The end of objectivity?
I worked most of my life under the old model of journalism, and am aware of its many shortcomings.
Eric Black Ink
Eric Black Ink is a column by veteran journalist Eric Black covering national and state politics, policy, government and history.
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.
Civiqs poll shows Biden leading in Minnesota by 53-43 percent
The fact that President Trump is canceling ad spots that he had reserved in Minnesota is pretty good evidence that his team has lost its confidence that he can flip the state red this year.
Lincoln Project’s Michael Steele: ‘America, or Trump? I choose America’
The group of former Republican or anti-Trump Republican political figures has been making and airing some of the most withering anti-Trump TV ads.
Worst U.S. president? Consider James Buchanan
Buchanan, a Pennsylvania Democrat, was president in the four years leading up to the Civil War, including the final months of his term when southern states started seceding.
NYT editorial cites Trump’s ‘ruinous tenure,’ threat to democracy
Titled “End Our National Crisis,” it begins: “Donald Trump’s re-election campaign poses the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II.”
On Zoom with the U’s Larry Jacobs, Tom Friedman talks about Trump and democratic decay
Friedman, who said he is really worried right now, suggested that American governance needs a dose of “radical centrism.”
