Author: Robert Reich

The challenge of healing a nation that insists on remaining wounded

It’s over. Donald Trump is history. For millions of Americans – a majority, by almost 5m popular votes – it’s a time for celebration and relief. Trump’s cruelty, vindictiveness, non-stop lies, corruption, rejection of science, chaotic incompetence and gross narcissism brought out the worst in America. He tested the limits of American decency and democracy. He is the closest we have come to a dictator. Democracy has had a reprieve, a stay of execution. We have another chance to preserve it, and restore what’s good about America. It will not be easy. The social fabric is deeply torn. Joe...

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Squattergate: Refusal to concede the election is just another fundraising scam by top political grifters

Leave it to Trump and his Republican allies to spend more energy fighting non-existent voter fraud than containing a virus that has killed 244,000 Americans and counting. The cost of this misplaced attention is incalculable. While COVID-19 surges to record levels, there’s still no national strategy for equipment, stay at home orders, mask mandates or disaster relief. The other cost is found in the millions of Trump voters who are being led to believe the election was stolen and who will be a hostile force for years to come – making it harder to do much of anything the...

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Suppression, purges, and the obstacles erected after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965

The country has a long history of disenfranchising and suppressing the votes of people of color, particularly in the South. But in 2013 the voter suppression efforts of yesteryear came roaring back. That was when the Supreme Court gutted key provisions in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those provisions had stopped states with histories of voter suppression from changing their election laws without an okay from the federal government. Let’s take a look at how that shameful decision has played out over the years, shall we? Voter suppression today often takes the form of purging eligible voters from...

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The hypocrisy of rejecting mask mandates but insisting on federal involvement in female reproduction

Trump and many Republicans insist that the decisions whether to wear a mask, go to a bar or gym, or work or attend school during a pandemic should be personal. Government should play no role. Yet they also insist that what a woman does with her own body or whether same-sex couples can marry should be decided by government. It is a tortured, topsy-turvy view of what is public and what is private. Yet it is remarkably prevalent as the pandemic resurges and as the Senate considers Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court. By contrast, Joe Biden has wisely...

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Decency and Democracy: Responding to political sycophants who designate empathy as a disability

Sympathy is the ability to put yourself in the place of another and understand someone else’s feelings by identifying with them. With empathy, you put yourself in another’s shoes, often feeling things more deeply than if you just felt sympathy. For about a minute today I found myself feeling sorry for Donald Trump. The poor man is now “battling” COVID-19, the pugilistic verb is showing up all over the news. He is in the hospital. He is out of shape. He is 74 years old. His chief of staff reportedly says his symptoms are “very concerning.” Joe Biden is...

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Trump Nation: The real “Suckers” and “Losers” are the Americans who voted for a charlatan

What is America really fighting over in the upcoming election? No particular issue. Not even Democrats vs. Republicans. The central clash is over Donald J. Trump. Before Trump, most Americans were not especially passionate about politics. But Trump’s MO has been to force people to become passionate about him – to take fierce sides for or against. And he considers himself president only of the former – whom he calls “my people.” Trump came to office with no agenda except to feed his monstrous ego. He has never fueled his base. His base has fueled him. That adoration sustains...

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