A daily compendium of helpful reporting and commentary surrounding the pivotal 2024 elections in the United States. You won't find horse race coverage here, or the standard "both sides" BS that passes so often for political journalism. What you will find are links, with brief commentary, to work that I believe advances the conversation we must 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.)
What's at stake
Dictatorship Planning I: Take over local governments
I’ll rein myself in with one more, as my exclamation mark: quite literally, a blueprint for how the federal government can replace any city police force Trump decides is not enforcing the law in the way he prefers. The section on how it might go on in 2025 is called “Enhancing the Federal Focus on and Resources in Jurisdictions with Rule-of-Law Deficiencies.” It is especially terrifying given the new evidence of how close Trump came to invoking the Insurrection Act in 2020, and Trump’s framing of the Justice Department under his next administration as his very own Department of Vengeance. Every municipal official in America ought to read it—now.
Rick Perlstein's latest piece on Project 2025, as usual a must-read, explains the Trump world blueprint to take over local governments – and prosecute local officials – it deems troublesome. Please understand the context: A new Trump presidency would begin with a torrent of executive orders on Jan. 20, 2025 – orders that would overthrow government of, by, and for the people and set in motion the dictatorship that these people want to run. Trump and his apparatchiks will be happy to let those who believe in democracy spend the next four years fighting in the increasingly right-wing courts to regain our rights, while Trump world moves ahead with its kleptocratic, autocratic, anti-democractic regime.
Not only would Trump’s plan rip families and communities apart, but it also would have devastating effects for years to come, including on US citizens who perhaps have overlooked how integral undocumented immigrants are to their everyday life. Trump frames immigration as an existential threat to the United States. He has said immigrants are “taking our jobs,” are “not people,” and are “poisoning the blood of our country.” The reality is that if his plan were implemented, American life as we know it would be ruined—even for those cheering for mass deportation.
The Trump deport-em-all plans are vile, and not enough people are taking them seriously. This article in Mother Jones makes it clear that the ramifications go broad and deep – ranging from troops and deputized vigilantes in our streets to concentration camps to an economic shambles. Trump plans to launch this on Jan. 20 2025 if he takes office that day. Hoping for the best is not a strategy.
This rightward drift of young men is part of a global trend that has powered elections in recent years from Argentina to France. Uninterrupted, this dynamic will not only influence the outcome of the presidential race in November—especially in key states that skew young like Arizona—but will also realign politics as we know it for a generation to come. And yet, despite liberal voices raising the alarm, Democrats have failed even to really acknowledge the problem, much less put real resources into combating it.
Democrats have been taking for granted that young people loathe Trump, and it's true that a majority of young people do loathe the extremist in chief. But it's also true that young people, for the most part, don't bother to vote. So when a sub-group of young male right-wing extremists (some of whom are violence-prone) does decide to vote – and the Trumpists are spending millions to make sure they will – we should all pay attention.
[G]en Z women have not only become the most progressive cohort in US history but are also expected to outpace their male peers across virtually every measure of political involvement, such as donating money, volunteering for campaigns, registering people to vote – and, of course, voting.
The Republicans' war on civil liberties, most notably the right of women to make their own decisions about their bodies, has galvanized a new generation of female activists. While Trump encourages incel extremism, younger women are taking practical action to thwart the right wing's plan to take the nation back decades, or more, in social and economic policy.
Walz checks a number of boxes for the 2024 election, most notably that he hails from near the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania and comes across as a normal, nice guy. He favors unions, workers’ rights, and a $15 minimum wage. He is also the person who coined the phrase that took away the dangerous overtones of today’s MAGA Republicans by dubbing them “weird.” As a student of his said: “In politics he’s good at calling out B.S. without getting nasty or too down in the dirt…. It’s the kind of common sense he showed as a coach: practical and kinda goofy.”
Richardson's latest newsletter post is a fine summary of why Harris' choice for her vice presidential running mate is so popular inside the Democratic Party, and so disconcerting to the extremist-dominated Republicans. Reminder: Trump and his apparatchiks will find ways to attack the Democratic ticket, to scare the Republican base and, they hope, what's left of the dwindling swing vote. But Harris and Walz look more than capable of rolling with the punches, and punching back hard while retaining the apparent joy of this potentially transformational moment in American political life. In a way I haven't felt before in this election cycle, cautious realism and optimism both feel right.
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.
Rick Perlstein
Isabela Dias
Ilyse Hogue
Carter Sherman
Heather Cox Richardson
