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Rebecca Solnit: On Not Surrendering in Advance, or During, or At Any Point Thereafter<\/a><\/h2>\nA friend of mine reminded me that the word encourage<\/em> literally means to instill courage; we can do that or its opposite with how we speak, with what we say, with how we show up. It’s not the only work we can do during this emergency, but it’s an important part of it. It’s a big part of how we express a spirit of defiance, of resoluteness, how we act with the knowledge that emotions and attitudes are contagious, be they fear or courage, strength or weakness, kindness or cruelty.<\/p>\nWhich is why it makes my head explode \u2013 picture this head as a volcano and these words as lava \u2013 when people surrender in advance verbally, which they do all the time about politics. There’s a lot of “I believe that we will lose” on social media and in the news. One way it shows up is when journalists report on some of the rubbish spewing from the mouth of the geriatric clown\/felon we have to call president as though his every utterance had the weight of law, as though words will become actions, as though the actions will succeed, as though they will not be met with opposition, as though they believe he will win. <\/p>\n
The current case in point is: a few days ago, after the latest installment of his periodic ritual submission to Vladimir Putin, Trump said Putin told him to go after mail-in ballots. Now first of all, if one of the world’s most dictatorial dictators gave a president of the United States advice on attacking democracy, that should have generated a lot of heated headlines and screaming politicians urging outrage in ways that have the power to put him on the spot and maybe make him walk it back.
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\n(Rebecca Solnit more…)<\/a><\/p>\nLisa Needham: Russia, Trump is listening<\/a><\/h2>\nHis attack on mail voting is inspired by Putin.<\/p>\n
Steve Vladeck: The Election of 1864<\/a><\/h2>\nAt the lowest moment of his presidency (if not the Civil War), Abraham Lincoln was committed to protecting the people’s right to vote him out in favor of a negotiated end to the war\u2014and the Union.<\/p>\n
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – August 20, 2025<\/a><\/h2>\nPresident Donald J. Trump created a firestorm yesterday when he said that the Smithsonian Institution, the world\u2019s largest museum, education, and research complex, located mostly in Washington, D.C., focuses too much on \u201chow bad slavery was.\u201d But his objection to recognizing the horrors of human enslavement is not simply white supremacy. It is the logical outcome of the political ideology that created MAGA. It is the same ideology that leads him and his loyalists to try to rig the nation\u2019s voting system to create a one-party state.
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In forty years, Republicans went from opposing Democrats\u2019 policies, to insisting that Democrats were socialists who had no right to govern, to the idea that Republicans have a right to rig the system to keep voters from being able to elect Democrats to office. Now they appear to have gone to the next logical step: that democracy itself must be destroyed to create permanent Republican rule in order to make sure the government cannot be used for the government programs Americans want.<\/p>\n
Trump is working to erase women and minorities from the public sphere while openly calling for a system that makes it impossible for voters to elect his opponents. …
\n(Heather Cox Richardson more…)<\/a><\/p>\nDispatch: The Data Driving the Looming Redistricting War<\/a><\/h2>\n
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\nCurrently, Republicans have both a 219-212 majority (220-215 with no vacancies) in the House and a six-seat advantage in the partisan makeup of districts. While it is tempting to look at those two datapoints and ascribe the GOP\u2019s slim majority to gerrymandering, whether redistricting efforts swayed the election is far from clear. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say for sure because, when districting is done fairly, it\u2019s done based on a lot of factors: keeping cities whole, counties whole,\u201d Wang said. <\/p>\nNor does the present Republican advantage make it impossible for Democrats to take the House. The party won in 2008 and 2020, when the GOP held a 13-seat and 11-seat edge, respectively, according<\/a> to the New York Times<\/em>\u2019 Nate Cohn.
\n(Dispatch more…)<\/a><\/p>\nProPublica: A Texas County Cuts Over 100 Polling Sites as Trump Attacks Mail-In Voting Nationally<\/a><\/h2>\nNY Times: One Sentence in the Constitution Is Causing America Huge Problems<\/a><\/h2>\n…
\nThe problems with the presidency, according to Cato<\/a>, began in the first words of Article II. \u201cThe construction of the first paragraph of the first section of the second article,\u201d he said, \u201cis vague and inexplicit.\u201d<\/p>\nHe is exactly right. It\u2019s so vague and inexplicit, in fact, that it\u2019s hard to discern what it actually means. Ambitious leaders are eager to fill the vacuum created by ambiguity.<\/p>\n
Here is the key sentence: \u201cThe executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.\u201d That sentence immediately raises two questions: What is executive power? And, crucially, what are its limits?
