-connected men who eagerly seized on […] Read more »
Why Texas Is Nearing Battleground Status (It’s Not Just About Beto)
The dream of a “Blue Texas” has captured the imagination of Democrats for nearly a decade, and Beto O’Rourke has come closer than anyone to making a statewide victory a reality. His strengths as a candidate in his narrow loss in a 2018 Senate race against Ted Cruz — by […] Read more »
Pennsylvania Democrats Wonder How Far Is Too Far Left in 2020
This should be an upbeat moment for Pennsylvania Democrats, desperate to deprive President Trump of a second term. In elections last year, two Trump-like Republicans running for governor and senator lost to Democrats by blowout margins. Four Democrats wrestled away Republican-held congressional seats, including Conor Lamb, whose victory here outside […] Read more »