A compendium of the best reporting and commentary surrounding the pivotal 2024 elections in the United States. You will rarely 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 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.)
I'm making an exception today to my avoid-the-horse-race rule, because the first two pointers reflect more than raw politics in Pennsylvania, which is shaping up as the most important swing state in the presidential race. Read ahead to see why.
But when she prevails, I don’t think the reason is going to be because the Harris campaign was so much better at getting out its vote than the Trump campaign. It will be because all the independent groups filling in the gaps in the many evident problems with the Harris campaign staved off disaster. That, and the evident incompetence of the groups in charge of Trump’s (missing) ground game, may be the real explanation for why enough of the critical swing states tip her way. My reasons for doubting the brilliance of the Harris campaign range from the big stuff to the small stuff.
This newsletter post goes deep into what one of our most astute political observers has been observing – with frustration – for years: national Democrats' top-down, business-as-usual approach to elections in a time when if we know anything, it's that business as usual isn't enough. What could make the difference this year is the refusal of genuine grassroots operations – you know, people who care enough to volunteer their time and money – to be consigned to busy work, or ignored outright. Their passion could be the key this year to saving our democracy.
The lack of Republicans canvassing me could be because I’m in their databases as a reliable Democrat. But if so, why am I getting so many conservative mailers? Furthermore, as I’ve walked and driven around town, it’s clear that Wilkes-Barre is simply crawling with liberal canvassers, who can be identified by their Harris-Walz merch, particularly the amusing camouflage hats. Even Christine Baranski, the Emmy Award-winning actress from The Good Wife and The Gilded Age, is knocking on doors in Wilkes-Barre, apparently to get out the Polish American vote (which is plentiful!). But I have not seen a single Trump canvasser anywhere.
This article offers first-person insight into a peculiar strategy that could have an outsized impact on the election outcome. Cooper is an excellent political reporter, and his puzzlement over what's going on with the Republican "ground game" in his part of Pennsylvania reflects a broader head-scratching among professional operatives in both major parties. (Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo also has thoughts that are, as usual, worth reading.) My own hope is that it'll prove, in the end, to reflect a miscalculation by the Trump campaign – and a huge waste of money for Musk. This kind of reporting is what keeps me hopeful, while still pessimistic.
One person aware of the conversations said the government faces a dilemma because it is so dependent on the billionaire’s technologies. SpaceX launches vital national security satellites into orbit and is the company NASA relies on to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. “They don’t love it,” the person said, referring to the Musk-Putin contacts. The person, however, said no alerts have been raised by the administration over possible security breaches by Musk.
The power that Elon Musk wields – exemplified in this excellent reporting from the WSJ – is more and more staggering, and dangerous for all of us who still believe that private citizens shouldn't be able to create their own foreign policies that bind the rest of us – which is exactly what Musk is doing. He is so intertwined now with our federal government that his contacts with Putin – combined with his mega-spending to get Trump elected – represent a clear danger. It's important to note that Musk's power stems in part from incredibly reckless decisions during the Obama administration, when the nation spent billions to help make SpaceX the most dominant private space company, by far – an enterprise that now as top-secret contracts with the Pentagon, and much more. What makes this an election story is the prospect that Trump would hand over even more of the government's – that is, the American people's – business and security to a robber baron whose loyalties are solely, and obviously, to himself and his vile ideology.
Kudos: Thomas Grove, Warren P. Strobel, Aruna Viswanatha, Gordon Lubold, Sam Schechner
The Fox News Channel’s recent segment about Donald Trump’s “surprise” visit to a barbershop in the Bronx resembled a campaign ad for the former president’s reelection. Trump was seen taking questions and making small talk with Black and Hispanic barbershop customers and workers, some of whom were wearing “Make Barbers Great Again” shirts. The visit was part of “Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones’ ongoing barbershop interview series. But the version of the visit shown on television was, to borrow a hairstyle metaphor, a crop cut. Fox edited out many of Trump’s rambling comments and false claims. Participants had to repeatedly follow up when Trump meandered away from the original point of their questions.
I point to this piece not just as another reminder that Trump is pathological liar and increasingly bonkers old man. It's also a reminder that the Murdoch family's Fox "News" is to honorable journalism as motel-room art is to Picasso. It is a channel of deceitful right-wing propaganda, and the current thrust is aimed at putting a fascist in the White House. It is a channel that relentlessly injects poison into our civic bloodstream. Yet if you subscribe to cable or satellite TV, or an online equivalent, you are almost certainly sending money to the Murdochs' vile enterprise. I urge you to cancel. You'll feel better about yourself.
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.
Take your personal contact list, compare it to the national voter file, and find out which of your actual friends, family, co-workers and past acquaintances live in swing states and districts where a call or text from you could be hugely influential.
Please read Micah Sifry's advice – and heed it! You still have time to make a huge difference.
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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.
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Micah L. Sifry
Ryan Cooper
Brian Stelter, Liam Reilly
Micah L. Sifry