\n(NY Times more…)<\/a><\/p>\nGuardian: The umpire who picked a side: John Roberts and the death of rule of law in America<\/a><\/h2>\n
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Emily Atkin: A call to merge the climate and immigration movements<\/a><\/h2>\nOn Hurricane Katrina’s 20th anniversary, a Louisiana native makes the case for solidarity.
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Which is why it makes my head explode \u2013 picture this head as a volcano and these words as lava \u2013 when people surrender in advance verbally, which they do all the time about politics. There’s a lot of “I believe that we will lose” on social media and in the news. One way it shows up is when journalists report on some of the rubbish spewing from the mouth of the geriatric clown\/felon we have to call president as though his every utterance had the weight of law, as though words will become actions, as though the actions will succeed, as though they will not be met with opposition, as though they believe he will win. <\/p>\n
The current case in point is: a few days ago, after the latest installment of his periodic ritual submission to Vladimir Putin, Trump said Putin told him to go after mail-in ballots. Now first of all, if one of the world’s most dictatorial dictators gave a president of the United States advice on attacking democracy, that should have generated a lot of heated headlines and screaming politicians urging outrage in ways that have the power to put him on the spot and maybe make him walk it back. His attack on mail voting is inspired by Putin.<\/p>\n At the lowest moment of his presidency (if not the Civil War), Abraham Lincoln was committed to protecting the people’s right to vote him out in favor of a negotiated end to the war\u2014and the Union.<\/p>\n President Donald J. Trump created a firestorm yesterday when he said that the Smithsonian Institution, the world\u2019s largest museum, education, and research complex, located mostly in Washington, D.C., focuses too much on \u201chow bad slavery was.\u201d But his objection to recognizing the horrors of human enslavement is not simply white supremacy. It is the logical outcome of the political ideology that created MAGA. It is the same ideology that leads him and his loyalists to try to rig the nation\u2019s voting system to create a one-party state. In forty years, Republicans went from opposing Democrats\u2019 policies, to insisting that Democrats were socialists who had no right to govern, to the idea that Republicans have a right to rig the system to keep voters from being able to elect Democrats to office. Now they appear to have gone to the next logical step: that democracy itself must be destroyed to create permanent Republican rule in order to make sure the government cannot be used for the government programs Americans want.<\/p>\n Trump is working to erase women and minorities from the public sphere while openly calling for a system that makes it impossible for voters to elect his opponents. … Nor does the present Republican advantage make it impossible for Democrats to take the House. The party won in 2008 and 2020, when the GOP held a 13-seat and 11-seat edge, respectively, according<\/a> to the New York Times<\/em>\u2019 Nate Cohn. … He is exactly right. It\u2019s so vague and inexplicit, in fact, that it\u2019s hard to discern what it actually means. Ambitious leaders are eager to fill the vacuum created by ambiguity.<\/p>\n Here is the key sentence: \u201cThe executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.\u201d That sentence immediately raises two questions: What is executive power? And, crucially, what are its limits? On Hurricane Katrina’s 20th anniversary, a Louisiana native makes the case for solidarity.
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\n(Rebecca Solnit more…)<\/a><\/p>\nLisa Needham: Russia, Trump is listening<\/a><\/h2>\n
Steve Vladeck: The Election of 1864<\/a><\/h2>\n
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – August 20, 2025<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n…<\/p>\n
\n(Heather Cox Richardson more…)<\/a><\/p>\nDispatch: The Data Driving the Looming Redistricting War<\/a><\/h2>\n
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\nCurrently, Republicans have both a 219-212 majority (220-215 with no vacancies) in the House and a six-seat advantage in the partisan makeup of districts. While it is tempting to look at those two datapoints and ascribe the GOP\u2019s slim majority to gerrymandering, whether redistricting efforts swayed the election is far from clear. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say for sure because, when districting is done fairly, it\u2019s done based on a lot of factors: keeping cities whole, counties whole,\u201d Wang said. <\/p>\n
\n(Dispatch more…)<\/a><\/p>\nProPublica: A Texas County Cuts Over 100 Polling Sites as Trump Attacks Mail-In Voting Nationally<\/a><\/h2>\n
NY Times: One Sentence in the Constitution Is Causing America Huge Problems<\/a><\/h2>\n
\nThe problems with the presidency, according to Cato<\/a>, began in the first words of Article II. \u201cThe construction of the first paragraph of the first section of the second article,\u201d he said, \u201cis vague and inexplicit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n(NY Times more…)<\/a><\/p>\nGuardian: The umpire who picked a side: John Roberts and the death of rule of law in America<\/a><\/h2>\n
\nEmily Atkin: A call to merge the climate and immigration movements<\/a><\/h2>\n
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