Democrats Have a Religion Problem

2020 confirms a trend of religious voters moving away from the Democrats, with a few notable exceptions

_____ In a previous essay I demonstrated that Democrats have been consistently losing ground with both people of color and people of faith in virtually every midterm and general election cycle after 2008. Republicans, meanwhile, have seen consistent gains with many constituencies. What occurred in 2016, therefore, was not an aberration – but the culmination ...
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Democrats Have a Religion Problem

Can the Republican Party Move Forward After the Inauguration?

As Biden creates a cabinet that looks like America, Trump is determined to keep hold of a party that has courted White Supremacists for decades

At about 6:00 on Monday, Emily Murphy, the Trump appointee at the head of General Services Administration who has been holding up the transition to a Biden administration, notified President-Elect Joe Biden that she recognizes his status and will release the money set aside for the transition. This should launch ...
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Can the Republican Party Move Forward After the Inauguration?

New Voters and Bells: What Toppled Trump

In one of the most pivotal elections in our history, first-time and young voters found their voices

Joe Biden is the President Elect. As we wait for the Trump administration to finish its thrashing death throes in court, it’s important to remember in a time of vastly unequal wealth distribution (thank you Mr. Bezos!), in spite of overt attempts from Republicans to suppress voters in the 2020 ...
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New Voters and Bells: What Toppled Trump

A Chinese Student’s Perspective on America’s Presidential Election

Young Americans and Chinese have more in common than meets the eye

On the night of November 3rd, I, like many of the 360,000 Chinese students in the U.S., was compulsively refreshing the electoral map and rooting for the Democrats to win by a landslide.  In the previous four years, Chinese students had watched in shock and horror as the Trump administration relentlessly ...
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A Chinese Student’s Perspective on America’s Presidential Election

Political Tensions Rise as COVID-19 Deaths Surpass a Quarter-Million

As support for Trump begins to crumble among Republicans, the White House doubles down on efforts to cripple the incoming Biden administration

Yesterday marked a grim milestone. The official count of Americans dead of coronavirus has topped 250,000. A quarter of a million Americans, lost. Governors, including some Republicans previously opposed to ordering measures to stop the spread of the virus, are now issuing mandatory mask requirements. New York City has reached ...
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Political Tensions Rise as COVID-19 Deaths Surpass a Quarter-Million

Is the GOP For or Against America?

Ned Staebler is mad as hell

My bullhorn is rather small, but I’ll do what I can to amplify Ned Staebler. He gave public input in the open meeting of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers. Two Republican members, William Hartmann and Monica Palmer, voted Tuesday against certifying the votes of Wayne County, citing irregularities in ...
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Is the GOP For or Against America?

The Democrats’ Four-Year Reprieve

How did Donald Trump manage to win an even larger number of votes than in 2016, despite lies, corruption, and a bungled pandemic response?

As Joe Biden eked out a victory in the U.S. presidential election after a few suspenseful days, observers of American democracy were left scratching their heads. Buoyed by polls, many expected a landslide for the Democrats, with the party capturing not only the White House but also the Senate. How ...
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The Democrats’ Four-Year Reprieve

Mini-Trumps in the Wilderness

Trump’s loss of the presidency in 2020 may spell disaster for his fellow populists in Eastern Europe

Joe Biden’s election as president of the United States has seriously weakened authoritarian and populist governments around the world. For independent global powers like Russia, Brazil, and Turkey, Donald Trump’s departure need not amount to a complete tragedy. But for the current governments of Poland, Hungary, and Serbia -- and ...
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Mini-Trumps in the Wilderness

Europe Reacts to the 2020 US Presidential Election

The resilience of American democracy gives us reason to hope

Europeans have long awaited the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election with conflicting feelings of fear and hope. In Berlin, Paris, and Brussels, leaders have hoped that a Biden presidency might spur a renewal of transatlantic relations, while in Warsaw and Budapest, populist executives hoped for a second Trump ...
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Europe Reacts to the 2020 US Presidential Election

Why Polls Can’t Satisfy Us

What we want from this troubled industry may be impossible: the ability to know our political future

That wasn’t what the polls were saying – but could the polls be wrong? Outlier Quinnipiac had Gideon up by 14. The poll that came closest to what I was hearing was the Bangor Daily News, which had her in a statistical toss-up that Gideon would win with ranked-choice voting. Most gave ...
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Why Polls Can’t Satisfy Us

After the Election, New Leadership and Old Cronyism

Joe Biden steps up as the Trump administration manufactures lies in an attempt to hold on — and perhaps profit

I had hoped that the days when the news came like a firehose were over, but so far, no luck. On Monday, the stock market jumped 1200 points in its first day of trading after the announcement of Joe Biden’s victory. Over the course of the day it was up as ...
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After the Election, New Leadership and Old Cronyism