Today’s another Election Day. Looking back, the only time I remember feeling a sense of unrestrained joy at the results of an election was 17 years ago when the U.S. elected Barack Obama its first black president.
But even then it was easy to see the trouble that lay ahead. Racism is too embedded in our history for a change like that to go unchallenged. Writing positive essays about Obama online had brought me one indication in the form of some withering attacks from readers outraged at the prospect of a non-white family in the White House.
Although a majority of voters had chosen Obama, almost half of the electorate was opposed, mostly for reasons directly or indirectly rooted in our country’s racial past. And for many of us, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and its aftermath in 1968 was still a fresh memory four decades later.
Once in office, Obama conducted himself with grace and integrity — his eight years as president were essentially scandal-free. His greatest accomplishment other than the Affordable Care Act was simply proving that anyone (male) could be president.
But, egged on by racists like the real estate tycoon Donald Trump, the seething resentment felt by those who felt a black man could never be a legitimate president represented an electoral pot boiling over, just waiting to explode.
In 2016, when Obama left office, it did, bringing us Trump as president. Practically everything in our country has been in a state of utter chaos ever since.
Looking back, it’s clear that Trump’s main appeal has always been to the racist impulses deeply embedded in the American psyche. Our ancestors may have thought that they had settled these matters back in 1865, but 160 years later, the Civil War rages on. We are “One Nation Under God” in name only, all too easily divided against ourselves, and led by a tyrant skilled at doing so.
There is a lot more to the rise of Trump than race, of course, but it remains central to his story.
HEADLINES:
Counting Race: How the Census Measures Identity and What Americans Think About It (Pew)
Dick Cheney, Powerful Vice President and Washington Insider, Dies at 84 (NYT)
Trump administration will use SNAP contingency fund to pay partial food stamp benefits (CBS)
2 US citizens arrested in alleged ISIS-inspired Halloween plot: DOJ (ABC)
Trump says Maduro’s days are numbered but ‘doubts’ US will go to war with Venezuela (Guardian)
The president’s disapproval rating is the highest it’s been this term, according to a new poll, reflecting concerns with his use of executive power and deployment of the National Guard, among other things. [HuffPost]
Mamdani Has a Point About Rent Control (Atlantic)
Trump’s politicizing of the U.S. military is accelerating (WP)
A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif early, killing at least 20 people, injuring hundreds and damaging the city’s historic Blue Mosque, authorities said, with the death toll likely to rise. (Reuters)
In Mexico, Killer Whales Take Down Great White Sharks (NYT)
School crossing guards face life-threatening dangers on the job (AP)
Climate change is supercharging extreme rainfall. See if you live in a hotspot. (WP)
Bring the big leagues to Mexico City (Silver Bulletin)
How AI Browsers Sneak Past Blockers and Paywalls (CJR)
ChatGPT’s Browser Bot Seems to Avoid New York Times Links Like a Rat Who Got Electrocuted (Gizmodo)
Will AI make dating apps better—or even worse? (Economist)
ICE Agent Panics After Realizing There More Children Than He Has Flash-Bangs (Onion)
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