A compendium of solid reporting, commentary, and direct-from-the-source information surrounding the pivotal 2024 elections in the United States. You won't find horse race coverage here, or the standard "both sides" (even when one is lying) BS that passes so often for political journalism. What you will find are links – with brief quotes from the coverage and short commentary from me – to work that I believe advances the conversation we should be having about America's, and the world's, future. Remember: Everything is at stake this year. (Unfortunately, some of the work I point to is behind paywalls.)
Dictatorship planning: soldiers in the streets
During his time out of power, allies of Mr. Trump have worked on policy papers to provide legal justifications for the former president’s intent to use the military to enforce the law domestically. In public, they have talked about this in the context of border states and undocumented immigrants. But an internal email from a group closely aligned with Mr. Trump, obtained by The Times, shows that, privately, the group was also exploring using troops to “stop riots” by protesters.
The New York Times has – in its standard, ever-so-polite way – sounded an alarm with this story. It is the kind of reporting that we need much, much more of in this election season. The only serious drawback is another modern Times standard: normalization of extremism. Trump's avowed plans are part of a budding dictatorship, but the Times can't seem to notice that in any kind of realistic way. If you have to read between the lines to see it, that's absurd.
In May 2023, Walz signed the “Democracy for the People Act,” which promoted voting rights in many ways, including by allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote, permitting voters to opt into a permanent absentee voter list and expanding language access in voting materials.
Democracy Docket has looked at the voting rights history of the Democratic ticket, and it should be no surprise that the organization – unabashedly in favor of the Democrats in an era when Republican policy is to attack voting rights at every turn – is very much pleased with what it found. The Harris campaign fully expects an onslought this fall of Trump world attacks on a fair election, including the plain intent to challenge any outcome that Trump doesn't like. It has added Marc Elias, Democracy Docket's founder and a former member of the Harris staff, to the legal team.
A portrait emerges of a group [which includes police officers, active-duty soldiers, small business owners, and convicted criminals] alternating between focused action and self-destructive chaos and facing a schism over whether political engagement can still address our nation’s problems — or whether violence is the only option. It can be hard to discern the line between bluster and imminent threat in the messages, a perennial struggle for FBI agents who monitor paramilitary groups. But some senior AP3 members grew so alarmed that they quit, scared by the number of people, even high-level leaders, advocating acts of terror.
ProPublica, consistently the best investigative journalism outlet in the nation, has gotten ahold of "more than 100,000 internal messages...spanning the run-up to Jan. 6 through early 2024." Along with extensive interviews, including many with members of the AP3 ("American Patriots Three Percent") and review of other documents, the portrait drawn here is downright scary. Given the way America is saturated with guns, with likely millions of military-style weapons in the hands of the right-wing extremists, the new civil war so many of these people crave could be one call to arms away. Trump looks ready to do that. One outstanding question: Are people who believe in saving democracy and the rule of law arming themselves, willing to do what it takes should the worst happen? It would be good to see some journalism about that.
In Britain, the canary has sung. This summer we have witnessed something new and unprecedented. The billionaire owner of a tech platform publicly confronting an elected leader and using his platform to undermine his authority and incite violence. Britain’s 2024 summer riots were Elon Musk’s trial balloon. If Musk chooses to ‘predict’ a civil war in the States, what will that look like?
This commentary brings some important context to England's recent right-wing riots. Elon Musk arguably helped incite the violence with his incendiary (ex)Twitter post. I don't fully share Cadwalladr's certainty about the danger he poses in the U.S. elections, but there is no doubt whatever that he is using his platform and countless millions of followers (and non-followers who get his rancid thoughts put in front of them) to promote extremism. Musk is an enemy of democracy, and is amplifying the people who share that contempt. Meanwhile, I'm sad to say, journalists continue to directly support Musk by actively participating on his site.
Friends speculated that the couple’s anger and isolation had pushed them to the right. A founder who has received money from Andreessen Horowitz said that the firm’s two founding partners “feel like they are these bullied victims who are making a lone stand.”
“They’ve had this mentality and this experience that they’re under siege for a long time,” he said. “It’s been painful for me to basically watch them go crazy.”
The important context for the change in Ben Horowitz is familial. His father, David Horowitz, was a civil rights activist and well-known liberal in the 1960s. He later became an even better-known "conservative" and then a Trump-supporting extremist, mentoring the infamous Stephen Miller along the way. The son has emulated the father, moving from left of center to the far right. One thing that clearly motivates him: He and partner Marc Andreessen made it clear that their support for Trump is in large part about money.
Democratic political operative Joe Trippi's podcast it always worth a listen. The current one, heading into the Democratic convention, is notably so. (Disclosure: Joe is a friend, and I've known him since the 1980s.)
Voting is just part of democracy, but it's the essential place to start. Make sure you're registered. Doublecheck in the fall, well before Election Day, because in some states Republican officials are removing people, mostly those who tend to vote for Democrats, from voting rolls.
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I spend a lot of time looking for essential coverage, and hope you'll help me by letting me know about the good stuff you find. Let me know.
Courtney Cohn
Phoebe Petrovic
Carole Cadwalladr
