Acceptance of electoral defeat, something political scientists call “loser’s consent,” is essential for stability and order in democracies. It’s fragile. When it is broken–when losing politicians in democracies refuse to accept election results–citizens begin to see terrorism as more acceptable and domestic terrorism increases.
Presidential Election
Trump Troll Chronicles: Bob Woodward’s Peril
Bob Woodward’s and Robert Costa’s “Peril,” third in the trilogy of Woodward’s books on the Trump administration, isn’t history. It’s most revealing in what it does not say. It’s tragicomedy. It’s a chronicle of trash foretold. And it’s prediction. The worst is ahead.
Liberal Flagellant: George Packer’s Last Best Hope
George Packer’s “The Last best Hope,” published in June, attempts to explain how the United States devolved into the furies of Donald Trump’s last year–the pandemic, the BLM marches, the Jan. 6 insurrection–by diagnosing four separate Americas that no longer communicate. It’s a dour, guilt-ridden book by a liberal looking for penance in all the wrong places.
For Republicans, It’s Still the Trump Show
For good or ill, Trump in retirement is the same force of nature he was as president. Republican leaders tread lightly around him, conscious of polls that show him by far the first choice of self-identified Republicans for the nomination, even as they worry he’s alienated so many voting blocs that his top of the ticket presence would drag down-ballot candidates to defeat.
A Qualified Defense of Trump Supporters’ Obscenities in Flagler Beach
Obscene pro-Trump demonstrators’ signs now flashing regularly in Flagler Beach are no different than signs using similar language at BLM marches. The fact that BLM marches have justice on their side, as Trump demonstrators do not, does not diminish the goons’ First Amendment rights.
The Insurrection: New Details Suggest Senior Trump Aides Knew Jan. 6 Rally Could Get Chaotic
Senior Trump aides had been warned the Jan. 6 events could turn chaotic, with tens of thousands of people potentially overwhelming ill-prepared law enforcement officials. Rather than trying to halt the march, Trump and his allies accommodated its leaders, according to text messages and interviews with Republican operatives and officials.
Records Reveal Trump Wanted U.S. Supreme Court to Order New Election in 6 States
The complaint prepared by the Justice Department at Trump’s order but never filed asked the Supreme Court to nullify the electoral votes of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and to order all six states to hold special elections to appoint presidential electors.
Why Trump Is More Likely to Win in the GOP than to Take His Followers to a New Third Party
Former President Donald Trump has claimed at times that he’ll start a third political party called the Patriot Party. In fact, most Americans – 62% in a recent poll – say they’d welcome the chance to vote for a third party. His chances of success taking that route are slim.
What Stolen Election Diehards Owe Holocaust Deniers
Holocaust denialism’s dregs on the fringe don’t get much attention because responsible institutions from publishers to campuses to media organizations kept them in their gutter. Election deniers are owed no less.
How Flagler Was Far More “Staly Country” than Trump’s in 2020, and How Grand Haven Saved Milissa Holland
An analysis of Flagler County’s precinct-by-precinct vote last November reveals a few surprises, among them how Grand Haven powered incumbent Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland to her win and how Flagler was not so much “Trump Country” as “Staly Country” as the incumbent sheriff won his second term with 70 percent of the vote, with no discernible weaknesses across precincts.