"The park near here is dominated by large trees and a meadow where kids play soccer and people throw balls for their dogs to retrieve. At the far side of the meadow, two paths diverge -- one up and out of the woods, one down into a darker, thicker forest. One of these days I'm going to take the latter path with a friend."
__________________________
It's been a while since I raised the dark specter of Trump's political return but today is the time to do so. The former President's shadow once again hangs over the U.S. political landscape.
He's preparing what appears to be another run for office in 2024. If he does that, he would re-enter a nation even further split for-and-against him than the toxic environment in 2020, when he lost resoundingly to Joe Biden.
In the meantime, his acolytes have re-engineered the process by which electors will be selected in future elections at the local level in several key states. Those are the states that swung from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020.
When you evacuate these particular districts, they continue to be closely divided between Democrats and Republicans. Gerrymandering by both sides may have an impact, but procedural corruption at the local level is a far greater threat to our democracy.
Stated plainly, Trump brings the worst out of the GOP -- white fear at the growing racial, gender, cultural and intellectual diversity of the United States.
If Trump is going to really do this thing -- run again -- our country will need every ounce of its patriotic resilience to withstand the threat of a return to power from a man who opposes what is best in our society and who also would be dictator.
He was too inexperienced and naive the last time around to accomplish his goal, but that is no longer the case.
***
I wrote the passage at the top of this post a month ago. It was the beginning of an essay about choices and how we all face them all of the time. It was, I think, one of my best essays. It also was literally about two actual paths, with the darker one leading deeper down into the forest.
Yesterday I revisited that park, this time not alone but with a friend and we took that deeper path. We made the right choice. It was silent, beautiful and welcoming.
***
THE HEADLINES:
* As Trump hints at comeback, democracy advocates fear a ‘worst-case scenario’ -- As Donald Trump looks and sounds increasingly as if he intends to mount a presidential campaign rerun, Democrats and democracy experts are grappling with what such a campaign — and potential second presidency — would mean for the country. (WP)
* We Underestimated Trump Before. It Didn’t Go Well. -- The former president continues to pose a threat because our political imagination fails us. (NYT)
* Former President Donald Trump's secret visit to Walter Reed in 2019 appeared to be for a routine colonoscopy, according to Stephanie Grisham, Trump's former press secretary and first lady Melania Trump's chief of staff. CNN's Kate Bennett and Jake Tapper discuss. (CNN)
* EXCLUSIVE Afghan central bank drained dollar stockpile before Kabul fell (Reuters)
* "I am an educator of Afghan girls. My life’s work is the Taliban’s greatest need." (WP)
* Joint Chiefs chairman calls Afghan war a ‘strategic failure’ (AP)
* Taliban says U.S. drones must stop entering Afghanistan (Reuters)
* Military Officials Say They Urged Biden Against Afghanistan Withdrawal (NYT)
* YouTube blocks all anti-vaccine content (Reuters)
* Low-lying nations urge action on climate at U.N. (Reuters)
* Drone images give hope for return of kelp on U.S. West coast (Reuters)
* Facebook Efforts to Attract Preteens Go Beyond Instagram, Documents Show -- Facebook has investigated how to engage young users in response to competition from Snapchat and TikTok. A 2019 internal presentation was titled: “Exploring playdates as a growth lever.” (WSJ)
* After 25 Years In The Dark, The CDC Wants To Study The True Toll Of Guns In America (NPR)
* A federal judge has ordered that all employees entering California prisons be vaccinated (Cal Today)
* ‘I Can’t Imagine a Good Future’: Young Iranians Increasingly Want Out -- Divorce is up, fertility rates are down and many from Iran’s younger generation are postponing weddings and searching for ways to leave the country in the face of economic and political stagnation. (NYT)
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