In Trumpland, Trials Have No Evidence

As Republicans scramble to justify their votes, the evidence against Trump and his aides continues to drip, drip, driplessly

Republican Senators scrambled to justify their votes. As I wrote last night, Alexander said that the Democrats had proven the charges against the president but those actions were not impeachable. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) said that Alexander spoke for him, as well as for other senators. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said ...
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In Trumpland, Trials Have No Evidence

Andrew Yang’s Unexpected Appeal

As we approach the Iowa Caucuses, it’s useful to remember that Democratic politics is about reinventing government — and it always has been

Andrew Yang fits nowhere in this framework, but he does point to what all these Democratic candidates have in common: to one degree or another, they all believe that politics is a conversation about how, not whether, democratic government will be renewed. For the limits of this idea, see an essay by Ian Zuckerman ...
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Andrew Yang’s Unexpected Appeal

How Disinformation Became a Winning Strategy

Fomenting political fury is something that concerns us all

The recent UK election was a quarrel about the character of politics. On the one hand, the Labour Party argued that it can be used for good, ‘for the many’. They promised to transform lives and communities, to take action on climate change and poverty. The Conservative Party, conversely, claimed ...
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How Disinformation Became a Winning Strategy

We Still Need the ERA

How Activists Can Learn From History to Win It This Time

To many older feminists, the ERA remains the unfinished business of the 1970s. Today’s gender justice activists should expect to battle the same coalition of corporations and social conservatives that defeated their predecessors in 1982. But to win this time, they must learn from their own history. The ERA is not ...
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Another Media Regime is Possible

From the liberal public sphere to the information commons

‘Media regimes’ can be described as distinct historical combinations of technology, regulation and professional norms that have come to seem natural but are the result of an intensely political and fiercely contested process. (1) Until recently, English-language media regimes were characterized by a mixture of regulated broadcasters and privately owned ...
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Another Media Regime is Possible

Can the Internet Be Governed By Its Users?

A response to Dan Hind

Consider Wikipedia, the global encyclopedia that is open to anyone to edit, which is the only nonprofit website that ranks in the top ten most visited in the world -- let alone the top 100. It is all the things that Hind wants: a public platform, transparent in its operations ...
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Can the Internet Be Governed By Its Users?

Impeachment as National Renewal

Can non-democratic institutions be repurposed for democracy?

All of these authors recognize that these comparisons have limitations. The 1868 impeachment of Johnson failed to remove him from office -- just as, in all likelihood, Trump will remain president after his impeachment. But the deeper problem is that these celebrations of the political potential of impeachment elide its ...
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Impeachment as National Renewal

John Bolton Speaks

Avoiding new evidence of Trump’s crimes, the President’s lawyers continue to hammer the Bidens

Republicans have insisted that there is no direct evidence that Trump himself ordered the hold, and that, therefore, there is no evidence that the president had abused his power, as the first article of impeachment charges. The leaks from Bolton’s book, cheekily named The Room Where It Happened (this is ...
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John Bolton Speaks

Making the Truth Matter

Justice in the impeachment proceedings may require Democrats to play the long game

So ended Impeachment manager Adam Schiff’s closing argument yesterday in the Senate trial of Donald Trump. Within minutes, #RightMatters was trending on Twitter. Schiff (D-CA) leads a group of Democratic House managers who are shining in this moment as they weave televised testimony before the House, available documents, and public television interviews into ...
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Making the Truth Matter

Yesterday’s Impeachment News? Fact versus Fox

In the absence of evidence or an argument, the GOP floods the zone

But for Trump and his enablers, this trial is not about the truth; it never has been. It is about dominance and power. Forcing someone to accept what they know to be untrue reinforces the dominance of the person telling the lies. Perpetrators will start with small, seemingly unimportant lies and ...
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Yesterday’s Impeachment News? Fact versus Fox