The answers to a recent Rasmussen Poll question are bad news for American democracy
Rasmussen asked, “Who is America’s biggest enemy as 2020 draws to a close — Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Trump voters or Biden voters?”
Eric Black
Veteran journalist Eric Black writes Eric Black Ink for MinnPost. His latest award is from the Society of Professional Journalists, which in May 2017 announced he’d won the national Sigma Delta Chi Award for online column writing.
Why Fareed Zakaria doesn’t like the way the phrase ‘people of color’ is used
To white liberal Americans, the term “of color” relies heavily on an understanding that many African Americans, the vast majority of whom are descended from slaves, have faced discrimination and other barriers to success that white Americans do not.
Why Trump’s tweeted sort-of half-concession is so annoying
It’s a bit late for Trump to pretend to be a good loser. But his tweet certainly doesn’t commit him to much vacating or handing over of power.
A lesson from history about how freedom can turn into tyranny
In the Boston Globe, Yale historian Timothy Snyder explores the lie that the election was being stolen from Donald Trump — and the challenge facing American democracy when a large group of Americans believe it.
Trump isn’t the first president who has made no secret of his disdain for his successor
The big difference: Unlike his predecessors, Trump’s sore-loserism has spread to a majority of prominent elected Republican officials.
The end of objectivity?
I worked most of my life under the old model of journalism, and am aware of its many shortcomings.
A reminder: There are other ways of doing democracy
We’re so accustomed to our U.S. system of politics and government that we don’t think much about other ways of doing democracy, including ways that would end the two-party duopoly.
Trying to get past my transfer-of-power fears
Most of the commentators have moved on from the question of whether Trump will go. I just need a bit more certainty.
I’ve heard all the arguments in favor of the Electoral College. They’re lame.
Colorado just became the 15th state to back the crazy idea that the presidential candidate who gets the most votes should be president.
On Trump’s perseverance and the irony in a potential electoral margin
If the remaining not-fully-counted states go the way they are leaning, Joe Biden will win the electoral vote by 306-232, which is the same as the count by which Trump won in 2016.
Trump’s evening talk: an illogical mixture of braggadocio and self-pity
Watching his early-evening soliloquy to the assembled White House media about all the ways he has been done dirt during the election, I found myself torn between feeling sorry for him and for the country.
While we wait for vote counting, a tragicomic quote from Trump
I don’t think you need me to point out the various bizarre bits of logic in it.
How one conservative wrestled with the idea of voting for Trump
In the National Review, Dan McGlaughlin agonized over whether he could bring himself to vote for Donald Trump, who he acknowledged is morally unfit for the job.
How the U.S. voting system looks to the democratic world
It’s quite impressive how easy some of these countries have made it to vote, without waiting in lines during a pandemic, or even just a busy day.
Stephen King on the crossroads we face
“One fork leads to Trump and a validation of the id and all the dark beliefs it harbors. The other fork leads to Biden,” he writes in the Washington Post.
One bit of help in struggling to understand the loyalty of Trump’s base
If, like many liberals, you struggle to understand how and why Trump’s message resonated with many working class voters in a lasting way, here’s something that may help.
The Economist endorses Joe Biden
Its headline: “Why it has to be Biden; Donald Trump has desecrated the values that make America a beacon to the world.”
White House lists ‘ending the COVID-19 pandemic’ among first-term accomplishments
In case this catches you by surprise, I refer you to a document from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The Atlantic makes ‘The Case Against Donald Trump’
The editorial concludes: “Two men are running for president. One is a terrible man; the other is a decent man. Vote for the decent man.”
Second presidential debate was less horrifying, but also less interesting, than the first
Donald Trump still couldn’t stop himself from interrupting, but he did it a lot less. Biden’s assignment was to do nothing to shake up the race, and he may have succeeded.
