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By now, it’s hard to deny that Trump has a narrow but plausible path to authoritarian rule in the United States. Polls show he could well win next year’s election. Trump allies are openly developing an elaborate blueprint to transform a second term into full-blown autocracy. Prominent columnists have demonstrated in great detail how it might succeed.

But certain versions of this argument have grown seriously problematic. It’s sometimes said that our institutions and civic culture have withered so much that resistance to Trumpian tyranny would be incapacitated, rendering its onset all but inevitable.

Such a reading of the moment risks leading us astray.

Archive link if you can't read it directly: https://archive.ph/2023.12.12-162927/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/12/pharmacy-records-police-privacy-abortion/

Results from rural Kenya are not necessarily applicable to high-income countries. However, there are nearly no similar randomized controlled trial findings of a long-term guaranteed income or a significantly large lump sum in countries like the U.S. While much more expensive in high-income countries, long-term income and large lump sum pilots should be tried and studied to learn if there are better ways to deliver cash that help people build wealth and escape poverty.

In April, Société Générale economist Albert Edwards released a scathing note saying he hadn’t seen anything like the current levels of corporate greed in his four decades working in finance. He said companies were using the war in Ukraine as an excuse to hike prices in search of profits.

“The end of Greedflation must surely come. Otherwise, we may be looking at the end of capitalism,” Edwards wrote. “This is a big issue for policymakers that simply cannot be ignored any longer.”

In a tense game of chicken, remarkable for its mix of petulance and audacity, congressional Republicans are threatening to halt U.S. aid to Ukraine—guaranteeing a Russian breakthrough and possible victory in that war—unless Democrats help pass a bill that all but locks down America’s Southern border.

If the impasse isn’t resolved by the end of next week, when Congress goes on recess until the new year, the Ukrainian army could run out of ammunition. President Joe Biden could resupply the arsenal from U.S. stockpiles without legislative approval, but the move would be temporary, and the signal sent—that Ukraine, and by implication other allies, can no longer count on U.S. support in a pinch—could be a holiday cork-popper for Russian President Vladimir Putin and all of our other adversaries.

Social Security benefits are a perennial target for cuts because the program faces a long-run shortfall. Some lawmakers and opinion leaders mistakenly portray the program’s benefits as lavish. The fact is, benefits are modest and workers have earned them by paying into Social Security — protecting themselves and their families if they retire, become disabled, or die. Here are five key facts that policymakers need to keep in mind....

...All available evidence indicates that the Democrats are becoming a more culture war–focused, economically moderate party — except, that is, for what Democratic politicians actually say and do.

That the Democrats have remained stubbornly focused on progressive economic reform has been apparent for a while now. But in a new paper, “Bridging the Blue Divide: The Democrats’ New Metro Coalition and the Unexpected Prominence of Redistribution,” the Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker and his colleagues quantify that resilient commitment.

“Wisconsin voters have been awaiting accountability for three years, and it is beyond time to hold those who perpetrated this scheme responsible for their actions,” explained Jeff Mandell, an attorney for the Law Forward firm that brought the suit. “This settlement agreement provides one piece of that accountability and helps ensure that a similar effort to subvert our democracy will never happen again.”

But just one piece. The threat these people pose to fair elections has not gone away.

For instance, one of the fake electors, Milwaukee County Republican activist Robert Spindell, still serves on the Wisconsin Election Commission, thanks to an appointment by Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg. This means he helps administer elections in a state whose last presidential election he deliberately tried to sabotage.

“The temporary restraining order granted by the Travis County district judge purporting to allow an abortion to proceed will not insulate hospitals, doctors or anyone else from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws,” Paxton said in a statement shortly after the judge’s decision. “This includes first degree felony prosecutions…and civil penalties of not less than $100,000 for each violation.

Paxton added, ominously: “The [judge’s temporary restraining order] will expire long before the statute of limitations for violating Texas’ abortion laws expires.”

Sen. Thom Tillis wants you to know that he’s very “reasonable.” That’s the word the North Carolina Republican used with reporters this week while describing immigration reforms that the GOP is demanding from Senate Democrats in exchange for supporting the billions in Ukraine aid that President Biden wants.

But the demands from Tillis and his fellow Republican leading the talks, Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, are not reasonable at all — they’re following Donald Trump’s playbook. Under the guise of seeking more “border security,” they’re insisting on provisions that would reduce legal immigration in numerous ways that could even undermine the goal of securing the border.

Given the current state of partisan polarization, it’s unlikely Biden can get majority job approval next year even with the most fortunate set of circumstances. But the good news for him is that he probably doesn’t have to. Job-approval ratings are crucial indicators in a normal presidential reelection cycle that is basically a referendum on the incumbent’s record. Assuming Trump is the Republican nominee, 2024 will not be a normal reelection cycle for three reasons.